A friend asked me two serious questions…
They were:
Do you believe that Yeshua is Yah in the flesh?
What do you believe about Salvation?

These are great questions.
We live in a time where Yahweh is restoring His Torah to the scattered ten tribes of the House of Israel after 2730 years of exile.
Spend even a few minutes in any Torah related social media and you’ll quickly see much discussion and debate, and not always healthy versions!
The unhealthy variety of interaction leads to arguments and division.

But do not be discouraged!!
There are people out there who will have real dialogue.
They will engage in discussion that is respectful and productive, even if they disagree with you.
One such person (who probably disagrees with me in many things) asked these two very good questions.

Here are my answers:

Do you believe that Yeshua is Yah in the flesh?
Yes, I believe that Yeshua Messiah is Yah in the flesh, and that He was not “just a man” used by Yahweh.
We are told exactly this in John 1—
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with Yahweh, and the Word was Yahweh. 2 He was in the beginning with Yahweh. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. 
14 And the Word became 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.15 John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.’ ”

What do you believe about Salvation?
This is a complicated question!!!
I spent over 30 years in mainstream Christianity, believing what they told me.
I believed that “accepting Jesus into my heart” meant I was saved.
In being “saved” I was taught this guaranteed my place in heaven, and that I would receive eternal life with Jesus.

When I submitted my will to the Father because of a tragedy in 2014, my veil was lifted, just as we are told will happen in 2Corinthians 3:14-16
14 But their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Messiah. 15 But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. 16 Nevertheless when one turns to Yahweh, the veil is taken away.

Yeshua said this in John 14
Yeshua said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
Up to that point in my life [even though I was a ‘Christian’ for 30 years] I had never “come to the Father” as Messiah instructs us to do above…
I did what the church teaches, which is to come to Jesus.
We are taught to sit down at the foot of the cross and stay there.
That is not what Yeshua tells us.
He says we must go on to the Father, and churches do not teach this.
But through a tragedy, in the depth of my soul, I realized I had to go to the Father and stop sitting at the cross.
And I did.
And I submitted my will to His will.
Here is another quote of Messiah, whose example we are to follow:
Matthew 26:39
³⁹ He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.”

And as a result of submitting to the Father, my veil was lifted [again, see 2Cor 3:14-16 above] and I began to understand the scriptures ‘for real’.
I began to study the scriptures intently, countless hours spent doing so.
By studying the very words of Yahweh and Yeshua, I had questions that I could not answer.
For example, we are told this in Romans—
Romans 10:3
13 For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

But Yeshua says this:
Matthew 7
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.”

We see this in Mark 16
“He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.”

But we see this in Revelation 22
14 Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city.”

We are told this in Ephesians 2
 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.

The rich young ruler asked this question in Matthew 19
16 Now behold, one came and said to Him, “Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?”

And Yeshua said…
“But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.”

I began to realize that the criteria for “being saved” is different than the criteria for being “granted eternal life and a place in the kingdom.”
I realized that if “being saved” and “being in the kingdom” are one and the same, then many verses in scripture cannot be reconciled.
They are in conflict.
These ‘conflicts’ caused many, many hours of discussion and debate.
People want to stick with the idea that we are saved by belief/faith/grace without doing anything of our own accord.
But at the same time, Yeshua Messiah (and others in scripture) clearly point out that we “must do something” in order to be in the kingdom.

I prayed about it and asked for His understanding in this.
And this is where I am today, with regard to “being saved” and “being granted salvation” or “being in the kingdom”:

In my humble opinion, they are two separate events, with two different sets of criteria to be achieved.
This is not a popular idea, even in Torah community.
I have only heard of two other people who have studied this out and found the same conclusion in the scriptures.

But here’s the thing…
Either “being saved” and “salvation” are two separate things, or Yahweh and Yeshua are liars, and I know that is not the case.
I am still digging deeper into this topic, moving on to the original Greek language.
I’m finding that our English translations sometimes use “saved” and “salvation” interchangeably, even though there are specific words in the Greek for each concept, and they are sometimes mistranslated.

