who are the children of elohim? - part 2, by C.J. Koster
Someone, who
professes to be a child of Elohim, might come to you and say, for example, "I
know that I am His child, because He fills my heart with food and
gladness." If Elohim gives us all the food we need, if He is indeed
"filling our hearts with food and gladness", is that to be taken
as proof that we are His children? No! Elohim does this in order to bear
witness to unsaved people who still "walk in their own ways" .(Acts
14:16-17)!
In these
two verses we read that He does good to them, that He
gives them "rain from heaven and fruitbearing
seasons." When He gives rain from heaven and fruitbearing
seasons to a group of people, can that be used as proof that they are His
children? No! Read Acts 14:16-17 again.
In Mt.
5:45 we further read what Yahushua said about this, namely, "Because He
makes His sun rise on the wicked and on the good, and sends rain on the
righteous and on the unrighteous." So that which Barnabah
and Shaul spoke in Acts 14:16-17 merely confirms what
our Master said in Mt. 5:45.
If you
still need another confirmation, a third one, please hear it from the lips of
Yahushua, as He speaks in Lk. 6:35, "the Most
High ... He is kind to the thankless and wicked ones." The Greek word
for "kind" is chrestos which has
often been rendered as "good" in the traditional English
versions. So the Most High is good to the unthankful and wicked ones!
Can you
see the false security the devil offers to people, just like he offered false
security to Chawwah (Eve) in the garden
of Eden!
A late
sister, having previously been indoctrinated with the false security of "once
saved always saved", was once reproved by me for buying delicacies
(which she had no need of) at a fete on the Sabbath day. The next day she said
to me, "I prayed about it and a voice said to me, 'Don't worry, you are
My child'." She had no remorse,
she did not ask forgiveness, she was not convicted by the Set-apart Spirit. Why
do I say that? Simply because she kept on trampling underfoot
the Sabbath Commandment. So who was behind the voice that spoke to her?
It was the devil! What he did with Chawwah, offering
her false security, Satan has been doing ever since - not only daily, but
minute by minute he tempts us and offers false security to us.
With the
increasing popularity of the "prosperity gospel" one often hears, "Since
I have become a child of [Elohim], I have become so prosperous, just look at my
new three storey mansion and my swimming pool." These misguided people
need to read Mt. 4:8-9, Mt. 6:19-21, Mt. 19:21-24, Lk.
6:20-25, Ya'aqob 5:1-5, I Yoch.
2:15-17 and many other passages in the Messianic Scriptures.
When we
turn to the pre-Messianic Scriptures we find even further and much stronger
evidence against this false security Satan offers - material "blessings"
and prosperity, deceiving them into thinking that these are proofs of being a "child
of Elohim."
Yirmeyahu cries out to Elohim in Yirm.
12:1-2, "Why has the way of the wrong prospered? All the workers of
treachery are at ease? You have planted them and they have taken root, they
grow and they bear fruit. "YOU ARE NEAR IN THEIR MOUTH BUT FAR FROM THEIR
KIDNEYS." (Capitals mine). Instead of the word "wrong"
the KJV uses "wicked", while Dr Rotherham’s, The Emphasized
Bible renders it as "lawless", and therefore reads,
"Why does the way of the lawless prosper?" If we add this to what
Messiah said about the lawless, the darnel, in Mt. 13, then we too could cry
out, "Oh Elohim, why do the lawless 'believers' prosper?"
In Ps
73:2-17 we read a similar passage. Here, too, the Hebrew word rasha,
has been rendered by us as "wrong" or "wrongdoer",
while the KJV has "wicked" and The Emphasized Bible, has "lawless."
Let us read what the Psalmist says in this passage, "But as for me, my
feet had almost stumbled, my steps had nearly slipped, for I was envious of the
boasters, when I saw the peace of the wrongdoers (the wicked, the lawless). For death has no pangs for them, and their strength is firm.
They are not in trouble as other men, and they are not plagued like other men.
So pride is their necklace . . . See, these are the wrong (the wicked, the
lawless), and always at ease, they have amassed wealth! Indeed, in vain have I
cleansed my hands, and washed my hands in innocence. For I am plagued all day
long, and my reproof is every morning."
The
Psalmist was perplexed by this prosperity of the wicked, the lawless. But then
he found the answer, in Ps 73:16-19, "Yet, when I tried to understand
this, it was labour to my eyes - until I went into the Set-apart place of El,
then I perceived their end. Indeed, You set them in
slippery places, You make them fall to ruins. How suddenly they are ruined! completely swept away through destructions." We
also find the answer in Ps 92:6-7, "A senseless man does not know, and
a fool does not understand this. When the wrong (the wicked, the lawless)
spring up like grass, and all the workers of wickedness blossom, it is for them
to be destroyed forever."
