YEHOVAH is One, dwelling in the heavens, the Creator of all. Eternal, omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent, He is El Shaddai to Avraham, Yitzchaq, and Ya’akov, establishing covenants with them. The law-giver at Sinai, He commanded Moshe and fortified David with strength and song. He is the celestial Father of Yehoshua Hamashiach and His people, the expansive commonwealth of Yisrael, to which we belong and must adhere.

Yehoshua stands as the living Word of YHVH. Pre-existing from the outset, YHVH's creation was through Him. He fulfills the scriptural promises of the Son and Messiah, the Shekanyah's glory made flesh. Conceived by the Ruach Haqodesh and born of a virgin, He exemplified perfection and taught so that seeing the Son is to see the Father's likeness. His death, as the ultimate Passover lamb and atonement for sin, preceded His resurrection to everlasting life after three days and nights in the tomb. Ascended, He advocates at the Most-High's right hand as our Kohen Hagadol and will return as Melek hamelekim to inaugurate YHWH's kingdom eternally.

The Ruach Haqodesh embodies YHWH's power, personality, and spiritual essence. More than a mere force, the Ruach, unseen, resides within His people's hearts. In concert with the Word, the Ruach guides, convicts, and empowers His children towards love, faith, and obedience, enabling significant deeds in His holy name through spiritual gifts. Once bestowed upon select individuals, the Ruach is now granted to all His repentant children.

The Scriptures are the divinely inspired and authentic written Word of YHVH. As such, in their original forms they are perfect and infallible. The Scriptures are the revelation and complete expressed will of YHWH to His people Yisrael and to all of humanity. They are the foundation of all wisdom and knowledge, and are the instruction in right-living for His people. The Scriptures are one seamless whole from beginning to end and are, along with His Ruach Haqodesh, the supreme and final authority in the faith and life of the true believer. The Word of YHWH is Truth.

The Torah is set-apart, righteous and perfect. The Torah defines sin. The precepts of the Torah are the basis of the covenants between YHVH and His people, and are the standard used in His judgment. The great principles of the Torah are embodied in the Ten Commandments. Written by the very finger of YHVH in stone and ratified at Sinai, they were illuminated and magnified in the life and teachings of Messiah Yehoshua. The Torah expresses the love and will of YHVH concerning human conduct and relationships. It is binding and in effect until heaven and earth pass away. Keeping the Torah cannot save one to eternal life, rather it is the natural outpouring of love and obedience which flows from where it is written upon the hearts of those already saved and in whom the Ruach Haqodesh dwells. Messiah Yehoshua summed up the whole of the Torah in YHWH's two greatest commandments: to "love YHVH with all your heart, soul and might;" and to "love your neighbor as yourself."

The Shabbath was blessed and set-apart by YHVH at creation on the seventh day. It was made for man to rest upon and it is set-apart for that purpose eternally. It is also one of the Ten Commandments, and therefore is immutable and binding upon all mankind. To break the Shabbath, by refusing to rest or by working during it, is a sin. It is part of the Shabbath command to remember the creation, as well as the departure from Mitzrayim; and also that the people of Yisrael should gather together for worship of YHVH and to hear His Word in a miqra qodesh. In addition to these, Scripture says the Shabbath is also a sign between YHVH and His chosen people, an eternal mark upon His children of His covenant with them.

The Moedym of YHVH are appointed to be celebrated and kept by Yisrael forever. These annual festivals have been observed by the obedient and faithful children of YHVH throughout the ages and shall be until the very end of time. The Moedym bring order and rhythm to His seasons, and they bring blessings upon those who keep them. They provide opportunities for worship, fellowship and instruction to the people of YHVH, and they provide us with a beautiful picture of His plan of salvation.

Salvation is the gift of YHVH to those who love Him and keep His commandments. It came by the death and resurrection of Messiah Yehoshua, who gave himself as the ultimate and final payment on the debt owed by all mankind for their sins. Salvation now comes without cost to those who truly believe in Messiah Yehoshua and accept it, freely given by YHVH in His perfect grace and mercy. It is secured by faith in YHVH and in His atoning work through Messiah Yehoshua, whose is the only name under heaven and given among men by which one can be saved. When in faith one turns from his sin, truly repents, and humbly asks forgiveness of YHVH, that person will be saved. By salvation we are justified, made righteous, and redeemed to right-standing before our Father YHVH. We are then accepted as His legitimate sons and daughters and are grafted into His family, the children of Yisrael. As children of YHWH, we become heirs to His covenants, promises and kingdom. If we endure in faith and obedience to Him until the end, we will live with Him in His kingdom for eternity.

