THE MOST SIGNIFICANT PROPHETIC SIGN THAT CHRIST'S RETURN IS NEAR
Online Table of Contents:
Introduction
Why Christians need to change their thinking about Bible prophecy
What Gentiles need to know about the biblical restoration of Israel
How Messiah will reveal Himself to the Jews in the Holy Land
What the Gentile Church can do to assist God's plan for Israel
Conclusion
"But you, O Lord, will arise and have compassion on Zion, for it is time to show favor to her; the appointed time has come...For the Lord will rebuild Zion and appear in his glory. He will respond to the prayer of the destitute; he will not despise their plea. Let this be written for a future (latter day) generation that a people not yet created may praise the Lord (Ps. 102:12-18).
Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled... When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near (Luke 21:24, 28). I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved" (Rom. 11:25, 26).
As the 20th century draws to a close, the church, spiritually speaking, is in much the same condition as were the apostles of Jesus immediately following His resurrection. We all have wondered how it was possible for them not to have anticipated His resurrection for He had told them many times that this was going to happen. The problem was: they heard the words He spoke but lacked divine revelation even as Luke records, "The disciples did not understand any of this. Its meaning was hidden from them, and they did not know what he was talking about" (Luke 18:34). However, during the forty days prior to His ascension, Jesus opened unto them all of the Old Testament Scriptures concerning Himself and suddenly it all made sense. Like the Emmaus disciples, their hearts no doubt burned within them as they saw God's master plan through the eyes of the Holy Spirit (Luke 24:25-32).
This spiritual phenomenon has been called a "prophetic paradigm shift." Defined more succinctly, it is a radical change in our doctrine and practice as the Holy Spirit corrects and/or expands our faulty understanding of Scripture prophecies as they are being fulfilled in our day and time. I dare say, this took place in the 1st century with the apostles "understanding of Jesus" first coming and is occurring today regarding the church's perception of the restoration of Israel as a prophetic sign on the nearness of His second coming.
He who has ears, let him hear! May the Holy Spirit enable all believers everywhere to embrace this "prophetic paradigm shift" principle to the end so that we may not only see what God is doing in the earth today but also agree with it and get in step with it. Many Evangelicals hold "the doctrine of imminence," that is, that Jesus could return at any moment. We do not believe the Bible teaches this except as it applies to the fact that the day of our death may be imminent. Before the Lord returns two significant events must first occur: (1. the restoration of the nation of Israel in the land of promise (Luke 21:24-28) and (2. the emergence of the Antichrist (II Thess. 2:1-4). Israel has been back in its homeland since 1948 and has been in control of Jerusalem since 1967. The Antichrist is yet to appear but may soon do so in association with the European Union (the restored Roman Empire prophesied in Daniel 2:36-45).
I. Why the Gentile Church Needs a Prophetic Paradign Shift Regarding the Endtime Restoration of Israel
A. The misbelief that God's purposes for the nation of Israel ended with the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD.
Approximately a generation after Jesus ascended to heaven, the Romans under Titus violently quashed a Jewish rebellion. Just as Jesus had predicted in Luke 21:20-24, the temple with its sacrificial service was destroyed, tens of thousands of people were put to the sword and the rest sold as slaves and carried off to the various nations of the world. Since Jesus had come in the flesh and had fulfilled His redemptive mission as Messiah, the church from Constantine onward believed that Israel's identity as a nation had outgrown its usefulness. If Jews were to be saved through the gospel message, they could be reached in whatever countries to which they had been banished. [Let us not forget that the Jews were scattered over the earth at least three different times: (1) in 721 BC when the Assyrians conquered the northern kingdom of Israel, (2) in 606 BC when the Babylonians over-ran the southern kingdom of Judah, and (3) in 70 AD when the Romans subdued Judah and Jerusalem.]
However, Scripture says, "He who appoints the sun to shine by day, who decrees the moon and stars to shine by night..." Only if these decrees vanish from my sight, declares the Lord, will the descendants of Israel ever cease to be a nation before me" (Jer. 31:35,36). Consider also this promise, "So, then, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when people will no longer say, 'As surely as the Lord lives, who brought the Israelites up out of Egypt,' but they will say, 'As surely as the Lord lives, who brought the descendants of Israel up out of the land of the north and out of all the countries where he had banished them.' Then they will live in their own land" (Jer. 23:7,8). And remember Jesus Himself prophesied that the Jews would once again rule Jerusalem when the times of the Gentiles would come to an end. This was fulfilled in 1967 when Jerusalem was reunited under Israeli control during the Six Day War the first time in 2,500 years! This event was not mere happenstance but divine providence!
B. The propagation of anti-Semitism within the church both Protestant and Roman Catholic.
Bad enough that the national identity of the Jews was denied but, even worse, the Gentile church began to persecute them as "Christ killers." Many notable post-apostolic church fathers were anti-Semitic, men such as Justin Martyr, Ignatius, Tertullian, Origen and John Chrysostom. Jerome, who translated the Scriptures into Latin, claimed that the Jews were incapable of understanding the Bible and should be severely persecuted until they confessed the "true faith." What is not common knowledge to most lay persons is that Martin Luther also had strong anti-Semitic biases and wrote against the Jews. Unfortunately, Hitler used Luther's anti-Semitic teachings to justify the Holocaust while most German Lutherans watched passively in silence. One might ask: How could this be? Didn't the Gentile church leaders know from Scripture itself that while the Jews had a part in Christ's suffering and death, every human being on the planet has an equal share in the blame? The New Testament is clear: "He (Jesus) died for all...He tasted death for every man...God made Christ to be sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him... The gospel is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes; first for the Jew, then for the Gentile," Rom. 1:16.
C. The development of "Replacement Theology."
A logical consequence of teaching anti-Semitism and the end of the Jewish nation is the belief, firmly held in most Gentile churches, that the church has replaced Israel in the mind and plan of God. This conviction requires an allegorical method, i.e., a symbolic representation, of interpreting and applying Old Testament Scriptures that speak of Israel. Any endtime prophecy referring to Israel must automatically mean the church. Again, this is what is being taught in seminaries. However, with a knowledge not based on denominational biases of the Scriptures, we should see that the latter day regathering of the Jews to the promised land is predicted in the Bible and that God is not finished with Israel as a nation. We should now be convinced that we have a responsibility as Gentile believers to love the Jews and help them return to the land and to find the Messiah (Rom. 11:31).
The cumulative effect of the aforementioned negative realities in the Gentile church for the past 1600 years has been a bitter resistance to Jesus by the Jews. Since the cross has been used as a sword to kill Jews for centuries, why should we expect them to be open to the gospel? Could this be one of the reasons the Lord is going to deal uniquely with them as a nation regathered to the land God promised them forever (Gen. 13:15)? Very likely. In any case, it is long overdue for the Gentile church to repent to God and to the Jewish people for the atrocities we have committed toward them over the centuries. If the bride of Christ is going to be an elect company of Jews and Gentiles united in love, we had better get started tearing down the walls and reaching out to Abraham's seed after the flesh! (Eph. 2:11-18).
II. What the Gentile Church Needs to Understand from the Prophetic Scriptures to Get In Step with God's Endtime Restoration of Israel
God has a sovereign plan for the world and all of its inhabitants which will be fulfilled (Is. 46:9,10). Just as all the prophecies concerning Jesus' first coming were fulfilled to the letter, so all the prophecies pertaining to His second coming will also come to pass including the restoration of the nation of Israel. Thus, it is incumbent upon the church to diligently pray for divine revelation so that we might accurately discern the outworking of God's sovereign will especially in these last days (Eph. 1:17-19, John 16:12-16, Rev. 1:1-3).
A. The times of the Gentiles are quickly coming to a close.
Jesus said that Jerusalem would be restored to the Jews when the times of the Gentiles would be fulfilled (Luke 21-24). This means that since 1967 God has shifted prophetic gears. It implies that the ingathering of souls from among Gentile nations is coming to a close even as Paul states in Romans 11:25, 26, "I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers... Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved." For nearly 2,000 years, the Jews have experienced a hardening against the gospel (by divine design) so that the Gentile nations would hear and believe the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ. But at the close of this grace period for the Gentile nations, the Lord will lift the veil from the eyes of the Jews (II Cor. 3:15,16) and bring in the elect of Israel, chiefly in the land of Israel. This is what Paul means when he says, "And so all Israel will be saved" (Rom. 11:26). The Holy Spirit is telling the Gentile church today that the full number of the elect Gentiles has nearly been harvested from among all the nations of the earth (Matt. 24:14). In short, God's mission focus has been steadily changing from the Gentiles to the Jews since 1967 when the Jews gained control of the city of Jerusalem if we have ears to hear.
B. God has a specific plan to gather in the elect of Israel.
According to the prophetic word recorded in Psalm 102:12-18, there will come a latter day generation of Jews when "the Lord will arise and favor Zion, an appointed time when He will rebuild Israel and appear in his glory." This special season of divine grace began in the late nineteenth century with the birth of the Zionist movement in Europe, which gave rise to the establishment of the nation of Israel on May 14, 1948, by a mandate of the United Nations. Sadly, many Gentile believers fifty years later still regard this unusual event as a quirk of secular history which has no biblical or spiritual significance.
Anyone with such a mindset would do well to view a compelling video entitled "Israel In Bible Prophecy" which was prepared by Dr. David Reagan from McKinney, Texas. It deals with the following aspects of the miraculous restoration of God's chosen people in their land: (1) the regathering of the Jewish people, (2) the re-establishment of the state of Israel, (3) the reclamation of the land of Israel, (4) the revival of the Hebrew language, (5) the resurgence of the Israeli military, (6) the refocusing of world politics on Israel and (7) the reoccupation of the city of Jerusalem by the Jews. This thrilling story was filmed entirely on location in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Write Lion of Judah Ministries, P.O. Box 681505, Franklin, TN 37068-1505 and enclose a check for $21.24, which includes postage and handling. Seeing this film will help you grasp what a prophetic miracle modern-day Israel's restoration is and continuous to be!
According to prophecy experts, there are at least two phases to God's plan to rebuild Zion.
The regathering stage
Over the past fifty or more years, roughly 5 million Jews have immigrated to the land God promised Abraham and his seed. Ten million Jews yet remain in Gentile nations 6 million in America alone. Still, the Lord is calling all Jews to make "Aliyah" (return to Israel). Even now the Interior Ministry in Israel is preparing for a population of 12 million Jews. This suggests that God in His providence will soon be motivating the American Jews to return to their ancestral homeland.
Here are some Old Testament prophecies that speak of this great endtime ingathering:
"The Lord your God will bring you back from captivity, and have compassion on you, and gather you again from all the nations where the Lord your God has scattered you" (Deut. 30:3,4).
"Fear not, for I am with you; I will bring your descendants from the east, and gather you from the west. I will say to the north, 'Give them up!' and to the south, 'Do not hold them back!' Bring My sons from afar, and My daughters from the ends of the earth" (Is. 43:5,6).
See also: Is. 11:12, Jer. 24:6,7; 31:10 and Ez. 11:16-20; 37:11-14; 39:27,28.
The redeeming stage
Most of us think that before the Lord would regather the Jews, they would first be required to repent and accept Jesus as Messiah (I Kings 8:46-53). However, many Scriptures teach otherwise, that after the Jews return to the land, the Lord will then redeem them by calling them back to Himself. Consider the following texts:
"For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land. Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean...I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh" (Ez. 36:24-28).
"And I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look upon Me whom they have pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn son" (Zech. 12:10).
See also: Jer. 32:37-41, Ez. 39:27-29 and Rom. 11:25,26.
III. How the Lord is Going to Reveal Himself as Messiah to the Jews in the Holy Land
A. The pressure of international isolation and rejection.
Anti-Semitism is on the rise all around the world today. Why is this? The primary cause is the devil's hatred of the Jews for their role in bringing salvation to the human race through Jesus, the "Seed of Abraham" (Gal. 3:16). Indirectly, God is using this to drive the Jews back to their homeland. Even the U.S. State Department is pro-Arab as are many of the European Union nations. The day will come, and it may not be far off, when Israel will stand alone. How else will the Scriptures be fulfilled that say, "I will gather all nations to Jerusalem to fight against it... Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations, as he fights in the day of battle" (Zech. 14:2:3).
In their desperation, the Jews will cry out to God to help them. This has already occurred in past battles with Arab League nations since Israel was birthed in 1948. Stories are told of how God fought with them in supernatural ways, which enabled them to emerge victorious time and again. It is reminiscent of Joshua's conquest of Canaan where God sent "the hornet" ahead of them) perhaps warring angels) and rained down hailstones to drive out the enemy (Josh. 10:11; 24:12). What is the bottom line? The Lord will increasingly show Himself powerful on the Jews' behalf in the days to come!
B. The love and support of Gentile Christians from around the world.
In Romans 11:30,31, Paul prophesies how the Gentile church will be called on by God to befriend the Jews at the close of the age when all nations will have turned against them: "Just as you (Gentile believers) who were at one time disobedient to God have now received mercy as a result of their (the Jews') disobedience, so they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now receive mercy as a result of God's mercy to you (Gentile believers)."
This has been happening increasingly since Israel became a nation. For years the Christian Embassy has been hosting an annual Feast of Tabernacles celebration in Jerusalem where thousands of Gentile believers from most nations of the world gather to befriend the Jews with singing, dancing, parades and intercession for Israel and its leaders. Beyond this significant display of love and good will, many Gentile Christians are actively working to assist Jews in Eastern Europe and elsewhere to come to the Promised Land. This ministry involves contacting would-be immigrants, arranging their transportation and providing funds to make "Aliyah" and to get settled in Israel. Perhaps this is what Jesus meant when He said, "Inasmuch as you have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, you have done it unto Me" (Matt. 25:40).
