Last week we focused on the word “calling” and the fact that in ancient times an assembly of believers was called a “miqra”, from the word “qara”, which means “TO CALL”. Each Shabbat or New Moon or Annual Feast meeting is a CALLING TOGETHER of those who had been called by Yahweh. We looked at the prophet JEREMIAH as an example of someone who was called by Yahweh, even before his birth. Y’SHUA of Nazareth was called and sent to this world, and long before his birth He was ordained to be the first-born of many who would also be called to Yahweh. When Y’shua was born and taken by his parents to Egypt to escape the wicked plan of Herod (of killing young baby boys), his calling by Yahweh was compared to the CALLING OF ISRAEL, of which we read in Hoshea 11: “Out of Egypt I have called my Son” (see Matthew 2:15). Throughout the Messianic Scriptures, our own calling as believers, is inseparable from the calling of our forerunner, Y’shua the Messiah. This may be seen in a passage like Rom 8:28-30: “We know that all matters work together for good to those who love Elohim, to those who are CALLED according to His purpose … He ordained us to be conformed to the likeness of His Son … the first-born among many brothers. Those whom He ORDAINED beforehand, He also CALLED, and those whom He called, He also declared right. And those whom He declared right, He also esteemed.”
In the book of Acts, the fact that non-Jews like us are seeking after Yahweh, is put within the context of a REMNANT out of the nations, upon whom the Name of Yahweh had been called: “I shall rebuild the ruins of the Booth of David … so that a remnant of mankind shall seek Yahweh, even all the nations on whom My Name has been CALLED, says Yahweh who is doing this (now), but has made it known from of old (Acts 15:16-18). An added dimension of “calling” that is revealed here, is that Yahweh not only calls people by THEIR NAMES (as in Isaiah 43:1 “I have called you by your name”), He also calls HIS NAME upon them!” Calling, in its most basic form, can hardly be done without the knowledge and the speaking out (or the articulation) of names! When I call you by name, or when you call me by name, it either means we already know each other personally, or we are soon going to know each other personally.
Someone calling himself “yeahnahrathernot”, posted this question on a website the other day: “Why do people who insist on calling Jesus ‘Yeshua’ always have weird theology?” I was drawn to the post immediately. I do not INSIST on calling the Messiah “Yeshua”, but I prefer, and I love, to call Him Yeshua. Does that mean I also have weird theology? So, I started reading, trying to find out what this guy meant by “weird theology”. It wasn’t long before I found it. “People who call Jesus ‘Yeshua’ always have some very strange theology around Him and can never seem to outrightly call Him God”, he wrote. So, people like me have weird theology, because we refrain from calling Jesus God. But he calls Jesus “God”. He also calls Jesus “Jesus” he says, but it is not wrong to call him “Yeshua”. But it is wrong NOT to call Him God. And he calls God “God”, but it is not wrong to call Him Yahweh. But it is wrong to SEPARATE God from Jesus. And then I understood why he called himself “yeahnahrathernot”, the slang way of saying, “yes … no … I am too scared to choose”. This poor guy kept on back paddling when it came to the true names of the Father and the Son (which he knew perfectly well!) and in the process he was unable to understand the TRUE RELATIONSHIP between Y’shua and Yahweh. He was unable to figure out in Scriptures that Y’shua called Yahweh HIS Elohim (or HIS God), clearly stating that He received his authority from Yahweh and that He was less than Yahweh, sent by Yahweh, obedient to Yahweh and standing in a relationship to Yahweh. Did it never occur to him that none of Y’shua’s disciples ever called Y’shua “God” or prayed to Him, and that Y’shua exclusively prayed to Yahweh only? And from all of this he concluded that those who called upon the names “Yeshua” and “Yahweh” had “weird theology”. I would rather call out the Name of the One who called me by name, than calling myself: “Yes … No … I am too scared to make a move”!
That there is a Scriptural connection between the ones called by Yahweh, and the ones calling on the Name of Y’shua, may be seen in 1 Corinthians 1:2. Here, Shaúl (Paul) is addressing his letter to “the assembly of Elohim which is at Corinth”, saying that they are “set-apart ones, who had been called (by Yahweh)” and that they have joined many others “who are calling on the Name of Y’shua in every place”. The Greek word for “call” (“kaleo”) is used here – twice – both in the calling by Yahweh, and the calling on the Name of Y’shua. It is a quite NATURAL PROCESS (not weird theology!) when those who had previously been called by Yahweh, begin calling and relying on the Name of Yahweh, and also the Name of Y’shua, his Son – especially so, when they had been BAPTIZED in that very Name, and have come to the knowledge that they had been SAVED in that Name.
