Category Archives: Jesus Christ / Yeshua

Church / Body of Christ, Guide, Holy, Humility, Jesus Christ / Yeshua, Rebuke Wrong Behavior, Study the Word, Teachable

Yeshua Became Our High Priest, and We Need Proper Guidance

Yeshua has become our high priest. He has offered himself as a sacrifice for our sins. He became man, and as such he understands temptation and what we experience. He was chosen by the Father. He has acted as mediator on our behalf with YHWH.

Hebrews 5

The Perfect High Priest

      1For every high priest taken from among men is appointed on behalf of men in things pertaining to God, in order to offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins; 2he can deal gently with the ignorant and misguided, since he himself also is beset with weakness; 3and because of it he is obligated to offer sacrifices for sins, as for the people, so also for himself. 4And no one takes the honor to himself, but receives it when he is called by God, even as Aaron was.

      5So also Christ did not glorify Himself so as to become a high priest, but He who said to Him,
“YOU ARE MY SON,
TODAY I HAVE BEGOTTEN YOU”;

6just as He says also in another passage,
“YOU ARE A PRIEST FOREVER
ACCORDING TO THE ORDER OF MELCHIZEDEK.”

7In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety. 8Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered. 9And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation, 10being designated by God as a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.

      11Concerning him we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. 12For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. 13For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. 14But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.

I suppose it is worth considering also that the end of this chapter highlights a different important reality. Neither in Paul’s day, nor today, are churches perfect in their teaching and walking out the instructions of Yeshua. Quite the contrary. Many of Paul’s letters and again in Revelation letters to seven churches all provide encouragement and also reprimand to them. We are all flawed and need the encouragement and rebuke of the word of YHWH in the Bible to ensure we walk in righteousness and not confusion… according to the ways of YHWH instead of the ways of man. I encourage each of you to test everything against the written word in the Bible, even my teaching of course. We must each study for ourselves and then test the teaching we receive from others.

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Do you know for sure if you will go to heaven or hell when you die? Are you experiencing in your life the peace and joy of a personal relationship with our Creator and Father? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.

Disobeying, Rebelling Against, Ignoring God, Faith / Trusting God, Jesus (hearing from God), Jesus Christ / Yeshua, Obeying God, Righteous, Through Prophets, Truth

Yeshua Is Our High Priest and Example

Yeshua is our high priest. He is truth and righteousness, holiness and peace. He is worthy of more glory than other servants like Moses and the prophets or Paul. He is our primary example to follow. Let us always test everything we understand against his life and teaching to ensure our understanding is correct. Let us take heed and not harden our hearts and insist on constantly testing him, but rather place in him our faith and trust and do as he instructs.

Hebrews 3:1-11

Jesus Our High Priest

       1Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of our confession; 2He was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was in all His house. 3For He has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, by just so much as the builder of the house has more honor than the house. 4For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God. 5Now Moses was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken later; 6but Christ was faithful as a Son over His house—whose house we are, if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end.

      7Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says,
“TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE,

      8DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS AS WHEN THEY PROVOKED ME,
AS IN THE DAY OF TRIAL IN THE WILDERNESS,

      9WHERE YOUR FATHERS TRIED Me BY TESTING Me,
AND SAW MY WORKS FOR FORTY YEARS.

      10“THEREFORE I WAS ANGRY WITH THIS GENERATION,
AND SAID, ‘THEY ALWAYS GO ASTRAY IN THEIR HEART,
AND THEY DID NOT KNOW MY WAYS’;

      11AS I SWORE IN MY WRATH,
‘THEY SHALL NOT ENTER MY REST.’”

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Do you know for sure if you will go to heaven or hell when you die? Are you experiencing in your life the peace and joy of a personal relationship with our Creator and Father? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.

Angels, Jesus Christ / Yeshua

Messiah Came As A Man Rather Than An Angel

Hebrews seems to be very focused in the first two chapters about angels and the importance of Yeshua as higher than the angels. It would seem that some people were perhaps too focused on angels and not enough on Messiah. Perhaps they questioned why the Messiah would come as a man rather than an angel, thus doubting Yeshua as Messiah.

