Chosen

      Jesus said to His disciples: "As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends. You are My friends if you do whatever I command you....I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you. You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go out and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. These things I command you, that you love one another." (Jn. 15:9-17). The word translated here as "friends" is the Greek word philos, a word much deeper in significance, meaning "friend, associate, a son of gladness who is the friend of the Bridegroom, companion, dear to God and favored with His intimacy, joined with." Jesus was not speaking of His disciples as casual friends or acquaintances.

     Sometimes we can be filled with spiritual pride when we think that we were smart enough to chose Jesus. However, Jesus chose us, and He didn't choose us of His own will, but in accordance with all whom the Father placed in His hands (see Jn. 6:38-41, Jn. 17:11-12, Jn. 18:8-9). Like the disciples in the Gospel, we simply accepted the invitation proffered to us. Along with the acceptance of this invitation comes the expectation that we will listen to the commands of Jesus and obey them as stated above and thereby produce the fruits that result from that obedience and our relationship as friends of Jesus. Do we fulfill this expectation?

     The above words of Jesus to His chosen disciples very much reflect what we will learn from this Sabbath reading portion titled Ki Tavo, which means "When you come in." This reading portion covers Deuteronomy chapters 26 through 28. In these chapters, the LORD ties the identity of the Israelites to Himself. He does this for a specific purpose, which we will see.

     This Sabbath title, Ki Tavo, comes from Deut. 26:1-3: "And it shall be, when you come into the land which the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, and you possess it and dwell in it, that you shall take some of the first of all the produce/fruit (peri/para - fruit, fruitful, firstfruits, boughs, offspring, progeny/bear fruit, be fruitful, show fruitfulness, increase, to bear) of the ground...And you shall go to the one who is priest in those days, and say to him, 'I declare today to the LORD your God that I have come to the country which the LORD swore to our fathers to give us." This is a declaration that the LORD has fulfilled His promise of the land to them.

     The LORD then instructed His people: "So you shall rejoice in every good thing which the LORD your God has given to you and your house, you and the Levite and the stranger who is among you." (v. 11). There is to be joy in this relationship with the LORD who keeps His promises, as there is joy in our relationship with Jesus, above.

     Jesus told His disciples to keep His commandments in their relationship with Him. The LORD said the same to Israel through Moses: "...you will walk in His ways and keep His statutes, His commandments, and His judgments, and that you will obey His voice (qol - voice, noise, sound, thunder, call aloud, cry). Also today the LORD has proclaimed you to be His special people, just as He promised you, that you should keep all His commandments, and that He will set you high above all nations which He has made, in praise, in name, and in honor, and that you may be a holy people to the LORD your God, just as He has spoken." (v. 17-19).

     The LORD repeated His promise regarding the relationship He was forming with Israel: "Then Moses and the priests, the Levites, spoke to all Israel, saying, O Israel: This day you have become the people of the LORD your God. Therefore you shall obey the voice (qol- see above) of the LORD your God, and observe (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) His commandments and (*vaw (nail)-aleph (Lord)-tav (cross/covenant) His statutes which I command you today." (Deut. 27:9-10).  Again the LORD said: "...if you diligently obey the voice (qol - see above) of the LORD your God, to observe carefully (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) all His commandments which I command you today, that the LORD your God will set you high above all nations of the earth...The LORD will establish you as a holy people to Himself, just as He has sworn to you, if you keep (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) the commandments of the LORD your God and walk in His ways. Then all peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the LORD, and they shall be afraid of you." (Deut. 28:1, 9-10). In these chapters it is also written that the blessings of God follow the obeying of His voice, commandments and statutes, and curses follow the disobedience to the same. We also need to understand that the LORD is not satisfied with the keeping of His written commandments, but He also demands that His people hear and obey His voice. The spoken Word of God preceded the written Word. The spoken Word is the tool of creation and the communication that the LORD used with mankind, including the patriarchs of the Hebrews. The spoken Word of God is identified as Jesus in the New Testament by the use of the Greek word logos (logos/legos - of speech, a word uttered by a living voice, the sayings of God, something said, utterance/to say, to speak, to teach, to exhort, command, call by name) in connection with His identity within the Godhead. (see Jn. 1:1-5, 14).

     The voice of God has not been replaced by the written Word of God but confirms it. The LORD still speaks today. He speaks to us through others, but He also speaks to us intimately, within ourselves, by His Spirit in us. Jesus told us that He would send the Holy Spirit, which He did on Pentecost, or the Feast of Weeks (Acts 2:1-4), and the Spirit would lead us and teach us (Jn. 16:7-15). If we are not hearing the Spirit of God, it is because we are not listening (Ex. 20:18-19).

