Scripture reveals that God hides himself. In Isaiah 45:15 it says, “Truly you are a God who has been hiding himself, the God and Savior of Israel.” Proverbs 25:2 says, “It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings.” The Rabbis say that in heaven God is fully revealed, but here on earth He is as concealed as possible. In fact, God is so concealed here, unless you seek him out and are taught His ways, He is completely unknown to you. We are even capable of denying the existence of a creator; it may not make sense to us in our way of thinking but it is God’s way of doing things.
Good and Evil Inclination
God created this world to be a dwelling place for Him and chose our actions as a means to dwell here through them. We can read the Bible, listen to preachers, and see “Jesus Saves” on billboards and it is still possible not to understand that God wants to reveal himself to the world through us following His instructions. For example, if you have never read the scriptures from the original Hebrew text, it can sometimes be difficult to get a clear understanding of what was written in them. Jews wrote these scriptures, and if you are not reading the translation from a Jewish perspective, it can be even more difficult to have a true understanding of what God revealed through them. Example, Deuteronomy 6:5 says
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”
When you read this same passage in the Hebrew language you will see that it says you are to serve God with your good and bad heart (good and evil inclination). Here is an explanation with a Jewish perspective:
with all your heart: Hebrew it says: בְּכָל-לְבָבְךָ [The double “veth” in לְבָבְךָ, instead of the usual form לִבְּךָ, suggests:] Love Him with your two inclinations [the good and the evil]. (Sifrei; Ber. 54a)
With the understanding you have a good and bad heart inside of you, learn to love God with both of them. This foundational understanding to know God has put both good and evil within you allows you the choice to rule over the evil with the good. Paul uses the following terms often, “flesh” (evil) and “spirit” (good), as an example in Galatians 5:16-17. Bottom line is, God hides Himself, and He wants to make sure we are seeking Him with all of our heart to find him.
Water Within Water
In Genesis Chapter 1 it says when the “earth was formless and empty … the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” Then it says, “…Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water… so God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. God called the vault sky.” What is important to note in these versus is that if you read this from a perspective of trying to figure out how the world was created, you may come up with one explanation, but if you read this from a perspective of this is explaining where God is dwelling, you see an entirely different perspective. The waters above reveal a spiritual world where God is fully revealed because God’s spirit is hovering above the waters, and the waters below where God’s spirit is not hovering, can indicate God is concealed. From this perspective the earth is kind of like a world within a world (water within water). According to Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi God wanted to dwell in this world, and He chose to do this through our actions. From the beginning God chose to give us the Torah as a guide on how to live this life with God, and He initially gave it through Adam, and in turn each person helped teach their family and friends to know how God wanted everyone to live.
According to Jewish tradition, the Instructions (Torah) passed from Adam up to Abraham and took 20 generations before Abraham gave them to Isaac, who in turn gave them to Jacob. Noah’s grandfather lived during the time of Adam, and Noah also lived during the time of Abraham. There were sufficient instructions given to Abraham, and it is very clear why God made a covenant with Abraham when he said in Genesis 26
“…because Abraham obeyed me and did everything, I required of him, keeping my commands, my decrees and my instructions.”
Abraham got the Oral Torah from Noah and Shem, and Abraham followed the Instructions.
God Uses Us to Reveal Himself
It is our responsibility to do our job of learning and applying God’s commandments, so God can use us to reveal Himself to the next generation. We then have to take action by faith and apply what we learn and teach our family and friends. As an example, Noah learned enough from his family to prepare an ark, Jacob learned enough from Abraham and Isaac for him to understand his place in the Kingdom, Moses was able to do his part because of what Joseph did, and Jesus was able to do His part because Moses and all the Prophets had done their part. Every generation gets more revelation of God than the previous one, and when they do, they are responsible to act on what they understand.
In the generation when Jesus our Messiah returns, the book of Revelation says it will not be good for that generation because they did not repent. We have a clear order to preach the Gospel, and the good news is the Kingdom of God is coming and we need to repent and go through the process to be ready. With the knowledge of God this generation has today, it is important NOT TO allow distractions to interfere with your repentance journey. God wants to reveal Himself to your friends and family through you. Repentance will lead you to keep God’s commandments. Jesus said you will know you love Him by keeping His commandments. His commandments are in the Torah, and you learn them through a lifetime of study and applying them in your life and making corrections as you grow.
Applying the Instructions in Your Jurisdiction
When you start learning the Torah it can seem overwhelming at first, but as you continue to study it, God reveals himself more and more through it. As an example, when you start learning about the Sabbath in the Bible, you see the Sabbath everywhere. As you start keeping Sabbath at any level, it starts to make more sense. In the same way it is difficult to understand the Torah without applying what you learn at some level. For many it takes studying the Torah for a year or two before they even think about applying what they learn. It is very important to understand applying God’s commandments in your life is not a salvation issue. It is a way to measure where you are in your revelation of God. You cannot understand God the way He wants you to without keeping the commandments. God adds another layer of revelation of Himself through different jurisdictions. Many of us are still debating these jurisdiction laws and trying to figure them out just as they were during the time of the Apostles. For example, Jews are required to live under specific instructions that Gentiles are not obligated to live under. Different jurisdictions exist even amongst the Jews. There are specific instructions for men and women, different instructions for a king and a priest, different instructions specifically for living in Israel, and different laws for living outside of Israel. Another caveat is that if you choose to reject God’s instructions God will not hear your prayers. You will live in sin and you will not understand the basic moral laws of God such as do not steal, lie, or hurt your neighbor. Isaiah 59:2 says
“But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.”
Shortly after Jesus’ ascension, many thought you had to be a Jew if you were going to believe in Jesus. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 7:17-20 that if you are a Jew stay a Jew, and if you are Gentile stay a Gentile, and the Apostles still explained in Acts 15:22-29 that followers of Jesus are still under some of the requirements and the jurisdictions explained in the Torah. This is where it is very important to understand the 7 Noahide Laws. Jesus said you have to listen to His teachings and do them to have a solid foundation or your house will fall. It is difficult to listen and do what Jesus teaches without a Jewish understanding. Jesus even said in John 4 that
“Salvation comes through the Jews.”
From this perspective, perhaps the master plan is for God to hide Himself and us to seek Him, and then figure it out together as a community. Which means, it has to be done with the Jews. It takes unity and people working together. It takes a lifetime of commitment, and multiple generations to achieve greater understanding. It takes Jews and Gentiles to work together and work through the repentant process. That is why Jesus has to come back and reign as king for 1000 years, to enforce the Torah and then implement His final plan of redemption in order for God to come and live amongst us here.
Why does God Hide Himself so Much from Humanity
It comes down to this – He wants to be sure you really love Him and desire Him. He gives you time to work through life, and gives you a mustard seed of faith to cultivate, and it has the potential to be so big that others can grow from it. The bible says Abraham’s faith was counted as righteousness because he believed. Abraham believed so much that he obeyed God’s commandments. Abraham was not even looking to events in his lifetime, but was looking forward to the Kingdom that would come through his seed.
God wants us to work through the process of repentance, and as we grow in our love for God and He reveals Himself more, we will figure it out. As we figure it out, we will love Him the way He intended, by us keeping His Commandments. Then God will be revealed through your life’s example, and the people in your life will be impacted.
This discussion will continue in part 2.
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