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Sermons Series 3:84, 10 March 2007
Holy Echad Marriage
Part 1: The Mystery of Oneness
Main Themes:
Minor Themes:
Grace and peace in Yah'shua our Messiah to you all and Shabbat Shalom. I have a rather long scriptural passage to read to you to begin my address today, a whole chapter from the Gospel of John, that has come to be known by Scriptorians as as the High Priestly Prayer of Yah'shua the Messiah, Yah'shua being our eternal Cohen Gadol or High Priest. Alongside the Lord's Prayer and the Beattitudes it is one of the most profound prayers ever spoken by not only our Messiah but by anyone who has ever lived. In it is the formula for all relationship-building. In it are the keys to a happy and fulfilling marriage and congregational life. And most importantly of all, it shows us how to be in right relationship with Yahweh, our Heavenly Father, the most important relationship of all. By building upon its structure and principles, we are given the keys to the very depths of love and loving. It is for that reason that I call it Christianity's Magna Carta Libertatum or 'Great Charter (Paper, Map) of Freedoms'.
If you want to know how to truly live and be happy and free, this prayer needs to be framed, illuminated, put in a prominent place in your heart and its principles learned. My purpose today is to do that, illuminating it with other Scriptures so that we can have a complete picture on how to live a blessed life with Yahweh and with each other. My goal today is to throw a bright light on what what we in Mishpachah Lev-Tsiyon called Holy Echad Marriage or 'HEM' for short. Let's go to the 17th chapter of the Gospel of John and read through it carefully. (For those of you reading the written version, I have highlighed the key conceptss).
"Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him. And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true Elohim, and Yah'shua the Messiah whom You have sent. I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do. And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.
"I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. Now they have known that all things which You have given Me are from You. For I have given to them the words which You have given Me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came forth from You; and they have believed that You sent Me. I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours. And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them. Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one (echad) as We are. While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. But now I come to You, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth.
"I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one (echad), as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one (echad) in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one (echad) just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one (echad), and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me. Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father! The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me. And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them" (John 17, NKJV).
In this wonderful prayer, Yah'shua speaks of three types of relationship: (1) The relationship between Himself and His Father Yahweh; (2) The relationship between Himself and His Disciples; and (3) The relationship bettween the disciples themselves. All of these relationships are intimately connected and whilst they are 'separate' relationships in themselves, each relationship affects the others so that to all intents and purposes there is a supra-relationship that is above, and yet includes all the others. There is one guiding power. What touches one touches all the other simultaneously. The heavenly goal in this prayer is crystal clear: complete and total unity between the Godhead - who are already exist in this state - and the disciples, and total unity between the disciples. This unity is described by the Hebrew word echad which literally means 'many-in-one' as opposed to yachid which means a single entity. The Shema expresses this echad as total agreement in mind, heart and spirit between the different members of the Godhead:
"Hear, O Israel: Yahweh our Elohim, Yahweh is echad (one)" (Deut.6:4, NIV).
The Elohim, consisting of Father, Son and sevenfold Ruach haQodesh, have total unity. There is no disagreement or disharmony between them. They work in such a close unison that we can call all of them by the Father's Name, Yahweh. And indeed, on a few occasions in Scripture, Yah'shua is directly associated with Yahweh. Just we we carry the surnames of our fathers, so Yah'shua carries the Name of His Father, Yahweh, in the 'Yah' part of His Name.
The goal of the High Priestly prayer is to bring the disciples into the same echad union with each other and with Yah'shua, as Yah'shua has with Yahweh and the Ruach haQodesh. And though we, as disciples, are mere creatures, unlike the Godhead who are uncreated - though we are mortal and They are immortal, though we have sin and they do not, yet this prayer calls us into the same echad. Yah'shua is not petitioning Yahweh to do the impossible - what He asks for is entirely realistic. Indeed, this is precisely what Yah'shua died for - it's what He was preparing for before His arrest, trial, crucifixion and resurrection. The whole purpose of the atonement - the whole Plan of Salvation - existed, and exists, precisely to bring us into echad with each other and with Yahweh-Elohim. This is what everything is about!
Well, that's a pretty major commission! This was Yah'shua deepest desire before He was led to the Cross. This is what He was living for and what He would shortly die for. The whole passion of His Being is to be found in this one great divine imperative - to make echad! But what does that mean in practice? How does one attain to this state which is enjoyed by the Godhead? The history of mankind teaches is that it is impossible for men and women to do this unaided. No utopian ideal or experiment has ever succeeded. Man simply lacks the power to bring about this paradisaical condition.
To understand how echad works and what it is, requires that we understand the allegory that Yah'shua uses to describe His relationship to His disciples. The first mention of this allegory is to be found early on in the Gospel of John by John the Baptist (Yochanan haMatbeel) who gives a sign showing how to identify the Messiah:
"'A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness, that I [John the Baptist] said, 'I am not the Messiah,' but, 'I have been sent before Him.' He who has the bride is the bridegroom (Yah'shua); but the friend (John) of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease. He who comes from above (Yah'shua) is above all; he who is of the earth (John) is earthly and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven (Yah'shua) is above all. And what He has seen and heard, that He testifies; and no one receives His testimony. He who has received His testimony has certified that Elohim is true. For He whom Elohim has sent speaks the words of Elohim, for Elohim does not give the Ruach by measure. The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand. He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of Elohim abides on him" (John 3:27-36, NKJV).
Here Yah'shua is compared to a Bridegroom and the Messianic Assembly - the believers or 'church' - are likened to a Bride. The relationship in terms of spiritual intensity and depth is likened to a marriage. And as a means of identifying the Messiah, John the Baptist says: "He who has the bride is the bridegroom". That's how you'll know Yah'shua - by the fact that he 'has', 'owns' or 'possesses' His bride! They love, adore, submit to, follow, and obey Him. You will understand who the Bridegroom is by looking at the positioning - spiritually and physically - of the Bride. The Bride bears witness of the Bridegroom. Similarly:
"... it is the Ruach who bears witness, because the Ruach is truth" (1 John 5:6, NKJV).
The Book of Revelation (Gilyahna) speaks much of this relationship between Yah'shua and His disciples, again likening it to a marriage union. We are described as being allegorically betrothed, awaiting the time when we will be fully married to Him. Using similar imagery, the New Jerusalem - our spiritual home - we read:
"Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from Elohim, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 'Now the dwelling of Elohim is with men, and He will live with them. They will be His people, and Elohim himself will be with them and be their Elohim" (Rev 21:1-4, NIV).
As a husband, Yah'shua will live with us, and we will become His literal dwelling place. We shall be together with Him again as Adam and Eve once were with Yahweh in the Garden of Eden. A little further on we read:
"One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, 'Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.' And he carried me away in the Ruach to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from Elohim. It shone with the glory of Elohim, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. It had a great, high wall with twelve gates, and with twelve angels at the gates. On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south and three on the west. The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb" (Rev.21:9-14, NIV).
Finally, we see a comparison being made between the Ruach and the bride as they call upon everyone to receive Yah'shua as the Master and Deliverer:
"The Ruach and the bride say, 'Come!' And let him who hears say, 'Come!' Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life" (Rev.22:17, NIV).