C. The effective witness of Messianic Jews in Israel to their secular Jewish brethren.
In Israel today there are more than 50 Messianic congregations, all of which are experiencing dynamic growth. This is powerful evidence that the Spirit of the Lord is lifting the veil of unbelief from the Jewish people. The story is told of how a prominent military officer was sent home to die because there was no cure for his particular affliction. As he was riding home on a bus he met a Messianic Jewish couple who told him that they had been instructed by God in a vision to pray for a sick man they would encounter on the bus. The officer eagerly allowed them to lay hands on him and pray. Nothing seemed to happen but the next morning the man woke up completely healed. He has since become a believer in Jesus! This true story was covered in the Jerusalem Post. God is reaching Jews through Jews just the way the church began 2,000 years ago!
D. Sovereign revival where God takes the initiative in a supernatural way.
For years the Lord has instructed intercessors for Israel to pray for two things: (a. the return of the Jews to their land and (b. for a mighty revival throughout Israel. Old Testament prophecy clearly teaches that this will occur. Hear these words of Ezekiel 39:7, 8, 28, 29: "I will make known my holy name among my people Israel. I will not longer let my holy name be profaned, and the nations will know that I am the Holy One of Israel. It is coming! It will surely take place, declares the Sovereign Lord. This is the day I have spoken of... I will gather them to their own land, not leaving any behind. I will no longer hide my face from them, for I will pour out my Spirit on the house of Israel, declares the Sovereign Lord."
IV. What the Gentile Church Can Do to Assist the Lord as He Gathers In the Elect of the Jews in Israel
Every Gentile believer needs to develop an relational witnessing mindset for loving the Jews that is in keeping with Paul's words in I Corinthians 9:19-20: "Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became as a Jew, to win the Jews." The Holy Spirit will have to reveal to each of us what this means in practical terms but here are some suggestions to seriously consider:
You can repent before God and the Jews for the unChrist-like treatment the Gentile church has given them for the past 1600 years.
You can ask the Lord to give us His heart and burden for the sons and daughters of Abraham after the flesh (Rom. 9:1-3; 10:1).
You can study the Scriptures which deal with God's plans to regather and redeem Israel in the latter days, especially Romans, chapters nine, ten and eleven.
You can intercede for the Jews to be stirred to return to the land of Israel, to be given grace to receive Jesus as their Messiah and to be protected from all the devil's ploys for their destruction.
You can go to Israel in September of each year and participate in the Christian Embassy's Feast of Tabernacles celebration. For information contact Sounds of the Trumpet, 8230 Birchglen, Houston, TX 77070.
You can contact Good News for Israel to obtain books and resources on how to minister the gospel to Jews in a winsome and biblical way. Invite us into your congregation or adult Bible study for your dose of Jewish Faith Roots!
V. Conclusion
It is not our intention to be a date-setter as concerns the second coming of Jesus. Nevertheless, the Bible says we will know the season but not the day or the hour. The Lord said that a generation would come that would witness His return. They would know this by certain signs that would appear, an unmistakable one being the restoration of Israel and the control of Jerusalem by the Jews (Luke 21:24 -33). This has occurred in our generation. Depending on what length we give to a generation (40 or 50 years), Jesus' return could be less than 20 years away. Are you and your family ready?
Quoting from "Famous Hebrew Christians," by Jacob Gartenhaus, regarding Benjamin Disraeli , the British Statesman, Author, Diplomat, and Prime Minister, (1804-1881):
"In all church discussions we are apt to forget the second Testament is avowedly only a supplement. Jesus came to complete the "law and the prophets." Christianity is completed Judaism, or it is nothing. Christianity is incomprehensible without Judaism, as Judaism is incomplete without Christianity.
The pupil of Moses may ask himself, whether all the princes of the house of David have done so much for the Jews as that prince who was crucified on Calvary. Had it not been for Him, the Jews would have been comparatively unknown or only as a high Oriental caste, which had lost its country. Has not He made their history the most famous in the world? Has not He hung up their laws in every temple? Has He not vindicated all their wrongs? Has not He avenged the victory of Titus and conquered the Caesars? What successes did they anticipate from their Messiah? The wildest dreams of their rabbis have been far exceeded... Christians may continue to persecute Jews (and by so doing misrepresent their Master) and Jews may persist in disbelieving Christians, but who can deny that Jesus of Nazareth, the Incarnate Son of God, is the eternal glory of the Jewish race?"
Disraeli anticipated the final conversion of the Jews and expresses the hope that "they will accept the whole of their religion instead on only the half of it, as they gradually grow more familiar with the true history and character of the New Testament."
Now a final quote from Reuven Doron's January 1999 newsletter:
"The nation of Israel had to be back in her land, having her national life built around God's altar and temple, in order to prepare for the first coming of the Savior. In the same way, Israel today is being called back to the land, and the House of the Lord is being built (with living stones this time)... By God's own wisdom and mercy He determined that Israel be carried toward her inevitable encounter with her Messiah leaning on Gentile hands, so that the ancient debt of love will be paid back at the close of this age. As we have said before, Israel gave birth to the church in the first century, and the church will now give birth to Israel in the last. Let God be glorified." Even so, come Lord Jesus!
Shalom,
Chris Heeb, Director
Good News for Israel.
Good News for Israel is a ministry of proclamation, education and reconciliation between the Jewish and Christian communities, founded in 1878 as the Zion Society for Israel, making us the oldest, continuous ministry of its kind in the country. For further information please call us at (952) 926-7369.
We would like to give special thanks to Brother Rodney Lensch for his 40 years of service to the Lord. His love for the Church and for the restoration of the Jewish people to their Messiah made it possible for this ministry to adapt his original article for its use and for the glory of God.
© 2005-2009 Good News For Israel
Ph: 952.926.7369 / Email Us
SALT COVENANT- Part 3- ending
Written by Michael Jones
In ancient times, the bodies of newborn babies were rubbed down with salt to ward off any infection they could have easily gotten. The salt made the skin of their bodies smooth. How does salt benefit our spiritual man? The answer is the action of prayer. Just like babies, we are made clean through ceremonial washing and the applying of salt onto our skin. As His sheep, our Creator daily cleanses us with the spiritual salt to preserve us for the glory of His kingdom.
God will not answer our prayers if we have an evil desire to pray selfishly. Why won’t they be answered, you may ask? The main factor of God not answering prayer is the simple fact that God wants the very best for us. This is why we should repent of every sin we have committed when we pray. We must prepare our spirit and heart to commune with Jesus Christ, our Father. Therefore, the importance of prayer cannot be stressed enough. Our prayer must be lined up with the Word for the salt to remain within us. Matthew teaches us a crucial lesson about the importance of retaining our spiritual salt. Matthew 5:13 states, “You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot.”
Let us strive in our prayer life to make them (our prayers) beneficial to God, so they may be our finest choice of burnt offering. Let us wait upon Him patiently to answer our prayers. He has graciously sprinkled salt into our lives. Therefore, when we pray, let our prayers be sprinkled with salt and not rashness. Otherwise, if we pray empty prayers, the spiritual salt that covers our lives will cease. Then, we can actually get to the point in our walk with Christ Jesus that our desire to seek Him will be of no priority.
Our first desire should be to seek out the “true love” in our prayer life, which should be God the Father. Our first choice offering is being open and honest with our Father in heaven. When we come to a point in our lives when we are not honest with God, we sometimes lie to ourselves and pretend not to hide things from God. We may be good at hiding and holding things back from humankind, but, no matter what the difficulty is in our personal lives, we need to give it all to Him so we do not shortchange ourselves spiritually. It will take us longer to approach a mature level in our spiritual lives, and the pleasant aroma that God desires in us will erode if we keep up the spiritual immaturity.
Jehovah wants us to become spiritually smooth in our prayer life. As we become spiritually smooth (with no sins to bind us), our prayer life will become pleasing to Him. Jesus Christ wants to chip off the things in our lives that have become idols to us. These idols prevent us from getting close to Him and detour us from the Scriptures. The salt that God sprinkles within us is the only way we can be truly set free and be refined in the furnace.
Romans 8:5 states, “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.”
The Scriptures make the fact transparent that we cannot live in the flesh and still try to do the things of God. We cannot, as believers in Christ, have a divided heart. Either our prayer life will be autonomous, or it is going to remain God-centered. He should be the center of our lives. At the same time, we should remain pure in heart and soul, mind and body, and spirit. Sin has the physicality effect in our bodies, and we are born into it. It damages us relationally in our level of maturity with Christ, and God’s word teaches us that our sin makes us unholy and unfit for Him.
Genesis 4:7 says, “If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is lurking at the door; its desire is for you, but you must master it.” As Christians, we need to resist sin with the armor of God that He has given us and all that we are spiritually. An example of this is the woman mentioned in Matthew 9:20. She had earnestly prayed for 12 years to be healed of hemorrhages. God was very faithful and merciful to heal her, answering her long-awaited prayer. We can learn so much from this woman spiritually. She did not waver, but laid down her body as a sacrifice. This was done not in a literal fashion, but in a spiritual fashion. She sacrificed her body through prayer. The woman pushed her way through a crowd to see Jesus the Christ and to hear Him speak and to be healed by Him. Finally, her prayers were answered through the faithfulness and mercy of Jesus Christ. As she touched the edges of His tzitzit (fringes), she became the sweet aroma of sacrifice that is pleasing to God.
You see that the armor of God protects every area of our body. When a person went into battle in the ancient days, they would dress in armor gear that would protect every inch of their body. The ancient Scripture protects every spiritual area in us. In Ephesians 6:13, Paul wrote, “Therefore take up the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.” Jehovah has given us a double thickness in our spiritual armor. He has given us the armor of God, which is His Word, and the salt that He sprinkles over our lives is to protect and to preserve the spiritual man. While we continue to fight our spiritual battles, there is one more point I would like to make. It is that we are protected by His salt covenant and by His promises that are found in His Word.
In ancient times, the bodies of newborn babies were rubbed down with salt to ward off any infection they could have easily gotten. The salt made the skin of their bodies smooth. How does salt benefit our spiritual man? The answer is the action of prayer. Just like babies, we are made clean through ceremonial washing and the applying of salt onto our skin. As His sheep, our Creator daily cleanses us with the spiritual salt to preserve us for the glory of His kingdom.
God will not answer our prayers if we have an evil desire to pray selfishly. Why won’t they be answered, you may ask? The main factor of God not answering prayer is the simple fact that God wants the very best for us. This is why we should repent of every sin we have committed when we pray. We must prepare our spirit and heart to commune with Jesus Christ, our Father. Therefore, the importance of prayer cannot be stressed enough. Our prayer must be lined up with the Word for the salt to remain within us. Matthew teaches us a crucial lesson about the importance of retaining our spiritual salt. Matthew 5:13 states, “You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot.”
Let us strive in our prayer life to make them (our prayers) beneficial to God, so they may be our finest choice of burnt offering. Let us wait upon Him patiently to answer our prayers. He has graciously sprinkled salt into our lives. Therefore, when we pray, let our prayers be sprinkled with salt and not rashness. Otherwise, if we pray empty prayers, the spiritual salt that covers our lives will cease. Then, we can actually get to the point in our walk with Christ Jesus that our desire to seek Him will be of no priority.
Our first desire should be to seek out the “true love” in our prayer life, which should be God the Father. Our first choice offering is being open and honest with our Father in heaven. When we come to a point in our lives when we are not honest with God, we sometimes lie to ourselves and pretend not to hide things from God. We may be good at hiding and holding things back from humankind, but, no matter what the difficulty is in our personal lives, we need to give it all to Him so we do not shortchange ourselves spiritually. It will take us longer to approach a mature level in our spiritual lives, and the pleasant aroma that God desires in us will erode if we keep up the spiritual immaturity.
Jehovah wants us to become spiritually smooth in our prayer life. As we become spiritually smooth (with no sins to bind us), our prayer life will become pleasing to Him. Jesus Christ wants to chip off the things in our lives that have become idols to us. These idols prevent us from getting close to Him and detour us from the Scriptures. The salt that God sprinkles within us is the only way we can be truly set free and be refined in the furnace.
Romans 8:5 states, “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.”
The Scriptures make the fact transparent that we cannot live in the flesh and still try to do the things of God. We cannot, as believers in Christ, have a divided heart. Either our prayer life will be autonomous, or it is going to remain God-centered. He should be the center of our lives. At the same time, we should remain pure in heart and soul, mind and body, and spirit. Sin has the physicality effect in our bodies, and we are born into it. It damages us relationally in our level of maturity with Christ, and God’s word teaches us that our sin makes us unholy and unfit for Him.
Genesis 4:7 says, “If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is lurking at the door; its desire is for you, but you must master it.” As Christians, we need to resist sin with the armor of God that He has given us and all that we are spiritually. An example of this is the woman mentioned in Matthew 9:20. She had earnestly prayed for 12 years to be healed of hemorrhages. God was very faithful and merciful to heal her, answering her long-awaited prayer. We can learn so much from this woman spiritually. She did not waver, but laid down her body as a sacrifice. This was done not in a literal fashion, but in a spiritual fashion. She sacrificed her body through prayer. The woman pushed her way through a crowd to see Jesus the Christ and to hear Him speak and to be healed by Him. Finally, her prayers were answered through the faithfulness and mercy of Jesus Christ. As she touched the edges of His tzitzit (fringes), she became the sweet aroma of sacrifice that is pleasing to God.
You see that the armor of God protects every area of our body. When a person went into battle in the ancient days, they would dress in armor gear that would protect every inch of their body. The ancient Scripture protects every spiritual area in us. In Ephesians 6:13, Paul wrote, “Therefore take up the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.” Jehovah has given us a double thickness in our spiritual armor. He has given us the armor of God, which is His Word, and the salt that He sprinkles over our lives is to protect and to preserve the spiritual man. While we continue to fight our spiritual battles, there is one more point I would like to make. It is that we are protected by His salt covenant and by His promises that are found in His Word.
