By Maria Merola
What was actually “put to death” on the cross, was our sinful human nature, which prevented Yisra’el from being an obedient wife. The marriage covenant (Towrah) was not put to death! Paul was expressing in Romans 7, that the first set of stone tablets (representing the law of divorce) kept Yisra’el in bondage, until those tablets were then “replaced” by a new set of tablets that contained the very same commandments on them! The new set of tablets represented a “renewed covenant,” that was later deposited (written) into the very heart and mind of the bride (Jeremiah 31:31-33, Hebrews 8:10).
Howshea (Hosea) 14:4 I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him.
Howshea (Hosea) 2:
When Mosheh (Moses) came down from Mount Sinai the first time around, Yisra’el was found committing harlotry with the golden calf and that is when the first set of stone tablets was “broken” because it represented a broken marriage contract.
Yisra’el had just entered into a marriage covenant with YaHuWaH and now they were already joining themselves to another pagan deity. Now we understand what Paul was describing below:
Mosheh went back up the mountain a second time and returned with another set of tablets (marriage covenant) and it contained the very same laws, but the second set of tablets were presented with the blood atonement (the sacrificial system) in the Tabernacle.
Yeshayahuw (Isaiah) 54:9 For this is as the waters of Noah unto me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be wroth (angry) with you, nor rebuke you.
What this tells us is that there was a marriage covenant established to begin with between YaHuWaH & Yisra’el. But it was broken because of their idolatry. Now, did YaHuWaH break his everlasting Covenant with Yisra’el? No! But he actually divorced her in Yirmeyahuw (Jeremiah) 3:8 in order to free her from “The law of sin and death.”
YaHuWaH in his wisdom knew that Yisra’el would forsake the marriage covenant with him, so he put a clause in the Towrah whereby a husband could simply divorce his wife and send her away instead of having her stoned to death.
His everlasting covenant with Yisra’el was not broken on his part, but he had to make it legally binding in order to protect her from the “law of sin and death.”
Therefore, Messiah’s mission on earth at his first coming was to “renew, repair, and rebuild” the very same marriage covenant that YaHuWaH made with Yisra’el, only this time it is a permanent covenant that will never be broken because his blood is perfect and is the permanent atonement for sins when we repent.
Ancient Hebrew Wedding Custom Requires the Bride to have the Ketuwbah (Written Marriage Agreement) on her at all times.
It is our “corruptible body” that is like that “old wine-skin” which is unable to hold the “new wine.” The “new wine” is the marriage covenant that YaHuWaH made with Yisra’el but she was like that “old wine-skin” (unconverted) and not able to hold the wine.
Chazown (Revelation) 12:11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.
And what is “The word of their testimony?” It is the very same “testimony” that Moses deposited into the ark:
© Copyright Double Portion Inheritance, October 2009
I wrote this article back in 2009, after receiving one of the most blasphemous emails from the wife of a South African Christian Pastor. This pastor’s wife wrote to me, and I marveled at how truly deceived she was. What grieved me the most, is the fact that most within the Christian Church actually believe the same lies that this woman teaches!
Here is what she wrote: (her quote, not mine) “The Law of Moses is the whore of Revelation 17.”
She declared that “MYSTERY BABYLON THE GREAT THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS” (described in Revelation 17) is not the Vatican. Her gross interpretation of Revelation 17 caused me to shudder with the Fear of YaHuWaH. What could possibly be responsible for making her believe such lies against the word of our Creator?
Here was my response to her:
Luqas (Luke) 4:4 And Yahuwshuwa answered him, saying, It is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of Elohiym.
This is the question I posed to her:
“If our Messiah commanded us to live by EVERY WORD of Elohiym, do you suppose he was including the first five books of the Bible? Or do you think he only meant the apostolic writings which came much later after he ascended back to the Father?”
Here is what she wrote in response:
“If our Messiah commanded us to live by EVERY WORD of Elohiym, do you suppose he was including the first five books of the Bible? Or do you think he only meant the apostolic writings which came much later after he ascended back to the Father?”
Here is what she wrote in response:
“Armageddon was the crucifixion - the sun hid its face, the earth shook, the veil was ripped……and sorry to tell you this but ‘the harlot’ in Revelation is the law. The 144,000 are already in heaven. Do you honestly think that Jesus died for only 144,000 people? ……The book of Romans compares someone who would be under two covenants to a women who has two living husbands, declaring such to be an adulteress.”
This same Pastor’s wife wrote to me in another message:
“...The god of this world is the law- take it or leave it. We are the light of the world - why would you want to crawl around in the darkness? Your Word is a lamp unto my feet .....Jesus came to set the captives free, Maria came to put them back into bondage.”
What follows, is an in-depth study I did on the seventh chapter of Romans, as I aim to clear up this gross misunderstanding in the Apostle Sha’uwl’s letter to the Romans.
Romiym (Romans) 7:
1 Know you not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the Towrah (law) has dominion over a man as long as he lives?
2 For the woman which has a husband is bound by the Towrah (law) to her husband so long as he lives; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the Towrah (law) of her husband.
