Rebellion against the King
By
Gary Primo
July 13, 2013
Human history is rife with stories of human rebellions against earthly kings; but none are so indicative of human nature as the rebellion of man against their heavenly King. Mankind is unique in the fact that he is so rebellious, that he rebels against his own nature as well as his Creator. No other member of the physical creation does this. They all know their purpose (by intuition or instinct) and fulfill that purpose.
Mankind, on the other hand, was given the freedom to choose their own direction – to follow after Yahuwah and become like Him; or go his own way toward his own destruction and eternal death. Almost all men have chosen the second option.
The very first human rebellion of man verses Elohim occurred with Adam and Eve. Adam was clearly given the choice between life and death; and he chose the latter. Thus he chose the direction for all of mankind to follow. And follow they did. There has always been a cure – stay sin free for a3-4 generations. However, man has not been able to accomplish that feat.
Yahuwah kept raising up righteous men for the world to follow (Seth, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David and Yahushua) but all were eventually rejected as king. Mankind, instead, followed after those who supposedly freed him from the “burdensome” laws of his Creator and King, Yahuwah. Instead they desired manmade laws that removed them further from their intended purpose and closer to annihilation. Mankind’s nature is basically suicidal.
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When the nation of Israel first formed under Moses, they had the greatest King of all over them. He fought their battles and guaranteed victory. All the Israelites had to do was obey His voice (and laws). However, this proved to be a losing battle for the Israelites. They continuously rebelled and suffered punishment; but never learned their lesson. One would almost have to conclude that mankind is the most mentally retarded creature of all creation. Even a dumb single celled creature has more sense than that.
This is the single most vital battle that any man can achieve victory over – to change his rebellious, retarded nature and adopt the nature of Yahuwah. In this endeavor, man must fight against his own nature. That is not an easy thing to do because it is by nature that we sin. We are lured towards sin like a moth to the flame. This is what all the true followers of Yahuwah are supposed to “bury” in baptism – the old man of sin.
For Israel, having the greatest King of all over them was not enough. They looked up to the other (pagan) nations around them and desired to have a human king over them in place of Yahuwah. They did not want to sanctified or set apart. They wanted to be like the Joneses.
So, the elders of Israel approached Samuel, Yahuwah’s prophet of the time and demanded that he appoint a human king over them. They used the excuse that Samuel’s two sons had corrupted their office and could not be trusted to lead Israel after Samuel passed on. However, what they really did was try to cover one sin by committing an even greater sin – the complete rejection of Yahuwah.
1 Sam. 8:4 - Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel unto Ramah,
5 - And said unto him, Behold, you are old, and your sons walk not in your ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.
Like with Adam and Eve, Yahuwah gave Israel what they wanted. This was always intended to teach man a lesson. However, they never did learn the lesson (save for very brief spans of human history) and continue to this day to rebel against the most high.
Every human king behaved pretty much as expected – like the kings of other nations. Rather than model themselves after Yahuwah, they modeled themselves after previous human kings. When Samuel confronted Israel on their choice, he warned them, as Yahuwah instructed, what their lives would be like under a human king.
1 Sam. 8:9 - Now therefore hearken unto their voice: howbeit yet protest solemnly unto them, and show them the manner of the king that shall reign over them.
10 - And Samuel told all the words of Yahuwah unto the people that asked of him a king.
11 - And he said, This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you: He will take your sons, and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and some shall run before his chariots.
12 - And he will appoint him captains over thousands, and captains over fifties; and will set them to ear his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and instruments of his chariots.
13 - And he will take your daughters to be confectionaries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers.
14 - And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your olive vinyards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants.
15 - And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give to his officers, and to his servants.
16 - And he will take your menservants, and your maidservants, and your goodliest young men, and your asses, and put them to his work.
17 - He will take the tenth of your sheep: and you shall be his servants.
18 - And you shall cry out in that day because of your king which you shall have chosen you; and Yahuwah will not hear you in that day.
19 - Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, No; but we will have a king over us;
20 - That we also may be like all the nations; and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles.
Israel already had a King to “judge” them and “go out before them” in battle. However, victory over their enemies was always dependant on their degree of obedience to Yahuwah. If they were not 100% obedient – they would suffer defeat. During the rare times that they were 100% obedient, they would enjoy victory over their enemies. Either in victory or defeat, the proof of the existence of Yahuwah was always before them. When obedient they enjoyed victory. In disobedience, they suffered defeat. This was proof positive that their prayers were being heard; and that their sins would not go unpunished. Israel thought that if they got rid of Yahuwah, he couldn’t curse them anymore.
