Who are the Children of Elohim? part 2
by C.J. Koster
Someone, who professes to be a child of Elohim, might come to you and say, for example, "I know that I am His child, because He fills my heart with food and gladness." If Elohim gives us all the food we need, if He is indeed "filling our hearts with food and gladness", is that to be taken as proof that we are His children? No! Elohim does this in order to bear witness to unsaved people who still "walk in their own ways" .(Acts 14:16-17)!
In these two verses we read that He does good to them, that He gives them "rain from heaven and fruitbearing seasons." When He gives rain from heaven and fruitbearing seasons to a group of people, can that be used as proof that they are His children? No! Read Acts 14:16-17 again.
In Mt. 5:45 we further read what Yahushua said about this, namely, "Because He makes His sun rise on the wicked and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous." So that which Barnabah and Shaul spoke in Acts 14:16-17 merely confirms what our Master said in Mt. 5:45.
If you still need another confirmation, a third one, please hear it from the lips of Yahushua, as He speaks in Lk. 6:35, "the Most High ... He is kind to the thankless and wicked ones." The Greek word for "kind" is chrestos which has often been rendered as "good" in the traditional English versions. So the Most High is good to the unthankful and wicked ones!
Can you see the false security the devil offers to people, just like he offered false security to Chawwah (Eve) in the garden of Eden!
A late sister, having previously been indoctrinated with the false security of "once saved always saved", was once reproved by me for buying delicacies (which she had no need of) at a fete on the Sabbath day. The next day she said to me, "I prayed about it and a voice said to me, 'Don't worry, you are My child'." She had no remorse, she did not ask forgiveness, she was not convicted by the Set-apart Spirit. Why do I say that? Simply because she kept on trampling underfoot the Sabbath Commandment. So who was behind the voice that spoke to her? It was the devil! What he did with Chawwah, offering her false security, Satan has been doing ever since - not only daily, but minute by minute he tempts us and offers false security to us.
With the increasing popularity of the "prosperity gospel" one often hears, "Since I have become a child of [Elohim], I have become so prosperous, just look at my new three storey mansion and my swimming pool." These misguided people need to read Mt. 4:8-9, Mt. 6:19-21, Mt. 19:21-24, Lk. 6:20-25, Ya'aqob 5:1-5, I Yoch. 2:15-17 and many other passages in the Messianic Scriptures.
When we turn to the pre-Messianic Scriptures we find even further and much stronger evidence against this false security Satan offers - material "blessings" and prosperity, deceiving them into thinking that these are proofs of being a "child of Elohim."
Yirmeyahu cries out to Elohim in Yirm. 12:1-2, "Why has the way of the wrong prospered? All the workers of treachery are at ease? You have planted them and they have taken root, they grow and they bear fruit. "YOU ARE NEAR IN THEIR MOUTH BUT FAR FROM THEIR KIDNEYS." (Capitals mine). Instead of the word "wrong" the KJV uses "wicked", while Dr Rotherham’s, The Emphasized Bible renders it as "lawless", and therefore reads, "Why does the way of the lawless prosper?" If we add this to what Messiah said about the lawless, the darnel, in Mt. 13, then we too could cry out, "Oh Elohim, why do the lawless 'believers' prosper?"
In Ps 73:2-17 we read a similar passage. Here, too, the Hebrew word rasha, has been rendered by us as "wrong" or "wrongdoer", while the KJV has "wicked" and The Emphasized Bible, has "lawless." Let us read what the Psalmist says in this passage, "But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled, my steps had nearly slipped, for I was envious of the boasters, when I saw the peace of the wrongdoers (the wicked, the lawless). For death has no pangs for them, and their strength is firm. They are not in trouble as other men, and they are not plagued like other men. So pride is their necklace . . . See, these are the wrong (the wicked, the lawless), and always at ease, they have amassed wealth! Indeed, in vain have I cleansed my hands, and washed my hands in innocence. For I am plagued all day long, and my reproof is every morning."
The Psalmist was perplexed by this prosperity of the wicked, the lawless. But then he found the answer, in Ps 73:16-19, "Yet, when I tried to understand this, it was labour to my eyes - until I went into the Set-apart place of El, then I perceived their end. Indeed, You set them in slippery places, You make them fall to ruins. How suddenly they are ruined! completely swept away through destructions." We also find the answer in Ps 92:6-7, "A senseless man does not know, and a fool does not understand this. When the wrong (the wicked, the lawless) spring up like grass, and all the workers of wickedness blossom, it is for them to be destroyed forever."
