Numbers 15:37-40
³⁷ Yehova spoke to Moses saying, ³⁸ “Speak to Bnei-Yisrael. Say to them that they are to make for themselves tzitzit on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and they are to put a blue cord on each tzitzit.  ³⁹ It will be your own tzitzit—so whenever you look at them, you will remember all the mitzvot of Yehova and do them and not go spying out after your own hearts and your own eyes, prostituting yourselves. ⁴⁰ This way you will remember and obey all My mitzvot and you will be holy to your God. 

I’ve been involved in the “Torah Community” for roughly two years now, maybe a little longer.  Tracy and I make our own tzitzits and we wear them all day every day. Why?
Simply because Yehova says to.
That is why we make and wear them.
Do we need another reason?   No.
Is there a better reason?  Again, no.

Our experience with local Torah groups is that the majority of “Torah Observant” people do not wear tzitzits.  Or they might wear them on Shabbat when others will see them, but when you run into them during the work week, no tzitzits.
There are self-proclaimed Torah teachers and leaders who do not wear tzitzits.
Is this a big deal?
Or are tzitzits stupid?
Are tzitzits for the spiritually immature, while those who are mature in Torah are exempt?
Am I the tzitzit police?
Absolutely not.  I have no desire to be ‘legalistic’ about tzitzits.
But I do feel a strong need to tell you what scripture says about tzitzits. Then you can decide for yourself, with full knowledge, if you should make and wear them.

Let’s take a look at what happened right after Yehova gave the command for His people to make and wear tzitzits:
Numbers 16:28-33
²⁸ Moses said, “By this you will know that Yehova has sent me to do all these works, that they are not from my own heart. ²⁹ If every one of these men die a common death and experience what happens to all people, then Yehova has not sent me. ³⁰ But if Yehova brings about a new thing, and the earth opens her mouth and swallows them and everything that is theirs, and they go down alive into Sheol, then you will know that these men have despised Yehova.”
³¹ As soon as he finished saying all these things, the ground split under them. ³² The earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, along with all their households, all of Korah’s people and all their possessions. ³³ They went down alive into Sheol, they and everything that was theirs. The earth closed over them and they were gone from among the community.

Here is a bit of background.
The Hebrew people were messing up.
They were not following the ways of Yehova.
And as a result, people were losing their lives because of it.
Some people consider the command to wear tzitzits as a weird, irrelevant, strange command that does not seem to have any reason or basis.
But it does have basis.
And it is not weird or strange.
The command to wear tzitzits is not a punishment.
Instead, I would consider it merciful.
Yehova recognized that people were losing their lives because of disobedience. He mercifully gave the command to make and wear tzitzits so they might be reminded of His words and His ways.

And what is the very next thing to happen?
Korah’s rebellion.
We don’t get much narrative in the scriptures to explain it, but we see this in verse 28:
Moses said, “By this you will know that Yehova has sent me to do all these works, that they are not from my own heart.” 
It would seem that Korah had accused Mosheh of making things up.
Korah seems to think that Mosheh was giving commands of his own making, as opposed to receiving those commands from Yehova.
While Korah may have been disgruntled about many things because of his negative attitude, it seems that tzitzits are what put him over the edge. I believe it would be improper to say tzitzits were the only cause for Korah’s rebellion, but I think it is reasonable to say tzitzits may have been the last straw for him.
And what happened as a result?
He got sucked into the earth, straight to Sheol. Korah, his people, and all their belongings went to Sheol, and they went the hard way…

We are speaking of things that happened long ago, thousands of years ago.
How could this possibly be relevant today?
Check out Numbers 15:38
“…make for themselves tzitzit on the corners of their garments throughout their generations…”

Do you see?
All generations…
It is just as relevant today as it was during the time of Mosheh and Korah.  When Yehova says something is forever, for all generations, never-ending —- He means it.  He does not mean it is sort-of forever, until men and women no longer feel like doing it.

Instead of viewing tzitzits as a punishment, or some weird command, or something embarrassing to destroy our fashion, we need to see them for what they are:  merciful help from our Creator.
OK, so what are the important details regarding tzitzits?
From the scriptures in Numbers 15, we get these key points:
— Make for ourselves
— Corners of our garments
— Throughout their generations
— Blue Cord
— Your own tzitzits
— When you look at them
— Remember the commands
— And do them
— And not prostitute after our own hearts and desires.
AND AGAIN, REPEATED:
–Remember
–And obey the commands
WHY?
–You will be set apart (holy) to your Elohim.

There is no need for additional explanation here.
I was thinking where I should go next with this…
But why?
Scripture is quite clear.
I can’t really expound on this anymore.
Follow the words and the ways of Yehova, and you will be holy and set apart to Him.
Make tzitzits and wear them, so you will remember the commands and do them, and not go whoring after your own desires, so that you will be holy and set apart to your Elohim.

