Grace as a Lifestyle

That "protected place" speaks of a screened-in, hedged-about place of safety, and is related to the word sukkah, the singular form of the "booths" we dwell in at the festival by the same, Sukkoth. During this feast we live in less-protected, open booths because this is a picture of the Kingdom, when we will really be able to "lie down in safety". But we partake of that time in advance when we obey His command to celebrate this most joyful of feasts.

The Torah lifestyle was always meant to be a taste of that Garden of Eden in the midst of a fallen world. For those whom He loves, Yahweh provides an alternative to the "vanity of vanities" curse placed on the rebels at Babel, like a law of aerodynamics provided to supersede the law of gravity. The Torah itself is grace, for grace, as used in Scripture, means supernatural provision. Often its focus is overcoming our tendency to sin.

In medieval Europe, those who followed the Torah's purity rituals were not affected by the Black Plague; Jewish men in the trenches in World War I did not get the same diseases the uncircumcised contracted when they could not bathe for weeks on end. Israel has always been an oasis in the midst of a drought as long as it stayed close to the waters of Torah. (Psalm 1; Jeremiah 17:8; Isaiah 58:11) The waters of purification from ritual defilement have always been seen as a way of connecting to Eden again even in our exile.

The river of redemption flows all through Israel's history: Joseph brought his family to safety, and even when they were enslaved, they lived in Goshen, an enclave that was shielded from the plagues that came upon Egypt. In the "waste howling wilderness", where no one could expect food, they were provided with manna.

And even when they arrived in the Land and settled into "normal" patterns somewhat, they were still never to be "just one of the nations of the world"; the call was always there to do things that went against conventional wisdom in order to maintain faith in an Elohim who can supersede the ordinary patterns. Every seven years the land is to be left fallow and everyone has to wait for Yahweh's provision, but to the obedient, He promised it would be there in abundance. Three times a year all able-bodied men were summoned to Jerusalem to appear before Yahweh. One of these times was Sukkoth, right after the harvest was gathered in and it would be most tempting to stay home and guard the precious grain from enemies. But to those who were obedient He promised,

"No one will covet your land when you go up to appear before YHWH three times during the year." (Exodus 34:24b)

How simple He intended our lives to be and how complicated we make them! What the world advertises always obligates one to continue earning more to insure the gains we've made. Y'shua only prays, "Give us our bread for today." It's the manna story again. In the Garden of Eden, labor was unrelated to provision. It was creative dignity by which Yahweh's image was to be carried on--the proverbial "satisfaction of a job well done", without being a mercenary of the drive to survive. We are free to dedicate ourselves to meeting others' needs and not make monetary considerations an issue, because we have a source of reimbursement that is not dependent on normal channels. Rather, its the securities we've spent our drudgery on that are really the mirage. We're free to jettison them and "travel light", unencumbered by the baggage that always accompanies them. Y'shua had no pillow to call His own, but He took His home--His Father's will--wherever He went, and it required none of the bother of keeping house!

Who can own a sunset? Yet isn't it as much mine as it is yours? In the 1960s, such ideas blossomed. The technological "system" had pushed things too far, and a backlash had to come. But by and large the "simple lifestyle" turned out to be a fad, and most former hippies are now "yuppies". What made such a noble goal fall so flat?

The Bible calls it "Mammon" [Hebrew for "wealth" or the whole financial "octopus" that has its tentacles in every part of life]. As part of the "Babylon" system, it sells the bodies and souls of men, squeezing a profit from life's most memorable occasions, smearing people's names through competition for the same money, and making man's creativity subservient to market trends and consumeristic goals.

When Adam fell, sweat became the only way for him to gain bread. But from the very start, Yahweh's grace prevented that from being the whole story. Before the curse left His lips, He set limits on how far it could go. The Sabbath day, which He built into creation even before man's fall, kept us from total enslavement to work. The demands of the ethic of productivity are not ultimate. Far from being legalism, through the Sabbath Yahweh shows us His grace.

The world fears the future, so Mammon holds the poor as well as the rich in servitude. In contrast, Yahweh says, "Don't bother wearing yourself out to get rich." It's not necessary! His command to "be content with food and covering" is based squarely on His promise to be our ever-present provider who can do anything. So why live as if we're enslaved to the system that prescribes changing fashions to keep us ever responsible to spend money on things we don't need?

"Everyone who thirsts, come, buy and eat wine and milk without money and without price!" (Isaiah 55)

We can carry this principle into every part of life. We derive our joy from a source totally independent of how others treat us. We make ourselves slaves to others by expecting some satisfaction from him that they can't give. Yahweh alone has it, and He does want to give it away. All along He has been the only realistic expectation anyway. We just thought there were other sources; there never really were.

