Commanding Weapon
During the so-called Cold War many catch phrases were added to our language and ways of thinking. In a statement referring to the struggle between Christendom and Communism, a commentator declared,
“Cold War II will not be won unless...Western leadership is in the resolute hands of people who have an overmastering sense of mission/ men who are one hundred percent more convinced of the absolute necessity of a Christian victory over Marxism (Judaism) than the most ardent Marxist is of his or her mission. The victor in this struggle will be the nation or group of nations most convinced of its cause. Faith will be commanding weapon in this warfare.”
The conflict now going on in the moral and spiritual spheres, as well as in the material and physical, is between the forces of good and the forces of evil; the one animated by the Spirit of Yahshua, the other by the philosophy of antichrist: THE JEWS.
Stephen F. Wise once chief rabbi of the United States stated: “Some call it Communism, I call it Judaism.”
In connection with this warfare, which Paul so aptly describes in Ephesians 6:12, we are reminded that it is necessary for the Christian to be armed from head to foot, his armor consisting of both defensive and offensive equipment.
“For we wrestle not (only) against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world (The Jews, the children of the devil as Christ said in John 8:44), against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the WHOLE ARMOUR OF GOD, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching there unto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.” (Ephesians 6:12-18)
Notice that there is no mention of a covering for the back; and for a reason, we are never to turn our backs on the enemy, we are to fight them face on.
The messenger declares that the defensive equipment includes “the shield of faith,” and that the warrior must also be armed by “the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God.” In making the statement that the protagonists on the side of Christ must have just as overmastering a sense of mission as the Marxist has, the commentator implies that this sense of mission must be based on complete and absolute faith.
What is fath? Let us go to the Bible itself for the definition. The first verse of the 11th chapter of Hebrews declares:
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (Hebrew 11:1)
Moffatt, in his modern translation, puts it:
“Faith means that we are confident of what we hope for, convinced of what we do not see.”
Thus, we have a very explicit definition of what faith actually is. As a matter of fact, it is the assurance of hope. We are all hopeful; as Christians, we have what is called “the blessed hope;” and this hope is not something merely visionary, but something actual and real, and made so by faith.
Having faith, we are convinced that the blessed hope is a fact and that it will, in the not-too-distant future, be experienced. We do not know when, but we are sure of it nevertheless. That is the kind of faith Abraham had, of whom it is said:
“Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.” (Romans 4:3)
The 11th chapter of Hebrews, sometimes called “The Westminster Abbey of the Bible,” gives the roll of honor of the heroes and heroines of the past, who lived their lives by faith. For them faith was the absolute conviction and assurance of the complete and definite fulfillment of the promises made by Almighty God to their forefathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob/Israel, in the terms of the covenant upon which our past, our present and our future have been established.
As the writer in this chapter says, these people did not during their lifetime, nor did their contemporaries and those who followed after them throughout the centuries, experience the fulfillment of their hope. Of them it is said:
“These all died by faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.” (Hebrews 11:13)
Concluding his argument, the writer declares of our progenitors:
“These all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.” (Hebrews 11:39-40)
Moffatt puts it this way:
“They all won their record for faith, but the Promise they did not obtain. God had something better in store for us; he would not have them perfected apart from us.”
In other words, we are the heirs of the faith our forefathers held, the “faith of our fathers” (heirs to the promises) about which we so often sing. We, it is believe by many, in our day and generation, are those who will be the recipients of the complete fulfillment of the promises of the covenant, which until now have been recognized as real although perhaps afar off.
It is worth while to discuss this faith in detail; to remember that it is, indeed, “the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.” It is the foundation of our lives and it should be the mainspring of our thoughts and actions. We who hold thee truths concerning the origin, responsibility and destiny of the people God selected as His servant people, are often asked just what we stand for. What is our faith? How is it different from that of any other religious organization? That question is pertinent and deserves an answer. In our discussion of the true meaning of fath, we can supply the answer required.