This association between the Ruach haQodesh and the Messianic Community is not accidental because both are female - the one literal and the other symbolically. Both are in submissive position - the Ruach to Yahweh and the Messianic Community as the bride to the Bridegroom, Yah'shua. They are both wives, literal and allegorical. Earlier we read John the Baptist testifying: "He who has the bride is the bridegroom" and can understand that Yah'shua both had the Ruach and the Messianic Community, both of whom are brides. The mark of the Messiah is His possession of both.
There is no accident that Yahweh uses human marriage as a picture of the relationship between Himself and Israel and between Yah'shua and the Messianic Community. He is saying that the relationship is like human marriage. So it should come as no surprise to us to learn that since Yahweh is good and holy, that marriage is good and holy too. Neither should it come as a surprise for us to learn that the relationship between an earthly husband and wife exactly parallels the divine allegorical one. If we can understand the true relationship between us and Yah'shua - if we can get a grip on the true order and glory of it - then we can get a grip on the true order and glory of marriage between spouses. Indeed, we can understand the relationship between the Father and Ruach haQodesh so much better too.
We have already seen in the High Priestly prayer of Yah'shua, which we're going to look at minutely in a moment, that when Yahweh speaks of desiring an infinitely deep closeness between Himself and us that He has created marriage to enable husbands and wife to achieve exactly the same infinite depth and closeness through Him. In the mystery of echad Yahweh is offering us a partnership that is the exact likeness of heaven. Yah'shua indeed commands it of us. The whole point of His prayer is to make sure the disciples understand that if they are to be His disciples, then echad must, and will, follow. And since He tells us to 'do' it, this implies most strongly that it won't be handed on a plate: it is something we must work at, like all relationships.
When a man and woman fall in love with each other and marry, what is it they desire? They want the romance to last forever. They want the passion to last forever. They want the intimacy and closeness to get deeper and deeper. But things get in the way. They drift. They get into disputes. Things fall apart. Today in the West 50-60% of all marriages fail, and 80-90% of all common-law unions fail. Something is seriously wrong. Indeed, marriage has never been in such a terrible state generally. Nothing like today's condition has ever existed in the whole history of the world. If marriage is to work and prosper then we cannot look to the world for solutions because the world is so obviously off-track. The statistics speak for themselves: humanism doesn't work. We have to go to Yahweh, to the Bible, and understand how it's supposed to be and how it's supposed to be done.
One of the reasons that marriage has fallen apart at the seams is that Yahweh's rôle-models have been systematically destroyed by false philosophies, secular as well as religious. We live in an anti-family and anti-marriage age. In the United Kingdom, 90% of all adult females have jobs. The home is a ghost by day, an empty shell. Children are disgorged into state-sponsored schools where they are 'brought up' in the thinking of the world. The family meets briefly in the morning for breakfast, briefly in the evening for supper - and then disperses. Indeed, families often eat alone these days. The family is a collection of yachid units either sat in front of the TV or PC or out on the town entertaining themselves. The word 'family' has become a misnomer in all but genes.
The model of marriage given in Scripture is viewed by the world as utterly alien, even repulsive, which is probably why the world disdains Elohim too. Yahweh just doesn't satisfy the carnal inclination of man who would rather have Him as a supernatural dispensing machine granting him instant gratification of his carnal wishes at the press of a prayer button.
Human marriage is looked at in much the same way more often than not. People are seen as commodities. Relationship doesn't matter. Today people have 'sex buddies' - people with whom you just have a physical relationship, but no more, and for mutually agreed lengths of time. Even marriage contracts have 'sunset clauses' in them. Everything is very flexible, nothing is very fixed. Here today and gone tomorrow. Welcome to the 21st century. Welcome to spiritual anarchy. Welcome to a planet of yachid 'relationships' - of everyone for him- or herself, who have little or no idea of echad or its bliss. Now if you want this close intimacy of heaven, then listen on as I reveal to you the plain truth of Scripture. This will require that you be retrained to see and listen - most people read over parts of the scripture in a state of far-sightedness - they are reading the words but they are looking at a meaning 'beyond' the words which isn't there. They're looking into the distance beyond Yahweh and into their own fantasy. They are filtering out the meaning and turning the Word of Elohim into something they want and expect. So the first thing we have to do, if we are true born-again, Bible-accepting believers, is to let the Bible speak for itself and swallow the truth wholesale. Otherwise we have no right to call ourselves 'Bible-believing' or 'people of the Book'..
We have seen that the echad that is to obtain spiritually between us as believers, and between us and Yah'shua, is to be the same as that between Yahweh and Yah'shua. We have also seen, and know, that to have a meaningful relationship with Yah'shua we need to totally and fully belong to Him. But 'how' are we supposed to 'belong'? What actually does that word 'belong' mean?
If you ask a group of believers if they 'belong' to Yah'shua they will probably, without hestitation, say that they do. But if you then ask them to define the word 'belong' you'll probably get a wide range of meanings. Our English word 'belong' has many interpretations: (1) to be the property or possession of; (2) to be a member of a club or church; (3) to be classified together with; (4) to be a part or adjunct of; (5) to have a proper or usual place; (6) to be acceptable socially. So in what sense do you 'belong' to Yah'shua? The Biblical sense of belonging is complete and total owership or possession. You will strive in vain to find any other. To belong to Yah'shua means that we have no rights or privileges independent of the ones He gives us. That applies to men as well as to women. We are to Him as an allegorical wife, individually and collectively.
An allegory, as we have seen, is a picture of something real and tangible. That reality is the divinely instituted estate of marriage. Yah'shua says we are to be echad with Him just like a wife belongs to - or is owned and possessed by - her husband. He's saying our relationship to Him is like true marriage. He is saying that husbands should treat their wives as He treats us, and wives are to behave towards their husbands in the way He expects us to behave towards Him. His heart-love towards us is to be the same heart-love of a husband towards his wife; and our heart-love towards Him is supposed to be the same heart-love of a wife to her husband. The fact that we are mortal and fallible, and He is immortal and infallible, does not change the nature of the love or the relationship. He already has our 'all' if we love Him., so what we give to our spouses comes from Him anyway. It's all ultimately 'His' loving.
The pattern is most exact. Bride and bridegroom have mutual obligations. And Scripture does not beat about the bush on this matter. They're very familiar to you but let's try and see them through the lens of Yah'shua's High Priestly prayer today. This message is for both husbands and wives. First the husbands:
"Husbands, love your wives, just as Messiah loved the Messianic Community ('church') and gave Himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant Community ('church'), without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself" (Eph.5:25-28, NIV).
Husbands are to love their wives in the same way that Yah'shua loves us, the Messianic Community or 'church'. That involves self-sacrifice to make her holy, it means washing her through teaching her the Word - scripture and the revelation of the Ruach through him - so that he can present her to himself radiant, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, set-apart to Yahweh and blameless. The mission of love of a husband is to do this! In fact, the husband is to love his wife like his own body, leading and guiding her as her teacher and guide in all things. That's his responsibility and he is answerable to Yah'shua for it, just as Yah'shua is answerable to Yahweh for His stewardship.
