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IYAR 2

Come Out

 

“COME OUT of her midst, My people! And let everyone deliver his being from the burning displeasure of יהוה.”  (Jer 51:45 ISR, emphasis mine)

“And I heard another voice from the heaven saying, “COME OUT of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues.” (Rev 18:4 ISR, emphasis mine)

 

I learned very early in my relationship with my Creator that there are certain responsibilities that were MINE, in effect meaning that I owned them.  It was, and is, my responsibility to learn of my Elohim, of His ways, His Word, His will and wishes toward me.  It is my responsibility to learn His Torah, and apply it to my life, not merely the hearing, but the doing also (Sh’ma, Deu 6:4).  And it is my responsibility to recognize when I have left the path that I am expected to walk upon and accept the consequences of my actions.

When I continue to participate in those practices that are not pleasing to my Elohim, I can predict that there will be repercussions for my behavior.  Not only is this a promise that ‘I can take to the bank’, but it is biblical law of nature:  for every cause, there is an effect, what you sow, that will you also reap (Gal 6:7).  We saw this in the life of King David:  because of the murder he orchestrated of Uriah the Hittite (the cause, see 2Sam 11:14-17), murder and violence were ingrained in his offspring (the effect, see 2Sam 12:9-12).

Straddling a fence becomes very uncomfortable after a while, both in the physical as well as in the spiritual.  To be honest with you, I believe the Father deliberately makes it that way, forcing us to make a choice of “whom we will serve” (see Jos 24:14-15).  However, as we find in the opening verses, it is ultimately our own decision which side of the fence we land on, whether we will share in the sins of those who practice “lawlessness” (Torah-lessness) or move forward into the kingdom of our Elohim. 

Is there really any choice?

“What agreement does God’s Temple have with idols? For we are the temple of the living God—just as God said, “I will dwell in them and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. Therefore, come out from among them, and be separate, says Adonai. Touch no unclean thing. Then I will take you in. I will be a father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says Adonai-Tzva’ot.”” (2Cor 6:16-18 TLV)

 

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