The Creation Gospel Podcast

The Rage and Age of Gog and Magog Let's start with our familiar text: Awake, O north wind, And come, wind of the south; Make my garden breathe out fragrance, Let its spices be wafted abroad. May my beloved come into his garden And eat its choice fruits!” (So 4:16) This call to “Awake, O North” is thought to encompass three distinct calls recorded in 1. Jeremiah 31:7-8 (exiles of Israel), 2. Isaiah 41:25 (Messiah) 3. Gog and Magog (Ezek 38:2) Why are all three being called to "Awake" simultaneously? To awake in Scripture can have a few connotations. The contextual explanation is that there has been a period of inactivity, and the prophetic call is to arouse each group to action. Messiah will begin to gather the exiles who have aroused from a period of spiritual apathy, and simultaneously, Gog and Magog will awaken in that generation to create the chaos and darkness necessary to awaken Israel from spiritual "sleep." Because the gematria of Gog and Magog is 70 [Gimmel-Vav-Gimmel Vav-Mem-Gimmel-Vav-Gimmel, 3+6+3+6+40+3+6+3], they are thought to represent the symbolic 70 nations of the world, which will gather against both 1. Adonai and 2. Israel. Various commentaries make oblique references to Gog and Magog, but it will not be understood fully until the day arrives. Some say it is the descendants of Amalek among the nations. Amalek, from which King Agag arose, is the murderous spirit of Edom, or Rome, the fourth beast, headed by Babylon. In that sense, Gog (chief person) and Magog (his nation, people) has arisen in every generation to provoke the Holy One and people who trust in Him and obey Him. The Scriptures cited below reiterate that Gog and Magog are not a single ruler and nation, but a wicked remnant embedded among all nations. In some generations, they will rise up with enough strength and cunning to marshal huge numbers of the population to join their murderous schemes. The pre-millennial war will bring Israel to repentance, and Adonai Himself will destroy Gog and Magog with confusion, thunder, hail, blood, and lightning (Ezek 38-39). In other words, an amalgam of Egypt and Assyria’s judgments. Psalm Two is traditionally associated with Gog of Magog: Why are the nations in an uproar and the peoples devising a vain thing?The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers take counsel together against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying,“Let us tear their fetters apart and cast away their cords from us!” He who sits in the heavens laughs, the Lord scoffs at them. Then He will speak to them in His anger and terrify them in His fury, saying, “But as for Me, I have installed My King upon Zion, My holy mountain.” (Ps 2:1-6) The commentators note that in this attack of Gog, it revisits an important precedent in Babel: at the tower of Bavel, the united conspirators agreed to attack Heaven itself. As a result, YHVH confused them, and the 70 languages of the nations were born. This is the traditional location of Nebuchadnezzar’s golden statue. Amalek in the Torah portion Balak is referred to "first of the nations," in other words, the first to openly rebel against Heaven itself by attacking Israel in the wilderness; this "first" attack was also the first direct attack against Heaven since the "nation of mankind" attempted to penetrate it rebelliously at the Tower of Bavel. At the final attack of Gog from Magog, the nations will once again undertake to assemble and attack YHVH and Messiah DIRECTLY, thinking the Holy City Jerusalem has a “Patron” who will defend it. They believe this was the wicked Amalekite Haman’s fallacy, attacking the Jews first instead of their God. Something will cause them to believe they have the wherewithal to wage war directly against YHVH and King Messiah. What do Gog and Magog have to do with the third “awakening” of the winds? “Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and he threw him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he would not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed; after these things he must be released for a short time.” (Re 20:1-3) The “satan” is the adversary, or yetzer hara, Evil Inclination, which wars and accuses humankind; it is adversarial to the righteousness of the Spirit. The yetzer hara, identified with satan, is in conflict with the image of Elohim in every person, for He is the Creator, and He made mankind in His image. We are “inclined” toward imaginative creative, thought. What should lean toward tov, good imaginations, the yetzer tov, instead wars against the mind of Elohim with evil imaginations: וַיַּרְא יְהוָה כִּי רַבָּה רָעַת הָאָדָם בָּאָרֶץ וְכָל־יֵצֶר מַחְשְׁבֹת לִבּוֹ רַק רַע כָּל־הַיּוֹם “Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was