But if he is to do that, a husband must not hate or despise himself (v.29) - he has to work out his own salvation with fear and trembling (Phil.2:12) because he won't actually love his wife as he ought to unless he can live with himself and like himself. He must be able to love his neighbour as he loves himself (Mk.12:29-31). He has to cater for his own spiritual needs. Is he supposed to sacrifice? Yes. Is he supposed to be a martyr, putting his own salvation on the line? Never. "After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Messiah does the Messianic Community" (Eph.5:29, NIV), said Paul. So the first duty of husbands is to get themselves right with Yahweh because until he does, he will not be able to love his wife in the way that Yah'shua expects. That means, amongst other things, that he has to get out of the management and control of his father and mother and run his own life (v.31). As a husband, who has left home, he is his own master now under the Master Yahweh. Is he still a son to his father? Yes, he is, and he has obligations within the wider Messianic community, but his home is his own. His wife and children are solely under his management provided he remains within the fence of Torah.
Now I have placed the husband's obligations first here though chronologically the wife's come first in Scripture. There is not much Yah'shua can do for us as the allegorical wife if we don't open the door of our heart to Him, invite Him in, and surrender to Him in everything (Rev.3:20). We can't 'remind' Yah'shua of what He 'ought' to be doing for us because that won't make a blind bit of difference until we are in a position to be blessed and loved by Him in a real and intimate way. Besides, it is not our affair to tell Deity what to do in anything. We must learn the lesson of Job and Solomon, maintain a repentant heart and not be presumptuous (Job 42:6; Eccl.12:13-14). Similarly, a wife who comes to her husband 'demanding' that he behave this way or that, or conform to what scripture says he must do, will achieve nothing until she has first done her part. This is what Paul started with:
"Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Master [Yah'shua]. For the husband is the head of the wife as Messiah is the head of the Messianic Community, His body, of which He is the Saviour. Now as the Messianic Community submits to Messiah, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything" (Eph.5:22-24, NIV).
In the High Priestly prayer of Yah'shua, echad only becomes possible through complete submission. Wives are supposed to submit to their earthly husbands "as to the Master [Yah'shua]" - in other words, in exactly the same way as we submit to Yah'shua. This is not some different 'type' of surrender. This isn't a 'Grade 2' surrender - it's the same surrender. Yahweh does not here speak of 'selective surrender' or 'quid pro quo surrender' - if you do your bit for Yahweh then I'll do mine for you. He tells wives to surrender in "everything" or "all things" in the same way she would surrender to Yah'shua. There is nothing mystical or complicated here. It's the same action. Here is the first key to echad. The mode of surrender is identical. That is because the surrendering of the allegorical bride to the Messiah is the same as a wife surrendering to her husband - it is total and unreserved.
But there is a qualifier, because Yah'shua in his turn is surrendered to Who? To Yahweh! And what was the sign that He was surrendered to Yahweh? He did everything His Father told Him and lived by every word that proceeded from His Father's mouth. He did not do His own will. Similarly, a true earthly husband, to whom a wife is obliged to surrender, should be doing as Yah'shua did to Yahweh: obeying Yah'shua in all things. A wife is to surrender to her husband on the understanding that, imperfect though he may be, his heart-desire is to do Yah'shua's will in everything. And she should do so for the sake of his calling as her head which Yahweh has sanctified. She is obliged to surrender to her husband unconditionally unlesss he commands her to break Torah - if he does that - and only if he does that - does she have a higher obligation to Yahweh. The Ten Commandments are her touchstone. Otherwise she is to surrender to him in all things and not oppose his judgments. She may not always agree but she is expected to yield and to trust him, just as we are expected to yield to Yahweh's decisions for our lives even if they do not at first make sense to us. Does this mean a wife should treat her husband like deity? Like a god? Absolutely not. To be Deity one would have to not only possess but originate divine power. That a husband does not have. But in his positioning, by Yahweh's command - by His authority - he is to be yielded to. And iof he attempts to be what he is not, Yahweh will expose him and move him out of the way.
Now Yah'shua wants to give us everything, just as a true husband wishes to give everything he has to his wife, but He is constrained until we open our hearts and surrender to Him. So long as He is on the outside and the door of our heart is closed, He could pour Himself until He was totally empty and it wouldn't make a bit of difference to us. It would be like pouring water 'into' an upturned glass. It would just spill all over the place. In the same way, a husband cannot fulfil His obligation to Yah'shua and fill His wife to the brim with his love - which love is from Yah'shua - until she has fully yielded to him in "everything". Because until she does, everything he pours into her will simply be wasted. That is why the wife must first submit, not because the man wants to trample on her, but because his hands are tied to bless her until she does. And I am of course speaking of a righteous man - one who loves Yahweh according to the Shema:
"Hear, O Israel: Yahweh our Elohim, Yahweh is echad (one). Love Yahweh your Elohim with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts" (Deut.6:4-7, NIV).
What if he doesn't? What if he is an unbeliever? Should she then 'down tools' and give him a 'piece of her mind'? Should she assume the command, and 'act for Yahweh'? Well, Scripture tells us what she is to do in such a situation:
"Wives, in the same way be submissive to your husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behaviour of their wives, when they see the purity and reverence of your lives" (1 Peter 3:1-2, NIV).
As I have preached so many times, we do not win people to the Gospel by the eloquence of our words or even our immaculate doctrine but by our behaviour. Similarly, a wife will not win over her husband to her point of view by bad-mouthing him, or by trying to pressure him to a conclusion to her liking, whether he is a believer or not. Instead, what is she to do? She is to win her husband through her submission which leads her to perform righteous deeds, for then her husband will be won over by her purity and reverence. There is no other way. Having a duel or a contest of words is not the Christian way. It isn't Yahweh's way. And if a wife does not follow this pattern, she will fail, because she is not operating in the Ruach. The Gospel is not about being 'right' but about being 'righteous'. It is not about 'rights' but about 'obligations'. Each has his and her obligation to Yahweh independent of the other - the husband is obliged to be loving (whether the wife is submissive or not) and the wife is obliged to be submissive (whether the husband is loving or not). All other approaches are not of Yahweh but of the god of this world (2 Cor.4:4).
You'll find the same pattern repeated over and over again in Scripture:
"Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Master. Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them" (Col.3:18-19, NIV).
Notice the order again and the mutual obligations. Further:
"... wives are to be women worthy of respect, not malicious talkers but temperate and trustworthy in everything ... a deacon must be married and must manage his children and his household well" (1 Tim 3:11-12, NCV).
Finally, of wives, Paul says:
"Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in Elohim's sight. For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in Elohim used to make themselves beautiful. They were submissive to their own husbands, like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham and called him her master. You are her daughters if you do what is right and do not give way to fear. Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers" (1 Peter 3:3-7, NIV).
It's been suggested to me in the past that there are two types of 'biblical woman' and that women can pick which of the two they should imitate - the 'industrious, dynamic hard worker' of Proverbs 21:10-31 verses the 'gentle and quiet' variety of the New Testament. Let me say here and now that there is no incompatibility between gentleness and industriousness. A righteous woman is both. And even if there were a difference between Old and New Covenants as far as Yahweh's ideal is concerned, the New would always take precedence. However, Yahweh has not changed in His position on gender rôle models. The New Testament affirms the Old in many places, including the one we have looked at where Sarah is set before women believers as a choice lady of Elohim to imitate. Men are similarly to be like Abraham (Gal.3:7). The men are to be like Moses too of whom it is written:
"Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth" (Num.12:3, NIV).
