Hidden Treasure

Here is a tough question.  If the Torah (The Law of Moses) is still fully applicable to all Christians, wouldn’t YHVH (God) make that truth much more obvious?  Seriously, why do only a relative handful of believers embrace the “Old Testament” commandments, if it is really His will that all of His people are to do so?  Furthermore, why would our heavenly Father allow for His true and pure Torah to be distorted and twisted to the degree that it has?  Especially after sending His Son to live out and teach the Torah flawlessly, and even appointing him to die to allow "the nations" access to His Kingdom--what would be the point of letting the path get so foggy and dangerous?

These are all good questions that we have to be brave enough to ask.  There are many great books and websites that detail exactly when, who, and how each erroneous step was taken from the narrow path of truth onto the broad way of destruction.  The details about Jeroboam, Constantine, and Martin Luther are not the purpose of this writing.  My goal is to reveal the motive of the one true overarching source of all of this seemly misleading and distracting information.

I have to admit that early on in my walk, I decided that the mastermind behind every massive deception could only be Satan himself, mostly choosing to work subtly through sinful humans.  He is the “father of lies” (John 8:44), right?  Humankinds sinful nature provides the motive and the means, and Satan provides the opportunity and the inspiration.  Lately, however, I have been marveling at the way YHVH Himself has always used the corrupting power and tactics of the adversary to further His own agenda and plan.  After all, are we to believe that Satan can somehow “get one over” on The Creator, or that our Sovereign King has lost control?  It’s Satan, the created being, that is limited in his understanding and vision, not YHVH.  The Father of Lies, has a father himself, doesn't he? (Ezekiel 28:12-14)  In fact, it’s YHVH that tells us that He is the one who sends false prophets in order to test us. “…you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. For YHVH your Elohim is testing you, to know whether you love YHVH your Elohim with all your heart and with all your soul.” (Deut 13:3)

We often paraphrase “God works all things together for good” (Rom 8:28), often implying that YHVH is simply good at damage control.  I submit to you, however, that we have to admit that YHVH is and always has been in full control of this apparently chaotic world, including what appears to be the very frustrating destruction and dilution of His laws and principles in most Churches and Synagogues throughout history. Ironically, all of the deceptions that we “Messianic Torah Keepers” rightly despise, seem to have a designed purpose.

It is clear that YHVH deeply desires intimacy with us, but as He is so perfectly Holy, He must keep Himself and His ways hidden from us for our own safety and for the sake of His Name. In the wilderness tabernacle, He hid His Holiness above the ark, and protected the ark with one veil after another. Just like we humans may keep our most precious heirlooms in a safe-deposit box, the Father has done this with His very Heart; His heart is expressed through His commandments, and also through the true nature of His Son.  All of mankind has been invited into relationship with YHVH but He chooses not to force Himself upon us. Therefore, He has blatantly displayed His true self and His very nature in the Torah for all to embrace, but paradoxically, at the same time, He has used mankind’s sinful nature to protect his Holiness from the ‘unclean’. "Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.” (Matt 7:6)  However, in the end times, these ‘secrets’ will suddenly become apparent and the world will long for them. ”O YHVH, my strength and my stronghold, my refuge in the day of trouble, to you shall the nations come from the ends of the earth and say: "Our fathers have inherited nothing but lies, worthless things in which there is no profit.”” (Jer 16:19) “In those days ten men from the nations of every tongue shall take hold of the robe of a Jew, saying, 'Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.'" (Zec 8:23)

This is His pattern.  He hardened The Pharaoh’s heart to postpone the Exodus of His firstborn son (Israel) from Egypt until His timing was just right.  He used King Saul’s corrupt kingdom to prepare His people for a righteous King, when His timing was just right.  He used Judas Iscariot and Pontius Pilot as unwitting tools to sacrifice His only begotten Son when His timing was just right.  Likewise, He has used Constantine, Marcion, and even Charles Darwin to protect his precious and powerful Torah from unworthy and unholy hands…until His timing was just right.  Rather than shake our fists at Satan, these corrupt men, and the damage their lies have caused the world, we might be better off putting our energy into praising our awesome and sovereign creator.  We should be thanking Him for not just saving our very souls, but for allowing us to see a far clearer picture of who He is, and revealing the path to become more like His Son.

Just think of the brilliance!  YHVH has managed to put His precious and powerful commandments into almost every Western home, printed clearly in hundreds of diverse languages, and has even labeled The Book: THE HOLY BIBLE…yet at the same time He has managed to keep the value of the Torah hidden-- with most Christians casually skipping over it entire chapters and books.  Clearly, and in writing, He has detailed seven glorious feasts that all of His people are invited to, which He Himself attends.  He has described the perfect diet for those of us hand-made by YHVH himself.  He has clearly shared how best to handle money, marriage, childrearing, time, and He has given us clear rules as to how to avoid false teachers—especially those who come teaching in His name, and preforming miracles.  Most especially, He has disclosed the nature of His Messiah, so that no one who honestly shared YHVH’s heart, as revealed through the Torah, could possibly miss Him when He came.  Yet, most followers of “Jesus” who actually read these words in Scripture are somehow convinced that most of these commandments have been “done away with”, despite the fact that The Messiah Himself clearly says otherwise (Matt 5:17).  Most Christians don’t even acknowledge that Yeshua embraced every one of these commandments for His entire lifetime.