I would like to speculate just a bit, before I go.
And please, please —- recognize this is pure speculation.

What if Yehova gives those who obey this command a supernatural protection?  What if Yehova protects those who obey and wear tzitzits from false doctrine and misunderstanding?  What if Yehova supernaturally helps those who wear tzitzits to remember and keep His commands?
What if this is not just about men and women?
What if the reminder that tzitzits provides is not by our own discipline, but is something Yehova does?

The best Torah teachers I know wear tzitzits. When I act as a Berean and compare their teaching to scripture, I see truth. Yes, this is a generalization, and may not be 100% true 100% of the time.
But generally, I have found those who wear tzitzits to be scripture based in their teaching.
However, I’ve seen self-proclaimed Torah teachers and leaders who do not wear tzitzits, and their ‘instruction’ is all over the place.
They bring in mainstream church ideas and habits. They bring in the Jewish traditions of men from the Talmud.
They disagree with scripture even…
I had one Torah fellowship leader and teacher point at scripture I was showing him and he said, “I don’t believe that.”
Another in the group later told me he thought he meant that he believed something other than what I believed about it, not that he was rejecting scripture.
But…
When scripture says something word for word for word, and a Torah teacher has beliefs and doctrine contrary to what it says, and points at it and states, “I don’t believe that” —- then what else can I take from that experience???
No matter, though…

What do you think?
Do you believe Yehova protects the thoughts, and beliefs, and the understanding of those who wear tzitzits, just as He commanded us to do?  Do you think it is important to wear tzitzits?

“As for me and my house, we shall serve Yehova.”
And, we’ll make and wear tzitzits.

I’ve spent 18 months writing primarily about the warnings in scripture, many of which are direct quotes of Messiah.
Today we are going to cut to the chase.

First of all, the Mainstream Christian idea of “believing in Jesus” will not get you eternal life or get you to heaven.
How could I says such a thing?
This is because scripture and doctrine are established in the Hebrew mindset.  All things in Hebrew revolve around action.
Greek mindset is different, though. The Greek mindset is cerebral. It is academic.  It is based in thought and emotion.
In a Greek mindset, we can review John 3:16 and think we just have to believe in our minds that Jesus died for our sins and we’ll be saved. No action is required, as it is a thought process.
But just a few verses later in John 3:36, we are shown just how completely wrong this Greek based idea is.

John 3:16
For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.
John 3:36
He who trusts in the Son has eternal life. He who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

Many in the mainstream will read John 3:16 and decide they are in the kingdom because they believe.
But John 3:36 tells us there is more to it.
We have to build our truth [and therefore, our doctrine] on all the information available to us, not just select bits and pieces.
If someone builds their reality and their doctrine on all the promises in scripture while ignoring the warnings in scripture, they will be in for a rude awakening on judgement day.
And there was weeping and gnashing of teeth…

The man who says, “I believe” but exhibits no actions to prove it will not be saved.
James 2:26
 For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.
James also seems to believe we must do something. Without “doing something” our faith is dead.
And do you know what that means?
There is no salvation without faith.
Ephesians 2:8
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not from yourselves—it is the gift of God. 
Where does this faith come from?
Romans 10:17
So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Messiah.

Did you catch that?
…by hearing the word of Messiah.
Let’s start with this warning, a direct quote of Messiah:
Luke 6:46
 “Why do you call Me ‘Master, Master’ and do not do what I say? ”
And this…
John 10:25-30
²⁵ Yeshua answered them, “I told you, but you don’t believe! The works I do in My Father’s name testify concerning Me. ²⁶ But you don’t believe, because you are not My sheep. ²⁷ My sheep hear My voice. I know them, and they follow Me. ²⁸ I give them eternal life! They will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of My hand. ²⁹ My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all. And no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. ³⁰ I and the Father are one.”

In Luke 6, we see that Messiah expects us to do the things He says, if we are going to say we follow Him.
In John 10, Messiah confirms this. His sheep hear His voice and follow Him.  And He knows them.

Do you want to be known by Messiah? Then you had better know the things He says, and you had better do them.
Am I promoting a works based salvation then?
Nope.
I am simply telling you what your Savior expects from you, in case you didn’t know. We can debate this for days…  But the matter is simple. Yeshua Messiah expects us to listen to Him and obey Him.
Again from James…
James 1:22-25
²² But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deluding yourselves. ²³ For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror— ²⁴ for once he looks at himself and goes away, he immediately forgets what sort of person he was. ²⁵ But the one who looks intently into the perfect Torah, the Torah that gives freedom, and continues in it, not becoming a hearer who forgets but a doer who acts—he shall be blessed in what he does.