SALT COVENANT –Part 2
Written by Michael Jones
As believers, we should realize the spiritual error when we do not truly follow the Messiah with our whole heart. In turn, it will affect the salt that we have in our spiritual man, and our sin will slowly erode the spiritual salt we already have.
In unity, Satan and his Demons (fallen angels) are trying to destroy God’s children who have a personal relationship with our Creator. The evil one hates the very fact that we worship Jesus Christ, and give glory unto Him, and Satan is very jealous of God’s splendor. Lucifer wishes our very worship were directed to him. John 10:10 says, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.” Jesus told us through His word that He has given us authority over the Demonic realm. If Jesus has given us this type of authority then we should realize this is part of the “armor of God” Paul speaks about.
Jehovah will not leave us without His authority for us to exercise and use. His armor will never leave us wanting and spiritually naked. He is faithful enough to keep us equipped with His Word. By studying and praying each day we are clothed with the armor of God. With it, comes His wisdom and knowledge of how the enemy operates. In turn, it also shows us how God operates.
As long as we are in communion with Jesus Christ, the prayers we pray are a salt offering, which is a sweet aroma for God. Our every word, our every thought, which comes from the heart, is a salt sacrifice that we should give to Jesus our Lord when praying.
As you see, our Creator will preserve our spiritual nature through the act of salt. We draw nearer to Him because of the refining process that works within us. Through our prayers, our sins are blended together with the salt of God. What does this mean to us as Christians? In time, the salt He graciously sprinkles over us will begin to purify us. Before we go further, it is important for us to know the facts about “living in sin” and being “born into sin.” There is a clear distinction between the two. When a person defies God and purposely lives in his or her sin, it is known as habitual sin. Thus, they are “living in sin.” A person may be bound by their sin and cannot be set free from it until they give it over to the Creator’s hand. Adversely, everyone here on earth is “born into sin.” As Christians, we may not have a physical bondage with a certain sin. However, the fact is that we were born into sin. We are in need of Jesus’ sacrificial blood that He once shed on the tree in order for us to have forgiveness of sin.
When we are getting our lives back in order with Jesus Christ, the spiritual salt starts immediate healing in our spiritual man. We begin to shift from the worldly system of Satan, and we begin to transition our lives into the hands of Jesus. Through time, our sin will not have the power over our flesh. The salt pulverizes our sin so our prayer life can be free from any restraint.
If we continue to stray from Him, as Cain did, with self-centered prayers and impure motives, we should be prepared that God will not honor our prayers. Cain had given God a less-than-worthy offering to Him and he purposely short-changed Him of the offering by not giving his best to his God.
As believers, we should realize the spiritual error when we do not truly follow the Messiah with our whole heart. In turn, it will affect the salt that we have in our spiritual man, and our sin will slowly erode the spiritual salt we already have.
In unity, Satan and his Demons (fallen angels) are trying to destroy God’s children who have a personal relationship with our Creator. The evil one hates the very fact that we worship Jesus Christ, and give glory unto Him, and Satan is very jealous of God’s splendor. Lucifer wishes our very worship were directed to him. John 10:10 says, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.” Jesus told us through His word that He has given us authority over the Demonic realm. If Jesus has given us this type of authority then we should realize this is part of the “armor of God” Paul speaks about.
Jehovah will not leave us without His authority for us to exercise and use. His armor will never leave us wanting and spiritually naked. He is faithful enough to keep us equipped with His Word. By studying and praying each day we are clothed with the armor of God. With it, comes His wisdom and knowledge of how the enemy operates. In turn, it also shows us how God operates.
As long as we are in communion with Jesus Christ, the prayers we pray are a salt offering, which is a sweet aroma for God. Our every word, our every thought, which comes from the heart, is a salt sacrifice that we should give to Jesus our Lord when praying.
As you see, our Creator will preserve our spiritual nature through the act of salt. We draw nearer to Him because of the refining process that works within us. Through our prayers, our sins are blended together with the salt of God. What does this mean to us as Christians? In time, the salt He graciously sprinkles over us will begin to purify us. Before we go further, it is important for us to know the facts about “living in sin” and being “born into sin.” There is a clear distinction between the two. When a person defies God and purposely lives in his or her sin, it is known as habitual sin. Thus, they are “living in sin.” A person may be bound by their sin and cannot be set free from it until they give it over to the Creator’s hand. Adversely, everyone here on earth is “born into sin.” As Christians, we may not have a physical bondage with a certain sin. However, the fact is that we were born into sin. We are in need of Jesus’ sacrificial blood that He once shed on the tree in order for us to have forgiveness of sin.
When we are getting our lives back in order with Jesus Christ, the spiritual salt starts immediate healing in our spiritual man. We begin to shift from the worldly system of Satan, and we begin to transition our lives into the hands of Jesus. Through time, our sin will not have the power over our flesh. The salt pulverizes our sin so our prayer life can be free from any restraint.
If we continue to stray from Him, as Cain did, with self-centered prayers and impure motives, we should be prepared that God will not honor our prayers. Cain had given God a less-than-worthy offering to Him and he purposely short-changed Him of the offering by not giving his best to his God.
SALT COVENANT – Part 1
Written By Michael Jones
In the Grecian world, about the fourth century, the word “church” was understood as an “assembly.” Jesus has called the Christians and Messianic Jews. He has called us out of the secular world. Adonai has called us out from this world and into His glory. He calls for us to be kept separate from the worldly systems, which belong to Satan. In John 17:14-18, Jesus said, “I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one. They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.”
From these Scriptures above, God has mandated us to continually remain apart from the world so we can be that righteous offering that is pleasing unto Him. God knows how destructive it would be if His believers were to become part of the secular world. He knows we would eventually become hardened under our sin, and in this situation, we would not hear His voice when He calls for us.
Let’s go to the story of Job. Job was a righteous man and a patriarch. As a family man, he served in his household as a priest. Everyday he would pray and consecrate his children every morning. While praying for his children, a spiritual application was presented here.
There is spiritual salt that comes from God when we pray. As in Job’s case, this salt helped him keep in tune when God spoke to him. It certainly preserved his spiritual state. Additionally, when we keep serving Jehovah and the more we pray to Him, the more the spiritual salt keeps us Holy and keeps us apart from the profane.
In the Bible, you will not find any formulas in how to pray, nor are there any shortcuts in prayer. There aren’t even any rituals we need to assimilate. We can pray standing, kneeling, or prostrate on the ground. We can pray in a bowed position, facing north, south, east, or west.
Let us remember to keep our prayers fruitful so it can bear many fruits in us. If we have prayers that we pray which are empty and selfish, our prayers will lose the salt that will preserve us spiritually between ourselves and God.
As believers, how do we retain the spiritual salt, which will help us? The answer can be found in Galatians 5:16-17. “Live by the Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh. For what the flesh desires is opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit desires is opposed to the flesh; for these are opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing what you want.”
When we desire to do the things of Jesus Christ and to “walk in the spirit,” then we will not be praying or acting out of His will selfishly (for our own benefit and our own autonomous means). We should continually seek the word of God, and then we will know His purpose for our lives. We need to know the Messiah our Redeemer on a more personal and spiritual level.
We have a moral duty to keep the spiritual salt maintained in our lives. How do we do this? By cultivating our spiritual life everyday through prayer and reading the Word of God. Thus, our prayers will be a sweet aroma, pleasing unto Him.
In the Grecian world, about the fourth century, the word “church” was understood as an “assembly.” Jesus has called the Christians and Messianic Jews. He has called us out of the secular world. Adonai has called us out from this world and into His glory. He calls for us to be kept separate from the worldly systems, which belong to Satan. In John 17:14-18, Jesus said, “I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one. They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.”
From these Scriptures above, God has mandated us to continually remain apart from the world so we can be that righteous offering that is pleasing unto Him. God knows how destructive it would be if His believers were to become part of the secular world. He knows we would eventually become hardened under our sin, and in this situation, we would not hear His voice when He calls for us.
Let’s go to the story of Job. Job was a righteous man and a patriarch. As a family man, he served in his household as a priest. Everyday he would pray and consecrate his children every morning. While praying for his children, a spiritual application was presented here.
There is spiritual salt that comes from God when we pray. As in Job’s case, this salt helped him keep in tune when God spoke to him. It certainly preserved his spiritual state. Additionally, when we keep serving Jehovah and the more we pray to Him, the more the spiritual salt keeps us Holy and keeps us apart from the profane.
In the Bible, you will not find any formulas in how to pray, nor are there any shortcuts in prayer. There aren’t even any rituals we need to assimilate. We can pray standing, kneeling, or prostrate on the ground. We can pray in a bowed position, facing north, south, east, or west.
Let us remember to keep our prayers fruitful so it can bear many fruits in us. If we have prayers that we pray which are empty and selfish, our prayers will lose the salt that will preserve us spiritually between ourselves and God.
As believers, how do we retain the spiritual salt, which will help us? The answer can be found in Galatians 5:16-17. “Live by the Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh. For what the flesh desires is opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit desires is opposed to the flesh; for these are opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing what you want.”
When we desire to do the things of Jesus Christ and to “walk in the spirit,” then we will not be praying or acting out of His will selfishly (for our own benefit and our own autonomous means). We should continually seek the word of God, and then we will know His purpose for our lives. We need to know the Messiah our Redeemer on a more personal and spiritual level.
We have a moral duty to keep the spiritual salt maintained in our lives. How do we do this? By cultivating our spiritual life everyday through prayer and reading the Word of God. Thus, our prayers will be a sweet aroma, pleasing unto Him.
The Progressions of God’s Dwelling in Man
Written by Michael Jones
In Genesis 2:7, we have a firm existential foundation for our first parents, in which Elohim formed man from the dust of the ground. On that special day which we read further on into Genesis, He took the dirt from the ground and formed Adam, and afterward, Jehovah formed the Spirit of man by breathing into his nostrils. Then what took place was more than an act of God, but a miracle of God. He had given to man, what is called the Ruach (Hebrew for spirit). He blew into the man’s nostrils and this word Ruach is Hebrew for Spirit. Elohim wanted His creation to be not only distinct from the animal world, but also separated from it. Another view Jehovah gave evidence to us that we are separated from the animal kingdom was the following. The act of the creation of the animal world was however different. He created the animals to possess an actual living soul dwelling inside of them; however, there is no such thing as a spirit residing inside of them. The soul of an animal is their entire characteristic, which is what we would call their make-up for their emotions. You will see that when God created man and blew into the man’s nostrils He gave the man a part of His spirit. Jehovah also gave our first parents a soul with the spirit. Moreover, this soul is the make-up for all human emotions. Their spirit that God gave the man and woman is a compartment for them and for us to commune with our creator and to worship Him.
Now since Lucifer had already fallen from his divine authority and his divine position, only one authority was transferred to Adam (Man-Ish) and Eve (Woman-Ishah). What do I mean about divine authority being transferred to our first parents? Satan at one time had a priestly function of being in charge of the worship music on earth. God created the Devil for music. In Ezekiel 28:13, “The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes was prepared for you on the day you were created.” In his book, The Invisible War, Donald Grey Barnhouse suggests Satan the cherub angel had a priestly function. “The wings of a cherub, you might recall, were outstretched on the top of the ark of the covenant. Confirming this interpretation is the expression ‘his sanctuaries,’ apparently a reference to worship (v.18).” This also points to the fact that Lucifer directed and orchestrated the worship of other angels. The cherub angel, Satan, received the worship of other angels underneath him and gave all the praise and worship to God in the third heavens. Now, God has given Adam and Eve, the authority of worship, since it was, transferred to our first parents because of Satan’s rebellion. Satan has however lost his divine position of ever being a worship leader ever again in God’s kingdom. This now explains the deceiver’s action of jealousy toward Adam and Eve. This is why Satan the cherub angel, lied both to Adam and Eve. The Serpents mind said if only I (serpent) can convince these new people to eat of the tree, The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Bad. Then I (serpent) cannot only ruin their relationship with the Creator, so then they can follow my ways, then God cannot dwell inside of them anymore, and their closeness with God would be damaged.
The Devil knew about this. That is why the deceiver lied to Eve and to Adam. Lucifer was quite successful. Here is the story that Moses writes down in Genesis 3:1-7, “Now the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, ‘Did God say, ‘You shall not eat from any tree in the garden?’ The woman said to the serpent, ‘We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the Garden; but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die.’ But the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not die; for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.”
Before I explain in further detail, here is some important information to know. The Bible is not clear on how long Adam and Eve dwelled in the Garden of Eden before their fall. However, the Book of Jubilees has given us some clue of how long they resided in Paradise. Depending on how accurate the Book of Jubilees is, it records that Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden for seven years during the first week of the first jubilee. In the Garden of Eden (Gan-Eden), sin got a foothold on Adam and Eve, and God no longer dwelled “inside” of them. Instead, God dwelled “with” them. God knew in advance that their fall from grace would happen, but most importantly, Elohim still wanted to have fellowship with them and with humanity. After they had eaten of the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze. The man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. The Lord God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?” It is tragic that our first parents had lost the Garden of Eden and were expelled from that land because of their sins. It is tragic because they slowly pulled away from their relationship with God. The Lord had already known that they were to fall. Why did God stop dwelling “in” our first parents? He now had to dwell outside of them because of their evil intentions and ways. So the Lord decides to test them next. With His words of love, what does God say in response to their sin? “But the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, ‘Where are you’?” His response to Adam was incredible. It was not as if God did not know where Adam was. He did know! However, God was waiting for a response from Adam. Perhaps He was waiting to hear, “I still love you, My Adonai, and I still need you in my life.” Because God still yearned to commune with His creation, Adam and Eve, Elohim had constructed for man an eternal plan and a place to dwell in next.
