Gods Plan Of Salvation By Art Mokarow

God never demands of humans what they cannot do.  Only God is good (Matthew 19:17).  Since only God is good, He is the only One who knows what goodness is.  Therefore, God is the only One who knows how to give goodness to mankind.

God’s Glory

When Israel sinned, God was going to kill them and build another nation from The Tribe of Levi.  Moses intervened and God agreed to keep Israel as His people, but from that point on, an angel or messenger was to lead them.  This messenger, with God’s name as his authority, would show them no mercy and they had to keep The Law of Moses, perfectly.  If they sinned, they received a curse for which they had to give a sacrifice, make restitution or in the case of capitol crimes, be put to death (Exodus 23:20-21).

Moses agreed, but insisted he wanted God to reveal Himself, in order to know that God was with them.  God told Moses He could not show Himself, lest he (Moses) would die, but He would reveal His glory.  God’s “glory” in Hebrew is “Shekinah,” which when translated conveys “riches and blessings.”  God’s glory is weighty – full of the wealth of God’s prosperity.

Read what Moses asked of God and what God told him.  “And he (Moses) said, ‘I beseech thee, show me thy glory.  And he said, I will make all my goodness [Shekinah] pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy” (Exodus 33:18-19).

Then, God placed Moses in the cleft of a rock and placed His hand over Moses, as He passed by (Exodus 33:22-23).  But God, only, revealed the back parts of His glory.

God’s glory is composed of all of God’s goodness, which only God has and, therefore, it is only God who can make you good.  Notice what Jesus said, as a human, just before He was crucified, “And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.” (John 17:5).  Jesus knew, as long as He was in the flesh, He was not good (Matthew 19).  He knew He needed God’s “glory,” which is all God’s “righteousness” or blessings of His riches.  Christ wanted God’s righteousness and not His, while He was human.  Jesus wanted God’s glory, as He had when He was God’s “word.”  This is God’s “Shekinah” blessings.  In the resurrection, Christians will receive all of God’s blessings and glory which is Salvation.  This is The Gospel or The Good News from God.

All Nations Accepted

Who does God accept to give His “gospel of glory” to?  In Acts, after Peter heard Cornelius (The Roman Centurion) Peter said, “Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: But in every nation he that fears him, and works righteousness, is accepted with him.” (Acts 10:34-35).  No denomination, religion or philosophy, nor race, gender, or anyone from any nation, if they fear God and work righteousness, is accepted by Him.

Those who do, are called God-fearers!  They fear God and want to obey Him, but they must all work to actually be righteous by their faith.  The Greek word for “fear” is “Phobeo,” which means, “so frightening one wants to run away.”  The Greek for “worketh” is not “ergo” or “deeds,” but “ergozomai” which means, “hard labor, like pulling an ox out of the ditch.”  The ox resists you.  Anyone, of any nation, who follows these requirements, God accepts.  You must all be God-fearers when you are called to the truth.  What is truth?

The Torah

The Torah is not The Law of Moses.  The Law of Moses was added to The Torah 430 years after Abraham (Galatians 3:17).  The Old Covenant Law had curses (Deuteronomy 28) and Israel did not need faith.  If anyone did not obey all The Law of Moses, they received a curse.  Remember, the angel gave no mercy.  All The Law could do is reveal what sin was (I John 3:4).  Keeping The Law couldn’t give Salvation.  Only following The Torah could.

The Way

“Torah” in Hebrew, does not mean a law.  The Torah conveys “the ideas of learning a path or a way.”  Its root means, “to shoot an arrow.”  It is the way to Salvation.  Notice what Jesus said, when His friend Lazarus, was dead, “I am the resurrection, and the life; he that believe in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever live and believe in me shall never die.  Believe you this?” (John 11:25-26).  This is how The Apostle Paul defined the meaning of The Torah in Galatians 3:24, “Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.”  It isn’t the keeping of The Law which gives you Salvation but how much you believe The Messiah, The Christ.  Christ is The Torah.  God is The Torah.  It is The Torah that gives you Salvation.  That is why Jesus made this statement to His Disciples before He died, “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man come unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6).  It can’t be any simpler.  Christ is The Torah.

The Law of Moses was given to Israel because they had a wrong heart (Deuteronomy 5:29).  Because of their heart they did not know “wrong” from “right.”  They needed The Law to tell them what sin was (I John 3:4).  When they kept being cursed by The Law it should have brought them to Christ or The Covenant given to Abraham, (Salvation through Christ), which was The Torah.  Now you know The Law of Moses cannot give Salvation or God’s “righteousness.”  In another of my books, The History of The Law, you will read (of Moses) why it is holy, just and good.