As we study "all Scripture" which is "profitable for teaching, for reproof, for setting straight, for instructions in righteousness." (2 Tim. 3:16), our thinking is indeed straightened out. As we consider "all Scripture", as we take cognisance of every word in the Book of the Books, the complete picture emerges. And we also get absolute clarity of what it means to be a child of Elohim, and what it entails.
Let us scrutinise the passage contained in 2 Cor. 6:14 up to 2 Cor. 7:1, in which Shaul compiles a few applicable pre-Messianic Scripture texts. The most important of this passage is the call contained in 2 Cor. 6:17-18, "Therefore 'Come out from among them and be separate, says Yahuweh, and do not touch what is unclean, and I shall receive you. And I shall be a Father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters of Me, says Yahuweh the Almighty'."
To be a son (or daughter) of Elohim we simply have to :
1) Come out from among them (v.1T)
2) Be separate, instead of being unclean like "them" (v.17).
3) Be righteous, instead of being lawless like "them" (v.14),
4) Be walking in the light, instead of being in darkness like "them" (v.14),
5) Be of Messiah, instead of being of Beliya'al (v.15),
6) Be a (true) believer, instead of being an unbeliever (v.15),
7) Be a Dwelling Place for Elohim (Elohim dwelling in us), having come out of "them" who serve idols (v.16),
8) Perfecting apartness in the fear of Elohim, having come out of "them" who are defiled of flesh and spirit (2 Cor. 7:1).
BEING "SONS AND DAUGHTERS" OF THE HEAVENLY "FATHER" IS THE SAME AS WHAT HE MEANT WHEN HE SAID, "AND I SHALL BE THEIR ELOHIM, AND THEY SAID BE MY PEOPLE." (v.16).
Do not be deceived by those who think they can pull down Elohim to their Gentile way of life, unclean, defiled of flesh and spirit, being in darkness, being lawless, serving idols. They only make fools of themselves, and they try to fool others too - "mockers", walking "according to their own wicked lusts" (Yehudah v.18). To be a child of the Father, to be part of Elohim's People, you and I simply have to abide by His standard: Apartness (Qodesh)! You and I simply have to "come out from among them and be separate." Who are the "them"? 1 Yoch 5:19 says. "all the world lies in the wicked one." Read Gal 1:4 as well, "this present wicked world."
If someone says, "He has miraculously healed me, now I acknowledge Him, the Elohim of Yisrael, as the only Elohim," is such a confession, as well as the miraculous healing, proof of him being a child of Elohim? Let us take an example from Scripture: In 2 Sover. 5 we read of Na'aman, commander of the army of the sovereign of Syria, who was miraculously healed of his leprosy. In v.15 he then confesses the Elohim of Yisrael to be the only Elohim. In spite of this he then already asks forgiveness for having have to worship (on his return home) in the house of Rimmon (probably a sun-deity), because he would have to accompany his Syrian sovereign into the house of Rimmon. Elisha did not approve of this apologetical request for forgiveness asked by Na'aman, neither did he disapprove - he merely let him go in peace.
Na'aman was wonderfully healed and acknowledged the Elohim of Yisrael as the only Elohim, but Na'aman went back to Rimmon - worship, in spite of it all. Nevertheless, he could never have thought to have become a child of Elohim or part of the people of Elohim. What Na'aman did was typical of what the Gentile nations afterwards did with the Messianic Belief - they compromised and kept on with their Sunday keeping, 25th December-keeping etc.
Another example is that of Nebukadnetstsar, sovereign of Babel (Babylon). In Dan. 4 we read how he was humbled by Elohim, and became mentally deranged and ate grass like oxen do, because of his sins, his crookedness, his maltreatment of the poor and his pride. He had to do this until he broke off his sins by righteousness (Dan.. 4:27); until he acknowledged that the Most High is ruler in the reign of men (Dan.. 4:32).
He witnessed of his mental healing and said, "and my understanding returned to me. And I blessed the Most High . . . Now I, Nebukadnetstsar, am praising and exalting and esteeming the Sovereign of the heavens, for all His works are truth, and His ways right." (Dan. 4:34 & 37).
