Wednesday, 19 July 2023

The Upper Room Discourse 20

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John 14:23-24 Yeshua answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word. My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our dwelling with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words. And the word you hear is not Mine, but the Father's who sent Me."

Do you have the sense that we have read this before? The beginning of John 14:23 sounds remarkably similar to John 14:21a He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me. They sound similar because the are. Yeshua doesn't want us to miss this, so He is repeating it for our benefit. When we love, it shows. However; Yeshua is making a much deeper point here and we don't want to miss that either.

Yeshua is saying, "It's not about Me." When we read, ... And the word you hear is not Mine, but the Father's who sent Me (John 14:24b), we are seeing Yeshua's humility in submission to the Father. Here's my proposition ... if Yeshua can humble Himself, shouldn't we be willing to follow Him and humble ourselves?

Here's the headline. Newsflash ... "It's not about you." Before you pass this off, please take a moment to consider the implications. We have a way of making everything about us. It is the life of the follower of Yeshua to put God on the throne - in all things. If we are honest with ourselves, there is always some part of our life (none of us is perfect) in which we have not yet completely surrendered. That's the purpose of the Hebrew month of Elul. Elul is a time to repent in preparation for the fall Feasts of the Lord.

Elul is spelled with four Hebrew letters, Aleph-Lamed-Vav-Lamed, an acrostic made up of the first letter of each word of the first part of Song of Solomon 6:3a I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine. Another perspective on that verse is "I am for my beloved, and my beloved is for me."

To walk in that truth means to trust our "Beloved." I put "Beloved" in quotes and capitalized it because this is King David's Hebrew name (David means "beloved") and Yeshua sits on David's throne. Isaiah made the connection in his prophesy. Isaiah 9:6(7) Of the increase of His government and shalom there will be no end - on the throne of David and over His kingdom - to establish it and uphold it through justice and righteousness from now until forevermore. The zeal of Adonai-Tzva'ot will accomplish this.

John 1:1-2 In the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.

Let us, therefore; show that we love Yeshua by obedience to the Word of God and as a result we will receive the love of the Father Who promises to make His dwelling with us. Immanuel! The Hebrew breakdown is Im (with), Anu (us), El (God). Put it together, 'God with us." He is with us and He is for us.