The Three-Hundred-Thirteenth (Representative)

Every once in a while, we have to ask ourselves what it means to be a representative of YHWH.  We have to do a sort of reset to bring ourselves back into alignment with how we should be living and what we should be doing according to scripture.  That’s what we’re going to be taking a look at this week.

There are a few different types of representatives of YHWH that we see in scripture.  They range from individual representation to group representation.  Depending on what type of representation it was, the individual was expected to do certain things and live a certain way.

Starting at the “bottom,” or most general representation, was the congregation.  The entire assembly of Israel, YHWH’s people, was to be a witness of YHWH and His sovereignty to the rest of the world (Isaiah 43:10).  He chose them, just like He chooses believers today, to show the nations that He is the one true God (Isaiah 43:12).

That prophecy from Isaiah has clear ties to Yeshua, who YHWH sent as our Redeemer, but the language includes witnesses plural, not just Yeshua as a singular witness.  It’s a challenge from YHWH for the nations to bring their witnesses of their gods while YHWH presents His people as witnesses of Him.  They were to declare His praise among all the nations (Isaiah 43:21).

This was a prophecy of judgment against Israel for not being the witnesses YHWH wanted them to be.  He wanted them to declare His glory and His wonders to all the nations in the world (1 Chronicles 16:24, Psalm 96:3).  Instead, they failed to be obedient to Him and they also created division between them and the nations through the ordinances that they created on top of YHWH’s Law (Ephesians 2:13-15).

How were the people of Israel to be witnesses of YHWH to the nations?  Yes, there was an active component of declaring His praises, glory, and wonders as we just read, but there was also a passive component.  Simply by following His Law, Israel was to be an example of YHWH’s wisdom and righteousness (Deuteronomy 4:6-8).  The nations would see how they lived and be drawn to Him through it.

They were told to be on guard and diligently watch themselves so they wouldn’t forget YHWH’s commandments and what they saw with their own eyes when those commandments were given.  They were told to pass them down to their children and their children’s children (Deuteronomy 4:9-10).  These weren’t just commandments and it wasn’t just a Law, it was the way YHWH set His people apart as a living representation of Him and of His wisdom and righteousness.

If we go back to before Israel first messed up and created a golden calf to worship while Moses was still up on Mount Sinai, we see YHWH’s original intention for His people.  Had they obeyed His commandments, they would have been an entire nation of priests.  Specifically, they would have been a kingdom of priests, or a royal priesthood (Exodus 19:6).  

We don’t know what it would have looked like if they hadn’t reverted to the pagan ways they picked up while in Egypt.  Would they have become a people that spread out into all the nations and made offerings to YHWH for them just as the line of priests from Aaron did for Israel?  As leaven in dough, would they, through their witnessing of YHWH and living according to His Law, eventually have brought all the people of the world into obedience and worship of YHWH?  

This is a hypothetical situation that’s interesting to think about, not to say that if it happened that way we wouldn’t have needed Yeshua as a Redeemer, but because we see the same language used after our Redeemer was crucified.  In Peter’s first letter, he calls believers a royal priesthood, the same language used at Mount Sinai for Israel (1 Peter 2:9).  Just as YHWH intended Israel to be when He first gave the Law at Mount Sinai, believers, as a continuation of that Israel, are meant to be today.

As we’ve seen in our previous studies, when Yeshua was crucified is when things began to be restored, step by step, to the way YHWH original created them.  One of those steps is that His people would be a royal priesthood.  As His people, we are supposed to represent Him in all the ways we just read that Israel was supposed to represent Him to the rest of the world.

If we look at the writings of the apostles like Peter out of context, we think he’s got some novel view of what believers are supposed to and how we are supposed to live.  However, what he talks about is nothing new.  It’s the way YHWH always intended His people to be.

Peter talks about proclaiming the “virtues” of YHWH among the nations, but the Greek word used for virtues can also mean praise.  In fact, that Greek word is used in the Septuagint for another prophecy of Isaiah that talks about proclaiming His praise in the islands (Isaiah 42:12)!  Remember our study about the islands?

Peter talks about the believers’ good deeds being seen among the nations such that they glorify YHWH (1 Peter 2:12).  In other words, we are supposed to have the same active and passive witnessing that we read Israel was supposed to exhibit.  We are expected, as His people, to praise YHWH among the nations and to live in a way that they see His wisdom and righteousness.  

Peter contrasts believers with non-believers, and more specifically the unbelieving branches that were broken off due to unbelief (Romans 11:20), by talking about Yeshua as their stumbling block.  The reason they stumble?  Peter states that it is because they disobey the word (1 Peter 2:6-8).

When you take a look at the word that’s translated to disobey in that verse (Strong’s G544), what you’ll find is that the primary definition is actually “to disbelieve.”  In other words, those to which Yeshua is a stumbling block are those that disbelieve the scripture that proves He is who He said He is.  However, there is a reason why the vast majority of translations translate it to disobey rather than disbelieve.

