True justice can only be determined by a righteous Judge based on absolute truth.
Human judges are fallible. Sometimes evidence looks credible, witnesses seem to be telling the truth, but circumstances are not always what they seem. Morality is often subjective to a person’s conscience and no one really knows the hidden intentions or thoughts of another.
But God sees the heart. God knows when a person is struggling with sin and crying out for help and change. He also knows a person who appears generous and full of goodness but has a secret life of lies, drugs or pornography.
Klipah
Within Judaism is a concept called Klipah or klipot (pl.). This Hebrew word literally means a hard husk around a seed that can’t be broken. The rabbis liken it to the hardness around one’s evil heart that does not allow the light of God to shine through. Klipah also implies a prison and in the case of a one’s personal condition – a dark heart that is bent on evil.
Every person alive, lives his or her life from what is in their heart. Malice or goodness – good seed or klipah. Yeshua said:
“The eye is the lamp of the body. So then if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. So, if the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! Luke 6:22-23 (EHV).
A curious scripture! A good or healthy eye is a Hebrew idiom for generosity – being able to “see” a need and fill it. But a self-centered, self-oriented person who is also capable of giving to a need can do so by selfish pride. Dark hearts, imprisoned by klipot are resistant to God’s true regeneration. Their light is a dark light that mimics true Light. It takes a discerning judge to know if one is operating out of dark light or the true Light of the Spirit.
Yeshua goes on to say “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and mammon. Luke 6:24 (EHV).
Mammon is an Aramaic word meaning riches or carnality. But the etymology of the word is even more important. Yeshua wasn’t simply referring to just wealth but rather to a demonic entity named Mammon. This false god was very well known in the Syrian culture of the first century and the disciples would have quickly connected the love of Mammon to this false god. Loving Mammon (the god of riches) will cause a root within his worshipers of all kinds of evil. Mammon’s kingdom is the pleasures and comforts of earthly desires that will circumvent man’s love for God. It’s no wonder Yeshua said if you love Me then follow My commandments. Whom will you serve? Who do you love?
Another meaning for the word mammon is “sown in confusion.” So, if mammon is sown in one’s heart there is chaos and turmoil. There is klipot – a seed or root of evil.
Seeds of Darkness and Light
Just like the parable of the wheat and tares, the righteous are living among the unrighteous. But there will be a day that God will judge between the His righteous and Mammon’s unrighteous. Only He can see the nature of the seed that lies beneath the surface of each heart.
But If the root is holy, so are the branches. Romans 11:16.
This contrast of the dark seed and the Seed of Light was declared by God to Satan just before the deceiver set up his Kingdom of Darkness upon the newly acquired spoil called “Earth”.
And I will put enmity between you (Satan) and the woman (The bearer of Messiah), and between your seed and her Seed… (Gen 3:15)
Satan’s seed will be dark fueled by his wealth and wisdom on trade and the beautiful lure of all his delectable wares and treasures within his corrupt Kingdom (See Ezekiel 28:3,4). The Virgin’s Seed (Yeshua) brings the Kingdom of God to the Earth. One must be born of the Seed of second Adam (Yeshua) to escape the klipot of Satan’s dark Kingdom. The Light of God shines through Messiah’s Seed (His children) even in this dark corrupted world. That’s why it is said “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things (earthly desires)shall be added to you.” Matthew 6:33 (NKJV).
Ezra the scribe, weighs in as it is written in the Apocrypha:
“For the grain of evil seed hath been sown in the heart of Adam from the beginning, and how much ungodliness hath it brought up unto this time? and how much shall it yet bring forth until the time of threshing come?” 2 Esdras 4:30
Yeshua also uses the metaphor of a seed when he says
Truly, truly, I say to you, unless the seed of wheat having fallen to the earth dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit. John 12:24 DLNT
A planted seed literally breaks open in order for new life to come forth out of its death. God is certain of His righteous seed. He knows if we are broken in the deep soil of our hearts, absorbing the light of the Spirit and the Water of the Word then we are by nature transformed into a new fruitful creation.
If one “dies” with Messiah, he or she is also resurrected with Him. He is now dependent on the new root with its nourishing sap and the beaconing light from above in order to grow and bear good fruit. It’s interesting that the plant above ground (that which is seen) is actually the image of the root pattern below. The plant will grow as high as the depth of the tap root. It will grow as far wide as the spreading roots can grow as well. The plant is “made in the image” of the root that supplies life.
For the last 2,000 years God has been reaching out to the nations through Messiah to change the hearts of all who will call on Him. And it’s comforting to see that Isaiah 37:31 promises a just end for Judah as well.
And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward. Is. 37:31 ESV
Terumah
God will never forget Israel. His people will not stay in blindness and sin. Like the nations, God will remove Judah’s stony heart and give them a heart of flesh. He will remove the hard husk of the klipot through what rabbis call terumah.
A terumah is actually a tool that removes hard shells. What is amazing about this rich Hebrew word is that it has two roots from which come the words Torah and Mashiach. These root words actually translate in English to “separate” and “elevate”. Even now, God is revealing Messiah to all who have an ear. He’s separating the wheat from the chaff and elevating or exalting the humble of heart.
Ask God to apply His terumah to your heart. Ask Him to separate you from darkness, sin and Satan’s Kingdom. And ask Mashiach to elevate you- to grow you, raise you up to His Light so that you can be an acceptable offering before His Holy Presence, a holy sacrifice presented before a Holy Judge.