To be clear, angels are messengers for YHWH. Yeshua is over all things, even though we may not see it yet manifested in a way we expect. Yeshua is one with the Father.

He became fully man and fully god and walked among us. Hebrews 2 clearly refers back to Psalm 8, which celebrates YHWH’s creation and his putting man in charge over creation. Perhaps in this reminder about man’s position over creation, the writer intends to continue to make the case for why it makes sense that Messiah would come as a man rather than an angel.

Hebrews 2:5-8

Earth Subject to Man

      5For He did not subject to angels the world to come, concerning which we are speaking.

6But one has testified somewhere, saying,
“WHAT IS MAN, THAT YOU REMEMBER HIM?
OR THE SON OF MAN, THAT YOU ARE CONCERNED ABOUT HIM?

      7“YOU HAVE MADE HIM FOR A LITTLE WHILE LOWER THAN THE ANGELS;
YOU HAVE CROWNED HIM WITH GLORY AND HONOR,
AND HAVE APPOINTED HIM OVER THE WORKS OF YOUR HANDS;

      8YOU HAVE PUT ALL THINGS IN SUBJECTION UNDER HIS FEET.”
For in subjecting all things to him, He left nothing that is not subject to him. But now we do not yet see all things subjected to him.

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Do you know for sure if you will go to heaven or hell when you die? Are you experiencing in your life the peace and joy of a personal relationship with our Creator and Father? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.

Father / Yahweh, Guide, Holy Spirit / Ruach HaKodesh, Jesus Christ / Yeshua, Obeying God, Truth

Yeshua Is Higher Than The Angels

Hebrews 1 makes a strong statement about the importance of Yeshua as higher than the angels. If we would look to angels to bring us word from YHWH and we would obey, how much more so should we be carefully observing what Yeshua taught and how he lived as our example. Our lives, as faithful followers of Yeshua, should look a lot like his in how we act and treat people, how we obey, teach, and rebuke based on YHWH’s instructions, and yes in how we face persecution for our faith. We should test everything that others wrote about Yeshua and how he wants us to live against the model and example of how he actually demonstrated it. This includes testing Paul’s letter for proper interpretation. What we think we learn from Paul’s letters should not create a new and radically different way of living than Messiah did, but should build upon the law, the prophets, and the life of Messiah.

Hebrews 2:1-4

Give Heed

      1For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it. 2For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience received a just penalty, 3how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? After it was at the first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard, 4God also testifying with them, both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will.

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Do you know for sure if you will go to heaven or hell when you die? Are you experiencing in your life the peace and joy of a personal relationship with our Creator and Father? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.

Eternal, Immutable (unchanging), Jesus Christ / Yeshua, Truth

YHWH Speaks Through Yeshua Our Messiah

Hebrews opens up with a powerful introduction focused on the importance and glory of our Messiah, Yeshua. It reminds us that YHWH has spoken to his people through the Torah (5 books of Moses) and the prophets and now speaks through Yeshua. We can plainly understand that YHWH is constant, unchanging and eternal. He did not now change what he has to say.

Malachi 3:6 6“I the LORD do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed.

James 1:17 17Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

Yeshua was in fact the word become flesh to dwell among us Yeshua is co-eternal with the Father. He does not change either. (John 1:1-14)

All of the Torah, the prophets, Yeshua’s example and teaching, and the writings of Yeshua’s disciples do not contradict or change what YHWH has said from the beginning. If we think they do, it is our understanding that is flawed. They fit together seamlessly.

As we read through Hebrews 1 and reflect on the glory, power, and significance of Yeshua, let us not miss the fact that he does not simply love everyone as they are and their sinful behaviors and attitudes. Taken out of context, his love and grace can be made to seem like an invitation to keep living however we want to live, convincing ourselves he accepts us as we remain in sin.

Don’t overlook verse 9, in which we see that Yeshua has loved righteousness and hated lawlessness. Lawlessness reflects the behavior in which we act according to our own ways instead of the clear instructions that the Lord has laid out for us.

Hebrews 1

God’s Final Word in His Son

      1God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, 2in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. 3And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4having become as much better than the angels, as He has inherited a more excellent name than they.

