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Do we really know that He meant? Yahshua said, “But going, LEARN what this is” (Mat 9:13). Knowing can mean your eternal life!

      What is our goal, really? Is it a hazy, not too vivid, all-encompassing kind of thing, like “to get into the kingdom,” “to show love,” or “to do the work of Yahweh”?

      Each of us must have a much more clearly defined, moment-by-moment goal than that. A goal so vivid and so real that we can confidently know we are fulfilling Yahweh’s desires; His purpose for our lives.

      Everyone wants to live forever. But since we are merely physical human beings, we all face physical death.

The Starting Point

Death is a sobering reality. As David said, our life is but a “handbreadth” (Psa 39:5). We are here today and gone tomorrow.

Death is our final appointment in this life, and then we simply no longer exist. Nothing physical survives. We are gone. But spirit does survive. So our goal has to be one of spiritual survival.

What spiritual Survival Means

Look at it this way. Let’s suppose you want to hear music, so you compose a song. Then you hire an orchestra and a director. Finally you record their rendition by means of a tape recorder.

Afterward the orchestra disbands. The sheet music is destroyed. Everything physical that went into making the beautiful sounds is gone. But a perfect record of the whole effort remains recorded on tape. It can be replayed in a tape player at any time.

In the same way, the spirit in man is the spiritual record of each one of us. This is what survives. Yahweh put this spirit in man for a great purpose. Combined with our physical brain it enables us to think, to plan, to design. It gives us some of the imagination and even some of the desires of Yahweh Himself. And it provides Yahweh with a record of our attitudes, personality, acquired knowledge, our very character, all that which makes us, after we die. That which is physical decays and dies, but the spirit in man remains indestructible, eternal.

But why does Yahweh want a record? The answer is that Yahweh plans to “replay,” reconstitute, rebuild, resurrect, us exactly according to the pattern of what we will have become in this life, same basic personality, same attitudes, same character. And so the basic element of our whole being which will survive our physical life is our CHARACTER. Only we will then be composed totally of spirit.

So what is being recorded in your case? Think before you answer. Whatever it is, it has to be recognized by Yahweh as something He wants to survive eternally, or He will not “replay” for the purpose of eternal preservation the record that has been made.

And here is where the problem lies. Some of us will fulfill the sickening prophecy of non-recognition found in Matthew 7:21-23, where Yahshua said: “It will not be that just everyone who says to Me, Master, Master, will enter into the kingdom of Heaven… Many will say to Me in that day, Master, Master… And then I will declare to them, from everlasting, I never knew you.”

Physical Works Not the Criterion

Did you notice something very frightening about those words? Messiah was speaking of those who have identified Him and call Him Master like we do. They know He is the Messiah. But Messiah does not know them. He does not recognize them. He is looking for something that He cannot find. Therefore He will not replay their “record” for eternal life.

We keep the Sabbath, we tithe, we keep the Holy Days, we may pass out songbooks or give the opening or closing prayer, or even be ordained as a deacon. We may feel that these activities prove we are on our way into the Kingdom.

We may even be ordained into the ministry of Yahshua Messiah, give sermons, anoint the sick and see them healed, and even cast out demons! Wouldn’t you say that doing these things would be the obvious sign of a man of Yahweh, well on his way into Yahweh’s Kingdom?

But read what Messiah said: “Many will say to Me in that day, Master, Master, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name do many works of power?” (verse 22).

Do you grasp that? They have done all of those things that most of us would regard as the final stamp of approval from Yahweh. They have done great works, preached inspired sermons, anointed the sick and seen people healed, and cast out demons.

But didn’t the apostles heal the sick and cast out demons, before they were ever begotten of Yahweh’s Spirit? Didn’t Judas also do all these things? Yes they did! And so did some of the other religious Jews of Messiah’s time (Mat 12:27).

So what chance do you have? You’re a lay member of the congregation. Perhaps you took the leadership-training course but you are still not “used.” Have you failed? Maybe, but not because you were not ordained, If that were true, what about women in the congregation who don’t even lead in opening and closing prayer, and whose main duties are housekeeping?

Let’s understand something! Your physical activities are not what ensures your receiving eternal life in Yahweh’s Kingdom!

