Trading for Dominion

Trading for Dominion

The first strategy of the Adversary was to offer man forbidden fruit in order to gain knowledge and to become wise like God.  The pursuit of information to gain power and dominion over others is nothing new in this modern world. 

Trading for Dominion in the Garden:

Mixing in the things of the Kingdom of God with those of the kingdom of the devil started back in the Garden of Eden.

Having been a shining cherub at the throne of YHWH Elohim, Lucifer knew all about the activities of the trading floor – exchanging the worship of YHWH for himself.  Lucifer wanted that worship and adoration, in his pride, he wanted that exchange and so he rebelled.  Having been cast out of heaven to the earth, he now had a new trading floor – the earth. 

What are ha’satan’s only commodities to trade for?  Sin and the curse for a brief pleasure of sin.  Who in their right mind would want that?

Ha’satan deceived Adam and Eve into the brief pleasure of eating of forbidden fruit and the promise of knowledge as gods in exchange for the dominion that they had with YHWH in the garden. So ha’satan gained dominion on earth through that trading-floor transaction.

Moses knew about this deal and decided early on not to trade the authority He had by faith in his Messiah.  Yes, Moses knew Ha’Mashiyach (the Messiah).  Read Hebrews 11:24-26:

Having become great, Moses by faith refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, having chosen rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than for a time to have enjoyment of sin; having counted the reproach of Messiah greater riches than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward. 

Moses knew the pre-incarnate Messiah face to face.  He knew how the Messiah experienced the suffering of His people and entered into that affliction with them.  Moses wouldn’t trade in his relationship and identity with the Messiah and His people for all the pleasures that the world had to offer him. 

I love that about Moses.  I love that about Yeshua!

Trading for Dominion in the Wilderness:

So how did the men of Israel ever get to the point of lusting after foreign women and their idols?  How does Israel lose their dominion over their enemies, departing from the Kingdom of God?

Our Master Yeshua gives us insights to this incident in the Torah when He said: “But I have a few things against you, that you have there those holding the teachings of Balaam, who taught Balak to throw a stumbling-block before the sons of Israel, to eat idol sacrifices, and to commit fornication.”  (Rev 2:14) 

In other words, Bala’am taught Balak how to teach many in Israel to accept false doctrine in order to stumble them up and bring upon themselves the curse of sin and death.  Bala’am new that Elohim is very jealous for His people and will not tolerate adultery nor idolatry. 

For ha’satan to invade and gain his dominion of sin in the camp of Israel, he enticed Zimri to take a foreign woman and bring her into the camp to trade sin for ha’satan’s dominion invasion.

Exchange the standards that YHWH has for us with a pagan culture’s norms, and the enemy has gained the dominion over us. 

Just how was Zimri enticed?  What can we learn from this guy’s big mistake?

We have clues in the names of the Simeonite, Zimri, who took the Midianite woman Cosbi.  Substituting the meaning of their names – the man who heard ‘my music’ took for himself ‘my lie,’ a woman of ‘strife.’  Music that appeals to the lust of the flesh along with pretty little lies got into his head. 

In his pride, Zimri was deceived to think he could bring in a foreign woman and consume her upon his lusts in front of the Dwelling Place of the Almighty.  After all, the other nations were doing it!  In those domains, it was acceptable and something they got away with. Sounded like a fun time to him!  But for how long?

Somehow some of the men of Israel liked the norm of the pagan nations and accepted it as what they would like for their lives.  Somehow they came to think that because everybody else does it, than it must be okay.  Why miss out on the forbidden fruit that looks so good everybody else seems to enjoy? 

Blinded with pride and lust, they had to ignore the cost of the curses that that kind of lifestyle produces.  Balak got into the thought life of the men of Israel through false doctrine that permitted stumbling-blocks of the lust of the flesh. 

Sound familiar America?  In this advanced culture of information, we are being invaded on so many fronts, including rampant sexual immorality.

Trading for Dominion in the Temple:

What did our Master Yeshua do that reveals to us that Zimri and Cosbi invaded the trading floor for ha’satan?

Consider the common thread of ‘ZEAL.’ Yeshua went to the trading floor of the Temple where the moneychangers were deceiving the worshippers to think their offerings weren’t good enough.  They had to buy ‘unblemished’ animals from the professional certifiers of the religious elite.  Have you ever felt that way?  I know the enemy has put thoughts in my head that what I had to offer YHWH just wasn’t good enough.  You can never do anything right for certain religious people. 

Common people were trading in their hard-earned money for shame and feelings of worthlessness just to make the agents of ha’satan rich.  The result was the arch-enemy was gaining dominion over the people who came to worship YHWH in the very courts of the Temple!  In His zeal like Phineas, Yeshua came to drive out the invasion!

Trading for Dominion at Elijah’s Altar:

Again, consider the common thread of ‘ZEAL’ – the zeal of Elijah.  The show-down altar was a trading floor for dominion.  Animal sacrifices were substitutes for sacrificing the soul.  Israel was given into the dominion of ha’satan by trading their animals in for acceptance by the nations and the favor of the false god ­Ba’al. 

