I have been thinking about the concept of bridges, of all things, recently. I think that some of it comes from a conversation that Sis. G. and I had recently, and some of it comes from last week’s study about The Deadly Library. The transition from death to life, from slavery to freedom, from being squeezed and crushed by guilt to having peace in Christ, these are the results of choices that we make… choices we are allowed to make because our Father loves us, and has given us His grace.

There are some who have questions about this, whether it is Yahweh who chooses us, or we who choose Yahweh, when we are saved. The reality is that both are true – both choices are necessary.

A prisoner whose cell is locked cannot automatically choose to be free. However, if someone with a key opens the door to his room, then he can choose to walk out and no longer be a prisoner. Similarly, if a slave is kept in chains, for all his desire for freedom, he cannot remove his own bindings. But, if someone should come and break those chains, then the slave may choose to walk away. Christ is the one who sets us free, free to choose life rather than death. This dual choice, that Christ chooses to free us and then we choose to be free, escapes the minds of some who are bound up by misunderstandings of the theology of the Bible.

As you know, there are some forms of Christianity that suggest free will is an illusion, that we are too depraved to choose Christ; therefore, if anyone is saved, it is because God has chosen them to be saved. Human responsibility and choice has nothing to do with salvation under this system of belief; and yet, the Bible, the Word of Yahweh, in just about every book, presents us with a choice. And in the Word is the power. When Yahweh gives you an instruction, in His creative Word is the power to fulfill that instruction, whether it is to “rise up and walk,” despite being paralyzed for many years, or to “Come to me” across the water, even though this is not normally something that human beings can do. Similarly, humanity in its natural state is not capable of choosing righteousness, but when we read in the Word that we have a choice, in that Word, in the reading and believing of that Word, is the power to make the choice.

When an evangelist tells you, “Choose life. Choose to accept Christ and be born again,” in those very words, in the very words that you hear, is the power to obey the Holy Spirit that is speaking through that person. When a Creation Seventh Day Adventist tells you, “Choose to be free from sin. Accept the victory over sin that Christ is offering you this very moment,” in that invitation is all the power of Yahweh to transform you into a saint, into one who has that genuine experience. Even if you do not fully understand all that the choice means, you have the power by Yahweh’s grace, to make it. That is where grace dwells. That is what grace means.

We read: “Now therefore fear Yahweh, and serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye Yahweh. And if it seem evil unto you to serve Yahweh, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell, but as for me and my house, we will serve Yahweh.” (Josh 24:14, 15)

Every instruction in the Bible that is applicable to us is an invitation to make a choice. “Remember the Sabbath Day.” That gives us a choice. For the converted human being, one perspective of truth is that every Sabbath we choose to lay down our work and draw near to the Throne. Another perspective, equally accurate, is that this choice has already been made; when we were born again, we committed once and for always to obeying the Law of our Father. Thus, when the sun sets on Friday evening, we do not sit and consider, “Should I keep this particular Sabbath?” No, the rest comes upon us, the time comes upon us, and we do what is in our nature to do, what has become our custom to do… we remember the Sabbath, to keep it holy. When we are tempted, we do not consider, “Should I resist this particular temptation?” No; choice is involved, but the choice we make in the moment is the natural result of the choice that we made for life when we were born again.

But I note that as Joshua encourages the Israelites to transition from death to life, from Egyptian paganism to the worship of the true God, he reminds them that their fathers served other gods “on the other side of the flood,” of this body of water. Why was he inspired to do this? He could have just said, “Choose to serve Yahweh, or choose to serve the idols that our ancestors worshipped.” Instead, he reminds them not only of a change in time, but also a change in place.

Bridges, crossings over bodies of water, are symbols of transition, and while the word “bridge” does not actually appear in the Bible – not in any translation that I know – the concept of crossing over a river, which implies the use of a bridge, is present, and is significant where it appears.

In fact, one of the theories about the origin of the name “Hebrew,” of which there are a few, suggests that the name means “One who has crossed over;” specifically, one who has crossed over the Euphrates river, into the land that Yahweh had chosen to become the home for the nation of Israel.