As we progress further into God’s master plan, He still has a very important message to tell us. When YWHW commanded Moses and Aaron to build the tabernacle, there had to be certain measurements and a particular way of building the tabernacle for the Lord. For God says to them in Exodus 25:9: “In accordance with all that I show you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle and of all its furniture, so you shall make it.” Therefore, the Lord God still had a burning desire in His heart and spirit to dwell with the people of Israel, for they had been in the desert for quite some time and would be for approximately forty years. During those trying years for the people of Israel, their God still wanted to be with them. He says in Exodus 25:8, “And have them make me a sanctuary, so that I may dwell among them.” Tabernacle means place of dwelling or sanctuary. Ever since the fall of Adam and Eve, the separation of sin between man and the Lord was great. He could no longer live inside of man. Therefore, God wanted a place of worship (a tabernacle) to dwell and commune with man.
It was Aaron and his sons who served as priests and high priests in the tabernacle, during the time of the forty years of wandering in the wilderness. In Exodus 40:11-15, God spoke to Moses and said, “Then you shall bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance of the tent of meeting, and shall wash them with water, and put on Aaron the sacred vestments and you shall anoint him and consecrate him, so that he may serve me as priest. You shall bring his sons also and put tunics on them, and anoint them, as you anointed their father that they may serve me as priest: and their anointing shall admit them to a perpetual priesthood throughout all generations to come.”
The tabernacle consisted of two rooms. A beautiful veil separated each room. The first room was called the “Holy Place.” That is where the golden lampstand, the altar of incense, and the table of showbread were located. The second room was called the “Most Holy Place.” The Ark of the Covenant was stationed there. It was only the high priest that could go into the Most Holy Place (Holy of Holies). That happened once a year on Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement). If you remember, Moses entered the tent of meeting to speak with the Lord. He heard the voice speaking to him from the mercy seat, located between the two cherubim on the Ark of the Covenant. Another verse which speaks of God communing with man is Leviticus 16:2. “The Lord said to Moses: Tell your brother Aaron not to come just at any time into the sanctuary inside the curtain before the mercy seat that is upon the ark, or he will die for I appear in the cloud upon the mercy seat.”
The physical presence of YHWH, would meet Moses, as well as the High Priest, between the two cherubim on the mercy seat. The book of Numbers 7:89 says: When Moses went into the tent of meeting to speak with the Lord, he would hear the voice speaking to him from above the mercy seat that was on the Ark of the Covenant from between the two cherubim; thus it spoke to him. Another instance when God would speak to Moses, yet he could not enter into the “Tent of Meeting” is in Exodus 40:34-38, Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled upon it and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Whenever the cloud was taken up from the tabernacle, the Israelites would set out on each stage of their journey; but if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not set out until the day that it was taken up. For the cloud of the Lord was on the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud by night, before the eyes of all the house of Israel at each stage of their journey.
Is this not awesome, can you imagine experiencing something like this in the Old and New Testament periods. How God yearns for them and for their relationship with their Creator, you see God loves us so much and desires us that we should want Him in our lives. There is a parallel description found in Matthew 23:37, ‘Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! ‘How often have I desired together your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings.’ This is how strong God’s connection with us is, that He “desires us” No matter what our current situation we are in, even in our rebellion, God will still speak to us and will keep speaking to us until He gets through to us the importance of following Him. Because only through Elohim our Creator, will we find true rest and peace amongst turmoil in this world or in our daily life, that is why our Creator keeps on desiring us, since only through Him do we have contentment when He speaks to us in our situation or turmoil.
Next, an important place where God spoke to the children of Israel was inside Solomon’s temple. The story starts in 2 Samuel chapter 7:2 with King David. He says, “See now, I am living in a house of cedar, but the ark of God stays in a tent.” The Lord God spoke with King David in 1 Chronicles 22:8. In that verse, He says to David, “You have shed much blood and have waged great wars; you shall not build a house to my name, because you have shed so much blood in my sight on the earth.” Adonai had a better idea. Instead of using David, He decided to use his son, Solomon. Then further, in 1 Chronicles 22:6, David called for his son Solomon and charged him to build a house for the Lord, the God of Israel. Through many wars, which King David fought in, it has made him disqualified in building a Temple for their God. David said to his son, “My son, I had planned to build a house to the name of the Lord my God. But the word of the Lord came to me, saying, I have shed too much blood.”
The shepherd and king had reigned over all of Israel for 40 years- 7 years in Hebron, and 33 years in Jerusalem. Before David’s death, they anointed Solomon as the Lord’s prince. In Chronicles 3:2, King Solomon began building the house of the Lord in Jerusalem on top of Mount Moriah, (where the current Temple Mount presently stands). The Lord had always spoken between the two cherubim on the mercy seat, and He spoke to King Solomon and the people in various ways. After the temple was built, “the house of the Lord, was filled with a cloud, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud for the glory of the Lord filled the house of God.” In chapter 6 verse 1, Solomon said, “The Lord has said that he would reside in thick darkness.” Another reference is in chapter 7 of 2 Chronicles. After King Solomon had ended his prayer, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of the Lord filled the temple. The priests could not enter because the glory of the Lord filled the Lord’s house. When all the people of Israel saw the fire come down and the glory of the Lord on the temple, they bowed down on the pavement with their faces to the ground. They worshipped and gave thanks to the Lord, saying, “For he is good for his steadfast love endures forever.”
These progressions of God continuing with humanity really are remarkable. Just like King Solomon praying and the Shekinah Glory of God manifesting itself in the temple, the Lord God can answer our prayers. However, it will not be in the same manner as Solomon. God can still answer our prayers through various means, though they will possibly be through dreams and visions or supernatural acts in our life. Elohim can also answer prayers that are big or small.
Another important aspect to all of this is when you first enter into “The Holy Place.” Standing next to the high priest is the “Altar of Incense.” You are probably wondering what The Altar of Incense is, and what its purpose is. “It is located in front of the curtain that is above the Ark of the Covenant, in front of the Mercy Seat that is over the covenant, where I will meet with you.” The priest daily and nightly kept The Altar of Incense, by going and placing divinely made incense on top of the altar. In addition, this specially made incense would make the smoke go straight up, for it was a sweet aroma made for God alone. The smoke rising up out of the incense would symbolize the prayers going up to God. This is why God made a separation of what is holy and what is profane. When someone was profane with what was holy, they were separated from their tribe and cast out permanently. This is why Exodus 30:9 clearly mentions: “You shall not offer unholy incense on it, or a burnt offering or a grain offering, and you shall not pour a drink offering on it.”
As the high priest offered incense, the smoke went straight up. Similarly, a person’s prayer goes straight up to God the father. In the book of Psalms chapter 141:2 David says, “Let my prayer be counted as incense before you and the lifting up of my hands as an evening sacrifice.” In Addition, in the New Testament, John writes in chapter 5 of Revelation verse 8, “When he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell before the Lamb, each holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.”
Remember what God said in Exodus 25:22. “There I will meet with you and from above the mercy seat.” It was a personal experience for Moses. He met with God face to face. Numbers 12:8 says, “With him I speak face to face clearly, not in riddles; and he beholds the form of the Lord.” When Jehovah speaks to us like He did with Moses, He will not reveal Himself physically to us, as He did with Moses. That is until Christ comes to bring us home or when He comes entering the Eastern Gate in Jerusalem. Our Creator will speak to us firmly but also lovingly about what we have been praying about. God reveals Himself to us through nature, prayer, praise and worship, and even through reading the Bible. For Him to act according to His will and to communicate to His children is an incredible thing to witness in our personal lives. This is called true love; the love He has for His children. Our Lord and Creator said that our bodies are a temple, and Paul agrees with God and says in 1 Corinthians 6:19, “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own?” This is why the Messiah stressed so much that we should take care of our bodies and why we should not mark our bodies, such as tattoos. Jesus Christ even gave us guidelines about not drinking blood or eating anything that could harm us. In addition, in 1 Corinthians 3:16-17, Paul wrote down, “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person.” I believe a good comparison can be found in Matthew 21:12, 13, “Then Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who were selling and buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. He said to them, ‘It is written My house shall be called a house of prayer but you are making it a den of robbers.”
What it has to do with a man’s body is simple. God’s dwelling place was the temple and the people who were selling the doves inside the temple were defiling God’s sanctuary; hence, they were defiling the sanctity of God’s holy presence or the Shekinah Glory. In a way, the temple was a resemblance of the flesh of God while He resided over the Mercy Seat between the two cherubim. God’s temple is holy and you are that temple. That is why Jehovah showed us the difference between what is holy and what is profane so we do not defile ourselves. In Ezekiel, it explains in chapter 44:23, “They shall teach my people the difference between the holy and the common, and show them how to distinguish between the unclean and the clean.” This is why God gave all who follow Him a command. His commands are for our benefit and safety from things that are sinful. This is why it is so pertinent to follow our Shepherd, and to hear Him and follow Him wherever He may take us and whatever He may say to us. Darkness can have no fellowship with the light and in 2 Corinthians chapter 7:1, Paul mentions this important factor that ties all of this together. “Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and of spirit, making holiness perfect in the fear of God.” The Bible says, “Be holy as I am Holy.” Those words that came from His mouth should echo in our spirits. If we have become defiled from any type of sin, we are no longer holy but have become profane and have become spiritually and physically soiled by our sins.
We need to repent of our wickedness and ask God to forgive us and purify us through His Blood; and of course, we need to do this with a true heart when we confess our unrighteousness to our righteous Savior. Since we are not our own, the Messiah had to die on the cross because of our unrighteousness. Jesus Christ’s blood atonement that He shed for our sins made it possible for Him to live inside of us. In addition, when we had accepted His salvation, our sins were totally covered, and we were made righteous before our Lord, Jesus Christ. So let us remember what Paul said in Hebrews 12:1, “Let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us looking to Jesus.”
In Genesis 2:7, we have a firm existential foundation for our first parents, in which Elohim formed man from the dust of the ground. On that special day which we read further on into Genesis, He took the dirt from the ground and formed Adam, and afterward, Jehovah formed the Spirit of man by breathing into his nostrils. Then what took place was more than an act of God, but a miracle of God. He had given to man, what is called the Ruach (Hebrew for spirit). He blew into the man’s nostrils and this word Ruach is Hebrew for Spirit. Elohim wanted His creation to be not only distinct from the animal world, but also separated from it. Another view Jehovah gave evidence to us that we are separated from the animal kingdom was the following. The act of the creation of the animal world was however different. He created the animals to possess an actual living soul dwelling inside of them; however, there is no such thing as a spirit residing inside of them. The soul of an animal is their entire characteristic, which is what we would call their make-up for their emotions. You will see that when God created man and blew into the man’s nostrils He gave the man a part of His spirit. Jehovah also gave our first parents a soul with the spirit. Moreover, this soul is the make-up for all human emotions. Their spirit that God gave the man and woman is a compartment for them and for us to commune with our creator and to worship Him.
Now since Lucifer had already fallen from his divine authority and his divine position, only one authority was transferred to Adam (Man-Ish) and Eve (Woman-Ishah). What do I mean about divine authority being transferred to our first parents? Satan at one time had a priestly function of being in charge of the worship music on earth. God created the Devil for music. In Ezekiel 28:13, “The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes was prepared for you on the day you were created.” In his book, The Invisible War, Donald Grey Barnhouse suggests Satan the cherub angel had a priestly function. “The wings of a cherub, you might recall, were outstretched on the top of the ark of the covenant. Confirming this interpretation is the expression ‘his sanctuaries,’ apparently a reference to worship (v.18).” This also points to the fact that Lucifer directed and orchestrated the worship of other angels. The cherub angel, Satan, received the worship of other angels underneath him and gave all the praise and worship to God in the third heavens. Now, God has given Adam and Eve, the authority of worship, since it was, transferred to our first parents because of Satan’s rebellion. Satan has however lost his divine position of ever being a worship leader ever again in God’s kingdom. This now explains the deceiver’s action of jealousy toward Adam and Eve. This is why Satan the cherub angel, lied both to Adam and Eve. The Serpents mind said if only I (serpent) can convince these new people to eat of the tree, The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Bad. Then I (serpent) cannot only ruin their relationship with the Creator, so then they can follow my ways, then God cannot dwell inside of them anymore, and their closeness with God would be damaged.
The Devil knew about this. That is why the deceiver lied to Eve and to Adam. Lucifer was quite successful. Here is the story that Moses writes down in Genesis 3:1-7, “Now the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, ‘Did God say, ‘You shall not eat from any tree in the garden?’ The woman said to the serpent, ‘We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the Garden; but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die.’ But the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not die; for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.”
Before I explain in further detail, here is some important information to know. The Bible is not clear on how long Adam and Eve dwelled in the Garden of Eden before their fall. However, the Book of Jubilees has given us some clue of how long they resided in Paradise. Depending on how accurate the Book of Jubilees is, it records that Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden for seven years during the first week of the first jubilee. In the Garden of Eden (Gan-Eden), sin got a foothold on Adam and Eve, and God no longer dwelled “inside” of them. Instead, God dwelled “with” them. God knew in advance that their fall from grace would happen, but most importantly, Elohim still wanted to have fellowship with them and with humanity. After they had eaten of the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze. The man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. The Lord God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?” It is tragic that our first parents had lost the Garden of Eden and were expelled from that land because of their sins. It is tragic because they slowly pulled away from their relationship with God. The Lord had already known that they were to fall. Why did God stop dwelling “in” our first parents? He now had to dwell outside of them because of their evil intentions and ways. So the Lord decides to test them next. With His words of love, what does God say in response to their sin? “But the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, ‘Where are you’?” His response to Adam was incredible. It was not as if God did not know where Adam was. He did know! However, God was waiting for a response from Adam. Perhaps He was waiting to hear, “I still love you, My Adonai, and I still need you in my life.” Because God still yearned to commune with His creation, Adam and Eve, Elohim had constructed for man an eternal plan and a place to dwell in next.