This week is a review of our mini-series of Walking on Water as a prophecy of the Greater Exodus. Walking on Water has been a mini-series full of encouragement and hope. It grew from this verse in the Song of Songs: "Awake, O north wind, And come, wind of the south; Make my garden breathe out fragrance, Let its spices be wafted abroad. May my beloved come into his garden And eat its choice fruits!” (4:16) To wrap up our series, let's review some key points. First, the walk through the Reed Sea is connected to the separation and gathering of waters at the Creation in Genesis One as well as the Tree of Life and the River of Life in Revelation. That's quite a swim, so Baruch HaShem we can walk on water! What those Creation and Revelation bookends have in common is fruit trees along the water. This fruit symbolism appears in natural cycles, which reflect fruit cycles in their spiritual cycles. The natural world is merely the parable of the spiritual world, but by studying the creation, we can see the spiritual fruit cycles to which we will be in perfect tune in the millennial kingdom of Yeshua. This is one reason it is so important to study and practice the feasts of Scripture, which are themed around agricultural themes. Israel works the fields to produce natural fruits which are offered as tithes, firstfruits, and offerings. The natural is elevated to the spiritual realm where it is perfected, just as those resurrected from the dead will be planted mortal, yet raised immortal, fully equipped to function in either the natural or spiritual world. The feasts of Adonai loop year after year, offering believers an opportunity to be nourished by His fruit loops. No artificial dyes, added sugar, or whatever else it is that makes Froot Loops bad for you. This is fruit for those entering the Kingdom as little children, needing nourishment for maturity when they emerge from the water: Bahya writes. When they were walking in the sea and their children cried, the mother took an apple or a pomegranate and gave it to the child. There were apple trees and other fruit in the sea. The Holy One made them grow quickly and had fruits in the sea. *Bahya, Exodus, 14:22. [Tze'enah Ure'enah, Beshalach] *The Bahya text is a reference to Midrash Rabbah to Shemot 21§10 (Exodus 14:21-22) The trip over the water-and-earth-bridge of the sea provided a taste of Eden. Not a complete transition to the Garden, but a brief experience, like their everwear clothes and sandals, food, and water. What did the water bridge provide? It lifted their feet from the natural earth, supplying a cushion of purifying water for the swift journey. Things that ascend to the Garden in a physical body must pass through fire or water to purify them for holy use. “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” If we sanctify ourselves on earth, Adonai sanctifies and perfects us in heaven. It is our duty, and it allows the world to be enticed by our odor of holiness instead of despairing that a holy walk is impossible or not even a fruitful one. We die to the sin slavery of the natural body, yet we live according the resurrection spirit of Yeshua. We have available the washing of water by the Word. This might explain Yeshua’s washing of the disciples’ feet...they would experience the supernatural, like Philip’s rapid translation after he witnessed to the Ethiopian. Our immersion in the water of the Word in the Torah cycles and feasts is like walking in Fruit Loops. As the mothers of Israel took fruits from the walls of water in the Reed Sea on the journey, so we enjoy the fruits of the Ruach when we enter the Kingdom as a little child. As we mature, we also bear fruit to give to others who are maturing by the River of Life, for we are a part of the Tree of Life. The crossing of the Reed Sea recalled the Creation, yet according to the Song of the Sea, the nations witnessed Israel's journey as they walked on water. It was dark, the waters split, nations saw the good fruits, and the fragrance wafted abroad. Likewise, Yeshua's return to gather his bride into the clouds of glory will be witnessed by all the earth: "BEHOLD, HE IS COMING WITH THE CLOUDS, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. So it is to be. Amen." (Re 1:7) The pillar of cloud and light moved behind the Israelites, protecting their entrance to the “Garden and giving the Bride the opportunity to invite him after her into the Garden, which is customary. The Bridegroom does not enter the chuppah until invited by the Bride: "May my Beloved come into his garden and eat its choice fruits!" "He who testifies to these things says, 'Yes, I am coming quickly.' Amen. Come, Lord Yeshua." (Re 22:20) As we taste his choice spiritual fruits, so he tastes the choice fruits the Ruach produced in the Bride who cultivates natural fruits of earthly service to offer the Bridegroom. The pattern is this: Water represents spirit (as does fire) The earth is the substance of

The Child in the Sallyport: a Prison Story Please SUBSCRIBE to our newsletter to get new teachings.

I have chickens. They are not my chickens. They belong to the neighbor. He already had chickens in a chicken coop. Now he has ten more chickens. They are not in the chicken coop. They are in my yard. My flowers. Digging holes in the yard and around the foundation of the house. Pooping on the porch. Hanging out. I tried playing red-tail hawk sounds really loud. I tried taking watermelon rinds and veggie scraps over to their property, but they still lurk in the shady spots and follow me around every time I go outside to work. They just stick around. It took me a whole day to lay chicken wire under the flower bed mulch to keep them from destroying my carefully designed and freshly-planted flower beds. We let the neighbor know, but so far, we still have sticken’ chickens. I even told them the story of when Billie Idol went missing, but while they enjoyed story time, they don’t connect Billie’s demise to their current situation. Chickens are like that. When I was four years old, my first pet was a chicken named Slicker. Grandma’s cat Fuchsia ate it. I didn’t connect a cat to Slicker’s current situation. I was telling a good friend about our sticken’ chickens yesterday, and we were chatting about the danger of Moses’ forty days of absence on the mountain. The Israelites and mixed multitude pretty much gave up on his return. In spite of every miracle they’d seen, they couldn’t wait forty full days for the next one. Not only that, they started breaking the Big Ten. An idol. Sexual immorality. You know the story. They’d been delivered from slavery in Egypt; they’d been immersed as a congregation in the Reed Sea; they’d witnessed the glory of Adonai and agreed to His covenant at the mountain…and yet, they had sticken’ chickens from Egypt. They went right back to feeding slavery to sin. “For I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea; and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea...” (1 Co 10:1-2) The tunnel of the Reed Sea was like a birth canal. Immersion has always been a symbol of a resurrection that is more than symbolic. On the Third Day of Creation was a birth of life from the water to fruit trees. On the dawn of the Seventh Day of Passover, the Israelites completed a supernaturally fast, effortless journey through the Reed Sea. Likewise, immersion (mikveh) is undertaken as a rebirth. The pattern is this: • Water represents spirit (as does fire) • The earth is the substance of mankind, adam • When YHVH turns the sea into dry land as a way of escape, that which was spirit became substance/flesh in order to provide a new beginning for Israel/mankind, a resurrection from the sin decay of mere earth to earthly life with the spirit, a promise of wholeness and perfections completed from above • New life follows a mikveh in Messiah, the Great Hand of YHVH. This is the mystical picture of the Reed Sea. When YHVH turned the sea into dry land, he figuratively resurrected the Israelites. When the natural body dies, it returns to the earth. In Messiah Yeshua, the bared arm of YHVH, mankind is resurrected from earth through water. “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin.” (Ro 6:1-7) When we turn back to sin, we’re not quite dead enough. Few who entered the Reed Sea mikveh entered as newborns in physical age; Israelites and the mixed multitude entered in various stages of aging. In that sense, we understand why a mikveh symbolizes rebirth, yet it is available to all ages for their various reasons. Regardless of the age entering it, emerging from the mikveh is a re-set upon emerging. Immersion is a type of resurrection, especially as the water becomes the “dry land” of burial. It is a fresh start for a newborn who has yet to choose sin. Purities of obedience begin in the home... “There are seven dwelling places listed in the Seder Gan Eden, and in each there is a righteous woman who teaches the Torah: Batyah, daughter of Pharaoh, Yocheved, mother of Moses, Miriam, sister of Moses, Huldah the Prophetess, Abigail, David’s wife, and beyond this point, the matriarchs, Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, and Leah.” In one source, those who enter Gan Eden (the Garden of Eden) go through four transformations through their learning experience. Upon e