Because this world is sinful, because this world has been bargained away to Lucifer, Yahweh’s people who live here have always been strangers and pilgrims, as the various hymns remind us. In both the Old Testament and New Testament times, we are those who are just passing through, passing over, as if on a bridge, from one state to another.

This transition is accomplished through the Law of Yahweh. Now some will hear that and think, “Is this teaching about righteousness through the Law?” No, all righteousness comes from He who is righteous; but “righteousness” is not a feeling, nor merely a state of mind. Righteousness is the reality of being in harmony with Yahweh. Righteousness is the condition of doing the right thing, always, because we are one with our Father who does all things well. And so we do have “works of righteousness,” but they are the result, not the cause, of the condition. If the condition is present, the works will follow. If the condition is absent, then the works will not follow; thus, we can tell whether someone is righteous, or not, by the testimony of their words, and the testimony of their deeds.

Modern, diluted Christianity does not consider this principle. Those who fear judgment cannot accept this principle, but the people of Yahweh are able, even required, to distinguish between the righteous and the unrighteous. We are not tasked with deciding, or declaring, those who are ultimately lost or those who are saved; but we can certainly perceive whether or not an individual is currently operating according to the righteousness of Christ. Even the “least esteemed in the Church” is capable of discerning such things as they relate to our earthly experience and interaction with others. (1Cor 6:4)

John speaks about this very plainly. He writes, “Little children, let no man deceive you; he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as He [Christ] is righteous.” (1John 3:7) Let no man deceive you in this. Modern Christianity has done a very good job deceiving people about this idea of righteousness. In my early days in the CSDA Church, I wrote to a well-known minister (as in, he was well known at the time) who taught about Creationism, the idea that Yahweh did not use long, slow, death-based processes to create the present world. I wrote to him and I said that while I agreed with his general view on physical creation, I wondered why he did not apply that creation principle to his spiritual life. After all, if God creates immediately, by His Word, and in such a way that the result is “very good,” why is it that he does not believe that if he is born again, by that same Word, it is not also an immediate, “very good” experience? Why does his experience not leave him truly free from sin?

He responded that while he was saved “in his spirit,” his flesh continued to cause him to occasionally sin, and that only when Christ returns, and we have our glorified bodies, can we actually overcome the temptations and tendencies of the flesh. Someone had deceived this man concerning the meaning of “righteousness.” Someone had left him in ignorance of Yahweh’s power, taking away his ability to choose everlasting righteousness. As a result, he deceived other people. But John says, “Let no man deceive you…” those that do righteousness, they are the righteous ones. The spirit and the flesh are bound together, so that whatsoever the spirit experiences, this is that which comes out in the words and actions.

There is a bridge, a solid connection, between the experiences of the spirit and the actions of the body. That is why the Bible says this: “For the Son of Man shall come in the glory of his Father with His angels; and then He shall reward every man according to his works.” (Mat 16:27) That doesn’t sound like the world’s Christianity, does it? But this is the way of judgment, even though the Scripture tells us that God judges the heart. He who judges the heart nevertheless rewards and punishes according to the works done in the body, because that is how the state of the heart is revealed. There is no gap between them. The choices we make in our words and our actions, they are the result of the choice we have made to walk in the Spirit, not in the flesh.

Similarly, even though we sometimes think of the Ten Commandments as having two “sections,” one about our relationship with Yahweh, and one about our relationship with our fellow man, there is really only one Law. Even Christ, when discussing the Law, summarized it as two great principles, to love Yahweh with all your heart and mind and soul, and then your neighbor as yourself. But again, those are not two different things. The way we relate to Yahweh will determine to a large degree the way we relate to our fellow humans, and the direction may be different – upward to our Father and then outward to our neighbors – but the thing itself is the same, love in both cases.