The whole thing was overturned when Elijah called down fire out of heaven after the prophets of Ba’al failed to do it.  We know who won that transaction! 

How we need the spirit of Elijah today!

Trading for Dominion at the Cross:

The Good News is that Yeshua bought back from the curse of sin and from the dominion of ha’satan those who would believe in the Gospel message.  We call this ‘redemption.’ 

You can’t regain the dominion of YHWH over your soul just by repenting and doing the works of Torah.  The enemy knows that there is no exchange of righteousness in that transaction.  He’s deceived many a Messianic and Jews into thinking that you can gain righteousness and dominion over sin by just keeping Torah, sadly side-lining the Messiah.  Bad mistake! 

The Great Exchange only came when He was crucified, dead, buried, and entered She’ol to take the dominion of ha’satan back. How did He have the legal right for that transaction?  Because He never sinned, He never exchanged His dominion over for the pleasure of sin for any season at any time!  Ha’satan had no legal right to His soul nor to His body.  By faith in the Messiah, he has no legal right to ours either.

Put your faith in Yeshua!  The trading floor of the Torah gives you no currency, no legal right to transactions for righteousness.  But guided by the lamp of the Torah, go to the trading floor YHWH set up at the foot of the cross and trade in your sin for His true holiness, your sorrows for joy, chaos for shalom, self-righteousness for His pure righteousness!  That’s just a small part of what He has bought for the believer in the Gospel Truth!

The Trading Floor of the Soul:

Thoughts have their sources in either of two realms, the Kingdom of Elohim, or the kingdom of ha’satan.  It is our choice to allow and identify with either realm to become a normal part of our thought patterns and our very lives. 

The real inconvenient truth is that we are in the midst of a war at the trading floor, whether we like it or not.  There is no closing bell in this stock market.  The enemy is constantly trying to do business with us in order to gain dominion over us and our lives. 

Paul explained it this way and gave us the right way to do business spiritually:
But I say, if you walk in the Spirit, the lust of the flesh will not overtake you.
For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are opposed to one another; so you are not able to do as you desire.

What do you get in exchange for working in the flesh?
But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under (the penalty of breaking) the Torah.  Now the works of the flesh are clearly revealed, which are: adultery, impurity, uncleanness, lustfulness… (Galatians 5:16-19)
The flesh and the spirit are wanting to conduct business on the inside of each and every one of us all the time, whether we like it or not.  So how do we make the right transactions that bless and prosper our souls?

But the ones belonging to Messiah crucified the flesh with its passions and lusts.
Let us therefore live by the Spirit, and surrender to the Spirit. (Gal 5:24-25)
Surrender your life at the cross and He will bless you with abundant fruit of the Spirit in exchange. 

Of all people, Hebrew Roots believers ought to have this down.  We study the sacrificial system over and over again in the Torah.  The lesson is illustrated time and time again – flesh must die and the fire of the Spirit must consume the sacrifice! 
We talk about struggles with our trade-offs with sin, whether its sexual, a drug or alcohol addiction, an evil tongue, selfishness, marital strife, and not refer to crucifixion with the Messiah as the answer!  Do we believe in our Redeemer Yeshua, or not? 

Hey guys, when do you get snake bit?  When our eyes are not on the Savior but distracted by the enticing things of the world.   What are we doing going to the devil’s marketplace like watching scantily-clad women on the streets or in the store, watching infobabes on the news, watching sporting events with half naked people?  Why even look at magazine covers in the checkout line? 

Better have the Word on our minds.  Here are words that the Spirit has spoken to me many times when temptation comes to mind:

And she caught him by his (Joseph’s) robe, saying, “Lie with me!” And he left his robe in her hand and fled, and went outside. (Gen 39:12) 

I made a covenant with my eyes not to pay attention to a virgin.  (Job 31:1)

I have hidden Your Word in my heart, that I might not sin against You. (Psa 119:11) 

What do I do if I’m stuck in a transaction with the devil?

There are times when we do stumble and get stuck in a bad deal, the fangs of the enemy hook our flesh.  When the snake bites an Israelite in the outer barrenness of the wilderness, he looks to one source of salvation and healing – the brazen serpent that Moses lifted up on a staff. 

The serpent represents the curse, for Elohim cursed it to crawl on its belly from the day he deceived Adam and Eve.  Yeshua took that curse of the fallen nature of man upon Himself in order to crucify lust for forbidden fruit in all who would believe in Him.  He exchanges our curse for His blessing for whosoever would look upon the cross and put their faith in Him. 

Overcoming Temptations
The reason I bring up the Gospel message almost every Shabbat is because I wonder if crucifixion with Messiah is a part of our normal thought patterns, especially when dealing with temptation.  You know the cross is more than just a ticket to heaven.  What trading floor do we really operate on every day?