Water in The Rock, or The Rock in the Water? This newletter is lengthy, so let it serve for two Shabbats. There will be no newsletter next week due to visiting Jacob's Tent services Up to the Mountain. In the last several newsletters, we've taken a close look at the many prophecies embodied in Yeshua's walk on the water of the Galilee in Matthew Fourteen. How different was Yeshua's perception of the walk than Peter and the other disciples'! For the one who was the water in the Rock…and the Rock…in the wilderness for the Israelites, it was no problem to also be the Rock in the water to his students. “He alone spreads out the heavens and treads on the waves of the sea…” (Job 9:8) Sometimes it helps to put the Gospel of Matthew back into its original Hebrew text. While no one is certain of where that text might be (only fragments are known to survive), there is a version whose provenance can only be traced so far back in Jewish history, yet it is quite accurate considering it was used by a less-than-friendly readership. It is the Shem Tov’s Evan Bohan version from the Fourteenth Century. The differences between the Hebrew and Greek texts are not drastic. To Yeshua, the stroll on the Galilee during the storm was perceived much differently than his students, who perceived it as dangerous, chaotic, and "contrary." In the Hebrew Matthew version, the word for contrary is neged, or opposing, opposite. Neged has a good side, too, for Adam’s wife Chavah was his ezer kenegdo, or “helper opposite him,” which brings balance. When opposition is a helper, it is because in spite of the opposition, the overall purpose is to achieve unity walking in the Word. The opposite helper pulls the weight of the yoke beside the other, ensuring the burden does not get dragged in endless circles, but can go straight. For example, grace and truth are not opposed to one another. One cannot be practiced at the expense of the other. In Yeshua, they work together. Sarah wasn’t such a good helper when she suggested Hagar as a solution to their problem, but she was a good helper when she advised Abraham to send away Ishmael, who had not internalized the righteousness of his father and threatened the inheritance of Isaac. The disciples did not see the waves of the storm as their ezer kenegdo, or helping opposition, but as a destructive force. They were just rowing in circles in the middle of the Galilee, taking on water. Galilee does indeed imply circles in Hebrew, like a roll or spool, and a wave is a gal, pronounced gahl (not to be confused with other gals). This is perhaps what it has in common with the “circle of the earth,” and why from Isaiah’s prophecy, Galilee came to be called “Galilee of the Nations.” In Jewish tradition, Moses hid the Rock that followed them in the wilderness in the bottom of the Galilee before he died, which explains why Yeshua would have made his early home near the Galilee and begun his ministry there. The Rock was both the water in the Rock, the Rock, and the Rock in the water. It also explains how Yeshua’s ministry prepared the way for the nations to hear the Gospel message from his disciples: “But there will be no more gloom for her who was in anguish; in earlier times He treated the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali with contempt, but later on He shall make it glorious, by the way of the sea, on the other side of Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles. The people who walk in darkness will see a great light; those who live in a dark land, the light will shine on them.” (Is 9:1-2) As the region of the Galilee represented the Gentile nations in the time from Isaiah to Yeshua’s ministry, so the disciples were dispersed to proclaim the Light of the Word Yeshua to the scattered of Israel as well as the Gentiles who dwelled among the raging waves of tormenting wickedness. Even as we are rescued, we are tested of the Ruach HaKodesh, the Holy Spirit, who also is described as a “Helper.” An ezer kenegdo may seem contrary, yet it is a necessary instrument of contention from the Father before we officially enter into “the bond of the covenant” with Him. While we said “We will do and we will hear” at many Shavuot feasts in our wilderness of the peoples, a final reckoning under the Shepherd’s rod will occur at a future Feast of Trumpets (Rosh HaShanah) so that the bond may be sealed at Yom HaKippurim before we enter into the chuppah of Sukkot with Yeshua: “I will bring you out from the peoples and gather you from the lands where you are scattered, with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm and with wrath poured out; and I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there I will enter into judgment with you face to face. As I entered into judgment with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so I will enter into judgment with you,” declares the Lord GOD. “I will make you pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant; and I will purge from you the rebels and those who trans

Is it something in the water? "Count time! On your feet!" When I worked at the federal prison, there was a particular officer with a funny voice, kind of like the drill sergeants at boot camp. It could penetrate cinder block walls, mainly because it had to. The best I can describe it is 50% drill sergeant, 35% smoker's throat, and 15% helium. When it was time for a "standing count," inmates were required to stand up for the count. It made it easier for the officer to obtain an accurate count, and more importantly, the officer was sure the prisoner 1) was still alive and well, and 2) really there; it wasn't just a lump of pillows under a blanket When I worked with this officer, he called out in that boot camp voice, "Count time! On your feet!" You couldn't not hear it. He said more colorful things than "Count time!" when inmates or staff caused him problems, but those are best not repeated. We are quickly approaching Shavuot, the end of "Count time! On your feet!" The harvest time between Pesach and Shavuot is extremely busy agriculturally, but it only get BUSIER between Shavuot and the fall feasts of ingathering. If we're struggling to stand, much less walk right now, we might need a fainting couch when the relentless summer heat hits. Yeshua told the following parable: "Other seed fell on rocky soil, and as soon as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture. Other seed fell among the thorns; and the thorns grew up with it and choked it out. Other seed fell into the good soil, and grew up, and produced a crop a hundred times as great.”...“Now the parable is this: the seed is the word of God... Those on the rocky soil are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no firm root; they believe for a while, and in time of temptation fall away. The seed which fell among the thorns, these are the ones who have heard, and as they go on their way they are choked with worries and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to maturity. But the seed in the good soil, these are the ones who have heard the word in an honest and good heart, and hold it fast, and bear fruit with perseverance." (Lk 8:7-15) The "fresh" Word does wonders in our lives. It makes for a fun Passover when we've renewed the joy of our salvation each year. A week or two into the count, though, the seed of the Word is in mortal danger. Seed is the promise of life, yet when the soil isn't prepared, protected, nurtured, and watered, the fruit that could have matured in that field dies in the early stages. As the omer count goes on, it's harder to stand and be counted. A temptation comes, perhaps a "stones-to-bread" twisting shortcut of what the Word actually means, or the consequences of throwing one's self off a height of risky behavior, hoping an angel will catch us, or even a brush with idolatry: greed, rebellion, sexual immorality, etc. Others will be choked by worries, busy-ness thorns that choke off the nourishment times of studying the Word needed to put down deep roots and to choke out the thorns instead. But the Lord answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.” (Lk 10:41-42) Our busy days will be weighed in the balances of the Kingdom when we enter, and imagine how much of it will be taken away as we cross the threshhold to the Garden. And imagine what will not be taken away. Any time invested in the Word of the Father will remain, and in that Kingdom, it will continue to bear eternal fruit, especially if we've grown and pulled that fruit from the bitter waters of a test. There's something in the water during count time. What is it? While walking through, under, on, and between water of the Reed Sea might feel miraculous and spectacular, the omer count time is also a time when the Father begins to test His Word in us. It will not feel so miraculous or spectacular. This will bring back the bitter Egyptian taste of mistrust. The Egyptian masters coerced and abused their slaves*, and life only became worse, not better. Is YHVH the same kind of master? Is he an abusive father like Pharaoh, demanding everything, yet slow to deliver what was owed or not delivering at all? Our "childhood" walk to Shavuot will be characterized by a major test or two because "...as long as the heir is a child, he does not differ at all from a slave although he is owner of everything...(Ga 4:1) Israel was the heir to the Promised Land, the Kingdom, yet they were being treated like slaves, forced to rely upon the Father at every stop along the way to Sinai, starting with the encounter with the bitter water. Remember as kids when we hated boring, long rides in the back seat (because we didn't have "devices" for distraction back then!), doing chores, making our beds, or having to spend time at a family occasion when we could have been out playing with our friends? Chi