     The LORD includes above the idea that the special relationship that the LORD has with His people is not only for their benefit but affects all of the nations on earth. This is spiritual fruitfulness brought forth by the LORD through the obedience of His people. From another reading portion of this Ki Tavo, "When you go out" Sabbath, the LORD prophesies beautifully of the effect upon other nations when the LORD glorifies His people: "Arise, shine; For your light (see also Jn. 8:12, Mt. 5:14-16) has come! And the glory of the LORD is risen upon you...The Gentiles/nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising...and they shall proclaim the praises of the LORD...The sons of foreigners shall build up your walls, and their kings shall minister to you...And they shall call you the City of the LORD, Zion of the Holy One of Israel." (Isa. 60:1, 3, 10, 14). 

     Jesus called His disciples to His joy and God called His people to rejoice in the promise that had been fulfilled by the LORD. The promise of the land (eres - land, country, whole earth, world, nations) had been a transformative promise. What once had been in the hands of idolatrous tribes was now going to become something else in the hands of the people who worship the true God of creation. From another reading portion of this Sabbath, Isa. 35, we see this transformation: "The wilderness and the wasteland shall be glad for them, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose; It shall blossom abundantly and rejoice, even with joy and singing...They shall see the glory of the LORD, the excellency of our God...Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the dumb sing. For waters shall burst forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert...No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast go up on it; It shall not be found there. But the redeemed shall walk there, and the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with singing, with everlasting joy on their heads. They shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sadness shall flee away." These verses from Isaiah prophesy of a total transformation of land, beasts and people, and the great joy that accompanies it.

     Today, when the Jewish people speak of "the final redemption", they are speaking of the appearance of the Messiah/Christ. The identifying description of the Messiah/Christ lies in the above verses about the healing of the blind, deaf, lame and dumb (unable to speak). Jesus performed these miracles in His first appearing to affirm His identity as the Messiah/Christ. When John the Baptist was in prison, he sent messengers to Jesus to ask, "Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?" Jesus answered him, saying, "Go and tell John the things which you hear and see: The blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel (good news) preached to them. And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me." (Mt. 11:3-6). Jesus also freed the tongues of the dumb as mentioned above (see Mark 7:32-35). The same spoken logos Word of creation Who became flesh and called us His friends commanded the blind to see, the deaf to hear, the lame to walk, and the dumb to speak, and the dead to rise, and this same logos spoken Word transforms all living creation. 

    The transformation doesn't end there, however. There is a further transformation awaiting the creation. Isaiah prophesied: "...And they shall declare My (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) glory among the Gentiles/nations...For as the new heavens and the new earth which I will make shall remain before Me,' says the LORD, 'so shall your descendants and your name remain...all flesh shall come to worship before Me,' says the LORD." (Isa. 66:19-23, excerpt. See also Isa. 43:18-19, 2 Pet. 3:10, 13-14, Rev. 21:1). Jesus also told His disciples to go into all nations to teach and declare all that He had commanded them (see Mt. 28:18-20, Mk. 16:15-18).

     All of this proceeds from the LORD's instruction to His "special people", called by His name, to "obey the voice...and keep His (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) commandments" with rejoicing. We should never let these already accomplished and yet-to-be manifested great works of God slip from our awareness, our obedience, our faith, our lips nor our vision.

     "When we come in", the obedient people of God bring His name, His transformation power, and His spoken and written Word, with them. The world was changed by God through a small population of people dwelling in a small nation, the Israelites and their fruit: the preserved Word of God and the Messiah/Christ who came from within them, and the world will be changed again.

     If you would like to learn more about the purpose of God's special people "when we come in", you can pray with me: "Heavenly Father, I rejoice in Your voice and in Your written Word. I rejoice in the relationship into which I have been brought with You and Your Son. I rejoice in the Holy Spirit who brings Your voice and Your Words to me. I rejoice in the transformation of creation, and the transformation in my life as a new creature in Christ. The old has passed away, and You bring forth the new (2 Cor. 5:17). Forgive me when I have limited Your Word and my vision. "All things are possible with God": this is the testimony that You have placed on the lips of Your special people called by Your name. I declare this glory of God to the Gentiles/nations in the name of Jesus. AMEN."

*NOTE: aleph-tav written in Hebrew as אֶת, are the first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet. The meaning of the two pictographic Hebrew letters can also be interpreted "Adonai (Lord) of the Cross/Covenant". In the New Testament, these letters are translated as Alpha and Omega written as Α Ω , the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. These letters are those by which Jesus Christ identifies Himself in the Book of Revelation: see Rev. 1:8, Rev. 21:6, Rev. 22:13.