I am hand writing the bible, and so far, I am up to Genesis 37.
I’ve noticed this statement three times:
“all the nations of the earth will be blessed”

Genesis 18:16-18
¹⁶ Then the men got up from there and looked down over Sodom. Abraham was walking with them to send them off, ¹⁷ when Elohim said, “Should I keep secret from Abraham what I am about to do, ¹⁸ seeing that Abraham will most certainly become a great and mighty nation and in him all the nations of the earth will be blessed? 

Genesis 22:17-18
I will richly bless you and bountifully multiply your seed like the stars of heaven, and like the sand that is on the seashore, and your seed will possess the gate of his enemies. ¹⁸ In your seed all the nations of the earth will be blessed—because you obeyed My voice.”

Genesis 26:4
I will multiply your seed like the stars of the sky and I will give your seed all these lands. And in your seed all the nations of the earth will continually be blessed, ⁵ because Abraham listened to My voice and kept My charge, My mitzvot, My decrees, and My instructions.”

So I am pondering this idea…
Exactly how are all the nations of the earth blessed by Israel?
We’ve had thousands of years go by since these statements were made.  What evidence do we have to show that all the nations have been blessed?

Here is my speculative guess on this matter:
We see evidence in scripture that some people are scorned by Yahuah.

1.  The patriarchs were told not to take wives for themselves from the people of Canaan.
Genesis 24:3
…so that I may make you take an oath by Adonai, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from among the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I am dwelling.
Genesis 28:1
So Isaac called for Jacob, blessed him, commanded him and said to him, “Don’t take a wife from the daughters of Canaan.”
Genesis 28:6
Now Esau saw that Isaac blessed Jacob when he sent him to Paddan-aram to take for himself a wife from there, when he blessed him and commanded him saying, “Don’t take a wife from the daughters of Canaan.”
Deuteronomy 7:3
You are not to intermarry with them—you are not to give your daughter to his son, or take his daughter for your son. 

2.  In the New Testament, we see Messiah Yeshua ignore the woman from Canaan, and He called her a dog and told her she is not worthy to have what is for the children of Israel.
Matthew 15:23-26
But He did not answer her a word. And when His disciples came, they were urging Him, saying, “Send her away, because she keeps shouting at us.”
²⁴ But He responded, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
²⁵ So she came and got down on her knees before Him, saying, “Master, help me!”
²⁶ And answering, He said, “It’s not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”

3.  We see in scripture that Yahuah hates the Edomites, the line of Esau, which was mixed with the line of Ishmael.
Malachi 1:2-4
—it is the declaration of Elohim—
“Yet I loved Jacob ³ and Esau I hated.
I made his hills a wasteland
and gave his inheritance to jackals of the wilderness.”
⁴ For Edom may say,
“We have been beaten down,
but we will return and rebuild the ruins.”
Thus Elohim-Tzva’ot says:
“They may rebuild but I will tear down.
They will be called a wicked territory,
the people Elohim denounced forever.
Obadiah 1:18
while the house of Esau will be straw—
they will set them on fire and consume them.
So there will be no survivors of the house of Esau.”
—for Elohim has spoken.
Romans 9:13
As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”

4.  In Matthew 23, we see what Yeshua Messiah thinks of the ruling religious class during His time on earth:
Matthew 23:13-33
“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you shut up the reign of the heavens before men, for you do not go in, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you eat up widows’ houses, and for a show make long prayers. Because of this you shall receive greater judgment.
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you go about the land and the sea to win one convert, and when he is won, you make him a son of GĕHinnom twofold more than yourselves.
“Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the Dwelling Place, it does not matter, but whoever swears by the gold of the Dwelling Place, is bound by oath.’ Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gold or the Dwelling Place that sets the gold apart? And, ‘Whoever swears by the slaughter-place, it does not matter, but whoever swears by the gift that is on it, is bound by oath.’
Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gift or the slaughter-place that sets the gift apart?” “He, then, who swears by the slaughter-place, swears by it and by all that is upon it. “And he who swears by the Dwelling Place, swears by it and by Him who is dwelling in it.
“And he who swears by the heaven, swears by the throne of Elohim and by Him who is sitting upon it.
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you tithe the mint and the anise and the cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the Torah: the right-ruling and the compassion and the belief. These need to have been done, without neglecting the others. “Blind guides – straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are filled with plunder and unrighteousness. “Blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and dish, so that the outside of them becomes clean too.
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you are like whitewashed tombs which outwardly indeed look well, but inside are filled with dead men’s bones and all uncleanness.“So you too outwardly indeed appear righteous to men, but inside you are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness.
29“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous, and say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them in the blood of the prophets.’ Thus you bear witness against yourselves that you are sons of those who did murder the prophets – and you fill up the measure of your fathers! “Serpents, brood of adders! How would you escape the judgment of GĕHinnom?