Again, we see that we are to be doers, not thinkers (Greek Mindset).
Action is required.
We must do something.
What shall we do then?  Messiah tells us this:
John 14:15
“If you love Me, keep My commandments.”
John 14:21
He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me.
John 15:10
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.

Oh boy, here we go again.
Back to a works based salvation.
Nope.
Works will not save us, but a love for Messiah will!!
Let’s break it down simply.
On judgement day, we will take a knee before our Yeshua Messiah.
We will confess that He is Lord.
And…  He will decide our fate.
What are the choices?
1. Eternal life in the presence of Yehova.
2. Second Death and destruction in the Lake of Fire.

Which one will He give you?
Has He given us any hints?
Well, He talks about eternal life in John 10, which I quoted above. Did you catch it?
Let’s review.
John 10:25-30
²⁵ Yeshua answered them, “I told you, but you don’t believe! The works I do in My Father’s name testify concerning Me. ²⁶ But you don’t believe, because you are not My sheep. ²⁷ My sheep hear My voice. I know them, and they follow Me. ²⁸ I give them eternal life! They will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of My hand. ²⁹ My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all. And no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. ³⁰ I and the Father are one.”

Verse 28.
Eternal life.
Never perish.
Will not be snatched away.
How do we get these things?
Do these wonderful promises apply to us?
Verse 27
My sheep hear My voice. I know them, and they follow Me. 
We must hear His voice.
He must know us.
We must follow Him.
Again, John 14:15, John 14:21, and John 15:10 all tell us how to love our Messiah.  Keep the commandments.
We do not keep the commands to earn salvation.
We keep the commands to show that we love Messiah.
We keep the commands to show that we know His voice.
We keep the commands to show that we know Him.
But does He know us?

Let’s review another warning of Messiah:
Matthew 7:21-23
²¹ “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord!’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. ²² Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in Your name, and drive out demons in Your name, and perform many miracles in Your name?’ ²³ Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you. Get away from Me, you workers of lawlessness!’”

What do these verses mean to you?
Obviously, Messiah is getting rid of the Muslims and the atheists, and the Luciferians, and the Satan worshipers here, right?
Nope.
We don’t even need to discuss those groups. Their fate is known already.
This scary bit of scripture is talking about people who believe they belong in the kingdom of heaven, but do not.
Is that you?
How can we tell?
Verse 21
Only those who do the will of the Father will enter heaven.
What is the will of the Father?
He gives us His will in the Torah instructions, His law, His commands, His statutes, His precepts.
We then see that many people who thought they served Messiah through great works, actually did not serve Messiah.
He did not even know them!!
Verse 23
Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you. Get away from Me, you workers of lawlessness!’”
Messiah never knew you.
Get away from Me.
Why?
Because they are workers of lawlessness.
They are people who reject the Torah.
Here is an interesting thing…
These people did works!!
They prophesied in His name…
They drove out demons in His name…
They performed many miracles in His name…
They did stuff!!!
But did they do the right stuff?
Or did they do things for the right reasons?

We don’t get to decide what works we will do.
Did you volunteer in the church children’s ministry?
Yes? Great, that was good of you. Is that what Messiah said to do?
Did you hand out warm clothes to the homeless?
Great, that was good of you. It is a nice thing to do.
We can do many things, even less impressive than prophecy, driving out demons, and performing miracles…
But did you hear His voice?
Did you listen to Him?
Did you do the things He said?
John 14:21
He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me.
Keeping the commandments includes loving your neighbor as yourself.  Helping the homeless and teaching children could be construed as loving your neighbor as yourself.
But what if you decide against keeping the commandments as He asks of us, but just happen to do some things that fall into those categories anyway?
Do we get credit for them?
Nope.
John 14:15
If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.
We have to choose Him.
We have to choose to follow Him.
We have to intentionally listen to Him and obey Him.
Getting a few things right because we are decent people won’t help us. Look at what happened to the people who prophesied, drove out demons, and even performed miracles.
“Depart from Me. I never knew you.”
Why? Because they did not choose to keep His commandments.
Maybe they kept some by accident, but that is different than listening to Messiah, hearing His voice, and choosing to do what is important to Him.