So, no, there aren't two types of biblical women that the ladies can choose between any more than there are two types of men. The men are to imitate Yah'shua and the women are to imitate the Ruach haQodesh. Paul calls all of this a "profound mystery" (Eph.5:29, NIV), as indeed it is, because it is the key to the operation of the entire universe.
These then are some of the scriptures that speak of gender rôle models in marriage. Are these, as some have argued, only the opinions of Paul and Peter? In fact not. We have already seen their Torah-roots but now we will take an in depth-look at the High Priestly prayer of Yah'shua our Messiah and see the pattern with even greater clarity. It is a most detailed map. He is Himself, as always, the model, setting the example. Ultimately it's all about imitating Him.
In the High Priestly prayer, we begin with the man - the husband. It begins with the man receiving authority which he is supposed to use to fulfil an obligation:
"Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him" (vv.1-2).
Man in himself does not possess eternal life because he is mortal. But the eternal life that Yahweh has given to the husband because of his headship position as one who is in authority - what is the husband supposed to with it? He is supposed to give that life to his wife! He has full authority over his wife so that, as she surrenders to him, he can pass on this life to her - living waters - which he has received from Yah'shua for that purpose. Does that mean that a wife can only get etermal life through her husband? Does that mean she must go through him to get to Yah'shua? No, of course not. No living person can substitute for the Messiah for another. Eternal life may be, and must be, obtained directly from Source by all. Men and women come to Yah'shua for salvation as equals as though there were no male or female (Gal.3:26-29). But the aspect of eternal life that protects a woman as a wife, and nourishes her within her relationship to her husband, and gives her covering in place of her father, this is only available through her husband, because Yahweh has placed it there for that purpose, so that she cannot say: "I will do this alone with Yah'shua but without my husband." If she wants the full blessings of being a wife in Yah'shua - indeed if she wants echad - then she can go to no other source than her husband, not because her husband is a god, but because Yahweh has placed that blessing in him. You cannot bypass or get around divinely instituted authorities. When you try to, you are rebelling against Yahweh, not your husband. And if Yahweh has done it this way, then it is because He knows what is best for the woman. Similarly, if a man tries to bypass Yahweh and attempts to set himself up as a god, he will find himself cut off from source, left to his own puny resourses, and be unable to properly nourish and cover his wife. He will be punished for idolatry.
"And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true Elohim, and Yah'shua the Messiah whom You have sent. I have glorified You on the earth" (v.3).
The husband passes on this life to his wife so that she may know the Father and the Son in a unique way - through a male vessel, the head, her husband. She may know Yah'shua herself through personal relationship but there is a unique revealing that only comes viâ her husband, just as there is a unique way of knowing the Father through the Son. You can't know the Father without knowing the Son (Jn.14:6). There are no by-passes.
"No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him" (Matt.11:27, NIV).
Whom the the Son chooses to reveal the Father to is not arbitrary of capricious but by divine will. He is fully surrendered and obedient to the Father.
Yahweh has given this 'knowing' to and through the Son just as Yah'shua has given this 'knowing' to and through the husband. Yah'shua revealed Yahweh in a way never before seen. We are able to know Yahweh today in a way never known by the ancients. He incarnated, lowering Himself. He also reveals Himself through imperfection, through man. A husband must do the same for his wife. She must come to know Yah'shua as her husband does, and that can only come through knowing her husband. The world may not like that, but that is the divine order. You might as well quarrel with the cosmos as expect some other pattern. The divorce statistics speak for themselves. Similarly, it is the woman who reveals the Ruach haQodesh to her husband by her behaviour - by her softness, love, gentleness and quietness. It is the man who reveals Yah'shua to his wife by incarnating His strength, love, purpose, overall plan and direction. Each gender in Deity is its own revelation to the other. But if a man tries to imitate a woman, or a woman a man, they will both fail.
"I have finished the work which You have given Me to do. And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was" (vv.4-5).
Every man has a mission - a work to accomplish, just as Yah'shua did. Yah'shua died for the whole world and made atonement. Every man has his wife, children, and some others that he is responsible for - he has a small patch of the Kingdom, a little corner of the vineyard, to tend as Adam tended the Garden of Eden. The whole duty of his wife is to support him in this work (Gen.2:18,20) . She has no work independent of him, and if she does, it is a part of his work, because he is the steward over it. Her duty is to assist him to complete his work - whether raising godly offspring, taking care of house and home, home industry, or the ministry. The husband's work is from Yah'shua, as Yah'shua's was from His Father Yahweh. Yah'shua will glorify both husband and wife as the husband fulfils his commission and as she assists him. She is not on an 'independent mission' anymore than Yah'shua was. The husband glorifies his wife as she is submissive and obedient to him because he is submissive and obedient to Yah'shua.
"I have manifested Your Name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word" (vv.4-5).
The duty of the husband is to manifest the Name of Yah'shua in his life and deeds in the same way that Yah'shua manifested Yahweh's Name in His impeccable life, so that people will say: "There is a man of Elohim" and be drawn to Yah'shua through that man. They will observe the behaviour of his wife and children and give praise to Elohim. The husband's wife and children originally belonged to Yah'shua ("they were yours") but Yah'shua gave them to their husband and father ("you gave them to Me") with a purpose: to teach them all truth and to cause them to live it ("they have kept your word"). The ownership has been transferred by Divine Contract: the wife and children are owned by Yah'shua's proxy, their husband and father - the wife permanently and the children until they leave home. If the proxy is rejected, then so is the One who made the proxy, and that gives Satan legal grounds to fill the vacuum and make his claims. From then on the ground beneath our feet is sand rather than the rock of Messiah.
"Now they have known that all things which You have given Me are from You. For I have given to them the words which You have given Me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came forth from You; and they have believed that You sent Me" (vv.7-8).
How is a wife and how are a man's children to know that all the things which he has received are from Yah'shua? By incarnating Yah'shua's words! By becoming a living vessel of Messiah's Truth. The purpose of both Yah'shua and a husband are to manifest, reveal and incarnate the Names of Yahweh and Yah'shua, respectively, to those they own, namely the Messianic Bride and a wife, respectively. The husband and father is to bear witness by his life that he comes forth from Yah'shua so that his wife and children may believe in him. He comes in Yah'shua's Name, with His authority and with eternal life from Yah'shua. It is his calling to manifest these so that those who are owned legally also know it in their hearts and may dwell in their husband's and father's heart with safety.
"I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours. And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them" (vv.9-10).
What is the man's responsibility? To pray for those whom he has been given. First his wife and chidlren, and then for those he is called to minister to. These are his. But they are only his because they are Yah'shua's, and Yah'shua has given them to him to take care of. Not as a replacement of Yah'shua who is always the ultimate Owner and Empowerer (just as Yah'shua is Yahweh's), but as His fleshy manifestation or incarnation. A man's glory is in proportion to his service to these to whom he has been given to pray for, to love, and to bring to Yah'shua. He is not glorified according to his authority but his works in that authority. The authority exists so that he may perform the works and bring glory to Yah'shua who thereby glorifies Yahweh because we are His. The wife's duty is to present her works to her husband so that her husband may be glorified; he is to present his wife's works as his own works so that Yah'shua may be glorified; and Yah'shua in turn presents them to His Father so that ultimately all the glory goes to Yahweh:
"[The man] is the image and glory of Elohim; but the woman is the glory of man" (1 Cor.11:7, NIV).
