52 Weeks in the Ark with Noah and Family (WEEK 38) – Worship is Fellowship in Perfection and Abundance, Part 2 (Unveiled Worship is Face-to-Face Fellowship)
“Therefore, since we have such hope, we use great boldness of speech — unlike Moses, who put a veil over his face so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the end of what was passing away. But their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Masshiak. But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. Nevertheless when one turns to Yahuah, the veil is taken away. Now Yahuah is the Ruach; and where the Ruach of Yahuah is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of Yahuah, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Ruach of Yah.’”
WEEK 38 (22th to 28th of Shevat, the 11th Month, in the Hebrew Religious Calendar)
Warning: Everything that happens in the following discussion occurs entirely in the privacy and confines of a person’s mind, heart and soul. We can also call or label it by one word: the breath or spirit in each person who encounters the Ruach Ha Kodesh through this process of transformation which many still have to experience or hear about. It is time to return to the people what religion has stolen from them throughout the centuries.
Yes, we already talked about ancient and modern modes of worship as being processed worship; but they all occur, primarily, in the formal, organized or ritualistic acts of offering sacrifices or gifts to the Creator in the assemblies of believers. Indeed, many may and can encounter Ruach in the assembly of believers, as the early disciples did, especially with the miraculous manifestations coming from Ruach Himself, such as speaking in tongues, prophecies and healing. However, such a process Paul called temporary or “passing away” when the “perfect shall come”. (1 Cor 12; 13:11-13) Yes, Paul understood even early on that those who engage in religion, essentially what “processed worship” is, including himself, “see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face“.
Refreshing the True Meaning of Worship
Unfortunately, modern believers have used the examples or experiences of the early ekklesia as the basis for establishing the pattern of formal worship in the assembly. So much so that the assembly has come to represent and contain the whole idea of worship, which we said is not and will never be the case according to Yahusha’s pattern and intentions. We have established that the natural or organic meaning of worship is “fellowship in the perfection and abundance of Yahuah’s Real Presence” in various historical phases in human experience, namely:
- Through the lives of Adam and Havah in the Real Presence of Elohim in the Garden of Eden;
- Through the lives of the Israelites in the Real Presence of Yah in the Temple and the Holy of Holies;
- Through the lives of the apostles and first disciples in the Real Presence of Masshiak;
- Through the individual lives of the firstfruits on Pentecost Day, and onward, in the Real Presence of Ruach Ha Kodesh indwelling each believer.
Face-to-Face is the key word we need to understand in this organic meaning or significance of worship or fellowship with the Creator. The Creator seeks to interact with His Creation, as He did in the beginning. But only in His own terms of perfection and abundance. Anything else is contrary to His nature and His intentions. Even during the periods in history when He seemed so inaccessible, distant and silent while His peoples suffered and cried out for His help, He sent people led by Ruach (judges, prophets and kings) to comfort and save them. Noah and his family were some of those who possessed Ruach in their lives during those dark times when humans had abandoned righteousness and followed the wicked ways of fallen angels and their hybrid children. Yes, a limit sets aside the chances of those who refuse to turn back to Yah. At that moment, face-to-face fellowship between Creator and creature permanently ends.
We already mentioned the fact that when Noah was born, his face lit the whole room where he was delivered by his mother; so much so that his father Lamech ran out; for he could not look at the infant’s face. (1 Enoch 106) Charisma is a word we often use to describe a person’s quality or character that attracts others to his or her cause or advocacy. But this spiritual quality is, however, repulsive to those who follow a different path from what Yah expects us to walk. Paul calls it the “aroma of Masshiak”, a smell of life for those who have been given the gift of life but a “stench of death” for those who are being condemned to die. (2 Cor. 2:14-16)
We see then that worship or fellowship has everything to do with our very life or existence on Earth and in the world to come. How we react or behave with Ruach as the Real Presence in Whom and with Whom we must establish a relationship is of vital and supreme importance. With Him, we make it out of this Earth alive; without Him, we will not make it at all. And yet, the Real Presence of Ruach is not the most-taught or most-emphasized teaching or training in many assemblies or gatherings of believers. We focus on doctrines and differences in opinions regarding such doctrines. Why? Because we do not really know what worship or fellowship in spirit and in truth is all about; nor do we know how we should go about it.
The only way we can learn how to act in the Real Presence of Ruach is through His Real Presence, obviously. He is the Only Teacher; and only He can teach us what to do. (1 John 2:20-22) That is how the patriarchs, judges, prophets, priests and kings learned to do it. And while many of them failed in many respects and, oftentimes, did (as Abraham, Jacob, Moses, David, Solomon, Hezekiah, Elijah, Peter and Paul did in their lives), they eventually reached maturity as they endured through the difficulties and temptations. Their examples certainly serve to inspire and warn us of the kind of struggle we must also go through to achieve victory. Nevertheless, as co-inheritors of the gift of Yahusha, we also have the great privilege and opportunity to attain the kind of reward and praise they received from our Master and Savior, if we endure.