As we progress further into God’s master plan, He still has a very important message to tell us. When YWHW commanded Moses and Aaron to build the tabernacle, there had to be certain measurements and a particular way of building the tabernacle for the Lord. For God says to them in Exodus 25:9: “In accordance with all that I show you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle and of all its furniture, so you shall make it.” Therefore, the Lord God still had a burning desire in His heart and spirit to dwell with the people of Israel, for they had been in the desert for quite some time and would be for approximately forty years. During those trying years for the people of Israel, their God still wanted to be with them. He says in Exodus 25:8, “And have them make me a sanctuary, so that I may dwell among them.” Tabernacle means place of dwelling or sanctuary. Ever since the fall of Adam and Eve, the separation of sin between man and the Lord was great. He could no longer live inside of man. Therefore, God wanted a place of worship (a tabernacle) to dwell and commune with man.
It was Aaron and his sons who served as priests and high priests in the tabernacle, during the time of the forty years of wandering in the wilderness. In Exodus 40:11-15, God spoke to Moses and said, “Then you shall bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance of the tent of meeting, and shall wash them with water, and put on Aaron the sacred vestments and you shall anoint him and consecrate him, so that he may serve me as priest. You shall bring his sons also and put tunics on them, and anoint them, as you anointed their father that they may serve me as priest: and their anointing shall admit them to a perpetual priesthood throughout all generations to come.”
The tabernacle consisted of two rooms. A beautiful veil separated each room. The first room was called the “Holy Place.” That is where the golden lampstand, the altar of incense, and the table of showbread were located. The second room was called the “Most Holy Place.” The Ark of the Covenant was stationed there. It was only the high priest that could go into the Most Holy Place (Holy of Holies). That happened once a year on Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement). If you remember, Moses entered the tent of meeting to speak with the Lord. He heard the voice speaking to him from the mercy seat, located between the two cherubim on the Ark of the Covenant. Another verse which speaks of God communing with man is Leviticus 16:2. “The Lord said to Moses: Tell your brother Aaron not to come just at any time into the sanctuary inside the curtain before the mercy seat that is upon the ark, or he will die for I appear in the cloud upon the mercy seat.”
The physical presence of YHWH, would meet Moses, as well as the High Priest, between the two cherubim on the mercy seat. The book of Numbers 7:89 says: When Moses went into the tent of meeting to speak with the Lord, he would hear the voice speaking to him from above the mercy seat that was on the Ark of the Covenant from between the two cherubim; thus it spoke to him. Another instance when God would speak to Moses, yet he could not enter into the “Tent of Meeting” is in Exodus 40:34-38, Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled upon it and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Whenever the cloud was taken up from the tabernacle, the Israelites would set out on each stage of their journey; but if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not set out until the day that it was taken up. For the cloud of the Lord was on the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud by night, before the eyes of all the house of Israel at each stage of their journey.
Is this not awesome, can you imagine experiencing something like this in the Old and New Testament periods. How God yearns for them and for their relationship with their Creator, you see God loves us so much and desires us that we should want Him in our lives. There is a parallel description found in Matthew 23:37, ‘Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! ‘How often have I desired together your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings.’ This is how strong God’s connection with us is, that He “desires us” No matter what our current situation we are in, even in our rebellion, God will still speak to us and will keep speaking to us until He gets through to us the importance of following Him. Because only through Elohim our Creator, will we find true rest and peace amongst turmoil in this world or in our daily life, that is why our Creator keeps on desiring us, since only through Him do we have contentment when He speaks to us in our situation or turmoil.
Next, an important place where God spoke to the children of Israel was inside Solomon’s temple. The story starts in 2 Samuel chapter 7:2 with King David. He says, “See now, I am living in a house of cedar, but the ark of God stays in a tent.” The Lord God spoke with King David in 1 Chronicles 22:8. In that verse, He says to David, “You have shed much blood and have waged great wars; you shall not build a house to my name, because you have shed so much blood in my sight on the earth.” Adonai had a better idea. Instead of using David, He decided to use his son, Solomon. Then further, in 1 Chronicles 22:6, David called for his son Solomon and charged him to build a house for the Lord, the God of Israel. Through many wars, which King David fought in, it has made him disqualified in building a Temple for their God. David said to his son, “My son, I had planned to build a house to the name of the Lord my God. But the word of the Lord came to me, saying, I have shed too much blood.”
The shepherd and king had reigned over all of Israel for 40 years- 7 years in Hebron, and 33 years in Jerusalem. Before David’s death, they anointed Solomon as the Lord’s prince. In Chronicles 3:2, King Solomon began building the house of the Lord in Jerusalem on top of Mount Moriah, (where the current Temple Mount presently stands). The Lord had always spoken between the two cherubim on the mercy seat, and He spoke to King Solomon and the people in various ways. After the temple was built, “the house of the Lord, was filled with a cloud, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud for the glory of the Lord filled the house of God.” In chapter 6 verse 1, Solomon said, “The Lord has said that he would reside in thick darkness.” Another reference is in chapter 7 of 2 Chronicles. After King Solomon had ended his prayer, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of the Lord filled the temple. The priests could not enter because the glory of the Lord filled the Lord’s house. When all the people of Israel saw the fire come down and the glory of the Lord on the temple, they bowed down on the pavement with their faces to the ground. They worshipped and gave thanks to the Lord, saying, “For he is good for his steadfast love endures forever.”
These progressions of God continuing with humanity really are remarkable. Just like King Solomon praying and the Shekinah Glory of God manifesting itself in the temple, the Lord God can answer our prayers. However, it will not be in the same manner as Solomon. God can still answer our prayers through various means, though they will possibly be through dreams and visions or supernatural acts in our life. Elohim can also answer prayers that are big or small.
Another important aspect to all of this is when you first enter into “The Holy Place.” Standing next to the high priest is the “Altar of Incense.” You are probably wondering what The Altar of Incense is, and what its purpose is. “It is located in front of the curtain that is above the Ark of the Covenant, in front of the Mercy Seat that is over the covenant, where I will meet with you.” The priest daily and nightly kept The Altar of Incense, by going and placing divinely made incense on top of the altar. In addition, this specially made incense would make the smoke go straight up, for it was a sweet aroma made for God alone. The smoke rising up out of the incense would symbolize the prayers going up to God. This is why God made a separation of what is holy and what is profane. When someone was profane with what was holy, they were separated from their tribe and cast out permanently. This is why Exodus 30:9 clearly mentions: “You shall not offer unholy incense on it, or a burnt offering or a grain offering, and you shall not pour a drink offering on it.”
As the high priest offered incense, the smoke went straight up. Similarly, a person’s prayer goes straight up to God the father. In the book of Psalms chapter 141:2 David says, “Let my prayer be counted as incense before you and the lifting up of my hands as an evening sacrifice.” In Addition, in the New Testament, John writes in chapter 5 of Revelation verse 8, “When he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell before the Lamb, each holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.”
Remember what God said in Exodus 25:22. “There I will meet with you and from above the mercy seat.” It was a personal experience for Moses. He met with God face to face. Numbers 12:8 says, “With him I speak face to face clearly, not in riddles; and he beholds the form of the Lord.” When Jehovah speaks to us like He did with Moses, He will not reveal Himself physically to us, as He did with Moses. That is until Christ comes to bring us home or when He comes entering the Eastern Gate in Jerusalem. Our Creator will speak to us firmly but also lovingly about what we have been praying about. God reveals Himself to us through nature, prayer, praise and worship, and even through reading the Bible. For Him to act according to His will and to communicate to His children is an incredible thing to witness in our personal lives. This is called true love; the love He has for His children. Our Lord and Creator said that our bodies are a temple, and Paul agrees with God and says in 1 Corinthians 6:19, “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own?” This is why the Messiah stressed so much that we should take care of our bodies and why we should not mark our bodies, such as tattoos. Jesus Christ even gave us guidelines about not drinking blood or eating anything that could harm us. In addition, in 1 Corinthians 3:16-17, Paul wrote down, “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person.” I believe a good comparison can be found in Matthew 21:12, 13, “Then Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who were selling and buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. He said to them, ‘It is written My house shall be called a house of prayer but you are making it a den of robbers.”
What it has to do with a man’s body is simple. God’s dwelling place was the temple and the people who were selling the doves inside the temple were defiling God’s sanctuary; hence, they were defiling the sanctity of God’s holy presence or the Shekinah Glory. In a way, the temple was a resemblance of the flesh of God while He resided over the Mercy Seat between the two cherubim. God’s temple is holy and you are that temple. That is why Jehovah showed us the difference between what is holy and what is profane so we do not defile ourselves. In Ezekiel, it explains in chapter 44:23, “They shall teach my people the difference between the holy and the common, and show them how to distinguish between the unclean and the clean.” This is why God gave all who follow Him a command. His commands are for our benefit and safety from things that are sinful. This is why it is so pertinent to follow our Shepherd, and to hear Him and follow Him wherever He may take us and whatever He may say to us. Darkness can have no fellowship with the light and in 2 Corinthians chapter 7:1, Paul mentions this important factor that ties all of this together. “Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and of spirit, making holiness perfect in the fear of God.” The Bible says, “Be holy as I am Holy.” Those words that came from His mouth should echo in our spirits. If we have become defiled from any type of sin, we are no longer holy but have become profane and have become spiritually and physically soiled by our sins.
We need to repent of our wickedness and ask God to forgive us and purify us through His Blood; and of course, we need to do this with a true heart when we confess our unrighteousness to our righteous Savior. Since we are not our own, the Messiah had to die on the cross because of our unrighteousness. Jesus Christ’s blood atonement that He shed for our sins made it possible for Him to live inside of us. In addition, when we had accepted His salvation, our sins were totally covered, and we were made righteous before our Lord, Jesus Christ. So let us remember what Paul said in Hebrews 12:1, “Let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us looking to Jesus.”
EUNUCHS AND THE 144,000 JEWISH LAST DAY PROPHETS
By Prince Handley
The Ethiopian eunuch, a man of great authority in the government of Candace, Queen of Ethiopia, who also had charge of a the treasury for the queen, was riding in a deserted area from Jerusalem to Gaza, returning to Ethiopia. He had been worshiping in Jerusalem and probably was an Orthodox black Jew.
The worship of Jahweh, G-d of Israel, has been carried on in Ethiopia since the time the Queen of Sheba returned from visiting King Solomon around 1,000 BC (or 3000 Hebrew calendar).
Legend has it that there was a son born to the Queen of Sheba who was fathered by Solomon. Even to date the Falasha (black skinned Ethiopian Jews) are Orthodox believers. Many were air lifted a few years ago to Israel. It is believed there are still about 2000 left in Africa.
This Ethiopian eunuch was reading the Scroll of Isaiah (Yeshaiyahu) out loud while traveling in his chariot. Philip, the evangelist, had been preaching to great crowds in Samaria.
“And Philip went down to the city of Shomron [Samaria], and proclaimed unto them the Messiah.
The multitudes listened with one accord to the things that were spoken by Philip, when they heard and saw the signs which he did.
For unclean spirits (demons) came out of many of those who had them. They came out, crying with a loud voice. Many who had been paralyzed and lame were healed.
And there was much joy in that city.? [Acts 8:5-8]
However, God sent an angel to Philip to tell him to leave the large crowd of people and go to one person: the Ethiopian eunuch.
But an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, "Arise, and go toward the south to the way that goes down from Yerushalayim to `Aza. This is a desert." [Acts 8:26]
So Philip obeyed the angel and went.
“The eunuch was sitting in his chariot, and was reading the prophet Yeshaiyahu [Isaiah]
The Spirit said to Philip, "Go near, and join yourself to this chariot."
Philip ran to him, and heard him reading Yeshaiyahu (Isaiah) the prophet, and said, "Do you understand what you are reading?"
He said, "How can I, unless someone explains it to me?" He begged Philip to come up and sit with him.
Now the passage of the Scripture which he was reading was this, "He was led as a sheep to the slaughter. As a lamb before his shearer is silent, so he doesn't open his mouth.
In his humiliation, his judgment was taken away. Who will declare His generation? For his life is taken from the earth." [Isaiah Chapter 53, Tanach]
The eunuch answered Philip, "Who is the prophet talking about? About himself, or about someone else?"
Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture, preached to him Yeshua.
As they went on the way, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, "Behold, here is water. What is keeping me from [performing the Mikvah] being immersed?"
And Philip said, If thou believe with all your heart, you may. And he answered and said, I believe that Yeshua ha Meshiach is the Son of God.
And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they both went down into the water, both Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him.
And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip; and the eunuch saw him no more, for he went on his way rejoicing.? [Acts 27-39]
In Jeremiah Chapter 38 we read of another Ethiopian eunuch, Ebed-Melech (`Eved-Melekh the Kushite). The prophet Jeremiah had been cast into a dungeon because he spoke the truth to King Zedekiah [Tzidkiyahu]. There was no food, no water, only mire in the dungeon.
Ebed-Melech, the Eunuch, pleaded with the king to have Jeremiah released. The king gave the eunuch permission to do so. Then Ebed-Melech took men with him and took old clothes and old rags, and let them down by ropes into the dungeon to Jeremiah.
“And Ebed-melech the Ethiopian said unto Jeremiah [Yirmeyahu], Put now these rags and worn-out garments under your armpits, under the ropes. And Jeremiah did so. So they drew up Jeremiah with the cords, and took him up out of the dungeon.? [Jeremiah 38:12-13]
The Ethiopian eunuch comforted, delivered, and brought Jeremiah into favor; let me ask you: What are you doing to comfort, help, and bring favor to those who speak for the G-d of Israel?
NOTICE:
1. An Ethiopian Eunuch helped a man of God, a Jew. Jeremiah’s day: 600 BC (3400 Hebrew calendar).
2. A man of God helped an Ethiopian eunuch have a personal relationship with the Messiah of the Jews and brought the opportunity of salvation to a Gentile nation. The early New Covenant Church: 50 AD (4050 Hebrew calendar). The church in Ethiopia grew strong but there was never a record of missionaries in the early church going to Ethiopia. A man who was preaching to multitudes was directed by an angel to go to one man. Then ... the Spirit of the LORD transported him to Azotus [Ashdod].
