LEAST SHALL BE FIRST

How to be the Greatest in the Kingdom of God

Mark 9:35 CJB “He sat down, summoned the Twelve and said to them,

“If anyone wants to be first, he must make himself last of all and servant of all.”

As I think of the ‘last shall be first’ theme, I think of God announcing the birth of His Son, Emmanuel, Yeshua, with shepherds and angels. Our Savior was born in a quiet sukkah with animals surrounding Him. It was a birthday to be celebrated, but more-so, He desires for us to look forward to His return.

Yeshua was specific about us not forgetting His passing from life to death and death to life. Yeshua said to do this in remembrance of me. The Jews celebrate the Passover Seder which shows Yeshua’s story of redemption. All Jews, grafted in Gentiles, Yeshua and his family celebrated Pesach.

Complete Jewish Bible referenced.

Mat 26:17 On the first day for matzah, the talmidim came to Yeshua and asked, “Where do you want us to prepare your Seder?”

Mat 26:18 “Go into the city, to so-and-so,” he replied, “and tell him that the Rabbi says, ‘My time is near, my talmidim and I are celebrating Pesach at your house.’ ”

Mat 26:19 The talmidim did as Yeshua directed and prepared the Seder

When we know Messiah Yeshua as our Savior, our inner being (soul) is moved to tell the story of His Resurrection that can bring salvation to others. We are commissioned to go to the world with that story. I believe the Gentle is grafted into the Passover Seder service because it is through that setting that Yeshua’s death, burial and resurrection are represented. He instructs us to remember His Feasts and Pesach as one of the first feasts, with Yeshua repeating, “Do This.”

Joh 17:17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.

Joh 17:18 As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.

Joh 17:19 And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.

Joh 17:20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; (My bolding for emphasis.)

That last thing is the first most important thing to understand. If Yeshua didn’t do the last thing, of dying and rising, then His being born had no value for our salvation. His rising is what makes Him our living God. He was the First Fruit out of the ground. Yahweh’s First Fruit (Yeshua) goes to be with the Father on the 40^th Day of the counting of the Omer (Ascension).

Shavuot, the 50^th Day of the Counting of the Omer, is known as The Feast of First Fruits. It is when the Ruach HaChodesh (Yeshua’s spirit as God) indwelled men. It is also the day Mosche presented the ‘instructions’ to the assembly at Mt. Sinai (first assembly).

When He told the story how the last shall be first he was speaking on how to be a servant.

It will be those with a servant’s heart for Torah that will be first in the Kingdom of God.

Another confirmation of this is:

Mat 5:3 CJB “How blessed are the poor in spirit! for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.”

These are the humble in spirit; not financially poor. It is that contrite heart to Adonai that Yahweh is in search of sharing his Kingdom. Mark 9:35.

He came as a servant in the Spring Feasts and now we see Him coming as King in the Fall Feasts. First be least, and then you’ll be great. The least are first in God’s eyes because they are humble in Torah.

We celebrate ourselves constantly in our lives. Our to-be six-year old granddaughter desires not to have a birthday party in a few weeks with lots of goings-on. She would like to eat out and have a girlfriend stay over night. I remember we could have a birthday party at age ten and sixteen when I grew up. Could it be we should be bringing out the humble spirit in our children so at the end of their lives their funeral eulogy will be about their humble life they lived before their Savior? This grand-daughter does know her Savior and does desire simplicity. Happy Birthday Lauren on March 31. It was 24 Adar II.

This is an art project Lauren drew for us.  Sunflower have many seeds so I’m going to call it, ‘Seeds of Greatness.’

After the Spring Feasts of Pesach, Unleavened Bread, Feast of First Fruits and Shavuot, which show His first coming, we have the FALL Feasts which show us His Second Coming.

