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All right, so today we're going to go into part two, part two of the fear of Yahweh. We're doing a re- a retread on this. We're going to re-reset the whole teaching on fear of Yahweh, which was originally a one-part teaching. And now we're going to see if we're going to get this thing more deeply expanded on and more deeply delved into, because ultimately, I believe that the key to everything is the fear of Yahweh. It's the center point. It's a starting point. It leads to all the things that you want, you need to have it in order to get what you want to receive.
And where we left off was in Numbers Chapter 14. We just finished chapter 13 and we just had the slanderous report being given after they went in to spy the land. So we're in bimar in Numbers Chapter 14 and we're going to continue now in chapter 14 and verse 1. And it says, then all the congregation, after hearing the slanderous report, etc., lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept that night. I mean, they were so destroyed. Now, why were they crying and they weeping? Well, because here they were told they were going to a land of milk and honey. They just came out of Egypt, they were slaves, and all this stuff. And now they come to find out that this land of milk and honey has got big giant walled cities and big giant people and all this other scary stuff. And yet they were being afraid of man and not being afraid for of Yahweh. So they wept all night long.
And all the children of Israel grumbled against Moses and against Aaron. And all the congregation said to them, "If only we had died in the land of M or if only we had died in the wilderness." Could you imagine? You see, but we judged them so hardly. And then, you know what? What about all the things Yahweh did in your life? Amen. And then you sit there going, "If only, if only."
He says, "And they said to each other, 'Let us appoint a leader, let us turn back.'" So isn't that what happens all the time? When people don't like what's going on, it's the leader's fault. It's clearly Moses's fault that we're here and he's going to, we're going to get killed. Then we don't know what we're doing. It can't possibly be that we just don't see it.
One of the things that's important that we grasp as we start looking into leadership and we understand how leadership is structured and what its purpose is, is that it says, "For lack of knowledge or for lack of vision, my people what perish." Now, the key part of that, it says, "my people." So we're not talking about the Gentiles or the world. We're talking about the people that should know better. So he says, "For lack of knowledge or lack of insight or vision, my people perish." Here's the problem. The problem is the vision is given only to the leader. The vision is not given to the whole group as a whole. That's why the people are flipping out here and Moses isn't. And by the way, some of the other leaders aren't either. Two of them at least. The other 10 are. But the vision is given to the leadership. And by the way, in this case, the vision was given to Moses. Moses shared it with the 12, but only two of them got the vision. So just because the leader shares it doesn't mean the rest are going to just get excited and grab a hold of it immediately. Okay, so we have that problem going on here.
So one of the things that's going on in the body today again is we don't have leadership. We don't have people understand that vision is given to leadership. And so everybody wants to be a leader onto themselves. Everybody wants to claim that they have a vision, that they have an idea of how things are supposed to be. And that's what's happening in here. Rebellion against leadership because, after all, they are doing this because why? They can't see it. That's why they're weeping. They can't see it.
Of course, earlier Caleb said, "I see it. Let's go up at once." In verse 30 of the previous chapter, "Let's go up at once and take possession, for certainly we're able to overcome it." Caleb got it. Okay, he got the vision. Because when you get the vision, you see what the vision is. You don't see the other things. See, everybody was seeing the giants, the walls, and the obstacles. When Caleb was seeing, "Oh, it was a land full of milk and honey, and look at all these giant bunches of grapes and everything else." The other people saw all of it too, but all they focused on was the wrong things.
See, we have the ability to focus our attention. That's like a thing that we do. And this is a very good thing or a very bad thing, depending on what we focus it on. Some of people, you have been in congregations and places where everybody seems to be doing great and having a great time, but there's always a few people that aren't. And they're the ones who are focusing on the fact that, "Oh, well, the coffee wasn't wasn't warm, it was hot." Or, "Or, you know, I I didn't see that they didn't have lemonade." Or, you know what I'm saying? They're focusing on small things and they're letting that small thing be the stumbling block to everything. Because why? Where's their focus? Their focus is on what they wanted to receive. It depends on your expectations.
See, people had expectations. They were told they were going to a land full of milk and honey. They weren't told there would be any obstacles. Yeah, we never said there wouldn't be. He certainly told him, "Don't worry about them. I'll take care of them." Why should you worry about something he's going to take care of? But yeah, here we go. And so what's the first thing that happens? The attack and say, "We need new leadership. Clearly their vision was wrong."
So here we go. They said, "Let us get, let's go and appoint a new leader." And then Moshe and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of children of Israel. So look what the leadership does. They fall down on their faces. They don't get all, you know, attacking back on the congregation. They fall on their faces.
And Yahushua Son of Nun and Caleb Son of Jephunneh were among those who had spied out the land. Tore their garments. So they're there with the leadership. And they spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying, "The land we passed through to spy out is an exceedingly good land. If Yahweh has delighted in us, then he shall bring us into this land and give it to us, a land which is flowing with milk and honey."
Now, hold on a second. Notice the way they phrase that. "If Yahweh has delighted in us." Now, going to do what he said to do and then running away afraid and deciding you don't want to do what he said to do, that probably doesn't delight him very much. See, but a lot of people will come into this and then they'll realize, "Oh, I didn't realize I might lose my parents over this. Oh, I didn't realize my children might not talk to me. Oh, I didn't realize I'd have a problem at work." Oh, I didn't realize, fill in the blank, whatever it is. Then all your fears start to come to the surface. But yet, he still has offered you the land flowing with milk and honey. He says that he's offering you eternal life. He's offering you everything, all the abundance that there could possibly be. And yet, we're being distracted.
Now, these are legitimate distractions. I mean, if your son or your daughter, your parents are no longer talking to you, that is a big distraction. That cuts real deep. But what are we willing to give up for what's being offered? He's offering you everything. And are you not trusting that Abba is still going to work with them? They're in his hands. Oh, no, but you want to fix it. Well, maybe you can't fix it. He's got to fix it. But can you allow for that? Who are you trusting? Who are you fearing? Who are you believing? And who are you, you know, buying into the lie and the deception? Where, where are your insecurities and where is your security?
So continuing, he says, "If Yahweh has delighted in us, that's your key, then he shall bring us into the land and give it to us, a land which is flowing with milk and honey." Actually, I just thought of something because of the way that's worded. If you notice the same thing about the Sabbath in Isaiah 58. Okay, in Isaiah 58, he says, "If you turn, turn back your foot from doing the sa- from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure, etc., etc., on the set apart day." And call the Sabbath a delight, the set apart day of Yahweh. There, the last two verses of Isaiah 58, he says, "Then you shall delight yourself in Yahweh." In other words, Yahweh will be delighted in you. And so we have that understanding. Thank you. That he says, "I shall cause you to ride on the heights of the earth." Etc. You have to turn your foot away from doing your pleasure to receive his pleasure. That's the hard part.
