Nazarene Israelite Two House Congregation of Port Elizabeth

‘Are you for us or for our adversaries?’

It is very important for us as returnees from the Lost sheep of the house of Israel to know who are for us and who are against us, as Yahshua showed when He rebuked the Pharisees in Matthew 12: 25 – 30 saying: “Any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste; and any city or house divided against itself will not stand. (26) And if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself; how then shall his kingdom stand? (27) If I by Beelzebul cast out demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? Consequently they shall be your judges. (28) But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of Elohim, then the kingdom of Elohim has come upon you. (29) Or how can anyone enter the strong man’s house and carry off his property, unless he first blinds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house. (30) He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me scatters.” Yes, one of the identifying marks of those who are against Messiah’s work, is that they always try to cause divisions in groups who are doing Elohim’s work.

However, we see that those who like to cause divisions among us are in fact doing us a favor, as Rav Shaul wrote in 1 Corinthians 11; 19, saying: ‘For there must also be factions among you, in order that those who are approved may have become evident among you.’ But, this is also one of life’s great questions, which Joshua the son of Nun asked the captain of the host of YHVH when he confronted him as recorded in Joshua 5: 13, as follows:‘Now it came about when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing opposite him with his sword drawn in his hand, and Joshua went to him and said to him, “Are you for us or for our adversaries?” The captain of the host of YHVH answered Joshua in verses 14 & 15, saying: “No, rather I indeed come now as captain of the host of YHVH.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and bowed down, and said to him, “What has my master to say to his servant?” (15) And the captain of (YHVH)’s host said to Joshua, “Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.’This happened soon after the sons of Israel took upon themselves the sign of the covenant of circumcision and partook of the Passover in the evening of the fourteenth day of Aviv at Gilgal, immediately before the battle of Jericho. The question is, who or what was this captain of the host of YHVH? It is certain, he could not simply be a man, since Joshua fell face down before him. It is only when he tells Joshua to remove his sandals, because the place where he was standing on was holy, that his identity becomes obvious.We know that this is also what happened to Moses before YHVH told him to lead the Israelites out of Egypt, when he came to Mount Horeb and he stopped to look at a burning bush, whilst pasturing Jethro’s flock and YHVH called to him from the burning bush in Exodus 3: 4 & 5, saying: “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” (5) Then He said, “Do not come near here; remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” Truth is that without peace with all men and sanctification ‘no one will see YHVH’ as witnessed in Hebrews 12: 14. But, because Moses was faithful and showed the proper respect, YHVH told him His true name. Similarly from what happened to Joshua here, he understood that this was not simply a man standing before him, but the word of YHVH, who later became Yahshua the Messiah, whobecame the redeemer for the lost sheep of the house of Israel, but eventually during the great white throne period also for the rest of mankind. This is the same ‘angel of YHVH’ who appeared to Hagar in the wilderness in Genesis 16: 7 – 13, and again to Samson’s parents in Judges 13: 3& 16 – 22. It was also the same angel who wrestled with Jacob in Genesis 32: 24 – 30, whom the prophet Hosea described as being YHVH, the Elohim of hosts in Hosea 12: 3 & 4, where he talks about Jacob, saying: ‘In the womb he took his brother by the heel, and in his maturity he contended with Elohim. (4) Yes, he wrestled with the angel and prevailed; he wept and sought His favor. He found Him at Bethel, and there He spoke with us, (5) even YHVH, the Elohim of hosts; YHVH is His name.’