Y'shua had full confidence in who he was, and how did it He show it? He served others in the most humiliating way instead of lording it over them. (Yochanan/John 13) It's hard to deny self unless we know that it's really only a counterfeit self we are suppressing, and that this feeds our higher nature. But since He has promised to supply our every need, worry is no longer wisdom but sin--because wisdom is ultimately a person.

New Agers and their ancient counterparts require so many expensive accessories or elaborate rituals to guarantee "spiritual wellness". Advertisers count on us not finding the real source of satisfaction. Y'shua says, "Come to Me! I will give you rest...My yoke is easy." We have found what everyone else covets and can never attain. So Isaiah goes on to say, "why spend your money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy?"

As soon as Zacchaeus caught a glimpse of grace, he wasted no time abandoning Mammon, the lesser god that had been his slave-driver. He dived head-first into grace and inherited all that the rich young ruler had forfeited for mere wealth and all the worries that come with it. What we own often ends up owning us. As Gary S. Paxton sings, "There goes a shiny new car driving a man!" The rich man will pass away when his riches fade, because he's only been halfway in touch with life, buffered by a comfort that appears to make him secure but really doesn't--as we could see so well in that attack on the financial district of New York. But a content heart can find even in the slums a joy that still eludes the South-Sea vacationers. If I don't have enough money for something, and Yahweh doesn't give it after I ask, I simply don't need it. Times of lack liberate us when we see what we really can live without. If you put all your energy into what cannot be taken away, then when what CAN be taken away inevitably IS, you're really no worse off. The less you depend on things outside yourself for your sense of well-being, the stronger and more resilient you'll become.

And today that is the word Yahweh's prophets are bringing: extricate yourselves from Mammon in any way you can. There're always been a tension between focusing on service to Yahweh and having to pay the bills. But soon there will be a watershed in which we have to make a black-and-white choice between Yahweh and Mammon. A time is coming when "no one will be able to buy or sell" unless he turns himself completely over to that system. (Rev. 13) When Mammon's true colors show up, and it turns on the church that played the harlot with it for so long. Anyone still aligned with it has much to fear indeed.

It is no accident that this concept of being hidden in Yahweh's sukkah is related to the "time of trouble", because the day of YHWH's indignation and wrath is how the Messianic Kingdom opens. This Psalm (27) is read daily in the month leading up to the "Days of Awe" (the Feast of Trumpet-blasts through the Day of Atonement) when the individual and the local Israelite community live out a prophetic microcosm of the age we are beginning to experience, often called the "birthpangs of the Messiah".

But He invites us,

"Come, My people, enter into your innermost chambers and hide yourself, as it were, for a brief moment, until the indignation is spent." (Isa. 26:20)

It's this age that haSatan wants to preserve, since it's soon going to be his only domain. Like those who lived in Babel, many are again trying to build a paradise on earth instead of waiting for Yahweh's deliverance. In a striking parallel with the plagues in Egypt, Yahweh will again show the world that the things they trust in cannot stand up when put to the hardest tests. This "Brave New World" is the real failure to come to terms with reality. Humanity can't stave death off forever, but they seem confident that they'll somehow find a way. But who in his right mind would want to settle for this age--a ship that is clearly sinking--when he knows his spirit is being tailored for the Real world? Yahweh left a lot of beauty in fallen creation, but He also left it incomplete, so we'd know it was only a glimpse of a better age when Eden itself would be restored. We're not supposed to be comfortable with the way things are, for "this is not the place of your rest."

But unlike Pharaoh, this time the hardening of hearts will be complete. Like Pharaoh, the repeated chorus in Revelation 16 is "Still they refused to repent." They just cannot see it, for they've invested everything in the system that we've already seen begin to crumble. If we only knew how much of an affront to Yahweh this rebellious world system is, we would not balk as much we do at the idea of a final judgment.

Once Satan recognizes that his time is short, he comes in great fury. This is called the "time of Jacob's trouble", and Israel, especially those who have the testimony of Y'shua, are his special target. Of course, it would be foolish to say "Be anxious for nothing" if it weren't for our heavenly Father's loving care.

In one sense, earthquakes are "normal" shifts of the earth's crust; the processes are usually just too slow for us to notice the patterns. But the Scriptures always present their timing as meaningful. Is there a storm? It's to make Jonah repent. An earthquake at the moment of Y'shua's death and one in Philippi when Paul was jailed there were carefully planned events that revealed much truth about Yahweh and gave occasion for it to spread like wildfire. So there are no accidents. "You cause the wrath of man to praise You; the remainder of wrath You will restrain." (Psalm 76:10) So we can assume that every attack an enemy gets through has been screened in advance by Yahweh so that it carries out His purposes and pushes people to choose to either align with Him or against Him.

