Goal

I will be picking up from where I left-off from Part-1 of our last discussion entitled “The Exceeding Kingdom Qualifying Righteousness That Takes us from Passover/Pesach to Tabernacles/Sukkot.” Or rather, from Babylon/the world to the Kingdom.

And if by chance you didn’t catch last week’s discussion, I would humbly encourage you to check it out. That discussion forms the basis for our discussion here today.

In that discussion we identified a critical kingdom-qualifying concern that affects every would-be disciple of Yahoshua Messiah. And that critical kingdom-qualifying concern is found in Matthew 5:17-20, which reads:

(17) “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. (18) For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. (19) Therefore, whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven. (Why don’t denominationalists pay attention to this key passage?) Continuing: (20) For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and pharisees, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven (ESV).

 We see laid out here before us in this passage, clear as day, the astounding declaration that for any disciple of Yeshua Messiah to make it into the Kingdom of Yah, his or her righteousness must exceed/surpass that of the Scribes and Pharisees.

The other thing to mention here is that as a framework for our last discussion, I likened Passover/Pesach to the starting point of the spiritual journey that we as Yah’s elect must embark on, with a goal of making it to Sukkot (or the Feast of Tabernacles), which is emblematic of the Kingdom of Yah. And that we enter Pesach/Unleavened Bread with our eyes, hearts, minds, and souls fixed on and excitedly anticipating the coming Feast of Tabernacles/Sukkot or the Kingdom of Yah.

So, we talked about the dire need for us to possess a righteousness that transcends the righteousness of the religious elite (e.g., the Scribes and Pharisees) if we are to make it into the Kingdom.

Today, beloved, I want to quickly touch upon what that exceeding/surpassing righteousness looks like in our Creator’s eyes. Practically speaking, how we get our grubby little fingers on that exceeding kingdom qualifying righteousness that takes us from Pesach to Sukkot?

Attention

Whatever system we put our trust/faith in to take us from Passover to Tabernacles, be it a religious one, a secular one, or even an idealistic one, requires that we follow a set of standards and conform to the way of life that the leaders of those systems have put into place. For the denominationalists, it’s all about reciting the sinner’s prayer and waiting for the rapture of the church. For the Catholic, it’s all about conforming to the Catholic way of life: Being a good Catholic. For the Jew, it’s all about one’s Jewishness and adhering to the teachings and way of life put forth by the rabbinic sages. And for the idealist, it’s whatever foolishness one conjures up in his or her mind that gets them to the Kingdom, such as simply being a “good person”; whatever that truly means.

The Jewish religious system had an established set of standards that the everyday Betty and John Smiths of the world had to adhere to if they had any inkling of making it into the Kingdom. Those standards, if followed precisely, made one righteous in the eyes of the religious leaders of Yeshua’s day.

Righteousness, as we briefly discussed in our last post, is essential for one to make it into the Kingdom. BUT, that Kingdom Qualifying Righteousness does not come to us as a result of our following the rules, traditions, and laws/doctrines of any religion; or that of any religious organization, including the Church Triumphant; nor is it of one’s own set of righteous principles and standards. But rather, that exceeding kingdom qualifying righteousness that takes us from Passover to Tabernacles comes exclusively to the disciple of Yahoshua Messiah in response to his or her obedience to the Torah of the Creator of the Universe and the teachings and example of the Father’s Right-Arm, Yeshua Messiah.

The problem, however, is that those righteous standards that we are required to walk-out/live-out/operate-in if we are to make it into the Kingdom, when properly followed by the would-be child of the Most High, those righteous standards are harder to meet than even the established standards of the Scribes and Pharisees.

Those exceeding standards, which translates into the Father’s exclusive prescribed way of life for those who He has chosen, was described by our Master as likened unto “a narrow gate and a very difficult pathway that only a remnant–a precious few–ever find (Matthew 7:13-14).

Need

So, our mission—if we choose to take it—is to somehow find and walk out that rocky, difficult path and enter that narrow gate that becomes our exceeding kingdom qualifying righteousness.

But, to locate and walk-out that rough-rocky road and enter that narrow gate, we must first have the desire to do so. We must desperately want the Kingdom and be willing to do what it takes to get there. Right? How often have we taken on things-adventures-endeavors in our lives that we truly didn’t want to take on in the first place? And we eventually find ourselves, because our hearts weren’t in that adventure in the first place, slacking; dragging our feet; neglecting to do that which we originally agreed to do. So, we ultimately end up dropping out of that adventure altogether. We effectively failed to count the costs associated with that endeavor.