We understand from Genesis 32: 30 that after Jacob discovered that the angel of YHVH with whom he wrestled was the visible image of the invisible Elohim, ‘Jacob named the place Peniel (the face of Elohim), for he said, “I have seen Elohim face to face, yet my life has been preserved.’ When Jacob realized this, his name was changed to Israel and similar to what happened to Jacob, each one of us from the lost ten tribes, whom YHVH is busy calling out of the false religions of the world, has to wrestle with the question about who or what Yahshua truly is. It is only when we realize other than what we were taught in the Churches of G-d and Assemblies of YHVH, there are not two (YHVH)’s, but that Yahshua is the arm of YHVH, as is confirmed in Isaiah 53: 1, as follows: ‘Who has believed our massage? And to whom has the arm of YHVH been revealed?’We find the answer to this very important question in John 12: 37 – 41, in this way: ‘But though He had performed so many signs before them, yet they were not believing in Him;(38) that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke,  “YHVH, WHO HAS BELIEVED OUR REPORT? AND TO WHOM HAS THE ARM OF YHVH BEEN REVEALED?”  (39) For this cause they (the house of Judah) could not believe, for Isaiah said again, (40) “HE HAS BLINDED THEIR EYES, AND HE HARDENED THEIR HEART, LEST THEY SEE WITH THEIR EYES, AND PERCEIVE WITH THEIR HEART, AND BE CONVERTED AND I HEAL THEM.” (This was written specifically to show that YHVH blinded the eyes and hearts of the house of Judah to the identity of the true Messiah during His first advent, but also that of most of  the house of Israel to allow those whom He is busy calling from the lost sheep of the house of Israel to return to the covenant relationship they made with Elohim at Mount Sinai, together with the house of Judah) (41) These things Isaiah said, because he saw His glory, and he spoke of Him.’ But, to confirm Yahshua’s true identity, Yahshua cried out is verse 44 & 45, saying: “He who believes in Me does not believe in Me, but in Him who sent Me,(45) and he who beholds Me beholds  the One who sent Me.”

 

We see from the account given in the book of Joshua that Joshua discovered that the ‘man standing opposite him’ was the word of Elohim, who is identified as YHVH in Joshua 6: 2, where He said to Joshua, “See, I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and the valiant warriors.” From this point forward, He does not identify Himself as ‘the captain of the host of YHVH’, but as YHVH. He continues instructing Joshua in verses 3 – 5, saying: “And you shall march around the city, all the men of war circling the city once. You shall do so for six days. (4) Also seven priests shall carry seven trumpets of ram’s horns before the ark; then on the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. (5) And it shall be that when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, and when you hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city will fall down flat, and the people will go up every man straight ahead.”Yahshua our Messiah identified Himself with Proverbs 30: 4in Matthew 14:  23 – 33, when He walked on the sea and calmed the wind, as follows: ‘And after He had sent the multitudes away, He went up to the Mountain by Himself to pray; and when it was evening, He was there alone. (24) But the boat was already many stadia away from the land, battered by the waves; for the wind was contrary. (25) And in the fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking on the sea. (26) And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were frightened, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out for fear. (27)But immediately Yahshua spoke to them, saying, “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.” (28)And Kepha answered Him and said, “Master, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.” (29)And He said, “Come!” And Kepha got out of the boat, and walked on the water and came toward Yahshua. (30)But seeing the wind, he became afraid, and beginning to sink, he cried out, saying, “Master, save me!” (31)And immediately Yahshua stretched out His hand and took hold of him, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” (32)And when they got into the boat, the wind stopped. (33)And those who were in the boat worshiped Him, saying, “You are certainly Elohim’s Son!”’ Yahshua refuted Christianity’s maindoctrine in John 3: 13 that ‘good’ people go to heaven when they die (but also proved that He was indeed whom He said He was, by walking on the sea, and commanding the wind), saying: “And no one has ascended into heaven, but He who descended from heaven, even the Son of Man.”In Psalm 115 Yahshua is clearly identified by this statement as witnessed in verse 16, as follows: ‘The heavens are the heavens of YHVH, but the earth He has given to the sons of men.’

 