Recall Matthew 5:3-7. Yahshua said: “Blessed are the poor in spirit! For theirs is the kingdom of the Heavens… Blessed are the meek… Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness… Blessed are the merciful…” etc.

Notice that all these are qualities (attitudes) of mind, of character. And it is these qualities that are required in an eternal son of Yahweh.

A commandment Keeping Failure!

One young man came to Messiah and asked, just as we all do, “What shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?” (Mark 10:17). Notice that he went to the right person, just as we do. Messiah gave him the same answer that we are aware of: “You know the commandments…” (verse 19).

The young man told Him that he had observed and kept those laws from his youth. Then Yahshua loved this young man. He wanted to help him. But there was a problem, and Messiah knew that something was wrong. The problem was not physical; it was only expressed physically, but it was a spiritual problem. This man had a mind that coveted. So he was a command keeping failure, just as were the Israelites who tried to keep Yahweh’s commandments in Moses’ time.

Yahweh said of the ancient Israelites: “Would that this heart of theirs would be like this always, to fear Me, and to keep all My commandments…” (Deut 5:29). In other words, there was a spiritual inability, a spiritual lack, which prevented them from completely comprehending the spiritual meaning of the great laws of Yahweh. But brethren, we should not have that lack; we should have the Spirit of Yahweh in our minds. Yahweh’s laws are spiritual, and with His Spirit we can truly keep those laws in their spiritual intent.

The Kind of Mind to Cultivate

Notice the important question asked in Micah 6:6- 7: “With what shall I come before YAHWEH, to bow myself before the loftiness of Elohim?… Will YAHWEH be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of torrents of oil?” Is Yahweh going to be pleased with burnt offerings (physical works)? Shall we find approval from Yahweh with great tithes and offerings?

Now notice the startling answer in verse 8. “O man, He has declared to you what is good. And what does Yahweh require of you, but to do justice, and to love grace, and to walk humbly with your Elohim?”

Here is what Yahweh wants: He wants you to love mercy. Is there anything physical about that? Of course not. So be pursuing a merciful mind.

Are you happy when somebody who really deserves harsh punishment is forgiven and does not have to pay the penalty of his sins? Are you sure?

What happens when somebody has wronged you? Do you secretly hope they will be punished, that they will have to pay the just recompense for slandering or harming you? We must come to have a merciful mind that just loves to see people forgiven and allowed to escape the deserved penalty for their sins. For this is the mind of Messiah! This is the spiritual and mental yardstick by which we can measure and examine our own mind in every action of our lives.

The Greatness of Yahweh

“So says YAHWEH: Heaven is My throne, and earth the footstool of My feet. Where then is the house that you build for me?…” (Isa 66:1).

In effect, Yahweh is saying, “The vast expanse of the universe is all mine. The earth, which is so huge to you and to which you are limited, to me is about like something you would put your feet up on in your own home. This is just a part of my greatness. So what can you possibly do for Him?

‘And My hand has made all these things…’ (verse 2). Look how puny your efforts are physically in comparison to the tremendous vastness of my creation in space and its awesome immeasurable power!”

Can we do anything to compare with this? Of course not. Anything physical we would do in comparison with what Yahweh has already done is total futility.

But Yahweh will still come to know us, recognize us and ultimately use our spirit-in-man “record,” because of one thing. He will look at (or “look to”) us if each one of us is of a humble and of a contrite spirit, and trembles at His word. Messiah said that Yahweh seeks those who worship Him in spirit and in truth (John 4:24). Neither mental capacity nor a lack of it, nor race, nor sex, nor personal poverty can exclude any one of us from attaining to these things, which Yahweh is looking for. A poverty stricken paraplegic can still possess a poor and contrite spirit, for Yahweh is looking for something spiritual.

So acquiring and developing this spiritual character attribute must be our daily, hour-by-hour goal in life.

Moses Understood

Moses will be in Yahweh’s Kingdom not because of what he did physically, but because he “Moses was very humble, more than any man who was on the face of the earth” (Num 12:3).

The meek are going to rule the earth (Mat 5:5). Are you pursuing a goal of meekness? Don’t be deceived. It is not difficult to tell if you are one of the meek.