So, this journey that leads to Sukkot/Tabernacles then must begin, in essence, with the desire to make it to Tabernacles. And the exorbitant costs that are associated with that journey must be factored into one’s desire and intention to walk out that journey towards the Kingdom. Many have taken on this difficult journey over the years, only to have dropped out during the journey because they did not count the immense costs that are associated with Messianic discipleship. As I’ve said many times on this platform beloved, like everything in life, there are no true “free lunches.”

Beloved, this journey that we have been called to, is not about blindly keeping Father’s Feasts, the food laws, and not working on the Sabbath. Those are the basic, elementary elements of righteousness that we are compelled to possess and walk-in. And quite frankly, those are the easier aspects of the journey towards Sukkot/Tabernacles.

But rather, Abba demands more from us. He in fact, demands everything from us. He demands that we turn our entire lives over to Him and walk uprightly before Him in all our ways. That we obey His Torah in Spirit and in Truth with love, justice, and mercy as our spiritual guides. That we imitate our Master Yeshua in every conceivable way. That we lean not to our own understanding in the ways we conduct ourselves along this difficult journey. But rather, that we trust Abba Father to guide our walk, talk, and thoughts throughout our days, such that we glorify and image Him in the earth. Such that we exist in an exclusive covenant relationship with Him, and no other elohim.

So, one of the first things that we must do to achieve that exceeding Kingdom-Qualifying righteousness is to desperately want it and to count the cost of true Messianic discipleship.

Satisfaction

Case in point.

What many of us know today in scripture as the so-called “Sermon on the Mount”, from which I drew Yeshua’s pronouncement that one’s righteousness must exceed that of the Scribes and Pharisees if he/she wants to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, constitutes the essential “Keys to the Kingdom.” If we want to understand what Kingdom-Qualifying Righteousness looks like, that’s where we go. The Sermon on the Mount. Three chapters of instructions in righteousness (chapters 5-7) that Yahoshua devoted to unlocking the mysteries of how His would-be disciples qualify for the Kingdom.

Visualization

Denominationalism has taught us that the Great Sermon on the Mount was attended by hundreds, if not thousands of people who wanted to receive those keys to the Kingdom. But what if I were to tell you that that’s not exactly accurate.

The truth of the matter is that the Sermon on the Mount was attended by just a handful of Yeshua’s disciples.

We find in Matthew 5:1 the following:

“And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him:”

You see, only those who Yeshua chose and who hungered and thirsted after righteousness chose to ascend the mountain to sit at Master’s feet received those essential Keys to the Kingdom.

What about the multitude you ask? Those seeking healing, signs, and even a meal. In other words, those who were focused on their personal lives for that day without any anticipatory eye towards Tabernacles (aka the Kingdom). Well Luke records that Yeshua came down from the Mount after teaching His disciples these Keys to the Kingdom, and He healed those of the crowd that were sick and THEN He gives to those souls what some have described as “The Sermon on the Plain” (Luke 6:17-49). Comparatively, that Sermon was just a snippet of the “Sermon on the Mount” that His called-out ones received.

So, one of the first steps towards receiving that Kingdom Qualifying Righteousness is to want it.

The second step is to die to self and exclusively walk in our Father’s ways.

Of this, our Master stated:

Matthew 7:21: Not everyone that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, but he that doeth the will of My Father which is in heaven.

What is the Will of the Father? Quite simply this:

Fear God and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. (Ecc 12:13 KJV)

Denominationalists contend that we don’t have to keep or live or walk out Torah–Father’s instructions in righteousness–because the whole of Torah–of the Law, according to these, was done away with the sacrifice of our Master Yeshua. To these, the Law/the Torah was nailed to the cross along with Jesus (Col. 2:14).

These unfortunately, completely miss the connection that exists between Exceeding Kingdom Qualifying Righteousness and obedience to the Creator’s way of life. For in that same conversation–the Sermon on the Mount–Yeshua told His disciples:

¹⁷ Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. ¹⁸ For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. ¹⁹ Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. (Mat 5:17-19 KJV)

In other words, beloved, Yeshua is saying to us here in this passage that as His disciples, we don’t get a free pass into the Kingdom. We must meticulously walk in His Father’s ways. Not the ways of religion. Not the ways that best suit us. But rather in Yah’s set-apart ways. And woe unto any who have the audacity to refuse to walk in His Father’s ways and who encourage others not to obey the Creator’s instructions in righteousness. These will be essentially “persona non-grata” in the Kingdom–unaccepted and unwelcomed in the Kingdom.