The first thing you will notice, is that Shaul (Paul) says that he is specifically addressing those “Who know the Torah/law.” This means, he was specifically writing to Yahuwdiym (Jews) of his time, who were experts in the Mosaic Law.
In verse 2, Paul is citing what is known as “The law of divorce” from Deuteronomy 24. Before we break down Paul’s words, let’s go to Deuteronomy 24 to see what it says
Debariym (Deuteronomy) 24:
1 When a man has taken a wife, and married her, and it come to pass that she find no favour in his eyes, because he has found some uncleanness in her: then let him write her a bill of divorcement, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house.
2 And when she is departed out of his house, she may go and be another man's wife.
3 And if the latter husband hates her, and writes her a bill of divorcement, and gives it in her hand, and sends her out of his house; or if the latter husband dies, which took her to be his wife;
4 Her former husband, which sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after that she is defiled; for that is abomination before YHWH: and you shall not cause the land to sin, which YHWH your Elohiym gives you for an inheritance.
Paul wrote in Romans 7:2, that the woman who has a husband is “Bound by the law of her husband, so long as he lives.” Deuteronomy 24 is describing a scenario, where the man wants to divorce his wife, because of “uncleanness.” The Hebrew word for “uncleanness,” is as follows:
#6172 `ervah er-vaw' from 6168; nudity, literally (especially the pudenda) or figuratively (disgrace, blemish):--nakedness, shame, unclean(-ness).
#6168 `arah aw-raw' a primitive root; to be (causatively, make) bare; hence, to empty, pour out, demolish:--leave destitute, discover, empty, make naked, pour (out), rase, spread self, uncover.
#6169 `arah aw-raw' feminine from 6168; a naked (i.e. level) plot:--paper reed. 6172 `ervah er-vaw' from 6168; nudity, literally (especially the pudenda) or figuratively (disgrace, blemish):--nakedness, shame, unclean(-ness).
This uncleanness can mean that the husband was misled to believe his wife was a virgin, but on their wedding night he discovered that she was not. It can also mean that she had committed adultery, but he had no eyewitness to prove it. It could mean that she behaved shamefully with another man, such as uncovering her nakedness; dressing in a provocative way, flirting, or making eye contact in a sexually seductive way. It can also mean that she was secretly hiding idols, as was the case with Rachel, the wife of Jacob.
In such cases, once the man divorces her, she is free to remarry another man. However, she is no longer bound to her first husband, because he legally divorced her, thus severing the bond of marriage. This means that she may never go back him again, and he may never take her back.
The Marriage Covenant on Mount Sinai
The first time that YaHuWaH offered his marriage covenant to the nation of Yisrael, was in Exodus 19. YaHuWaH spoke to the entire nation by his audible voice, the following words
Shemoth (Exodus) 19:5 Now therefore, if you will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine:
Yisrael knew and understood the terms and conditions, thus, they verbally agreed to the covenant:
Shemoth (Exodus) 19:8 And all the people answered together, and said, All that YHWH has spoken we will do. And Mosheh (Moses) returned the words of the people unto YHWH.
In Exodus 20, YaHuWaH spoke the Ten Words (Ten Commandments) by his audible voice, but the people were terrified of his voice, and did not want to hear it any longer:
Shemoth (Exodus) 20:18 And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off.
Shemoth (Exodus) 20:19 And they said unto Mosheh (Moses), Speak you with us, and we will hear: but let not Elohiym speak with us, lest we die.
Shemoth (Exodus) 20:20 And Mosheh (Moses) said unto the people, Fear not: for Elohiym is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that you sin not.
Shemoth (Exodus) 20:21 And the people stood afar off, and Mosheh (Moses) drew near unto the thick darkness where Elohiym was.
Do you see what was taking place? The people withdrew themselves from hearing the audible voice of YaHuWaH, as they stood “afar off.”
This reminds me of the same language that Shaul (Paul) used in his letter to the Ephesians:
Ephesians 2:
11 Wherefore remember, that you being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands;
12 That at that time you were without Messiah, being aliens from the commonwealth of Yisrael, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without Elohiym in the world:
13 But now in Messiah Yahuwshuwa you who sometimes were far off are made near by the blood of Messiah.
YaHuWaH wanted intimacy with his bride, but she refused, and remained “afar off.” Only Moses “drew near” to Elohiym to hear his voice! In other words, even though they accepted the terms and conditions, they were still very carnal and wanted to hear the voice of YaHuWaH through a human vessel, (Moses)
When Moses went up to Mount Sinai the first time, (to receive the commandments in stone), it was given to him in the form of stone. But because the commandments were presented in stone tablets, it never made it’s way into their hearts. The law in stone, remained detached, and impersonal.
However, the second set of tablets were “deposited” into the Ark of the Covenant in the second year of their journey in the wilderness. They were deposited into the ark made of “incorruptible wood” (shittim wood), and overlaid with gold. Gold is a precious metal that never rusts or tarnishes, thus it is a symbol of that which is eternal and incorruptible.