4.  We are told in Genesis 3:15 there are different “seeds” upon the earth – his (Satan’s) seed and her (Eve’s) Seed.
Genesis 3:15
I will put animosity
    between you and the woman—
        between your seed and her seed.
    He will crush your head,
        and you will crush his heel.
The concept of ‘his seed’ and ‘her Seed’ is the reason why Noah’s flood occurred.  It is the reason Joshua and Caleb were commanded to kill all living beings when they entered the promise land.  But this is a whole other study involving genetics…

Seeker-friendly, mainstream Christian doctrine teaches that everyone is loved, that everyone is acceptable to Yahuah.
“Jesus loves me, this I know, for the bible tells me so.”
Who hasn’t heard this song at some point in their life?
But the scriptures I quoted above show this song is not the truth.
There are people upon the earth in ancient times that were not acceptable to Yahuah.  There were people upon the earth during Messiah’s time that were not acceptable to our Savior.

But back to the original question…
How will all the nations of the earth be blessed by Israel?

If we study scripture, and study the history of the people of Israel, the children of Elohim, we see this:
The nation of Israel split into two kingdoms; the southern kingdom of Judah and the northern kingdom of Israel>
Both kingdoms strayed from the Word and were punished for it (punishment is given in Ezekiel 4).
The kingdom of Judah repented and partially turned back to Yahuah.
However, the kingdom of Israel did not repent, and they were divorced from the covenant and scattered among all the nations.
Jeremiah 3:8
“And I saw that for all the causes for which backsliding Yisra’ĕl had committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a certificate of divorce…”
Deuteronomy 28:64
64“And יהוה shall scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other, and there you shall serve other mighty ones, which neither you nor your fathers have known, wood and stone.
Leviticus 26:33
33‘And I shall scatter you among the nations and draw out a sword after you. And your land shall be desert and your cities ruins,
Deuteronomy 4:27
27“And יהוה shall scatter you among the peoples, and you shall be left few in number among the nations where יהוה drives you.
Psalms 106:26-27
26So He lifted up His hand in an oath against them, To make them fall in the wilderness, And to make their seed fall among the nations, And to scatter them in the lands.
Jeremiah 9:16
16“And I shall scatter them among the nations, whom neither they nor their fathers have known. And I shall send a sword after them until I have consumed them.”
[This is just a small sampling of scriptures – there are many more that describe the scattering of Israel throughout the world]

Again, I ask, how does this bless the nations?
In Ezekiel 4, the duration of Israel’s punishment is given as 390 years.  But in Torah, one who does not repent is given seven times the original punishment. Since Israel did not repent, their 390 year punishment became 2730 years!!

What happens if a people group is scattered among all the nations for 2730 years?  They mix with those nations.  They take wives, build families, have children. They assimilate…
And that is how all the nations of the world have been blessed, in my opinion!!
If there were nations and people groups who were not acceptable to Yahuah, but the people of Yahuah (the kingdom of Israel) were scattered among them —- is this a blessing?
Well, if Yahuah were going to leave Israel scattered and never restore them, then no, it would not be a blessing.
But what does scripture tells us?

Again from Matthew 15:24 quoted above, Messiah said this:
²⁴ But He responded, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

Messiah came for His lost sheep…
The scattered people of the kingdom of Israel!!
Is there any other scripture that speaks of the restoration of these people, from among the nations?
Yes, too much to list here!!

Jeremiah 16:14:20
14“Therefore see, the days are coming,” declares יהוה, “when it is no longer said, ‘יהוה lives who brought up the children of Yisra’ĕl from the land of Mitsrayim,’
15but, ‘יהוה lives who brought up the children of Yisra’ĕl from the land of the north and from all the lands where He had driven them.’ For I shall bring them back into their land I gave to their fathers.
16“See, I am sending for many fishermen,” declares יהוה, “and they shall fish them. And after that I shall send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain and every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.
17“For My eyes are on all their ways; they have not been hidden from My face, nor has their crookedness been hidden from My eyes.
18“And first I shall repay double for their crookedness and their sin, because they have defiled My land with the dead bodies of their disgusting matters, and have filled My inheritance with their abominations.”
19O יהוה, my strength and my stronghold and my refuge, in the day of distress the nations shall come to You from the ends of the earth and say, “Our fathers have inherited only falsehood, futility, and there is no value in them.”
20Would a man make mighty ones for himself, which are not mighty ones?