What is the ESSENTIAL NATURE of the ones who turn out to be the “called ones of Yahweh”, or the “called ones in Y’shua”? First of all, we need to keep in mind that Yahweh shows NO PARTIALITY (see Acts 10:34). He is not a respecter of persons. He has no favorites. It is his desire that ALL people would come to Him. But we have already seen that, in the end, it is only a remnant who will respond to his call. Those who belong to this group of people, are called the “EKKLESIA”, more than 100 times in the Messianic Scriptures (or New Testament). Some Bibles translate “ekklesia” with the word “assembly”. Other translations say: “community”. The majority follows the King James Version: “CHURCH”. But what the Greek word is really saying is this: “those who have been called out (of the world, and into the world-wide community of those who have responded to the call of Yahweh)”. The first two letters of “ekklesia” – “ek” – simply means “out”, and “klesia” comes from the word “kaleo”, which means “to call”. In order to find the TRUE “ekklesia” of Yahweh, it will not suffice to simply go look in the churches. You may find people there who belong to this “ekklesia”, but you may also find people who do not. And you wouldn’t always know the DIFFERENCE, because only Yahweh fully knows whether someone is part of a church or an assembly because they responded to his calling, or because of some other reason, like an obsession with tradition or the need for social interaction.
What we DO KNOW from Scriptures is that the called-out ones are often those who do not really catch the public eye. They are not necessarily the so-called cream of the crop of the societies of this world. “Look at your calling, brothers”, it is written in 1 Corinthians 1:26-29, “there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble ones among you, but Elohim has chosen the foolish matters of the world to put to shame the wise, and Elohim has chosen the weak of the world to put to shame the strong, and the low-born of the world and the despised, and the ones that are not, that He might bring to naught the ones that are, so that no flesh should boast in His presence.” We need to listen to this word very carefully. And we need to take special note of the TWO THINGS that are said, towards the end: (1) the mighty ones of this world, who are not living in the presence of Yahweh, will be brought to naught, and (2) the despised ones of this world, who DO live in the presence of Yahweh, should be careful not to boast about being in his presence. There is a MEASURING STICK here that we should always apply to ourselves! Each day here on earth, we should embrace the words of 2 Timothy 1:9, which says that Elohim has called us with a set-apart calling, NOT ACCORDING TO OUR WORKS, but according to His own purpose and favour which was given to us in Messiah Y’shua before the beginning of time. There is absolutely NO BASIS for pride or boasting in this matter!
So, as part of his infinite purpose, and by means of his great favour and mercy, Yahweh has called us to come into his presence. WHAT NOW? How should we spend our time in his presence? We find an answer to this question in 2 Peter 1:10 “For this reason … I urge you to do your utmost to MAKE FIRM your calling and choosing … if you are doing these matters you shall never stumble at all.” By using the words, “these matters”, the writer is telling us that we should read this verse together with the verses that came before, so that we may come to understand how we can MAKE FIRM our calling and our choosing, and how we should spend our time in the PRESENCE of the One who had called us with such a great calling. It says in verse 3 that Yahweh has called us to ESTEEM AND UPRIGHTNESS. What does that mean in plain language? The exalted promises we have received with regards to the coming kingdom, it says in verse 4, are a reminder that Yahweh has called us to become partakers of an Elohim-like nature. We were called to be like Elohim – both in our innermost being and in our conduct! So, once again, how should we spend our time, until that day when we shall share in the very nature of Elohim? The answer comes to us in verse 5 to 8: “Do your utmost (best) to add to your belief uprightness, to uprightness knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control endurance, to endurance reverence (literally: proper or genuine devotion), to reverence brotherly affection, and to brotherly affection, love. For if these are in you and increase, they will cause you to be neither inactive, nor without fruit in the knowledge of our Master Y’shua Messiah. Let us put it all in a nutshell: Don’t get in the habit of saying “YES” and then “NO” and then “I AM TOO SCARED TO MAKE A MOVE”. In that way you will remain inactive and without fruit and lacking the true knowledge of Messiah. Rather say: Because I was called out of darkness into His marvelous light, from now on, I shall focus upon those things that will drive out more darkness, and bring about more light into my life.