      5For to which of the angels did He ever say,
“YOU ARE MY SON,
TODAY I HAVE BEGOTTEN YOU”?
And again,
“I WILL BE A FATHER TO HIM
AND HE SHALL BE A SON TO ME”?

6And when He again brings the firstborn into the world, He says,
“AND LET ALL THE ANGELS OF GOD WORSHIP HIM.”

7And of the angels He says,
“WHO MAKES HIS ANGELS WINDS,
AND HIS MINISTERS A FLAME OF FIRE.”

8But of the Son He says,
“YOUR THRONE, O GOD, IS FOREVER AND EVER,
AND THE RIGHTEOUS SCEPTER IS THE SCEPTER OF HIS KINGDOM.

      9“YOU HAVE LOVED RIGHTEOUSNESS AND HATED LAWLESSNESS;
THEREFORE GOD, YOUR GOD, HAS ANOINTED YOU
WITH THE OIL OF GLADNESS ABOVE YOUR COMPANIONS.”

10And,
“YOU, LORD, IN THE BEGINNING LAID THE FOUNDATION OF THE EARTH,
AND THE HEAVENS ARE THE WORKS OF YOUR HANDS;

      11THEY WILL PERISH, BUT YOU REMAIN;
AND THEY ALL WILL BECOME OLD LIKE A GARMENT,

      12AND LIKE A MANTLE YOU WILL ROLL THEM UP;
LIKE A GARMENT THEY WILL ALSO BE CHANGED.
BUT YOU ARE THE SAME,
AND YOUR YEARS WILL NOT COME TO AN END.”

13But to which of the angels has He ever said,
“SIT AT MY RIGHT HAND,
UNTIL I MAKE YOUR ENEMIES
A FOOTSTOOL FOR YOUR FEET”?

14Are they not all ministering spirits, sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation?

If Yeshua is this important, and he is, we should take care to live as he did, according to his example! Let us take great care to remember that he is our example. He was judged perfect against the standard of his fulfillment of the law of YHWH. The standard has not changed. We must resist the temptation to follow teaching within our society that continues to declare that because he obeyed YHWH’s law perfectly, now we don’t have to do so. He is our example, not our excuse! We must challenge hard any teaching that tells us we can and should act differently than the example he demonstrated.

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Do you know for sure if you will go to heaven or hell when you die? Are you experiencing in your life the peace and joy of a personal relationship with our Creator and Father? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.

Forgive Others / Seek Forgiveness, Grace / Forgiveness, Jesus Christ / Yeshua, Obeying God, Repenting from Sin, Salvation

Hope In The LORD’s Forgiving Love

A simple but powerful message in focus in Psalm 130. Don’t miss it.

Psalm 130

Hope in the LORD’S Forgiving Love.

A Song of Ascents.

      1Out of the depths I have cried to You, O LORD.

      2Lord, hear my voice!
Let Your ears be attentive
To the voice of my supplications.

      3If You, LORD, should mark iniquities,
O Lord, who could stand?

      4But there is forgiveness with You,
That You may be feared.

      5I wait for the LORD, my soul does wait,
And in His word do I hope.

      6My soul waits for the Lord
More than the watchmen for the morning;
Indeed, more than the watchmen for the morning.

      7O Israel, hope in the LORD;
For with the LORD there is lovingkindness,
And with Him is abundant redemption.

      8And He will redeem Israel
From all his iniquities.

But we must turn from our sin and toward YHWH if we expect to receive forgiveness. We must accept Yeshua as our savior and lord. He is the way.

John 14:6

6Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.

Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.

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Do you know for sure if you will go to heaven or hell when you die? Are you experiencing in your life the peace and joy of a personal relationship with our Creator and Father? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.

Jesus (hearing from God), Jesus Christ / Yeshua, Miracles, Miracles, Truth

The Gospel Of John Is True And It Is Only A Summary

The book of John closes with two important points, we should take care not to overlook. The historical records of Yeshua in the gospels are true. John was not written down by some people who heard stories, but by John himself, who witnessed these things. Secondly, he made no attempt to record all that Yeshua had done. He provided a summary of the wonders and teachings he witnessed.

John 21:24-25

   24This is the disciple who is testifying to these things and wrote these things, and we know that his testimony is true.