Isaiah 49:6
He says, “It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant To raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also make You a light of the nations So that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”

Deuteronomy 30:1-5
1“And it shall be, when all these words come upon you, the blessing and the curse which I have set before you, and you shall bring them back to your heart among all the nations where יהוה your Elohim drives you, 2and shall turn back to יהוה your Elohim and obey His voice, according to all that I command you today, with all your heart and with all your being, you and your children, 3then יהוה your Elohim shall turn back your captivity, and shall have compassion on you, and He shall turn back and gather you from all the peoples where יהוה your Elohim has scattered you. 4“If any of you are driven out to the farthest parts under the heavens, from there יהוה your Elohim does gather you, and from there He does take you. 5“And יהוה your Elohim shall bring you to the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it. And He shall do good to you, and increase you more than your fathers.

[And there are so many more verses describing the gathering of Israel from among the nations]

This is my conclusion, my summary…
There were “his seed” upon the earth as we are told in Genesis 3:15.
Clues throughout scripture indicate there were people on earth unacceptable to Yahuah our Creator.  Those people are obviously “his seed” and not “her Seed.”
The scattering of the house of Israel among every nation of the earth allowed Yahuah’s chosen people to intermix with unacceptable people.  And thousands of years later, when Yahuah gathers His house of Israel, they will be taken from all the nations.
It is my belief that this is how “all the nations of the earth” have been and will be blessed through the chosen people of Israel.

What if the people of Yahuah, the people of the kingdom of Israel, never strayed and never wandered away from the ways of Yahuah?
What if the kingdom of Israel had never been scattered among the nations?
Would those other people groups that were not acceptable to Yahuah have had the chance to become His people?
Was the intermixing with the people of the kingdom of Israel what allowed them to become acceptable to Yahuah our Creator?
I am speculating that this is how all the nations of the world were blessed by Israel, as was stated three times in the book of Genesis.
Am I 100% right about this?
I can’t say that with certainty.
But the scriptures I’ve presented here show this idea might very well be true!!

There is an explosion of growth among Torah communities of people denying Messiah.
While I have not listened to the teachings of why people are believing this, I’m guessing this stems from one of two things:
1.  Judaism
2.  Building doctrine and beliefs on select samples of scripture, as opposed to basing doctrine and beliefs upon all of scripture.

I’m going to keep this very short.

Matthew 10:32-36
³² “Therefore whoever acknowledges Me before men, I will also acknowledge him before My Father who is in heaven. ³³ But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven.
³⁴ “Do not think that I came to bring shalom on the earth; I did not come to bring shalom, but a sword. ³⁵ For I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; ³⁶ and a man’s enemies will be the members of his household.

Revelation 14:12 tells us who will be in the Kingdom:
Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Messiah.

This is not difficult, my friends.
There is but one way…

John 14:6-10
⁶ Yeshua said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life! No one comes to the Father except through Me. ⁷ If you have come to know Me, you will know My Father also. From now on, you do know Him and have seen Him.”
⁸ Philip said to Him, “Master, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.”
⁹ Yeshua said to him, “Have I been with you for so long a time, and you haven’t come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? ¹⁰ Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me? The words I say to you, I do not speak on My own; but the Father dwelling in Me does His works. 

In the same way that we can take bits and pieces of Paul’s writings and make doctrine that says the commands of Yahuah are no longer applicable, people are taking bits and pieces of scripture to state that Yeshua Messiah is not deity.  We are warned against making both of these mistakes.
Do not fall for these false teachings, as the stakes are extremely high.

There is no end to the debate of scripture and doctrine on social media.  I often see this question asked:  whether or not something is a salvation issue.
People say to stick to the things that matter.
Do not be distracted or divided on things that are not salvation issues.

First of all, where did this phrase come from?
Who came up with the idea that man gets to decide what is a salvation issue and what is not a salvation issue?
I’m sorry, but for someone to decide what is or is not going to let someone into heaven exhibits an arrogance beyond belief.

Matthew 28:18
And Yeshua came up to them and spoke to them, saying, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me.

If we believe this bit of scripture, then Messiah has 100% of the authority in heaven and on earth.
If this is true, then men and women have exactly 0% of the authority in heaven and on earth. [I used simple math to come up with this idea].

If men and women have no authority, then how is it possible that men and women are stating what is and what is not a salvation issue?  I’m pretty sure that “we” do not get to decide who is on the narrow path and who is not on the narrow path.

As always, let’s see what scripture says.
Ephesians 2:8-9
⁸ For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not from yourselves—it is the gift of God. ⁹ It is not based on deeds, so that no one may boast.

Ephesians tells us that salvation comes by faith.
It is a gift from Elohim.
It is not something we can obtain for ourselves.

Romans 10:17
So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Messiah.

Romans tells us that faith comes from hearing the Word.
The book of John tells us that the Word has been since the beginning, and that Messiah is the Word become flesh.