The Underwater Army of Abaddon Walking on Water Part 4 In Walking on Water Part Three, we looked in depth at the Gospel of Matthew 14:22-33 account of Yeshua and Peter walking on water. Peter lost faith when he saw the wind, and he had to call on Yeshua. When it looks like the angels of the four winds, or princes and principalities, or spiritual darkness in high places (and low ones!) are bringing destruction, our confidence is in the right arm and saving hand of YHVH, Yeshua. For Peter, the last watch of the night, the time of immindent destruction, was too close for comfort. He knew that the "dry land" he walked on could turn to stones of destruction at any second. Yeshua said to Peter, "Come!" In Hebrew, he said, "Bo!" [בֹא]That should sound familiar from our Reed Sea salvation as well: The sons of Israel went through the midst of the sea on the dry land, וַיָּבֹאוּ בְנֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּתוֹךְ הַיָּם בַּיַּבָּשָׁה The verb? Yavo-u! The collective congregation in plural form of Bo. Peter knew YHVH walking on water had happened in the past...if Yeshua was who he said he was, the son of YHVH, then wouldn't he want the disciples to Bo! now in their present time of trouble as well? If it was Yeshua, then it wasn’t a “ghost,” a spirit assigned to the East Wind, but Salvation guiding the East Wind. This is an example to us that neither should we be distracted by the tempestuous spiritual forces being used to shepherd us into safe haven. In this newsletter, we need to review the dark spiritual forces of "Egypt" that were bound at the Abyss of the Reed Sea and how they play a role in the prophecies of Revelation. It's a necessary layer of understanding to help us take the next step with Yeshua, the dry land, the resurrection, and the mystery of its mikveh. It also is an encouragement that even as we walk on the water with Yeshua when he says "Bo!", he is marshaling the King of Abaddon and "Egypt" to take vengeance on the very adversaries who pursued us. He is surrounding us with a protective, pure tunnel of salvation. Please review the Chariots of the Abyss this week, and we will progress to the mystery of immersion in Messiah next week. Since each of these lessons of the mini-series builds on the previous one, it is recommended to print and review in order if possible. Also, if you want to review a related video, Chariots of Abaddon it is free to view on YouTube. Please SUBSCRIBE to our newsletter to get new teachings.

When You Walk on Water, Remember This Part Three In Walking on Water Part Two, we looked in depth at the Gospel of Matthew 14:22-33 account of Yeshua walking on water. The "fourth watch of the night" was our key phrase, helping us to understand the elation, terror, and sinking feeling Peter might have had as he processed: a) Sababa! Yes! I can walk on water like it's dry land! It's like the Exodus! b) Oy vey! It's the last watch of the night, and the wind will allow the waters to return to normal at daybreak! I could be killed like Pharaoh's army! Yeshua, however, had authority over the wind frightening Peter with its ability to destroy armies and pound them into the abyss of a watery grave. Yeshua’s authority over the angels of the four winds and all other principalities and powers is a second key to understanding why Peter might have had that sinking feeling that his solid footing in the water might collapse. One example is the destruction of Sodom and three other cities of the valley at sunrise. Oddly, the text describes Lot and his daughters as arriving in Zoar when the sun came up, yet, this is when the angel took them by the hand to depart Sodom! How could they be in two places almost simultaneously? It was humanly impossible to escape to Zoar that fast unless there was a supernatural quality to the angel's "hand" that saved them. Likewise, Yeshua took Peter's hand when Peter cried out, "Lord, save me!" Yeshua walked him to the boat, and John adds a detail: “So they were willing to receive Him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going” even though the text states they were three or four miles along the water. (Jn 6:21) This, too, would be impossible if Yeshua's hand of salvation weren't supernaturally fast transportation. A boat is a symbol in Scripture not only of international commerce, but of how nations and continents are connected and interconnected. The fact that walking on water occurs on the Galilee is also symbolic. Galilee came to be known as "Galilee of the Nations" not only because of the diverse people groups that lived there during epochs of history, but because of Isaiah's prophecy: But there will be no more gloom for her who was in anguish; in earlier times He treated the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali with contempt, but later on He shall make it glorious, by the way of the sea, on the other side of Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles. The people who walk in darkness will see a great light; those who live in a dark land, the light will shine on them. (Is 9:1-2) While Peter made the connection between the Exodus past and a prophesied Exodus of the future, the Book of Acts suggests he didn't completely internalize the commission to the Gentiles until much later. Perhaps he assumed that Isaiah's prophecy was intended only for the lost Israelites among the nations who were to be restored by Messiah. Indeed, the deportation of many Israelites and Jews occurred from that very area, yet the Greater Exodus will also draw many from every nation, tribe, and tongue just as it did in the first Exodus. All those who call on the Name of YHVH will be saved then as Peter demonstrated. In Part One, we parsed the Hebrew text of Exodus 14:21 to see that the English translations of how the water was swept back all night didn't do justice to the text: “Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD swept the sea back…” But let’s read the literal words: “And stretched Moshe his hand over the sea and will walk YHVH the sea…” For modern English grammar purposes, let’s read: “and YHVH will walk the sea.” It explained why Yeshua, the arm of YHVH, walked on water and why Peter believed it might be Yeshua instead of a "ghost"...and why he, too, might walk on water: The sons of Israel went through the midst of the sea on the dry land, וַיָּבֹאוּ בְנֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּתוֹךְ הַיָּם בַּיַּבָּשָׁה In Part One, we consulted the Creation text of Genesis One to see that the parting of the sea was not only into two walls as artistry usually depicts, but it was like walking through a water tunnel. Water above, on either side, and below. And if below, why did Peter consider water walkable, or "dry land"? Again, the Hebrew text explains: Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD swept the sea back by a strong east wind all night and turned the sea into dry land, so the waters were divided. וַיָּשֶׂם אֶת־הַיָּם לֶחָרָבָה וַיִּבָּקְעוּ הַמָּיִם "And made the sea to dry land and split the water" Incredibly, supernaturally, the Salvation of YHVH split the water and made the sea dry land. Made the sea dry land. Made the sea dry land. You'll remember that some day if you are among the generation alive at the time of the resurrection. He will make the water into dry land and split the water, just as John prophesies that he will "split the sky": "The sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island were moved out of their