      25And there are also many other things which Jesus did, which if they were written in detail, I suppose that even the world itself would not contain the books that would be written.

Let that sink in as you reflect on all that the gospel tells us about Yeshua and his ministry. This is just a summary.

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Do you know for sure if you will go to heaven or hell when you die? Are you experiencing in your life the peace and joy of a personal relationship with our Creator and Father? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.

Compassionate, Consequences of Sin, Faithful, Forgive Others / Seek Forgiveness, Grace / Forgiveness, Guide, His Ways Are Not Our Ways, Humility, Jesus Christ / Yeshua, Loving / Kind, Merciful, Persecution / Glorifying God, Repenting from Sin, Righteous, Thankfulness, Wickedness / Evil

Be Humble, Inspired, and Thankful… Reflecting on the Life of Yeshua

I am humbled, thankful, and inspired each time I read the historical account of Yeshua as he faced trial and punishment, remembering that he went willingly and fully aware of the suffering he was to endure… and he did so for our sins. What he experienced, we deserve and he did not.

He did not make up excuses or try to convince Pilate to let him go. He did not lie. He calmly endured each step of the process. Surely it must have hurt to hear the people call for release of a robber and call for Yeshua to be crucified.

John 18:28-40

Jesus before Pilate

     28Then they led Jesus from Caiaphas into the Praetorium, and it was early; and they themselves did not enter into the Praetorium so that they would not be defiled, but might eat the Passover. 29Therefore Pilate went out to them and said, “What accusation do you bring against this Man?” 30They answered and said to him, “If this Man were not an evildoer, we would not have delivered Him to you.” 31So Pilate said to them, “Take Him yourselves, and judge Him according to your law.” The Jews said to him, “We are not permitted to put anyone to death,” 32to fulfill the word of Jesus which He spoke, signifying by what kind of death He was about to die.

      33Therefore Pilate entered again into the Praetorium, and summoned Jesus and said to Him, “Are You the King of the Jews?” 34Jesus answered, “Are you saying this on your own initiative, or did others tell you about Me?” 35Pilate answered, “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests delivered You to me; what have You done?” 36Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm.” 37Therefore Pilate said to Him, “So You are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.” 38Pilate said to Him, “What is truth?”
And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews and said to them, “I find no guilt in Him. 39“But you have a custom that I release someone for you at the Passover; do you wish then that I release for you the King of the Jews?” 40So they cried out again, saying, “Not this Man, but Barabbas.” Now Barabbas was a robber.

I am reminded how wicked our world can be. Pilate crucified Yeshua after finding no guilt in him. The crowd was incited to call for release of a robber rather than Yeshua. I know it had to happen this way and it was YHWH’s plan, but it still reveals the wickedness of the human heart.

Yeshua went willingly as our Passover lamb, sacrificed for us and for our sins. Take a few minutes and give thanks to the Father. Ask for forgiveness.  Let us seek to live according to the example of Yeshua in facing adversity as we live in obedience to YHWH.

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Do you know for sure if you will go to heaven or hell when you die? Are you experiencing in your life the peace and joy of a personal relationship with our Creator and Father? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.

Guide, Holy Spirit / Ruach HaKodesh, Jesus Christ / Yeshua, Love, Loving / Kind, Persecution / Glorifying God

How Should We Relate To One Another? To The World?

How should we expect to relate to one another as disciples of Christ? How should we expect to relate to the world? These remain important questions. When people mix up the two, they often end up compromising truth in search of approval by men. To often we try to be loved by the world and are willing to create division amongst followers of Christ to try to achieve this goal. We often get it backwards.

Yeshua answered these questions for us. As disciples, or “learners”, of Christ we should love one another as He has loved us. This is significant. He laid down His life for us.

How we expect to relate to the world is quite different. If we are with Christ, we should expect to be rejected and hated by the world, because we are not of the world. Too often today churches and Christians try to change their beliefs or doctrine to suit society and culture around them so they are more acceptable to others outside the church or so they can face less conflict. This is a trap. We are to be a light, that contrasts with darkness. Those who live in darkness hate the light (John 3:19-21). We are to testify about Him in the face of conflict with the world. Do not expect to follow Christ and be loved or accepted by the world.