The second set of stone tablets being deposited into the Ark of the Covenant made from incorruptible wood, and overlaid with incorruptible gold, which symbolizes being “born again of incorruptible seed.” The first set of tablets that were broken, symbolized death to the marriage covenant. But the second set of stone tablets was deposited into the ark, which symbolized a “Renewed marriage covenant.” When our Messiah resurrected, the Towrah (the written marriage covenant) was also “revived” and resurrected with him!
What was actually “put to death” on the cross, was our sinful human nature, which prevented Yisra’el from being an obedient wife. The marriage covenant (Towrah) was not put to death! Paul was expressing in Romans 7, that the first set of stone tablets (representing the law of divorce) kept Yisra’el in bondage, until those tablets were then “replaced” by a new set of tablets that contained the very same commandments on them! The new set of tablets represented a “renewed covenant,” that was later deposited (written) into the very heart and mind of the bride (Jeremiah 31:31-33, Hebrews 8:10).
The Law of Divorce
According to Deuteronomy (Debariym) 24, once a man divorces his wife (legally), by the writing of a divorce decree, she was then free to marry another man. But she would never be allowed to return to her first husband. Hence, when YaHuWaH divorced the “Ten Northern Tribes” of Yisra’el according to Yirmeyahuw (Jeremiah) 3:8, she was then free to be married to another. And guess what Yisra’el did? She married her “Baalim” (false pagan deities). It is for this reason that Hosea declared:
Howshea (Hosea) 2:7 And she shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not overtake them; and she shall seek them, but shall not find them: then shall she say, I will go and return to my first husband; for then was it better with me than now.
But how could Yisra’el go back to her first husband, (YaHuWaH), when she had already joined herself unto her false gods? The Hebrew word “Ba’al” means “husband, master, lord.” But in the plural form, “Ba’alim” means “husbands.” In other words, Yisra’el had backslidden, as they were worshiping fallen angels (demons), thus joined themselves to Satan!
If YaHuWaH’s own Towrah (law) prevented Yisra’el from being married to him again, how then could Hosea’s prophecy be fulfilled?
Debariym (Deuteronomy) 24:
1 When a man has taken a wife, and married her, and it come to pass that she find no favour in his eyes, because he has found some uncleanness in her: then let him write her a bill of divorcement, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house.
2 And when she is departed out of his house, she may go and be another man’s wife.
3 And if the latter husband hate her, and write her a bill of divorcement, and gives it in her hand, and sends her out of his house; or if the latter husband dies, which took her to be his wife;
4 Her former husband, which sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after that she is defiled; for that is abomination before YHWH: and you shall not cause the land to sin, which YHWH your Elohiym gives you for an inheritance.
Yisra’el was “bound” to this law which prevented her from ever being married to YaHuWaH again!
But YaHuWaH prophesied that he would marry Yisra’el again:
Yeshayahuw (Isaiah) 62:4 You shall no more be termed Forsaken (divorced); neither shall your land any more be termed Desolate: but you shall be called Hephzibah (my delight is in her), and your land Beulah (married) for YHWH delights in you, and your land shall be married.
Yirmeyahuw (Jeremiah) 3:14 Turn, O backsliding children, says YHWH; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city and two of a family, and will bring you to Tziyown (Zion):
As a matter of fact, YaHuWaH commanded the prophet Hosea to marry a prostitute named Gomer to show the nation of Yisra’el an illustration. The very name “Howshea” in Hebrew means “salvation or deliverer.” Howshea was a prophetic picture of YaHuWaH who was married to the nation of Yisra’el. After he married her however, she entered into harlotry with other false pagan deities. But he promised to marry her again and to cleanse her and heal her:
As a matter of fact, YaHuWaH commanded the prophet Hosea to marry a prostitute named Gomer to show the nation of Yisra’el an illustration. The very name “Howshea” in Hebrew means “salvation or deliverer.” Howshea was a prophetic picture of YaHuWaH who was married to the nation of Yisra’el. After he married her however, she entered into harlotry with other false pagan deities. But he promised to marry her again and to cleanse her and heal her:
Howshea (Hosea) 2:
15 And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor (trouble, tribulation, affliction) for a door of hope: and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Mitzrayim (Egypt).
16 And it shall be at that day, says YHWH, that you shall call me Ishi (husband); and shall call me no more Baali (my lord).
17 For I will take away the names of Baalim (lords) out of her mouth, and they shall no more be remembered by their name.
In these prophecies above, we see that although YaHuWaH divorced Yisra’el, he promised to marry her again one day. But the only way that he could do this within the confines of his own Towrah (law), was if he “died” thereby making her free from “The law of divorce” which prevented her from returning to him!
Yisra’el had just entered into a marriage covenant with YaHuWaH and now they were already joining themselves to another pagan deity. Now we understand what Paul was describing below:
Romiym (Romans) 7:3 So then if, while her husband lives, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.
What is the Apostle Sha’uwl (Paul) talking about here? In order to understand what he means, we must find out how YaHuWaH Elohiym dealt with his wife, the nation of Yisra’el in the TaNaKh (Old Testament).