See, these guys are all there at the edge of the the promised land, so to speak, and they could go in. But you know what? "It's not what I expected. It's not the way I pictured it. I didn't think I'd have to do all that. I didn't think this was going to be required." Anybody been on have that t-shirt? Okay. And so what do we do? Do we, do we actually go forward anyway, or do we panic and bail out? Do we panic and actually bail out? Should be like, b-a-a-l. Do you bail out? Do you give into the other spirits of the powers of the air encouraging you to quit or to run away or to give up?
Because we have a teaching called "To He Who Overcomes." Because everything in Revelation, that it says that you want, everything in, if you look at the each of the seven assemblies, when they discuss them, at the end of each one, it says, "And to he who overcomes will receive," and then there's something there. All the stuff you're looking forward to, including at the end in Revelation 21, it says, "And to he who overcomes shall inherit all this." So guess what that means? There must be a bunch of stuff to overcome. Which means this is going to be a challenging journey. And the challenge is not because it's hard, because Abba wants to test you, to prove you, to see whether it's in your heart to keep his commandments. You're not Deuteronomy 8:2. And so as we keep going back to that test, he wants to see, are you afraid of the world? Are you afraid of him? Are you giving the world reverence and authority over your life, or are you giving him reverence and authority over your life? Do you trust that he will take care of what he promises to take care of? That he says that he will not allow you to enter into something that is beyond your ability to handle? Do you not trust all the verses that we've read already where he says, "When you go again face enemies bigger and greater than you, I will be with you and hand that for you"? I mean, this is where the, you know, push comes to shove, so to speak, where the rubber meets the road. Put all, whatever idiom you want to put in there, whatever cliché, it doesn't matter. It's where it all takes place is when it gets tough. Okay, when it gets hard.
You know, if you've ever worked out, you know that the m- the muscles don't develop until you actually push them to where they get to their limits. So when you get on the on the equipment, the first rep doesn't do a whole lot. It's the last one that does most of the work, most of the benefit. The first one is just warming up the muscle. But once the muscle actually starts getting tired, really, that's where we get to that exhausted, tired, "I can't take it anymore" place. That's when all the benefit comes. And so that's where we have to really be focusing.
So he says here, "If you can do all these things, if you will do these things, if Yahweh has delighted in us, then he shall bring us into the land." Now look at verse 9. "Only this, only do not rebel against Yahweh, nor fear the people of the land, for they are our bread. Their defense has turned away from them, and Yahweh is with us. Do not fear them." I think you can apply that to everybody on the planet that you may interact with. "Do not fear them." Oh, what are my friends going to say? What's my parents going to say? What's my brother going to say? Whatever. It doesn't matter. Because some of you have told me, "You don't understand. Everybody in my family is a pastor." Anybody have those families? Okay, some of you do. Everybody in your family is a ministry, but they're all in mainstream. What are they going to say? What are they going to, how am I going to deal with all that? I don't know. But you have to. But you know who knows? He knows. Because he called you, knowing he called you. And he knew. We have to accept that. It's a very important thing. It sounds very simple, but he knew you were in the situation you were in. He knew when he called you what you would face. No surprise to him. So when you can't figure it out, he's already figured it out. So how about just getting on your knees and bowing before his authority and saying, "Abba, I trust you. I know you've already got this thing handled. I just am looking through the glass darkly. I don't know how it's going to be handled." So get excited about that. Get excited about seeing how he is going to handle it.
It's like them at the rock and the hard place. We read this last part, right? Where they're at the sea and they don't know how they're going to get. I mean, none of them thought, "Well, hey, if you just part the water already, we can get across this thing." We think that because we already know that's what's going to happen. I promise you, out of 3 million people, not a single one had the idea, "Well, if you just split the sea for us." There was no way. There's no way that thought even occurred to anybody. Now, they may have thought about trying to climb the rocks. They may have thought about trying to fight the Egyptians. They may have tried to thought, thought maybe thinking about swimming. But nobody was thinking the sea was going to part and they were going to walk across on dry land. That's the same in your life, though. The answer is going to be often something you could not possibly see. Anybody have those experiences? Okay, where you could not see it coming.
So he says, "Look, knowing all this, do not rebel." What does it mean to rebel? Not doing what Yahweh said is rebellion. Not trusting him, that's rebellion. But all the congregation said to stone them with stones. That's there, that's how excited they were about this message. They wanted to stone him with stones.
Then the esteem of Yahweh appeared in the tent of meeting before all the children of Israel. And Yahweh said to Moshe, "How long shall I be scorned by these people? And how long shall I not be trusted by them?" See, what he's talking about, it's not just obedience. He's saying, "When will they start to trust me?" Trust me. You know, there's often a time when you, there, there are even exercises that people go through, like corporate things, to learn trust. Well, they'll put you out on a road on top of a thing, and you have to trust somebody to hold your hand and help you across, or whatever. Little children do that with their parents. And you want, you put your hand out, you say, "Trust me, trust me." The first steps they take, right? You put your hands out, and you're like, "It's okay. I'll catch you. I promise." But they don't know. They're afraid. And you're, you know what? You guys are adults. I know they call you children of Israel, but you're adults. If you're adults, we should be able to come to the conclusion that he's worth trusting. Because that's what he wants. He wants you to trust him.
He says, "How long shall I not be trusted by them?" And I think he thinks that way about us too. "With all the signs which I have done in their midst." Well, what about all the signs he's done in your midst? "How long will I not be trusted?"
Look what he says. "Let me smite them with the pestilence and disinherit them and make of you a great nation, mightier than they, greater and mightier." So now he's telling Moses, "I want to make a greater nation out of you." And it might just not have been Moses. Remember, Moses, Aaron, Caleb, and Joshua are all there. And so Moses is being talked to here by Yahweh, though. And he says, "I'm going to make a nation greater and mightier out of you."
And he says here, "Let me smite them." And Moses says to Yahweh, "Listen, then the mites shall hear it. For by your power you brought these people up from their midst. And they shall say to the inhabitants of this land, 'That they have heard that you, Yahweh, are in the midst of these people. That you, Yahweh, are seen eye to eye. And that your cloud stands above them. And you go before them in a column of cloud by day and a column of fire by night.'"
"Now, if you shall kill these people as one man, then the nations which have heard of your report shall speak, saying, 'Because Yahweh was not able to bring this people to the land which he swore to give them, therefore he killed them in the wilderness.'"
Now, let's understand. Yahweh had already promised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Yahweh had already promised that he was going to bring this people, the descendants, into the land. Of course, the generation 20 and older didn't get to go. So it's not like he was going to just wipe out all of Israel, because he still would have had Jacob, Joshua, and Caleb, and Moses, and Aaron, and he could have worked with them. But more than anything else, since they were going to go on this journey, because you already knew that they had rejected and would reject going into the land, so there were going to be 40 years. He hadn't said it yet, but he already knew. He knows the end from the beginning. So he knew there was going to be a need to lead this big group of people for a long time. And you know what? You could have a power problem. You could allow power to get to your head as Moses could. As a matter of fact, certainly Korah and the rest will accuse him of that. They will certainly accuse him of letting the power go to his head. "Oh yeah, you know, you and your brother there got some racket there, Moses, right?" That's what Korah and them are ready to say. Sure.