The Law of Yahweh is to express love, agape – not the feeling of love, not the emotion, but the reality, the activity, of love. This is why James says, “If ye fulfil the royal Law according to the Scripture, ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself,’ ye do well; but if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the Law as transgressors. For whosoever shall keep the whole Law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. For He that said, ‘Do not commit adultery,’ said also, ‘Do not kill.’ Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the Law.” (James 2:8-11)

There are some very important points made here. James quotes the statement Yahshua made in summarizing the commandments: “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” That’s not part of the 10 Commandments, at least not word-for-word, but James then equates that summary with the very elements given to Moses, “Thou shalt not kill,” and “Thou shalt not commit adultery.” Those are the ways in which we express love for our neighbors. What this does is positively identify the “Law” that Yahshua taught about as the very Commandments given to the Israelites.

Furthermore, and this is of relevance to the saints who already keep the Law, James tells us why it is important to keep the entire Law… it is not because our righteousness depends on works. He says, “If you break one point you break them all, for…” and remember, always pay attention when the Bible says because, and for, and since. You are about to get an explanation.

It is not just, “If you break one point, you break them all because they are all equally important.” They are all equally important, but James gives this as the reason: “For He that said, ‘Do not commit adultery,’ said also, ‘Do not kill.’” The Law is important, and every point of the Law is important, because of He who said it. Yahweh, who justifies us, gives us His Law to reveal what righteousness is, what righteousness looks like. Yahweh is our righteousness, and He Who is our righteousness has said, “Do this,” and “Do not do that.” He is teaching us what His character is, and what our characters are, which have been inherited from Him. He is saying, “Once you choose me, I will repair your spirit and then this set of Commandments is what the choices made in your body will look like.”

And it’s sort of interesting, the Law itself contains a bridge between the spirit and the flesh. We say the first four commandments concern our connection with Yah: Not have any other gods before Him, not to bow before idols, not to take His name in vain, and to remember the Sabbath Day, the memorial of His creation. We then say the last six concern our fellow human beings, to honor your father and mother, not to kill, not to commit adultery, not to steal, not to bear false witness against your neighbor, and not to covet your neighbor’s wife, property, possessions, and so on.

But there is something that marks the transition point between those two sets. You probably missed it, but eight of the Ten Commandments begin with “not to,” or in the original wording, “Thou shalt not.” Only two begin with something else, and they are the fourth and fifth, the transition between the two sections.

Honor your father and your mother. Remember the Sabbath Day. Of the Decalogue these are the two that are “positive.” These are the only two that don’t begin with “Thou shalt not.” In other words, they tell us to do something, rather than to not do something. You are to avoid evil in all the other aspects of the Law, but to remember the Sabbath and keep it holy, and to honor your parents, these are positive, active instructions. They require you to make a specific choice to do something, not to not do something.

This does not make these two commandments more important for sanctification than the others, but there is a spotlight placed on them. The Sabbath is associated in some verses with the “Seal” of Yahweh, and Paul says this about the fifth point of the Law: “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honour thy father and mother, (which is the first commandment with promise) that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.” (Eph 6:1-3)

The Sabbath and the fifth commandment are both “teaching” commandments. To not bow to idols, to not kill, to not covet your neighbor’s things, these are signs of righteousness, and overcoming temptations to do these things definitely reveals faith, but honoring your parents, especially godly parents, will teach you directly about the things of Yahweh. Similarly, there is a special blessing placed upon the seventh day that has never been revoked, and it is the time in which Yahweh teaches His children about worship, about community, about spiritual rest, in ways that are specifically appointed to that time.

Yahshua said, “Love God with all your heart,” and “Love your neighbor as yourself.” At the exact middle point between these two ideas, we have commandments that instruct us to actually do things, and as a result of that, we grow in very direct and noticeable ways.

Nobody will walk up to a Christian, a Seventh-day Adventist, and say, “Oh, you’re one of those who don’t commit adultery.” No, but because the fourth commandment is an active one, they will say, “Oh, you’re one of those that keeps the Sabbath.” You should see the difference, then, in active vs. passive commandments for the purpose of giving a testimony. Among our young ones in particular, wouldn’t it be interesting, and perhaps increasingly important in this rapidly decaying world, if they were known for this? “Oh, you’re one of those that honors your father and your mother.” Now, that’s not as silly as it sounds. You’re one of those who keeps out of trouble, because you follow good advice. You’re one of those who respects elders, and reveals gratitude for those who have given you a home, and food, and a safe place to grow. Unfortunately, not every child has received this blessing, but for those who have, these are things that should never be taken for granted.

