A Legal Union

Intro. The problem-

I was overwhelmed. How could I ever explain to my Adventist friend that there is much more caught up in a humans relationship with YHVH other than what is traditionally thought, and religiously taught? Legalities, laws, Covenants, claims, and a heavenly government were all going to be new ideas that would have to be incorporated into our conversation.

The first thought that came to my mind was that by living in modern America everyone is already required to live by many rules and within many different contracts to acquire certain things. Traffic rules, lease agreements, rules of buying and selling, so I thought the idea of coming into a legal covenant with God to acquire eternal life should make sense right away based on what were are all already used to. However, I know from experience, that the thought of having to live within a contract agreement with God is a very hard pill for Christians to swallow. Especially since there are laws involved. Maybe they don’t want to feel restrained? Maybe they think it goes against His character? Against His so called unconditional love? Or maybe its because they do not see how or why God would require anything from us to begin with. This would be because they do not know how His government is set up or understand ha’satans legal claim on them. Okay, I can start there.

Legalities in the heavenlies and on Earth-

At creation, the first two humans received the title deed to earth, the rights to the land, and the authority to govern all who lived upon it. At the fall in Genesis, Adam and Chavah lost the authority and ownership over the earth and its inhabitants that was given to them by Elohim. In a sense they signed over earth’s title deed to ha’satan. For thousands of years ha’satan has had authority over the earth itself and all that are born to it. From the moment in the garden, and on through humanity’s history he has had a legal claim to every human born into the world as a result of Adam’s failed test.

Thousands of years have passed since the garden, much has been done by our heavenly family to fix Adam’s mistake and get the world back to the way it was meant to be, but there is still a war being fought and a side to be picked. Each one of us need to pick whose family we will associate with. If we do not choose to become a part of the family of Abraham and take the path to salvation that Yehovah has clearly placed in scripture then we will automatically be claimed as ha’satan’s. Of course Yah is the final judge, and thank goodness for that! He is a good and just King, but ha’satan is holding him to his word and to his law. Yahovah has not changed from the beginning of time and neither has his government.

Since the fall the earth has split and divided. There are many gods, beliefs, traditions, ways of living, and laws that different groups of people both worldly and religious abide by daily. All of these are man made except for the god of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and his everlasting law that has always been and goes on for as long as he is the True King. (In other words forever.)

Don’t be misled-

All the counterfeit ways of life, gods, beliefs, and scriptural interpretations are created by ha’satan to mislead as many people as he can. He has succeeded because he is crafty, deceptive, and humans are easily misled. Yehovah said his people will be misled because of lack of knowledge so His desire for us as His people is to be discerning, to seek out the mysteries of his kingdom, and to simply trust him.

Man’s many laws and Yah’s few laws-

Just like you would establish which laws you must abide by by which country you live in, you must also establish which law you must abide by, by which God you serve. If it is America then it is the American constitution, if it is the god of Abraham Issac and Jacob it is the Royal Law. The royal law is the law that is given in Exodus BEFORE the golden calf. (Exodus 19-24) Christians will say that the messiah did away with these laws because they were too hard to keep. “I’m not perfect so I can’t keep those!” “God would be asking way too much of me!” Really? You can count the number of laws we as YHVHs people must keep and they could all fit on a single side of double spaced lined paper. However, in the Code of the United States there are approximately 4,500 federal crimes. Which means there are 4,500 ways to break American law! Not to mention individual county and state laws that would be added to that already staggering number.

As believers why would Christians be so willing to abide by all the laws of employment, historic preservation, debt, controlled substances, consumer protection, business, education, information, privacy, and tax, but be so unwilling to keep laws that the God of the Bible set in place thousands of years ago and told us to abide by in order to be His set apart people?

Numbers 15:40 says that we must all remember and obey His commands and be set apart unto our Elohim. Its not legalism to want to obey Yehovahs instructions... its a sin not to.

Another way to look at it. Legally wed-

Now how is a better way to look at this? Instead of telling you, “Here are the laws you need to keep in order to be saved. Period.” I thought there had to be an easier way to approach this subject, especially with my friends. And it finally came to me, at work, in the middle of a conversation with a coworker.

In our conversation this coworker of mine told me that she was living with her long time boyfriend. I had asked her if there were any marriage plans for the future and her response was “we’ve talked about it, but we don’t feel it necessary. After all its just a signature on a piece of paper.” My coworker loves her boyfriend very much. They have been together many years. She is okay with not being legally bound as she believes they are married in spirit. They may be married physically, but by the governing laws of marriage and by her being only the girlfriend I realized instantly that she will not have access to the benefits or privileges she would have if she was his legal bride.

After my conversation with my coworker the Ruach sent me into researching how the logistics of marriage work in America. By the end of my short study I was reading articles about whether or not as a woman you should wed the man you love or if co-habitation is instead recommend. The reasons why or why not convinced me that there is a HUGE difference between being his wife vs being his girlfriend. Two quotes stood out to me in my research. One from Time that said, “Living together (cohabitation) doesn’t force clarity like marriage does. Marriage has a high signal value as to intention. Married people are advertising their commitment whereas cohabitation is like dating with a lot of sleepovers.” And the second was from wikipedia that said,”If a marriage was not legally valid, the law said that it never existed.”