So this, I think, is a little bit of Yahweh testing Moses. Yes. And so I think he likes what Moses had to say. What is Moses talking about? We're doing a teaching series right now called "No Other Name," and we'll continue that teaching series when we get back. But the idea is, the name has to do with reputation and authority. But part of its reputation. Okay, we talk a lot about the authority part. But here he's saying, "Look, what will it do to your name if you were to destroy this people?" Because the things that happened in Egypt didn't happen in a vacuum. Word got out. Everybody around heard what happened in Egypt. And certainly the word was going to get back to Egypt that, "Hey, they went out there and their God killed them." What would that do? Especially Moses saying, "They're going to say, 'Oh, he was unable to do something.'" Unable, and Yahweh don't go in the same sentence. There's nothing he is unable to do. But see, he was testing Moses. He said, "Hey, I can. Why don't I just start with you, Moses?" I'm sure you're already getting frustrated with these guys. And Moses said, "No."
Now, one time, Moses got so frustrated, he turned to Yahweh and said, "Please kill me, so I don't see my evil." Because he was ready to kill somebody. But see, instead of saying, "Hey, remember that plan you mentioned earlier? I'm all right with that now. I think it's a good plan." It's up. See, instead of doing that, Moses said, "Please just kill me, because I know your plan is supposed to work through a man who's humble enough to allow to do whatever you say and not become prideful and ego and lead with that kind of a power surge in them, you know, that ego in power." He said, "So you're better off killing me, because I'm just going to have to kill somebody at this point." Remember, Moses had a problem. That was not a surprise to anybody. He had an anger problem. Pretty serious anger problem. I mean, certainly he was called the most humble of all men. But you don't, you just because you're humble doesn't mean you can't pop your cork. Okay? And Moses was about ready in that in that place when he said, "Please, if I've done anything that's pleased you, just kill me." Okay. I, it's, you know.
And so for all you people that work with small home fellowships, small congregations, you've not dealt with anything. Go to two or three million people and see the kind of craziness that Moses had to deal with in large scale. Okay, in large scale. Even his brother and sister. So any of you have family member issues? Look, Moses' own brother and sister gave him trouble. Of course, Yahweh straightened that out real quick. All right.
So here we are again, continuing. And so the the congregation wanted to stone them in verse 10. And then Yahweh says to Moses, "How long am I going to be scorned by the people?" And then Moses says, "Look, if you kill them, what's it going to do to your reputation?"
And so now we get to verse 17. "And now I pray, let the power of Yahweh be great, as you have spoken, saying, 'Yahweh's patient and of great kindness, forgiving crookedness and transgression, but by no means leaving unpunished, visiting the crookedness of the fathers onto the children to the third and the fourth generation.' Please forgive the the crookedness of this people according to the greatness of your kindness, as you have forgiven this people from its rhyme even until now." So he knows that they've needed forgiveness even to this point.
And Yahweh said, "I shall forgive according to your word. But truly, as I live, and all the Earth is filled with the esteem of Yahweh, for none of these men who have seen my esteem and the signs which I did in MIM and in the wilderness, and have tried me now these 10 times and have disobeyed my voice, shall see the land of which I swore to their fathers, nor any of those who scorn me see it. But my servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit in him, has followed me completely, and I shall bring into the land where bring him into the land, uh, where he went, and his seed shall inherit it."
Now, let's, let's understand what's going on in here. He said, "Look, I will forgive them, but they're still going to reap what they've sown." See, some of us want to be forgiven and not have to have any consequences. I deal with this a lot in the ministry. People that I counsel, people I deal with. The biggest problem that I have is that they just do not want to believe that there has to be consequences. "Well, that's not fair. Why does it have to be consequences?" Because there are consequences to action. Action reaps something. And so if you do wrong action, it's going to reap a a consequence, a negative consequence. "Oh, but that, I don't like that." Complain to the one who set the rules. I didn't make the rules. It says, "Yahweh will not be mocked." See, it would be mocking him if you did not reap what you've sown. That's making a mockery. And so, yes, you're going to reap.
Now, he says here, though, and we should understand this. They went and saw this very scary-looking thing, and they panicked and wouldn't go in after all the signs and wonders and everything else. And he said, "That's fine, but that group of people, they don't get to go in." So for all you people that came out of mainstream Christianity where basically almost anything goes, somehow as long as you made your altar call, you were getting in. Is this the Elohim that you see here in Numbers? I mean, he's like, uh-uh. I'll forgive him, but they're not getting in. So they'll get to live out their life and get to enjoy this life, but that's, that's all they're getting. They're not going in. You understand what I'm saying here? This isn't a game. This is serious stuff. And Yahweh doesn't mess around with the, "Oh, I'm sure he'll be okay with this." And, "I'm sure he'll be, oh, I hear this all the time from people. Oh, I'm sure he'll be, oh, he understands." Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. That's what they were thinking here too. "Yeah, he understands." You know what he understands? He understands that in your heart, you don't want to do what he said. That's what he understands. And I don't think he wants to spend forever with a bunch of people that don't want to do what he says. There's not going to be any rebellion in the forever. So he's not going to give you eternal life if he thinks there's even a chance you'll rebel. That's why Deuteronomy 8:2 has to be passed by everybody. You have to show me that it's in your heart to make every effort to do it right. There's no expectation of perfection. There's an expectation of a desire to be per- to be perfect. And by the way, that desire doesn't mean then that you now have to impose what you think is right and perfect on everybody else. That's another problem. We've actually had people have to leave this Sukkot because of that. Their choice. They left. Because we didn't do everything the way they wanted it done, the way they understood scripture, the way they understood things. Well, that's unfortunate. That's very unfortunate. We're all walking out our own salvation in fear and trembling. You are responsible for you with your own stake in your own eye. I'm responsible for more people because that's my job. But primarily, I'm responsible to share information. I'm really not responsible to make you do anything. All I'm responsible for is to share information with you and encourage you to do certain things or not do certain things. But I'm not responsible to make you. You know why? Because if I made you do it, and you went before the judgment throne, what good is it going to avail you when Yahweh says, "I noticed that you did this, this, and this." That's good. But I noticed the only reason you did it is because the rabbi made you do it, or your parents made you do it, or whoever it was, your husband made you do it, your wife made you do it, your children may have made you do it. Some of you have children that are very dominant. Doing it because someone else made you do it doesn't do Deuteronomy 8:2. You have to show him that it's in your heart to want to do it.
So that's why these ministries out there that are so controlling are missing the whole boat. Because they're trying to undermine the point. The whole point of the plan is Deuteronomy 8:2. I believe everybody has to pass that test. My making you do it doesn't help you pass the test. It's as if I took the test for you. Exactly. Well, you see, but you get to stand before the head te- teacher at the end, the principal, and the teacher is going to examine your test and realize, "Yeah, but you didn't answer that question. Somebody else did." You see what I'm saying? You actually didn't know that. So you copied off someone else's paper, or someone else gave you the answer. No, he wants to see what you would do. Because before he's going to give you eternal life and trust you for forever, he's got to know, "Is this the type of person I really want to live with forever?" And so he has a test called the Deuteronomy 8:2-10 test. He also wants to know if you bear the fruit, which means are you going to be not only obedient to my word, but are you also going to be loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, meek, gentle, self-control, etc.? And so that's the other part of the test. Which, by the way, the scathing emails I got over what happened here prove that that person who sent me those emails has not gotten the fruit part down. Okay? And I'm not saying that to pick on the person. I'm just saying that this is the life of ministry. You're going to get attacked. You're going to be called names because everybody thinks they know more than you knew, and they think you handled things badly. And they attack the leadership like happening here with Moses and Aaron. And there's no fear to do that.