By comparing ourselves to other humans all we are doing is comparing our sins to theirs. If we truly desire salvation, there is only one role model to compare ourselves to – Yahushua.
If one is guilty of one sin, he is guilty of all. A gossiper is no less guilty than a thief, idolater, adulterer, homosexual, lesbian or murderer. The punishment for sin is death – period. It does not matter how small or great the sin. It is society that has categorized offences by severity, not Yahuwah. All sin bears the same punishment and; therefore all sin is severe to Yahuwah.
The whole point is to become obedient to every word of Yahuwah. We do not get to pick which ones are less significant than others and which we can get away with and still gain salvation. Salvation will not be granted on account of any sin that is not repented of.
We may look back and think of how foolish the Israelites were, or the Jews of Yahushua’s time, but they merely represented the entire human race and mankind’s entire attitude towards the Father. If Yahuwah were to tell any human, “Do not pick up that stone!” it would drive that person nuts until he picked it up. That is simply the way man’s mind works.
Is it possible to sin without knowing it? Of course it is. All of us have done it and afterward looked back and realized what we had done. That too is human nature.
So, it is perhaps easier than we initially imagined to follow in the footsteps of the ancient Israelites.
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In the seven letters to the seven churches in Revelation 2-3, reveal that our primary goal is to overcome something. That something is our own nature. We do that through obedience to every word that comes from the mouth of Yahuwah, including His laws, ordinances and statutes. By doing that we merge our minds with the mind of Yahuwah and, over time, change our nature to the same as Yahuwah’s.
With Yahuwah, obedience must come instantly and naturally, else He cannot be assured that any one of us is incorruptible and no longer capable of sin. This is what will qualify us for the Kingdom. Nothing that remains corruptible will be allowed in.
Another peculiar thing about man, is that even after gets what he wanted, he is still not satisfied. With ancient Israel, after they got their human king, they would rebel against him too. Mankind is truly a queer duck.
However, there are times when we must disobey the human authorities over us – when they are consciously driving us further from Yahuwah, instead of closer. Such was the case with King David. He knew that Saul was profaning the word of Yahuwah through disobedience and could not, in good conscience before Elohim, follow (obey) Saul. Saul, like any king whose word is ignored, did his best to kill David. In such a manner, Yahuwah will kill all who remain corruptible through disobedience to His word.
King David was coronated by the prophet Samuel as per Yahuwah’s instructions. Yet as long as the previously anointed king was alive, David had to honour his office and remove himself from the presence of Saul. Like the Covenant, this contract was only voided when one or the other party to the contract died. Since that is not possible with Yahuwah, it was the human king that died. If Saul had not corrupted his office, his son Jonathon would have been heir to the throne. However, Jonathon feared Yahuwah more than his father did and recognized David’s coronation as coming from Yahuwah. Knowing this, he voluntarily relinquished his throne to David.
David also sinned with Bathsheba; and his son, Absalom, rebelled against him. The thing that set David apart was that he sincerely repented of his sinful deeds.
Next came Solomon. Solomon was the king’s king. Every ruler on earth wanted to be like Solomon and have an empire as magnificent as his. They would send emissaries to inquire of him and how he ruled his kingdom. They would try to mirror their image after his. Yet Solomon was corruptible as well and sinned in following after the gods of his pagan wives and concubines. For that Yahuwah rent a large portion of his kingdom away from him, via his son Rehoboam.
2 Chron. 10:1 - And Rehoboam went to Shechem: for to Shechem were all Israel come to make him king.
2 - And it came to pass, when Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who was in Egypt, whither he had fled from the presence of Solomon the king, heard it, that Jeroboam returned out of Egypt.
3 - And they sent and called him. So Jeroboam and all Israel came and spoke to Rehoboam, saying, 4 - Your father made our yoke grievous: now therefore ease you somewhat the grievous servitude of your father, and his heavy yoke that he put upon us, and we will serve you.
5 - And he said unto them, Come again unto me after three days. And the people departed.
6 - And king Rehoboam took counsel with the old men that had stood before Solomon his father while he yet lived, saying, What counsel give you to me to return answer to this people?
7 - And they spoke unto him, saying, If you be kind to this people, and please them, and speak good words to them, they will be your servants forever.
8 - But he forsook the counsel which the old men gave him, and took counsel with the young men that were brought up with him, that stood before him.
9 - And he said unto them, What advice give you that we may return answer to this people, which have spoken to me, saying, Ease somewhat the yoke that your father did put upon us?