When Yisra’el committed harlotry with the golden calf at Mount Sinai (because of their unbelief), YaHuWaH broke the marriage covenant by having Mosheh (Moses) break the first set of tablets.
Later on in 1st Melekiym (Kings) 12, under direction of King Jeroboam, Yisra’el worshiped the golden calf again at Dan & Mount Ephrayim along with their pagan holidays! Yisra’el never learned their lesson from history. They continued in the same patterns over and over again!
Later on in 1st Melekiym (Kings) 12, under direction of King Jeroboam, Yisra’el worshiped the golden calf again at Dan & Mount Ephrayim along with their pagan holidays! Yisra’el never learned their lesson from history. They continued in the same patterns over and over again!
This was a picture of the sacrifice of Messiah on the Taw (cross). With the second set of tablets, the people had been chastised and they were now in faith. YaHuWaH established a “Renewed Covenant” at Mount Horeb which was identical to the first one, but it was “renewed” by the blood atonement as the Tabernacle was set up according to the exact specifications that YaHuWH commanded through Mosheh (Moses).
Yisra’el later on committed adultery again (with her Baalim) as seen throughout the entire TaNaKh (Old Testament). We especially see this in the book of Hosea, Jeremiah, Amos 5 and in 1st Melekiym (Kings) 12. As I already mentioned before, the word “Ba’al” literally means “lord, master or husband.” Yisra’el had a generic title for all her false gods who had been supposedly reincarnated since the Tower of Babel each year on December 25th.
This pagan sun-god started out as Nimrod, but according to pagan mythology, he was supposedly reincarnated as Tammuz, then Horus, Apollo, Zeus, Krishna, Mithra, Bacchus, etc. and then finally the Gnostics in the first century (following the death of Messiah on the tree) began to preach “Another Yahuwshuwa” or a “false pagan Jesus.” The Apostle Sha’uwl even warned the Corinthians about this in 2nd Corinthians 11:4. And then the Roman Emperor Constantine invented a counterfeit Messiah in the third century----a “false pagan Jesus” born on December 25th to go along with all of these other impostors. Many others were also alleged to have been reincarnated on this date as well.
YaHuWaH was so angry with Yisra’el for committing adultery on him with these pagan deities that he vowed to destroy her as a nation and make her barren and desolate in Yechezqel (Ezekiel) 19. He finally wrote Yisra’el a divorce certificate in Yiremyahuw (Jeremiah) 3:8. Now Yisra’el was married to her “other husbands” (Baalim) the false deities who are purportedly reincarnated each year on December 25th at the winter solstice. But because YaHuWaH loved her so much, he formulated a plan whereby he could marry Yisra’el once again without breaking his own law.
YaHuWaH will not break his own law, therefore, if he divorced Yisra’el in Yirmeyahuw (Jeremiah) 3:8, and he wrote her a certificate of divorce, and then she married these false pagan gods known as “Baal” (husband, lord), YaHuWaH cannot take her back again to be his wife.
But what if the second husband divorced Yisra’el also and the first husband dies? This is exactly what happened!
We read in the prophets, that Yisra’el was divorced twice. She was divorced by YaHuWaH as we read in Yirmeyahuw (Jeremiah) 3:8 and also in Yeshayahuw (Isaiah) 50:1. But she was also divorced again by her false deities (her Baalim). These fallen angels posing as pagan false deities had also forsaken her:
Howshea (Hosea) 2:
30 And when you are spoiled, what will you do? Though you clothe yourself with crimson, though you deck yourself with ornaments of gold, though you rent your face with painting, in vain shall you make yourself fair; your lovers will despise you, they will seek your life.
6 Therefore, behold, I will hedge up your way with thorns, and make a wall, that she shall not find her paths.
7 And she shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not overtake them; and she shall seek them, but shall not find them: then shall she say, I will go and return to my first husband; for then was it better with me than now.
8 For she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold, which they prepared for Baal.
Yirmeyahuw (Jeremiah) 4:
30 And when you are spoiled, what will you do? Though you clothe yourself with crimson, though you deck yourself with ornaments of gold, though you rent your face with painting, in vain shall you make yourself fair; your lovers will despise you, they will seek your life.
31 For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail, and the anguish as of her that brings forth her first child, the voice of the daughter of Tziyown (Zion), that bewails herself, that spreads her hands, saying, Woe is me now! for my soul is wearied because of murderers.
All hope was lost and there seemed to be no remedy for the nation of Yisra’el; for according to Deuteronomy 24, she could never go back to YaHuWaH, her first husband. But YaHuWaH made it possible for the nation of Yisra’el to be married to him again. The only way that he could legally do this was to come to earth in the form of a mortal human being (in corruptible flesh), and then he had to die so that Yisra’el would be “Dead to the law of her husband.” And once Yahuwshuwa Messiah was dead and in the grave, he then resurrected, and this is when Yisra’el was “free” to be married again to him!
When our Messiah resurrected, he put on immortality (incorruption), and that is what enabled Yisra’el to be reunited with her “first husband” according to the prophecy in Hosea 2:7!
You see, Yisra’el deserved to be stoned to death as an adulteress according the Towrah (Mosiac Law), but her husband, YaHuWaH loved her so much that he decided to “die in her place!”