Do you recall what we learned in previous studies about the Hebrew mindset regarding faith?  It is the combination of belief and obedience, not just one or the other.  As it applies to this verse, it means that because of their unbelief of scripture as a witness of Yeshua, they are subsequently disobedient to that same scripture.  The disbelief and the disobedience are intertwined and inextricable from one another.

Therefore, if we as believers truly believe in Yeshua, as well as the scriptures that prophesied of Him, we should be living our lives in obedience to Him and to those scriptures.  That’s the contrast between us and unbelievers and that’s part of our representing of YHWH.  A representative of YHWH must, by definition, be an obedient believer in Him, and by extension in His Son who came as a representative of Him (Colossian 1:15, 2 Corinthians 4:4, John 14:9).

All that was just as being a member of YHWH’s assembly!  There are other representatives of YHWH in scripture as well.  They are more specific and individual than just being in an overall congregation of YHWH’s people.

There were kings as well as priests that had their own requirements of what they were to do and how they were to live.  Why are they important to us as believers today?  Well, we just learned that we’re a royal priesthood, didn’t we?!

That characterization is a combination of a governmental leader like a king and a spiritual leader like a priest.  These two aspects encompass the physical and the spiritual, making us a leader in both realms.  Also, in both of these aspects we are not only a representative of YHWH to the world, but of the world to YHWH.  

Way back when Israel had no king, they instead had judges as leaders of the people.  The judge was intended to be the leader, raised up by YHWH, which saved them from nefarious people (Judges 2:16) and kept them obedient to YHWH (Deuteronomy 16:18-20).  Israel had no king because YHWH was their King (1 Samuel 8:7).  

Once YHWH gave them a king, He established a position among His people that was to be a direct representative of Him.  The king was to write down all of His commandments and read them regularly so He could lead the people in righteousness (Deuteronomy 17:18-20).  In that culture and time period, we’ve learned in previous studies that the king was also the representative of the people, and we can see that in scripture as well (2 Samuel 5:12).  

We see over and over again in scripture that if the king of Israel was disobedient to YHWH, the people were disobedient.  They worshipped other gods just as their king worshipped other gods.  If the king was obedient, the people tended to be obedient as well.  However, in that case, it depended on how aggressive the king was in rooting out the evil and wickedness that a previous king had brought into the people.

We also see an example in scripture of the people being judged for the sins of a king.  David sinned against YHWH by having a census taken of the people without YHWH directing it.  As a result, the people received a plague that ended up killing seventy thousand (2 Samuel 24:10-15).  By this, we see that it was not just a cultural or societal thing that the king represented the people, it was something YHWH established as well.

While we have only one King, which right now is Yeshua, as believers we are a part of His royal family (2 Timothy 2:12, Ephesians 2:19, Galatians 4:17, Revelation 5:10).  This means that while we aren’t a representative of all YHWH’s people, we are a representative of YHWH to His people and the rest of the nations and must live our lives accordingly.  Our actions should reflect our status as one of YHWH’s heirs, as someone through which others can see Him.  We hold His authority, so we should act like it.

In a similar way, as priests we are a spiritual representative of Him.  The priests of Israel were mediators between YHWH and the people.  If they sinned, it was as if the people had sinned (Leviticus 4:3).  If the people sinned, it was only the priest that could atone for that sin through the sacrificial process (Hebrews 9:7).

We don’t necessarily represent all of His people spiritually because, again, Yeshua does that for us in the heavenly temple, but we can, and should, mediate for other believers and even nonbelievers to YHWH.  There’s nothing wrong with asking YHWH to bless an unbeliever, but at a minimum we should be praying that He shows Himself to them such that they, too, can become one of His people.  In the same way, if He gives us a message to give to an unbeliever or simply an action to take we need to be obedient to that.  It could be the sign that brings that person into faith in Him.

To close, as believers we are representatives of YHWH in many ways.  At the bare minimum, the way we live our lives is that representation.  At the next level, how we act and what we do in the world is another way we represent Him, and at the highest level, our active component of representing Him, through our praise of Him to others and our mediation between people and Him, shows that we truly are His!

We hope you have a great week! Shabbat shalom and YHWH bless you!

-Rob and Sara Gene

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The Gospel

We are born sinful as a result of Adam and Eve's sin (Genesis 2:17, 3:6, 1 John 1:8)

The consequence of sin, which is unavoidable through our own works, is death (Romans 6:23)

Yeshua, the Son of YHWH, lived sinless and was put to death (Hebrews 4:15)

His death, therefore, cleanses us of sin that would have required our death

(2 Corinthians 5:21)

He rose on the third day (1 Corinthians 15:4)

Because of His resurrection, we are confident in our future resurrection and eternal life

(1 Corinthians 15:17-18, John 3:16)