Are you beginning to get the picture of what echad and set-apart marriage are all about? Are you seeing the pattern? Then let is examine this High Priestly prayer further:
"Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one (echad) as We are" (v.11).
What is the Yahweh-centred husband's consummate desire? That his wife and family should be one or echad with him as he is one or echad with Yah'shua. This is all he wants because he knows that everything else that is needful flows from this. Yah'shua desires that the Messianic Community be one or echad here too, just as the Elohim are. This passage can also be extended to the literal plural family situation too - the Rachel's and Leah's are to be one or echad too in and through Jacob, just as the individual members of the Messianic Communmity are echad in and through Yah'shua. It's exactly the same pattern here - there can only be one (yachid) source because there can only be one binding element. For Jacob, what bound Leah and Rachel to him and to each other was the Ruach flowing through him in the same way that what binds believers together as an allegorical uniplural bride is the Ruach flowing through them from Yah'shua:
"But when the Helper (Comforter, Counsellor, Ruach haQodesh) comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Ruach of truth who proceeds from the Father, She will testify of Me" (John 15:26, NKJV).
Please note that it is Yah'shua who sends the Ruach who proceeds from the Father to each person individually which then binds them. Similarly, Jacob sends the Ruach from Yah'shua to comfort, help, counsel and bind Leah and Rachel together in him as they bathe in his heart-waters. It is those Ruach-waters that bind in one echad. As it is written:
"If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that She may abide with you forever -- the Ruach of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Her nor knows Her; but you know Her, for She dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you" (John 14:15-18, NKJV, adapted; cp. Is.66:13).
The Ruach is here the agent of the Father binding true believers to one another in mystical echad union. By the same token, the Ruach here is the agent of Yah'shua - and since Yah'shua has appointed the man the head of the woman, giving the woman to the man, so the Ruach becomes the agent of the husband in binding Rachel and Leah together in Jacob the husband. Their relationship cannot be defined apart from Jacob anymore than the relationship between believers in Yah'shua can be defined apart from Yah'shua. Other relationships may exist, but if they are outside this pattern, then they are not of Him, but of the world. To be pure, consecrated and holy it must be "all in all" (1 Cor.15:28) -- all in Yahweh, all in Yah'shua and (in this special example) all in Jacob.
"While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled" (v.12).
The husband 'keeps' or 'owns' his wife and children in Yah'shua's Name, just as Yah'shua keeps us in the Name of Yahweh. A husband's own name is not enough. - in fact, without the Name of Yah'shua owning it, it is usuless to protect or save. 'Peter' cannot save his wife but 'Peter ben Mashiach' can. A wife or child being able to say with confidence: "Yahweh is my fortress and my husband/father is my covering" - hangs on the husband/father being able to say: "Yahweh is my fortress and Yah'shua is my covering".
Yah'shua lost only one of those who was His - namely Judas - so that scripture might be fulfilled. We too must face our losses. Adam lost Cain. David lost Solomon. It is part of the pain and risk of free choice. There is no guarantee that all will be saved in this life - only the individual has the power to decide that, whether he will trust and obey or not, and whether he will put himself outside the fence of Torah-protection or not.
"But now I come to You, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves" (v.13).
The righteous husband wishes his wife and family to be filled with his joy - his simchah - the joy he obtains from Yah'shua. It is for this purpose that he daily goes to Yah'shua to be filled, so that he may fill them. His one thought is how to bring the joy of Messiah to his loved ones! That's all Yah'shua wanted for us - the same joy that He obtains from His Father, Yahweh. That is His driving force. That is what drives a true man of Elohim. And not just for his biological family but for all those he has responsibililty for. That is the consummate passion of a true Pastor - to have his joy of Messiah flood into his flock through his preaching, teaching and ministry, which he knows comes from and is owned by Yah'shua.
"I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world" (vv.14-16).
The true husband does not try to shield his loved ones from the refiner's fire but he does shield them from the evil one. That is why he covers them, for that purpose. He knows that the world will hate them and he must prepare them for that. But first he must teach them to identify and despise the world system, and to love only Yahweh, His Son, His Torah and to pray daily, "Thy Kingdom come" (Mt.6:10; Lk.11:2). The Shema is to be the pole star of family life and faith - all love is to go to Yahweh! (Dt.6:4-8) He must not compromise that, he must resist all tendences to compromise with the world, because love will constrain him to. He knows that there is no real joy outside this truth. The goal of the husband is to make sure his wife and children are not "of the world" just as he is not, just as Yah'shua was not. If he is attracted to the world, then he will corrupt his family as they adhere to him for safety. The husband must first of all leave it himself or he will become a blind guide (Mt.23:26).
"Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth" (vv.17-19)
Here is the husband's first obligation: ALL TRUTH - because only the truth sanctifies, sets-apart and makes holy. We cannot belong to Yah'shua without truth. For his family's sake, the true husband sets himself apart to and in all truth! How can they be set-apart or holy, if he is not himself set-apart or holy?
"I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one (echad), as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one (echad) in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me" (vv.20-21).
A husband or father is also to pray for those who are not yet under his wing. He may acquire spiritual sons and daughters as a pastor, for instance. That is what a patriarch is. That is what Paul was (1 Cor.4:15). As a father with a commission to take care of many throughout his life, he will be on the look out for those who have not come to him yet, praying for them that they too may be echad with each other, with him, and with Yah'shua. He will be searching and praying for those who are the rest of his family - literal and spiritual - whom the rest of his family have not yet necessarily seen. He has to see further ahead than the rest. For just as Yahweh knew Jeremiah before he was conceived or born (Jer.1:4-5), so each man 'knows' those whom Yah'shua has given to him, even before they have come, because he knew them before they were born.
Our families were once together before we were born into this sphere. Each husband and father wants to be known - he wants those who are his to believe in him, and in his wife's and children's origin. In this he must often walk alone, just as Yah'shua does with those who have not yet chosen and known Him. He must at times grieve at our wrong judgments of unbelievers - I wonder how many Christians have damned unbelievers to hell when they are the elect who simply have not heard the voice of true love yet? Yah'shua knows who will be saved and who will not. We do not.
"And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one (echad) just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one (echad), and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me" (vv.22-23).
The heart of a true man of Yahweh is not disposed to acquire glory for himself but to share all he has with those he owns because he wants those whom he owns to be perfect and filled with his love. He does not want to hoard love. He wants to share it. His motives are not egotistical - he is not trying to 'collect' for himself, as those who misunderstand this principle falsely accuse, but to give his all. He wants his own to be equal in love, truth, and perfection. That is what divine ownership is all about. That's why Yah'shua said:
"Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect" (Matt.5:48, NIV)
And why James taught what he did,
"that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing" (James 1:4, NKJV).
Please notice that perfection is not possible outside of echad - you can't do it alone! Yah'shua's prayer is that:
"they (you and me) may be made perfect in one (echad)"
Not yachid! Individual, solo perfection is utterly impossible! There is no way we can do it alone - we can't do it without Yah'shua, without our spouses, without the Council of Yah's elohim, or without the redeemed Messianic Community because we are all one allegorical wife.
"Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world" (v.24).
Are you getting this? Yah'shua was loved by Yahweh before the foundation of the world, and so were we. Indeed, husbands and fathers loved their wives and children before the foundation of the world too. Yah'shua had a home before He came to earth and He has since returned to it. We also had a home before we were born here.
A husband's desire is that his wife should be with him in the home that he lived in in the heavens before both came to earth, the same home which together they had with Yah'shua. Yah'shua's glory was mostly hidden whilst on earth - the King of the Universe, the Creator of all, was veiled. People only saw glimpses of His celestial royalty. He was rejected and despised (Is.53:3). And, oh, so too are believing husbands and wives by each other! They have forgotten their former glory. Husbands must desire to reveal that forgotten glory back to their wives but they will never accomplish that until Yah'shua is firmly on the throne of their hearts and their wives feel safe enough to make the leap of faith to surrender to them unconditionally and remember, through the revelation of the Ruach haQodesh, what they had before. Remembering should be enough to disarm all hostilities and mistrust - but in truth we must all occupy our proper positions first: the husbands to love and the wives to submit. We loved each other before we were born, just as Yah'shua loved us. And when a husband has found his true origin, his desire will be that his wife be with him where he is, and was. His desire is to bring her home to him - because he is her home, as Yah'shua is his.
"O righteous Father! The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me. And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them" (vv.25-26).
As this was the final and closing part of Yah'shua's prayer to Yahweh, so should this be the prayer of every husband and father - that "the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them".
All relationships that exclude Yah'shua have to be re-formed in Him when souls receive Him as Master and Deliverer. Nothing can be left unchanged. Everything must be purified by the right agent and in the right order. There is only "one Lord, one faith, one baptism" (Eph.4:5, NIV). There is only one Master; faith can only be in one direction, and we can only be immersed or baptised into one heart. There can't be multiple, competing relationships, because all relationships must be in Yahweh, so that "all is in all". How is that accomplished? By clinging to the pattern revealed in the High Priestly Prayer and yielding all relationships to their proper owners for purification.
The firstborn - those who are a part of the 144,000 - understand this High Priestly Prayer. They know to what they have been called. The rest do not - and cannot - know, because they do not want to know Yahweh and His Ways. It is imperative that each husband and father knows those whom Yahweh has sent to him for covering. It is not for them to pick and choose. In the same way that we are given our physical children, so Yahweh must be allowed to pick our spouses and spiritual children. If we pick them ourselves, our lives will be consecrated to chaos, misery and destruction. We have no right to claim what is not ours, no right to take what we have not been given, or to be owned by those who have no right to own us, for then it is not set-apart - it is not holy - it is not blessed. You cannot sanctify what is not yours because they will know they do not belong to you and rebell. Mind you, your own will almost certainly rebell too at different points, but the one who is not yours will in time be driven away. And then there will be those who do belong to you who choose, like Judas, to say no, and betray you, even as Yah'shua prophesied, "so that scripture might be fulfilled" (Jn.17:12; 18:9):
"I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is completed! Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law" (Luke 12:49-53, NIV).
There are losses to be born, pain to be endured because of the choices of loved ones. This scripture is fulfilled in the life of every man, woman and child. It is unavoidable. Yes, we have the hope of universal redemption at the end of the Cosmic Jubillee but until then we must bear out griefs, just as Yah'shua bears His grief at the loss of so many who refuse Him for he knows what the self-inflicted pain will do to them.
This, then, is the model that we at Mishpachah Lev-Tsiyon stand for. This is what we mean by Holy Echad Marriage. Our lives as children of the firstborn are intimately intertwined by a single, common purpose - to be echad with each other as we are with our Master through trust, obedience and surrender.
But for this to work, it must begin in two places. First, there must be a true meeting one-to-one between every soul and Yah'shua. There must be a Rishon-anointing, a new birth, a proper chosing, not mere words. And that can only happen by vaccating the throne of the heart to Yah'shua - relinquishing all self-sovereignty to Him. Every man and woman must do this alone. When a man has done this, Yah'shua will deliver him and lead him to be the leader He wants him to be. When a woman has done this, then Yah'shua will hand her over to her husband to be fully owned by him for ever - in Him. Your choice - my choice - is whether we follow this pattern or not. If we yield to it, then the promises of the first resurrection will be fulfilled in us. If we refuse, and choose some other model, then we must reap the consequences of rebellion and be satisfied with a lesser glory. It is for us to choose. May you be blessed in your choosing. Amen
Click here for Part 2
Author: Lev-Tsiyon
Glossary of MLT Hebraic, Greek and English Terms For other terms and full details please see the Micropedia
A
Adon(ai) = Master, a pagan fertility god, Adonis; used by many Messianics but not MLT
(a)eon(ian) = 7 dispensation- or age-long time periods, not forever (see le-olam-va-ed)
Alef-Tav = Alpha-Omega, A-Z, first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet = Yah'shua
Amen = truly, let it be so, written Amein by some Messianics
Apocrypha = Hebraic Scriptures not a part of the Protestant canon (e.g. Baruch)
Anti-Messiah = Hebraic term for the end-time Antichrist or anyone opposed to the Messiah
antinomian = lawless Christian who disregards all or part of Torah/commandments
Ashkenazi Jew = East European Jew descended from the Turkic-Japhethite Khazars
Assembly = church, congregation, ekklesia, community, fellowship, koinonia, gathering
Azazel = the Yom Kippur scapegoat
B
Baal, Ba'al = any other master than Yahweh, usually demonic in MLT terminology
Bachor(im) = firstborn son(s)
Bar/Bat Mitzvah = Son/Daughter of Commandment, covenant to obey Torah at age 12
being = soul, the whole person (spirit and body), e.g. "my whole being"
Beit, bet, beth = house, e.g. Beit Yisrael (House of Israel), Beth Lechem (House of Bread)
Beit haMikdash = Yahweh's Temple in Yerushalayim
B'rit Chadashah = the New Covenant; B'rit Chadashah Scriptures = New Testament
B'rit Milah = circumcision - abolished in the B'rit Chadashah, replaced by Mikvah
C
canon = authoritative Scripture (Heb. qaneh, Gk. kanôn = measuring instrument)
Catechumen = a serious, covenanted investigator seeking Mikvah or Baptism in MLT
Chag haMatzah = Feast of Unleavened Bread, second of the annual feasts of Yahweh
Chavurat Bekorot = MLT's Priesthood Order, Holy Order and Assembly of the Firstborn
Cohen = priest; Cohen Gadol = High Priest (also spelled Kohen)
Council of Yah's elohim = the heavenly Assembly of the Firstborn or Chavurat Bekorot
D
demon = fallen malek or angel in rebellion against Yahweh (Heb. shad; see Êl-Shaddai)
derech = the Way, Path or Road - Yah'shua and the Gospel are the Way
Drash = moral or homiletic interpretation of Scripture - see PaRDeS
E
Echad = One, Union of two or more in one (as opposed to Yachid) - see Elohim
Echad Godhead Doctrine = Father Yahweh, Son Yah'shua and Sevenfold Ruach (Mother)
Êl, Eloah, Elah = God the Father, Yahweh
Êl-Elyon = Most High God, Yahweh
Êl-Shaddai = Master/Lord over all shads or demons
Elohim = God, the Godhead (Father, Son & Holy Spirit), lit. 'Mighty One(s)', 'Ruler(s)'
elohim = Israelite judges, rulers, angels or gods (false deities, idols, demons)
emunah = faith, actively trusting, clinging or adhering to (especially Yahweh or Yah'shua)
emet = truth, Yah'shua is the Emet
Ephraimite = descendant of the patriarch Ephraim and head of Messsianic Israel
F
Feasts of Yahweh = the 7 annual Moedim (Pesach, Chag haMatzah, Yom haBikkurim, Shavu'ot, Yom Teruah, Yom Kippur and Sukkot)
G
Gan-Eden = Garden of Eden, Paradise and state of the purified heart in Messiah
goy(im) = nation(s), Israelites or gentiles not born in or converted to the Covenant
H
hallelu-Yah = praise Yah(weh)!