In order for YaHuWaH to take Yisra’el again to be his wife, she had to become a widow. And so what did YaHuWaH do in order to make her his wife again? In Yeshayahuw (Isaiah) 54, it tells us what he did in order to make Yisra’el his wife again:
Yeshayahuw (Isaiah) 54:
1 Sing, O barren, you that did not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, you that did not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, says YHWH.
*Note: The Hebrew word desolate means “divorced, widowed, forsaken.” See the definitions below from the Strong’s Concordance:
#488 ‘alman al-mawn’ prolonged from 481 in the sense of bereavement; discarded (as a divorced person):--forsaken.
#489 ‘almon al-mone’ from 481 as in 488; bereavement:--widowhood.
#490 ‘almanah al-maw-naw’ fem of 488; a widow; also a desolate place:--desolate house (palace), widow.
Yeshayahuw (Isaiah) 54:4 Fear not; for you shall not be ashamed: neither be you confounded; for you shall not be put to shame: for you shall forget the shame of your youth, and shall not remember the reproach of your widowhood any more.
*Note: How did Yisra’el become a widow? She crucified her own husband who came to redeem her in the person of Yahuwshuwa Messiah!
Yeshayahuw (Isaiah) 54:
5 For your Maker is your husband; YHWH of hosts is his name; and your Redeemer the Holy One of Yisra’el; The Elohiym of the whole earth shall he be called.
6 For YHWH has called you as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when you were refused, says your Elohiym.
*Note: Who is the one who created Yisra’el? Colossians 1:16 tells us that Yahuwshuwa Messiah created all things in heaven and in earth. Yahuwshuwa is YaHuWaH himself in human flesh. There is only one savior for Yisra’el and he is YaHuWaH himself who came in the flesh as the Messiah to save her:
Yeshayahuw (Isaiah) 43:11 “... I, even I, am YHWH; and beside me there is no saviour...”
In the next verses of Yeshayahuw (Isaiah) 54, we find out that the next time YaHuWaH marries Yisra’el, it will be as “In the days of Noah.” This means that the earth will be baptized once again, but this time instead of being baptized in water, Yahuwshuwa will baptize the earth in fire. YaHuWaH repented that he had made mankind in Bereshiyth (Genesis) 6:7, and therefore, he water baptized the earth (which is symbolic of repentance). The earth will be baptized in fire and the Holy Spirit by Yahuwshuwa Messiah himself and this will happen once again when the “son of man” comes back to earth “as in the days of Noah” (Matthew 24:37).
Here, YaHuWaH swears that he will no longer be angry with Yisra’el and that he will no longer rebuke her. When Yahuwshuwa Messiah returns to earth for his bride (Yisra’el), the Mount of Olives shall “depart” (Zechariah 14:4) and his kindness towards Yisra’el will never again depart.
His everlasting covenant with Yisra’el will be established at the Millennium with the “wine of the covenant” and at this point, the marriage will be “consummated” and this is when the Renewed Covenant will be fully implemented on that wedding day. The “Renewed Covenant” will take full effect at “The Marriage Supper of the Lamb” with his bride, Yisra’el (along with those grafted-in Gentiles who forsake Babylonian ways).
His everlasting covenant with Yisra’el will be established at the Millennium with the “wine of the covenant” and at this point, the marriage will be “consummated” and this is when the Renewed Covenant will be fully implemented on that wedding day. The “Renewed Covenant” will take full effect at “The Marriage Supper of the Lamb” with his bride, Yisra’el (along with those grafted-in Gentiles who forsake Babylonian ways).
Yeshayahuw (Isaiah) 54:10 For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from you, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, says YHWH that has mercy on you.
In the next verses, we find the prophecy of Revelation 21 being intimated by Yeshayahuw (Isaiah). We read in Revelation 21, about the New Yerushalayim (Jerusalem) which will come down out of heaven as a bride adorned for her husband.
Yeshayahuw (Isaiah) 54:
11 O you afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, behold, I will lay your stones with fair colours, and lay your foundations with sapphires.
12 And I will make your windows of agates, and your gates of carbuncles, and all your borders of pleasant stones.
Chazown (Revelation) 21:
19 And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald;
20 The fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolyte; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst.
Now, let us continue to Romans 7, where the Apostle Sha’uwl (Paul) is drawing a metaphor about the first marriage covenant that YaHuWaH made with Yisra’el (which ended in divorce because of her idolatry). As we already know, the renewed covenant he made with Yisra’el was then sealed in Messiah’s blood.
What we learn is that YaHuWaH himself came to earth in the person of Yahuwshuwa Messiah and laid down his own life for Yisra’el so that he could once again be married to her. Her first husband, YaHuWaH divorced her because of her idolatry with the “Baalim” (husbands, lords), and then her second husband (Satan or the pagan false gods), also end up forsaking her in the last days:
Howshea (Hosea) 2:7 And she shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not overtake them; and she shall seek them, but shall not find them: then shall she say, I will go and return to my first husband; for then was it better with me than now.
