Divine Love
(a scripture study)
There seems to be a lot of confusion about love, or
actually what love is. The world has many different definitions of love. Since
the author of Love, Yahweh, defines love we need to look to Him to determine
the truth. The fundamental problem is the translational
issues. In actuality there are 13 different Hebrew words that are translated
into love in English. There are only 4 words in the Greek that are translated
into love in English. The word love in English has become a catch all for all
of these definitions and then some. We have thrown many different meanings into
the word love and mixed them all together and come up with a word that means
whatever we want it to mean.
To put some distance
between the commonly used word, love, and God's definition, the Aramaic word, rakhma, for love will be used here. Aramaic
is a dialect of Hebrew and the common language of Yeshua's time. Rakhma is the word that refers
to our intentions (pure love,
encompassing judgment and behavior) and another Aramaic word, khooba, also translated
love, refers to our perceptions. The two in combination are Yeshua's definition
of perfect Love. In the Hebrew, divine love is Ahava , which is made up of three basic Hebrew
letters. These three letters actually are broken down into two parts: a two
letter base or root and the first letter which is a modifier. The meaning of
the two letter base, is "to give". The letter 'aleph' which precedes
these two letters comes to modify the meaning of the base word,
"give". The meaning of is 'I give' and also 'love'. As a result of
spending time researching rakhma, khooba and ahava, it seems that we do not
have a word in English that describes the intentions of these words. Our word
'love' is totally inadequate. So for the sake of simplicity, when rakhma is
used, one can put 'divine love' in its place. (In the following verses i've inserted rakhma in
place of the word love from the English to make a point. Not all of the
original Aramaic would have used rakhna, some would have used khooba or other
related Aramaic words that are translated love in English.)
We are going to start
with Yeshua's New Commandment. It was:
John
13:34 A new commandment I give unto you, That you rakhma (divinely love)
one another; as I have rakhmad you, that you also rakhma one another.
This is an often
overlooked passage. I do not think i have ever heard a sermon on this verse.
Clearly mankind was not rakhma'ing' one another, otherwise there would be no
need for a new commandment. Here we have the Word of God, Yeshua, giving a New
Commandment in addition to the Ten Commandments. He came to demonstrate this
rakhma to us. He is Father's exhibit A of rakhma. His purpose in demonstrating
rakhma was to show mankind what 'divine love' looks like and to prove that it
can be accomplished, that is, the New Commandment is achievable. It turns out
that this rakhma was Yahweh's intension all along.
The following text
expresses that rakhma (divine love) is the foundation
of the Ten Commandments.
Matthew
22:37 Yeshua said unto him, you shall rakhma the Lord your God with all your
heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. 38 This is the first and
great commandment. 39 And the second is like unto it, you shall rakhma your
neighbour as thyself. 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the
prophets.
Rakhma is the basic
motivation of Yahweh and is His goal for us. All of His interaction with man
through the ages has been a result of rakhma beginning with Adam with no end in
sight. It is safe to say that His motivation for creation was rakhma. His
reason for sending Yeshua as a sacrifice was rakhma. {John 3:16 For God so rakhma the
world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him
should not perish, but have everlasting life.} The question is; what does rakhma (divine love)
really mean? To answer that question we refer to the various Scriptures that
address it. One of the first to consider is:
1
John
Here we see that God
is rakhma and that if we dwell in rakhma then we live in God! So what does
this really mean? Is rakhma a characteristic of God? Or is it bigger than that,
such as, He is the Creator and only source of rakhma? This text gives us
another clue:
1
John 4:7 Beloved, let us rakhma one another: for rakhma is of God; and every
one that rakhmas is born of God, and knows God. 8) He that rakhma s not knows
not God; for God is rakhma.
This text says that
rakhma (divine love) is of God, that is, it comes from God. It's not of human
origin. We cannot generate it ourselves and thus rakhma is supernatural.
There is only one source of it, Yahweh. It goes on to say that we must be born
of God to rakhma. There is also a connection between rakhma and knowing Yahweh.
If we do not rakhma (Him and each other) then we do not know (intimately) God
and are not born of God, we do not dwell in Him. If you remove rakhma then our
relationship with Yeshua and our knowledge of Yeshua falls apart. They cannot
exist in the absence of rakhma. It is not a long streach to say that even
Yahweh would not exist in the absence of rakhma.