“Oh really?
Come on…
My church teaches that the law is done away with.”
I will ask you this:
Will you bet your eternity on what your church says, or what Messiah says?
Will you listen to the only One who can save you?
Or will you listen to some guy who went to college, where other men taught what they believe about scripture?
Which one are you going to bet on?
Remember, the prize is eternity, and you only get one shot at this.
Here’s a bit of help:
Matthew 5:17-19
¹⁷ “Do not think that I came to abolish the Torah or the Prophets! I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill. ¹⁸ Amen, I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or serif shall ever pass away from the Torah until all things come to pass. ¹⁹ Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever keeps and teaches them, this one shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 

I have other studies that look at the Greek words behind this translation, so I’m not going to go into all of that here.
But here are some important things:

1. Yeshua did not abolish the Torah or Prophets.
2. He came to fully teach the Torah and the Prophets.
3. He also completed the Law, living His own life without sin.
4. Not one penstroke of the Law will change until heaven and earth pass away (referring to all in scripture being completed).
5. Whoever breaks commands and teaches others to break commands will be spoken of in the kingdom of heaven as the least.
6. whoever keeps the commands and teaches others to keep them will be spoken of as the greatest in the kingdom.

This bit of scripture gets really twisted.
We are told that we don’t have to keep the law because Messiah fulfilled it.  Even if Messiah did fulfill the law by keeping it, verse 19 clearly tells us that we are also to keep it.
When I point this out, I often get this:
“If I don’t keep the commands, I’ll still be least in the kingdom of heaven.  I still get to be there.”
Do you realize how awful that is?
The only entity that exists who can save you went through horrific physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual torture.
He was beaten, scourged, hung on a cross, and stabbed in the abdomen until He died. — Physical
He was so stressed about the coming events that He had drops of blood drip from the pores of His skin. — Mental
He spent time travelling throughout the land in His ministry.  He healed the sick, gave sight to the blind, brought the dead back to life.  He did amazing things, miraculous things.
And everyone deserted Him.
Even Peter denied Him three times before the rooster crowed.
The powers that be gave Him an escape.  He offered the people a choice between an awful man, Barabbas, or Yeshua Messiah to be pardoned. Obviously, the man who healed and saved and loved others would be chosen, right? Nope, the people asked for awful Barabbas to be released, and demanded that Messiah be crucified.
— Emotional
Messiah also suffered spiritually.  He and the Father are one.  And yet, He took on the sin of the world and experienced death, and even worse, experienced separation from the Father for a time. How tragic is this?? —Spritual

These are the things Messiah endured in order to save you.
And some are shooting for “least in the kingdom”????
Is that what He wants from us?  The least we can offer?
Nope.
Luke 14:27
Whoever does not carry his own cross and follow Me cannot be My disciple.
What do you think it means to carry our own cross?
It means we must be willing to suffer what He suffered.
Are you willing to do that? Are you willing to suffer physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually, to the point of death, in order to follow Him?
Or are you only willing to do the least?
What is the minimum I can do and still get into the kingdom?

Is that what you want to tell Messiah on judgement day?
“Well, I won’t do this, and I won’t do that. In fact, I’ll hardly do anything for You.  But I believe You died for me.
That’s good, right?”
Depart from Me, I never knew you…

Let’s take a closer look at Matthew 5:19
Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven.
Does it say those who break the commands are least in the kingdom?
[As long as I’m there, it’s all good, right?]
No, it does not say you are in the kingdom, least or otherwise.
It says those in the kingdom will speak about you being the least.
“Uh Oh…
Wait…
What????”
Verse 19 does not say you are still in the kingdom.
It says those in the kingdom will think poorly of you.
That is not good.

I could spend hours doing this.
I could make this study a mile long.
But let’s stop here.

Do you hear Messiah’s voice?
Do you know the things He says?
Do you believe Him?
Do you follow Him?
Do you know Him?

You need to decide if you will follow the teaching of men, or if you will follow the teaching of the only One who can save you.
Which will it be?
Get a red letter bible and study only the things Messiah says.
Build your doctrine from that.
Why do I say this?
It is because you need to separate His doctrine from the false teachings of men.
Jeremiah says that in end times, people will realize they have been taught nothing but lies.
We are there.
It is time.
Jeremiah 16:19-20
O Lord, my strength and my fortress,
My refuge in the day of affliction,
The Gentiles shall come to You
From the ends of the earth and say,
“Surely our fathers have inherited lies,
Worthlessness and unprofitable things.”
²⁰ Will a man make gods for himself,
Which are not gods?
Do you believe this is true? Or will you ignore this warning from Jeremiah and suffer because of it?

Do you know what Messiah said to the educated religious leaders of His time?  He welcomed them into the Kingdom, even if they were the least, right?
Nope.
Matthew 23:13
 “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves,nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.
He says they will not enter heaven, nor will their followers.
What will He say to today’s false teachers?
“Well, you done messed up, but come on into heaven anyway.”
That’s it, right?
Nope.
He will tell them the same thing.
They are not entering heaven, nor are their followers.
I never knew you. Depart from Me, workers of lawlessness.

I do not share this to criticize, or to condemn, or to judge.
I share these things so you will  know.
Know what?
You will know what you are choosing.
You will know His warnings and decide for Him or against Him.
Which one do you pick?