1. Feast of Trumpets also known as Rosh (Head) Hoshana (Year). Tishrei 1-2

2. Yom Kippur – Day of Atonement/Judgment – Tishrei 10.  

   Feast of Tabernacles – Tishrei 15-22, Sh’mini Atzeret – Tishrei 23

The Promise: Isaiah 56:6-7

Isaiah 56:6-7 KJV

(6) Also the sons of the stranger, that join themselves to the LORD, to serve him, and to love the name of the LORD, to be his servants, every one that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my covenant;

(7) Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people.

Isaiah 56:6-7 CJB

(6) “And the foreigners who join themselves to Adonai to serve him, to love the name of Adonai, and to be his workers, all who keep Shabbat and do not profane it, and hold fast to my covenant,

(7) I will bring them to my holy mountain and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all peoples.”

The Fulfillment: Ephesians 2:11-13 and 17-19 (KJV)

Ephesians 2:11-13 KJV

(11) Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands;

(12) That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:

13. But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.

Ephesians 2:17-19 KJV

(17) And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh.       (This peace is Torah/Yeshua)

(18) For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.

19. Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God;

Update:  April 20, 2015.  I am now adding these last comments to summarize my thoughts.   We just arrived back from spending time with Lauren but now it is her “eighth” birthday. She is still sweet and humble requesting no large gatherings to celebrate.  Two years have passed and she is even more tender-hearted.

I am now reading the scriptures above that I quoted two year ago. I have grown to realize even more deeply in my being what it means to be the least in a humble spirit.

The verses in Ephesians are telling us that we were afar off from Jesus/Yeshua. He is the Torah (instructions) on how to live well on this earth. It is with a humble spirit (Ruach HaChodesh/Holy Spirit) that we are able to live out Torah because we can understand, as with a child’s heart, what our Creator instructs.

Yeshua is our Messiah. He could not be Messiah if He violated His very own words which come from the Father. His words are known as Torah or instructions. Yeshua made them angry as He tore down their walls.  Thus, they were trying to find him speaking against the Torah.  But, the prophesied-about Messiah could never speak against God’s Torah.  If he did, they knew He was not the Messiah.

Instead of finding Him tearing down Torah and nullifying it, they found Him only tearing down the walls that they had built around Torah. They had thought that if they were able to build the walls taller, and if the people violated those additional walls, then the people would still be safe as they had not reached the original foundation stones and stomped on them…..

They added the washing of cups…the selling of animals at the temple for their profits. They were mad when He permanently removed demons and they could no longer pilfer the people.   There are many more fences that were up but even the people were losing money as they fears about losing their entire herd of hogs over a cliff.  Yeshua was causing financial loss to many as even witchcraft came to an end for the sorcerers.

We see that the pagans even respected Israel’s Torah even though they did NOT live by it.  Today, men are worse than pagans…they give it no respect.

Isn’t it sad that because of the misunderstandings of Torah, the entire system was thrown out by 325 AD by Constantine. People found Christ through the murderous Crusades, but they did NOT know Him as a Torah-believing Messiah.  Easter was established and Christmas came into being with Santa Claus through St Nicholas with demons disguised now as good elves.

Today, people don’t even speak of Jesus as Yeshua, nor do they call Him Messiah; but they call him, Lord.   Jesus can have many titles, but as many people ‘lord’ things over others, this word should be used selectively.  Respectfully, LORD is used for Adonai’s name; Yud Hey Vav Hey.

The gentiles are to be grafted into the ways of Yeshua, the true Messiah, not the Jew into the ways of Christendom.  We do NOT take the Lord’s festivals away from the Jew, but show them Messiah in them.  

Who will be the greatest and least in the Kingdom of God is what needs to be considered next. We become least in spirit to become the greatest. How is that? Because when you following God’s instructions, you know His will and can teach others how to live safely. If you are doing the ‘least’ and teaching others to do the ‘least’, you are called the least.

Doesn’t this scripture make sense?

Scripture is simple. It means what it says.

Mat 5:17 “Don’t think that I have come to abolish the Torah or the Prophets. I have come not to abolish but to complete.