This was Yahweh's original
intent; to rakhma us and for us to rakhma Him. This is why the Law came about,
so that
We call being born of
God the born again experience. If we have not been born again in Yeshua then we
cannot rakhma. The implication is of course that whatever the world does that
they call love is not rakhma! So He eliminated all the world's definitions
of love. So we know, at this point, that rakhma is the very nature of God
and can only come from Him. The world does not have access to rakhma because
they do not have access to Yahweh. It is impossible for those who have not been
born again to rakhma. They can only see Father through their own severally
limited and distorted idea of love. They write about it, they sing about, they
long for it, they search for it, and all they find are counterfeits, until they
find Him. Our first taste of pure rakhma is at our born again experience.
Rakhma and hate are
antonyms. The following texts speak of this and to the origin of hate:
1 John
1
John
Rakhma and hate cannot dwell together, just as Life
and Death cannot. Life and rakhma is from Yahweh and Death and hate are from
Satan. This speaks of the allegory of a tree, bearing fruit. What is in a man's
heart shows up in his actions. An apple tree will bear apples not poison ivy
berries. It is not difficult to determine what is in a man's heart. Look at how
he treats others. If a man takes no action then the condition of his heart is
not evident. If a man does something that appears loving or righteous but it is
not in his heart, it is hypocritical and a sin, however, an outside observer
cannot determine the man's motives. If a man says that he rakhmas Yeshua (and
his brothers) but takes no action when he sees a brother in need then he is again
hypocritical. At a minimum he could pray for his needy brother. His lack of
actions reveals his heart.
1 John 3:17 But whoso has this
world's goods, and sees his brother have need, and shut up his bowels of
compassion from him, how dwells the rakhma of God in him? 8) My little
children, let us not rakhma in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in
truth.
If a man's actions are
sinful as defined in the Scriptures then it is apparent to all what is in his
heart, for a righteous and divinely loving heart cannot bring forth sin or
disobedience. In other words a man who murders another is not walking rakhma
and is not in Yahweh. As is, a man who bears false witness, or covets his
neighbors stuff, or commits adultery, or dishonors his parents, or who idolizes
things or people, or who steals, or who works on the Sabbath, or who takes the
Lord's name in vain.
Ours is not to judge one
another but to rakhma each other. Judging involves inflicting punishment for
sinful actions. However, rakhma is about discerning a brothers heart to warn
him of the consequences of his actions so that harm can be avoided. It can be
difficult to tell the difference between judging and rakhma'ing' by an outside
observer or even the brother. The difference is the motive of the heart. One
who wrongfully judges is usually operating out of self interest or self
righteousness. Rakhma operates out of a desire to protect the person from
eternal damnation. Clearly the Pharisees did not consider Yeshua's rebukes
(calling them hypocrites and white washed seplucures) as 'love'. The problem
was that they were not really looking for truth but justification of their
actions.
We see in the following texts that it is also evident that rakhma is the foundation upon which the Law was laid. Rakhma (divine love) not only is the foundation of the Law but also fulfills the Law:
Galatians 5:14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; you shall rakhma your neighbour as thyself.
Romans
Matthew
5:17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not
come to destroy, but to fulfill. 18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and
earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all
be fulfilled. 19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least
commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the
kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be
called great in the kingdom of heaven.
In other words all that
we have to do to follow the Law and fulfill all the requirements of the Law is
to rakhma each other. The result is that we will obey the Law because the Law
was written upon the foundation of rakhma. Yeshua did exactly that in His walk
on Earth as described in the Matthew text above. He did it by rakhma. He
fulfilled the Law out of His heart without effort because His heart was pure
and righteous because everything He did was motivated by rakhma. Rakhma is truly
powerful! It empowers man to move him from merely good intentions to true
perfection.
John
14:15 If you rakhma me, keep my commandments.
1 John 5:2 By this we know that we
rakhma the children of God, when we rakhma God, and keep his commandments.
John
14:21 He that hath my commandments, and keeps them, he it is that rakhmas me:
and he that rakhmas me shall be rakhmad of my Father, and I will rakhma him,
and will manifest myself to him.
John
14:23 Yeshua answered and said unto him, If a man rakhma me, he will keep my
words: and my Father will rakhma him, and we will come unto him, and make our
abode with him.
John
14:31 But that the world may know that I rakhma the Father; and as the Father
gave me commandment, even so I do. Arise, let us go hence.
1 Peter
rakhma one another with a pure heart
fervently:
These passages tie
rakhma to the commandments. Not only does rakhma fulfill the Law it also
expresses itself by keeping the commandments of Yahweh. It is the very nature
of rakhma to obey Father. Yeshua was perfect in rakhma and perfectly obeyed His
Father as a result. The outward manifestation of rakhma toward Yeshua is not
what we think about Him nor how well we know Him nor what we say to Him or
others but if we obey His instructions!