When Moses spoke to YHVH on Mount Sinai, he spoke to theform or image of Elohim who became Yahshua the Messiah, as we read from the first part of Numbers 12: 8, in this way: ‘With him I speak mouth to mouth, even openly, and not in dark sayings, and he beholds the form (or image) of YHVH.’It was Messiah who was taken up into heaven, but who will come in the same way that He left in a cloud on the Mount of Olives, as witnessed in Acts 1: 9 – 11, as follows: “And after He had said these things, He was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. (10) And as they were gazing intently into the sky while He was departing, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them; (11)and they also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Yahshua, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.”’ Rav Shaul wrote about the time when Messiah will return in first Thessalonians 4: 13 – 17, saying: ‘But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve, as do the rest who have no hope. (14) For if we believe that Yahshua died and rose again, even so Elohim will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Yahshua. (15) For this we say to you by the word of the Master, that we who are alive, and remain until the coming of the Master, shall not precede those who have fallen asleep. (16) For the Master Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of Elohim; and the dead in Messiah shall rise first. (17) Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Master in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Master.’  Jude wrote about this time in Jude 14 & 15, saying: ‘And about these also Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, YHVH came with many thousands of His holy ones, (15) to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.” This will be when Messiah will usher in the era of the New Covenant, of which Jeremiah wrote in Jeremiah 31: 31 – 33, in this way: “Behold, days are coming,” declares YHVH, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, (32) not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,” declares YHVH. (33)  “But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares YHVH, “I will put My law within them, and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their Elohim, and they shall be My people.”

Joshua the son of Nun was standing in front of Jericho when the ‘Captain of the host of YHVH’ was standing opposite him with a drawn sword. But Joshua did not get the answer he was expecting, instead the commander of (YHVH)’s army told him and his army to march around the walls of Jericho, also promising that after seven days, when on the last day they marched around the city for seven times the city walls will fall down flat, and he and his men will enter unscathed and take the city. The point is, once we understand who is in charge, the question is not: “Are you for us or for our adversaries”, but rather, since YHVH is in charge; “who is on (YHVH)”s side?”  It is as Rav Shaul wrote in Romans 8: 28 –32, saying: ‘And we know that Elohim causes all things to work together for good to those who love Elohim, to those who are called according to His purpose. (29) For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren; (30) and whom He predestined, these He also called; and whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified. (31) What then shall we say to these things? If Elohim is for us, who is against us? (32) He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?’ During World War II, as I am sure in every war before and since, every army claimed ‘G-d’ to be on their side. But as we all know, that was the incorrect claim to make. Hitler also claimed to have Elohim on his side during World War II, since the emblem on the metal belt buckles of each of the soldiers in his army contained an eagle standing on a swastika with the German inscription: ‘GOTT MIT UNS.’

The allies fighting against Hitler were defending the people whom YHVH has chosen[1] and ultimately overcame his mighty army. When the captain of the host of YHVH came to Joshua, He gave Joshua the plan to victory against the Canaanites and the King of Jericho, who had to fight these desert dwellers but came up against YHVH Himself. No one on earth can stand against YHVH and His promises, as He promised through Isaiah in Isaiah 56: 1 & 2, saying: “Preserve justice, and do righteousness, for My salvation (Yahshua) is about to come and My righteousness to be revealed. (2) How blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who takes hold of it; who keeps from profaning the Sabbath, and keeps his hand from doing  any evil.”  A second more detailed version of this is given in Deuteronomy 11: 26 – 32, in this way: “See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: (27) the blessing, if you listen to the commandments of YHVH your Elohim, which I am commanding you today; (28) and the curse, if you do not listen to the commandments of YHVH your Elohim, but turn aside from the way which I am commanding you today, by following other gods which you have not known. (29) And it shall come about, when YHVH your Elohim brings you into the land where you are entering to possess it, that you shall place the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal. (30) Are they not across the Jordan, west of the way toward the sunset, in the land of the Canaanites who live in the Arabah, opposite Gilgal, beside the oaks of Moreh? (31) For you are about to cross the Jordan to go in to possess the land which YHVH your Elohim is giving you, and you shall possess it and live in it, (32) and you shall be careful to do all the statutes and the judgments which I am setting before you today.” Notice in Joshua 6: 2, the word of YHVH did not say to Joshua ‘I will deliver’ but instead said: “See, I have given Jericho into your hand.” It was a done deal before the actual battle. YHVH already predestined Israel to take over the Promised Land. Similarly we read from Rav Shaul’sletter to the believers in Ephesus (but also to us) in Ephesians 1: 3 – 6, saying: ‘Blessed be the Elohim and Father of our Master Yahshua Messiah, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Messiah, (4) just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him.In love. (5) He predestined us to adoption as sons through Yahshua Messiah to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, (6) to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.