Meekness is totally different from feelings of inferiority. One who is meek is very teachable. He does not resent correction, regardless of the source from which it comes. You will not find harsh, unbending or critical attitude in the spiritually minded keeper of the Torah. One who is meek is easily approached by family, friends and the ministers.

Moses took instruction and correction from a man beneath him in rank. Even with his vast experience in government in Pharaoh’s court and with tremendous power that Yahweh displayed through him, when his father in law came to him and told him he was wrong, Moses listened and learned (Exo 18:13-27).

He did not take the attitude some of us display when one younger than ourselves gives a sermon or sermonette, or has a suggestion. Moses was not self-opinionated, or puffed up with his great office, or with his age or with what he had accomplished.

Was Moses merciful? When Miriam was struck with leprosy for criticizing Moses, he cried out to Yahweh to heal her instantly (Num 12). Would this have been our attitude?

Why David Will Rule

Meekness, a broken and contrite spirit, and all of the other attributes of Matthew 5 form the yardstick by which we can measure ourselves in Yahweh’s eyes. It is not sufficient to put this on merely as a Sabbath façade, but it must be a continuous, ever present goal in every activity, whether it is in our relationship with our employers, our wives our husbands, our children or any other human being.

Only this type of mind will be capable of safely handling the great power Yahweh is going to put in our hands.

Would you want a jealous, envious, revengeful type of person to rule over you? Obviously not. Neither does Yahweh.

Do you mentally hunger and thirst after righteousness (Mat 5:6)? With deep emotion David said, “Open my eyes and I will see wonderful things from Your Torah” (Psa 119:18). Why? Because David realized his safety was in not wandering from the commandments of Yahweh. He knew that if his ways were directed by Yahweh’s law, he would not make mistakes and be ashamed (verses 6,10).

But what did David do when he was cursed and had stones thrown at him? Did he take vengeance? Notice a spiritual mind in action when Abishai, David’s bodyguard, asked if he might destroy a man who deserved death. David replied: “For let him curse, even because YAHWEH has said to him, Curse David. And who shall say, Why have you done so?… Leave him alone, and let him curse, for YAHWEH has spoken to him. Perhaps YAHWEH will look on my affliction, and YAHWEH will return good to me for his cursing this day” (2nd Sam 16:10- 12).

Would you react that way in similar circumstances?

David will be in Yahweh’s family not because of his military or other physical accomplishments, but because of his great spiritual strength and a mind that loved Yahweh’s Torah and meditated on it, until, by means of the Holy Spirit, he came to understand the spirit of the law.

The Rest of the Story

What is the spirit of the Torah? The Pharisees were very strict keepers of the law. But Messiah called them hypocrites because they missed the most important part of the law. Messiah said: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithes of mint and dill and cumin, and you have left aside the weightier matters of the Torah judgment, and mercy, and faith…” (Mat 23:23).

Did you notice that the most important aspects of the Torah, the “weightier matter, “ are good judgment (what we might call balance today), mercy and faith? These are spiritual things. And this is why “the Torah is spiritual” (Rom 7:14).

“The Torah has authority over a man as long as he lives” (Rom. 7:1), but as true believers we should “serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter” (verse 6).

You may not steal, but are you envious, jealous, stubborn or revengeful? One of the biggest problems we have in the congregation today is the breaking of the law of faith. But Yahweh says without faith it is impossible to please Him (Heb 11:6).

Can we begin to understand why David said, “Great peace is to those who love Your Torah, and there is no stumbling block to them” (Psa 119:165)? Or why Isaiah said, “The work of righteousness shall be peace; and the service of righteousness shall be quietness and hope forever” (Isa 32:17)?

Both David and Isaiah understood the spiritual purpose of the Torah. They had the mind of Messiah! Do we?

The greatest expression of the mind of Yahweh is mercy. It caused Messiah to be willing to die for and at the hands of those who deserved to die. In His most horrible moment, forsake, beaten beyond recognition, He said: “Father forgive them…” (Luke 23:34).

The same Yahshua was quoting from Hosea 6:6, an Old Testament prophet, when He said: “Going, learn what this is, I desire mercy and not sacrifice” why? “For I did not come to call the righteous ones but the sinners to repentance” (Mat 9:13).

Have you learned what it means to have mercy?