John 15:12-17

Disciples’ Relation to Each Other

     12“This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. 13“Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. 14“You are My friends if you do what I command you. 15“No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you. 16“You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you. 17“This I command you, that you love one another.

Disciples’ Relation to the World

     18“If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. 19“If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. 20“Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also. 21“But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know the One who sent Me. 22“If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. 23“He who hates Me hates My Father also. 24“If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would not have sin; but now they have both seen and hated Me and My Father as well. 25“But they have done this to fulfill the word that is written in their Law, ‘THEY HATED ME WITHOUT A CAUSE.’

      26“When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me, 27and you will testify also, because you have been with Me from the beginning.

To summarize, we are to love one another as disciples of Christ and be prepared to face conflict with the world as we testify to Christ. Let us not lose track of that reality and try to please the world, for if we do, we will lose Christ in the process.

We should also be thoughtful about what “love one another” means. It is not to accept everyone in their sin. We don’t get to define what love means. The Father already has defined it. We need to understand His definition of love.

Matthew 22:36-40

36“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37And He said to him, “ ‘YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’ 38“This is the great and foremost commandment. 39“The second is like it, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’ 40“On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”

Yeshua points out very directly that loving YHWH and loving one another is the basis of the whole Law and the Prophets. If we are to love one another (fellow disciples of Christ), then we must seek to understand the Law and the Prophets that are recorded in scripture in the Tanakh, or what we more commonly refer to as the Old Testament. This is not my opinion, but the direction of Christ Himself.

I believe that the New Testament is also helpful in studying what love is, but we must take care not to create new meaning that is inconsistent with the Old Testament, lest we untether ourselves from truth and begin to drift. I do find 1 Corinthians 13 helpful.

1 Corinthians 13

The Excellence of Love

      1If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.

      4Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, 5does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, 6does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

      8Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. 9For we know in part and we prophesy in part; 10but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away. 11When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. 12For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. 13But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.

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Do you know for sure if you will go to heaven or hell when you die? Are you experiencing in your life the peace and joy of a personal relationship with our Creator and Father? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.

Faith / Trusting God, Father / Yahweh, Jesus Christ / Yeshua, Parables, Righteousness / Serving God, Sin, Worldliness

Yeshua Is The Vine And We Are The Branches

John 15 documents a great visual that Yeshua provided to help us as His followers. Read the scripture and then we can review some key points afterwards.

John 15:1-11

Jesus Is the Vine—Followers Are Branches

     1“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2“Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. 3“You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. 5“I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. 6“If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned. 7“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8“My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples. 9“Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. 10“If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. 11“These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.

Let’s review a few key points that jump out to me. You may find others as well.

  • Yeshua is the vine. He is essential to supply the branches.
  • The Father is the vinedresser. He is in control.
  • Disciples of Yeshua are the branches. Our purpose is to bear His fruit. We must stay connected to Him to remain healthy and effective. We can not “go it alone”.
  • The Father will remove branches that bear no fruit. They will be cast aside and burned. This should get our attention as a stern warning.  Arguably He is talking about those who claim to follow Him or did follow Him at one time follow Him. Those who never knew Him would not be branches connected on the vine to Yeshua. We must not grow complacent! Challenge ourselves to keep knowing, loving, and serving our Father… bearing His fruit rather than our own.
  • Even those branches that bear fruit, shall be pruned by the Father so that we will bear even more fruit. Pruning is sometimes a difficult process for the branch, but it helps!
  • Yeshua also, as is common in scripture, ties together our obedience to God’s commandments with our love for Him.
  • He wants us to be joyful! It is His joy in us, not joy we achieve on our own apart from Him.

Prayerfully reflect on this visualization for our relationship with our Father and ask Him to show you areas in your life where you may be able to apply the word. Reflect on whether or not you bear fruit, and if so, if it is the Father’s fruit. When you may be going through difficult situations, consider perhaps that He may be pruning you to bear even more fruit in the future. Seek to understand His commandments so that you may obey them to demonstrate your love for Him. Pray for Him to help you experience His joy in you!

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Do you know for sure if you will go to heaven or hell when you die? Are you experiencing in your life the peace and joy of a personal relationship with our Creator and Father? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.