What YHVH has purposed or willed is as good as done. He told Israel, that if they disregard the covenant they made with Elohim, He would scatter them into the nations of the world, as witnessed in Deuteronomy 29: 1, 24 – 28 &30: 1 – 10, as follows:“These are the words of the covenant which YHVH commanded Moses to make with the sons of Israel in the land of Moab, besides the covenant which He had made with them at Horeb.(24)And all the nations shall say, ‘Why has YHVH done thus to this land? Why this great outburst of anger?’(25) Then men shall say, ‘Because they forsook the covenant of YHVH, the Elohim of their fathers, which He made with them when he brought them out of Egypt. (26) And they went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods whom they have not known and whom He had not allotted to them.(27)Therefore, the anger of YHVH burned against that land, to bring upon it every curse which is written in this book; (28) and YHVH uprooted them from their land in anger and in fury and in great wrath, and cast them into another land, as it is this day.’” (30: 1)“So it shall be when all of these things have come  upon you, the blessing and the curse which I have set before you, and you call them to mind in all  nations where YHVH your Elohim has banished you,(2)and you return to YHVH your Elohim and obey Him with all your heart and soul according to all that I command you today, you and your sons,(3) then YHVH your Elohim will restore you from captivity, and have compassion on you, and will gather you again from all the peoples where YHVH your Elohim has scattered you.(4) If your outcasts are at the ends of the earth, from there YHVH your Elohim will gather you, and from there He will bring you back.(5) And YHVH your Elohim will bring you into the land which yourfathers possessed, and you shall possess it; and He will prosper you and multiply you more than your fathers.(6) Moreover YHVH your Elohim will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love YHVH your Elohim with all your heart and with all your soul, in order that you may live. (7) And YHVH your Elohim will inflict all these curses on your enemies and on those who hate you, who persecuted you.(8) And you shall again obey YHVH, and observe all His commandments which I command you today. (9)  Then YHVH your Elohim will prosper you abundantly in all the work of your hand, in the offspring of your body and in the offspring of your cattle and in the produce of your ground, for YHVH will again rejoice over you for good, just as He rejoiced over your fathers; (10) if you obey YHVH your Elohim to keep His commandments and His statutes which are written in this book of the law, if you turn to YHVH your Elohim with all your heart and soul.”

Knowing the ‘religious climate’ of today Rav Shaul asks in the first part of Romans 11: 1, “I say then, Elohim has not rejected His people, has He? May it never be?” This verse corresponds with Rav Shaul’s question in Romans 3: 3, where he asked: ‘What then? If some did not believe, their unbelief will not nullify the faithfulness of Elohim, will it?’ Some of those Nazarene/Messianic Israelite and like-minded believers who are always suspicious of our Jewish Brothers may ask: “how could the destiny of the house of Judah also not be changed, considering their rejection of Messiah?” Rav Shaul’s answer is absolutely clear in Romans 11: 2 – 5, as follows: ‘Elohim has not rejected His people (Judah) whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah, how he pleads with Elohim against Israel? (3) “YHVH, THEY HAVE KILLED THY PROPHETS, THEY HAVE TORN DOWN THINE ALTARS, AND I ALONE AM LEFT, AND THEY ARE SEEKING MY LIFE.” (4) But what is the divine response to him? “I HAVE KEPT for Myself SEVEN THOUSAND MEN WHO HAVE NOT BOWED THE KNEE TO BAAL.” (5) In the same way then, there has also come to be at the present time a remnant according to Elohim’s gracious choice.(6) But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace.” But, does the captain of the host of YHVH give Israel a commanding role in the conquering of Jericho? No, He did not, instead He orders them to march once around the city of Jericho for six days, and seven times on the seventh day with the priests blowing shofars and at the end when the people hear the long blast of the shofar, they all were instructed to give a loud shout, then the walls of Jericho would fall down flat and the people could go straight into the city and take it over. Even though this command might have seemed silly, but because the nation obeyed, the walls fell flat and the people went in and took the city and its spoils.