So you have to ask yourself now, you, the answer you may get, you know, for the question I'm going to give you right now, you may come up with an answer of no, and that's fine. But you have to ask yourself, "Is this person," and I'm pointing at myself right now in front of the mic phone, "is this person bearing evidence to you that he is called of Yahweh to do what he's doing?" And if you answer that question with a yes, you ought to be very afraid of how you treat that person who's doing that. In this case, it's me. It could be anybody. Could be where you live, whoever the person is. If you have anything to convince you that at any point that they are called of Yahweh. Now, realize that doesn't mean they can't lose their mind like Saul did, right? Saul was anointed of Yahweh. Then he lost his mind. Until he lost his mind, he was doing a fairly good job. But David didn't treat him any different once he lost his mind. David could have said, "Wait a minute. I remember a guy showing up and anointing my head. So maybe this is a sign that I'm supposed to take over." Don't you think some of us would have thought that, right? You were anointed king, king's lost his mind, he's trying to kill you. You know you're supposed to be king someday. So certainly that thought could have occurred to you. But yet, David was like, "Nope. Until Yahweh takes him out, I'm waiting." Now, I'm not going to stand there and let him throw a spear at me and kill me. I'm going to leave. Okay, we already had that incident, right? And then said, "Okay, I'm out of here." All right. So yes, you don't have to stay in a place where maybe the anointed appointed has lost his mind or gone off the deep end. But you cannot be attacking and rebelling against that because that person did at one time represent Yahweh. And if you're not sure, better to treat them like they were them, like they weren't, just to be safe. And that is, is that a fair answer? Also, if you don't know, better to be safe. As a matter of fact, even if you're convinced they're not, better just to leave and not do any of that stuff. Because what if you're wrong? Then what you do to them is like you did it to Yahweh. That doesn't make these people any better or different than you. They just have a different job and calling to do. And you need to respect that. Because clearly Moses was about as flawed as anybody. So was David. But these are very important anointed appointed, weren't they? But they were flawed human beings like I am and anybody else is who gets in front of a microphone and leading. But yet, we have no fear of how we treat them. We have no fear. And this is shameful. And this leads to all kinds of trouble for us.
So he says here, he says, "Look, truly, as I live, and all the Earth is filled with my esteem, none of these men who have seen my esteem and signs, etc., and what I did in M and in the wilderness, and they've tried me now these 10 times and have disobeyed my voice, they're not going in. None of them are going to see the land which I swore to their fathers, nor are any of those who scorn me going to see it." I think that's a metaphor for forever. You want to keep rebelling? At some point, he's going to say, "I'm done with you." Oh, that doesn't sound loving. Really? Scorning him over and over and over and over again, disobeying? Where's, where is, why would he want to spend forever with you if you're going to keep doing that? You didn't put me up here to tell you and tickle your ears. I'm just talking about, it says, this is the real thing. You wouldn't do that. In other words, if you were him, you wouldn't give forever to somebody who treated you that way. Seriously.
You know, we play a game often. We could play it again today. The game is this: What if I gave you the power, any of you, the power to live forever and also to choose who else gets to live forever with you? Think for a second. What would your measuring stick be? In other words, it has to be some sort of criteria, doesn't it? I mean, you're not just going to randomly go, "eeny, meeny, miny, moe," and pick somebody. You're going to have some sort of idea of what you expect out of the person that you're going to give the forever to. I mean, I'm going to guess that whatever it is, it's going to mean that you like them. Okay? You have to like being with them. You have to like them. So what things would determine how you like them or not? Maybe how they treat you. How you see them treating others. I mean, I mean, this is basically Torah as a measuring stick. But you'd have to have one, wouldn't you? Okay. So then my question would be, based on that, how short would your list be right now? You laugh. I'll make you laugh even harder. How many people's list do you think you'd be on? Pretty scary thought, huh?
See, there's only one list you need to be on. Amen. And I think if you did what you had to do to be the type of person he wants to live with forever, you'd, people, everybody would want you to be on their list. At least everybody in the body. Because if you're the type of person he wants to live with forever, everybody would want to be with you. Because you would be Torah observant, you'd be honoring and respectful, and you'd be walking in the fruit. You'd be meek and kind and gentle, you'd be respectful, you'd have love and joy, you'd have self-control, you'd be meek. All these things, right? Who wouldn't want to live with someone like that? But yet, we think that it should be, "Come as you are, and you get in." Now, it is, "Come as you are," but the rest of it is, "But please don't stay that way." Absolutely. Come as you are. And I tell people all the time, because we've had people come into our congregation that were a little challenging at times. And people like, "Well, people say to me, 'Why do you let that person in the congregation?'" I said, "Because they came as they are, and we have to allow them the space to grow into what they can be, if they're actually interested in doing that." And if they're not, they're either going to leave, or we'll have to ask them to leave at some point. As long as they're not disturbing anybody in too great a way, we have to allow the space. And you have to be challenged in your comfort. "But I don't like that they're here." Where does it say that it matters what you like? I'm not trying to be harsh, but seriously, where is there anywhere in scripture that what you like and what you want has anything to do with anything? It's not about you. It's about him. Amen. It's what he wants, what he likes. And if you can't get your wants and likes to match up with his, you're going to have struggles your whole life. It's just ain't going to work. Just no way. You got to bring what you want into line with what he wants. Problem is, whenever what he wants clashes with what you want, which one do you think wins? Usually you. And the way, the way you do it is you try to convince yourself that he's winning because you spin it so it sounds like it's him when it's you. So you twist the Torah so that it justifies that you're okay, so that you're actually doing what he wants. And you know you're full of it. I'm being blunt. You know it. You know that you've twisted it. You know that you're rationalizing. Lying to yourself. Okay, you're doing that rationalizing thing. Okay, you're coming up with a rational-sounding lie that you're going to convince yourself. And then, and this is how you know that you've done this, because now you're going to go to everybody and try to convince them that you did the right thing. Because if you did the right thing, you wouldn't talk to anybody about it. But when you have to go and tell everybody about it, you're trying to get others to tell you you did the right thing. Lobby. And the reason that you're lobbying is because you know you're not doing the right thing. Exactly. So you're looking for others to help convince you what you've already convinced yourself. Because quite frankly, you didn't convince yourself that good enough. So now you're looking to get others on your side. By the way, you see that in the rebellions. It's not enough that the one or two or three want to rebel. They got to get everybody else involved. And so it wasn't bad enough that the guys came back with a bad report, they then went to everybody and scared everybody too, because they needed to make them all upset and scare everybody. You know, to get them all on their side.