So what changes when you get married?-

What is the difference between cohabitation as girlfriend and boyfriend vs living as husband and wife?

What does the wedding ring signify?

Who gets the inheritance, does the girlfriend? Or would the next person in line with the same last name be the one to get his inheritance?

We can see that there is a big difference between being girlfriend and wife by answering those questions. As a bride there are promises you get from your spouse in his wedding vows. Promises to love, provide for, and be faithful too. By being legally wed those verbal promises are upheld by law and you receive official protection for things like adultery that you would not get if you were just his girlfriend. There are tax benefits, emotional benefits, and as the wife you would get his inheritance; as his girlfriend you would not.

The legal document-

So does a signature on a piece of paper really change everything?

When you sign your name to a wedding certificate like you would sign your name when leasing a car or getting a homeowners mortgage you are promising to hold up your part of the agreement by doing everything that is required of you. There will be benefits given to you by keeping the agreement and there will be consequences for you if you break the agreement. When you put your signature on a legal contract there is little room for anyone to come in and mess things up. By putting your signature on the dotted line you acquire a certain amount of protection from governing authorities. In the end, a signature could protect both parties, since no one can prove a verbal agreement in court.

It’s the same when you come into a legal contract with YHVH. When you sign your name and agree to abide by the requirements of his contract you will receive many benefits like heavenly protection. Because you have become legally YHVH’s by acquiring his last name in a marriage type agreement, the evil one will no longer have a claim on you. Getting freed from that claim and obtaining salvation is not as simple as believing in and loving god as most christian churches think and teach. Saying they love him but without keeping the requirements of the covenant to be legally his, they are only the girlfriend. They do not have His last name and will not receive any of the promises, protection, or inheritance. Their verbal form of commitment will not stand up in the heavenly court. Your accuser Ha’satan will require proof that you are Yehovah’s or else he will have the right to claim you as still his. Standing before The King in his court on Judgement Day with hasten standing next to you, you will need to have proof that you have made a covenant with Elohim and have operated faithfully within its requirements. No matter what he says against you, you will want to be able to prove to your accuser that you do have the family last name of YHVH and will not be claimed by him on that day no matter how hard he tries.

Similarities between marriage and Yah’s covenant-

I found that there are many similarities between a marriage arrangement and the covenant arrangement with YHVH.

Adultery is a federal crime in America, just as it is against YHVH’s law to have other gods or idols in His face. And as a woman your husband would expect you to set yourself apart as his wife by keeping yourself pure and strictly for him, just as we are expected to keep ourselves pure before YHVH by keeping his traditions and holy days and being set apart from the nations by not participating in theirs.

Also notice that when a bride marries into a different family she typically acquires a new last name signifying she is legally no longer a “smith” but now a “Johnson.” This works out beautifully in Elohims’ plan for salvation. It’s simple. Yahovah has a claim on his people and his people are Abrahams descendants. No one outside of the family can get the inheritance that YHVH is preparing for his family. And that inheritance involves eternal life. Satan has a claim on those who are not YHVHs and he’s still the prince of this earth. There’s still a war to be won and a side to take.

A way into the Family-

If you notice in Genesis, YHVH makes the covenant of marriage/salvation/inheritance with Abraham. He said that only those who are a part of Abraham’s family line will receive these. Abraham’s best friend didn’t get this promise and neither did the family that lived in the house across the road. In Genesis times those that were outside of Abraham’s family who wished to enter the covenant were required by YHVH to undergo physical circumcision. They did this through the “engagement period” until the marriage covenant (that happened in Exodus at Mt. Sinai) to signify that they had made the jump and were operating under the covenant attached to Abraham’s family line. Rather than a chosen people I like to think of it as a chosen family.

The Kinsman Redeemer-

The beautiful thing about our story is that after Israel committed adultery against YHVH he essentially divorced them but then brought forth a kinsman redeemer. His son Yashuah did much work at his death and resurrection but importantly he made the way for anyone from any family line to get Abraham’s last name! He made the way for us to gain access into the covenant made with our forefathers. By believing he is YHVHs son, honoring him as the True King, and accepting him as our bridegroom we are gifted with the Ruach who will lead us into keeping the covenant in its entirety no matter what.

Conclusion-

It is written in scripture that the weekly shabbat and high shabbats attached to his holy days like UNLB, Yom kipper, and Shavuot are the sign of the covenant you made with YHVH. In a sense it’s your signature on the dotted line. Like an engagement ring, it signifies to the rest of the world that you are his. And, to the disagreement of many in this world, this is indeed the fine print that will be absolutely necessary in the end.

It is written that many people will call Yahsuah lord and say to him on judgement day that they have done miracles in his name, and cast out demons in his name. These people Yahshua himself spoke of obviously believed in Yahsuah as they call him lord and had faith of his power due to the miracles they were able to perform… but what is missing? Yahsuah calls them doers of lawlessness. He says that they had not done the will of YHVH and removes them from his presence forever saying “I never knew you”.

Much to the disagreement of many people love for the messiah is not enough to save you from the grip of the evil one. As seen by this story told by Yahsuah, believing in him is not enough to get you into the kingdom on heaven. Devotion and honor are both shown by actions. The covenant is there for us to keep. The family of Abraham is there for us to marry into.