As we
study "all Scripture" which is "profitable for
teaching, for reproof, for setting straight, for instructions in
righteousness." (2 Tim. 3:16), our thinking is indeed straightened
out. As we consider "all Scripture", as we take cognisance of
every word in the Book of the Books, the complete picture emerges. And we also
get absolute clarity of what it means to be a child of Elohim, and what it
entails.
Let us
scrutinise the passage contained in 2 Cor. 6:14 up to 2 Cor. 7:1, in which Shaul compiles a few applicable pre-Messianic Scripture
texts. The most important of this passage is the call contained in 2 Cor.
6:17-18, "Therefore 'Come out from among them and be separate, says
Yahuweh, and do not touch what is unclean, and I shall receive you. And I shall
be a Father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters of Me,
says Yahuweh the Almighty'."
To be a
son (or daughter) of Elohim we simply have to :
1) Come out from among them (v.1T)
2) Be separate, instead of being
unclean like "them" (v.17).
3) Be righteous, instead of being
lawless like "them" (v.14),
4) Be walking in the light, instead
of being in darkness like "them" (v.14),
5) Be of Messiah, instead of being
of Beliya'al (v.15),
6) Be a (true) believer, instead of
being an unbeliever (v.15),
7) Be a Dwelling Place for Elohim
(Elohim dwelling in us), having come out of "them" who serve
idols (v.16),
8) Perfecting apartness in the fear
of Elohim, having come out of "them" who are defiled of flesh
and spirit (2 Cor. 7:1).
BEING "SONS
AND DAUGHTERS" OF THE HEAVENLY "FATHER" IS THE SAME AS WHAT
HE MEANT WHEN HE SAID, "AND I SHALL BE THEIR ELOHIM, AND THEY SAID BE
MY PEOPLE." (v.16).
Do not be
deceived by those who think they can pull down Elohim to their Gentile way of
life, unclean, defiled of flesh and spirit, being in darkness, being lawless,
serving idols. They only make fools of themselves, and they try to fool others
too - "mockers", walking "according to their own
wicked lusts" (Yehudah v.18). To be a child
of the Father, to be part of Elohim's People, you and
I simply have to abide by His standard: Apartness (Qodesh)! You and I simply
have to "come out from among them and be separate." Who are
the "them"? 1 Yoch 5:19 says.
"all the world lies in the wicked one."
Read Gal 1:4 as well, "this present wicked world."
If
someone says, "He has miraculously healed me, now I acknowledge Him,
the Elohim of Yisrael, as the only Elohim,"
is such a confession, as well as the miraculous healing, proof of him being a
child of Elohim? Let us take an example from Scripture: In 2 Sover. 5 we read of Na'aman,
commander of the army of the sovereign of Syria, who was miraculously healed of
his leprosy. In v.15 he then confesses the Elohim of Yisrael
to be the only Elohim. In spite of this he then already asks forgiveness for
having have to worship (on his return home) in the house of Rimmon
(probably a sun-deity), because he would have to accompany his Syrian sovereign
into the house of Rimmon. Elisha did not approve of
this apologetical request for forgiveness asked by Na'aman, neither did he disapprove - he merely let him go
in peace.
Na'aman was wonderfully healed and acknowledged the Elohim
of Yisrael as the only Elohim, but Na'aman went back to Rimmon -
worship, in spite of it all. Nevertheless, he could never have thought to have
become a child of Elohim or part of the people of Elohim. What Na'aman did was typical of what the Gentile nations
afterwards did with the Messianic Belief - they compromised and kept on with
their Sunday keeping, 25th December-keeping etc.
Another
example is that of Nebukadnetstsar, sovereign of
Babel (Babylon). In Dan. 4 we read how he was humbled by Elohim, and became
mentally deranged and ate grass like oxen do, because of his sins, his
crookedness, his maltreatment of the poor and his pride. He had to do this
until he broke off his sins by righteousness (Dan..
4:27); until he acknowledged that the Most High is ruler in the reign of men
(Dan.. 4:32).
He
witnessed of his mental healing and said, "and
my understanding returned to me. And I blessed the Most High . . . Now I, Nebukadnetstsar, am praising and exalting and esteeming the
Sovereign of the heavens, for all His works are truth, and His ways
right." (Dan. 4:34 & 37).