How Ruach Works in a Person’s Life
Paul provides us a clear, graphic illustration of how Ruach works in a person’s life through the work and experiences of Moses. Although we cannot expect to become as great a prophet or a person as Moses was, we all have the duty to follow his footsteps toward achieving maturity in Yah. In fact, unlike Moses who had to physically cover his face with a veil because the glory of Yahuah was fading (not that he was hiding the light or embarrassed by it), we have the privilege of looking at the face of Ruach without a veil or any obstacle. This is consistent with the tearing apart of the Temple veil of the Holy of Holies at the moment of Yahusha’s death on the cross. We do now worship or fellowship with Ruach face-to-face, beholding His Real Presence and real glory and majesty! How awesome is that? Do we realize what a great gift that is to be given to any ordinary person?
This is the real freedom we have been given, not just in terms of the sins that have been erased and taken away through the blood of Yahusha. This is also the wonderful freedom we have received in terms of worship or fellowship with Ruach. Yet, the veil remains over the face or the minds of those who read and observe the requirements of the Law of Moses. Yahusha has taken away that veil. And since He has gone to the Father, we can only behold His glory through His gift, Ruach Ha Kodesh Who is given to every believer who confesses Yahusha as Savior and King. What Ruach does in our lives is what Yahusha also does in our lives; because Ruach comes from Yahusha. And They are One with Abba our Father in Heaven. How we fellowship with Ruach is how we worship Yahusha and Abba. For as Yahusha said, “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.” (John 14:7) Hence, we can know and see Yahusha and the Father if we know and see Ruach face-to-face.
It is then in beholding Ruach in spirit and in truth constantly that we attain His perfection and abundance. From one level of glory to another level of higher glory we approach the maturity we were intended to attain. We cannot do this through the Law; sorry to say. Neither through the processed forms of worship we have previously illustrated. Yes, even the manifestations of Ruach during the infancy of the ekklesia were processed means of worship or fellowship among and through the early assemblies, and which we have striven to emulate and propagate through our modern “worship services”. They had been done away with, as Paul prophesied, when the perfect came. Yes, the perfect and the abundant Love of Ruach manifested in the lives of those who had attained the maturity Paul and John wrote about.
Which Religion or Denomination Practices True Worship Then?
Given that truth and reality in the first century when John still lived, how can we claim now that the ekklesia disappeared and that the Gospel did not remain in its pristine and pure essence? We simply have missed the organic or essential nature of worship or fellowship in perfection and abundance because what mainstream assemblies propagated were the hundreds of innovations that were incorporated into the formal and processed forms of devotion and services performed by denominations that had proliferated through the centuries. Each one of those sects and organizations, of course, claimed adherence to the pure teachings of Yahusha, especially the Greek Orthodox Church, which eventually separated from the Roman Catholic Church. The long history of cooperation and schism and further disintegration of both churches has given us what we now have today in so-called Christendom – an earthly kingdom of “Christ”.
Which of these denominations today practice or teach the kind of worship or fellowship we have described here? And we mean on a daily or moment-by-moment basis? Which can claim authority over any person on how and where he or she must worship or sing or offer gifts or seek audience or find approval for all those acts from the Maker of this world? What city? What temple? What denomination? Whichever one chooses or whichever any human leader decides? And where does the Ruach come into the picture? Is He a carry-on gift we bring along into the assembly or is He a gift we must seek diligently and only find through the motions of rituals or ceremonies determined by humans? We have just described processed faith and worship that cannot attain the true fellowship we need and seek with the Creator. That can only be attained FACE-TO-FACE, no other way.
Note that Paul talked about looking in “a mirror dimly but face-to-face”. It is certainly possible for believers to remain looking at or acknowledging the Real Presence of Ruach, as many indeed do. But until the “perfect” comes, fear and condemnation will continue to rule in our hearts. And nothing is more pleasant for Satan than to see people living in fear and judging one another for their errors and weaknesses. Perfect love alone removes the desire to condemn and to instill fear in others. And we do this often by imposing rules, doctrines, traditions and burdens that take away our unbounded freedom in Yahusha.
Anti-Christs Brought About Departure from True Worship
Thus, those whom Paul referred to as being “many antichrists” were those who “went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us”. (1 John 2:18-19) He foretold about those wolves who would ravage the flock. Hence, many believe the ekklesia disappeared and only “restored” or “reestablished” by the denominations that arose during the Reformation or long after that. But is it really so? Which denomination or sect perfectly follows the organic worship we have defined? Not one. Only an individual, and he or she need not be part of any sect or group, can accomplish that; because the mirror we have talked about can only be seen “in spirit and in truth”. Yes, this kind of worship cannot and will never be seen or done in any temple or building but only in the temple of Ruach where He dwells. If you feel you need to be somewhere or be doing some ritual to invoke Ruach in your heart, then you have not attained fellowship with Him in the perfection and abundance of His Real Presence. Either you see Him blindly in the darkness or in a blurred mirror held up before you by those who are spiritually-myopic themselves.