I currently believe that turning to Yeshua, repenting of our sin, being baptized – the typical concepts of the gospel —- result in us being “saved”. 
Saved from what?
I believe we are saved from our sins up to that point in our lives.
We are saved from living in the flesh, and are now baptized, having died to self – we come out of the baptism water as a new creation.  We are given the Ruach, with the idea that we live by the spirit and not by the flesh. Paul speaks of this a great deal.
Here is one example:
Romans 8
Life in the Spirit
8 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Messiah Yeshua. ² For the law of the Spirit of life in Messiah Yeshua has set you free from the law of sin and death. ³ For what was impossible for the Torah—since it was weakened on account of the flesh—God has done. Sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as a sin offering, He condemned sin in the flesh— ⁴ so that the requirement of the Torah might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Ruach.
⁵ For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Ruach set their minds on the things of the Ruach. ⁶ For the mindset of the flesh is death, but the mindset of the Ruach is life and shalom. ⁷ For the mindset of the flesh is hostile toward God, for it does not submit itself to the law of God—for it cannot. ⁸ So those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
⁹ However, you are not in the flesh but in the Ruach—if indeed the Ruach Elohim dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Ruach of Messiah, he does not belong to Him. ¹⁰ But if Messiah is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the Spirit is alive because of righteousness. ¹¹ And if the Ruach of the One who raised Yeshua from the dead dwells in you, the One who raised Messiah Yeshuafrom the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Ruach who dwells in you.
¹² So then, brothers and sisters, we do not owe anything to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. ¹³ For if you live according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Ruach you put to death the deeds of the body, you shall live. ¹⁴ For all who are led by the Ruach Elohim, these are sons of God. ¹⁵ For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall again into fear; rather, you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” ¹⁶ The Ruach Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. ^[a] 17 And if children, also heirs—heirs of God and joint-heirs with Messiah—if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.

I do not believe we are capable of obeying the Torah, His instructions, His commands, if we are walking in the flesh. But if we walk in the Spirit, we are empowered by the Spirit to walk in His ways, and to obey.
Just as Yah said, His commands are not too hard for us.
Just as Yeshau said, His yoke is light.

We can do this, in the Ruach!! 
And I have experienced exactly that!!
I can overcome sin and no longer commit sin if I yield to the Spirit.
If I indulge the flesh, I fail, just as Paul describes.

I believe that being saved is our transformation from walking in the flesh to walking in the spirit.
We are saved from the wages of sin, which are death.
We are saved from the law of sin and death.

But then what?
Again, Paul speaks greatly of what comes next.
Paul tells us that athletes train to compete and win.
They do not train to come in second.
They do not train to come in last.
Athletes train to win, to be victorious.
And Paul tells us to run our race and to finish our race, as if to win.
1Corinthians 9
²⁴ Don’t you know that in a stadium the runners all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win! ²⁵ Every competitor exercises self-control in all respects. They do it to receive a perishable crown, but we do it to receive an imperishable one. ²⁶ So I run in this way—not aimlessly. So I box in this way—not beating the air. ²⁷ Rather, I punish my body and bring it into submission, so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.

Paul tells us to work out our salvation with fear and trembling.
Philippians 2:12
Therefore, my loved ones, just as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now even more in my absence—work out your salvation with fear and trembling. 
We have a part in our salvation. We have a responsibility; there are things we must do. Once we are “saved” by Yeshua’s works and not our own,  we must then walk on the narrow path and not on the broad path.
Words of Yeshua Messiah in Matthew 7
¹³ “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and those who enter through it are many. ¹⁴ How narrow is the gate and difficult the way that leads to life, and those who find it are few.”

Again – let’s look at this direct quote of Messiah in Matthew 7:21-23
21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’

Yeshua is not speaking to atheists, agnostics, or even Satanists.
He is speaking to people who thought they served Him.
He is speaking to people who “think they are going to heaven”.
But look closely at what He says:
They will not be in the “kingdom of heaven.”
Why?
Because they did not do the will of the Father.
What was the disqualifier?
They practice lawlessness.

Were these people “Christians”?
Sure.
Of course.
Were these people “saved”?
Yes, I believe they were saved.
Will they be granted “salvation” and a “place in the kingdom”?
Nope, not according to Yeshua.

Look at the parable of the ten virgins.
Again, these are not five believers and five non-believers.
All ten are competing for the same prize – to be the bride.
5 were wise and prepared themselves well.
They ran their race.
They finished their race.
They walked the narrow path.
They worked out their salvation with fear and trembling.

What about the other five believers?
They were unprepared.
They did not run their race.
They did not finish their race.
They walked the broad path that leads to destruction.
They did not work out their salvation with fear and trembling.

The only way for Yeshua to NOT be a liar is if “being saved” and “salvation” are separate concepts and separate events.