The End Time Church: From the Cathedrals to the Catacombs

By Dan L. White

Copyright ©2017 by Dan L. White, all rights reserved.

Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible (WEB) which is in the public domain.

Chapter 47

God’s Enemies

Israel has their King back. They’ve accepted what they once rejected and Yeshua personally leads his flock, as Yahweh led Israel through the wilderness. Men are anointed as elders to shepherd that flock, but no one man ever stands between the flock and the King. Women are loving wives and mothers and helpers to the Good News laborers. No one strives to be over others, either by setting up denominations or as kings of denominations. All strive to serve God and others and to fulfill the individual calling God has given them, instead of trying to grasp another’s position.

But the old question still remains —

How do you control the people?

The Ten Commandments tell people how to live. They tell what self-control is but they do not give self-control.

The giving of the Ten Commandments was a big, big deal — such a holy event that no one was to even touch Mt. Sinai, married couples were not to lie with each other and everyone had to wash his clothes. After two months in the wilderness, that could have been quite a job. Then Yahweh God personally came down on Mt. Sinai to teach Israel His Ten Commandments. The mountain smoked and Yahweh spoke the Ten Commandments — with His own voice.

Big voice!

Moses had to fast for forty days and nights just to receive those Commandments, engraved on tablets of rock — with Yahweh’s own finger.

Tough finger!

Those tablets were kept in a special box, the Ark of the Covenant. That ark pictures God’s throne in heaven.

Rev 11
16) The twenty-four elders, who sit on their thrones before God’s throne, fell on their faces and worshiped God,
17) saying: We give you thanks, Lord God, the Almighty, the one who is and who was; because you have taken your great power, and reigned.
18) The nations were angry, and your wrath came, as did the time for the dead to be judged, and to give your bondservants the prophets, their reward, as well as to the saints, and those who fear your name, to the small and the great; and to destroy those who destroy the earth.
19) God’s temple that is in heaven was opened, and the ark of the Lord’s covenant was seen in his temple. Lightnings, sounds, thunders, an earthquake, and great hail followed.

So the Ten Commandments, spoken with God’s voice and written with God’s finger, are in heaven right at the throne of God, in God’s little box, the Ark of the Covenant.

God spoke them, God wrote them, and God keeps them at His throne.

Were any of those commandments bad?

No.

God don’t make no bad commandments.

None were ceremonial. None were superficial. None were supplanted. What God said is good. What God wrote is good. And everything at God’s throne is good.

All Ten Commandments are good, then and now. So when people can’t control themselves and break them, the Ten Commandments are not to blame. When people run a stop light, it’s not the red light’s fault.

Israel covenanted to obey those commandments and be blessed. If they broke that covenant, though, and disobeyed, they were cursed.

They did and they were.

2Kgs 17
13) Yet Yahweh testified to Israel, and to Judah, by every prophet, and every seer, saying, Turn from your evil ways, and keep my commandments and my statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets.
14) Notwithstanding, they would not listen, but hardened their neck, like the neck of their fathers, who didn’t believe in Yahweh their God.
15) They rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified to them; and they followed vanity, and became vain, and followed the nations that were around them, concerning whom Yahweh had commanded them that they should not do like them.
16) They forsook all the commandments of Yahweh their God, and made them molten images, even two calves, and made an Asherah, and worshiped all the army of the sky, and served Baal.
17) They caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, and used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, to provoke him to anger.
18) Therefore Yahweh was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his sight: there was none left but the tribe of Judah only.
19) Also Judah didn’t keep the commandments of Yahweh their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made.

Because of their constant troubles, Israel demanded a king like all the other nations, and rejected Yahweh as their king. Their human kings eventually led them to be kicked out of the Holy Land.

How incredible was all that?

In spite of all the miracles Israel saw and in spite of being taught and led personally by Yahweh God Himself and in spite of having a God engraved copy with them, Israel did not obey the Ten Commandments.

Go figure!

There were a few times when they were led by an obedient king, but even then the people often were reprobate.

Conclusion: there was something about Israel that naturally led them to hate God.

1John 5
2) By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep his commandments.
3) For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. His commandments are not grievous.

Loving God is obeying His commandments. Hating God is breaking them. And there was something about Israel that naturally led them to hate God and break His Commandments.

When Yeshua came in the flesh, he healed the sick, gave the blind their sight, and raised the dead back to life. Yet His own people rejected this miracle worker as King; not just rejected Him, but executed Him.

What were those people thinking? What can be wrong with making sick people well, letting blind people see and giving dead people back the breath of life? Yet the rabbis, scribes and even the priests had the miracle worker tortured and killed, and the Roman soldiers of the great Roman Empire carried it out.

How could those people all do that?

Through all those centuries when Israel continually disobeyed — were they especially demented or were they just —

Normal people, doing what normal people normally do?

When Moses took the first set of Ten Commandment tablets back down the mountain, he saw Israel adulterizing with the golden calf and with each other. Moses then threw the Ten Commandments down and broke them.

That represented what Israel had just done.

