“Calling” is the First Step. How We “Respond” is the “Key”
There is ONLY one “calling”, per Scripture. We want so desperately to make it about positioning. That positioning eventually leads to authority and status—and of course, power. This allows man to determine who is in control, thus ordering the ‘religious’ shots.
Jealousy has a part in all of this as well.
There is this rather specific, quaint and deliberate word qārā. It is a verb, not a description. This Hebrew verb for “calling” does not fundamentally mean “to go” or “to come up” [I will touch on this later in the post]. However, the Hebrew language does connect calling with movement, summons, and sometimes ascent [again, I plan to show a connection at a later point]. All of this will matter more so, depending on context and associative verbs and commands.
I obtained much of this word’s detail from etymological data (and vocabulary), qārā means quite a bit. I warn you, this may surprise many of you. Maybe it will help you to see some things you have once been blinded to. Here we go:
to call out (vocally)
to summon
to proclaim
to name
to read aloud
to address by name
NOTE: When we answer the call, and “advance towards Him” we take on a new identity, we acknowledge the summons (invite) and begin making the changes required to enter the Presence of the One Who summoned us.”
If you are reading for understanding, you should already have thoughts and connections to many sections of the first 39 Books of YAH’s Word. Every one of those calls are speech‑based actions, not movement‑based actions. We do not see any type of native reference to “go,” “come,” or “ascend” meaning inside this word.
Now we have the question… “Where does the movement idea come from?”
If we use the voice for request or beckoning (calling) someone they come. Agreed?
In many Passages of Scripture, qārā means “summon,” which implies movement by the one being called (summoned).
Here is a cool twist of sorts… Several areas of Scripture, qārā is employed in specific areas like the temple or the mountain (Sinai & Carmel) contexts. This is “calling” but in direct connection to a person “going up” in movement that is associated to the verbal expectation of one person (GOD) to another (person).
NOTE: If you have not noticed, these are NOT positions, or something we wear. It is a response to someone’s verbal utterance.
NOTE: There will (should) always be a Biblical association between calling and “going up,” but not purely words. There MUST be a response in movement!
Looking in the Strong’s, its note says qārā is “identical with H7122 (meet) through the idea of accosting a person met.”
Please understand this... If we seek to understand, we can see the importance of these next few sentences.
The root concept is to encounter. All encounters often involve a n approach or intentional movement toward someone.
So… calling is conceptually tied to “closing the distance”— even though the verb doesn’t mean “go.” It can be a little confusing, if you are stuck in your perception, rather than language truth.
NOTE: Calling in the language of Scripture is relational and directional movement — it believes a (assumption) measured advancement toward the caller.
“The word which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
Now it will come about that in the last days the mountain of the house of the LORD will be established as the Chief of the mountains and will be raised above the hills. All the nations will stream to it.
Many peoples will come and say, “Come, let’s go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the GOD of Jacob; so that He may teach us about His Ways, and that we may walk in His paths.” …for the Law will go out from Zion, and the Word of the LORD (YHVH) from Jerusalem” –Isaiah 2:1-3
“…and it will come about in the last days that the mountain of the house of the LORD (YHVH) will be established as the Chief of the mountains. It will be raised above the hills, and the people will stream to it. Many nations will come and say, “Come and let’s go up to the mountain of the LORD and to the house of the GOD of Jacob, so that He may teach us about His Ways, and that we may walk in His paths.”
…for from Zion will go forth the Law, and the Word of the LORD from Jerusalem. …and He will judge between many peoples and render decisions for mighty, distant nations.
Then they will beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift a sword against nation, and never again will they train for war — instead, each of them will sit under his vine and under his fig tree, with no one to make them afraid, because the mouth of the LORD of armies has spoken.” –Micah 4:1-4
Many people these days are recognizing the eternal need for “keeping” Torah and realizing the New Testament does not exist outside of Its (Law of GOD’s) Foundation of the TANAKH. Yeshua (Jesus) is Torah. There is NO suspension (self-existence) in mid-air. “Everything stems (hinges) from The TANAKH (Law and the prophets”, per Jesus’ Words.
You’ve just read what calling means in the Hebrew Scriptures (not the watered-down English and conjoined man’s perception). You’ve also just seen what the Bible has on “going up to Jerusalem” and why making (moving towards) the journey qārā mirrors “going up to Jerusalem.”
So… What “going up to Jerusalem” means is a decision to obey, change and rise up and ascend to the occasion/task at hand. There is a purpose in the ascent. Once again, one must trust the language and contextual realm for the usage. The Hebrew Bible consistently uses alah — “to go up” (for travel) to Jerusalem.
This is not geography alone (though Jerusalem is elevated).
It signals not only our choice to ascent toward GOD’s dwelling, but it also indicates that one must approach to enter His Presence and His Covenant.