10 - And the young men that were brought up with him spoke unto him, saying, This shall you answer the people that spoke unto you, saying, Your father made our yoke heavy, but make you it somewhat lighter for us; this shall you say unto them, My little finger shall be thicker than my father’s loins.
11 - For whereas my father put a heavy yoke upon you, I will put more to your yoke: my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.
There is only one thing worse than one king and that is two kings. That was what Israel now had over them. Not only did they continue to war against Yahuwah, they warred against each other.
By the time Yahushua came on the scene, the nation of Israel had totally changed. Ten tribes of the twelve (actually 9 ½) had gone into captivity and dispersement amongst the Gentile nations. Judah, Benjamin and most of the tribe of Levi made up the southern nation of Judah. They too went into captivity, but were allowed to return after 70 years. They started out following after Yahuwah, but eventually fell back on their old human nature.
By Yahushua’s time the Jews again had a king ruling over them (a puppet of the Roman occupiers), and three ruling political parties under him – the Pharisees, Sadducees and the Sanhedrin. Yahuwah sent Yahushua to them in a last ditch attempt to restore the faith of their fathers and restore their rightful King. Once again the Jews rejected their true King and this time they thought they had gotten rid of him for good by killing His physical shell. However, after 3 days he was raised from the earth and is now our eternal King and High Priest.
Just as the Jews rejected Yahushua, Yahushua has rejected them. Like the olive tree that had dead branches cut off and new fruit bearing ones grafted on, Yahushua is pruning the nation of Israel (most of whom are scattered among the Gentiles) and grafting on those who recognize and serve Yahuwah as their one and only King.
Rest assured that mankind is going to rebel against their King at least two more times. They are going to rebel against him when He returns. They are going to rebel again at the end of His millennial rule on earth. Only after that does all rebellion cease. After that there will be nothing corruptible left alive.
One of the toughest hurdles to overcome is self-justification. We sin. We know we have sinned. We attempt to justify our sin. Isn’t that the way it normally works? Self-justification is our natural first line of defense. As long as we even attempt to (or think to) self-justify our sinful actions, we know that we are not yet incorruptible. We have not yet overcome our human nature.
So, as soon as you begin to self-justify your action, stop right there. There is no justification for sin. All we can do is go to the Father, repent and ask forgiveness. When we can do that, without first attempting to justify our sin, we are on our way to incorruption.
Conclusion
We have only one rightful King over us – the Creator of this universe. What need do we have of another imperfect king when we have all that is Perfection before us and readily available? He desires that we choose Him so that He can give to us all that we were purposed to have.
The future that Yahuwah has in store for us is much more magnificent than any of us can imagine. We will be like the Most High, living eternally and possessing the ultimate gift of self-existence. We will be creators of life, like our Creator. We will bring life to the entire universe and, who knows, maybe even beyond. We simply cannot fathom the riches that Yahuwah has stored away for us. It will be an inheritance like no other.
Our allegiance must be more than mere talk. Ours must be one of total devotion to our King and 100% obedience to His every word. Yahushua is our one and only King. Yahuwah is the Creator. He created the King. Therefore; He is always over the King as the Creator Elohim; but Yahushua will always be King.
If anyone is not 100% committed to serving the true King of this universe and obeying His every word, they are already dead. They might as well throw away their Bibles and go off and do whatever they please. They really do worship in vain.
For everyone else, overcoming our own human nature must be our prime objective. Otherwise nothing else is possible. As Yahushua stated to John concerning the seven churches, “To him that overcomes, I will give:
- to eat of the tree of life
- shall not be hurt of the second death
- to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knows saving he that receives it.
- (and keeps my works unto the end), to him will I give power over the nations:
And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father. And I will give him the morning star.
- clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.
- make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.
- grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.
How sad mankind is. He is missing the prime purpose for his existence – to become one of the family of Elohim. The Way of Yahuwah is straight and narrow, but not impossible to follow. The longer we stay on that path, the easier it gets.
We must overcome sin. That is the bottom line. There are no loop holes. There are no circumstantial circumstances. There are no technicalities. There is only guilty or innocent!
In the final judgment we are going to have one accusing us (HaSatan) and one defending us (Yahushua). Your present priest, pastor or whatever, will be nowhere in sight. You will be completely alone and judged on what you did with your gift. If you were a slothful servant, you can kiss your hinny goodbye. If you were a good and faithful servant, you will enjoy all of the above rewards.
Once again, we, the descendants of Israel (spiritual or physical) have the opportunity to choose which king we wish to serve under and obey. What will our choice be?