They had broken the Ten Commandments.

Moses then received a second set of tablets, with the same identical Ten Commandments as the first set, word for word.

That pictures what happened with Old Covenant Israel and New Covenant Israel. Old Covenant Israel had covenanted to obey God’s commandments, but had broken them and came under the death penalty. New Covenant Israel receives those same Ten Commandments, identical word for word. None of the commandments are changed at all. None are done away. None are ceremonial. The second set was the same as the first, word for word.

So if Old Covenant Israel could not keep those commandments, why would New Covenant Israel be able to?

Christ’s flock is still Israel, but this Israel grafts in those who were not physical descendants of Abraham but are spiritual children of Abraham — obedient.

Rom 9
6) But it is not as though the word of God has come to nothing. For they are not all Israel, that are of Israel.
7) Neither, because they are Abraham’s seed, are they all children. But, In Isaac will your seed be called.
8) That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as a seed.

For this New Covenant Israel, those Ten Commandments that Israel could never keep were magnified — expanded and broadened.

Isa 42:21
21) It pleased Yahweh, for his righteousness’ sake, to magnify the law, and make it honorable.

The Ten Commandments were not dishonorable but they were dishonored — disobeyed! The magnified law would be honored. The Ten Commandments would be obeyed.

Yeshua explained the magnified commandments.

Matt 5
21) You have heard that it was said to the ancient ones, ‘You shall not murder;’ and ‘Whoever shall murder shall be in danger of the judgment.’
22) But I tell you, that everyone who is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment; and whoever shall say to his brother, ‘Raca!’ shall be in danger of the council; and whoever shall say, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of the fire of Gehenna.
23) If therefore you are offering your gift at the altar, and there remember that your brother has anything against you,
24) leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.
25) Agree with your adversary quickly, while you are with him in the way; lest perhaps the prosecutor deliver you to the judge, and the judge deliver you to the officer, and you be cast into prison.
26) Most certainly I tell you, you shall by no means get out of there, until you have paid the last penny.
27) You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery;’
28) but I tell you that everyone who gazes at a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart.

The magnified commandments expanded from not killing to not condemning; and from not adulterizing to not even thinking about it. So New Covenant Israel is to do what Old Covenant Israel failed to do, but with expanded commandments.

Old Covenant Israel, in spite of having many miracles in their history, in spite of being personally taught by Yahweh God, in spite of carrying around the Ten Commandment tablets personally engraved by God, did not obey those commandments. New Covenant Israel has the same Ten Commandments as Old Covenant Israel, and New Covenant Israel has the same problem. How do you control human nature? This is an even bigger problem because New Covenant Israel is commanded by their King to obey a magnified expanded law — Ten Commandments on steroids!

What was wrong with Old Covenant Israel? Why did they naturally hate God, the One who did so much for them?

Rom 8:7
7) because the mind of the flesh is hostile towards God; for it is not subject to God’s law, neither indeed can it be.

Or as the King James Version so succinctly put it —

King James Version Rom 8:7
7) Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.

Here’s something interesting.

Yeshua obeyed all the Commandments, all the time. Sin is breaking the Commandments —  …for sin is the transgression of the law,1 John 3:4, KJV. He didn’t sin, so He did not break the commandments or even think about it.

Who did break the Ten Commandments?

Satan. From the lie in Eden to the murder at Golgotha, Satan is the supreme commandment breaker.

John 8
44) You are of your father, the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and doesn’t stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks on his own; for he is a liar, and its father.

Christ obeyed the Ten Commandments and Satan disobeyed them. So which of those two are people naturally like?

Satan.

We are naturally God’s enemies because our nature naturally does not obey God’s law and of itself simply cannot. It’s not like you can simply decide, “Hey, I’m never going to break a commandment again!” and then do that. You can’t do it. You are a natural law breaker. It’s who you are.

The word Satan means Adversary — Enemy! And that’s us, too.

That’s why Israel, in spite of being personally taught by God, in spite of carrying the Ten Commandments around with them, and in spite of having miracle after miracle performed among them — still broke those commandments.

Look what they were up against, as cited in the ‘Whole Heart’ chapter.

Jer 17:9
The heart is deceitful above all things, and it is exceedingly corrupt: who can know it?

Gen 6:5
Yahweh saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

Gen 8:21
Yahweh smelled the pleasant aroma. Yahweh said in his heart, “I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake, because the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I ever again strike everything living, as I have done.

Mar 7:21-23
For from within, out of the hearts of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, sexual sins, murders, thefts, covetings, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, and foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.

Joh 2:23-25
Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in his name, observing his signs which he did. But Yeshua didn’t trust himself to them, because he knew everyone, and because he didn’t need for anyone to testify concerning man; for he himself knew what was in man.

That’s quite a condemnation of human nature.

How do you control the people? How does a person control himself?

A follower of Yeshua, a member of the flock, must not underestimate the difficulty of overcoming human nature, especially when Satan is constantly trying to seduce you to obey him. And he’s very good at getting you to follow him because he knows how you are.

After all, you’re just like him.