Heylel = proper name of Satan or haSatan = the Adversary, the devil
Sabbath = Yom Shabbat (Friday to Saturday sunset, add 1 day in IDL Zone)
Hochmah = Wisdom, title of the 7-fold Ruach haQodesh
I
IDL = International Date Line, false man-made time division in Pacific Ocean
IDL Zone = Area between the true Divine Date Line (Lake Van/Eden) and the false one
Israeli = citizen of the modern Edomite-Khazar Republic of Israel (not Biblical Israel)
Israelite = citizen of biblical state of Israel or a modern follower of the Messiah
J
Jew = post-biblical term describing descendants of Edomite and Khazar converts to Judaism
Johannine = pertaining to the Apostle Yochanan (e.g. Gospel of John)
Josephite = descendant of the patriarch Joseph, the head of Messianic Israel
Judahite = a person in direct descent from the patriarch Judah, forefather of the Messiah
Judaism = a Talmudic-based religion rejecting Yah'shua the Messiah
Judean = a citizen of the Kingdom or Province of Judah until the 2nd Century diaspora
K
Kadosh la Yahweh = set-apart or dedicated to Yahweh, 'Holiness to the Lord', MLT motto
Karaites = Jews (from 700 AD) who reject the Talmud and accept only the Tanakh
kashrut = keeping kosher, food laws of Yahweh and correspinding lifestyle
Ketuvim = Writings or Hagiographa of the Tanakh
Khazar = a Turkic convert to Judaism ~700 AD forming the Ashkenazi Jewish community
kosher = clean foods authorised by Yahweh for human consumption
L
Lashon Hara = evil-speaking, gossip or slander
legalism = false route to salvation through works (self-salvation)
le-olam-va-ed = dispensation- or age-long, aeonian, not eternal, forever or for eternity
Lev = heart, as in Lev-Tsiyon = heart of Zion
Lev-Tsiyon = Heart of the Fortress [of Yahweh], Hebrew name of MLT's founder
M
Master = Lord, Sir, Adon(ai) - (one in authority, a ruler - a king, husband, prophet, judge)
Malak(im) = Angel(s), heavenly supernatural messenger(s)
manna = wafers of honey, bread from heaven (lit. 'what is this?')
matzah = unleavened bread, see Chag haMatzah
Menorah = 7-armed candlearbra = the 7 annual Moedim and 7-fold Ruach haQodesh
Messiah = Christ; Anti-Messiah = Antichrist
Messianic Community = Body of Christ, sum total of all true believers; all true fellowships
Messianic Israel = all who worship Yahweh, trust in Yah'shua, obey Torah and overcome
Messianic Jew = Messianic convert from Judaism still clinging to Talmudic traditions
Midrash = aggadic interpretation of scripture viâ Drash, a scriptural discussion
Mikvah = baptism by immersion of convert into Yah'shua or of wife into husband
Mishpachah = family: nuclear, congregational, tribal or the whole of Messianic Israel
MLT = Mishpachah Lev-Tsiyon = family of the heart of the fortress [of Yahweh]
Mishpat = right-ruling or judgement
mitzvah/mitzvot = commandment(s)
moed(im) = appointment(s) of Yahweh, 7 Annual Feasts, Sabbath and Rosh Chodesh
N
Nefilim, Nephilim = giant offspring of materialised demons and human women
Nevi'im = prophetic writings of the Old Testament or Tanakh
New Birth = spiritual conversion in the Ruach haRishon, being 'born again' with new heart
Nidah = a woman's menstruation period during which no intercourse is permitted
O
Olive Branch = collection of revelations, prophecies and visions published by MLT
P
Paraclete = Comforter, Advocate (NEB), Counsellor, Ruach haQodesh (Gk. paraklêtos)
PaRDeS = method of textual interpretation (homiletics) - see P'shat, Remez, Drash, Sod
Patriarch = a father who is head of his family, clan or tribe (lit. 'father-ruler')
Pentateuch = first five books of the Tanakh (Genesis-Deuteronomy), also called Torah
peribolaion = headcovering worn by daughters/wives in submission to fathers/husbands
Pesach = Passover, first of the annual feasts of Yahweh
Peshitta = an Aramaic version of the Bible
Prototrinitarianism = early, simplified MLT formulation of the Echad Godhead Doctrine
Prush(im) = Pharisee(s)
Pseudepigrapha = Non-canonical Hebrew writings additional to the Apocrypha
P'shat = literal, contextual, philological, exoteric, outer meaning of Scripture - see PaRDeS
Q
Qadosh Qadoshim = Holy of Holies, most sacred set-apart room of the Beit haMikdash
Qodesh, Kodesh = set-apart, holy (see Ruach haQodesh)
R
Rabbi = Teacher, term used by Messianic Jews and some Messianic Israelites = Pastor
Refuge, the 12 Cities of = divinely protected MLT fortresses during the 7-year Tribulation
Remez = hint or allegorical level of Hebraic understanding of Scripture - see PaRDeS
Rosh Chodesh = monthly New Moon appointment of Yahweh
ruach = spirit of a person (lit.'breath')
Ruach Elohim = Spirit of God (the Spirit of the collective Godhead or Elohim)
Ruach haChamashee = 5th Ruach presides over Yom Teruah and Yom Chamashee
Ruach haQodesh = the Sevenfold Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost (lit. 'Set-Apart Breath')
Ruach haRevee = 4th Ruach presides over Shavu'ot, Yom Revee and Bar Mitzvah
Ruach haRishon = 1st Ruach presides over Pesach, Yom Rishon and the New Birth
Ruach haShanee = 2nd Ruach presides over Chag haMatzah and Yom Shanee
Ruach haSheshi = 6th Ruach presides over Yom Kippur and Yom Sheshi
Ruach haShleshi = 3rd Ruach presides over Yom haBikkurim, Yom Shleshi and Mikvah
S
Sabbath = Yom Shabbat (Friday to Saturday sunset, add 1 day in IDL Zone)
Satan = rebel archangel Heylel, father of lies, devil, chief demon (lit.'Adversary')
Sephardic Jew = West European Jew of mixed blood containing many Judahites
Septuagint = Greek translation of the Tanakh, LXX
Shegal haShabbat = 7th Ruach (Sabbath Queen) presides over Sukkot and Yom Shabbat
Shekinah = Divine Presence and Glory of Yahweh-Elohim
Set-apart = holy, sanctified, consecrated, dedicated, separated (to and by Yahweh)
Shabbat-Shabbaton = High Sabbath (e.g. Yom Kippur)
Shalom = heavenly peace, standard Hebraic greeting invoking Yahweh's peace
Shamash(im) = servant(s), deacon(s), attendant(s)