Let's continue now. Verse 24. It said, "But my servant Caleb, listen now, because he has a different spirit in him and has followed me completely, I shall shall bring into the land. I bring into the land where he went, and his seed shall inherit it." Now, for all those who don't believe the Ruach was given until Acts chapter 2, it is Caleb had a different spirit in him. I think it's reasonable to guess that this was the Ruach. Amen. But let's say for a second it wasn't, because it has nothing to do with Acts chapter 2 or not. We also have to understand that sometimes when the word spirit is being used, it's talking about attitude. He had a different attitude. That doesn't necessarily mean that a Ruach or an evil spirit is involved. It's simply saying this guy had a whole different approach. His attitude was right. He was willing to put what he wanted behind what Yahweh wanted, and he believed and trusted what Yahweh said. How do we know? Because it says that he followed me completely. By completely, that doesn't mean he was perfect. It has again, the root of understanding with fullness of integrity. I told him to go spy the land. Okay? I told him we were going to go in. He believed what I said. Said, "The nerve of the guy, actually believe what Yahweh said. He's making the rest of us all look bad." You believed him. You know, people will come up to you and say, "Why are you doing this? And why are you doing that? Or why don't you do this anymore?" You say, "Because I read the Bible and I believed him." That's a good answer. You know, even Balaam, you know, we go back to Balaam because it was mentioned in our in our Torah portion and also here. You know, Balaam at some point did say, "I cannot go beyond the word of Yahweh." He's going to, he's been asked to curse and curse and curse, and he couldn't do it. Why? Because he actually at some point came to realize, "I cannot go beyond the word of Yahweh." Maybe that's the best answer you should give your friends, your family members, your work co-workers, your bosses when they ask you to do something like, "Hey, come in on Saturday and work." "I'm sorry, I cannot go beyond the word of Yahweh." "What do you mean?" "Well, in his word, which is called the Bible, he says I can't do it. I can't go beyond what he says." "Nothing personal. Not trying to mess up the company. Not trying to get you mad at me. I can't go beyond the word of Yahweh. That's my life is committed in such a way that I can't go beyond." Now, if you need to fire me, if you need to do whatever, that's okay. I don't, I have no fears of that. Yahweh will take care of me. I can't go beyond the word of Yahweh.
But see, a lot of you saying to me, "Oh, Yahweh wouldn't want me to lose my job and not be able to take care of my family." Why couldn't Yahweh take care of you a different way where you're, you see, you know what it is? You don't see this water parting and walking on dry land. You can't see it. And so that's why that doesn't even occur to you that he could give you another job or better job or whatever. That thought doesn't even come in your head. Because you only believe that that's the job. Because you believe, remember we talked about false evidence appearing real? You falsely see the evidence that your boss has control over your income. Your boss has no control whatsoever over your income. He has control over what he pays you while you're there. You don't have to be there. If you want a different income, you could always go to a different boss. Your boss does not really control your income and your livelihood and how well you can take care of your family. You can always go somewhere else. You really can. You're free to do that in this country. They do allow you to change jobs. As a matter of fact, the average person goes through 10 times more jobs in their life now than they did a couple of generations ago where people generally had one job 40 years and got the gold watch. Okay? Most people change jobs every few years initially when they first start because that's how they actually get the training and they go to the next better job and they get the training, go to the next better job. So there's a lot of job changing in the first 10 years of of of working a career. Then maybe they find a place and they stay. And so resumes don't get examined the same way they used to because they can look and see, "Okay, I can see why you went from here to here because that was a step up." Okay. And then you went from here to here because that was a step up and that added to your skill set. Then you went from here to here, and then you're saying, "But now I see where I'm coming. Now I see this is where I need to stay because now I can take all of this and I have a place where I can grow it and finish it." That's how people change jobs. But yet, "Oh no, I've been there 25 years. I can't imagine doing anything else." That's right. You can't imagine it. You know, these things are so simple, but you, you don't think of them when you're in the middle of them. But I don't see. That's right. You don't see. They, they couldn't see it either. No way. They definitely couldn't see it either.
Continuing. So we know that he had a different spirit in him. Chapter uh 14 here in verse 25. "Since the Amalekites and the Canaanites are dwelling in the valley, turn back tomorrow and set out into the wilderness by the way of the Sea of Reeds." And Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, "How long shall this evil congregation have this grumbling against me? I have heard the grumblings which the children of Israel are grumbling against me." Did you catch the subtlety there? Grumbling is evil. Wow. Grumbling is evil. See, we think of evil as, I don't know, serial killers, pedophiles, rapists, you know, mass murderers. And by the way, that's obviously all evil. But that's kind of our limitation. Evil's got to be this overtly obvious thing that the societies all agree on is evil. What about Yahweh saying here?
They are grumbling against me. How long shall this evil congregation have this grumbling against me? Had they done anything else at this point? Really, no. They're just not listening, and they're grumbling. That's evil to Yahweh. Think of that.
The next time a Torah opportunity comes up and you grumble about having to do it, you're actually doing evil. Well, come on, a different definition, but it's His definition. Amen. And don't get mad at me. I didn't write it. I'm just reading it to you. Okay? I didn't write it. I'm just reading it. I sound like a rum from, you know, F around the roof. I didn't write it. I'm just reading it to you.
He says, "How long shall this evil congregation of grumbling against, uh, do this grumbling against me? I have heard their grumblings with the children of Israel grumbling against me. Say to them, 'As I live,' declares Yahweh, 'as you have spoken in my hearing, so I do to you. The carcasses of you who have grumbled against me are going to fall in this wilderness, all of you who were registered according to your entire number from 20 years old and above. None of you, except Caleb son of Yefuneh and Joshua son of Nun, shall enter the land which I swore I would make you to dwell in. But your little ones, whom you said would become a prey, I shall bring them, and they shall know the land which you have rejected.'"
By the way, did you know that Joshua and Caleb represented the two houses? You got Judah and Ephraim right there. That's right. You had Caleb from Judah, and you got Joshua from Ephraim. That's right. And so that two-house message is playing through all the way through this, all the way. So of all the tribes, the only two guys that got it was the guy from Ephraim and the guy from Judah. You see the message in that?
Continuing, "But as for you," verse 32, "your carcasses are going to fall in this wilderness. Your carcasses are going to fall in this wilderness, and your sons shall be wanderers in the wilderness for 40 years and shall bear your whoredoms until your carcasses are consumed in the wilderness, according to the number of days in which you spied out the land, 40 days, a day for a year, a day for a year. You are to bear your crookedness 40 years, and you shall know my breaking off. I am Yahweh. I have spoken. I shall do this to all this evil."