 

Our motivation for obeying YHVH should not be fear, but love, as we read from first John 4: 18, in this way: “There is no fear in love; but perfect love castsout fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.”Israel could only gain victory over Jericho and Canaan by Elohim’s grace through faith and in the same way can we only gain victory over sin and against the dark forces of the world by surrendering to the Kingship of YHVH, by grace through faith. Continuing in Romans 11: 7& 8, Rav Shaul asks: ‘What then? That which Israel is seeking for, it has not obtained, but those who were chosen obtained it, and the rest were hardened; (8) just as it is written,(in Isaiah 29: 10) “FOR YHVH HAS POURED OVER YOU A SPIRIT OF DEEP SLEEP, HE HAS SHUT YOUR EYES, THE PROPHETS; AND HE HAS COVERED YOUR HEADS, THE SEERS.” Here we have a second witness that YHVH has blinded the minds of our Jewish Brothers to the identity of Yahshua for the sake of those from the house of Israel (including some Gentiles) whom He is calling out of the world, to return to the original covenant that He made with both the house of Judah and them at Mount Sinai, as Rav Shaul continues to explain in Romans 11, but He has also allowed the rest of the world to be blinded to the good news about the coming kingdom of Elohim. The Jews believe in the coming kingdom of Elohim; that a Messiah is coming to bring back a remnant of the lost ten tribes to the original covenant and its promises, but also to rule the whole world from Jerusalem. Yahshua’s main purpose for coming to the earth the first time, was to facilitate the return of a remnant of the lost ten tribes to Torah and Brother Judah, by the time He returns, as He told the Canaanite woman who asked Him to heal her demon-possessed daughter, in Matthew 15: 24, saying: “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”  We continue reading from Romans 11: 9 - 11, in this way:‘And David says,“LET THEIR TABLE BECOME A SNARE AND A TRAP, AND A STUMBLING BLOCK AND A RETRIBUTION TO THEM. (10) LET THEIR EYES BE DARKENED TO SEE NOT, AND BEND THEIR BACKS FOREVER.” (11) I say then, they did not stumble so as to fall, did they? May it never be! But by their transgression (of not recognizing Yahshua caused by Elohim Himself) salvation has come to the Gentiles (those of us from the lost ten tribes who used to believe that we are Gentiles, plus some real Gentiles), to make them jealous.’ We the remnant of the lost ten tribes need to understand these truths, but also that YHVH will fulfill His promise to rebuild the tabernacle of David which has fallen.

 

Continuing in Romans 11:12 – 15 we read about the tremendous blessing YHVH is planning for us from the lost ten tribes on the day when Yahshua returns on Yom Teruah in the near future, as follows:‘Now if their transgression be riches for the world and their failure be riches for the Gentiles (meaning in the most non-Jewish Israel), how much more will their fulfillment be! (13) But I am speaking to you who are Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle of Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, (14) if somehow I might move to jealousy my fellow countrymen and save some of them. (15)For if their rejection be reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?”’ When will the dead in Messiah be resurrected? This will be when Messiah returns to the Mount of Olives, the same way that He left when He ascended to heaven, as witnessed in 1 Thessalonians 4: 13 – 17, in this way: ‘But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve, as do the rest who have no hope. (14) For if we believe that Yahshua died and rose again, even so Elohim will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Yahshua. (15) For this we say to you by the word of YHVH, that we who are alive, and remain until the coming of the Master, shall not precede those who have fallen asleep.(16) For the Master Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of Elohim; and the dead in Messiah shall rise first.(17) Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Master in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Master.’However, before this could happen, our Jewish Brothers will have to accept the true Messiah. But, that does not mean that we have to do everything in our power to convince them to do so. No, we need to understand that YHVH has blinded them and we cannot change that. But, reading from Zechariah 12: 7 – 10 we see that they will accept Messiah on Yom Teruah when He returns to save them first, as follows: “YHVH also will save the tents of Judah first in order that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem may not be magnified above Judah. (8) In that day YHVH will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the one who is feeble among them in that day will be like David, and the house of David will be like Elohim, like the angel of YHVHbefore them. (9)And it will come about in that day that I will set about to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. (10) And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace (by which they will be saved) and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him, like the bitter weeping over a first-born.” 