3. At times, service to one individual is more important than to great crowds.
4. God still uses angels today ... AND ... The Ruach Elohim still transports people today when they need it ... “Spirit flight? is still available in Kingdom work.
"For I, YAHWEH, do not change; therefore you, sons of Ya`akov, are not consumed.? [Tanach - Old Testament Malachi 3:6]
“Yeshua the Messiah is the same yesterday, today, and forever.? [Brit Chadasha - New Testamant Hebrews13:8]
5. G-d still has eunuchs today.
“For there are eunuchs, that were so born from their mother's womb: and there are eunuchs, that were made eunuchs by men: and there are eunuchs, that made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it.? [YESHUA - Matthew 19:12]
Right now there are 144,000 Jewish male virgins ... 12,000 out of every tribe of Israel who will be prophets of G-d (nabi'm) in the final days of Planet Earth. Oh, they may not know what tribe they are from, but G-d knows every tribe and all the members of each tribe. He has the hairs of your head numbered! These are 144,000 Jewish males undefiled with sex ... have never had sex with a woman or anything or anyone ... separated unto God for special service. Some of these may be, or will be, eunuchs who have prepared themselves for this calling. They will prepare the earth for the re-appearing of Messiah Yeshua to establish His Kingdom.
"He that is able to receive it, let him receive it." [Y'shua]
Baruch haba b’shem Adonai!
Prince Handley
Time: 11 minutes, 20 seconds (with music interspersed)
Size: 10.3 MB
Contact: PrinceHandley@gmail.com
Website: WWW.PODCASTSATELLITE.COM
The Ethiopian eunuch, a man of great authority in the government of Candace, Queen of Ethiopia, who also had charge of a the treasury for the queen, was riding in a deserted area from Jerusalem to Gaza, returning to Ethiopia. He had been worshiping in Jerusalem and probably was an Orthodox black Jew.
The worship of Jahweh, G-d of Israel, has been carried on in Ethiopia since the time the Queen of Sheba returned from visiting King Solomon around 1,000 BC (or 3000 Hebrew calendar).
Legend has it that there was a son born to the Queen of Sheba who was fathered by Solomon. Even to date the Falasha (black skinned Ethiopian Jews) are Orthodox believers. Many were air lifted a few years ago to Israel. It is believed there are still about 2000 left in Africa.
This Ethiopian eunuch was reading the Scroll of Isaiah (Yeshaiyahu) out loud while traveling in his chariot. Philip, the evangelist, had been preaching to great crowds in Samaria.
“And Philip went down to the city of Shomron [Samaria], and proclaimed unto them the Messiah.
The multitudes listened with one accord to the things that were spoken by Philip, when they heard and saw the signs which he did.
For unclean spirits (demons) came out of many of those who had them. They came out, crying with a loud voice. Many who had been paralyzed and lame were healed.
And there was much joy in that city.? [Acts 8:5-8]
However, God sent an angel to Philip to tell him to leave the large crowd of people and go to one person: the Ethiopian eunuch.
But an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, "Arise, and go toward the south to the way that goes down from Yerushalayim to `Aza. This is a desert." [Acts 8:26]
So Philip obeyed the angel and went.
“The eunuch was sitting in his chariot, and was reading the prophet Yeshaiyahu [Isaiah]
The Spirit said to Philip, "Go near, and join yourself to this chariot."
Philip ran to him, and heard him reading Yeshaiyahu (Isaiah) the prophet, and said, "Do you understand what you are reading?"
He said, "How can I, unless someone explains it to me?" He begged Philip to come up and sit with him.
Now the passage of the Scripture which he was reading was this, "He was led as a sheep to the slaughter. As a lamb before his shearer is silent, so he doesn't open his mouth.
In his humiliation, his judgment was taken away. Who will declare His generation? For his life is taken from the earth." [Isaiah Chapter 53, Tanach]
The eunuch answered Philip, "Who is the prophet talking about? About himself, or about someone else?"
Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture, preached to him Yeshua.
As they went on the way, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, "Behold, here is water. What is keeping me from [performing the Mikvah] being immersed?"
And Philip said, If thou believe with all your heart, you may. And he answered and said, I believe that Yeshua ha Meshiach is the Son of God.
And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they both went down into the water, both Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him.
And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip; and the eunuch saw him no more, for he went on his way rejoicing.? [Acts 27-39]
In Jeremiah Chapter 38 we read of another Ethiopian eunuch, Ebed-Melech (`Eved-Melekh the Kushite). The prophet Jeremiah had been cast into a dungeon because he spoke the truth to King Zedekiah [Tzidkiyahu]. There was no food, no water, only mire in the dungeon.
Ebed-Melech, the Eunuch, pleaded with the king to have Jeremiah released. The king gave the eunuch permission to do so. Then Ebed-Melech took men with him and took old clothes and old rags, and let them down by ropes into the dungeon to Jeremiah.
“And Ebed-melech the Ethiopian said unto Jeremiah [Yirmeyahu], Put now these rags and worn-out garments under your armpits, under the ropes. And Jeremiah did so. So they drew up Jeremiah with the cords, and took him up out of the dungeon.? [Jeremiah 38:12-13]
The Ethiopian eunuch comforted, delivered, and brought Jeremiah into favor; let me ask you: What are you doing to comfort, help, and bring favor to those who speak for the G-d of Israel?
NOTICE:
1. An Ethiopian Eunuch helped a man of God, a Jew. Jeremiah’s day: 600 BC (3400 Hebrew calendar).
2. A man of God helped an Ethiopian eunuch have a personal relationship with the Messiah of the Jews and brought the opportunity of salvation to a Gentile nation. The early New Covenant Church: 50 AD (4050 Hebrew calendar). The church in Ethiopia grew strong but there was never a record of missionaries in the early church going to Ethiopia. A man who was preaching to multitudes was directed by an angel to go to one man. Then ... the Spirit of the LORD transported him to Azotus [Ashdod].
3. At times, service to one individual is more important than to great crowds.
4. God still uses angels today ... AND ... The Ruach Elohim still transports people today when they need it ... “Spirit flight? is still available in Kingdom work.
"For I, YAHWEH, do not change; therefore you, sons of Ya`akov, are not consumed.? [Tanach - Old Testament Malachi 3:6]
“Yeshua the Messiah is the same yesterday, today, and forever.? [Brit Chadasha - New Testamant Hebrews13:8]
5. G-d still has eunuchs today.
“For there are eunuchs, that were so born from their mother's womb: and there are eunuchs, that were made eunuchs by men: and there are eunuchs, that made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it.? [YESHUA - Matthew 19:12]
Right now there are 144,000 Jewish male virgins ... 12,000 out of every tribe of Israel who will be prophets of G-d (nabi'm) in the final days of Planet Earth. Oh, they may not know what tribe they are from, but G-d knows every tribe and all the members of each tribe. He has the hairs of your head numbered! These are 144,000 Jewish males undefiled with sex ... have never had sex with a woman or anything or anyone ... separated unto God for special service. Some of these may be, or will be, eunuchs who have prepared themselves for this calling. They will prepare the earth for the re-appearing of Messiah Yeshua to establish His Kingdom.
"He that is able to receive it, let him receive it." [Y'shua]
Baruch haba b’shem Adonai!
Prince Handley
Time: 11 minutes, 20 seconds (with music interspersed)
Size: 10.3 MB
Contact: PrinceHandley@gmail.com
Website: WWW.PODCASTSATELLITE.COM
Tower of Babel’s Ruins Waiting for Archaeologists
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Archaeologists are hoping to save the ruins of the Biblical era Tower of Babel, located in Iraq, and learn how it was built before it crumbled under the weight of confusion.
Following years of devastation under the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein and the ensuing American invasion of Iraq, World Monuments Fund conservationist Jeff Allen told The New York Times this week that archeologists are beginning to work on ancient Babylonian sites and possibly restore some of them.
No one has broached the idea of reproducing the Tower of Babel, which the Creator destroyed because of the generation’s attempt to compete with Him, "make a name for ourselves," and build a tower to the skies while everyone in the world still spoke one language.
The Bible relates that their effort turned to confusion, with no one understanding anyone else, and that the tower became a self-destructive effort, both physically and morally..
“All this is unexcavated. There is great potential at this site. You could excavate the street plan of the entire city,” said Allen.
As a first step, experts are working on a plan to prevent further deterioration of the mud-brick ruins, which were damaged by Hussein’s personal building projects.
A mound of mud-brick buildings is all that remains of the ancient city in Babylon where the Tower was being built, whose foundations appear to be a square of earthen embankments, measuring 300 feet on each side.
King Nebuchadnezzar II, who reigned nearly 2,600 years ago, tried to rebuild the Tower of Babel to a height of almost 300 feet.
It is not clear whether the original building was actually a “tower,” an English translation of the Hebrew term, or was a “ziggurat,” a stepped pyramid that was common at the time. Building materials consisted of mud and brick because stone was not readily available.
Nebuchadnezzar described how "gold, silver and precious stones from the mountain and from the sea were liberally set into the foundations" and how to rebuild it he called on "various peoples of the Empire, from north and south, from mountains and the coasts.”
The rebuilt tower also began to crumble, but a Greek historian, visiting the site 2,570 years ago, wrote, “It has a solid central tower, one furlong square, with a second erected on top of it and then a third, and so on up to eight. All eight towers can be climbed by a spiral way running around the outside, and about halfway up there are seats for those who make the journey to rest on."
(IsraelNationalNews.com)
Archaeologists are hoping to save the ruins of the Biblical era Tower of Babel, located in Iraq, and learn how it was built before it crumbled under the weight of confusion.
Following years of devastation under the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein and the ensuing American invasion of Iraq, World Monuments Fund conservationist Jeff Allen told The New York Times this week that archeologists are beginning to work on ancient Babylonian sites and possibly restore some of them.
No one has broached the idea of reproducing the Tower of Babel, which the Creator destroyed because of the generation’s attempt to compete with Him, "make a name for ourselves," and build a tower to the skies while everyone in the world still spoke one language.
The Bible relates that their effort turned to confusion, with no one understanding anyone else, and that the tower became a self-destructive effort, both physically and morally..
“All this is unexcavated. There is great potential at this site. You could excavate the street plan of the entire city,” said Allen.
As a first step, experts are working on a plan to prevent further deterioration of the mud-brick ruins, which were damaged by Hussein’s personal building projects.
A mound of mud-brick buildings is all that remains of the ancient city in Babylon where the Tower was being built, whose foundations appear to be a square of earthen embankments, measuring 300 feet on each side.
King Nebuchadnezzar II, who reigned nearly 2,600 years ago, tried to rebuild the Tower of Babel to a height of almost 300 feet.
It is not clear whether the original building was actually a “tower,” an English translation of the Hebrew term, or was a “ziggurat,” a stepped pyramid that was common at the time. Building materials consisted of mud and brick because stone was not readily available.
Nebuchadnezzar described how "gold, silver and precious stones from the mountain and from the sea were liberally set into the foundations" and how to rebuild it he called on "various peoples of the Empire, from north and south, from mountains and the coasts.”
The rebuilt tower also began to crumble, but a Greek historian, visiting the site 2,570 years ago, wrote, “It has a solid central tower, one furlong square, with a second erected on top of it and then a third, and so on up to eight. All eight towers can be climbed by a spiral way running around the outside, and about halfway up there are seats for those who make the journey to rest on."
(IsraelNationalNews.com)
Shuvah Yisrael High Holiday Schedule - Long Island & Manhattan
The Ninth of Av: “A Day of Infamy” & America’s 911
By Rabbi David Rosenberg
We are all familiar with the prophetic and redemptive significance of the seven weeks between Passover and Shavuot which form a parenthesis between the death and resurrection of Messiah and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit seven weeks later. But, there is another seven week period that begins on a day that can be described with the words of Franklin D. Roosevelt after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor: “a day that will live in infamy.” That day is the 9th of Av when Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the first Temple in 587/6 B.C.E.
Our sages named the seven Haftarah portions between Tisha B’av and Rosh Hashanah “The Seven Messages of Consolation,” all of which derive from Isaiah. Now, instead of beginning our introspection within the 10 Days of Awe (between Rosh Hashanna & Yom Kippur), we begin our preparation for the Holy Days “seven weeks” earlier on Tisha B’av, with the hope of learning from our past so we don’t have to repeat the past in our future.
But if the attack on Pearl Harbor isn’t strong enough a comparison, imagine the unthinkable idea of America letting it happen again, in the same place, and on the same day. That would be a day of double infamy.
Unfortunately, for us, the Jewish people, it did happen again. The second Temple was destroyed in 70 AD, again on Tisha B’av. Forty years earlier, on that same day of Tisha B’av in 30 AD, Yochanan declared this prophetic warning, “The ax is already laid at the root of the tree (Luke 3:9).” These prophetic words of Yochanan help us understand who he is and why his life is inextricably linked to Shabbat Nachamu and the ninth of Av.
“Nachamu” (Parasha V’et’chanan) is the first of the seven messages after Tisha B’av, which opens with these incredible words: “Comfort, yes, comfort My people! says your God. Speak comfort to Jerusalem, and cry out to her... For she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins. The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the Lord; Make straight in the desert a highway for our God (Isaiah 40:1-3).”
Still, more evidence emerges that Yeshua was immersed by Yochanan (John) on or near the 9th of Av, a very important fast day on our Jewish calendar. We know Messiah began a 40 day fast immediately after His immersion. Also, when Yochanan was asked “who are you,” he gave a first person, eyewitness testimony, “he answered in the words of Yesha‘yahu the prophet, “I am ‘ The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Make straight the way of Adonai’ (Yochanan 1:23).’” In other words, “If you want to know who I am, read this weeks Haftarah portion.”
It is here that Messiah departs into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan. These same 40 days parallel precisely the first 40 days of Israel’s 40 year wilderness journey that, according to Jewish tradition, began on the 9th of Av (Num. 14:34).