Mat 5:18 Yes indeed! I tell you that until heaven and earth pass away, not so much as a yud ( י ) or a stroke will pass from the Torah — not until everything that must happen has happened.

Mat 5:19 So whoever disobeys the least of these mitzvot and teaches others to do so will be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But whoever obeys them and so teaches will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Thus, those that follow Torah will be able to teach it.

You can not teach something you don’t understand.  You are left outside of  this community…as you have desired to do things your way.

Torah is not some instruction that saves us, but it does save us from living a terrible life on this earth.  Scripture talks about being cast out and there will be crying and gnashing of teeth.  Will it be with tears of terrific sorrow that causes one to gnash their teeth (grind them them back and forth) of not being able to participate in this Kingdom?

What is living in ‘safety’?  We are safe under His wings; His Torah.

Yeshua, told each one of His disciples how they were going to die. He did NOT paint a pretty prosperity picture. We are seeing tens of thousands of Christians being killed in hideous ways.  I pray my head will NOT be cut off,  nor my children, nor their children.   But, the fact remains that eternal life comes from dying to ourselves in this world. We become selfless and serve others in order to separate ourselves from evil.

It was last Friday, Nissan 28, April 17, 2015 that Jonathan Cahn who wrote the books, The Harbinger and The Mystery of the Shemittah, who stood before the United Nations telling of the atrocities that are happening around the world to Christians.  Six million Jews were a harbinger (sign) to those that stood by silently and did nothing.  It was seventy years and now it begins as never seen before to Christians.  Nations are invaded, people are fleeing and boats are turning over drowning tens of thousands who are fleeing the countries of war and ISIS.  Europe does not know what to do as they can not hold the numbers that are fleeing.  He said this could be a 60 million human holocaust this time.

Exactly one year ago Senator Kerry stood before the Tri-lateral Commission and accused IsraEL of becoming an apartheid state.  What an insult!  This has been a battle for IsraEL and God put His spokesman in front of the United Nations last Friday….to speak truth a world out of control.  It is a world NOT following Torah!  Christian pastors even will NOT follow or listen to what the Jew has to say.  God will remove every one of his enemies who will have weeping and the gnashing of teeth as they go.  Am I too harsh?

Let’s look at what harsh is~

Seventy years since WWII stopped in August 1945 after two atomic bombs had to be dropped on Japan.

Seventy years ago April 10, 1945 Buchenwald was liberated.

Seventy years ago Franklin D Roosevelt died on April 12,  1945.  Why did he die?

Seventy years ago on April 5, 1945 he signed a paper confirming his alliance with King Saude that the Arabs would exchange oil for the right to say who could live in Palestine.

Did FDR think he could undo the Balfour agreement set in place by the British that designated the land to the Jews?  He spoke alone, in secret, to King Saude in the 1945 winter on the USS Quincy.  He will be the first of three kings to fall within a Rosh Chodesh (month) of each other that fulfills scripture to those that abhor Adonai.  It was Nissan 29, a dark night, and within 21 days Mussolini was executed and then Hitler committed suicide the next day….all Seventy years ago in Iyyar 1945.

What else happened SEVENTY years ago?

Nissan 29, April 12, 1945 Antler, Oklahoma had an EF5 that took 69 lives, 1500 homeless, 653 buildings destroyed costing $1.5 Billion with flooding April 12-15.

Nissan 27 1945 Buchenwald was freed but how many survived?

1974 Nissan 29 FORTY-ONE years ago 2500 miles of tornadoes killed 64.

2003 Nissan 29 SEVENTY years of Iraq, known as Babylon, ended.  Today, 2015 ISIS has it’s foothold there.

2013 Nissan 29 – Bushalar IRAN 6.3 earthquake on Holocaust Day 2.

2014 Nissan 27 – Kerry stood before Tri-lateral Commission and calls Israel apartheid state on Thursday.  Sunday tornadoes rip through 23 states.

