The Rabbis say the first 5 books of the Bible, the Torah, are said to have one big story with multiple smaller stories within them, and they all have the same plot. The Torah has a single theme, full of topics, that God specifically chose to place in there to explain to all past and future generations how to deal with life. The Torah explains how to be successful and know God, and it helps us understand all the authority that is from God.
In the first story, in the beginning, God was not hidden from humanity; He wanted us to recognize He created the world for us to enjoy. He knew we would make decisions incorrectly, and He wanted us to rely on Him to tell us what was good and evil. Our default decision making process is based on desire, not on facts. What we like always seems good, and what we don’t like seems evil (this is not always truth). From the beginning God said not to eat of the Tree of Good and Evil, but Adam and Eve ate of it anyway because they thought it seemed good. Because they rejected the instructions of not eating from the Tree and rejected God’s authority of what was good and evil, they hid themselves from God. God originally did not want to be hidden, but Adam and Eve chose to hide themselves from Him. In Genesis 3:9 it says
“…God called to the man and said to him, where are you?”
In the next story in the Bible, God lovingly approaches Cain and asks him in Genesis 4:6-7
“Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.”
Then a couple verse later God asks, “Where is Abel your brother? He said, I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?” At that point the relationship with God and Cain changed. Cain no longer took the responsibility of loving his neighbor, and now he even chose to not recognize his sin. His punishment was worse than that of his parents. For Adam and Eve, the land was cursed, but for Cain the land was not only cursed, but his land would never produce anything again (Genesis 4:11-15). He was now a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth. Everything that was a blessing to him was now a curse.
God Wants to be Revealed
Let us address the question from Part 1 again, “Why does God Hide Himself so much from humanity?” First, God does not want to hide Himself from humanity, but just like Adam and Eve did, we hide ourselves from Him because of our actions of disobedience. God wants to be revealed, but He wants people to accept His authority first before He reveals Himself to them. He will only reveal Himself as we prove we accept His authority as Jesus says in John 14:21
“Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”
You have to prove you accept God’s authority in order to gain revelation of God. It also says in Proverbs 28:9
“If one turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer is an abomination.”
God originally created an environment for us to dwell together in where He chooses what is good or evil for us. As long as we recognize His authority, God makes Himself known to us and we can have a relationship with Him. This world is Gods and we are His guest in it. We should be grateful to God for creating this world for us, and not act as if we are entitled to it. Accepting what God defines as good and evil is key to remaining in relationship with Him. The moment we decide we can define what is good and evil, we commit the same sin as Adam and Eve, and God remains hidden from us. An example, today some say what is written in the Torah, Moses, and the Prophets is not relevant. This is us making the decision and choosing what is good and evil. Even though something may not seem relevant in the Bible to you today, it is. Every word in the Bible still applies. Jesus said in Matthew 5:18
“For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.”
When we forget we are a guest in this world, and are ungrateful for everything God has given us, then we fail to recognize that everything is from God. In turn, God says in Deuteronomy 28:45-47
“All these curses shall come upon you and pursue you and overtake you till you are destroyed, because you did not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes that he commanded you. They shall be a sign and a wonder against you and your offspring forever. Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart, because of the abundance of all things…”
God’s Authority
God is the authority and law giver. We are to humble ourself, admit our faults, become aware of His instructions, and accept God’s authority of good and evil. As we do, He begins to reveal more of Himself through His instructions. He put a seed in us, and there is a process of growing it. That process is called seed, time, and harvest. When we want to come close to God, we have to climb a mountain to get there, the mountain of the Lord. We need His help to fix our past issues, and we need Him to guide us to understand how to come closer to Him. This happens through the process of choosing good and evil as God defines it in His Torah. Not us choosing what is good and evil. We have to rely on God’s instructions to lead us. We need to accept God’s mercy and grace on our life and choose to accept His authority of what good and evil are.
As an example of us not accepting God’s authority defined in His Torah, we can look at two scriptures where some are deciding what good and evil are for themselves. In Numbers 5:6-7 it says
“… When a man or woman commits any of the sins that people commit by breaking faith with the Lord, and that person realizes his guilt, he shall confess his sin that he has committed. And he shall make full restitution for his wrong, adding a fifth to it and giving it to him to whom he did the wrong.”
Someone who mainly reads the New Testament may say – we are no longer under that law, and Jesus is the one who made restitution for me at the cross. Galatians 3:13-15 is interpreted that Jesus paid all of my debts, and therefore I am free and clear, and I have no consequences for my sin. That statement is a contradiction between Torah and the New Testament.
It is important to understand, if a scripture in the New Testament seems as if it is contradicting the Torah, then you need to keep searching. It is impossible for one scripture to cancel another scripture. Galatians 3:13-15 does not cancel Numbers 5:6-7. Sin is something physical and it has consequences in this world that God wants us to fix. Sin also impacts our soul. The blemish of the soul from sin is a spiritual issue, this is not a physical condition. For both to be fixed, you first have to accept God’s authority and understand that He chose what is right and wrong. Once you accept God’s authority and adjust your decision-making process to align with His, then you can ask for forgiveness based solely on the merit and favor of Jesus whom God has given as our atonement that can place us back in relationship with Him. At this point it is up to us learn God’s instructions and apply them in our life.
God Will Put His Spirit In You and Move You
Paul explains in Ephesians 3:11-20 because of Jesus and the “eternal purpose that he accomplished … through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence” and we can repent and “Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.” In Ezekiel 36:27 it says
“I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.”
God uses the Holy Spirit to empower you to obey Him as you desire Him. In 1 Timothy 1:12 Paul says, “I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service.” Paul was appointed because he repented, and he choose to accept God’s instructions.
When you humble yourself and repent, God puts a seed in you and it needs to be cultivated. If you continue to grow your seed, it will produce fruit of repentance which is you living according to God’s instructions. Our job is to live a life of repentance and continue to grow. You should take time every day to ask yourself, how much are you aware of God in your life? How revealed is He to you? Are you living as if you are aware God is dwelling with you at all times?
Outsmart Sin By Choosing God’s Authority
God cannot dwell in a place full of sin. If you are gossiping every day, if you want to look at inappropriate things all the time, if you are desiring the things of this world more than the things of God, then you should repent and ask God to forgive you. Accept God’s authority and know what He says is good and evil is fact. Learn and apply God’s instructions in the Torah, and if you do, you will naturally make calculated decisions about your behavior. That does not mean sin is not always present, it just means you are more intelligent than sin and have learned to overcome it. Proverbs 28:7 says
“the one who keeps the law is a son with understanding.”
God reveals himself to this world through a process where we repent, and learn to apply His commandments based on the jurisdiction he wants us to live in. A part of repentance is applying God’s commandments and living them out in your life. Then others in your life are made aware of God, and by you living them out, others will learn to know God through your example. We are to take the godly revelation and help reveal God to this world, and God will reveal Himself through your actions (John 14:21).
The repentance process starts with (Leviticus 26:40-45):
- #1 confession of sin
- #2 stopping the sin
- #3 regretting the sin
- #4 making the wrongs right
Repentance is learning what good and evil are through studying God’s Torah, and then applying God’s commandments in your life in a practical way (Matthew 3:8-10 / James 2:14-26). This is why Jesus said if you love Him, you will keep His commandments.
You have a purpose and people in your life are impacted by you repenting, and they will have the opportunity to know God through you.
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