When we arrive (move into) His Presence, we also enter His Holiness. Where is That? “That” is the place where GOD “causes the His Character (Name) to dwell.”
Let’s say it in this way… “Going up” is a relational crusade, not just our physical movement.
As I look around, I see and hear even more the declarations and actions of institutions, pastors, churches and people that have moved away from the call to “come up to learn His Ways.”
I see and hear even more of the men and women who have turned their backs towards Truth and opted to feed and nurture their flesh to mirror their selfish reasons.
When we come to Christ, the Bible teaches that a radical transformation takes place — not just in belief, but in the very way we think, act [how we approach Him], and relate to the world.
Paul writes, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17). This “new creation” means a change from living under the old self — shaped by sin, self-reliance, and worldly values — to living under the new self, renewed by GOD’s Spirit.
Here is another view, in the Romans 12:2 passage. Paul, with the help of the Spirit of Truth calls us to “be transformed by the renewing of your mind”, so we can discern GOD’s good, pleasing, and perfect will.
“You did not learn Christ in that way!”–Eph 4:20
Boy hardy have we missed the mark and ignored His intent for “summoning” us to “draw near” and be willing to change. Christ calls you and I to be far more than humble and submissive. Those are the doorways, but once we walk through, He invites us into a whole new way of being that reshapes our identity, our relationships, our desires, and our daily efforts.
“Therefore I, the prisoner of ADONAI, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling (invite) with which you have been called (summoned), with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, being diligent to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you also were called (invited) in one hope of your calling (invitation); one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one GOD and Father of all Who is over all and through all and in all, but to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore, it says, “When He ascended on high, He led captive the captives, and He gave gifts to people.” –Ephesians 4:1-8
NOTE: When he summoned us to not only “draw near, but also to come up the mountain.” Each of us are to learn to become who He wants for us and the body, and not to remain as we were, before the invitation. I was able to locate a FEW of the changes (transformational attributes) that grow from a person who opted to “go towards” Him and likewise “go upwards to the mountain and/or the temple.”
A reorientation of the heart
Trusting His character more than your own understanding
Aligning your life with His teaching
Releasing ownership of your life
Allow Him to leave a defining mark on us that we belong to Him
Let His life flow through yours
Live in ongoing relational closeness
Join Him in His work
Remaining with Him through storms
“…as a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of people, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him Who is the Head, that is, Christ, from Whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.” –Ephesians 4:14-16
We must stop acting as if He died in vain. “You did not learn Christ in that way!”–Eph 4:20
“…and not holding firmly to the Head, from whom the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth which is from GOD.” –Colossians 2:19
Calling is NOT an individual claim of your corner of the body. It is the individual walk with the One Who summoned you and wants you to come up from the mire where you are to learn from Him on the “Chief Mountain.”
NOTE: You and I were Called to appear before Him, by name!
What happens when we stand before Him to accept the “invitation-calling?”
Calling draws someone toward you
Calling establishes relationship
Calling creates identity (naming)
Calling summons someone into covenant response
NOTE: AFTER the acceptance of the summons to draw near (go) …
…and He gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of GOD, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.” –Eph 4:11-13
We have messed this up so badly, that people don’t know how to hear from GOD’s Spirit, because folks are either not WHOLLY OBEYING the Spirit of GOD as they fill these roles, or, there are folks in these roles who were NOT gifted (placed by the Spirit) by Yeshua to be in these roles. It is because of these reasons the saints…
…will NOT be properly equipped for the work of ministry
…will NOT be properly equipped for the building up of the body of Christ
…there is a huge disconnect in the body attaining to the unity of the faith
…there is a major lack of the body attaining (understanding) the knowledge of the Son of GOD
…there is a most important deficiency in the body attaining to a mature man
…there is a foremost detachment in the body achieving to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ
“You did not learn Christ in that way!”–Eph 4:20
NOTE: Movement toward God is always “up” - The path of the feet → alah (going up)
NOTE: Speech toward God is always “calling” - The path of the voice → qara (calling)
“So I say this, and affirm in the Lord, that you are to no longer walk just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their minds, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of GOD because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart; and they, having become callous, have given themselves up to indecent behavior for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness.
“You did not learn Christ in that way!”–Eph 4:20
… if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, that, in reference to your former way of life, you are to rid yourselves of the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you are to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, which in the likeness of GOD has been created in righteousness and holiness of the Truth. Therefore, ridding yourselves of falsehood, speak truth each one of you with his neighbor, because we are parts of one another” –Eph 4:17-25
NOTE: Movement toward GOD is always “up” - The path of the feet → alah (going up)
NOTE: Speech toward GOD is always “calling” - The path of the voice → qara (calling)
”All Scripture is inspired by GOD and beneficial for teaching, for rebuke, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man or woman of GOD may be fully capable, equipped for every good work.” –2 Tim 3:16-17