John 1:1-14
1 In the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was with God in the beginning. ³ All things were made through Him, and apart from Him nothing was made that has come into being. ⁴ In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. ⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overpowered it. ⁶ There came a man sent from God, whose name was John. ⁷ He came as a witness to testify about the light, so that through him everyone might believe. ⁸ He was not the light, but he came to bear witness concerning the light. ⁹ The true light, coming into the world, gives light to every man. ¹⁰ He was in the world, and the world was made through Him; but the world did not know Him. ¹¹ He came to His own, but His own did not receive Him. ¹² But whoever did receive Him, those trusting in His name, to these He gave the right to become children of God. ¹³ They were born not of a bloodline, nor of human desire, nor of man’s will, but of God. ¹⁴ And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us. We looked upon His glory, the glory of the one and only from the Father, full of grace and truth.

If we believe in, know, listen to, and follow Messiah, then we believe in, know, listen to, and follow the Word.
How much of scripture do we need to read and study? How much of the Word do we have to believe?
All of it?
Some of it?
The parts we like?

What happens if we read scripture, and believe some of it, and reject some of it?
I have a friend in the mainstream Christian church.  He has been involved with the church for a very long time.  He attends church, he attends bible studies, he volunteers his time and resources to do nice things for those in need. He is a really good guy.
But he told me he does not believe in a single miracle described in scripture.  He thinks the stories in scripture are just that… stories.
They didn’t really happen.  But they are written down in a book for us to “get the gist” of a story, as opposed to actually believing those things happened. The stories are there to teach us a realistic lesson, even though the stories are not realistic.

He has no faith in the Word. And the Word and Messiah are one and the same, so does he have faith in Messiah?

Faith comes by hearing the Word.
And salvation comes by faith, which comes by hearing the Word.
What happens if we reject the Word, or even reject some of it?
We are rejecting Messiah.
We are displaying a lack of faith.
And salvation comes through faith.
I consider this to be dangerous ground.

Here is my take on it:
Everything is a salvation issue.
If the bible says it, and we don’t believe it, then we are on dangerous ground.  If scripture says something is forever, and we think it is no longer applicable, then we have a big problem.

If something is written in scripture, believe it and do it.
Listen and follow.
Do not reject any of it.
If you reject scripture, you do not have faith.
If you do not have faith, then you do not have salvation, at least, according to Ephesians and Romans.

This seems like such a simple concept to understand, and yet a difficult skill to master:  taming our tongues.
Let’s explore this a bit…

Ephesians 4:29-32
Let no harmful word come out of your mouth, but only what is beneficial for building others up according to the need, so that it gives grace to those who hear it. ³⁰ Do not grieve the Ruach ha-Kodesh of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. ³¹ Get rid of all bitterness and rage and anger and quarreling and slander, along with all malice. ³² Instead, be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving each other just as God in Messiah also forgave you.

1Peter 3:8-10 [Quoting Psalm 34]
⁸ Finally, all of you be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, tenderhearted, humble-minded. ⁹ Do not repay evil for evil or insult for insult, but give a blessing instead—it is for this reason you were called, so that you might inherit a blessing.
¹⁰ For, “The one who loves life,
     wanting to see good days,
     must keep his tongue from evil
     and his lips from speaking deceit.

Proverbs 15:4
A healing tongue is a tree of life,
but a deceitful one crushes the spirit.

Proverbs 21:23
Whoever guards his mouth and tongue
keeps his soul out of troubles.

Psalm 141:3
Set a guard, Elohim, over my mouth.
Keep watch over the door of my lips.

James 1:19-20
¹⁹ Know this, my dear brothers and sisters: let every person be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger— ²⁰ for human anger doesn’t produce the righteousness of God.

This is just a small sampling of scripture pertaining to our words.
There are many more if you’d like to go find them.
If I were to boil this idea into just a few bullet points, I’d do this:
1.  Do not lie
2.  Do not gossip
3.  Do not use profanity
4.  Do not say things to be hurtful, even if they are true

Let’s use our words to build one another up.
Tell the truth in love.
Do not argue with one another.

Let’s take a quick look at the unintended consequences of spoken words in scripture.
Genesis 31—
³⁰ So now, when you up and left because you really missed your father’s house, why did you steal my gods?”
³¹ In response, Jacob said to Laban, “Because I was afraid, for I thought, ‘Suppose you snatch your daughters away from me.’ ³² Anyone with whom you find your gods shall not live. In front of our relatives, identify whatever is yours that is with me, and take it back.” (But Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them.)
³³ So Laban went into Jacob’s tent, and Leah’s tent and into the tent of the two maids, but he found nothing. Then he went out of Leah’s tent and entered Rachel’s tent. ³⁴ (Now Rachel had taken the idols, put them in the camel’s saddlebag and sat on them.) So Laban felt around the entire tent but did not find them. ³⁵ She said to her father, “Let not my lord be angry that I cannot rise before you, for I am having the way of women.” So he searched but did not find the idols.