And now we understand what the Apostle Sha’uwl (Paul) is talking about in the next verses:
Romiym (Romans) 7:4 Wherefore, my brethren, you also are become dead to the law (of divorce) by the body of Messiah; that you should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto Elohiym.
Now we understand that the first law (in stone) was never meant to be kept because YaHuWaH knew that Yisra’el could not keep a covenant written in stone. He knew that this was impersonal and that we could not keep it this way. So why did he do it? Because YaHuWaH wanted Yisra’el to hear his voice directly at Mount Sinai, but they refused! And so what did he do on the day of Pentecost (Shabuoth)? He did the very thing that he had intended to do at Sinai. He restored our ability to “hear his voice” by writing his laws in our hearts and in our minds!
Elohiym was always after “relationship” and not merely some mechanical obedience to written instructions in stone or in scrolls. And so the first “law” (in stone) was made into human flesh in the person of Yahuwshuwa. Yahuwshuwa is “The word became flesh” (John 1:1) and he was crucified on the Taw (cross). His corruptible body (like those stone tablets) were broken, and so the “law” (the living word) was destroyed in its corruptible form. But this very same “law” (in the person of Yahuwshuwa) was resurrected into an incorruptible form!
The very same Towrah (Yahuwshuwa, the living word) is with us once again in a “renewed body” who presents us with a “Renewed Covenant.” This Renewed Covenant presented to us by the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost (Shabuwoth) is called “The law of the spirit of life”(Romans 8:1-3). It is the very same “law” (marriage contract) only now it is incorruptible and it is written not with ink but in “Fleshy tables of the heart” (2nd Corinthians 3:3).
Romiym (Romans) 7:5 For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.
Here, Sha’uwl (Paul) is explaining that sin was made evident in our lives by the presence of the “written law” (in stone, or scrolls). He pre-qualifies this by saying “when we were in the flesh.” In other words, the “law” in stone tablets only brings death when we are in the flesh!
But now he goes on to say “We are delivered from the law in stone” so that we can serve in the “Newness of the Holy Spirit” and not in the “Oldness of the letter.” He is making it very obvious now that the Torah (law) in it’s corruptible form (in stone or scrolls) could not make it’s way into men’s hearts in that form. But now in the “newness” of the Holy Spirit, we have the very same law but no longer “detached” from us or impersonal. The very same laws become very “intimate” as the Holy Spirit causes us to have our hearts circumcised, and the “veil” which once covered our hearts is now lifted in the very same way that the “veil” in the temple was torn in two enabling us to come into the Holy of Holies (in the king’s chamber).
The Bride Understands the Love Letters Under the Renewed Covenant
How do we know that this is a “Renewed Covenant” and not a brand new one?
In Yirmeyahuw (Jeremiah) 31:31 this prophecy is being spoken of for this first time in scripture:
31 Behold, the days come, says YHWH, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Yisra’el, and with the house of Judah:
The Hebrew word for “new” in this verse is seen below:
#2318 chadash khaw-dash’ a primitive root; to be new; causatively, to rebuild:--renew, repair.
It was an act of mercy to protect her! He could have opted to have her destroyed (stoned to death) according to the Mosaic Law (Torah), but instead, he took another option that was already provided for in the Torah. This “other option” is detailed in Debariym (Deuteronomy) 24 where a husband could protect her from being stoned to death by simply “divorcing her quietly” which is what Yahuwceph (Joseph) almost did with Miryam (Mary) in Matthithyahuw (Matthew) 1:19.
His everlasting covenant with Yisra’el was not broken on his part, but he had to make it legally binding in order to protect her from the “law of sin and death.”
Therefore, Messiah’s mission on earth at his first coming was to “renew, repair, and rebuild” the very same marriage covenant that YaHuWaH made with Yisra’el, only this time it is a permanent covenant that will never be broken because his blood is perfect and is the permanent atonement for sins when we repent.
It is as if we are now reading all of the “love letters” that he wrote for us in the TaNaKh (Old Testament), but because our hearts were hardened to him, and we had the foreskin over our hearts (the veil which covered our hearts from seeing him), that we could not see or understand.
But now under the Renewed Covenant, this “veil” or foreskin is removed from our hearts and the “love letters” (Mosaic Law or Towrah) finds it’s way into our hearts now!
But now under the Renewed Covenant, this “veil” or foreskin is removed from our hearts and the “love letters” (Mosaic Law or Towrah) finds it’s way into our hearts now!
Rebecca Park Totilo, author of “His Majesty Request,” cites the Talmud in the Midrash:
“....Just as a bride cherishes her beautiful ketuwbah (written marriage contract) for its rich promises, the Bride of Messiah must cherish her ketubah, the Towrah & B’rit Hadashah (New Covenant or Testament), which is full of promises from our Bridegroom,Yahuwshuwa. If we do not keep our covenant, we will be as like the foolish, unable to enter in and consummate the marriage. For there can be no marital relations if it is lost or destroyed (not fulfilled)...”
Aha! Now we see that the bride of Messiah must have the Towrah (written Ketuwbah) or marriage contract on her in order to enjoy intimacy or consummation of the marriage! Without the Towrah, there can be no wedding!