Let Ruach remove the veil on your face, mind and spirit that you may see Him and become like Him. Gradually, that is how we mature into His likeness and glory — we become What and Whom we worship or fellowship with. Like Noah and his family hidden in the Ark and the world covered or veiled by clouds of dust from thousands of volcanoes that were erupting during the rebuilding of the Earth, the world today is, likewise, undergoing a spiritual reconstruction — a renewal and a refreshing –as demonic forces seek to annihilate the final vestiges of Yahuah’s planting of the Word of Truth. Ruach still dwells in so many hearts; yet, only a few can truly claim the pure worship or fellowship He offers to all. The many material structures and doctrinal burdens put upon the shoulders of believers prevent them from experiencing the real freedom in Ruach we were meant to savor.
Thus, the Aroma of Life which Ruach offers to all as a gift from Yahusha has not spread and enveloped the world to a point that a repeat of the great harvest on Pentecost Day remains unfulfilled. The religious world still refuses to heed His final call in this diminishing Noah’s Days Part 2. There is no time to waste; everyone must act and redeem the time.
Examples of True Face-to-Face Worship or Fellowship
We end with 2 examples of worship or fellowship in Perfection and Abundance in the Real Presence of Yah. The reader will decide how he or she can emulate them in their processed form of worship in the modern context, if they can.
The first is that of Zaccheus. He came down from the tree to obey the call of Yahusha to dine with Him at his home. So far, well and good. People attend services so they can “dine” with Him during the formal Communion ceremony. And, for so many partakers, they are told that the Real Presence of Yahusha is in the bread. Others also invoke the Real Presence of Ruach through the wine. Whether this is true or not is immaterial for them. They were told and, therefore, believe they perform true worship in spirit and truth. Comparing that to Zaccheus, we find real food served on the table in the Real Presence of Yahusha. No mystical or priestly acts were required; just the simple and common task of preparing and eating food during a social gathering involving visitors and the host. The agapes or love-feasts of the early converts were of the same nature as that ordinary meal with Yahusha — natural, organic and spontaneous.
Where is “worship” there in the modern context? None! But in the organic context, the worship was done and seen in the heart of Zaccheus who vowed to give half of his wealth and pay back 4 times what he had taken from those he had defrauded. The offering was accepted; and a sinner found grace in the most dramatic way we might think we can never approximate or even conceive in our own lifetime. But we can. The Real Presence of Ruach will allow us to welcome the hungry and the deserving teachers and disciples of the Gospel in our homes and offer gifts of repentance as well. The lesson is simple enough to grasp and accomplish even without having a temple or a fancy building. Perhaps, that person is standing on a chair trying to watch a religious concert at the town plaza. Inviting him to have coffee somewhere might be the best way to introduce Yah’s grace to him. But that is me telling you what to do, not Ruach. Listen attentively and respond. You can only do that if you are constantly in touch with and being led by His Real Presence.
The other example is that of King David dancing “naked” (he was actually wearing an ephod or a long-shirt and not clothed in rich garments as a king of Israel) on the streets leading to Yerushalem as the Ark of the Covenant was being brought into the city and the Temple after so many years of its absence in the Holy of Holies. Again, the Real Presence of Yahuah manifested through the Ark. How do we know His Presence was there? Those who touched the Ark died instantly; hence, it was forbidden for anyone to touch it. (2 Sam. 6) Was David’s offering acceptable? Yes, it was. Did his worship involve fellowshipping in the Perfection and Abundance of the Real Presence of Yah? Yes, it was because of the return of the Ark that made David rejoice and dance with all his might. His offering of childlike innocence, not his crown or his position as king, in fact, made his worship so unique and sincere that many then, including his wife Michal, only felt disdain for David. Her attitude forever left her an undeserving wife of the king. Read the story and you can tell the difference in worship between hers and his.
Yes, in the modern context, people also dance and sing in formal worship services. And they can equally invoke the Real Presence of Yah in their midst. For they claim that “wherever 2 or 3 are gathered in My name, I shall be in their midst”. However, the verse refers actually to disciplining sinful members of the body of Yahusha. Two or three witnesses establish a truth; more so, the whole assembly in session. But where is worship and fellowship with the Real Presence there? What is the offering? The truth? Perhaps.
But that truth is a shameful truth that a brother or sister is to be cut off or dis-fellowshipped. Communion or friendship is being denied the sinner. People are merely executing Yah’s command to refrain from worshipping or fellowshipping with Yah in the presence of an unrepentant sinner. There is no perfection or abundance there if they did. And yet, we know how many enter or participate in worship services with undeserving hearts and lives because of their sins. Individuals have not truly availed of the grace in the Real Presence of Ruach in their lives and, thus, live in sin. Not that we must investigate every believer and throw them out for any and all sins they may have. But like Michal, Yah knows how to put them in their place; for Ruach discerns the hearts and spirits of people and blesses or disciplines them accordingly.
The Real Presence of Ruach cannot be faked, as the hypocrites of Yerushalem tried to portray themselves even before Yahusha — the Real Presence of the Father Himself — in their sight and presence. They lost their position, pride and the Temple, as a result. Yes, we might escape the Real Presence of Ruach, but not His judgments. For as Yahusha had told the apostles, Ruach or the Advocate shall convict the world of sin, as well as of righteousness and judgment. Choose righteousness and justification, why suffer condemnation? (John 16:5-11)