Sink or Walk on Water? Part Two In Walking on Water Part One, we looked at the following account of Yeshua walking on water: But the boat was already a long distance from the land, battered by the waves; for the wind was contrary. And in the fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking on the sea. When the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.” Peter said to Him, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.” And He said, “Come!” And Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But seeing the wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” Immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him, and said to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” When they got into the boat, the wind stopped. And those who were in the boat worshiped Him, saying, “You are certainly God’s Son!” (Mt 14:24-33) Last week, we found one answer as to why Yeshua walked on water. We’ll look at some other answers next week, but our second question was, “Why was Peter afraid of the wind?” Hadn’t the wind been blowing just as fearfully up until then? He didn't think about that before he crawled out of the boat? Knowing what Peter knew about the dangerous time of the morning watch, the last watch of the night, we can venture an educated guess. To know what Peter knew, we refer to the Torah: “When morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, ‘Up, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away in the punishment of the city. But he hesitated. So the men seized his hand and the hand of his wife and the hands of his two daughters, for the compassion of the LORD was upon him; and they brought him out, and put him outside the city.’” (Ge 19:15-16) The sun had risen over the earth when Lot came to Zoar. Then the LORD rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven, and He overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. But his wife, from behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt. Now Abraham arose early in the morning and went to the place where he had stood before the LORD; and he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the valley, and he saw, and behold, the smoke of the land ascended like the smoke of a furnace. (Ge 19:24-28) Yeshua came to rescue the disciples from the windstorm in the last watch of the night [in Roman calculation, the fourth watch; in Hebrew calculation, the third watch]. From the texts above, we can see that the last watch of the night before the dawn is a dangerous time. Especially back then, who could know the precise moment when the sun would break the horizon, ending the last watch and beginning the timeframe of morning? When the morning dawned, destruction could begin, rescue could end, or righteousness could view the destruction from afar, or “the place where he stood before the LORD.” In this account of Genesis Nineteen, Peter could see the traditional explanation of the destination of three groups of people: the righteous (Abraham), the lukewarm (Lot and his wife and daughters), and the wicked (the cities of Sodom). Yeshua reminds the Laodiceans in Revelation of the danger of remaining in the category of the lukewarm, who ultimately cannot stand in the same place as the righteous in the Kingdom. It doesn’t mean they are not rescued, but it does mean they are not in good “standing” relative to the righteous. At the crossing of the Reed Sea, Peter has this reference for destruction following the last watch of the night: So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its normal state at daybreak, while the Egyptians were fleeing right into it; then the LORD overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. The waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen (Ex 14:27-28) The last watch is a time of uncertainty. No one knows exactly when the day will break. Peter knows the east wind that divided and congealed the water will cease blowing and the water will return to its liquid state at daybreak. Perhaps in that moment he believes he, too, is “appointed to wrath” with the destruction of Israel’s enemies by the one coming from Edom with vengeance. The disciples acknowledge Yeshua as the “Son of God” when he saves Peter. It was a teaching moment for Yeshua to remind the disciples that not only did they believe in him as Messiah, they followed him completely. They were not appointed to a place of wrath, but to obtain a final salvation like their father Avraham, who stood in a righteous place of faith. What they'd just experienced was simply a little test, a tribulation. Yeshua asks, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” “...and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He rai