There it is again, congregation. Now, was this congregation murdering a bunch of people? No. Were they doing pedophile stuff? No. Were they doing, I mean, the stuff that we normally think is evil? What were they doing? Rebelling against Yahweh and His leadership. Rebelling against leadership is evil because that's the things that they were doing. He called them an evil generation, an evil congregation. What were they doing? Rebelling, whining, griping, complaining. I know none of you do that, so never mind, right? No whining, complaining ever coming out of this group's mouth. And I don't mean just you, I mean everybody is going to listen to this CD, see it on YouTube, whatever it is. We're all guilty of this, and we have to grab that and take that into submission, into captivity, those thoughts that lead to the heart, and they lead to the emotions that leads to the whining and the grumbling. That thought comes in your head, "I don't like this." Well, you can grab that thought real quickly, say, "Doesn't matter. I don't need to like it." Or you can let it get into your heart where emotions start to get involved, and then you get all emotional, "I really don't like this. I don't think it's fair. I don't see how that can go." Real quickly, and we get angry, and we get upset, we get frustrated. Apparently, this is evil.
He says, "I shall do this to all, to all this evil congregation who are meeting against me in this wilderness. They are consumed, and they are to die." So when you want to go to whatever you want to do on Shabbat, or a holy day, or you want to eat whatever you want, or you want, this is all evil things. How serious do you want to get? He defines it as evil. By the way, do a study on evil. Find where the word is used all throughout the scriptures, and you're going to find that it always has to do with them breaking His commandments on some level, rebellion, or breaking a commandment. It does not necessarily have to do with what we normally think of as evil. See, we go, "Adolf Hitler, absolutely evil." Okay. "Stalin, evil." Okay. We go look at these guys who are clearly mass murderers or whatever they're doing, evil, yes, definitely. I'm not discounting them at all. But it goes so much further. Like when Yahweh, I mean, when Yeshua said, "Hey, I know it says not to commit adultery, but I'm telling you, even just thinking about it in your heart and wanting to do it is already doing it." But wait a minute, but I didn't do it. But you wanted to. Remember Deuteronomy 8:2? Test. It's all about what you want to do, right? He's testing what is it you want to do? He wants to know, do you want to do what He said, or do you want to do what you want? That's the whole life. That's the whole point of life. We have a teaching I did called "Making Decisions." The reason you exist. Amen. That's the reason you exist. You exist so He can watch you make decisions. That's why we have this fleshly suit on. So it's not about accumulating wealth. It's not about all kinds of fleshly pleasures. It's simply about Him watching you make decisions so that this test life can lead to the real life. Amen. Because this is not real life. This is just a decision-making part of life. And if you make good decisions on a consistent basis, and adjust when you make a bad decision, and show your willingness to hurry up and quickly fix it and repent and teshuvah, then He's going to maybe want to live with you forever and give you the real life. Because this is all about Him wanting to live with people forever. And His criteria, His measuring stick, and I believe we have a measuring stick example that's perfect, is called Yeshua. You want to know what it looks like, the person He wants to, the kind of person He wants to live with forever? Look at Yeshua. Fruit of the Spirit, perfect in His Torah observance. He says, "I do nothing that my Father didn't tell me to do. Everything I do, my Father told me to do." I do what He says. They called Him good. He says, "Nobody's good but my Father." Wow. How humble is that? He says, "My Father is greater than I." Do you know I had a person get flipped out mad at me and send me emails because I had the audacity to teach, just like this, to say that Yeshua and the Father weren't equal? Yeshua said it Himself. He says, "My Father's greater than I." What? How do you argue with somebody about that? You don't. Okay. But this is the kind of thing, "How dare you say that they're not equal?" I didn't say it. He said it. Yeshua. What says, "My Father's greater than I." Any ambiguity in that? Doesn't sound equal to me. Now, are they made of the same stuff? Yes. Okay. Look, I have a son, and he's made of the same stuff as me. He's got the same last name. Came out of my, you know, I help produce him, right, out of my loins, so to speak. He is not equal to me. I am greater than him. And you know what? Even when I'm frail and 90, I'll be greater than him. That's right. Because that's the way Yahweh made it to be. But we're made of the same stuff. You can't win these arguments.
Where, where are we? Verse, um, 36. "And the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land, spy out the land, who returned and made all the congregation grumble against him by bringing an evil report of the land, even those men who brought the evil report about the land died by the plague before Yahweh." So now, those people, they died sooner. They didn't get to just live out there 40 years. So remember what I've said before, and I think I said it, maybe not on part one of this, but I said it maybe during one of the Deuteronomy studies we did this week. It says in some places that witchcraft, excuse me, rebellion is like unto witchcraft. Problem is, I know some of you can relate to that because you came out of witchcraft. Most people can't relate to that. What does it mean? Rebellion is like witchcraft. Well, I'll give you a better, maybe more easy-to-understand term for us today. Rebellion is like unto getting a plague, or rebellion is like unto with, you know, the ground opening up and swallowing you up. That's what rebellion is like unto. Maybe that visual will work better for you than witchcraft. Why don't, what does that mean anyway? Right? We don't relate to that so easily. Can you relate to the ground opening up, or rebellion equaling getting a plague and dying? That's what He's telling you. Rebellion leads to this.
He says in verse 38, "Of those men who went to spy out the land, only Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Yefuneh remained alive." And when Moses spoke these words to all the children of Israel, the people mourned greatly. Now, I'm not going to read it, but the next section then says, in their infinite foolishness, they then decide, "Okay, we're going to go into the land now." But Yahweh just said not to. But, but, but, He said to go in. Yeah, but you blew that already. Now we made a new decision. Keep up with the program. Do what He said. You had that opportunity. That door closed, at least for that moment, for 40 years. That door closed. But see what happened when they didn't listen and thought they were going to do what they wanted to do? They all died. Yahweh didn't go with them. They had all kinds of people get killed when they went up there. They presumed to go up and not listen, and then they died. Foolishness. All could have been avoided if you had just, just listened. Remember what I taught you, that the Torah does? Torah does three things: blesses you, right? Deuteronomy 28 lays it out very clearly, right? All of the blessings, chapter, right? The first half of that chapter. Actually, it's not even a half because there's much more cursings than blessings. And it also keeps you safe. You know, if they had listened to Yahweh, they would have been safe. If they'd gone in when He said, "Go in," nobody would have died. If they had not gone in when He said, "Don't go in," go, don't go in, nobody would have died. It keeps you safe to listen. And then it also helps you to transform from what you are to what He is. I think it's the transformative vehicle that He uses to change you from what you are into what He is. Amen.
All right, so now all of this section was about, "Do not fear the people of the land, but fear Yahweh." However, in spite of all this encouragement, Yahweh knows that in the face of dire circumstances, our tendency is to be spineless. And why would I even use such a term like spineless? Boy, that seems pretty harsh. Well, let's go to Isaiah chapter 41. Oh, yeah. Okay. Isaiah chapter 41. And we're going to begin in verse 8. "But you, Israel, are my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, the descendants of Abraham, my friend. He says, 'Whom I have taken from the ends of the earth and called from its farthest parts and said to you, "You are my servant; I have chosen you and have not rejected you. Do not fear, for I am with you. Do not look around, for I am your Elohim. I shall strengthen you; I shall also help you; I shall also uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness. See, all those who raged against you are ashamed and blush. Now, excuse me, they are, uh, they are as non-existent, and the men who strive with you perish. You seek them, but do not find them. Those who struggle with you, those who fight, are as non-existent as nothing. For I, Yahweh Elohim, am holding your right hand, saying to you, 'Do not fear; I shall help you.'"
