Now that we have set forth the fulfillment of these actions surrounding Noah and his sons following the flood, it would be beneficial to expound upon this some more. The truth we will obtain from this will be well worth our consideration and the delay in further examining law and mercy.

While we see the fulfillment of these acts set forth in Noah and his sons in Christianity and the Remnant, in truth this act of covering the Father's nakedness was first performed by the Son. In fact, every aspect of Yahweh's redemptive plan was first carried out in Yahshua. Most would certainly agree with this fact, but what man up to now has failed to see is that while Yahshua opened the way, providing salvation to all men, we do not yet see salvation in its completion. Why not? The answer is that while Yahshua provided the way for salvation, His work in no way precludes the same expression of those works in and through man, but in fact orders it. In other words, what Yahshua effected as the Son of God on this earth towards man's salvation, those same works must be worked out and effected in and through man on a corporate level.

Paul clearly stated - "Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of His body (which is the church) in filling up that which is lacking in Christ's afflictions" (Colossians 1:24). Have you ever noticed that verse? If it were not here in the Bible, if someone else dared say these words they would be considered blasphemers. But the fact is that Paul was performing a work that Christ's own afflictions could not effect, and has been effected ever since in and through the suffering body of Christ.

Something needs to be said here that is VERY important. While Yahshua gave up His body to the cross for the salvation of mankind, EQUALLY the body of Christ has been given to suffering for the salvation of mankind. Though on the surface this may sound blasphemous (though in light of what Paul declared, it is not), Yahshua's suffering and death on the cross of necessity had to be repeated by man. Salvation is not something that is purchased by Yahshua and then we all just bask in its benefits. When Yahshua declared - "If any one wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me" (Matthew 16:24) - He was setting forth the cross as something that was not just one time, but continuing! Equally He asked James and John, who had requested to sit at His right and His left in His kingdom - "Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?" (Mark 10:38). The experience that the Son of God was to go through, was to be an ongoing work in man. Why? Because salvation had to be worked out in and through man! Man becomes a sharer in Yahshua's salvation - not just in sharing its benefits, but of necessity in sharing its responsibility. Salvation is not carried out to its fulfillment until it is equally carried out through man.

This ongoing salvation encompassing man himself is seen in Obadiah 1:21. If Yahshua is the Savior-solus, then why is it that we read - "The saviors will ascend Mount Zion to judge the mountain of Esau, and the kingdom will be Yahweh's"? The work of salvation in the Savior necessitates His replication in "saviors."

While Yahshua opened the way for salvation, salvation is worked out through man. When Yahshua said that man was to "take up his cross, and follow" Him, that command alone tells us that the cross work is a continuing work. Yahshua opened the way, but man must walk in it, carrying out salvation himself, in order to effect and secure the salvation He provided. As it is written - "work out your salvation with fear and trembling" (Philippians 2:12). Salvation afforded in Yahshua is worked out through man. Or to say it another way - man works out salvation.

In this working out process in and through man, even as Christ had to be turned over to Satan, so the body of Christ had to be turned over to Satan, to be afflicted by the ruler of this world. Following Yahshua's example as the suffering Savior, the body of Christ too had to be blinded, scourged, spat upon, and the crown of the cares of this world placed upon its head. It too was to have the appearance that it was ruling - the reed scepter was placed in its hand and the purple and scarlet robe draped upon its body. All of this took place in the body for the sake of becoming the suffering savior for the world. Now in the end it too has had to take on the same fate as Yahshua - it had to die, a sharp spear was thrust into its side, and the blood and water of the bride is coming out. This is the bride of Yahshua who is coming out of the sleeping body of Christ to be the last Eve.

This bride is the Elijah, who accomplishes what the afflicted body has not been able to accomplish. As the Elijah, it is the work that restores all things, a work that the body has not been able to effect. It is the work that prepares the way for Yahshua's return, equally a work the body has not been able to effect. But most of all, it is the two-part sons, Shem and Japheth, who cover the nakedness of the Father that Ham (or, swine) Christianity has only exposed. Both works - the body and the bride - have their places in bringing to man and through man salvation - working out salvation.