1 John
rakhma.
1 John 2:5 But whoso keepeth his
word, in him verily is the rakhma of God perfected: hereby know we that we are
in him.
If course if we are walking in rakhma and, as a
result, obeying Yeshua then you will be fulfilling the Law and have nothing to
fear. You have broken no Law and are not under guilt and condemnation. If you
are experiencing guilt and condemnation then you are not walking in perfect
rakhma.
1
Corinthians 13:1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have
not rakhma, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. 2 And though I
have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and
though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not rakhma,
I am nothing. 3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I
give my body to be burned, and have not rakhma, it profits me nothing.
This passage shows that
Father desires Rakhma above all else. No matter how gifted or talented we are
if we do not rakhma, everything else counts for nothing. So it is back to the
first two commandments and the New Commandment ...RAKHMA!
What are the
characteristics of rakhma? They are listed in 1 Corinthians 13:
1
Corinthians 13:4
rakhma suffers long, (endures others abuse for a long time)
and is kind;
rakhma envies not; (does not want what others have)
rakhma vaunts not itself, is not puffed up,
(thinks of the other without thinking of oneself)
13:5
Doth
not behave itself unseemly, (does not act foolishly but is well behaved)
seeks not her own, (is not out for it's self)
is not easily provoked, (takes a lot to get angry)
thinks no evil; (doesn't think evil to or of
others)
13:6
Rejoices not in iniquity ( in sin),
but rejoices in the truth; (in Yeshua)
13:7
Bears all things, (carries every burden)
believes all things, (believes the best)
hopes all things, (hopes the best for everyone)
endures all things. (endures all accusations and
burdens)
13:8
rakhma never fails: (rakhma ultimately wins out)
but
whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they
shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.
Another characteristic
of rakhma is the sacrifice. The nature of rakham is the giving up of oneself
for the sake of the other.
John
15:13 Greater rakhma hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for
his friends.
1
John 3:16 Hereby perceive we the rakhma of God, because he laid down his life
for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
This is of course the heart and soul of our rakhma
for Yeshua, that is, we sacrifice our wishes, our desires, our stuff and our
very lives to obey Him, because He is the Truth. He knows what is best for us
and He knows the consequences of disobedience.
Matthew 5:32 But I say unto you,
That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication,
causes her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced
commits adultery.
This passage is a good example of rakhma. Here Yeshua
is illustrating the reason for not divorcing. The reason is rakhma. If you
divorce your spouse then you are condemning him/her to adultery. Rakhma would
not do such a thing. Rakhma would rather suffer personal loss itself and endure
than hurt someone else or disobey Yeshua by breaking the marriage covenant.
In order to grasp the true nature of rakhma (divine
love) we must see things from Yahweh's perspective. He sees the whole picture
for every individual since He is not bound by time and space. He knows the
consequence of our actions thoroughly. He knows what it takes to turn us
around. Yet He does not violate our will. We must choose, rakhma requires it.
If rakhma (divine love) forces the other to rakhma back then it is not rakhma,
because Divine love never seeks it own. Yeshua calls us to rakhma (Divine love)
Him but He will not force us to do so. If He were to violate our freedom to
choose then He would violate His own laws of creation and become a law breaker.
He did not create us to spend eternity in the haters presence but in His
presence. This leads us to the idea of punishment. Why would a loving God send
a man to hell, the eternal lake of fire? First of all He created that for Satan
and his fallen angels, not for man. The problem here is man's volition. If we
choose to go there, then He will not stop us. We were created in the image of
God, part of that is that we have the right to choose, free will. With free
will comes the consequences of free choices. If Yahweh were to violate our free
will then it would not be free will. If He were to short circuit the
consequences of our choices then they would not be choices. The result is that
our Creator must stand by and watch as we make the wrong choices and then
suffer the consequences of those choices. This is why He asked His Son to
volunteer to be a sacrifice for our sins and their consequences. Until there
was a perfect sacrifice, all of mankind was doomed to eternal damnation. So
Yahweh sent His Son as the sacrifice. This reopened the door of choice for
mankind; choose Yeshua and live or choose self, sin and Satan and die. Does
Yahweh stand by dispassionately and watch as man chooses his own fate? No,
rakhma (Divine love) will not allow that. However, He still must act within the
laws He has established, such as free will and rakhma. Each of these put limits
on what Yahweh can do for mankind.