Can He say anything more than that? What more can He say to convince them? Look what comes on in verse 14. "Do not fear, you worm Jacob, you men of Israel. I shall help you,' declares Yahweh, 'and your Redeemer, the Set Apart One of Israel.'" Now, now, the word there for worm is *tolah*, and it actually doesn't mean worm. It actually means maggot. So we're talking about that which lives in dead things. He's saying, "Listen to me, you men of Israel who live in dead things. Don't be afraid." See, that's what fear leads to, living in dead things, walking around in death. See, to follow Him and trust Him leads to life. So when I say we're spineless when facing dire circumstances, and that you know that spineless, well, listen, worms are spineless, right? You say, "Listen, you maggots, you worms, you being, you know, whatever the idiom was, basically how we would use it today, saying you're just being spineless, you cowards." Trust me. Stop being afraid. He said, "I'm holding your right hand." What more do you need? Oh, we need it like in Christianity where He does it all for us. No, no. He's going to hold your right hand. That's enough. Doesn't have to do it all for you. But in holding your right hand, He's not going to let anybody hurt you. You don't get to sit back and eat your popcorn while He does everything. You still have to walk this out. But He says, "I'm holding your right hand. Move forward. Do what I told you to do."
Maybe we need more instruction or encouragement because obviously this is not working. It's not enough. Let's go to Psalm 23. I mean, really. I mean, if you just read how many verses where He says, "Stop being afraid. Be afraid of Me. Stop being afraid. Nobody's going to hurt you. Trust Me." I mean, half the book says this. In Psalm 23, I have to resist because like 75 verses just popped in my head that I know I'm probably going to use later. I don't want to say them all now. So let's just go to Psalm 23. T-23. I'm going to read the whole thing. It's only six verses.
"Yahweh is my shepherd; I shall not lack. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my being. He leads me in paths of righteousness for His name's sake. When I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare before me a table in the face of my enemies; You have anointed my head with oil; my cup runs over. Surely goodness and kindness shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of Yahweh to the length of days."
Now, you know who wrote this, and when. When we look at who wrote this, not so much about the writer, but when they were writing this, you know, as a human being, they didn't necessarily have goodness and kindness all the days of their lives, every moment. But see, remember I talked about, we focus on what we want to focus on. This person is choosing to focus on the fact that he has only goodness and kindness all the days of his life. He's not focusing on all the other stuff. He's focusing on the goodness and kindness.
Now, let's break this verse, this whole, this whole section down. Some really interesting things in here. First of all, in verse three, it says, "He restores my being." That's the idea of teshuvah. He gets you to turn around. And He says, "He leads me in paths of righteousness." Let's define righteousness very clearly. It's very complicated, so you're going to have to pay attention. I'm going to use a lot of Hebrew. No, I'm not. It simply means doing what is right. Did I go out on a limb? I mean, people really just, they think righteousness is some complicated thing. No. What's complicated is that we don't know what is right. Righteousness is something you are called when you're doing what is right in the eyes of Yahweh. That is what is right. So it says here, "You lead me in paths that lead to righteousness." In other words, "You show me the things that if I do them, I can be declared right." Oh, but we don't need all that. We have the imputed righteousness of Yeshua. You don't get that till the end, till you've already done everything you needed to do. Do you understand that? Your righteousness gets you to the kingdom door, but it's locked. I know I've told the story many times. I'm not going to paint the picture right now, but just when I paint the picture, it's you getting to that door. It's your righteousness, you're making an effort to do what He said, get you to the door. But it's locked. You know why it's locked? Because you're stained. You're clean if you've repented. You're clean if you've forgiven and been forgiven. But you're still stained. Just like I have the shirt on that's got a light color. If I poured wine on it, I can wash it and clean it. It may not come out the stain, but it'll be clean. Then to get into that door that's locked, you need the imputed righteousness of Yeshua so that you have a perfect, clean garment, like in Revelation, the garment of the bride. But guess what? You don't get that till you get there. Oh, you're talking salvation by works? No, I'm not. I'm talking about your reward. Salvation was offered to everybody at the same time. So you know what happens when people ask me, "Well, when were you saved?" Oh, I hate that question. "When were you saved?" "Oh, I said 2,000 years ago, like everybody else." Then I adjust my thought and say, "Actually, before the foundation of the world." So I always say both. I started off with 2,000 years ago, like everybody else, because what did Yeshua say? He said, "I give my life for the disciples. I give my life for the church. I give my..." What did He say? "For the whole world." Oh, so He made salvation available to everybody. So everybody's saved. Okay. So we're all getting in. So what's the whole point of all this? If that were the case, why is all this thing happening? Why isn't He here? He should just be here already. Well, because it's a journey and a process, and He wants to see people make decisions over generations until He gets, I believe, what I call critical mass, which is the number of people that He wants to have pass the test before He comes. He has a number in mind that He needs to do the work that's going to happen during the Millennium. I mean, needs meaning what He, what He's decided. That's what I want to have. So when I say needs, it's not like He couldn't do it a different way, but He's already decided the way He wants to do things. To do what I want, I need to have so many human beings that have passed the Deuteronomy 8:2 test. And so I think the reason that we still exist is we haven't gotten that number yet. So quite frankly, it's all your fault. Oh, sure. Thanks, Rabbi. You know, there are verses, it says, "Unless the Master shall..." Why would He tarry? Well, maybe because we're not ready. Could that be it? So if you want to know why Yeshua isn't here yet, well, maybe it's because of us, 'cause we're not getting our act together to get the number that He's looking for. I don't know what that number is. I know a piece of that number is 144,000. That may be the whole number for all I know. That's a real small number for all these generations. Maybe that remnant is smaller than we think. Maybe the percentage of wheat to tears is not quite the ratio we were hoping for. I don't know. All I know is that when we're reading this, it says here, "He leads us to paths of righteousness." He leads us where? He's trying to lead us to the kingdom. But why is He doing this? He's doing it for His name's sake. Let's go back again. If this is talking about just a pronunciation or how, whatever the name, how, what does that make any sense? But plug in, He's doing it for His reputation's sake. He's doing it for His identity's sake because it affects how people see Him. So that's what He's saying, "For My name's sake." So when people hear that name, what they picture is what He wants them to picture. People can get real protective of their reputations nowadays. I can't believe what people throw on Facebook because they could care less about their reputations. Unbelievable. What stuff people put. As a matter of fact, there are people that don't understand teenagers that are one day going to go for a job application, not knowing that their employer is going to look at their Facebook page before they hire them. That's right. Just to find out what kind of crazy lunatic they're hiring. That's right. And how much shame they have. Okay, because they have no shame. And so realize that He's doing all of this for His name's sake, for His reputation. That's why He's doing this. He's leading. He says, "He says, 'Yahweh is my shepherd; I don't lack.'" Why don't you lack? Because it's going to affect His, how His reputation is. He's going to make me lie in green pastures. Why? It affects His name. He's going to lead me beside the still waters. To? Because it affects His name. He's going to restore my being, lead me to paths of righteousness. Because it affects His name. Because it's all about Him. It's all about how the world sees Him, how you see Him, how everything in the universe sees Him.