Walking on Water More specifically, Chag HaMatzah, or the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Before I explain that, let's begin with a not-rhetorical two-part question: Why did Yeshua walk on water? Why did the wind scare Peter? Last week's newsletter established the underpinnings of the WOW season (Walking on Water). Review: •The last watch of the night is a last opportunity to flee false security. It is the last opportunity to flee the people whose wicked agenda vexes the righteous Holy Spirit within. If one waits until the morning's dawn to flee, he flees with nothing. Only the deeds of the righteous can follow them into the eternal Kingdom of Messiah, for those are the only eternally true and fit deeds. •The overturn of the cities of Sodom likely took place at Passover, for Lot baked unleavened bread for the angel of wrath. The Wrath of the Lamb struck the cities of Sodom right at dawn, when Lot and his daughters reached safety and the last watch of the night becomes the past. Likewise, at dawn, after the strong East Wind completed its work of arranging the waters, the Israelites traveled through the waters to reach safety. The Israelites still had the flesh of the Passover lamb, bitter herbs, and matzah in their bellies. Having obeyed YHVH's instructions, they were protected from the Wrath of the Lamb on Egypt and Pharaoh. All they had to do was Walk on Water, to escape to freedom. WOW! So back to our question: why did Yeshua walk on water? The Hebrew text of Exodus 14:21 gives the plainest of answers: וַיֵּט מֹשֶׁה אֶת־יָדוֹ עַל־הַיָּם וַיּוֹלֶךְ יְהוָה אֶת־הַיָּם בְּרוּחַ קָדִים עַזָּה כָּל־הַלַּיְלָה וַיָּשֶׂם אֶת־הַיָּם לֶחָרָבָה וַיִּבָּקְעוּ הַמָּיִם •"Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD swept the sea back by a strong east wind all night and turned the sea into dry land, so the waters were divided." The text reminds us of the First Mention of the waters’ division. Genesis 1:6-12 describe the first two occasions of the divided waters. First, the upper and lower waters were divided on the Second Day of Creation. Next, the waters were gathered into “one place,” and the dry land appeared, which then bore fruit trees (more on that next time!). The Hebrew explains the waters below the heavens gathered to “a unified, one place.” The ordinal number one in Hebrew is achat, but echad suggests unity, solidarity: אֶל־מָקוֹם אֶחָד. So think of the pattern: first, upper and lower waters were separated, the water unified, dry land appeared, and then: •"The sons of Israel went through the midst of the sea on the dry land, and the waters were like a wall to them on their right hand and on their left." (Ex 14:22) If we read Exodus according to the Creation pattern, we see more than just the walls of water to the right and left. First, upper and lower waters separated, lower waters unified, dry land appeared, AND then the waters to right and left congealed to some degree of solid matter and became like walls. There was something about the water under the Israelites’ feet that had the appearance and substance of dry land…even though it was water! Just as the clouds above, below, to the right and left accompanied them on the wilderness journey…so the waters of the Reed Sea formed a protective type of tunnel for the Israelites. Does this seem too fantastic? Let’s check the Hebrew text of Exodus 14:21 to see if perhaps Yeshua’s WOW bears out the Jewish way of reading the crossing of the Reed Sea. If you don’t read Hebrew, then you can verify the following by using your concordance. וַיֵּט מֹשֶׁה אֶת־יָדוֹ עַל־הַיָּם וַיּוֹלֶךְ יְהוָה אֶת־הַיָּם The English translation says this: “Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD swept the sea back…” But let’s read the literal words: “And stretched Moshe his hand over the sea and will walk YHVH the sea…” For modern English grammar purposes, let’s read: “and YHVH will walk the sea.” Walking on water, echad! “Shma, Yisrael, YHVH Eloheinu, YHVH Echad!” Now we understand why Peter thought he could walk on water with Yeshua. The Beshalach commentary on the crossing of the Reed Sea says, “Ten miracles occurred at the sea. First, that it split. Second is that it was made like a dome or a roof and Israel walked under the water. The water was under, on the sides of and over Israel. Third, it was dry under them, so that Israel should not smear their feet with mud…That is why the water was under them, like a bridge, so that they could easily walk on it.” (Tze'enah Ure'enah, Beshalach) Peter has heard of these miracles. He wonders, are they true? Is Yeshua really the visible form of YHVH? Twice per day Israel is commanded to recite the Shema, the declaration of the unity (echad) of YHVH: Shema, Yisrael, YHVH Eloheinu, YHVH Echad. The latest that one may recite the evening Shema is the last night watch, just before dawn; therefore, the sages encouraged everyone to say the Shema at the latest before midnight to ensure that nothing would hinder the proclama

The Geography of Wrath Part Two Before the LORD Destroyed Sodom Last week, we looked at The Geography of Wrath, a preface to this lesson on the danger of the last watch of the night. “Lot lifted up his eyes and saw all the valley of the Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere—this was before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah—like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt as you go to Zoar.” (Ge 13:10) When Lot “lifted up his eyes,” he saw prophetically. Before their destruction, the five cities of the valley enjoyed an Edenic-like climate and prosperity, yet the prophetic phrase “lifted up his eyes” predicts a restoration of that area, which sits in the Arava. Revelation predicts a great miracles of the two witnesses, which helps us to understand "Sodom and Egypt": "And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which mystically is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified." (Re 11:8) What Sodom and Egypt have in common is that those who were saved and set on a path of righteousness (Lot and the Israelites in the wilderness) looked back at what at enslaved them as more to be desired than the Garden of Eden, the authentic Promised Land, that lay before them if they would walk in their salvation. When the bodies of the two witnesses are caught up from Jerusalem, it is a witness to be understood as a last warning to believers who, in those last days, continue to cling to the cargoes of Babylon, who persist in begging to go "by way of Zoar to Egypt" instead of repenting and returning to the righteous walk of salvation epitomized by Avraham. The night is far spent by then. The commercial success of the five cities lured Lot in. The deception was that its fruitfulness “like the Garden” was to be desired over the fruitfulness of the stars promised to Avraham. Lot’s wife preferred the deception of luxury with wickedness over the promise of good gifts from above.The Midrash concerning Sodom details how travelers were lured in, then maimed or killed and their goods confiscated. “When morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, ‘Up, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away in the punishment of the city.’” (Ge 19:15) The sun had risen over the earth when Lot came to Zoar. Then the LORD rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven, and He overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. But his wife, from behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt. Now Abraham arose early in the morning and went to the place where he had stood before the LORD; and he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the valley, and he saw, and behold, the smoke of the land ascended like the smoke of a furnace. (Ge 19:24-28) Before Adonai destroyed Sodom, he sent warning of the wrath to come. Lot was aware of the blessings promised to Avraham, but he was also aware of the righteous life required for such eternal blessings. Lot chose precarious salvation over a life of obedience and teaching his children after him: “For I have chosen him, so that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice, so that the LORD may bring upon Abraham what He has spoken about him.” (Ge 18:19) Lot was troubled by the wickedness of Sodom, but not enough to forfeit living in it: “and if He rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men…” (2 Pe 2:7) It took the wrath of Adonai to remove him, not to abundant life, but bare salvation. “Insignificance” is the meaning of the small city Zoar in which Lot requested to live, and so was his contribution to the Kingdom of Adonai compared to Avraham. Avraham viewed the valley of Sodom and saw the smoke of the cities ascending like the smoke of a furnace. Sodom's is the fate of those who choose an easier life in the midst of wickedness, which they desire more than single-minded righteousness. They do not have the sense to even be aware of righteousness walking among them that might delay the wrath of Adonai upon them. Just as the wicked among the Israelites in the wilderness believed Moses had taken them FROM a land flowing with milk and honey to a place of wrath, so the wicked repeatedly get it wrong. Just because the comforts and luxuries of Egypt and Sodom are “like” the Garden of Eden doesn’t mean it IS Eden. “Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had arrogance, abundant food and careless ease, but she did not help the poor and needy.” (Ezek 16:49) Likewise, the Israelites in the wilderness were given free food every morning, clothes and shoes never needed mending, and there was little to do but learn Torah. Nevertheless, many craved the foods and relative ease of farming life in Egypt (Dt 11:10) in spite of the horrors of its slavery. Perhaps this is why Zoar is described as "on