Looking at this through a father's eyes helps
illustrate Yahweh's heart. The prodigals son is the best illustration of this
in the Scriptures. Another illustration is our own human experiences as fathers
and our love for our children. If you are not a father or mother you cannot
grasp this, as easily. My wife and i trained our children to obey when they
were young. Why, because we did not want them to be harmed. As an example, i
burnt my hand severely when i was a baby and still have the scars. i did not
want my children to experience the same thing. So i taught them to stay away
from hot irons and stoves. i also realized that there would be times that i
simply was not close enough to intervene in their behalf. So i taught them to
stop their activity when i said 'no' or 'stop'. That required a few spankings
with the wooden spoon. That training paid off more than once. i remember a time
when we were in the city (we live in the country) and my son was running
through a parking lot. A car was approaching that he did not see (he was
shorter than the cars then). i saw the car and yelled stop. He did and looked
back to see me. i motioned for his to move to the side and he did. The car
passed uneventfully. This was, in part, rakhma at work in me. Now lets suppose
that the circumstances were different and we were in the country hunting. He
was running toward a road to cut off a deer and did not see a truck bearing
down on him. Lets also suppose that i yelled as loud as i could but he could
not hear me because of the wind. So there he is running toward the road where a
truck will hit him and i cannot stop him. If i pull up my rifle and shoot him
in the leg am i being an abusive father or have i just saved his life by
wounding him?
This is where Father finds Himself in His rakhma
toward his children. He has restraints upon Himself because of how He created
us and His own nature. Yet we run toward eternal damnation. He longs to stop us
and yells at us but we cannot hear because He is spirit and we are flesh and
the flesh is strong. He puts impediments is our way but we tend to ignore them
or find man's solutions for them. He allows the consequences of sin to catch up
to us but we try to find ways around them instead of turning away from them
toward Him. Yet He, still in His mercy, keeps Satan from taking our lives.
Rakhma is long suffering and covers a multitude of sin. He wants no one to
perish, but He cannot save us unless we repent, that is turn around and go the
opposite direction. We have to meet the conditions of salvation. We must stop
following our fallen, sinful appetites that lead to death and follow the Giver
of Life.
The story of Peter and Ananias and Sapphira {Acts 5} illustrates Yahweh's rakhma. In this story the early
believers were selling some of their belongings to help some of the poorer
believers. Anaias and Sapphira decided to sell a piece of property to help and
told the others their plans. However, they decided to keep part of the sale
price and give the rest. The issue was that they chose to lie to the Holy
Spirit. Peter confronted them about the lie and they both ended up dead because
of a lie. Our humanistic love says: not fair. However, the Law says that the
wages of sin is death. So one sin leads to death. It is that we normally can
get away with a lot of sin before we die. If the Law was applied without
Yahweh's mercy we would all be dead the instant of our the first sin and the
human race would cease to exist on the earth. It is Yahweh's rakhma and mercy
that has kept us alive.
Ephesians 2:4 But God, who is rich
in mercy, for his great rakhma wherewith he rakhmaed us,
In Ananias and Sapphira's case the Spirit of the Lord
knew something that man did not and it was not revealed to us in the
Scriptures. Did they lose their eternal souls. i think not but they did end
their life on earth. Its entirely possible that had that event not ended that
way, something much worse could have happened to the budding church or to
Ananias and Sapphira, down the road. Its conceivable that they could have lost
their faith and salvation in the future if their lives on earth had not ended
then. We simple cannot know, but He did and he chose to respond according to
His wisdom. We are all living on borrowed time because of our choice to sin.
Yahweh uses temporal judgments to avoid eternal
consequences throughout the written records. This is rakhma at work. Humanistic
love is myopic (near sighted). It has only the immediate in view and makes
decisions based on the whim of the moment. Yahweh's view is eternal and His
decisions are based on the eternal consequences. However, we humans have a hard
time making a decision to give up our own benefit to help our children's souls
let alone our children of ten generations in the future. The more like our
Father we become the more we gain His eternal perspective and the more we walk
in His rakhma.
Additional References:
The following are a few more verses that refer to
rakhma.
Ephesians 3:19 And to know the
rakhma of Christ, which passes knowledge, that you might be filled with all the
fullness of God.
1 John 2:15 Rakhma not the world,
neither the things that are in the world. If any man rakhma the world, the
rakhma of the Father is not in him.
Hebrew 10:24 And let us consider one
another to provoke unto rakhma and to good works:
1 Thessaloians 3:12 And the Lord
make you to increase and abound in rakhma one toward another, and toward all
men, even as we do toward you:
1 John 3:23 And this is his
commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Yeshua Christ, and
rakhma one another, as he gave us commandment.