Surrender.  Surrender to the cross.  Surrender to the Spirit.  Oh, sweet surrender.  Surrender your soul for the exchange of His righteousness…
Choose this day who you are going to serve.
If I wouldn’t have made it a habit in my thought life to be crucified with the Messiah, my marriage and all other relationships would have been train wrecks a long time ago.  In order to win the war where the devil has no place in my heart through my flesh or in my thought life, I must identify with my Messiah hanging on the tree.  I pick up my cross and follow Him as He commands me to on a habitual basis. 

But if I stumble, oh and I do, I repent and look to the cross for His cleansing blood, because I am not a slave to sin!  I am not a slave to sexually immoral thoughts.  I don’t have to be bound doing business with the devil!
Paul said it all in no uncertain terms in this way:

Dead to Sin, Alive to God:

What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
May it never be! We who died to sin, how could we live in it any longer?
Or don’t you know that all we who were baptized into Messiah Yeshua were baptized into his death?
We were buried therefore with Him through baptism to death, that just like Messiah was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life.
For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, we will also be part of His Resurrection; knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be in bondage to sin.
For he who has died has been freed from sin.
But if we died with Messiah, we believe that we will also live with Him; knowing that Messiah, being raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no more has dominion over him!
For the death that he died, he died to sin one time; but the life that he lives, he lives to Elohim.
Thus consider yourselves (in your thought life) also to be dead to sin, but alive to Elohim in Messiah Yeshua our Lord.
(Romans 6:1-11)  

The Covenant of Shalom in Yeshua:

 Another hidden treasure of the Messiah and His work of salvation is in the wonderful covenant of shalom granted to Pinchas. Therefore say, “Behold, I give to him My covenant of shalom.”  (Numbers 25:12)

Unseen in our English Bibles, the letter Vav in the word shalom was purposely broken there, where the scribes meticulously copied that stigmatized letter over the past millennia.  

Why did the Ruach Ha’Qodesh have Moshe write a broken letter Vav in the middle of the word shalom in the context of His covenant?

The letter Vav, meaning a nail in paleo-Hebrew, has a numerical value of 6, the number of a man.  The amazing meaning of the broken Vav, may also be pronounced ‘Wow.’ The Wow Man nailed on the cross, having taken on the curse of sin and death upon Himself, died of a broken heart over the adultery of His Bride.  Yeshua broke our deal with the devil and reclaimed dominion over sin and death through Him! 

Wow!  What kind of love is that? 

In this way, our Messiah broke the power of His people’s adulterous and idolatrous sins.  He broke the full force of violent hostility between us.  In His zeal, Yeshua fully appeased the wrath of a white-hot jealous Elohim for our sake, by taking the full punishment of death by being impaled upon the cross for all who would put their faith in Him. 

The broken relationship is restored through His broken body and His broken heart.  Out of His great love for us, He finished the work of paying the full price of redemption for His Bride with His own precious blood.  It’s simply up to us to believe that.

But now in Messiah Yeshua, you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of the Messiah.  For He is our shalom, the One Who made the two into one and broke down the middle wall of separation.  Within His flesh He made powerless the hostility— the law code of mitzvot (commandments) contained in regulations. He did this in order to create within Himself one new man from the two groups, making shalom, and to reconcile both to Elohim in one body through the cross—by which He put the hostility to death. And He came and proclaimed shalom to you who were far away and shalom to those who were near – for through Him we both have access to the Father by the same Ruach. (Eph 2:13-18) 

Here the broken Wow also pictures the break through the wall of separation between us and our Elohim and the breakthrough between one another, Jew & Gentile, Judah & Ephraim, races, religions and any other division of man.  That middle wall of separation was broken in the midst of the other three letters, which spell Shalem. 

Shalem is the original, ancient name for Jerusalem, the name of the Bride of Messiah in Revelations 21:2.  And as you know, it is the origin of the name of the capitol city of our exile, Salem, Oregon.  The Gospel message that Yeshua came to be broken and spilled out for us, thus proclaiming shalom, went out to His people who were near in Jerusalem, then to those who were far away in space and time, all the way to exiled people, such as you and I way out here in and around Salem, Oregon. 

The sages have taught other meanings behind the broken Vav in shalom. One of them is Him bringing shalom to the broken relationship of His people in exile. 

Praise Yah!  The Wow Man Yeshua was broken, taking on our brokenness outside the camp, outside the courtyards of the temple, that we may have perfect shalom in Him, no longer divided! 

Shalom is a loaded word that I pray we would experience and have in abundance.  Shalom is for us who are surnamed by Israel and hold Jerusalem as our chief joy out here in and around Shalem, Oregon (My Light Garden in Hebrew). 

Shalom to you in completeness, soundness, welfare, safety, health, prosperity, tranquility, contentment, peace, friendship with Elohim especially in covenant relationship and peace from war (see the Brown-Driver Briggs Dictionary).  Praise be to Yeshua!  The redeemed now possesses these wonderful things, because of the great exchange in Yeshua!

Hope to enjoy with much shalom, many Shabbats and festivals with you, our friends and family, one in Messiah!

Blessings and shalom,
BaShem Yeshua Sh’lomeynu (our shalom),
David Klug