Action

Switching gears, somewhat:

For a Levitical Priest to enter the dwelling place of Yah-the Holy Place of the Tabernacle or Temple–he had to be ritually pure. He had to be blameless. Otherwise, he would not be permitted to enter the Holy Place. And if he were to violate the ritual purity requirements for operating in the Holy Place, he stood the inevitable chance of being struck down by Yah’s presence.

If we liken the Kingdom of Yah to the Holy Place of the Tabernacle and Temple from back in the day, to that of the coming Kingdom of Yah–the place where Yah will dwell with His Chosen ones, we must be in a state of righteousness that is beyond reproach. We must be clean if we expect to make it into the Kingdom—make it to Sukkot.

When we come into Faith, having repented, and having committed our whole lives to an obedient covenant relationship with the Eternal, we are gifted a brand new, pressed, spotless set of righteous garments. Those garments are gifted to us–they are imputed to us. And without those righteous garments, we cannot enter the Kingdom of Yah.

However, the denominationalists contend that once you receive those gifted garments of righteousness, you don’t have to do anything more with or to them. You’re good to go. You don’t even have to wash and maintain them.

And so, a good many of those folks are going to show up at the gates of the Kingdom on that day, wearing those neglected, tired, dirty, unkempt, once righteous garments, and they’re going to be turned away by our Master, who will tell them that He never knew them; that they are to depart from His presence because they were workers of “lawlessness” (Matthew 7:22-23). These did not maintain their garments of righteousness by obeying Yah’s instructions in righteousness.

And so, the last thing that we must do to achieve that Kingdom Qualifying Righteousness is to maintain those pristine garments of righteousness that Yah has gifted us–that Yah has imputed unto us through the Person and Ministries of Yeshua our Messiah.

We find in Revelation 3:14-22 our Master Yeshua’s critical assessment of the Church of Laodecia. And Yeshua assessed that the Church of Laodecia was severely lacking spiritually.

• These had become marginal–tepid–milk-toast believers who Yeshua described as being neither hot nor cold.
• These had deluded themselves into thinking they’d arrived. So, they did nothing to maintain their imputed–their gifted righteous garments.

Yeshua was so frustrated with Laodecia that He threated to “spit them out of His mouth” if they didn’t get their spiritual acts together.

So, He encourages them to be zealous in their walk in Messiah. Remain in covenant relationship with the Father by obediently walking steadfastly in His ways. And if they messed up along the way, they were to repent, return (Teshuvah) and stay ever so close to Him.

So beloved, how do we maintain our righteous garments and not be spit out by Yeshua on that day?

• Don’t be a slacker. Don’t try to shirk Yah’s instructions in righteousness. Don’t try to circumvent His Ways in a futile effort to appeal to our own flawed sense of righteousness personal preferences. The angel told John the Revelator that the endurance of the saints of Elohim are those that keep the Creator’s commandments and maintain a trusting faith in Yeshua Messiah (Revelation 14:12).
• Pay attention to the details of Father’s instructions. Don’t overlook things. Don’t water His instructions down.

Beloved, we may sometimes get the overwhelming feeling that everything we’ve discussed here in this teaching today is ridiculously hard and virtually impossible to do and maintain. That getting from Pesach to Sukkot is an impossible task. That making it into the Kingdom can’t be done and that it’s just too hard to do, especially living in this world.

But let us keep this beautiful exchange that Yeshua had with His disciples in mind whenever we feel overwhelmed in our journey towards Tabernacles:

 ²⁵ When his disciples heard it (i.e., Yeshua’s rejection of the Rich Young Ruler to become one of His disciples), they were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved? ²⁶ But Yeshua  beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with Yah all things are possible. ²⁷ Then answered Peter and said unto him, Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee; what shall we have therefore? (In other words, “Look Master, we’ve given up everything in our personal lives to follow you. What’s in it for us to even attempt to make it into the Kingdom, which you’ve described as being essentially out of reach for even rich folks?) ²⁸ And Yeshua said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration (i.e., the Messianic Age) when the Son of Man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. ²⁹ And everyone that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life. (This being the costs associated with true Messianic discipleship that I mentioned previously.) (Mat 19:25-29 KJV; modified)

Beloved, Tabernacles/Sukkot is within our reach. Let us then press onward to the Kingdom. Let us always hunger and thirst after that exceeding righteousness that qualifies us for the Kingdom. And let us never forget that Father’s Spirit (i.e., Abba’s Ruach HaKodesh) is fully accessible to each of us. He will help us along our arduous journey from Pesach to Sukkot. From the Babylon/the world to the Kingdom.