I’ve spoken about a few different things in this study, but they all reveal the same idea, that bridges represent choices, and choices involve character. The Commandments are the bridge between Yahweh and mankind, His character revealed in our actions. The Commandments contain a bridge between the way we treat our Father in Heaven, and the way we relate to our neighbor, our fellow man, a transition clearly marked by the two “active” commandments.

The Scriptures contain instructions for our lives and sanctification, each instruction an invitation to choose, to walk over the bridge from darkness to light, from death to life, from rebellion to obedience. And we who have accepted the promises of Scripture find ourselves on the other side of the river, walking in the Spirit, and fulfilling the Law of our Heavenly Father as a result of the Promised Land on which we stand. Worship is the fulfilling of the Law as it relates to Yahweh. Fellowship and courtesy are the fulfilling of the Law as it relates to our neighbors. If either of these is lacking, the river has not yet been crossed. The choice for Yahweh and the life He offers us has not yet been made if either of these is absent.

Last week we spoke about this, about the simplicity of deciding to live for Christ, not worrying about the consequences. Some stand in the valley of decision, wondering, “What will my life be like a year from now? What will my life be like a minute from now?” We are invited to take a “step of faith” and just do it. We just walk across the bridge from one land to another, letting Yahweh take care of that for us. It is not that we become passive, passengers in our own lives. Indeed, we are more ourselves in Christ, freed from the chains of self-destruction, which is sin, and we have Christ in us; we have the Holy Spirit as our in-dwelling guide, which was the plan from the beginning.

This is a very non-Trinitarian understanding of the human condition. Adam was created filled with the Holy Spirit. He was not God, but He represented God, because He was the flesh that the Spirit led. Adam was not the Father, nor was He the Son, but an entirely separate being. Yet, when Adam spoke, before his transgression, it was the Father and Son who spoke, because Adam was Their regent, ruling the earth on Their behalf.

In our conversion, we are not manipulated, we are not deceived by a merely emotional experience, but rather we are freed from manipulation, freed from deception, so that we return to that original arrangement between ourselves and the Father that Adam enjoyed. We represent God on the earth – we are the very righteousness of God in Christ. Nominal Christianity cannot say that, but it’s in the Bible. We read: “For He hath made [Christ] to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of Yah in Him.” (2Cor 5:21)

This is a description of those who have made that choice, who have taken that instant of their lives to choose to receive Yahshua, who have crossed the bridge from death to life, and while it is an easy decision, and the work of just a moment, it is (as in the example last week) like saying “I do” at your wedding. It may look like “just words,” receiving Christ and claiming victory over sin may seem like “just words,” but it is the most significant transformation that can be experienced by a human being, and leaves you changed forever.

This is why denials of the Victory message by those who call themselves Christians are hated by Heaven. Rejection of the power of Yahshua to save people from their sins is a rejection of the very covenant, the very marriage, between the Bride and the Bridegroom, for the vows are, “I do…” “I do – always those things that please my Father.” (cf. John 8:29) That is a wedding vow. That is the testimony of the union between humanity and divinity, and we can get as deep as we like here, and just keep on going forever… but it is best, I think, if we consider for now the bridges, the choices that Yah has set before us.

Let us be healed of all that has made us sick in the land that we have departed for the Heavenly country. Let us shake off the curses under which we have dwelled in the land of our fathers after the flesh. We have crossed over the bridge, crossed over the river to a new land, a land that our Heavenly Father has chosen for us. Here we worship Him in spirit and in truth, and we love and fellowship with our neighbors. Those who have not yet crossed over, we invite them to come to the bridge, to the transition, and then over it, so that they may join us in this Heavenly atmosphere, leaving behind the old gods, the old habits, the old addictions and of course, the old suffering that the world has placed upon them.

It is a pleasant land that the saints have inherited, and our Father has given it to us freely, and with great joy, so that we may travel with Him into eternity starting this very moment, and on to things that will be made fully and visibly manifest once this present age has ended. These are things we look forward to with eager and earnest anticipation; it is just a little way ahead.

David.

Home | Contact | More Articles