2014 Nissan 29 – 23-state, 1600 miles of tornado devastation kills 40.

2014 Nissan 29 – Two-state solution for IsraEL failed to meet Kerry’s deadline.

2014 Nissan 29 – First of Four Tetrad Lunar Eclipse.

2014 Nissan 29 – 1.7% rare annular solar eclipse, same day as Total Lunar..very rare…

2015 Nissan 28 – Jonathan Cahn gives Aaronic blessing at United Nations.

2015  Nissan 29 – 1000 die as Libyan boat capsized, many boats calling for help as they flee war zones.  (Just these smuggling accidents have seen over 10,000 dead.)

2015  Nissan 30 – Taiwan 6.6 earthquake

2015 Iyyar 1 – Japan 6.2, 6.1 earthquakes w/tsunami warning.

To say the least, we should give respect to our Creator Hand who is in charge of His creation.

Change will come when we play by God’s instructions Book. His Yoke (Torah) is not heavy. In fact, it is light. There is NO temple yet, so we can NOT take our best there. But, we can give our physical support and financial support to the protection of God’s children and the foreigner during these war times.

We can honor the Sabbath, honor parents, not kill, etc. We can also eat correctly so as to not defile out bodies. These are the things that separate us from clean and unclean things on this earth. All plants are given to us, but not all plants are good for us to eat. The same is true for scavengers of this earth. God created scavengers to scavenge.  P.S.  A pig is specifically spelled out as a scavenger.  It has a split hoof but it does not chew the cud.  It must do both in order to be eaten.  

I Peter quotes Leviticus 11:44.

Lev 11:44 For I am Adonai your God; therefore, consecrate yourselves and be holy, for I am holy; and do not defile yourselves with any kind of swarming creature that moves along the ground.

1 Peter 1:23-25

When we examine just the type of birds He tells us NOT to eat, we see that they are scavengers. God knows what is healthy for us to live long on His earth.

Now that I am Torah observant, I stand in amazement at Satan’s strongholds. Bacon has become so embellished that it seems to ones goal to see what new creative things they can be ‘over the top’ with it.

The study this week was Tazria and Metzora. It was the cleansing of ones self after having a baby or a body discharge.  Briefly, a female was not to come into the temple for seven days because of the issue of blood and then another 33 days if she gave birth to a son.  There is nothing wrong with her, but it is an example set by God for us to look into.  That total of forty days is representative of Yeshua returning to the Father’s Temple in heaven on the 40th day.  Dah….  Yes, He returned at the eighth day to present his blood on the altar…as a male child is taken to the priest for circumcision on the eighth day.   Yeshua was following Torah even after His resurrection.  He was then acceptable to teach until the 40th Day of the Counting of the Omer when He returned to the Father.  

I remember when a woman would spend 1 week (7 days) in the hospital after she had a child.  And, where did we get the idea about being off for six weeks from a job?  Six weeks is 42 days…right at 40 days again.  Hmm.  We have carried through with some Torah because of traditions kept through time.  Now, we are boastful when a woman has a baby on Thursday and shows up in church on Sunday?  Please…………!!!!

Mitzora is about leprosy. This leprosy that was displayed was not today’s Hanson’s Disease. The leprosy of the Bible was set up to show them that there is a difference between clean and unclean.

Lev 14:33 “Adonai said to Moshe and Aharon,”When you have entered the land of Kena’an which I am giving you as a possession, and I put an infection of tzara’at in a house that you possess, then the owner of the house is to come and tell the cohen (priest).

God teaches us lessons throughout history so we DO make ourselves ‘holy’ (set apart) from the world.

Lev 11:44 “For I am ADONAI your God; therefore, consecrate yourselves and be holy, for I am holy….

holy – means set apart.  Many things can be set apart.  It does not mean holy as in a virtue of godliness as the ‘temple prostitutes’ were called holy.

So how do we become ‘set apart/holy’ like God?

Humble hearts leads to

Humble inner spirits that show us how to be

Humble while living out Torah before others.

These verses are talking about people in the ‘church.’

Matthew

Mat 7:21-29

(21) Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

(22) Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?

