The Bible gave me a gentle nudge 3/3 – Humility (or The big Paradox of Salvation)

Yahusha said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. (John 14:5-6)

Yahusha came to set the captives free from sin, to minister that real worship to the Father came from the heart and not exclusively from following rules and of course, to pay for the fundamental sin of mankind with his own blood. The complete spiritual meaning of his life will never be fully clear to our currently limited comprehension. Christian churches have different doctrines, and a currently rather controversial debate is on whether our works interfere in our salvation or if salvation is a predestination - meaning that we are either chosen from the beginning to be saved or not and nothing we do here will change it. The later theory is what makes more sense to me, for it is well backed by Scripture and it does bring in itself the glory and power of Yahuah, thus confirming our ‘smallness’.

Nevertheless, works are still important, but they will happen naturally and the ‘good fruit’ will happen only after faith – or the renewed life – is given by the Father. What a curious paradox: in order to be saved, one must believe in Yahusha, however in order to truly believe in Yahusha, one must be given faith.

The pursuit of our Creator is inherent to us. We all have it in a way or another. The thirst and hunger for connection with the Father is the cause of many self-destructive behaviors, mental illnesses and even ideologies. Make no mistake, non-believers are the ones who thirst the most.

Most people can’t feel faith, even when they go to church and say they are religious. This was specially the case in Yahusha’s time, when most of the population was indeed following all the instructions in the Torah strictly, but they still knew that they needed the Messiah for their salvation. Generation after generation in Israel as they started sinning, a lot of the connection with the Creator was lost. Discipline with the Torah was simply not enough anymore. In this context, the Jewish leaders delighted in their power over their people with the ‘holier than thou’ and self-righteous attitude that further oppressed the spiritually hungry Jews.

Yahusha came to fill that gap. Before Yahusha, people had to make constant animal sacrifices. Being innocent creatures, they were used to compensate for our disobedience in the Garden of Eden, but Yahuah was getting weary of animal sacrifices. Yet that was the plan all along; the sacrifice of animals was needed to make the death of the Messiah transformational. After Yahusha, animal sacrifices were no longer needed, for the perfect man, Yahuah incarnated and sinless, gave himself for us. But not all of us, as he himself declared. This is clear even in his time when not all recognized the prophecies being fulfilled. We know that Yahusha was very clear that he was dying for his lambs only. And his lambs would hear his voice and follow. The question is: how can we hear? Is it our decision? Can I have faith on my own choice? Let’s see what the Scriptures tell us:

'Yahusha said to them, “If Yahuah were your Father, you would love me, for I came from Yahuah and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? Whoever is of Yahuah hears the words of Yahuah. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of Yahuah.” (John 8:42-47)

And this is the most fascinating fact about salvation: it does not depend on us! We may ask for it, pray constantly for faith, but what will flip the switch in our hearts is out of our control. This is the most humbling experience a true believer can experience. Although one can make all animal sacrifices and prayers and follow the Torah, the Father alone is the one who can exchange our hearts of stone with hearts of flesh.

And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your Elohim. (Ezekiel 36:26-28)

Notice that our salvation happens when the Father takes action. Before his Spirit is shared with us, we are naturally rebellious - either in actions or in our minds.

The role of ‘the works’

All believers will nevertheless be judged in the end by the way he/she lived his life on this realm and the works are an important request. However, works follow several necessary steps before they can be fruitful:

1) Listening: faith is initially awaken in us through our ears. We listen to the word, or to the Father speaking to us through someone, anyone can be used in the most unexpected ways – even in a dream. By hearing, we will be compelled to search for the Word. What previously had no meaning in the Bible suddenly starts speaking to you and it will be irresistible. 'Those who have ears, let them hear'.

2) Obedience: Once this irresistible urge to read the Word grows, the Ruach Ha’Qodesh (Holy Spirit) also starts growing in our conscience and makes us question our behavior, acts, thoughts and words. This will compel us to obey the Word and change our behavior – out of love! This will not feel like a terrible sacrifice, it will be a natural step towards faith. Understanding the Word will make us question our previous life and become more alert to what may not please Yahuah. We will not only wish to change, but we will also have less desire to sin (even when we will still commit sins, for we are still human).

Yahusha replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me. (John 14:23-24)

3) Faith: BOOM!! Then it hits you like a brick. The ‘wait a minute’ realization happens. You may ask yourself: Why do I feel different? Why do things that I used to care about no longer do? And why am I so peaceful? Where is this coming from? All of a sudden, the Word becomes Truth.

And faith will always be tested. Who is the first person you reach out in difficulties? Do you live in faith or in the ‘solutions’ of the world? Don’t confuse test of faith with punishment for disobedience - they are not the same, although they can happen together. For example, when David was in such favorable situation that he started boasting about it and he felt invincible. His ‘cockiness’ and failure to give thanks and credit to Yahuah, brought punishment with an extreme illness that nearly killed him. It was a way to humble David and also to test whether he would turn to the Father and ask for help. When Yahuah asked Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac, that was a test of faith and obedience.

4) Works: Works can’t be done properly before the three first steps. You may go to the church and speak about the Gospel or engage in charity, but it will not be wholehearted. How can you share faith when you can’t feel it? You still need it for yourself! The classic instruction in the airplane ‘put your oxygen mask on first before assisting others’ applies for faith as well. And let’s not underestimate the importance of the works. We never know if the unbeliever in front of us is an elect and we may be the needed vessel to bring this one out of darkness.

5) Prayer: We will pray all the time, but this 5th attribute is the prayer as a payment for our works. It is the rightful time to ask our Father for his blessings, as long as they’re aligned with his plan for us. By this stage our faith truly makes us understand (and ACCEPT) the ‘thy will be done’ sentence.

Conclusion

Our works alone will make no difference in our salvation. As ‘unfair’ as it may sound, Yahuah is not looking to save those who make an effort to look like they are ‘good people’, he will save those who live for his glory and his choice of who these people are has been made in the creation of the world. While time is linear for us, it works different for Yahuah. Past, preset and future were created together with our realm! Our role in creation and the scenes of the next chapter are already filmed and edited.

And the truth is that we can’t share Yahuah’s glory before faith awakens in us, for we will either sound fake or fanatic – or both. We need the real faith from the Father to live for him in truth.

A lot of atheists claim that the best religion should only have one commandment: be a good person. While that will not hurt, we do not make the rules of life. We are creatures, servants. We will serve Yahuah even if we think we are making the decision to be atheist and say foolishness, even if we are tyrant politicians, even if we are murderers; Everything we do has been decided by the Creator before he made us in our mother’s womb. Does it mean that we can forget the commandments and live as we wish if all is decided? well, we could, but His children will naturally wish to please Him. Still, He is so sovereign that if he decides that He will save a murderer and throw an apparently nice person in the fires of hell, he will do so, because this is His movie, not ours. Who are we to question His decisions? And is that ‘nice person’ really nice to begin with?

The way to hell is paved with good intentions

Who we think are good people is an opinion based on our hearts, filled with bias and worldly brainwashing. Our hearts can be very deceiving and perceptions are not always reliable. How many people have decided to kill ‘for the greater good’? Or how many people have only a façade of goodness, hiding a rotten heart? Can you tell for sure that your super friend will remain good when famine hits? Or when given the chance of being rich? Yahuah knows.

Let’s be clear, even you don’t know how you would react in extreme situations and only Yahuah and Yahusha can gives us strength to remain in faith in times of extreme adversity.

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? “I, Yahuah, search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.”(Jeremiah 17:9-10)

Shabbat Shalom!