But as Yeshua went into the wilderness, what were they reading during these seven weeks in every synagogue? Following Shabbat Nachamu, the next four weeks of Isaiah are divided into four readings from Isaiah 49:14-55:5, with some very interesting edits missing in the sequence: Isaiah 51:4-11 (8 verses) and of course, Isaiah 52:13-53:12.
Why did the rabbis omit Isaiah 53? Is it because it vividly points to Yeshua as our Messiah on the very week (4th message) where Moses himself declares in the Torah portion: “the Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear (Deut. 18:15)?”
Luke’s narrative in chapters 3 and 4 helps us to look through the lens of the Torah and Haftarah portions to vividly see a clearer, more observant picture of Messiah in the New Testament as we approach the Holy Days every year. But, there’s more.
Carefully examine the dialogue of Messiah with Ha’satan during His temptation. Messiah refutes Ha’satan exclusively from the Torah portions in Deuteronomy that were being read in every synagogue during the first three weeks of the seven messages.
‘“And Satan said to Him, ‘If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.’ But Yeshua answered him, saying, ‘It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God’ (Luke 4:3-4; Deut. 8:3 - Parashah Ekev, week two).”
Now, examine the larger context of Messiah’s answer: “And you shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these 40 years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger....that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone... (Deut.8:2-3).” It is important to understand that Yeshua had nothing to say to Ha’satan in the wilderness, other than to quote the Torah portions being read in the synagogue at the very time of His testing.
Finally, as Messiah returns to Nazareth they are about to read from the seventh message of Isaiah, Parashah Nitzavim (Isaiah 61:10-63:9). As Messiah was handed the scroll of Isaiah, He began to read, “The Spirit of Adonai is upon me; ... he has sent me to proclaim freedom for the imprisoned and renewed sight for the blind...” (Luke 4:18,19; Isaiah 61:1-2a ). He then said, “Today, these Scriptures are fulfilled in your hearing. (Luke 4:21)”.
It has been exactly 49 days from Tisha B’av to Nitzavim and 43 days between Nachamu and Nitzavim, clearly more than enough time for Messiah’s wilderness journey. Look at the Scriptures we read every year between Shabbat Hazone, Tisha B’av and Nitzavim. He has fulfilled more than we have ever imagined. He came at the right time, to the right place, to make right all our past days of infamy, so that our future can be found in Him.
(All Biblical quotes are from The Complete Jewish Bible & NKJV)
Rabbi David Rosenberg and his wife, Helene, are co-founders of Shuvah Yisrael in Roslyn/East Williston, Long Island, N.Y. Both are Master of Divinity graduates of Alliance Theological Seminary in Nyack, N.Y.
This article is taken from The Mystery of the Babylonian Torah & Haftarah Cycle in Luke 3 & 4 (Messiah 96).
Email Rabbi Rosenberg at: rabbidr@shuvah.com with any comments or questions.
By Rabbi David Rosenberg
We are all familiar with the prophetic and redemptive significance of the seven weeks between Passover and Shavuot which form a parenthesis between the death and resurrection of Messiah and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit seven weeks later. But, there is another seven week period that begins on a day that can be described with the words of Franklin D. Roosevelt after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor: “a day that will live in infamy.” That day is the 9th of Av when Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the first Temple in 587/6 B.C.E.
Our sages named the seven Haftarah portions between Tisha B’av and Rosh Hashanah “The Seven Messages of Consolation,” all of which derive from Isaiah. Now, instead of beginning our introspection within the 10 Days of Awe (between Rosh Hashanna & Yom Kippur), we begin our preparation for the Holy Days “seven weeks” earlier on Tisha B’av, with the hope of learning from our past so we don’t have to repeat the past in our future.
But if the attack on Pearl Harbor isn’t strong enough a comparison, imagine the unthinkable idea of America letting it happen again, in the same place, and on the same day. That would be a day of double infamy.
Unfortunately, for us, the Jewish people, it did happen again. The second Temple was destroyed in 70 AD, again on Tisha B’av. Forty years earlier, on that same day of Tisha B’av in 30 AD, Yochanan declared this prophetic warning, “The ax is already laid at the root of the tree (Luke 3:9).” These prophetic words of Yochanan help us understand who he is and why his life is inextricably linked to Shabbat Nachamu and the ninth of Av.
“Nachamu” (Parasha V’et’chanan) is the first of the seven messages after Tisha B’av, which opens with these incredible words: “Comfort, yes, comfort My people! says your God. Speak comfort to Jerusalem, and cry out to her... For she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins. The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the Lord; Make straight in the desert a highway for our God (Isaiah 40:1-3).”
Still, more evidence emerges that Yeshua was immersed by Yochanan (John) on or near the 9th of Av, a very important fast day on our Jewish calendar. We know Messiah began a 40 day fast immediately after His immersion. Also, when Yochanan was asked “who are you,” he gave a first person, eyewitness testimony, “he answered in the words of Yesha‘yahu the prophet, “I am ‘ The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Make straight the way of Adonai’ (Yochanan 1:23).’” In other words, “If you want to know who I am, read this weeks Haftarah portion.”
It is here that Messiah departs into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan. These same 40 days parallel precisely the first 40 days of Israel’s 40 year wilderness journey that, according to Jewish tradition, began on the 9th of Av (Num. 14:34).
But as Yeshua went into the wilderness, what were they reading during these seven weeks in every synagogue? Following Shabbat Nachamu, the next four weeks of Isaiah are divided into four readings from Isaiah 49:14-55:5, with some very interesting edits missing in the sequence: Isaiah 51:4-11 (8 verses) and of course, Isaiah 52:13-53:12.
Why did the rabbis omit Isaiah 53? Is it because it vividly points to Yeshua as our Messiah on the very week (4th message) where Moses himself declares in the Torah portion: “the Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear (Deut. 18:15)?”
Luke’s narrative in chapters 3 and 4 helps us to look through the lens of the Torah and Haftarah portions to vividly see a clearer, more observant picture of Messiah in the New Testament as we approach the Holy Days every year. But, there’s more.
Carefully examine the dialogue of Messiah with Ha’satan during His temptation. Messiah refutes Ha’satan exclusively from the Torah portions in Deuteronomy that were being read in every synagogue during the first three weeks of the seven messages.
‘“And Satan said to Him, ‘If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.’ But Yeshua answered him, saying, ‘It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God’ (Luke 4:3-4; Deut. 8:3 - Parashah Ekev, week two).”
Now, examine the larger context of Messiah’s answer: “And you shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these 40 years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger....that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone... (Deut.8:2-3).” It is important to understand that Yeshua had nothing to say to Ha’satan in the wilderness, other than to quote the Torah portions being read in the synagogue at the very time of His testing.
Finally, as Messiah returns to Nazareth they are about to read from the seventh message of Isaiah, Parashah Nitzavim (Isaiah 61:10-63:9). As Messiah was handed the scroll of Isaiah, He began to read, “The Spirit of Adonai is upon me; ... he has sent me to proclaim freedom for the imprisoned and renewed sight for the blind...” (Luke 4:18,19; Isaiah 61:1-2a ). He then said, “Today, these Scriptures are fulfilled in your hearing. (Luke 4:21)”.
It has been exactly 49 days from Tisha B’av to Nitzavim and 43 days between Nachamu and Nitzavim, clearly more than enough time for Messiah’s wilderness journey. Look at the Scriptures we read every year between Shabbat Hazone, Tisha B’av and Nitzavim. He has fulfilled more than we have ever imagined. He came at the right time, to the right place, to make right all our past days of infamy, so that our future can be found in Him.
(All Biblical quotes are from The Complete Jewish Bible & NKJV)
Rabbi David Rosenberg and his wife, Helene, are co-founders of Shuvah Yisrael in Roslyn/East Williston, Long Island, N.Y. Both are Master of Divinity graduates of Alliance Theological Seminary in Nyack, N.Y.
This article is taken from The Mystery of the Babylonian Torah & Haftarah Cycle in Luke 3 & 4 (Messiah 96).
Email Rabbi Rosenberg at: rabbidr@shuvah.com with any comments or questions.
Iran: The "Next Prophetic War" News
By Kevin Swift
PERSIAN GULF WAR CONFLICTS
Iraq, Iran & the Beginning of Sorrows
February 1, 2011--Editor's Note: There is a good chance that Iran will see renewed protests, and Rafsanjani will come out the winner in the fight for power. His time has come prophetically to rise up and take [even more] control of Iran.
Iraq’s defeat by the American-led coalition commenced on March 19, 2003, at Shushan Purim—the day Purim is celebrated in Jerusalem. Triumph over neighboring Iran by Western powers has also long been predicted in Daniel 8:1-8. In fact, this Persian Gulf conflict with old Persia is the catalyst that sets in motion a torrent of end-time war following disaster after disaster, which arrive in quick succession.
The prophet Daniel was taken into vision “in the province of Elam; in the vision I was beside the Ulai Canal (8:2),” which is in the Iran, Iraq and Kuwait region near the Persian Gulf. Daniel “looked up, and there before me was a [Islamic] Ram with two horns [two countries—Iraq and Iran], standing beside the canal, and the horns were long [two prominent Islamic nations in the Gulf region]. One of the horns [Iran] was longer [geographically bigger/stronger] than the other and grew up later… suddenly a Goat [Western powers] with a prominent horn between his eyes [America] came from the west, crossing the whole earth [a great distance] without touching the ground [with speed]. He came toward the two-horned [Iraq and Iran Islamic] Ram I had seen standing beside the canal and charged at him in great rage. I saw him attack the [Islamic] Ram furiously, striking the Ram and shattering his two horns [Iraq and Iran]. The [Islamic] Ram was powerless to stand against him; the Goat [from the West] knocked him [Islamic Ram] to the ground and trampled on him, and no one could rescue the Ram from his power. The [Western] Goat became very great, but at the height of his power his large horn [America] was broken off, and in its place four prominent horns grew up toward the four winds of heaven [dispersed in all directions of the globe],” (Daniel 8:3-8).
Some people believe the Ram and Goat confrontation of Daniel 8 occurred long before the birth of Jesus, and therefore has nothing at all to do with our modern world. However, Daniel was told in no uncertain terms, “the vision” of war concerns “the appointed time of the end” (Daniel 8:19). These Persian Gulf regional clashes, Iraq’s defeat followed by Iran’s demise, set the stage for a wider Middle East war, the last days and the fulfillment of God’s end-time Calendar.
Gabriel explains the vision of war to the prophet Daniel later in the chapter . He is told the conflict involves Media (modern-day Iraq) and Persia (modern-day Iran), which two horns sit atop the Islamic “Ram”. Iraq is overcome first, followed by Iran. Daniel said, “One of the horns was longer than the other [Iran is larger geographically, and stronger than Iraq] but grew up later [meaning, the Iranian confrontation would follow some time after the Iraqi overthrow],” (8:3).
Centuries ago, Bible translators connected the confronting “Goat” to “Greece”; however, the Hebrew word interpreted as Greece is “Yawan” (“Javan”). Javan was one of the sons of Japheth , and at the writing of Daniel, Javan implied regional powers from the west, rather than a specific nation. Furthermore, Daniel’s vision involves events at the “time of the end,” so it must be applied to modern times. Javan, the Western powers, is said to have a prominent horn—the first king (United States). Prophecy indicates the Goat will defeat the two-horned (Iraq/Iran) Islamic Ram. Nevertheless, the prominent horn (America) will quickly be “broken off,” indicating her loss of world dominance. In its place, four major power bases will emerge—the New World Order. From one of these horns of power (Western European Union) the “little horn”—literally the smallest nation in the world (0.2 square miles)—will gain worldwide supremacy. The “stern-faced king, a master of intrigue” who blasphemes the Holy One of Israel and persecutes the true believers, will emerge from the vestiges of darkness to rule with great authority.
Civilization originated in the Middle East, and the end of civilization as we know it will begin there. Global tensions have been escalating in the last two decades. The U.S.-NATO-Israeli alliance will overthrow Iran, enraging Islam and her allies—the Chinese-Russian-Iranian coalition. Israel and Syria will clash. The Russian Bear will attack with overwhelming force, devastating three countries in Western Europe. Once nuclear armaments are unleashed, mayhem and global holocaust will spiral out of control. America will falter and collapse and this once powerful nation will lose her prodigious superpower status.
PERSIAN GULF WAR CONFLICTS
Iraq, Iran & the Beginning of Sorrows
February 1, 2011--Editor's Note: There is a good chance that Iran will see renewed protests, and Rafsanjani will come out the winner in the fight for power. His time has come prophetically to rise up and take [even more] control of Iran.
Iraq’s defeat by the American-led coalition commenced on March 19, 2003, at Shushan Purim—the day Purim is celebrated in Jerusalem. Triumph over neighboring Iran by Western powers has also long been predicted in Daniel 8:1-8. In fact, this Persian Gulf conflict with old Persia is the catalyst that sets in motion a torrent of end-time war following disaster after disaster, which arrive in quick succession.
The prophet Daniel was taken into vision “in the province of Elam; in the vision I was beside the Ulai Canal (8:2),” which is in the Iran, Iraq and Kuwait region near the Persian Gulf. Daniel “looked up, and there before me was a [Islamic] Ram with two horns [two countries—Iraq and Iran], standing beside the canal, and the horns were long [two prominent Islamic nations in the Gulf region]. One of the horns [Iran] was longer [geographically bigger/stronger] than the other and grew up later… suddenly a Goat [Western powers] with a prominent horn between his eyes [America] came from the west, crossing the whole earth [a great distance] without touching the ground [with speed]. He came toward the two-horned [Iraq and Iran Islamic] Ram I had seen standing beside the canal and charged at him in great rage. I saw him attack the [Islamic] Ram furiously, striking the Ram and shattering his two horns [Iraq and Iran]. The [Islamic] Ram was powerless to stand against him; the Goat [from the West] knocked him [Islamic Ram] to the ground and trampled on him, and no one could rescue the Ram from his power. The [Western] Goat became very great, but at the height of his power his large horn [America] was broken off, and in its place four prominent horns grew up toward the four winds of heaven [dispersed in all directions of the globe],” (Daniel 8:3-8).
