“…then all the nations will ask, ‘Why did Adonai do this to this land? What is the meaning of such frenzied, furious anger?’“-Deuteronomy 29:23
One of the terrifying pictures portrayed in the New Testament is what happens when Messiah returns.
We’re told that one of the results is there are going to be a ton of so-called believers who are going to be surprised and shocked when Yeshua directs the following words at them.
“‘I never knew you!
Get away from me,
you workers of lawlessness!'”
Among those “believers” who will be at the receiving end of these words will be some of the nicest and most pious people and those who regularly attended their places of worship.
Those words of Yeshua are in a sense the answer to the question posed in Deuteronomy 29:23 (copied above) concerning why the nations are so mystified at the destruction of Israel by their God.
The reason many so-called believers will be shocked when Yeshua returns is because they are ultimately judged to be “workers of lawlessness”.
What does “workers of lawlessness” really mean in its proper Scriptural context?
Does it mean someone is going to hell because he or she swiped a Snickers bar from a 7-11 in junior high school?
Is it referring to a person being condemned because he constantly broke the speed limit while driving on his way to work?
What in the heck do these words really mean?
After all, pretty much every gentile church in the world teaches the idea that once one is saved, there is no amount of lawlessness (sins) one can commit that will bring God’s wrath upon them?
Look man, let’s get this straight for all time and forever.
When the Bible speaks of the “law” it is only speaking of the Torah laws or the Biblical commandments.
Got it homies?
The only law that any Jew would ever call a “law” was God’s law.
Period.
I’m not saying Messiah went around promoting the breaking of Roman laws during his time on the planet.
In Yeshua’s time, a Jew refusing to bow down to Caesar, observe a day of worship for Zeus or pay taxes to the Roman government did NOT constitute lawlessness.
And yes, all of these things were part of the Roman legal code.
Yeshua’s words were NOT referring to the many different civil or criminal national law codes of the various states and nations in the world then or in the future.
When Yeshua says “lawlessness”, he is referring to the only law there ever was for a Jew and the only law there will ever be for a Jew: the Torah.
Got it homies?!
Biblically speaking, a worker of lawlessness is a worker of Torah-lessness.
I can’t think of any other clearer way to put it.
Yeshua is ONLY talking about the Law from God’s perspective, not the world’s.
He’s telling those who call themselves his followers to…
…”Get away from me because not only have you ignored my Father’s commandments but you have taught others to do the same”.
The New Testament answer is (obviously) the same as the “Old” Testament answer to the question of “what happened to Israel”?
Remember, the pattern is always first established in the “Old” Testament.
Read the next verse.
People will answer, ‘It’s because they abandoned the covenant of Adonai, the God of their fathers, which he made with them when he brought them out of the land of Egypt.-Deuteronomy 29:24
The answer is plain as day.
HASHEM’s wrath visited Israel because they abandoned the Torah and went whoring after other gods.
The Lord’s chosen people served things that while okay for the world in general was NOT okay for them…because they are a set-apart people.
And that is why those who on the surface who seemed to be Believers (in this context Israel) were removed from their Promised Land even after they had been “saved”, even after they had been given the commandments, and EVEN AFTER they had entered and settled in the Promised Land.
And keep in mind that the exile of Israel from the land was a national judgement upon all Hebrews no matter what their personal or individual status before God was.
This was national judgement, not individual judgements.
In terms of keeping God’s commandments, up until now in this post I’ve been talking about Israel.
But what about gentiles who come to believe in HASHEM through their faith in Messiah?
Well, here’s what Paul had to say to the new group of gentile believers in the Book of Romans:
So you will say, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” True, but so what? They were broken off because of their lack of trust. However, you keep your place only because of your trust. So don’t be arrogant; on the contrary, be terrified! For if God did not spare the natural branches, he certainly won’t spare you! So take a good look at God’s kindness and his severity: on the one hand, severity toward those who fell off; but, on the other hand, God’s kindness toward you- provided you maintain yourself in that kindness! Otherwise, you too will be cut off!“-Romans 11:19-22
The wording is as clear as a bright sunny day.
If of your own choice, you decide to walk away from God, you are walking away from your own salvation.
I’m done.
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