Over the years, the minds of Believers (myself included) have been molded to have a falsely-rooted perspective of how we should read and understand Scripture. The mainstream message of the church teaches that the gospel message is one of salvation. While you may think what I’m about to say is fictitious, and maybe even blasphemous, there is a serious issue that I am trying to reconcile within the body. I pray that the spirit of offense is silenced as you read this.
The problem is that the gospel message is actually not about salvation, or “getting saved.”
That is not the goal. That is not the message we are supposed to carry to the nations.
Please hear me out.
The main tenant of the gospel message in mainstream Christian teaching is, “believe and be saved.”
While yes that IS a part of it, that is not THE gospel.
When you understand what Yah’s covenant is, it truly changes your perspective entirely on what the Father desires from His people. This is why we cannot even begin to attempt to understand the back of the book without understanding the front of it.
The gospel message can be summed up in one word: COVENANT.
Covenant, and the vows of His covenant (which are His commandments), is not really about us. So many people are letting the spirit of fear condemn them into thinking that if we don’t obey and do all of these things, we aren’t “saved.”
The core of Yah’s covenant is not just about being a people that He saves. It’s about being a treasured people that He possesses, in which His covenant makes us a people for HIS glory.
The gospel message is not about us—it’s all about YAHUAH.
This is why the greatest commandment of all that our Messiah emphasized is to “love Yahuah your Elohim with all of your heart, mind and soul.” That’s why the first of the ten is to not have any gods before Him.
If we focused on loving Him FIRST and making that our top priority, He will give us the wisdom we need to understand His covenant.
“The secret of Yahuah is with them that fear Him; and He will show them His covenant.”
Psalm 25:14
“The fear of Yahuah is the beginning of wisdom.”
Proverbs 9:10
Making the gospel message one of “salvation,” is that it is rooted in a self-centered mindset. We may not see it, but we are still making it about “us.” Our perspective is misaligned.
The goal is not salvation—it’s covenant.
See, we’ve been taught His torah all wrong. We’re at a point where if you even say the word “torah” you’re labeled as a Pharisee, heretic, or Judaizer. We’ve not been taught how to properly understand it because the church at large, does not understand and therefore does not teach Yahuah’s covenant.
The goal of the covenant is that obedience to the commandments brings Yahuah the glory and honor He is due. Many are called and few are chosen—only a remnant will be saved, because the path is that narrow and the covenant is for those He has set apart for a people who CHOOSE to be used for His glory—these are a people He calls “ISRAEL.”
And whether someone is a native born, or wild branch grafted in, those are the people Messiah came to redeem. He said it Himself:
“I was only sent for the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
Matthew 15:24
Since the very beginning, Yahuah called Israel His kingdom of priests and a set-apart nation. His will for us is to set us apart as instruments of righteousness. He gave us His commandments so that we can be successful in our calling and so that we can be a light to the nations.
The purpose of obedience is not to be saved—it’s to bring our Creator glory. His commandments show us how He desires to be honored and worshipped.
We don’t get it perfect, but when our desire aligns with His, we experience this radical, supernatural, inward change in our hearts to where we truly desire those things, and are filled with an unexplainable peace and joy because of it. It is only when we make Him first in our lives that we will get to experience the joy and blessings of obedience. We are now “under grace” while we learn and let His Spirit purge the desires of our flesh as we become transformed into the image of our Messiah.
And it is those who are NOT making Him their utmost first priority that will only be able to see this transformation as “works based”—because their perspective is out of alignment with His will for them because they can only see obedience as a “salvation” gospel instead of a “covenant” gospel.
Our calling is not to “get saved.”
Our calling is to be a covenant people for Yahuah’s glory.
That is who “ISRAEL” is. That is what it means to be a royal priesthood. This shift in our understanding will allow us to view His commandments from the proper perspective and not an “earn your salvation” perspective.
Again, we have been taught the Father’s torah all wrong.
Redemption because of Messiah’s sacrifice allows us to be freed from the law of sin and death so that we can now live in His glory. Remember, He had to renew the covenant.
Grace is the unmerited favor we are given when we try to obey with our heart but can sometimes fall short. We don’t cling to the letter of the law, we (through our love) perceive and seek the spiritual intention behind His torah, which is likened to a parents’ instructions given to their child to teach them how to walk and behave.
The Father’s love for us is like a parent’s love for their child. That’s the same grace He gives us when we try with our whole heart.
Yahuah calls those in covenant with Him, His “segullah” (Strong’s H5459), which means that His covenant people are His possession/property/peculiar treasure.
“Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure (segullah) to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.”
Exodus 19:5-6
I pray that our hearts be softened so that we can understand just how much he desires to show us mercy and give us grace when we answer the call to enter into covenant with our Creator.
With love,
Stephanie