(23) And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

(24) Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:

(25) And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.

(26) And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:

(27) And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.

(28) And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine:

(29) For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.

They were awed because He taught them Torah. Torah is the authority. They were astonished because they saw Him as the Father’s Living Torah speaking to them. He confirmed the Torah proving Himself to be The Living Torah.

from e-Sword

The preeminent Christian theologian of the twentieth century, Karl Barth, notes that the eternal Word comes to New Covenant believers in three forms:

(1) Yeshua the Messiah. You have been born again through… the living Word of God that lasts forever. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning…. The Word became a human being and lived with us” (Joh_1:1-2, Joh_1:14).

(2) Scripture, which Kefa quotes (Isa_40:6-8) as authenticating itself: The grass withers, and the flower falls off; but the Word of Adonai lasts forever. Compare Heb_4:12-13; Jas_1:10-11, Jas_4:14.

(3) The preaching of God’s people, equated with the first two forms. Moreover, this “Word” is the Good News which has been proclaimed to you. Compare Rom_10:17.

See 1Pe_2:1-3.

1Pe 2:8 also he is a stone that will make people stumble, a rock over which they will trip. They are stumbling at the Word, disobeying it — as had been planned.

Rom 10:15 And how can people proclaim him unless God sends them? — as the Tanakh puts it, “How beautiful are the feet of those announcing good news about good things!”

The Torah is the good news and it has ‘good things’ showing how to live life. Yeshua was The Great Torah Evangelist. His words are even above His name.

Rom 10:16 The problem is that they haven’t all paid attention to the Good News and obeyed it. For Yesha`yahu says, “Adonai, who has trusted what he has heard from us?

The Good News is Torah….The instruction book from the beginning. Yeshua could only speak what came from the Father. When we accept Yeshua as the Messiah we accept Him as being The Anointed One who is Torah. We should then desire to follow our teacher and create disciples of others in Torah. Torah is the cornerstone that people stumble over.

Deu 8:2 You are to remember everything of the way in which Adonai led you these forty years in the desert, humbling and testing you in order to know what was in your heart – whether you would obey his mitzvot (instructions/commands) or not.

Deu 8:3 He humbled you, allowing you to become hungry, and then fed you with man, which neither you nor your ancestors had ever known, to make you understand that a person does not live on food alone but on everything that comes from the mouth of Adonai.

How serious is God about His instruction book known as, Torah?  Deut says that he humbled them and tested them in order to know their heart.  It’s always been about the heart.  Obedience showed their heart.  Cain’s heart was wrong and it showed through his substandard sacrifice.

Taking Away Torah or adding man’s own traditions…..

Rev 22:18 I warn everyone hearing the words of the prophecy in this book that if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues written in this book.

Rev 22:19 And if anyone takes anything away from the words in the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the Tree of Life and the holy city, as described in this book.

Do you want a share in the Tree of Life?

Do you want a share in the holy city described in this book?

Do NOT eliminate what God meant for good.

Do NOT eliminate the Sabbath.

Do NOT eliminate the dietary laws.

Do NOT eliminate God’s ‘yoke’ (Torah).

Recognize that Yeshua still fills up the Torah.

Denying Torah is denying the Father, Yeshua and it quenches the Holy Spirit.

We are to make the Jew jealous that we know what they know….TORAH.

Then, the times of the Gentile will be completed. The Gentile is completed in Torah through Yeshua of whom is the Torah.

The Jews completeness comes through the same Messiah Yeshua also known as the living Torah. The Jew and the Gentile become one in accord through their lives in Torah via Yeshua The Messiah.

All these will be called GREAT in the Kingdom of God because they all love Yeshua who is the Living Torah.  They will DO Torah as Yeshua does Torah.  It is NOT a foreign relationship.

Then, the ‘Jew’ will say from Zion, “Blessed is He who comes in the NAME of the Lord.”

His words are above His NAME. Thus, how GREAT He must be to be called, Yud Hey Vav Hey; Adonai.