When Jacob leaves the household of Laban, with Leah and Rachel, and all of his belongings, he does so without telling Laban of his departure.
Laban “hotly pursues” them, and seems to be angry with Jacob for several reasons.
1.  He left in secrecy.
2.  He took his wives, Laban’s daughters, without giving him a chance to say goodbye.
3.  Someone had stolen his false gods, his idols.

When we see what actions play out, a search for the false gods takes precedent over all of the issues.  This seems to indicate what was of most importance to Laban.
We see in the story that it was Rachel, Jacob’s favorite wife whom he loved most, that had taken the idols.
Without realizing he was cursing his beloved, Jacob says the following in verse 32
“Anyone with whom you find your gods shall not live.”

While Jacob may have been trying to do the honorable thing with regards to this theft, words have consequences.

We see this just a short time later:
Genesis 35:16-20

Rachel’s Death in Childbirth

¹⁶ Then they traveled from Beth-El, and while they were still a distance from entering Ephrath, Rachel began to give birth, but her labor was difficult. ¹⁷ While she was struggling to give birth, the midwife said to her, “Don’t be afraid, for this is also a son for you.” ¹⁸ Now as her soul was departing (for she died), she named him Ben-Oni, but his father named him Benjamin. ¹⁹ Then Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem). ²⁰ Jacob set up a memorial stone over her grave. (It is the memorial stone over Rachel’s grave to this day.)

I’m guessing that Jacob had meant that if they found the idols, the thief would have been put to death, in order to maintain his integrity with Laban.  He had no idea that his favorite wife had taken the idols, and speaking this curse on her, unknowingly, set events in motion, causing great grief for Jacob.

Think on these things.
Set a goal to monitor your words. 
Let only good and productive things escape your lips.

2Corinthian 10:5
We are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Messiah…

Exactly what is Evangelism?
Are we expected to be evangelistic?
Are we commanded to be evangelistic?

How do we even define evangelism?
Here is what Merriam-Webster thinks:
1. : the winning or revival of personal commitments to Christ
2. : militant or crusading zeal

When I spent 30 plus years in the mainstream church, my idea of evangelism was to invite people to church.  If I was able to get someone in the building, it was up to the pastor to do the rest. I considered myself more of a recruiter than an evangelizer, I suppose…

My idea of evangelism has changed much in the last couple years. It is not our job to try and convince other people to be ‘believers’. Our job is to live according to the Word and be a light for others to see. Those who are seeking will see your light in the darkness and will ask questions, join in fellowship, etc.

We should find those who are seeking truth, but need our help.
Preaching the precious gospel to those who don’t care about it is casting pearls before swine, and we are told not to do it.

Matthew 7:6-7
⁶ “Do not give what is holy to dogs or throw your pearls before pigs; otherwise they will trample them under their feet, then turn and rip you to shreds.
⁷ “Ask, and it shall be given to you. Seek, and you shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened to you. ⁸ For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it shall be opened.

What good is it to tell someone about the gospel message if they hate it?  Do not cast it before them, as we are told in verse 6.
Verse 7 explains a bit more…
If someone is asking, THEN it shall be given.
If someone is seeking, THEN they shall find.
If someone is knocking, THEN it will be opened.
What if someone is NOT asking, seeking, or knocking?
Do not cast your pearls before them…  
They don’t want them, and we are told not to give them…

When asked why He teaches in parables, Yeshua replied with this in Matthew 13:11-17
He replied, “Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. 12 Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. 13 This is why I speak to them in parables:
“Though seeing, they do not see;
though hearing, they do not hear or understand.
14 In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah:
“‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding;
you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.
15 For this people’s heart has become calloused;
they hardly hear with their ears,
and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts
and turn, and I would heal them.’
16 But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. 17 For truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.

Understanding is “given to you” but not given to others…
And we are not talking about random, generic understanding.
We are talking about “the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven”.
Why?
Seeker friendly churches say anyone can be saved.
Messiah says some are given understanding, and understanding is intentionally withheld from those with calloused hearts.

We see this concept in Matthew 15 with the Canaanite woman:
23 Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.”
24 He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.”
25 The woman came and knelt before him. “Lord, help me!” she said.
26 He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.”
Messiah would not even acknowledge that this woman existed. When pressed, He said He came only for the house of Israel.
When she did not give up, He referred to her as a dog, and that dogs don’t get what rightfully belongs to the children of Israel.
She shows great faith, and He healed her daughter. It doesn’t say she was welcomed into the Kingdom, though.
That is one of the things I hope to find out one day, is whether or not she was accepted into the Kingdom because of her faith, or if He just granted her wish because of her faith.

