Life Decisions and Dumb Stories

Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you? Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built.

Luke 6:47-48

There is a story that has been told in church sermons for many years about a man stuck on a roof in a flood. This man is visited by a boat, helicopter and various other means of salvation, but the man refuses them all saying, “God will save me”. The flood overtakes the man and he dies. When he gets to heaven he asks God why he didn’t save him from the flood, only to have God say he tried to by sending a boat and helicopter. Although a cute story, it is not in the Bible and shouldn’t be used to base life decisions on, or used to coerce other people.

Yahweh will save His people and does not need manmade parables to help Him. How was Noah saved from the flood in His day?

Gen 7:1 Then Yahweh said to Noah, “Go—you and all your household—into the ark, for I have seen you are righteous before me in this generation.
Gen 7:2 From all the clean animals you must take for yourself seven pairs, a male and its mate. And from the animals that are not clean you must take two, a male and its mate,
Gen 7:3 as well as from the birds of heaven seven pairs, male and female, to keep their kind alive on the face of the earth.
Gen 7:4 For within seven days I will send rain upon the earth for forty days and forty nights. And I will blot out all the living creatures that I have made from upon the face of the ground.”

Noah was found to be righteous, so Yahweh saved him and his family. Noah put seven pairs of clean animals on the ark that Yahweh had him build, and single pairs of unclean animals. It makes sense that there were more clean animals because they were going to be used as food, where the unclean animals are not to be consumed.

Lot was also saved from a disaster. He was not even that smart about it. They had to take them by the hand away from the city.

Gen 19:10 Then the men reached out with their hands and brought Lot in to them, into the house, and they shut the door.
Gen 19:11 And the men who were at the entrance of the house they struck with blindness, both small and great, and they were unable to find the entrance.
Gen 19:12 Then the men said to Lot, “Who is here with you? Bring out from the place your sons-in-law, and your sons and your daughters, and all who are with you in the city.
Gen 19:13 For we are about to destroy this place, because their cry has become great before Yahweh. Yahweh sent us to destroy it.”
Gen 19:14 Then Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law who were taking his daughters and said, “Get up! Go out from this place, because Yahweh is going to destroy the city!” But it seemed like a joke in the eyes of his sons-in-law.
Gen 19:15 And as the dawn came up the angels urged Lot saying, “Get up, take your wife and your two daughters who are staying with you, lest you be destroyed with the punishment of the city.”
Gen 19:16 But when he lingered, the men seized him by his hand and his wife’s hand, and his two daughters by hand, on account of the mercy of Yahweh upon him. And they brought him out and set him outside of the city.

Notice it is Yahweh that sends the destruction when the sin of society gets to a point of no return. The people that end up getting saved are those who follow the commandments of God. It is the people who break the commandments that were always getting destroyed. This is how the Northern kingdom brought on the wrath of Yahweh. They were incredibly disobedient to His instructions.

2Ki 17:6 In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and deported Israel to Assyria. He placed them in Halah, in Habor, in the river regions of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.
2Ki 17:7 Now this happened because the Israelites had sinned against Yahweh their God when he brought them up from the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh the king of Egypt and they feared other gods.
2Ki 17:8 They walked in the statutes of the nations whom Yahweh had driven out from before the Israelites, which the kings of Israel had introduced.
2Ki 17:9 The Israelites secretly did things which were not right, against Yahweh their God; they built high places for themselves in all their towns, from the watchtower up to the fortified city.
2Ki 17:10 They set up for themselves stone pillars and poles of Asherah worship on every high hill and under every green tree.
2Ki 17:11 They burned incense there on all the high places, like the nations which Yahweh deported before them, and they did evil things to provoke Yahweh.
2Ki 17:12 They served idols which Yahweh had said to them, “You shall not do this thing!”
2Ki 17:13 Yahweh warned Israel and Judah by the hand of his every prophet, with every seer saying, “Turn from all of your evil ways, and keep my commandments and my ordinances, according to all the law which I commanded your ancestors, which I sent to you by the hand of my servants the prophets.”
2Ki 17:14 But they did not listen and they stiffened their necks, like the necks of their ancestors who did not believe in Yahweh their God.
2Ki 17:15 They rejected his statutes, his covenant which he made with their ancestors, and his warnings which he gave to them; and they went after the idols, became vain, and went after all the nations which were all around them, which Yahweh had commanded them not to do as they did.
2Ki 17:16 They abandoned all the commands of Yahweh their God and made for themselves two molten calf-shaped idols; they made a pole of Asherah worship and bowed down to the army of the heavens and served Baal.
2Ki 17:17 They made their sons and their daughters pass through the fire, they practiced divination and read omens, and they sold themselves to do evil in the eyes of Yahweh to provoke him.
2Ki 17:18 So Yahweh was very angry with Israel and he removed them from his presence; none remained except the tribe of Judah alone.
2Ki 17:19 Even Judah did not keep the commands of Yahweh their God, and they walked in the customs of Israel which they introduced,
2Ki 17:20 so Yahweh rejected all the offspring of Israel and punished them, and he gave them into the hand of the plunderers until he banished them from his presence.
2Ki 17:21 For he had torn Israel from the house of David, and they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king, but Jeroboam detached Israel from following Yahweh, and he made them sin a great sin.
2Ki 17:22 The Israelites walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he committed, and they did not depart from it,
2Ki 17:23 until Yahweh removed Israel from his presence as he had foretold by the hand of all his servants, the prophets. And so he deported Israel from upon his land to Assyria until this day.