Unbelievable!
The sovereign of Babel (Babylon) was now blessing the Most High, praising and
exalting and esteeming Him, confessing that all His works are truth, and His
ways right! Did Nebukadnetstsar even become known as "a
child of Elohim"? Nowhere do we read of it! Did he relinquish his
position as sovereign of Babylon and his nationality of being a Babylonian, and
become an Yisraelite, the
same way as Ruth became one? Not according to Scripture - never!
A third
example is that of Nineweh, in the days of Yonah. Nineweh, that great city
of Ashshur (Assyria), built by Nimrod (Bereshith /
Gen. 10:11), which become the capital of Assyria, some time
after this. Their evils came up before Yahuweh and He decided to overthrow the
great city. However, at the preaching of Yonah, they
repented with fasting and in sackcloth and ashes, and turned from their evil
way. Therefore Elohim relented from executing His wrath - because He shows
favour, He is compassionate, patient and of great kindness (4:2).
So He
pardoned that great city, because they repented and turned from their evil way.
Because He pardoned them (4:11) did the citizens of this great city of Assyria
then become children of Elohim - did they become part of Elohim's
people? No!
To
summarise these three examples: It certainly pleased Elohim that Na'aman acknowledged the Elohim of Yisrael
as the only Elohim, after He had healed Na'aman. But
that did not make him a child of Elohim or part of the people of Elohim. It
certainly pleased Elohim that Nebukadnetstsar "broke
off his sins by righteousness." It certainly pleased Elohim that the
Assyrians in Nineweh repented of their sin and turned
from their evil way, but that did not make them part of the Covenant People.
If Na'aman, Nebukadnetstsar and Nineweh would have thought, and boasted, that they became
the People of the Covenant, Yisrael, we would
immediately react and say, "They are deceiving themselves!"
Has this same deception not prevailed among the Churches - Christians in
general - who think that they are now the Chosen People, that they have
replaced Yisrael, that they are the sons and
daughters of Elohim, while they stubbornly continue with "lawlessness"
(2 Cor. 6:14) and continue to reject "apartness"?
Remember:
He who rejects apartness (qodesh) rejects Elohim (1 Thess 4:7-8)! Remember: Without apartness (qodesh) no one shall see Elohim (Heb. 12:14)!
This vital
message contained in 2 Cor. 6:14 up to 2 Cor. 7:1, is
confirmed by what we read in the Torah, namely Devarim
/ Deut. 14:1-2. Remember, in Scripture we very often find parallel words or
phrases, and here we find it too, the "children of Yahuweh your Elohim"
are "a set-apart people to Yahuweh" and He has "chosen
you to be a people for Himself." He then says of them, "a
treasured possession above all the peoples who are on the face of the
earth." Let everyone who professes to be child of Elohim measure himself/
herself by the standard of these parallel phrases, these definitions of the
true children of Elohim.
To
complete this message we ought to look at the only solution, the only
expectancy of all esteem, the One we need to reach out to: Yahushua! Whoever
wishes to be a son (a child) of Elohim, has to see that the old man of sin (the
Adamic nature) is put to death, and let Messiah then
live IN you. If Messiah lives IN you, being a new creature, then THE SON OF
ELOHIM LIVES IN YOU, then you truly are a son (or child) of Elohim!
Is it
possible to be certain that the Son of Elohim lives IN us? Yes! Simply follow
the instructions given to us in the Messianic Scriptures - all of it, but some
guidelines are contained therein in order to help us :
1) In Rom. 6, 7 and 8 we clearly see
how we have to put to death the old man of sin, the Adamic
nature, the old man who is a servant of sin, a servant of uncleanness and of
lawlessness (6:19). This old man is then replaced by a new man, one who is a
servant of righteousness, a servant of Elohim, resulting in apartness or qodesh (6:16-22). This new man, of course, is
Messiah, the Son of Elohim (Gal 2:20 and many other texts).
2) In Yoch
14:23-24 we see that the requisite for Him (and His Father) to live in us, is for us to truly love Him by guarding (keeping) His
Words, His Commandments, His Teachings.
Let us
strive to become true sons (or children) of Elohim by earnestly seeking and
searching and obeying the Son of Elohim! It is as simple as that, BUT IT SIMPLY
MEANS THAT THE OLD CARNAL MAN, THAT THE OLD MAN OF SIN, THE OLD MAN OF
LAWLESSNESS, FIRST NEEDS TO DIE, NEEDS TO BE IMPALED!