I believe this all comes into play because of Genesis 3:15 and Genesis 6.  There are “his seed” and “her Seed” in this world.
As people, we probably cannot tell who are her seed, and who are his seed. But Yeshua Messiah had no problems at all discerning this…
Churches teach us that every single person can ‘accept’ Jesus or pray Him into their hearts, but as unpopular as it might sound, scripture seems to paint a different picture, if we read ALL of it.

2Corinthians Chapter 3 talks about people being veiled, and therefore, are unable to understand.  This bit of scripture tells us how to become unveiled, so that we will understand:
¹⁴ But their minds were hardened. For up to this very day the same veil remains unlifted at the reading of the Old Testament, since in Messiah it is passing away. ¹⁵ But to this day, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart. ¹⁶ But whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.

Did you catch that at the end?
The veil is taken away when someone turns to Yeshua Messiah.
And what is revealed to them when the veil is lifted?
[VERSE 15] The reading of Moses.  The Torah. The Law.

After spending thirty plus years of inviting people to church, this is my new take on evangelism:
If someone is looking for truth, bend over backwards to help them find it.
If someone is asking, do your best to answer.
If someone is seeking, point them in the right direction.
If someone is knocking, help them to knock on the right door (for it is not us who is to answer).

However if someone shows no interest in the gospel or worse, if they hate and reject Messiah, then shake the dust off and move on (more advice for Messiah).

Matthew 10:11-15
¹¹ “Whatever town or village you shall enter, find out who in it is worthy and stay there until you leave. ¹² As you come into the house, greet it. ¹³ If the household is worthy, let your peace come upon it. But if it’s not worthy, let your peace return to you. ¹⁴ And whoever will not receive you or listen to your words, as you leave that house or that town, shake the dust off your feet. ¹⁵ Amen, I tell you, it will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah^[d] on the Day of Judgment than for that town.

This advice from Messiah does not say to seek out everyone in the town.  He says to find out who is worthy.
Whoever will not listen, shake the dust off and move on.
While these ideas do not match what is taught in our churches, it is the truth, straight out of the mouth of our Savior.

Let’s wrap this up by taking a look at the Great Commission:
Matthew 28:18-20
And Yeshua came up to them and spoke to them, saying, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me.  ¹⁹ Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, immersing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Ruach ha-Kodesh, ²⁰ teaching them to observe all I have commanded you. And remember! I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

What can we learn from this?
First of all, Messiah has ALL AUTHORITY in heaven and on earth.
How much does that leave for our pastors?
Exactly ZERO.
Our pastors and priests and ministers and bishops [and whatever other titles we want to give ourselves] have no authority.

Secondly, we are to make disciples of all nations.
Why is that?
Because of what happened to the ten northern tribes of the house of Israel.
They were divorced from the covenant (Jeremiah 3:8) and were scattered among all the nations.
Why am I tying the great commission to the ten tribes being scattered?
Because of this, the words of Messiah:
Matthew 15:14
24 He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.”
Because that is who He came for…
He came to restore the lost ten tribes of Israel.
We are to make disciples of all nations, because they were scattered among all the nations.
And we are to teach them all that He commanded.
Yeshua Messiah taught Torah instructions.
Is there any prophecy stating that Torah will be taught in end times?

Isaiah 2:2-3
It will come to pass in the last days
that the mountain of Elohim’s House
will stand firm as head of the mountains
and will be exalted above the hills.
So all nations will flow to it.
³ Then many peoples will go and say:
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of Elohim,
    to the House of the God of Jacob!
Then He will teach us His ways,
    and we will walk in His paths.”
For Torah will go forth from Zion
    and the word of Elohim from Jerusalem.

This is repeated again in Micah Chapter 4.
The New Testament writings do not bring us new concepts or new doctrine.  The New Testament writings reflect what has already been taught previously.  It is not possible to understand the New Testament without first understanding the Torah and the Prophets.

Figuring out who gets to be in the Kingdom and who does not get to be in the Kingdom could take a whole lifetime to figure out, right?
Who could know such things?

What if I said I could answer this question using only three bible verses?  Let’s get to it!!

Revelation 14:12 tells us who the saints are, those referred to as ‘the elect’ in scripture, the ones who are saved.  What does it tell us?
Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of Elohim and the faith of Yeshua Messiah.

Two criteria are given.
1.  Keep the commandments of Elohim (these are in the Torah)
2.  Keep the faith of Yeshua Messiah

Easy enough, right?
OK, moving on…

Revelation 22:14 tells us exactly who is in His Kingdom:
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. 