Unbelievable! The sovereign of Babel (Babylon) was now blessing the Most High, praising and exalting and esteeming Him, confessing that all His works are truth, and His ways right! Did Nebukadnetstsar even become known as "a child of Elohim"? Nowhere do we read of it! Did he relinquish his position as sovereign of Babylon and his nationality of being a Babylonian, and become an Yisraelite, the same way as Ruth became one? Not according to Scripture - never!
A third example is that of Nineweh, in the days of Yonah. Nineweh, that great city of Ashshur (Assyria), built by Nimrod (1 Mosheh 10:11), which become the capital of Assyria, some time after this. Their evils came up before Yahuweh and He decided to overthrow the great city. However, at the preaching of Yonah, they repented with fasting and in sackcloth and ashes, and turned from their evil way. Therefore Elohim relented from executing His wrath - because He shows favour, He is compassionate, patient and of great kindness (4:2).
So He pardoned that great city, because they repented and turned from their evil way. Because He pardoned them (4:11) did the citizens of this great city of Assyria then become children of Elohim - did they become part of Elohim's people? No!
To summarise these three examples: It certainly pleased Elohim that Na'aman acknowledged the Elohim of Yisrael as the only Elohim, after He had healed Na'aman. But that did not make him a child of Elohim or part of the people of Elohim. It certainly pleased Elohim that Nebukadnetstsar "broke off his sins by righteousness." It certainly pleased Elohim that the Assyrians in Nineweh repented of their sin and turned from their evil way, but that did not make them part of the Covenant People.
If Na'aman, Nebukadnetstsar and Nineweh would have thought, and boasted, that they became the People of the Covenant, Yisrael, we would immediately react and say, "They are deceiving themselves!" Has this same deception not prevailed among the Churches - Christians in general - who think that they are now the Chosen People, that they have replaced Yisrael, that they are the sons and daughters of Elohim, while they stubbornly continue with "lawlessness" (2 Cor. 6:14) and continue to reject "apartness"?
Remember: He who rejects apartness (qodesh) rejects Elohim (1 Thess 4:7-8)! Remember: Without apartness (qodesh) no one shall see Elohim (Heb. 12:14)!
This vital message contained in 2 Cor. 6:14 up to 2 Cor. 7:1, is confirmed by what we read in the Torah, namely 5 Mosh. 14:1-2. Remember, in Scripture we very often find parallel words or phrases, and here we find it too, the "children of Yahuweh your Elohim" are "a set-apart people to Yahuweh" and He has "chosen you to be a people for Himself." He then says of them, "a treasured possession above all the peoples who are on the face of the earth." Let everyone who professes to be child of Elohim measure himself/ herself by the standard of these parallel phrases, these definitions of the true children of Elohim.
To complete this message we ought to look at the only solution, the only expectancy of all esteem, the One we need to reach out to: Yahushua! Whoever wishes to be a son (a child) of Elohim, has to see that the old man of sin (the Adamic nature) is put to death, and let Messiah then live IN you. If Messiah lives IN you, being a new creature, then THE SON OF ELOHIM LIVES IN YOU, then you truly are a son (or child) of Elohim!
Is it possible to be certain that the Son of Elohim lives IN us? Yes! Simply follow the instructions given to us in the Messianic Scriptures - all of it, but some guidelines are contained therein in order to help us :
1) In Rom. 6, 7 and 8 we clearly see how we have to put to death the old man of sin, the Adamic nature, the old man who is a servant of sin, a servant of uncleanness and of lawlessness (6:19). This old man is then replaced by a new man, one who is a servant of righteousness, a servant of Elohim, resulting in apartness or qodesh (6:16-22). This new man, of course, is Messiah, the Son of Elohim (Gal 2:20 and many other texts).
2) In Yoch 14:23-24 we see that the requisite for Him (and His Father) to live in us, is for us to truly love Him by guarding (keeping) His Words, His Commandments, His Teachings.
Let us strive to become true sons (or children) of Elohim by earnestly seeking and searching and obeying the Son of Elohim! It is as simple as that, BUT IT SIMPLY MEANS THAT THE OLD CARNAL MAN, THAT THE OLD MAN OF SIN, THE OLD MAN OF LAWLESSNESS, FIRST NEEDS TO DIE, NEEDS TO BE IMPALED!