Think about what would have happened if the depth of The Father’s Holiness was revealed clearly to everyone in the world, without the divine “filter” of the aforementioned distractions.  How special and Holy would His Sabbath be if every “casual Christian” treated it as simply “one day in seven” or in the irreverent way that Sunday has been treated for decades now?  Isn’t it better that The Sabbath be ignored rather than “defiled”?  How set-apart and sanctified would Passover or His other Feasts be if billions of people around the world commercialized them and distorted them?  History proves that if the pronunciation of His very Name had not been “lost”, people would undoubtedly be using it as a curse word, instead of calling upon it in praise and worship.  The Father, in His omnipotence, has purposely hidden the most precious treasures of His Kingdom, IN PLAIN SIGHT, until these last days.  He has built an ‘ark of light’ for the coming flood of darkness, has kept it sealed and stocked with provisions for millennia, and has just begun to open the doors for all who love Him and are wise enough to see the approaching storm.  Within this ark are the “secrets of the Kingdom”-- the pure Torah, as delivered by Moses and taught by Yeshua.  Like Noah’s ark and the tiny version that saved baby Moses, the exterior of this ark is covered in nasty, stinky, ugly pitch and tar---in this case, the false traditions of men.

As much as we want to think of the Father and Yeshua as “light”, let us remember that it is His pattern to meet us in the dark.  In Genesis 1:2, the Spirit is hovering above the waters-- while at the same time, darkness was on the face of the deep.  In Genesis 15:12, Abraham meets YHVH in a vision and the setting is only described as “extremely dark”.  In Exodus 14:20, YHVH descends upon the mountain, and it is covered with darkness…not light.  Darkness surrounded Moses during his meetings with YHVH in Deut 5:22 and Ex 20:21, as well.  Even the Hebrew day begins with darkness…not light.  Paul met with the risen Yeshua personally, and was temporarily blinded as a result—now that’s dark.  Later, even while filled with The Spirit, Paul still wrote, “now we see through a glass darkly…”.  As believers in Yeshua, still in darkness to some degree or another, we are strongly encouraged to start heading for the light:

“The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.” (Rom 13:12)

“For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?” (2 Cor 6:14)

“And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing.  In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” (2 Cor 4:4)

"For nothing is hidden, except to be revealed; nor has anything been secret, but that it would come to light.’” (Mark 4:22)

It is the glory of Elohim to conceal a matter, and the glory of Kings to search it out. (Prov 25:2)

The harsh truth is, YHVH’s pattern is to reveal His brightest lights and deepest truths only to the select few who are not afraid to press into Him—to those who are not afraid of the dark nor confuse the darkness with light.  For example, why did Yeshua teach in parables when he could have spoken far more clearly and directly?  I am not the first to ask this question:

“The disciples came to him and asked, "Why do you speak to the people in parables?" He replied, "The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them.  Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance.  Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. This is why I speak to them in parables: "Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand. In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah:”

'You will be ever hearing but never understanding;
you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.
For this people's heart has become calloused;
they hardly hear with their ears,
and they have closed their eyes.

Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts
and turn, and I would heal them.'

But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. For I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.” (Matthew 13:10-16)

All this Yeshua said to the crowds in parables; indeed he said nothing to them without a parable. This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet: “I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter things hidden since the foundation of the world.” (Matthew 13:34-35)

Wow.  Even during the time that the Messiah walked on earth in person, He still insisted on hiding the truth from all, except for a select chosen few.  Sometimes when people came to the Messiah publicly declaring their desire to follow Him, He even turned them away! (Matt 19:22)  He wants us to dig for the truth…He always has.  Even after being saved, He still insists that we press into the Scriptures in order to continue to wash off the slime of darkness and walk in the brighter light…how is this done?

 “…For from ancient generations Moses has had in every city those who proclaim him, for he is read every Sabbath in the synagogues." (Acts 15:21). As suggested in the book of Acts, we are to study Moses (the Torah) in a methodical way (every Sabbath). That’s where the truth is…that is always where the light is.

Throughout history, The Father has allowed Constantine and his various councils to criminalize Torah observance in order to preserve what Yeshua called the “secrets of the Kingdom.”  He has allowed Marcion, a since discredited “early church father”, to invent and popularize the inaccurate terms ‘OLD’ and ‘NEW’ Testaments.  He has allowed Charles Darwin’s flawed theory to take root around the world, thus schools teach than mankind’s origin was just random chance, and that our true father’s were monkeys, our grandfathers were fish, and our great-grandfathers were ooze.  He has allowed the pagan celebration of Mithra’s Birthday (Christmas) and the pagan fertility festival (Easter) to almost completely overshadow the True celebrations of The Messiah.  Why did YHVH allow this?…to preserve the “secrets of the Kingdom”.  Great lengths have been taken to secure the Truths of the Torah, so rather than hate the ones who were simply part of the disguise, we need to understand that these lost and hardhearted souls, just may be part of His wonderful design.

Rejoice!  Throughout history, it has been a rare human being that has been invited to understand the secrets of BOTH the Torah and The Messiah (and therefore the secret that The Messiah IS the Torah). He calls us His ‘special treasure’ (Exo 19:5) for a reason. He calls us His ‘peculiar people’ (1 Pet 2:9), for a reason.  He calls us His ‘Kingdom of Priests’ (Ex 19:6), because He has revealed His Holy secrets to us and we have chosen to allow them to transform our lives.  We are “not of this world” (Romans 12:2) because we have been chosen for a time such as this, and He has revealed to us what has been hidden since the foundation of the world.

Ben