There we have it. Plain and simple, and straight out of our Messiah’s mouth, some of the very last words He left for mankind.
Once again, we are told to keep the commandments.

And finally, Revelation 22:15 tells us exactly who is not in His Kingdom:
But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie.

It is the final criteria here that peaks my curiosity…
What does it mean to love and practice a lie?
Well, if you reject the truth of scripture in favor of the teachings of men, then you are loving and practicing a lie.

If your pastor teaches against keeping the commandments of Elohim, then that is a lie.  Those who follow such a lie are in for a rude awakening one day…

Just to supplement this premise a bit…
Here is another quote of Messiah, referring to those who do not keep the commandments:

Matthew 7:21-23
“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!’”

Jeremiah even predicted that in the last days, our churches would teach nothing but lies.  Can you believe that?
Jeremiah 16:19
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.”

Oh boy, that isn’t good, is it?

Ezekiel feels the same way:
Ezekiel 22:26-27
Her priests have violated My law and profaned My holy things; they have not distinguished between the holy and unholy, nor have they made known the difference between the unclean and the clean; and they have hidden their eyes from My Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them. ²⁷ Her princes in her midst are like wolves tearing the prey, to shed blood, to destroy people, and to get dishonest gain. 

Even Paul gets in on the action in his letter to Timothy:
2Timothy 4:2-5
Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. ³ For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; ⁴ and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. ⁵ But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

Be careful who you listen to and what you believe.
Yahuah (God) said His Torah instructions, the law, are forever, for all generations, never-ending, a perpetual covenant.
Mainstream doctrine says they are not.

Who are you going to believe?

Anyone who has been to elementary school has heard “Liar liar, pants on fire,” right?
What if I told you this phrase is [sort of] in the bible?
Maybe worded slightly different, but still there all the same…

1John 2:3-6
³ Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. ⁴ He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. ⁵ But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. ⁶ He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.

These verses are a test that we can apply to ourselves.
-This is a test to see if we “know Him”
-Requires keeping His commands
-Otherwise you are a liar
-And the truth is not in you
-And we are to walk as He walked, meaning that we are to do the things Messiah did.

This bit of scripture is quite simple. It doesn’t really need much in the way of commentary.  But the implications of this idea are quite serious and very significant!!
How many times have we heard someone say, “I’m just a sinner saved by grace”?  And people use this as their excuse to continue in sin.

I am not claiming we have to be perfect, mindless robots in order to “know Him”. What I am saying is that we need to have a heart and a desire to keep the commandments in order to honestly claim to “know Him”. If not, then we are liars.

If we back up just a couple verses, we see this in 1John 2:1-2
My children, I am writing these things to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an Intercessor with the Father—the righteous Messiah Yeshua. ² He is the atonement for our sins, and not only for our sins but also for the whole world.

This is the proof that scripture does not require us to be perfect little mindless drones, obedient without free will.
Yes, we will sometimes fail, and in those cases, we have an intercessor.
But I reiterate, it should be our desire to keep the commands.  And if and when we do fail, we are to repent and turn back to the ways of the Father, and we’ll receive grace and forgiveness from our intercessor, Yeshuah Messiah.

It is important that we do not willfully continue in sin, because in that case, we do not have an intercessor.
How do I know this?  Because it says so in the book of John and the book of Hebrews.

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.

Hebrews 10:26-31
For if we keep on sinning willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, ²⁷ but only a terrifying expectation of judgment and a fury of fire about to devour the enemies of God.  ²⁸ Anyone who rejected the Torah of Moses dies without compassion on the word of two or three witnesses. ²⁹ How much more severe do you think the punishment will be for the one who has trampled Ben-Elohim underfoot, and has regarded as unholy the blood of the covenant by which he was made holy, and has insulted the Spirit of grace? ³⁰ For we know the One who said, “Vengeance is Mine; I will repay,” and again, “Elohim will judge His people.”  ³¹ It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

We need to pray for ‘the church’.
In general, our mainstream church culture teaches lawlessness.
Our general mainstream doctrine teaches that we do not follow the commands, the Torah instructions, the law, because Messiah did away with them.
Messiah Himself tells us that is not the case in Matthew 5.
He tells us that not a single penstroke of the law will change until heaven and earth pass away.

If you are part of the mainstream church, believing that the law is no longer applicable, please pray on these things.
If you have come to this understanding and are Torah observant, please pray for our family and friends in the church, being taught otherwise.

I spent thirty plus years in the mainstream church, being taught that the Old Testament law is done away with.
“Jesus died on the cross for our sins, and He fulfilled the law so we don’t have to…
‘The Law’ is a curse and a burden.  It is extreme legalism.
Placing ourselves back under the law is an insult to His sacrifice.”