The Bible cannot be understood without knowing the difference between the Northern and Southern kingdoms. Israel was united under Solomon. Solomon sinned by worshipping other gods and ten tribes were removed from his rule and given to Jeroboam. The Northern kingdom was called the House of Israel and the Southern kingdom was called the House of Judah. Yahweh destroyed the House of Israel by having Assyria conquering and dispersing them in 722 BC. Judah was conquered by Babylon later. Judah, or “the Jews”, came back to the land after seventy years of captivity. Israel, the Northern ten tribes, were disowned by God and dispersed into the nations, becoming “Gentiles”.

The descendants of the House of Israel and House of Judah are the very people Peter and James wrote their letters to. This is very important to understand.

1Pe 1:1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,
1Pe 1:2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you.

Jas 1:1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion: Greetings.

Yahweh knew His people would be dispersed to the ends of the Earth for breaking His commandments soon after they left Egypt.

Deu 4:25 “When you have had children and grandchildren and you have grown old in the land and you act corruptly and you make a divine image of the form of anything and you do evil in the eyes of Yahweh your God, thus provoking him to anger,
Deu 4:26 I call to witness against you today the heaven and the earth, that you will perish soon and completely from the land that you are crossing the Jordan into it to take possession of it; you will not live long on it, but you will be completely destroyed.
Deu 4:27 And Yahweh will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations to where Yahweh will lead you.
Deu 4:28 And you will there serve gods made by human hands, of wood and stone, gods that cannot see and cannot hear and cannot eat and cannot smell.
Deu 4:29 But from there you shall seek Yahweh your God and will find him, if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul.
Deu 4:30 In your distress when all these things have found you in the latter days, then you will return to Yahweh your God, and you will listen to his voice.
Deu 4:31 For Yahweh your God is a compassionate God; he will not abandon you, and he will not destroy you, and he will not forget the covenant of your ancestors that he swore to them.

How are the people of Yah going to be saved in the future? It is not by a man in a helicopter. In fact, the man in the helicopter could have saved the man on the roof only to crash into a mountain.

Mat 24:29 “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
Mat 24:30 Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
Mat 24:31 And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

There will be a great harvest where the wheat will go into the barn and the tares will be burned.

Rev 14:14 Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and seated on the cloud one like a son of man, with a golden crown on his head, and a sharp sickle in his hand.
Rev 14:15 And another angel came out of the temple, calling with a loud voice to him who sat on the cloud, “Put in your sickle, and reap, for the hour to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is fully ripe.”
Rev 14:16 So he who sat on the cloud swung his sickle across the earth, and the earth was reaped.
Rev 14:17 Then another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle.
Rev 14:18 And another angel came out from the altar, the angel who has authority over the fire, and he called with a loud voice to the one who had the sharp sickle, “Put in your sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth, for its grapes are ripe.”
Rev 14:19 So the angel swung his sickle across the earth and gathered the grape harvest of the earth and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.
Rev 14:20 And the winepress was trodden outside the city, and blood flowed from the winepress, as high as a horse’s bridle, for 1,600 stadia.

These are old prophecies. Isaiah tells us about the same day.