The Geography of Wrath The grapes of wrath are perhaps one of the most terrifying passages in Scripture: Who is this who comes from Edom, ​​With dyed garments from Botzrah, ​​This One who is glorious in His apparel, ​​Traveling in the greatness of His strength?— ​“I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save.” ​Why is Your apparel red, ​​And Your garments like one who treads in the winepress? ​“I have trodden the winepress alone, ​​And from the peoples no one was with Me. ​​For I have trodden them in My anger, ​​And trampled them in My fury; ​​Their blood is sprinkled upon My garments, ​​And I have stained all My robes. For the day of vengeance is in My heart, ​​And the year of My redeemed has come." (Is 63:1-4) Why would Yeshua come from Edom and Botzrah? Out of many reasons (because of Edom’s modern identity), one Torah prophecy-template is that it retraces part of the route of the exodus from Egypt and the southern journeys to the Promised Land. Yeshua went to the wilderness to be tested in his first coming, and he overcame in forty days of testing what the Israelites took forty years to do. The difference in the Greater Exodus is that the slaves in exile will come from many nations, not just Egypt. It is the geography of Edom that ties it all together, for it is an ancient commercial intersection of the world. In the Shabbat livestream, we'll look at maps to help decipher the prophecy, but we'll do the best we can here in the newsletter with words. Edom and Israel present in conflict in the geography of the South. The region is separated by the north/south running Great Rift Valley in which two great tectonic plate continually rub against one another and move the earth. In his appearance on the Mount of Olives, Yeshua's feet cause a great earthquake right along this valley from Jerusalem all the way to the Red Sea in the South. In times of Israel’s spiritual awakening, Israel/Judah controlled the South from Tamar (Ovot/Oboth) all the way to Etzion-Geber (Eilat). It is a vital trade route between East and West, North and South, from ancient times. In times of Judah's apostasy, Edom controlled it, often in trade treaties with powers such as (first) Egypt, then Assyria, Babylon, Greece, and Rome. Their relatives are the mighty merchants the Nabateans, who controlled trade over the land of the South much as the Phoenicians controlled maritime trade. Esau/Edom was a “man of the field,” controlled by the nefesh, or soul, the beast nature. The most cunning beast of the field is the serpent (land) or his counterpart in the water, the crocodile. These two, the serpent and beast, are in league in the Revelation, and will be judged together, the authority of the serpent wielded by the beast. For a review of these principles, see “A Concise History of the Beast” on YouTube, Workbook Four: The Scarlet Harlot and the Crimson Thread, and Workbook Two: The Seven Abominations of the Wicked Lamp. When Yeshua comes from Edom, the perfect man has subdued both the scarlet beast and his source authority, the serpent. His march is a way of “splitting the sea” in the sight of all nations to make a way of salvation for his exiles and the nations: "When I have brought them again from the people, and gathered them out of their enemies' lands, and am sanctified in them in the sight of many nations…"(Ezek 39:27) The Jewish sages parse the verses of the Exodus that describe the splitting of the waters of the Reed Sea to imply that the waters of every nation were split at exactly the same time so that the miracle could be viewed by all nations (another lesson!). From even before the time of the Exodus, Egypt the serpent and Edom the beast collaborated in harvesting copper [nechoshet] from the South. The Hebrew word for serpent is nachash, sharing a root with copper, which is plentiful in the South. The copper serpent in the wilderness reminded the Israelites of the real disease from which they needed healing: soul sickness. If you've seen pictures of the Arava in the South, you've noticed how similar the red rock is at Timna to Petra (Sela). The South, or Arava, is where “The King’s Highway,” the Spice Route, and other travel routes intersected. Over the centuries they connected the Far East with the ports of the Great Sea (Mediterranean) and Egypt in the West, Assyria and Babylon in the North, and the Arabian kingdoms of the South. In other words, they were coveted, conquered, and controlled in turn by: Egypt the Crocodile Serpent Assyria, who is not counted as a "beast" kingdom because it never conquered Jerusalem, was assimilated into the provinces of the first beast kingdom Babylon the Lion Medo-Persia the Bear Greece the Leopard Rome the Conglomerate Monster spread over the earth. Recently, the American president expressed a desire to open an overland route from the Red Sea through Israel to the Mediterranean for trade. It was used thus when Egypt began overcharging to use the Suez a few years ago and before the Houthis choked o

