A Golden Calf
It is beautiful and it is for YHWH whom we worship. We enjoy celebrating our best and the memories we have of it. He will accept it because we do it for Him. …So they thought.
The Children of Israel were waiting for Moses to return to them. While waiting they wanted to worship YHWH. They were in the wilderness and they brought their jewelry together and made a Golden Calf. It may have been beautiful to them that they were giving their jewels to make something special for YHWH. They specifically made it for Him while waiting for Moses to return. The WORD is clear that they were making if for YHWH. But…
YHWH saw what they were doing and He didn't like it!! And he sent Moses back to instruct the people that they were wrong to make that for Him! He told them how to worship Him. He did not want to be worshipped how the Egyptians worshipped their gods. ...These events are written for our admonition today.
Today, while waiting for Messiah's return many have brought together beautiful decorations and gatherings to worship YHWH. But…they are offering a golden calf worship and it is unacceptable! In fact, the gatherings are based on blatant lies! Imagine that. And. It is grieving our Heavenly Father.
We are to worship him in SPIRIT and in TRUTH! As led by the Spirit Of Truth who dwells within us and teaches us all things that we have need to know. Setting up idols is Physical worship. Honoring Him or His Son on days that He didn't command is False worship. There is nothing Spiritual or True about honoring Him with days and ways He didn't command.
Plainly put: The church's holidays are Golden Calves before YHWH. He is worthy of our utmost best and respect. It is time to repent and return to true worship while we wait for His Son's return. When His Son returns, will He find faith on the earth? This is the very question that he asked! I imagine he was thinking about the golden calf experience from time past.
Faith is SHOWING our belief in Him by worshipping Him in the obedient ways that He has asked of us. We are admonished in the Book of Revelation, which is a book revealing the future, about what He requires of the saved. In this book we read that:
Sadly, the second part is often forgotten. It is time to repent! And. Begin walking on the ancient path! Or will you be among the ones who chooses to be swallowed up in the vain traditions of man? You may say, well, He knows my heart. But my question to you is, Do you know His heart? Because if you know His heart then you would want to worship Him on His Holy Days and in His Holy Ways to make yourself set apart from anything that would grieve Him. Read Moses's request: Now therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in Your sight, show me now Your way, that I may know You – (Shemoth, Exodus 33:13)
I thought to myself, but see the heart of the people. They love You and are believing they are honoring you with Christmas. Then I heard His Spirit say, That is like saying about the people while they were waiting in the wilderness to see that they were just making the golden calf for YHWH. And let us also take pleasure in seeing how beautiful they are making the calf for YHWH. Sure it isn't what He asked for, but it is what they wanted to do for Him. And since it is for Him then it is okay.
NOT!! They knew it wasn't the way that He asked to be worshipped. It is right to look at the MOTIVES of the heart, for that is what He judges. But, he also expects us to learn what He desires so that we may walk in OBEDIENCE. It is time to stop being wishy-washy and laissez faire. How many were swallowed up by the earth that day for trying to justify falsehood?
Once you make the decision to honor Him rightly, then your eyes will open to the beauty of what He has meant for you to see and know in your life. And upon rightly dividing the WORD of TRUTH you will see the TRUE HOLIDAYS - HIS HOLY DAYS - that honor Him.
He is not a disciplinarian who wants to punish you when you are not observing His way. He is not an authoritarian who demands that you walk His way. He is a Loving Father who is gently, yet firmly calling your name and waiting for you to come to the knowledge of His Love so that you awaken to the brilliance of His way!
Beloved, let us come together, hear and obey His Way! And ask as Moses did: Now therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in Your sight, show me now Your way, that I may know You (Shemoth 33:13)
And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, "YHWH, YHWH, the compassionate and El Channun (gracious God), slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation." (Shemoth 34:16)
We see a continuing here: For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Yahshua Hamashiach. (Yochanan ,John 1:17) And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. (v14)
YHWH gave Moses the law of grace & truth. YHWH showed Moses the way. Messiah Yahshua lived the way. Law=Living Word=Messiah Yahshua=Grace and Truth
Both Moses and Yahshua were deliverers. Do you see the connection? One cannot be without the other!
(I submitted this teaching for Publication on the weekend of 1.7.2017. I submit teachings for publication when I feel an urgency within me concerning them. On the following Monday after writing this particular teaching I had asked my 11 year old son Daniel to read his daily 3 chapters of his choosing for devotional time. He sat down and began to read. I didn't know the chapters or book that he chose to read. A few minutes later we heard the door make a sound as though someone tried to open it and I looked out the window and noticed the wind blew hard just then. I walked over to the door and looked out and saw that nobody was there so realized it was the wind. I walked over to the piano by the window and said, "It is the wind." In reply Daniel looked straightway up from reading and said, "I just read 'It is the wind that they are worshipping when making a golden calf but saying they are shouting to [Recognizing] God...'! I sat next to him and there he was reading Hosea chapter 8 and I was in awe. It was harmonious and in parallel to the teaching I just published!
“Put the trumpet to your lips! Give a warning to my people! Assyria is like an eagle. It is ready to attack my land. My people have broken the covenant I made with them. They have refused to obey my law. Israel shouts to me, "We recognize you as our God!" They use their silver and gold to make statues of gods. That is how they destroy themselves." YHWH says, "People of Samaria, throw out your god that looks like a calf! My anger burns against you, How long will it be until you are able to remain faithful to me? Your calf is not God. A skilled worker from Israel made it. But it will be broken into pieces. YHWH says, “Worshipping other gods is like worshipping the wind. It is like planting worthless seeds. Assyria is like a windstorm. That is all my people will harvest. There are no heads of grain on the stems that will come up...They are like a wild donkey that wanders around by itself. .I wrote down for them many things in my law, but they considered my laws as something strange. Though they offer sacrifices as gifts to me, and though they eat the meat, the Lord is not pleased with them. Now he will remember their wickedness and punish their sins: They will return to Egypt. Israel has forgotten their Maker.” (Hosea 8 NIV)
Let us repent, return to our first love, and truly recognize the LORD by learning and walking in His ways. May His Laws, His Ways, not be strange to us anymore! Say, "No!" to the worship that is not accepted and say, "Yes!" to the worship that YHWH prescribes for us from His Word!
With Great Love, Leslie Ann