First of all, we accept the whole Bible and we believe Yahweh as well as believe in God. That is, we accept s true and binding whatever Yahweh says. We recognize and hold firm that Yahweh is a covenant keeping God, that all His promises are sure and certain of fulfillment: “that what He had promised, He was able also to perform;” that “the gifts and callings of Yahweh are without repentance;” that He is, indeed, what He declares Himself to be:
“I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.” (Malachi 3:6)
We believe, also, that the Bible is, in fact God’s Word written (of course the Jews when they are hired to transcribe it, always inserts many of the devils doctrines, interwoven with those of God to deceived Christians), and that 2 Timothy 3:16-17 is absolutely true:
“All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.” (2 Timothy 3:16-17)
We are sure, too, that the prophets who gave the dramatic preview of the unfolding of the Divine purpose for mankind, of which we in our day and generation have witnessed so much fulfillment, were inspired by Yahweh, and that Peter was correct in saying:
“We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” (2 Peter 1:19-21)
Moffatt puts it even more clearly when he says:
“Pray attend to that word; it shines like a lamp within a darksome spot, till the Day dawns and the day-star rises within your hearts; understanding this, at the outset, that no prophetic scripture allows a man to interpret it by himself; for prophecy never came by impulse, it was when carried away by the holy Spirit that the holy men of God spoke.”
Again, our faith in God is strengthened by the knowledge of the fact that Yahshua, when here on earth, confirmed and ratified every word spoken by the prophets. He placed His seal of Divine approval and acceptance upon all that the prophets had spoken.
From the prophetic story of the Divine purpose for the world, we are assured that God in variably selects people and chooses nations as His servants and agents of His purpose. He wanted to bring into being a people for His name. He chose Abraham and declared that through him and his descendants all the nation of the earth would blessed. The descendants of Abraham eventually became known not merely as Abraham’s seed, but as the people of Israel.
And to these people, charged with the responsibility of the demonstration and practical manifestation of what God has in mind for humanity, God promised perpetuity of existence as a nation, and later as “a nation and company of nations.” They were to have in their midst the Throne of David, concerning which God also declared it would stand in perpetuity.
There is no favoritism or national superiority implied in the selection of the individual or of the people for special service. It is an honor and a vocation bestowed by Yahweh, never to be take away, no matter how unworthy the recipients of the vocation are. It is not based upon any particular merit of the people chosen, but it is a dignity and a heritage bestowed, in order that the people chosen may carry out their appointed tasks with humility as the agents of Almighty God.
“But GOD HATH CHOSEN THE FOOLISH THINGS OF THE WORLD TO CONFOUND THE WISE; and GOD HATH CHOSEN THE WEAK THINGS OF THE WORLD TO CONFOUND THE THINGS WHICH ARE MIGHTY.” (1 Corinthians 1:27)
As a matter of fact, Yahweh is very careful to declare that no favoritism is implied or intended. He made this declaration to the people whom He had chosen:
“For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth. The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people: But because the LORD loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.” (Deuteronomy 7:6-8)
Please note the importance of that statement. Israel was chosen and preserved because of God’s promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob/Israel. Those people who declare that Israel no longer exits are guilty of stating that God has not kept His promise. That is a terrible thought to entertain because, if there is any single promise of God that He has not kept, and will not keep, then there is no promise of His upon which we can rely. If this were true, we would be “of all men most miserable,” and our faith in vain.
In connection with Israel and the Divine purpose, we know that, in spite of our national rebellion and disobedience, God determined to redeem them, and that He did so by the Atonement wrought on Calvary. By the offering of His dearly beloved Son, He made it possible for Israel to be made fit once again for the responsibility which is still theirs. Thus we sing in the words of the Benedictus:
“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel: for He hath visited, and redeemed His people; and hath raised up a mighty salvation for us: in the house of His servant David.
Each time we repeat this song of Zacharias, we confirm our faith that God carried out Israel’s redemption in order “to perform the mercy promised to our forefathers: and to remember His holy covenant; to perform the oath which He sware to our forefather Abraham. The realization of the undeniable truth of all these things naturally brings with it the absolute belief in the necessity for individual and national acceptance of Yahshua as our Redeemer and Savior and our King. It further confirms the realization that we must become, in fact, Christian Israel.
First we must personally and nationally acknowledge the unrivaled value of the sacrifice made by Yahshua on Calvary. Then we must recognize the fact that we are Israel, both by the selection of race and by the election of grace, for as the scriptures declare:
“If ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” (Galatians 3:29)
Accepting these truths, there will naturally follow an overmastering sense of mission. We will realize anew that we have been called to service, to militantly fight against evil. By the acceptance and practice of the commandments, statutes and judgments of Yahweh, we are to form the nucleus of the coming restored Kingdom, and prepare ourselves, and all with whom we come in contact, for the return of the One who is to be the absolute World Ruler, the Man Yahshua Himself.