Some people believe the Ram and Goat confrontation of Daniel 8 occurred long before the birth of Jesus, and therefore has nothing at all to do with our modern world. However, Daniel was told in no uncertain terms, “the vision” of war concerns “the appointed time of the end” (Daniel 8:19). These Persian Gulf regional clashes, Iraq’s defeat followed by Iran’s demise, set the stage for a wider Middle East war, the last days and the fulfillment of God’s end-time Calendar.
Gabriel explains the vision of war to the prophet Daniel later in the chapter . He is told the conflict involves Media (modern-day Iraq) and Persia (modern-day Iran), which two horns sit atop the Islamic “Ram”. Iraq is overcome first, followed by Iran. Daniel said, “One of the horns was longer than the other [Iran is larger geographically, and stronger than Iraq] but grew up later [meaning, the Iranian confrontation would follow some time after the Iraqi overthrow],” (8:3).
Centuries ago, Bible translators connected the confronting “Goat” to “Greece”; however, the Hebrew word interpreted as Greece is “Yawan” (“Javan”). Javan was one of the sons of Japheth , and at the writing of Daniel, Javan implied regional powers from the west, rather than a specific nation. Furthermore, Daniel’s vision involves events at the “time of the end,” so it must be applied to modern times. Javan, the Western powers, is said to have a prominent horn—the first king (United States). Prophecy indicates the Goat will defeat the two-horned (Iraq/Iran) Islamic Ram. Nevertheless, the prominent horn (America) will quickly be “broken off,” indicating her loss of world dominance. In its place, four major power bases will emerge—the New World Order. From one of these horns of power (Western European Union) the “little horn”—literally the smallest nation in the world (0.2 square miles)—will gain worldwide supremacy. The “stern-faced king, a master of intrigue” who blasphemes the Holy One of Israel and persecutes the true believers, will emerge from the vestiges of darkness to rule with great authority.
Civilization originated in the Middle East, and the end of civilization as we know it will begin there. Global tensions have been escalating in the last two decades. The U.S.-NATO-Israeli alliance will overthrow Iran, enraging Islam and her allies—the Chinese-Russian-Iranian coalition. Israel and Syria will clash. The Russian Bear will attack with overwhelming force, devastating three countries in Western Europe. Once nuclear armaments are unleashed, mayhem and global holocaust will spiral out of control. America will falter and collapse and this once powerful nation will lose her prodigious superpower status.
Egypt's 40-Year Desolation
Dear Mr. Salus, Greetings in the Name of our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ. In reading some of your articles it is clear you believe Psalm 83 precedes Ezekiel 38. I’m puzzled about some prophecies regarding Egypt in the end time's. Could you please answer the following questions?
Q. Ezekiel 29:12-13 says Egypt is made desolate for 40 years, has this happened in history?
A. I believe Egypt's 40-year desolation period, which corresponds with the 40-years of Egyptian deportation into world nations remains, an unfulfilled prophecy. However, some expositors believe this has already been fulfilled. To argue their point they often refer to the writings of the Jewish Historian Josephus in “Antiquities, Book 10, Chapter 11, Section 1". Book 10 is titled, "From the Captivity of the Ten Tribes to the First of Cyrus" and Chapter 11 is titled, "Concerning Nebuchadnezzar and His Successors, and How Their Government was Dissolved by the Persians; and What Things Befell Daniel in Media; and What Prophecies He Delivered There".
In this section Josephus appears to quote Berosus from "the third book of his Chaldaic History" that a young Nebuchadnezzar was sent by his father to conquer Egypt due to rebellion by the Egyptian governor appointed by Nebuchadnezzar's father. Deportation is spoken of as follows, "...the captive Jews, and Phoenicians, and Syrians, and those of the Egyptian nations, and having committed the conveyance of them to Babylon..." (i)
The Egyptian 40-year captivity could have been fulfilled at this time; however it is hard to find historical or archaeological proof that this past deportation spanned 40-years. Thus Ezekiel 29:12 may still be a pending prophetic event.
I recently emailed the following comments to a friend regarding the 40-year Egyptian deportation. "There is the inference of Egyptian deportation by Josephus but it seems to be for an unspecified time. Some estimated dates of importance in considering the length of the Egyptian deportation are Nebuchadnezzar invaded Egypt in 568 B.C. and Cyrus of Persia, defeated Babylon in 539 b.c. From these dates it is difficult to determine if the 40-year deportation was fulfilled.
Portions of Ezekiel 29-30 seem to find connections with Nebuchadnezzar's time; however Ezekiel 30:3 alludes to the "day of the Lord," which is commonly associated with the Tribulation period. Additionally, Ezekiel 30:5 speaks of more than Egypt being attacked. It alludes to Ethiopia, Libya, Lydia, and Chub. The expanse of Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom seems to not have included all these countries. Therefore, this part of Ezekiel's prophecy seems to connect better with Daniel 11:42-43, which is also often taught to be a Tribulation event.
Thus, we have to consider the possibility that Ezekiel 29-30 contain both near (fulfilled during prophets lifetime) and far (to be fulfilled after the prophets lifetime) prophecies. Some events Ezekiel describes clearly found fulfillment during Nebuchadnezzar’s time (near), whereas others seem to be reserved for future fulfillment.
Isaiah 19:16-18 and Daniel 11:42-43 are far prophecies and could trigger the forty years of Egyptian deportation. If so then forty years could commence after either Psalm 83 or Daniel 11:42-43. In either instance the deportation could carry over somewhat into the Messianic kingdom.
It is hard to imagine how 82 million Egyptians today, minus those slain and those who remain in Egypt after both Psalm 83 and Daniel 11:42-43, could be deported in the future. But, that could be what the Ezekiel 29:12 implies."
Additionally the widely respected eschatologist, Dr. Arnold Fruchtenbaum discusses these topics briefly in his Footsteps of the Messiah. The pertinent pages to study regarding Isaiah 19 and Ezekiel 29 are 497-509. In a nutshell, he states that because of Egypt's longstanding hatred of Israel ... they will suffer desolation similar to that of Edom according to Joel 3:19. This desolation will lead to the 40-years of Egyptian deportation.
However, at the end of the deportation an Egyptian remnant will be regathered and Egypt restored. But, Egypt will be a lowly kingdom throughout the 1000-year Messianic Kingdom. Arnold believes the first 40 years of the Messianic Kingdom could find the land of Egypt in a desolate condition and Egyptians dispersed throughout the world. Thus, he appears to believe the 40-year deportation is still a pending prophetic event and could overlap into the Messianic Kingdom.
I agree with Dr. Fruchtenbaum that the deportation could extend into the Messianic Kingdom, but if the deportation commences after Psalm 83, then I don’t believe there will be a full 40-year overlap. If Israel's victory over Egypt in Psalm 83 begins the 40-year Egyptian deportation process, then I believe much of this 40-year period could elapse before the Messianic Kingdom even commences.
Q. Isaiah 19:23 says there will be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria and the Assyrian shall come into Egypt. When do you believe this finds fulfillment?
A. I believe this finds fulfillment during the 1000-year Messianic Kingdom period.
Q. Isaiah 19:18 says 5 cities in Egypt will speak the language of Canaan. Has this happened in history?
A. The language of Canaan was Hebrew. I believe this remains an unfulfilled prophecy. Contextually, these five cities speak Hebrew after Egypt has a terrorizing encounter with Judah (Israel). I believe this encounter has to do with Egypt's participation in the climactic concluding Arab - Israeli war described in Psalm 83. Egypt is identified in Psalm 83 under the banner of the "Hagarenes." Hagar was the Egyptian matriarch who mothered Ishmael to Abraham.
However, some teach this may have already found fulfillment. Here is what the "New Commentary on the Whole Bible; Old Testament" says - "By Jeremiah’s day, 130 years later (Jer. 44:1), four places are addressed by the prophet as having Hebrew speakers: Migdol and Tahpanes, both in the northeastern delta; Noph (Memphis), located at the base of the delta; and Pathros, upper Egypt. Elephantine Island, at Egypt’s southern border, was inhabited by Jews in the sixth century b.c."
......
(i) Research provided by Danny Isom of Moriel Ministries
Posted by AUTHOR / LECTURER at 10:13 AM
Q. Ezekiel 29:12-13 says Egypt is made desolate for 40 years, has this happened in history?
A. I believe Egypt's 40-year desolation period, which corresponds with the 40-years of Egyptian deportation into world nations remains, an unfulfilled prophecy. However, some expositors believe this has already been fulfilled. To argue their point they often refer to the writings of the Jewish Historian Josephus in “Antiquities, Book 10, Chapter 11, Section 1". Book 10 is titled, "From the Captivity of the Ten Tribes to the First of Cyrus" and Chapter 11 is titled, "Concerning Nebuchadnezzar and His Successors, and How Their Government was Dissolved by the Persians; and What Things Befell Daniel in Media; and What Prophecies He Delivered There".
In this section Josephus appears to quote Berosus from "the third book of his Chaldaic History" that a young Nebuchadnezzar was sent by his father to conquer Egypt due to rebellion by the Egyptian governor appointed by Nebuchadnezzar's father. Deportation is spoken of as follows, "...the captive Jews, and Phoenicians, and Syrians, and those of the Egyptian nations, and having committed the conveyance of them to Babylon..." (i)
The Egyptian 40-year captivity could have been fulfilled at this time; however it is hard to find historical or archaeological proof that this past deportation spanned 40-years. Thus Ezekiel 29:12 may still be a pending prophetic event.
I recently emailed the following comments to a friend regarding the 40-year Egyptian deportation. "There is the inference of Egyptian deportation by Josephus but it seems to be for an unspecified time. Some estimated dates of importance in considering the length of the Egyptian deportation are Nebuchadnezzar invaded Egypt in 568 B.C. and Cyrus of Persia, defeated Babylon in 539 b.c. From these dates it is difficult to determine if the 40-year deportation was fulfilled.
Portions of Ezekiel 29-30 seem to find connections with Nebuchadnezzar's time; however Ezekiel 30:3 alludes to the "day of the Lord," which is commonly associated with the Tribulation period. Additionally, Ezekiel 30:5 speaks of more than Egypt being attacked. It alludes to Ethiopia, Libya, Lydia, and Chub. The expanse of Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom seems to not have included all these countries. Therefore, this part of Ezekiel's prophecy seems to connect better with Daniel 11:42-43, which is also often taught to be a Tribulation event.
Thus, we have to consider the possibility that Ezekiel 29-30 contain both near (fulfilled during prophets lifetime) and far (to be fulfilled after the prophets lifetime) prophecies. Some events Ezekiel describes clearly found fulfillment during Nebuchadnezzar’s time (near), whereas others seem to be reserved for future fulfillment.
Isaiah 19:16-18 and Daniel 11:42-43 are far prophecies and could trigger the forty years of Egyptian deportation. If so then forty years could commence after either Psalm 83 or Daniel 11:42-43. In either instance the deportation could carry over somewhat into the Messianic kingdom.
It is hard to imagine how 82 million Egyptians today, minus those slain and those who remain in Egypt after both Psalm 83 and Daniel 11:42-43, could be deported in the future. But, that could be what the Ezekiel 29:12 implies."
Additionally the widely respected eschatologist, Dr. Arnold Fruchtenbaum discusses these topics briefly in his Footsteps of the Messiah. The pertinent pages to study regarding Isaiah 19 and Ezekiel 29 are 497-509. In a nutshell, he states that because of Egypt's longstanding hatred of Israel ... they will suffer desolation similar to that of Edom according to Joel 3:19. This desolation will lead to the 40-years of Egyptian deportation.
However, at the end of the deportation an Egyptian remnant will be regathered and Egypt restored. But, Egypt will be a lowly kingdom throughout the 1000-year Messianic Kingdom. Arnold believes the first 40 years of the Messianic Kingdom could find the land of Egypt in a desolate condition and Egyptians dispersed throughout the world. Thus, he appears to believe the 40-year deportation is still a pending prophetic event and could overlap into the Messianic Kingdom.
I agree with Dr. Fruchtenbaum that the deportation could extend into the Messianic Kingdom, but if the deportation commences after Psalm 83, then I don’t believe there will be a full 40-year overlap. If Israel's victory over Egypt in Psalm 83 begins the 40-year Egyptian deportation process, then I believe much of this 40-year period could elapse before the Messianic Kingdom even commences.
Q. Isaiah 19:23 says there will be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria and the Assyrian shall come into Egypt. When do you believe this finds fulfillment?
A. I believe this finds fulfillment during the 1000-year Messianic Kingdom period.
Q. Isaiah 19:18 says 5 cities in Egypt will speak the language of Canaan. Has this happened in history?
A. The language of Canaan was Hebrew. I believe this remains an unfulfilled prophecy. Contextually, these five cities speak Hebrew after Egypt has a terrorizing encounter with Judah (Israel). I believe this encounter has to do with Egypt's participation in the climactic concluding Arab - Israeli war described in Psalm 83. Egypt is identified in Psalm 83 under the banner of the "Hagarenes." Hagar was the Egyptian matriarch who mothered Ishmael to Abraham.
However, some teach this may have already found fulfillment. Here is what the "New Commentary on the Whole Bible; Old Testament" says - "By Jeremiah’s day, 130 years later (Jer. 44:1), four places are addressed by the prophet as having Hebrew speakers: Migdol and Tahpanes, both in the northeastern delta; Noph (Memphis), located at the base of the delta; and Pathros, upper Egypt. Elephantine Island, at Egypt’s southern border, was inhabited by Jews in the sixth century b.c."
......
(i) Research provided by Danny Isom of Moriel Ministries
Posted by AUTHOR / LECTURER at 10:13 AM
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