Yisra’el read the Torah (Law) all those years and it did not transform her. It did not make her want to serve YaHuWaH. Her heart was bent on idolatry because the corruptible form of the Law could not change her. But now these very same “laws” (love letters) come alive as we read it under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and he brings new meaning to the Torah (law). Now, under the Renewed Covenant, Yisra’el “has eyes to see and ears to hear” what her maker, her husband YaHuWaH, was trying to say to her all along, but she could not understand.
It is like a “bride to be” who has love letters sent to her from afar by her betrothed future husband who is gone away to war. His words cannot adequately convey his love for her. While he is away, she longs for those words in those letters to take on human flesh with arms to hold her. And so in his absence, she is tempted to find a convenient substitute in the arms of a strange lover. When her “husband-to-be” arrives home, and finds her cheating, he breaks off the engagement and ends the covenant.
But he loves her still, so he goes off to war again and is killed in battle. When she finds out that he is dead, she regrets what she did, and she mourns for him. But he is revived on the operating table with resuscitation, and now he is alive again! Now she never wants to be away from him.
He returns back home to his beloved from war again, but this time, he forms a brand new engagement with her. He takes the old engagement ring, and melts down the gold, and makes a “renewed” engagement ring using the same melted gold and the same diamond. He completely destroys the “old marriage contract” (ketubah) and forms a brand new one with her. But the contents of the ketubah are the very same terms and conditions (laws). The new marriage covenant are not a new set of laws. It is only presented in a brand new way.
He gives her all the same letters that he had written to her before. But this time, he reads them out loud to her in her very presence and she sees his facial expressions as he reads his letters to her out loud. She weeps and mourns when she realizes that his heart was sincere all along. When she cheated on him it was because she doubted. She was merely reading his words “in the letter.”
Now she has his words “engraved in her heart” as she remembers every voice inflection, every facial expression, the eye contact he makes as he reads these letters to her.
Now she is watching his body language, and suddenly the love letters are coming to life right before her eyes!
*Now let us continue with Sha’uwl’s (Paul’s) letter to the Romans:
Romiym (Romans) 7:6 But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.
Did you see what he said? Yisra’el is delivered from the “old” way that she read those love letters, and now she is serving her husband in the “newness of the spirit” behind those letters. The letters are not merely empty words to her but now she reads them with a brand new heart!
Sha’uwl (Paul) continues:
Romiym (Romans) 7:7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Elohiym forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, You shall not covet.
Sha’uwl (Paul) emphatically states here “is the law of Elohiym a sin?” and he replies Elohiym FORBID! He says that without the Law of YaHuWaH, we would not know what sin is.
Romiym (Romans) 7:8 But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead.
After Yisra’el’s husband divorced her in Yirmeyahuw (Jeremiah) 3:8, she was “dead to the law” that he gave her. In his absence she no longer saw herself as an adulteress because she no longer had the marriage contract there to remind her that she was an adulteress.
Romiym (Romans) 7:9 For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.
Sha’uwl (Paul) is illustrating that without the law (instructions) Yisra’el was like Abraham. She had relationship with Elohiym just as Abraham did. But when she became a slave to sin in Egypt, YaHuWaH had to redeem her from sin and from Egyptian slavery. But once that marriage contract was established with Yisra’el, her sinful nature became evident because her very nature was to commit adultery and to go after other gods.
The law exposed her sinful nature, and suddenly she is seeing herself as she really is. Her character is being shown to her. Without the marriage contract (Torah) Yisra’el did not see herself as an adulteress. She was like Abram (who started out as pagan) in the land of the Chaldeans, but she did not see herself as a heathen. The law showed her that she still was an adulteress from her heart, even though she was redeemed out of Egyptian bondage physically.
What is Sha’uwl (Paul) explaining here in the next verses? He is explaining that the Towrah (law) is qodesh (holy) because the marriage covenant that YaHuWaH made with Yisra’el was always holy from the start. But what caused this covenant to destroy her?
It was her very own adulterous nature that ended up destroying Yisra’el. Without the Towrah (marriage contract), she would not be legally married to YaHuWaH and therefore she would not be considered an adulteress. She still had an adulterous heart by nature, but she did not know it, because the Towrah (law) was not there to show her that she had an adulterous heart.
It was her very own adulterous nature that ended up destroying Yisra’el. Without the Towrah (marriage contract), she would not be legally married to YaHuWaH and therefore she would not be considered an adulteress. She still had an adulterous heart by nature, but she did not know it, because the Towrah (law) was not there to show her that she had an adulterous heart.
Romiym (Romans) 7:
10 And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death.
11 For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me.
12 Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.
13 Was then that which is good made death unto me? Elohiym forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.
14 For we know that the Towrah (law) is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.
15 For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.
16 If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the Torah (law) that it is good.
17 Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwells in me.
18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwells no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwells in me.
21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.
Sha’uwl (Paul) just described “another law” which is at work in his body. It is a law that makes him want to break the Laws of YaHuWaH. That “law” is called “the law of sin and death.”