 

Nevertheless, the problem is that the house of Israel have been blinded for so long, that we only discovered Messiah’s real purpose for His first advent as recently as 10– 15 years ago, we have discovered Messiah’s main purpose for coming to earth; to bring the lost ten tribes back to the faith of our fathers in the faith, which the house ofJudah retained for the past 2500 years after their return from their captivity in Babylon. This is what Yahshua taught His followers when He told them the parable of the prodigal son. As a result most of us do not understand Elohim’s plan of keeping Judah blinded until the fullness of the number that He requires from the lost ten tribes plus some real Gentilesreturn, at which time a remnant from bothhouses will be saved to become kings and priests under Yahshua at His return, as witnessed in verses 22 – 32 of Romans 11, in this way:‘’Behold then the kindness and severity (transliterated in Hebrew as Chesed and Gevurah -  representative of the two arms of YHVHdescribed in Deuteronomy 33: 27, namely the Set-apart Spirit and Messiah)  of Elohim; to those who fell severity, but to you, Elohim’s kindness, if you continue in His kindness; otherwise you also will be cut off. (23) And they also, if they do not continue in their unbelief (which will come to an end at Messiah’s return), will be grafted in; for Elohim is able to graft them in again.  (24) For if you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more shall these who are the natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree? (25) For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of the mystery, lest you be wise in your own estimation, that a partial hardening has happened to (Jewish)Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; (26) and thus all Israel will be saved (ask yourself: how could all Israel consist of Jewish Israel and Gentiles? This means that most of the ones called out of the world by YHVH at this time are truly from the house of Israel and all Israel will be saved when we join the house of Judah on the mountains of Israel at Messiah’s return); just as it is written, “THE DELIVERER WILL COME FROM ZION, HE WILL REMOVE UNGODLINESS FROM JACOB.(27) AND THIS IS MY COVENANT WITH THEM, WHEN I TAKE AWAY THEIR SINS.” (28) From the standpoint of the gospel they are enemies for your sake (they are blinded to Messiah so that we may return), but from the standpoint of Elohim’s choice they are beloved for the sake of the fathers;(29) for the gifts and the calling of Elohim are irrevocable. (If this is too difficult to understand by those who believe they are going to get into the kingdom without Judah, then I rest my case.)(30)For just as you once were disobedient to Elohim, but now have been shown mercy because of their disobedience,(31) so these also now have been disobedient, in order because of the mercy shown to you they also may now be shown mercy. (32) For Elohim has shut up all in disobedience that He might show mercy to all.’

 

YHVH is working according to a plan and despite what you and I believe or whether you and I like it or not,His plan will come to fruition, since His calling and promises are irrevocable.Rav Shaul continues in verse 33, saying:‘Oh, the depth of the riches of both the wisdom and knowledge of Elohim! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!’ What lessons can we learn from Joshua the son of Nun’s encounter with the ‘captain of the hosts of YHVH’? Firstly, we learn, even with life’s obstacles looming before us, YHVH has predestined our lives and it only depends on our faithfulness to His plan to ensure our victory in the end. Secondly, we know from Exodus 15: 3 that “YHVH is a warrior; YHVH is His name.“He has declared war on every one who is against His plan of rebuilding the tabernacle of David which has fallen. Thirdly, as the "captain of hosts of YHVH”He did not come asking for advice or opinions,  He came to take charge of the battle and lead Israel to victory. He does not come as our personal “spirit guide”, but One who commands that we obey to see the victory, as witnessed in Isaiah 42: 13, in this way:  ‘YHVH will go forth like a warrior, He will arouse His zeal like a man of war. He will utter a shout, yes, He will raise a war cry. He will prevail against His enemies.’ Lastly, Joshua was ordered to remove his shoes, which represented his strategies to take over Jericho. But he had to be willing to surrender control in order to receive (YHVH)'s salvation; namely Yahshua. Knowing this –are we willing to do it Elohim’s way, or are we going to continue with our own ideas? The choice remains ours!

 

[1]Judah has been Elohim’s chosen people, since the two houses of Israel split in two after King Solomon’s reign, as witnessed in Psalm 78: 67 & 68, as follows: ‘He also rejected the tent of Joseph, and did not choose the tribe of Ephraim, but chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion which He loved.’