Shavu'ot = Pentecost or Weeks, fourth of the annual feasts of Yahweh
Sheol = grave or pit, euphamism for Hades or hell - also see Tartarus
shofar = ram's horn, blown during Yahweh's Moedim
simcha = joy, keynote of Sukkot
Sod = mystical, anagogic, inner or esoteric understanding of Scripture - see PaRDeS
Sukkot = Tabernacles or Booths, seventh of the annual feasts of Yahweh
Synagogue = Greek word used by Jews and Messianics (but not MLT) for a meeting house
T
talmid(a) = male/female disciple or student
Talmud = scriptures, teachings and commentaries belonging to non-Messianic Judaism
Tanakh = acronym for Old Testament Scriptures - Torah, Nevi'im & Ketuvim
Tartarus = place of imprisonment under the earth for rebellious angels and Nephilim
teshuvah = repentance, remorse and contrition leading back to Torah obedience
Torah = Yahweh's teachings or Law; New Covenant Torah includes Yah'shua's teachings
Tribulation, the Great = the final 7 years of the present aeon when Anti-Messiah rules
Trinity = Catholic Godhead formula - see Echad Godhead Doctrine and Prototrinitarianism
Tsiyon = Zion, a fortress, a name of Jerusalem and a prominent hill
Tzitzit/Tizitziyot = tassel(s) worn by men in remembrance of Torah
U
Universalism = salvation of all at the cosmic Yovel, with different rewards and punishments
Y
Yachid = one, single person or item, as opposed to Echad (many in one, unity)
Yah'shua the Messiah = Jesus Christ (the Son)
Yahudah = Judah - see Judahite
Yahweh, Yah, YHWH = the true Name of our Heavenly Father, also carried by Yah'shua
Yahweh-Elohim = LORD God (the Father, Yahweh as Head of the Godhead or Elohim)
Yahweh haQatan = the sent Yahweh = Yah(weh)'shua, Malak of Yahweh's Presence
Yam Suf = Sea of Reeds, the true Israelite Exodus water crossing, not the Red Sea
Yarden = Jordan River (lit. 'meanderer')
Yerushalayim = Jerusalem
Yisrael = Israel (lit. 'ruling with Êl') = true believers under the New Covenant
Yom Chamashee = 5th day of the week (Thursday, Friday in IDL Zone)
Yom Din, Yom haDin = (the) Day of Judgement
Yom haBikkurim = Feast of Firstfruits, third of the annual feasts of Yahweh
Yom Revee = 4th day of the week (Wednesday, Thursday in IDL Zone)
Yom Rishon = 1st day of the week (Sunday, Monday in IDL Zone)
Yom Kippur = Day of Atonement, sixth of the annual feasts of Yahweh
Yom Shabbat = 7th day of the week and Sabbath Rest (Saturday, Sunday in IDL Zone)
Yom Shanee = 2nd day of the week (Monday, Tuesday in IDL Zone)
Yom Sheshi = 6th day of the week (Friday, Saturday in IDL Zone)
Yom Shleshi = 3rd day of the week (Tuesday, Wednesday in IDL Zone)
Yom Teruah = Day of Trumpets, fifth of the annual feasts of Yahweh
Yosef = Joseph - see Josephite
Yovel = Jubilee or Year of Jubilee
Z
Zaqen(im) = elder(s) of an assembly or congregation, or senior members of a community
Zoë Life = Greek term for spiritual life in the Messiah
Commonly Used MLT Abbreviations
For additional abbreviations and explanations, please see the Micropedia
A
Amp.V(er). = Amplified Version of the Bible
Aram. = Aramaic
AV = Authorised Version of the Bible - see KJV
B
BCAY = B'rit Chadashah Assembly of Yahweh - see NCCG
BoA = Books of Abraham (e.g. 1Abr., 2Abr., etc.)
C
cp, cf = compare with
CB(Q) = Chavurat Bekorot
CEV = Contemporary English Version of the Bible
ch. = chapter
CJB = Complete Jewish Bible
CLNT = Concordant Literal New Testament
CYe = Council of Yah's elohim
E
Eng. = English
F
ff. = and onwards/forwards
fn = footnote
G
Gk. = Greek
GNB = Good News Bible - see TEV
H
Heb. = Hebrew, Hebraic
HEM = Holy Echad Marriage, eternal marriage
HO = Holy Order - see Chavurat Bekorot
HOC = Holy Order Collection of revelations - see OB
HRV = Hebraic-Roots Version of the Bible
I
ibid. = ibidem (lit. 'in the same place'), referring to a book previously cited
ICJC = Independent Church of Jesus Christ, earlier name of NCCF
ISRV = Institute for Scripture Research Version of the Bible
J
JB = Jerusalem Bible
JBP/Phillips = J.B.Phillips translation of the New Testament
JNT = Jewish New Testament
K
KJV = King James Version of the Bible - see AV
L
LB = Living Bible
lit. = literally or literature
LXX = Septuagint, Greek translation of the OT
M
MLT = Mishpachah Lev-Tsiyon
Moff. = Moffatt translation of the Bible
MRC = Messianic Renewed Covenant Version of the NT
MS(S) = Manuscript(s)
N
NASB, NASV = New American Standard Bible/Version
NC&C = New Covenants & Commandments - see OB
NCCF = New Covenant Christian Fellowship, earlier name of NCCG
NCCG = New Covenant Church of God, earlier name of MLT - see BCAY
NCP = New Covenant Press, publishing arm of MLT
NCW = New Covenant Witness, MLT magazine
NEB = New English Bible
NIV = New International Version of the Bible
NKJV = New King James Version of the Bible
Nor. = Norwegian
NT = New Testament, B'rit Chadashah
NWT = New World Translation of the Bible, unreliable Jehovah's Witness version
O
OB = Olive Branch - see NC&C
op.cit. = opere citato (lit. in the work cited)
OT = Old Testament, Tanakh
P
p(p). = page(s)
pl. = plural - see s.
PWNC = Prophetic Words of the New Covenant, revelation cataloging system - see OB
Q
QED = quod erat demonstrandum (lit. which was shown to be proved)
R
RCF = Restoration Christian Fellowship, earlier name of ICJC
RhQ = Ruach haQodesh, Holy Spirit
RSTNE = Restoration Scriptures True Name Edition of the Bible
RSV = Revised Standard Version of the Bible
RV = Revised Version of the Bible
S
s. = singular - see pl.
S&G = Smith & Goodspeed Version of the Bible
T
TEV = Today's English Version of the Bible - see GNB
V
Vulg. = Biblia Vulgata, Latin Vulgate translation of the Bible
W
WEB = World English Bible
Glossary Copyright ©2007 Mishpachah Lev-Tsiyon (MLT) - All Rights Reserved
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This page was first created on 20 March 2007
Last updated on 20 March 2007
Copyright ©2007 Mishpachah Lev-Tsiyon (MLT) - All Rights Reserved
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