So then He goes, "When I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, though I fear no evil, for You are with me." I mean, what could be worse than walking through the valley of the shadow of death? We have all kinds of trials. Nothing's worse than that. I don't fear. You're with me. Now look what He says here. He goes, "Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me." So what is that talking about? Your rod and Your staff. So the word for rod is *shevet*. I don't have the word written down there for staff, but the word for staff literally just means staff. And by the way, if you are a shepherd, there's a certain amount of comfort in having your staff. If an animal came, if something happened, you had something in your hand. That's a comfort in having your staff, okay? With a little hook at the end, maybe, so you can help go the sheep or whatever you need to do. But there was a comfort in knowing you had your staff. As a matter of fact, if you didn't have your staff, you would feel like you were like unequipped. So there's this comfort in that. We're going to kind of point to that. But let's get to this word *shevet*. The first appearance. Now, have any of you heard of the law of first mention? Okay. The law of first mention is the Jews have decided that there is something important to be discovered when you look at the first place something comes up. Just from all they're studying, they realize there's something significant when you look at the first place a word is used because it tells you a lot about what the word means in Yahweh's eyes. How did He use it the first time? So we call this the law of first mention. Is it a Yahweh law? No. This is something people discovered. But I have found it to be consistently useful. So you may want to do that yourself. You're studying something, a word comes up, go look where it was first used. It will almost always help you get insight.
So here's the first place that word *shevet* has used. It's in Genesis 49 and in verse 10. It says, "The scepter shall not turn aside from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh comes, and to him shall be the obedience of the people." So that word scepter, that is *shevet*. That's the rod. So He's saying, "Your rod, Your scepter of authority, comforts me knowing that You see that's a symbol of authority. Your rod, Your authority, knowing that that's a symbol of Your power and authority, comforts me." So it's not just like a rod to beat someone with. But let's go now to Isaiah 11. Isaiah 11 and verse one. We're not going to get past this today. Isaiah 11 in verse one. "And a rod shall come forth from the stump of Jesse, and a sprout from his root shall bear fruit." A rod, a symbol of authority. The authority. So who was the rod that came out of Jesse? Well, David did. Literally. He certainly had authority, didn't he? Okay. And so generationally, we're looking to Yeshua. Amen. "The Spirit of Yahweh shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding." By the way, this is also talking about Hezekiah. "The Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of Yahweh." Fear of Yahweh gets connected in there too. "And shall make him breathe in the fear of Yahweh, and he shall not judge by the sight of his eyes, nor decide by the hearing of his ears. But with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and shall decide with straightness for the meek ones of the earth. And shall smite the earth with the rod, the authority of his mouth, and slay the wrong with the breath of his lips." So there is a connection here to authority and to Yeshua and to kings. So He says, "Your rulership comforts me. Your rulership, your authority."
So now, do you look at Psalm 23 a little differently? Go to Revelation 19. This is still part of the dealing with Psalm 23. Revelation 19 and: 11. And we're going to finish with this as I'm looking at my clock here. Revelation, uh, 19 and verse 11. "And I saw the heaven opened, and there was a white horse, and He who sat on him was called Trustworthy and True, and in righteousness He judged and fights." While who judges and fights in righteousness? Yeshua. "And His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns, having a name that had been written, which everybody figured out, especially in the sacred name movement." Does it say that in your Bible? No, it doesn't. No, the Assemblies of Yahweh and all the rest of those guys didn't figure it out. It says on His, listen now, "He has a name that has been written which no one had perceived except Himself." So let it go. Do the best you can pronounce it, the best way you can. When I say let it go, meaning stop beating everybody in the teeth about it. You're all wrong. Apparently, 'cause He's got a name that none of you has perceived except Himself, unless you think Revelation is not right. Okay. Verse 13. "And having been dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called the Word of Yahweh." Okay. Now, His name is called the Word of Yahweh. How many of you are walk around just calling Him the Word of Yahweh? You're calling Him Yeshua, Yahusha, Yahhua. Way too many syllables, by the way. And yet, we already know we're doing the best we can. And He says, "And the armies in heaven, dressed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. And out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, and that with it He might smite the nations. And He shall shepherd them with a rod of iron." There's that rod again. "And He treads the winepress with fierceness and the wrath of El Shaddai. And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, Sovereign of Sovereigns and Master of Masters." Interesting. Interesting.
So there you go. In Psalm 23, we're talking about, He says, "Though I walk in the valley, I shall fear no evil." Yeah, here we're told that the rod is what helps gives Him that comfort. And the rod is the authority of Yahweh, the authority of Yeshua. It is kingly. It is majesty. It is sovereignty. It is authority. Oh, but we don't want authority. It's too bad. It's coming. You better get used to it. And by the way, He's not going to take anybody's arguments. You're not going to get to negotiate unless you think I'm reading the book wrong. He's going to rule, it says, with a rod of iron. It's going to be literally my way or the highway. But His way is the right way. If you do His way, you will prosper and have abundance and have joy and be safe and all the other good stuff. The ultimate benevolent dictator. I mean, really. This is not going to be a democracy. This is going to be a dictatorship. Okay. Remember when they were set free from Pharaoh? They weren't set free from all authorities. They simply changed the one to which they were slaves. To. They were still slaves, but they were now free to be slaves to Yahweh. Amen. Amen.
Let's go before the Father with what we learned today. Our Father, King Father, we come before You, and we're just scratching the surface. We know in understanding the fear of You, what it means to fear You correctly. But it also means to be comforted in what it takes to take away that fear, what it means to trust You, what it means to respect You and those You put in authority. Father, we seek Your rod and Your staff to comfort us in all of our trials and tribulations, even if we're walking through the valley of the shadow of death. We want to be able to speak like Psalm 23 and say, "We fear nothing because we know You are with us." Father, give us such a heart, a heart like unto David, where we would trust You so much and praise Your name so much that You would say that we have a heart unto You, like You said about David, that David had a heart like Yours, because we know Your Torah expresses Your heart, and we know that David loved nothing more than Your Torah because he loved You, he loved Your Word. Father, help us to truly embrace what it means to respect You and to give honor to You. Help us to seek Your way over our way every time. Help us not to grumble and complain and whine, but to find joy in every trial and every difficulty, knowing that it will lead to goodness and kindness all the days of our lives. We trust that all things work for the good, those who trust You, those who believe in You. And so, Father, we know that all of that starts with our fear of You. So, Father, we come before You now, asking You to, in Your benevolence, in Your generosity, to open our eyes even more, and our ears more, and our heart to receive a true understanding so that we can fear You correctly. Father, we thank You, we praise You, and we appreciate You, and we bless Your holy name, Your reputation, and Your identity, and all that You are, in the name above all names, Yeshua our Messiah. Amen.
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