Follow Me

Twenty-two times in the gospels, Yahshua is recorded as saying these words...follow me. As a Christian, I thought I was following him. But I was not. You see, in order to follow someone, you must go where they go, you must walk as they walk, you must do what they do. "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me." Following requires action. You cannot follow someone by simply believing something about them. "If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love." What are the Father's commandments? They are the same commandments that He gave to Israel through Moses. “And you shall know that יהוה your Elohim, He is Elohim, the trustworthy Ěl guarding covenant and loving-commitment for a thousand generations with those who love Him, and those who guard His commands, but repaying those who hate Him to their face, to destroy them. He does not delay to do so with him who hates Him, He repays him to his face. And you shall guard the command, and the laws, and the right-rulings which I command you today, to do them. And it shall be, because you hear these right-rulings, and shall guard and do them, that יהוה your Elohim shall guard with you the covenant and the loving-commitment which He swore to your fathers,” Deḇarim (Deuteronomy) 7:9-12 Yahshua followed his Father's commands. He rested on the Sabbath. He ate only what the Father declared to be clean. He observed the moedim (the feasts and appointed times). He didn't bear false witness, or covet, or steal, or murder. He came to be our atoning sacrifice for sin, but he also came to be our example. Maybe you've been taught that the Messiah followed the law perfectly and that means that you don't have to. Well, that's right and it's wrong. But mostly wrong. You see, because Yahshua is the final and eternal atoning sacrifice for sin, we have forgiveness for when we do sin. So we are not required to follow the Torah perfectly. But the reason that Yahshua said, "Follow me" is because in order to be in the covenant, we must choose to live by the terms of the covenant. “Today יהוה your Elohim is commanding you to do these laws and right-rulings. And you shall guard and do them with all your heart and with all your being. “You have today caused יהוה to proclaim to be your Elohim, and to walk in His ways and guard His laws, and His commands, and His right-rulings, and to obey His voice. “And יהוה has caused you to proclaim today to be His people, a treasured possession, as He has spoken to you, and to guard all His commands, “so as to set you high above all nations which He has made, for a praise, and for a name, and for esteem, and for you to be a set-apart people to יהוה your Elohim, as He has spoken.” ‭‭Deḇarim (Deuteronomy)‬ ‭26:16-19‬ And if you still think that Deuteronomy doesn't apply to Christians, let's take a look at Revelation 22 “He who does wrong, let him do more wrong; he who is filthy, let him be more filthy; he who is righteous, let him be more righteous; he who is set-apart, let him be more set-apart. And see, I am coming speedily, and my reward is with me, to give to each according to his work. I am the ‘Aleph’ and the ‘Taw’, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last. Blessed are those doing His commands, so that the authority shall be theirs unto the tree of life, and to enter through the gates into the city.” ‭‭Ḥazon (Revelation)‬ ‭22:11-14‬ "Follow me" isn't simply about belief...it's about obedience to the Father's commands. 

- Until His Return