Immersion is a ritual and symbol by which we confess our faith in YHVH and in His Messiah, and by which we are spiritually cleansed. It is a testament of our rebirth and union with Him, of His forgiveness of our sins and, along with the laying on of hands, of our receiving His Ruach Haqodesh. It is done by immersion in water, following our repentance and turning away from sin. At immersion the “old man” of sin in us is put to death, and we are symbolically resurrected with Messiah Yehoshua to walk after him in the newness of life everlasting.

Community is an essential component of our religious belief and practice. Throughout scripture, the children of Yisrael lived in ordered communities according to the commands of Torah, and so must we do. Our community structure, leadership, rules and order of worship service are uniform and established according to the scriptural model, and no member of our faith is permitted to live exempt from them, if at all possible. 

Yisrael are they whom YHVH has chosen to be His own treasured people. Beginning with Avraham, Yitzchak and Ya’akov, along with their descendants and those who have come out of the nations of the world to join them, they have been chosen by YHVH as a set-apart people and a nation of kohanym, who are His testimony to the entire world. To Yisrael belong the covenants and promises, which are eternal and inviolable. Not all of Yisrael has yet been converted or presently has belief and faith in Yehoshua as their Messiah and Savior, as has been written, “YHVH has given them a spirit of deep sleep, eyes not to see and ears not to hear unto this day.” Yet, at the end of the age, on That Day, “They shall look on Me whom they pierced, and they shall mourn for him as one mourns for his only son.” And so all Yisrael shall be saved, as it is written, “The deliverer shall come out of Tzion, and he shall turn away wickedness from Ya'akov, and this is My covenant with them, when I shall take away their sins.”

The Gentiles are those from the nations who are uncircumcised and are not members of the twelve tribes of Yisrael. Prior to the time of Messiah, they were without Elohym and had no possibility of salvation. Yet the prophets foretold a time when a way would be made for them to enter the kingdom of YHVH. That time miraculously began with the resurrection of Yehoshua and the subsequent giving of the Ruach Haqodesh to all mankind who will: repent of their sins, have true faith in the saving name of Yehoshua Hamashiach, then turn to walk in The Way of righteousness after him, obediently serving YHVH, the one and only Elohym of Yisrael. To those righteous gentiles who do so, forsaking their former lives of sin and idolatry to keep those commands specifically given to them and to the greater commonwealth of Yisrael, it is said: “Also the sons of the foreigner who join themselves to YHVH, to serve Him and to love the name of YHVH, to be His servants, all who guard the Shabbath and do not profane it, and who are holding onto My covenant – them I shall bring to my set-apart mountain and let them rejoice in My house of prayer.”

The Qedoshym are the elect and set-apart ones of YHVH. Not all of Yisrael belongs to this very special and select group, but only they who are of the 144,000 from the twelve tribes of Yisrael, along with that great host from among the nations of the earth, who are the true servants of Elohym, having both the keeping of His commandments and the testimony of Yehoshua His Messiah. It is they alone who will be resurrected and will rise to meet Yehoshua at his coming, and it is they alone who will sit on thrones to judge the rest of humanity and to rule with him in his kingdom for a thousand years.

Love is the ultimate goal of all we believe and do. True love is found through the keeping of the commands of YHVH, in accordance with the teachings and halakha of Yehoshua His Messiah. Just as the keeping of the commands of YHWH will fail without love, so loving as seems right in our own eyes will fail without the keeping of His commandments. The two greatest commandments of all are to "love YHVH with all our hearts, souls, and might;" and to "love our fellows as we do ourselves." It is a recognizable mark upon all those of our faith that we do both of these and leave neither undone.

The Kingdom of YHVH will be established finally and eternally with the return of Messiah Yehoshua at the end of the ages. He will come in power and esteemed beauty as our promised King and Savior. His Qedoshym (Set-Apart Ones), both the natural and the grafted in, the living and those who have died, will rise to meet him, and his feet will stand upon the Mount of Olives. There will be a terrible war which will end with Satan bound and Messiah Yehoshua reigning in peace on the earth with His Qedoshym for a thousand years. After this time, Satan will be loosed for one final battle, which he will lose, and he will be cast into the lake of fire forever. This will be followed by the judgment in which all mankind will be resurrected to stand before the great throne of YHVH and be judged for their deeds. The books will be opened, and those whose names are not written in the book of life will be cast into the lake of fire. Finally, there will be a new heaven and new earth. A new Yerushalayim will come down from heaven, and YHVH will dwell there among His children forever.

 

(THIS IS ADAPTED FROM QEHILATH HADEREK'S STATMENT OF BELIEFS)