Isa 2:6 For you have forsaken your people, house of Jacob [all twelve tribes], because they are full from the east, and of soothsayers like the Philistines, and they make alliances with the offspring of foreigners.
Isa 2:7 And its land is filled with silver and gold, and there is no end to its treasures; and its land is filled with horses, and there is no end to its chariots.
Isa 2:8 Its land is filled with idols; they bow down to the work of their hands, to what they made with their fingers.
Isa 2:9 So humanity is humbled; everyone is humbled, and you must not forgive them.
Isa 2:10 Enter into the rock and hide yourself in the dust from the presence of the terror of Yahweh and from the glory of his majesty.
Isa 2:11 The haughty eyes of humanity will be brought low, and the pride of everyone will be humbled, and Yahweh alone will be exalted on that day.
Isa 2:12 For there is a day for Yahweh of hosts against all of the proud and the lofty and against all that is lifted up and humble,
Isa 2:13 and against all the lofty and lifted up cedars of Lebanon, and against all the large trees of Bashan,
Isa 2:14 and against all the high mountains, and against all the lofty hills,
Isa 2:15 and against every kind of high tower, and against every kind of fortified wall,
Isa 2:16 and against all the ships of Tarshish, and against all the ships of desire.
Isa 2:17 And the haughtiness of the people shall be humbled, and the pride of everyone shall be brought low, and Yahweh alone will be exalted on that day.
Isa 2:18 And the idols shall pass away entirely,
Isa 2:19 and they will enter into the caves of the rocks and into the holes of the ground from the presence of the terror of Yahweh and from the glory of his majesty when he rises to terrify the earth.
Isa 2:20 On that day humanity will throw away its idols of silver and its idols of gold, which they made for it to worship, to the rodents and to the bats—
Isa 2:21 to enter into the crevices of the rocks and into the clefts of the crags from the presence of the terror of Yahweh and from the glory of his majesty, when he rises to terrify the earth.
Isa 2:22 Turn away from humanity, who has breath in its nostrils, for by what is it esteemed?

Malachi reminds us to follow the commandments.

Mal 4:1 “For look! The day is about to come, burning like an oven, and all the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble. The coming day will consume them,” says Yahweh of hosts. “It will not leave behind for them root or branch.
Mal 4:2 But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise, with healing in its wings, and you will go out and leap like fattened calves.
Mal 4:3 You will trample down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day that I am going to act,” says Yahweh of hosts.
Mal 4:4 “Remember the instruction of my servant Moses, which I commanded him at Horeb to all Israel, the rules and regulations.

It’s time to put away silly myths and irrelevant stories and get serious about obedience to Yahweh.

Gal 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
Gal 3:29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.

Paul is telling the Galatians that if they are Christ’s then they are offsprings of Abraham, or as he says in Romans 11, grafted into Israel. We are the ones being talked about in Deuteronomy chapter four.

Deu 4:29 But from there you shall seek Yahweh your God and will find him, if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul.
Deu 4:30 In your distress when all these things have found you in the latter days, then you will return to Yahweh your God, and you will listen to his voice.
Deu 4:31 For Yahweh your God is a compassionate God; he will not abandon you, and he will not destroy you, and he will not forget the covenant of your ancestors that he swore to them.

This is not replacement theology where it is said the church replaced Israel. Israel is not the political state where the “Jews” live in this discussion. It also is not about genetics. There are genetic Israelites scattered throughout the whole world according to the Bible, but the way to join the Israel of God is to do what Yahweh said to do. Yeshua made this possible. Notice the similarities between Ezekiel and Revelation.

Eze 9:4 And Yahweh said to him, “Go through in the midst of the city, in the midst of Jerusalem, and you must place a mark on the foreheads of the men who are groaning and lamenting about all of the detestable things that are being done in the midst of her.”
Eze 9:5 And to the others he said in my hearing, “Go through the city behind him and kill! Your eyes shall not take pity, and you shall not have compassion.
Eze 9:6 You must kill totally old man, young man and young woman, and little children and women, but concerning every man with the mark on him you must not approach; and from my sanctuary you must begin.” And they began with the old men who were before the house.

Rev 7:1 After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, that no wind might blow on earth or sea or against any tree.
Rev 7:2 Then I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, with the seal of the living God, and he called with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm earth and sea,
Rev 7:3 saying, “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.”

Who are the elect that are gathered from the four corners of the Earth? Based on the past actions of Yahweh, is it the disobedient, lawless people that get saved, or the obedient that are seeking Yahweh with all their heart? Who do Jesus and the prophets say is going to get destroyed? It is the disobedient.

Mat 7:21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
Mat 7:22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’
Mat 7:23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

There is always a remnant of people that follow Yahweh. These are the elect that will be gathered. This is the group of people to strive to be with.

1Ki 19:17 And the one who escapes from the sword of Hazael shall Jehu put to death, and the one who escapes from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha put to death.
1Ki 19:18 Yet I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.”

Moses told us there would be someone to show us the way, and we have to listen to Him. Yeshua is that person who refreshed the covenant. You really need to learn what all of this means.

Act 3:19 Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out,
Act 3:20 that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus,
Act 3:21 whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago.
Act 3:22 Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you.
Act 3:23 And it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people.’
Act 3:24 And all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those who came after him, also proclaimed these days.

The featured image is by Xu Dee on Unsplash.