Hello, John and Doves,
God is Sovereign!!! He saves
whom He will, for any reason, or for no discernable
reason at all.
It is written,
"And he said, I will make all my goodness pass
before thee, and I will
proclaim the name of the LORD before thee; and
will be gracious to whom I will be gracious,
and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy.
"And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there
shall no man see me, and live.
"And the LORD said, Behold, [there is] a place by me,
and thou shalt stand upon a rock:
"And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by,
that I will put thee in a
cleft of the rock, and will cover thee with my
hand while I pass by:
"And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my
back parts: but my face shall not be seen."
Again, it is written,
"The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word
of our God shall stand for ever.
"O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up
into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest
good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift
[it] up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of
Judah, Behold your God!
"Behold, the Lord GOD will come with strong [hand],
and his arm shall rule for him: behold, his reward
[is] with him, and his work before him.
"He shall feed his
flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs
with his arm, and carry [them] in his bosom, [and]
shall gently lead those that are with young.
"Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his
hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and
comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and
weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a
balance?
"Who hath directed the
Spirit of the LORD, or [being] his counsellor
hath taught him?
"With whom took he counsel, and [who] instructed
him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and
taught him knowledge, and shewed to him the way of
understanding?"
Yet again, you can read,
"Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, [that] the
everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of
the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? [there is]
no searching of his understanding.
"He giveth power to the
faint; and to [them that have] no might he
increaseth strength.
"Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the
young men shall utterly fall:
"But they that wait upon
the LORD shall renew [their]
strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles;
they shall run, and not be weary; [and] they shall
walk, and not faint."
Truly, nothing is beyond our
awesome God! He will save every one who is willing
to abandon evil and cling to righteousness.
For it is written,
"Behold, thou shalt call a nation [that] thou
knowest not, and nations [that] knew not thee shall
run unto thee because of the LORD thy God, and for
the Holy One of Israel; for he hath glorified thee.
"Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye
upon him while he is near:
"Let the wicked forsake
his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts:
and let him return unto the LORD, and he will
have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he
will abundantly pardon.
"For my thoughts [are] not your thoughts, neither
[are] your ways my ways, saith the LORD."
And yet for all this, some have the
hubris to think they know whom God cannot or will not
save.
I guess they must never have read,
"Behold, the LORD'S hand is not shortened, that it
cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot
hear..."
Nor can they have heard that,
“Behold, now is the accepted time;
behold, now is the day of salvation.”
2
Corinthians 6:2
I suppose it is hard for
some to realize that the phrase, "the accepted time,"
refers to the Days of Awe, 1
Tishrei 5776 through 10 Tishrei 5776, inclusive.
This means that, since 2 Corinthians was written to
both Jews and Gentiles, salvation is available during
the Days of Awe for any and all who repent of their
sins and accept Yeshua Ha Mashiach as ADONAI Roi
[The LORD (YHWH), my Shepherd]. Actually, any
time that any one on
earth reads that verse, it
means they can be saved, if
only they bow the knees of their heart to Yeshua
Ha Mashiach.
The saved Jews and the saved
Gentiles of all time are in one fold.
It is written,
"And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold:
them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice;
and there shall be one fold, [and] one shepherd.
How do we know our past sins won't
hold us back from being saved, if
we repent?
It is written,
"Say unto them, [As] I
live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in
the death of the wicked; but that the wicked
turn from his way and live: turn ye,
turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O
house of Israel?...
"When the righteous turneth from his righteousness,
and committeth iniquity, he shall even die thereby.
"But if the wicked turn
from his wickedness, and do that which is lawful
and right, he shall live thereby.
"Yet ye say, The way of the Lord is not equal. O ye
house of Israel, I will judge you every one after
his ways."
Can anyone sort out the
commandments of God for another person?
No, it is enough to see to one's own salvation,
and then give testimony of
what God has done for you.
It is written,
"According to the grace of God given to me, like a
skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and
someone else is building upon it. Let each one take
care how he builds upon it.
"For no one can lay a foundation other than that which
is laid, which is Jesus Christ."
"That
which was from the beginning, which we have
heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which
we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim
concerning the Word of life."...
"If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves
and the truth is not in us.
"If we confess our sins,
he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins
and purify us from all unrighteousness."
Since the Gentiles, by and large,
do not have access to the ashes of the Red Heifer to
make their own soap [invented by God, developed by
Jews--Numbers
19:17], 1 John 1:9 has been often
referred to as "The Christian's Bar of Soap."
So now, we can well believe Jesus
words, that,
"All that the Father gives me will come to me, and
whoever comes to me I will never drive away."
Now, armed with knowledge and
faith, let us examine Revelation 20:4
"And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and
judgment was given unto them: and [I saw] the souls of
them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and
for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the
beast, neither his image, neither had received [his]
mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they
lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years."
The phrase, "had received,"
means--according to definition 1,d,3--"not
to refuse or reject."
I say,
Be sure of the LORD's
promises. The LORD maintains His Holy Word
in a position above His Holy Name:
"...[Y]our promises are
backed by all the honor of your name."
Psalm
138:2 NLT
Moreover, Jesus's name is above every
other name, because Our Savior's name,
"Jesus," means "YHWH is deliverance."
"Therefore, God elevated him
to the place of highest honor and gave him
the name
above all other names, that at the name of Jesus every
knee should bow in heaven and on earth
and under the earth, and every tongue confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the
Father."
Philippians
2:10-11
Finally, it is written,
""This is what the LORD of Heaven's Armies
says: In those days ten men from different nations and
languages of the world
will clutch at the
sleeve of one Jew. And they will say, 'Please let us walk with
you, for we have heard that God is with you.'"
It is written,
" 'Tell ye, and bring
them near; yea, let them take counsel
together: Who hath declared this from
ancient time? Who hath told it from that
time? Have not I the LORD? And there
is no God else beside Me; a just God and a
Savior; there is none beside
Me.
'Look unto Me, and be ye
saved, all the ends of
the earth: for I am God, and
there is none else,' " Isaiah 45:21-22.
Once again, this is a reference to
the awesome Day of the Lord, lasting from 1 Tishrei 5776
to 10 Tishrei 5776, when the 70th Jubilee is proclaimed
by Yeshua Ha Mashiach. In a larger sense, this
also refers to the Millenial
Kingdom, when the Earth is peopled by both Jews
and goyim that have come out of Great Tribulation.
For it is written,
"There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male
nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus."
Truly, God loves the goyim--to the
ends of the Earth, and to the end of time.
Baruch HaShem Yeshua HaMashiach,
Mike C.