Yahshua opened the way, and in many ways covered the nakedness of His Father; but the actual fulfillment of that covering provided through Yahshua is carried out in and through man - specifically the two-part Remnant's entry into Yahweh's tent. Therewith lies the work of the kingdom that will cease Yahweh's drunken wrath which has never been covered by Christianity.

Yahshua declared that when one saw Him, they saw the Father. Yet, it is often noted by Bible readers that there is a difference between "the God of the Old Testament, and the God of the New." Why the difference? The fact is that Yahshua was the first to come and satisfy the wrath of the Father. And like a loving Son, He would express the Father that He knew, particularly His mercy and His love, that in fact had not been the most outstanding characteristic of Him before. Like a loving son, Yahshua knew the goodness of God, and chose to only see and reveal this side of Him, and not His wrath. Yahshua did not come in wrath, but in mercy; and then declared that when men saw Him, they were seeing the Father. But, was that indeed the same Father that men had come to know in Yahweh before? Not really. Yahweh had been very angry with man since the garden, and had even taken much pleasure in afflicting man. He wanted obedience to His Law, but Yahshua was more concerned with mercy. Yahweh had a man killed for carrying a load of sticks on the Sabbath; but what did Yahshua say about the Sabbath? - "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath." Yahweh's law required that a harlot be stoned; but what did Yahshua say? - "Let him who is without sin cast the first stone." In all of these acts, Yahshua was covering the wrath of the Father.

Thus we see that Yahshua first set into motion this act of covering the nakedness of the Father. But further and very importantly, Yahweh is now in the process of performing the actual fulfillment of this covering in the two-part Shem/Japheth Remnant, carrying out the work first set forth and effected by Yahshua. Again, as we have seen, the two-part Remnant enter backward into the Father's tent - His kingdom - and cover His nakedness.

Whether it be the cross that Yahshua bore, or the cup that He drank, or the baptism of death into which He entered, or His acts of covering the Father's nakedness, the work that He effected did not end with Him, but in fact it only began with Him. The work that Yahshua effected is carried out by His body, and also His bride.

Furthermore, in closing this section, let us add some very important and insightful information regarding Yahshua's vital role in the union of law and mercy, along with the resulting outcome. This is very relevant to this section on the work of Yahshua, and leads us back to the subject of law and mercy.

On the first ever Pentecost the Law was given, and Law stood alone for 1,500 years. Then, following the hymen work of Yahshua - the shedding of blood for the satisfaction of the Law - on another Pentecost Yahweh gave us His semen, the Holy Spirit, and mercy was brought forth to man. The uniting of these two is for the purpose of fruitfulness, first in bringing forth the Son of God. Law came on the first Pentecost, while mercy came on a Pentecost 1,500 years later, and the outcome is the bringing forth of Yahshua as King of kings.

So where does the first coming of Yahshua fit into this? Even as we have just discussed concerning Yahshua's place as the door for salvation for all men, yet that salvation of necessity is worked out in and through man, so we see once again that Yahshua is in fact the embodiment and beginning of law and mercy coming together. The only reason law and mercy can come together in the church in order to bring forth the Son of God as King of kings, is because this union first came about and was thus made possible in Yahshua. He is the originator, the intercessor, for all things.

In John 1:17 we read - "For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ." What are grace and truth? They, once again, are the uniting of the two contrasting works of law and mercy. Law is truth, mercy is grace. So in Yahshua we do not see law alone, as we find in Moses; but instead we find exactly what must take place in all of mankind, and that is the coming together of law and mercy for the purpose of producing offspring. Yahshua is the embodiment of that union, the marriage of law and mercy.

So once again we see that what is needed by man is of necessity first accomplished in Yahshua, thus not only opening its possibility, but even more so insuring its success. Thus that which was accomplished in the Son, will be effected in and through man.

Continue to page 5 of The Conflict for LAW AND MERCY, CONTINUED

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