Sha’uwl (Paul) just explained in the verses above, that the Towrah (laaw) of YaHuWaH is “holy, good & just,” but we as humans are wicked and deceitful (Jeremiah 17:9). There is no good thing in mankind. All we like sheep are gone astray. There is none that does good---no not one. All have sinned and have come short of the glory of Elohiym. So then what has to die? The “sinful nature” inside of us must die, and the “law” in its corruptible form (impersonal stone, the letter without relationship), that also must die.
The New Covenant Not Fully Implemented Until the Marriage Supper of the Lamb
Now the “law” is alive again in the person of Yahuwshuwa Messiah and he has given us the very same “marriage covenant” which, by the way is not fully implemented yet until the Millennial Kingdom when he drinks the “wine of the covenant” with his bride and celebrates a Sabbath rest with her for 1,000 years.
Until then, we only have the “first fruits” of our redemption, the engagement ring or the “seal” of the Holy Spirit. The marriage covenant has not been “consummated” yet until the Feast of Tabernacles when the bride of Messiah, celebrate the “marriage supper of the lamb” (Revelation 19).
Romiym (Romans) 8:23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
In the above scripture, Paul is explaining that we have received the “first fruits” of the Holy Spirit as a type of “engagement ring” or a seal to make the covenant sure (on his part). But we are still waiting for the “adoption” which is the redemption of our body!
In the parable of the ten virgins, all ten virgins started out with the Holy Spirit (symbolized by oil in their lamps) but only five wise virgins made it into the marriage. Why? Because we must “overcome sin” or we will have our names blotted out of the book of life (Revelation 3:5). We must continue to the end and move on unto “perfection” by working out our own salvation with “fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12).
Sha’uwl (Paul) continues:
Romiym (Romans) 7:
22 For I delight in the law of Elohiym after the inward man:
23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
*Notice that Sha’uwl (Paul) describes two laws above in verse 23:
1.) Another law that works within his members called the law of sin.
2.) The law of his mind which desires to obey the law of YHWH.
Here, Sha’uwl (Paul) says that he “delights in the law of Elohiym” in his inward man, but he sees another law that is at work in his body (his members) and this other law is always at war with the Laws of Elohiym making him want to sin.
This “other law” in his members (the law of sin and death) brings him into captivity to sin. And so Sha’uwl (Paul) admits that the Towrah (law) of Elohiym does not bring him into bondage, but it is his own sinful nature that brings him into bondage.
Sha’uwl (Paul) goes on to say that it is his “body” that brings death, not the law of YaHuWaH at all:
Romiym (Romans) 7:24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
You see, a wine-skin is like a canteen made of animal skins sewed together. When wine begins to ferment, the fermentation has leaven in it (symbolic of sin), and this makes the wine expand, and the wine-skin begins to burst because it cannot withstand the expansion of the wine.
But the “new wine” of the renewed marriage covenant has no “leaven” or sin in it, and Yahuwshuwa’s blood had no sin in it. His blood is a metaphor of the wine with no leaven (yeast symbolic of sin). When we receive this Renewed Covenant, we have the sinless blood of Yahuwshuwa Messiah which cleanses us. But in order for us to hold that new wine, we must die to the old wine-skin. We must become a brand new wine-skin that will never burst. When we are “born-again” we first receive a “new wine skin” to hold the new wine which is a new nature. This new nature is like a down payment to the new body we will receive when we are resurrected!
Not only is the wine (the blood) brand new, because it is “unfermented” (without yeast or sin), but the new wine-skin is our “new container” (our new bodies) that we will receive at the resurrection. When the bride puts on incorruption, she will be able to hold the “new wine.”
So you see, we have the “seal” of the Holy Spirit through his sinless blood (the unfermented wine of his covenant) but we do not have the “new container” yet until we receive the “redemption of the body.” Until then, we only have the “engagement ring” but the Renewed Covenant is not fully implemented in the earth until the “bridegroom” comes back and we drink the wine of the covenant with him in his kingdom!
Romiym (Romans) 7:25 I thank Elohiym through Yahuwshuwa Messiah our Master. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of Elohiym; but with the flesh the law of sin.
Aha! So Sha’uwl (Paul) now reveals the true meaning of this letter! He says that he “serves the law of Elohiym with his mind” yet with his flesh he desires to serve “The law of sin and death.”
Sha’uwl (Paul) is once again blowing apart this lie of Satan that we no longer should obey the laws of YaHuWaH! Sha’uwl (Paul) just said that he desires to serve the law of Elohiym with his mind, but his flesh wars against the Holy Spirit in him causing him to want to obey the law of sin and death.
The battle is between the “flesh” (the law of sin and death) and “The law of the spirit of life” (the law deposited into us by the Holy Spirit).
And how do we overcome “The law of sin and death?”
Shemoth (Exodus) 25:16 And you shall put into the ark the testimony which I shall give you.
In other words “The word of our testimony” is the Towrah (law) of YaHuWaH deposited into our hearts!
In other words “The word of our testimony” is the Towrah (law) of YaHuWaH deposited into our hearts!
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