Natural Law
Galatians 6:7
Do not be not deceived; Elohim is not mocked; for whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap.
There are natural laws and there are spiritual laws. Some of those laws cannot be broken in any way, regardless of what man chooses to do. The law recorded in the above passage is one such law. It simply cannot be broken or thwarted. Whatever a person sows, that is what he shall reap. This is true on many levels. If one sows wheat, it is wheat he shall reap. Regardless of the type of seed planted, whatever that seed is, this is what shall grow, and when it is harvest time, this is what shall be harvested.
This is also true of other things as well besides the physical realm of plants. For example, if one continually sows condemnation of his fellow man, at some point he shall also reap condemnation. If a person manipulates his fellow man, then this is what he shall receive in return. If one sows genuine love and acceptance of his fellow man, then it is love and acceptance he shall reap. Now this may sound rather simplistic; however, man often acts like he can violate this law. Often a person seems surprised when he mistreats others, but when he is mistreated he cannot understand why.
One of the laws of sowing and reaping is that whatever is sown, at the harvest time, there shall be an increase. This is not a small increase, but a profound increase.
Hoshea 8:7a
For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind,
Not only does one receive back that which was sown, but he receives back an increase. That increase can be quite substantial. Normally, wind is not destructive. However, when it comes in the form of a tornado (whirlwind), it almost always is destructive. The point of the above passage is that when something has the potential to be destructive is sown, what shall be reaped shall surely be destructive. Beware of the increase of that which is sown.
Matithyah (Matthew) 13:8
“and others fell upon the good ground, and yielded fruit, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.”
Many look at the world today and claim prophecy is coming to pass, and in some cases this is true. However, much of what one sees happening in the world today is simply a reaping of what has been sown in the past. Sadly, the process of sowing unrighteousness continues. When unrighteousness is sown, what is reaped benefits no one at all; rather, it is harmful to all.
Mishle (Proverbs) 29:2
When the righteous are increased, the people rejoice;
But when a wicked man rules, the people groan.
Much of what is happening in the world today is simply a natural consequence of man’s own unrighteous choices he has made in the past and continues to make. The truth is much of the “judgment of Elohim” is simply a natural consequence of man's own folly. We see this time and time again in Scripture, both in the Torah and in the prophets.
YHWH warns His people time and time again, if they go after other gods and serve them, then what they will receive is something that they did not want to receive. What the people were actually after are the blessings YHWH offers to give them for serving Him. However, what the people actually desired was to have the blessings as well as all the wicked pleasures of the world. In short, they wanted to do what was right in their own eyes. Doing what is right in one’s own eyes is the essence of selfishness. Sowing selfishness in one’s life leads one to aloneness and separation from everyone and everything one cherishes, especially separation from the Creator.
Even though we call those things which govern the world “natural laws,” each one was still conceived in the mind of a supernatural Creator. Man has discovered these laws mostly through observation. A few of them, like the law of sowing and reaping was not only observed through observation, but it was also given to man through divine revelation. Therefore, we can know with a great deal of certainty that this law is correct.
Often, YHWH uses the “natural laws” of this world to render His judgment. After all, they are His laws as much as they are those of creation, since He is the Lawgiver as well as the Creator! Before judgment is rendered upon a person or upon a society, YHWH gives them every opportunity to repent and turn from their wicked ways. By using the natural laws to render His judgment upon mankind, He allows them a specific amount of time to repent of their evil deeds and turn back to Him.
Daniel 9:24
“Seventy weeks are decreed upon your people and upon your holy city, to finish transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy.”
We see this principle laid down in the above passage in which YHWH states to the prophet Daniel, transgression must be finished and sins must come to an end. Even Pharaoh, through Moshe, was given ample opportunity to repent and do the will of YHWH. However, when a person comes to that place in his life when there is no further opportunity to repent, that is, his heart has become so hard that it is now impossible to repent, judgment comes. When that happens, it will often come in the form of natural consequences of his own personal choices. In certain cases, YHWH has seen fit to tell us in advance this will happen. However, YHWH does not always tell us in advance, that is, not everything is written down in the prophets.
When we witness the world going astray from the path of righteousness, we need to understand several things. First, it is not the first time such things have happened. Furthermore, it may not be the last time either. When we see a nation falling to pieces, it may simply be the product of its own poor choices, that is, the law of sowing and reaping in action. When we witness all these things coming to pass, this does not mean that specific prophecy is being fulfilled. It certainly does not negate that possibility, but it does make is so either. It does mean that generalized prophesy concerning sowing and reaping is being fulfilled. So how is one to know if a specific prophecy is being fulfilled rather than just seeing the natural laws fulfilled?
There is only one way for certain - time! Time reveals all things. Now, one could say that it was only through His Spirit. And that would have been true as well. However, there is a great difficulty with saying it is through His Spirit. There are many opposing views in our world today concerning what Scripture prophecy means and how it will be fulfilled, each one claiming revelation from His Spirit as to the meaning. Now, common sense tells us that some of these viewpoints are so different from each other that they all cannot be right and correct. Just because one claims inspiration from His Spirit does not make it so. However, time will reveal who is correct in his understanding and who is not correct. Just wait for it!
Please understand that we are not saying that each one of these men have not been inspired by a spirit from YHWH, for it is very possible that each one has been inspired by a spirit from YHWH. Just because a spirit is from YHWH, does not make the spirit the Ruach Haqodesh (Holy Spirit). Please take prayerful note of the following passage.
Divrei Hayamim Beit (2nd Chronicles) 18:19-21
19 And YHWH said, “Who shall entice Ahab king of Israel, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?” And one spoke saying after this manner, and another saying after that manner.
20 And there came forth a spirit, and stood before YHWH, and said, “I will entice him.” And YHWH said unto him, “How?”
21 And he said, “I will go forth, and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.” And He said, “You shall entice him, and shall prevail also, go forth, and do so.”
As we see in this passage, YHWH sent a spirit to King Ahab in order to deceive the king. The spirit was successful. This spirit from YHWH was doing the will of YHWH. Not every spirit sent out from YHWH is a spirit to do good; some are for the purpose of judgment, like the spirit in the above passage. This is one reason why Scripture commands us to test every spirit. A spirit from YHWH may have been sent out to “entice” the people. We see many of these spirits in the world today. They use many ploys to grab and keep the attention of well-meaning individuals and begin leading them down a wrong path, a path which leads to judgment.
In order to truly discern what is happening in our world, one must not be on the wrong path, that is, he must not be being enticed by a spirit. When one reads the context of what was happening to King Ahab, this too was the result of reaping what he had sown through his own choices. Let us choose with the wisdom given to us by the Ruach Haqodesh (Holy Spirit), in order that we may be able to discern what is happening in our world today.
Much of what is happening in our world is the product of reaping that which has already been sown. Is a particular event prophesied in Scripture? Time will tell for certain! In the meantime, be open to His Holy Spirit!
Shabbat Shalom
Zerubbabel ben Emunah
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