If we choose to dwell in His secret place, we will only watch the repayment of the wicked as if we were spectators. (Psalm 91) Those who are walking in His will can say with the oft-quoted psalmist, "You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies." If we let Him, He can add a secret weapon that the world can't give: peace while our enemies are still breathing down our necks.

This won't come to individuals. Yahweh is gathering us together again as the people of Israel, which has been Mammon's arch-enemy all along.

There were only two things one could bring with him into the Temple in Jerusalem (a symbol of leaving the world behind). One was the receipt proving he had paid for a sacrificial animal--which corresponds to faith in Y'shua, our sacrifice. The other was alms for the poor. They couldn't take any other personal belongings, and we can't take anything else with us into the Kingdom. Y'shua's parable of the "rich fool" speaks of a man who was not "rich toward Yahweh" by giving away his excess to the needy. "He who gives to the poor lends to his Maker", who'll then repay from a bank unaffected by market trends and invulnerable to robbery. By giving to those who can't pay us back, we actually send it on ahead of us into the Kingdom. This care for one another also does away with the need for dependence on outside insurance policies. By using Mammon this way, we take it out of circulation--a sabbath rest in which we joyfully lay aside all thought of money, giving us the perspective necessary to keep it in its place. We might even be more carefree in shelling it out, for the One who gave us friends to love will continue to provide for us if we sacrifice security to serve them as we should. For now, Yahweh makes Mammon, which to others is a tyrant, a mere tool for us to use.

If we hoard for tomorrow's needs which may never materialize, we lose both ways. Not only will moth, rust, and inflation make it all worthless; we're also guaranteeing that Yahweh will "have nothing" to give us tomorrow, since we aren't "investing with Him" now. This is not primarily for after this lifetime; when Yahweh replaces even the sun and moon, what possible need could we have for anything else? The treasure in heaven is to draw upon as we need it, but we have no room to receive it until we've depleted our natural resources. Do HIS seemingly-unremunerated work, He promises, and we will be sustained by other means. We'll be cared for directly.

One day soon we will have to do without money altogether. But there is nothing in creation that gives us reason to conclude that money would have been an inevitable fact of life on earth. Yahweh, who gave us the fullness of the whole beautiful world, can certainly preserve us intact without one small man-made commodity. People lived without it in the past, and as we get close to the restoration of Eden, it is only fitting that we will go back to a life where livestock and land where crops can be raised are seen as the real wealth.

But it goes still further. We don't even live by bread alone. If Yahweh chooses, He can give us manna again, or even alter our digestive functions so that we can do without food when it is no longer possible to buy or sell without compromising our commitment to Him--perhaps another foreshadowing in the fasting of Yom Kippur. Don't waste the opportunity to see His salvation again by falling back into bondage to Mammon!

The birth pangs of the Kingdom have already begun. We are called to even now begin living according to the laws of the next life, for the sake of the Kingdom. "The time is short. From now on, ...those who buy something, should live as if it were not theirs to keep; those who use the things of this world, as if they did not, because the present order of this world is passing away." (1 Cor. 7) A new day is pressing in on us before the old completely fades out. Will you keep enjoying the prosperity of the old age, or will you share in the birth pangs of the new? Will you suffer with it while it is still unsettled?

Proverbs 11:28 says, "He that trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous will flourish like a palm." Back to that imagery of an oasis in the midst of a drought again. To those who continue recognizing the counterfeit holidays that keep Mammon funded,

"who forsake Yahweh and forget My holy mountain, who set a table to Fortune/Luck [Gad] and who fill [a cup with] MIXED wine for Fate/ Destiny, I will number you for the sword... Thus says the Master Yahweh: "Take notice! My servants will eat, but you will be hungry. Look! My servants will drink, but you will be thirsty. Behold! My servants will rejoice, but you will be ashamed. Indeed, My servants will sing for joy of heart, but you will cry from heartbreak... The Master Yahweh will kill you, and He will call His servants by another name. Whoever in the earth blesses himself will bless himself in the Elohim of truth... because the former distresses are forgotten... for, behold, I am creating new heavens and a new earth, and the earlier things will not be recalled... Rejoice in what I create: ...Jerusalem and her people..." (Isa. 65:11-18)

Did you know those last verses were in the "Old Testament" and not just in Revelation? Yahweh's called-out have been known by the name of "Christian" for a long time, and that had a valid purpose; it was one step out of Babylon. But it is a Greek name, not of the pure language of Hebrew, and everything that can be shaken will be. I believe that "different name" which His people will be called, in context of v. 18, has to be "Israel". The "New Covenant" of Jeremiah 31 is made only with the House of Israel and the House of Judah. If you are not aligned with one of these, where is the basis for your covenant with Yahweh?