I believed these ideas for decades.
But then, I was “called” to study scripture for myself.
When I started looking at scripture in detail, including studying the Greek and Hebrew, I found ideas contrary to popular doctrine.

Let’s take a quick look at obedience today.
I’ll keep this short.

Is the story of Abraham and Isaac the most extreme example of obedience in the bible? Abraham waited his whole life to be blessed with a son by Sarah.  And what does Yahuah do?  He turns right around and says to sacrifice him as a burnt offering.
Wow.
How can anyone obey in this situation?
What about the promises of his seed becoming a great nation?
What about the promises of his seed being as the stars in the sky, if only you were able to count them?
This can’t be right.
Did Abraham argue the point?  Did Abraham choose to not obey, taking matters into his own hands, so that the promises might be fulfilled?
No, he did not.
He did exactly as Yahuah had instructed, and he did so without delay.
Why?
Because He had faith. It did not matter that he might not understand. It did not matter that he might not agree.
He had faith that Yahuah had a plan, or had a solution.
He had faith that the promises would be fulfilled, even in his obedience that seemed to defy those promises.
Abraham did obey, and Yahuah provided a solution.

But is this the most extreme example of obedience in scripture?
Absolutely not.

We all know that Yeshua Messiah died a horrible death, so that we might be saved. He paid the wages of sin, which are death, without ever having committed sin, so that he could overcome death.
It is easy to just read these words, the story of his death, and not truly appreciate what He went through.  I spent much of my life knowing this story, but thinking, “Of course He did this for us.  It was God’s plan…”
I discounted this incredible sacrifice.  I made it words on a page, instead of an actual experience that our Savior went through on our behalf, on my behalf.

But look at Matthew 26:39
And going forward a little, He fell on His face, and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me. Yet not as I desire, but as You desire.”

Messiah did not want this experience.
We see that He prayed again in verse 42.
Again He went away, a second time, and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if it is impossible for this to pass unless I drink it, let Your desire be done.”
And He prayed the same, yet a third time, in verse 44.
And He left them, went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words.
We learn in Luke that Messiah was so stressed, blood come from his pores, and dripped mixed with His sweat.
Luke 22:44
And being in agony, He was praying more earnestly. And His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.
This was no easy matter for our Savior.

Abraham was willing to sacrifice his seed, his beloved son, the heir to the promise, simply because Yahuah told him to.
Yeshua Messiah was willing to obey to the point of death, because it was the Father’s will.

Are we too good for obedience?
Are we above and beyond obedience?
Are we better than Abraham?
Are we better than Messiah?

No, we are not.
Should we obey the instructions for living, given in the Torah?

Yeshua Messiah tells us this:
John 14:15
“If you love Me, you shall keep My commands.”

Yeshua Messiah tells us this as well:
Revelation 22:14
“Blessed are those doing His commands, so that the authority shall be theirs unto the tree of life, and to enter through the gates into the city.

And this…
Matthew 19:16-17
16And see, one came and said to Him, “Good Teacher, what good shall I do to have everlasting life?”
17And He said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good except One – Elohim. But if you wish to enter into life, keep the commands.”

I could list scripture after scripture, direct quote of Messiah after direct quote…  Yeshua Messiah tells us over and over again to keep the commands, and very often clarifies that we are to keep the commands of the Father, not just some undefined New Testament commands.
But why should we?
Pastors across the nation and around the world tell us we don’t have to, and many even go so far as to say not to.
I say we should keep the commands because Messiah tells us to.
I say I should keep the commands because I am no better than Abraham, and I am certainly no better than Messiah!!!
I say we should keep the commands because Yeshua Messiah said that is how we are to show our love for Him.

Just a bit of follow-up:

Absolutely, we need grace.
We need forgiveness.
For all have sinned, for all have fallen short of the glory of God.
Salvation is a gift, so that no man should boast.
Keeping the commands has nothing to do with being forgiven.
Keeping the commands has everything to do with listening to the voice of our Savior, and doing as He says.
For legalism? No.
We obey because Messiah told us that is how He will know if we love Him.
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.

All direct quotes of Messiah.
From the Revelation of Messiah:
Rev 14:12, defining who are the elect, whom shall be saved:
Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.

And a direct quote of Messiah in His Revelation, telling us who will be in His kingdom:
Rev 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. 

None of these are my ideas…
All of these are direct quotes of Messiah.
Does Messiah say anything about those who do not keep His commands? Here is another direct quote of our Messiah:

Matthew 7:23
And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’

If we don’t show Him that we love Him, in the way He has commanded, then why would He know us?
He tells us Himself that He will not know us, if we do not love Him as He said to…

This has nothing to do with “works based salvation”.
It has everything to do with hearing His voice and following it.

John 10:27-28
27 My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. 28 And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.