Articles
Words or Weeds
Barbara L. Klika, MSW, Undershepherd, Life Coach
October 2018
Written for Wisconsin Christian Newspaper
The general instruction given to someone who is interested to know more about Christianity is to begin to read the Book of John, skipping over the foundation, what is called the “Old” Testament. This is a subtle or perhaps even unconscious rejection of the Whole Word of God, rather like picking up a novel and starting at, say, chapter 42, expecting to fully comprehend what is going on so as to fully enjoy the conclusion.
Because the foundation of the Whole Truth is skipped over, it is very difficult for people to know whether something is really of the Word or if it is a weed! Our Father has allowed a division to occur and endure for two thousand years. But it will not be forever!
Our Father-- the Creator of all things-- created all things through the Son, Who is from the Beginning, Who was with God and Who was God. In His Word, we see the awesome inspiration and revelation of the many themes and patterns of events He allowed to occur to teach us His ways. He created man in His own image for relationship, not because He needed anything, but because He wanted relationship. These patterns are there in the Word for those with eyes to see and a heart to seek after Him, not being blinded by weeds that were added in. One very significant theme to follow through the whole Word is the pattern of seven’s: the seven days of Creation, the seven Spirits of God that rest on Messiah Yeshua/Jesus, the seven Feasts or appointed times that He identified as how we are to worship Him, the seven assemblies and their strengths and weaknesses. All of these are correlated and teach a cohesive message, from the beginning to the end.
Many do not realize that the “appointed times” that are often called the “Jewish Feasts” are not “Jewish” at all but belong to the Father. “Ad” is a transliteration of the Hebrew word for eternity-- a “mem” or “m” sound as a prefix means “belonging to” and the plurality is shown in the Hebrew masculine plural ending, “im.” The Feast Days, “moedim,” are from or belonging to eternity. These are the days our Father designed for us as the way we are to walk. They show us what He desires of us as well as picturing the work of Messiah.
When sin entered in, the relationship between mankind and our Creator was severely damaged. Perhaps it is commonly understood that sin entered through one man, and that our Father had a plan to correct this situation. Salvation came through the obedience of the Son, Who made a way back to the Father for all those who will accept Him.
A way “back” to the Father, to relationship with Him, a renewal on the way to the final renewal when all things will be restored, when heaven rolls up like a scroll and the New Jerusalem descends. That dilemma in the first garden over which tree was to be sought and which to be avoided has played out over and over through the generations, but ultimately, those who have received Messiah’s atoning work will have washed their robes in His shed blood, and put on His righteousness, and will be permitted access once again to the Tree of Life in His garden.
It is not just a way forward to pick up in the middle of the story and expect to fully understand what it means to be restored to the Father! His ways go back to the beginning! This is why Cain’s sacrifice was not acceptable while Abel’s was: they knew which Feast Day it was and what the acceptable offeringwas. Cain just decided to do his own thing.
Our adversary knew full well the significance of the foundation of walking after Messiah in the ways of the Father when he declared his intention to be “like God” and to usurp praise intended for the real Most High God. He declared his intent to sit atop the “moedim,” the appointed Feasts, and redirect the worship that he desired for himself. He replaced what the Father had decreed was to be done by those who love Him with other holidays and traditions which are NOT in the Word, and should be recognizedas weeds!
If one who desires to know God only picks up the Book near the end, they will not understand that the Holy Spirit that rested on Messiah Yeshua/Jesus Christ Who is One with the Father, has seven aspects, as described in Isaiah 11. When we receive His work on our behalf, this seven fold Spirit takes up residence in us as well. They are all united and fed by the central authority of the Holy Spirit as one, yet have seven aspects: Wisdom, understanding, counsel, Power, knowledge, Reverence under His authority making seven. If they only read English, they will not understand that the words carry much different connotations when understood at their source. “Wisdom” does NOT refer to what “the world system” considers to be wise, or to what we learn through the natural course of the years, but to what the Word defines as of YHVH—what He declares is wise. Worldly wisdom is a weed! The “understanding” referred to here is the ability to use God’s definitions of wisdom to rightly separate and categorize what is of Him (the Word) and what is not, (the weed.) When one is operating in the authority of these two aspects of the Spirit, it will lead to the provision of “counsel” that is wise: that draws on the wisdom of God and expresses itself by correctly discerning what is Word and what is weed, and thus offering God honoring counsel. So much more to this, but I will stop there now.
And that first of seven Feasts, those appointed times that the adversary does NOT want us to know about, let alone observe, has to do with the Passover. Christians will generally recognize the picture of Jesus as the Lamb Who was slain, but they may easily not know the significance of the First feast. It provided a picture of that salvation from death, which is pictured as the Israelites were being released from slavery in Egypt, by staying in the house, under the covering of the blood of the Lamb on their doorposts. To stay “in the house” is another metaphor, which refers to staying in the family, under the authority of the Father; to stay in the house is to stay out of the weeds!
But how do we know what house to stay in? Is it Jesus’ house? Yes and no! It is His House, but it also MUST be the same as His Father’s House, since He said that He did nothing on His own but only what the Father is doing. At no time did He ever change the directives, though He did a LOT of clarifying what was meant to correct the many distortions that had crept in since the beginning…weeds!
All of those “weeds” that crept in from the beginning until Jesus first coming are indeed comparable to the weeds that have crept in in the time since His first coming till now.
What about those metaphors that speak of the end times and the wedding feast? Yeshua turned away those who hopefully expected to enter in with Him by telling them He didn’t know them and that they were workers of lawlessness…we might say they didn’t recognize the weeds to separate out from the Word. And the parable of the wedding feast where people came in but were not wearing the wedding garments provided for them: they had not distinguished what the correct way to walk and prepare was, and so were ushered out. Their “wisdom” and “understanding” by the genuine Holy Spirit was not functioning, or heeded? Therefore, they couldn’t rightly choose between Word and weed.
As genuine Believers, we must be able to draw on His Holy Spirt, in the aspects of wisdom and understanding, to be able to offer wise counsel to others and make good plans ourselves. If we have not yet recognized that His work on our behalf restored us to relationship with the Father, we may fail to recognize the honor of being able to sit with Him at the right hand of the Father. We may not yet have fully chosen the correct house within which to remain, nor the correct path to walk after Him through the appointed times. Rightly discerning between the Word and weeds will ensure that we have the correct wedding garments and will be recognized by Messiah. The genuine leading of the Holy Spirit in all these aspects must be confirmed by His Whole Word or else we will fall among the weeds.
He has shown us all seven aspects of His way to walk. Will we walk there? If not, we will start at the wrong house. We must go back to the beginning to be certain we are on His path.
The_Word_or_Weeds_Oct_2018.pdf