Gambling on A Day Like Purim THE GAMBLER The threat of adultery appears repeatedly in the story of redemption. Sarah and Rivkah were put at risk with Pharaoh and Avimelech. By legal custom, Tamar was to have married Judah's youngest son, but Judah had delayed the marriage, so it was thought that Tamar had committed adultery when she began to show her pregnancy. Rahab was thought to be a harlot. However, each of these women proved themselves righteous, courageous, and faithful in affirming the promise of a Land, a Covenant, and a People in Israel. Although subtler, the question of fidelity is also present in the Scroll of Esther. Esther has requested that the Jews fast and pray for three days. On the third day, associated with resurrection, she approaches the King. Perhaps she knew when she resigned herself, "If I perish, I perish," that although the risk required her voluntary surrender to that possible death, it could also become a resurrection day in a number of ways. On this third day, Queen Esther requests that the King and Haman attend a wine banquet. The wine banquets hold two mysteries. First, wine is associated with the Feast of Sukkot, which is a time to bring the first fruits from the wine vat. Esther is positioning herself to negotiate salvation not simply for the Jews, but prophetically for the first fruits from among the nations where the Jews have been scattered. In the winepress of the King's wrath, Esther becomes a waving lulav of hadassah branches at Sukkot, waving for the four corners of the Earth where Israel is scattered. The second mystery is found in the Hebrew grammar of Esther's invitation. In Esther 5:4, she requests, "If it please the King, let the King and Haman come today to the banquet that I have prepared for him." There is the problem. The subject is plural, "the King and Haman," yet the pronoun is singular, "him." She should have said, "a banquet I have prepared for them." This plants a seed of doubt in the King's mind. Is she preparing the banquet for him or Haman?[1] The King and Haman attend the third-day wine banquet, but Esther still conceals her motive for inviting them...or is it him? Instead of giving a direct answer, Esther requests that they attend another wine banquet the following day, the fourth day. In Revelation, the message to the fourth assembly, Thyatira, marks the transition with the fourth day from "tribulation" to "great tribulation." The King knows Esther is troubled, nevertheless he is even more troubled by nightfall. He can't sleep! What is he thinking about? Perhaps the relationship between his Queen and his second-in-command, Haman. Why would a woman kept in seclusion with her maids and eunuchs request only Haman's presence along with the King’s? How did she know Haman? The King had been the subject of assassination plots before, so what was Haman up to? Not coincidentally, this tribulation of mind keeps the King awake that fourth night, which had already begun at sundown that evening.[2] The text reads more literally than usually is translated in English. It would be better translated as, "The sleep of the King was shaken." He calls for the record books to be read. At this point, the King hears about Mordechai's intervention on his behalf when two of his high officers plotted to kill him. At last, a loyal subject, this Jew Mordechai. And wasn't Esther his Queen the one who'd actually informed him of the plot? No wonder the King was troubled. At this opportune moment, Haman enters to request permission to hang Mordechai in advance of the decreed destruction upon the Jews. Speak of the devil! The King tests Haman with a question, but Haman's pride prevents him from grasping the questions hidden within the question, which might be, "Haman, what are you up to? Are you trying to steal my kingdom and my queen? Second-in-command and my ring aren't enough for you?" The King asks Haman what should be done with a man the King desires to honor. Haman gives the worst possible answer, at least in terms of his personal safety. He suggests adorning the man with things the King has worn or used: a crown, a robe, and a horse. From the King's troubled perspective, this is virtual confirmation of his suspicions. Haman wants his throne. King Achashverosh orders Haman to do those very things for Mordechai, whom Haman has come to request permission to kill. In fact, Haman had constructed an etz on the third day on which to hang Mordechai. The same Hebrew word for tree, etz, is used for “gallows.” The resurrection Spirit of Etzah, the Third Spirit of Adonai, is pushing something hidden to the surface, and the fourth day has indeed become a turning point for the king, Esther, Haman, Mordechai, the Jews, and the 127 provinces. At the second wine banquet, the King persists in asking Queen Esther what her hidden problem is. To his horror, he finds out that Haman indeed wants to take what is his, his beloved Queen of all the provinces, the unifying symbol of his kingdom. It is

Jackals and Ostriches You’ve jumped into the last of a series that began with The Gift Horse, Watch the Smoke, Wetter than Water, The Treehouse: Sketches of the Millennial Kingdom and Hamas: The Violence of the Mind. Click on the links to start at the beginning. “Behold, I will do something new, now it will spring forth; will you not be aware of it? I will even make a roadway [derek] in the wilderness [midbar], rivers in the desert. The beasts of the field will glorify Me, the jackals and the ostriches, because I have given waters in the wilderness [midbar] and rivers in the desert, to give drink to My chosen people.” (Is 43:19–20) Please SUBSCRIBE to our newsletter to get new teachings.

Hamas: The Violent Mind If this is your first newsletter, you’ve jumped into the last of a four-part series that began with The Gift Horse, Watch the Smoke, and Wetter than Water, and The Treehouse: Sketches of the Millennial Kingdom. Click on the links to start at the beginning. Nard and saffron, cane and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense, myrrh, and aloes, with all the chief spices. A garden spring, a well of living waters, streaming from Lebanon. (So 4:14-15) In this mini-series about the relationship between the Bride and Bridegroom in the Song of Songs, we’ve viewed an amazing level of prophecy of the millennium in the Song. In the journey, we’ve seen how Scripture projects the reality of the millennium: there are people who have prepared, and people who haven’t. Last week we took a boat ride from the South up the River of Life with the “fish” from the nations. Although there are those among these nations who survived the tribulation that precedes the millennium, they weren’t completely prepared to serve the Kingdom of Heaven. They yet needed instruction on how to approach The Holy One and survive the entry into His gates in Jerusalem. Although Zechariah prophesies that they will, it is Ezekiel and John (in Revelation) who tell us how they prepare to stand before a Presence that can kill flesh-and-blood who appear in presumption before Him. It is not as though The Holy One wants to destroy flesh-and-blood that He created to fellowship with Him. It is simply the reality of who He is relative to what He created. To stand in His Presence, He uses a variety of “space suits” so that we can draw close without harm from the intense glory. In a sense, it comes down to glory, which is beautiful. When we acquire His glory through obedience, putting on the “space suit” that allows us to occupy that space near Him, it will only protect us insofar as we acknowledge that He is the Creator and bestower, the instructor and source of that glory. When human beings use the glory of Elohim to draw attention to themselves, diverting praise to themselves or twisting/omitting the instructions, then as a mere creation stealing the praise of Elohim, they can die. That’s just a rule of the universe, like earth’s gravity. Nothing personal. Because the Father created us for fellowship with Him and longs for fellowship with us, then imagine how angry He is when those gifted with His Word in this world fail to teach others how to put on that space suit. Whether just a basic resurrection to eternal life or resurrection as a royal priest, Bride, and pillar in His Presence in the Temple, the Father wants to bring as many as possible as close as possible to His Presence. Last week we took a close look at the prophecy of Song of Song 4:13, and this week, we progress to the next verse which is similar: · Nard and saffron, cane and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense, myrrh, and aloes [some, balsam oil], with all the chief spices. A garden spring, a well of living waters, streaming from Lebanon. (So 4:14-15) These verses pair the spices for the incense service of the Temple with their location: the Garden of Eden where four rivers flow. The prophetic element is that in the millennium, the Heaven and Earth once again “marry” as Elohim intended, the perfect spiritual Heaven touching the purified place of the earth. In Yeshua is this perfect picture of Heaven and earth “married.” The Land of Israel, particularly Jerusalem and Judah, will achieve an unprecedented level of holiness so that the third heaven descends: · “It will no longer be said to you, “Forsaken,” Nor to your land will it any longer be said, “Desolate”; But you will be called, “My delight is in her,” And your land, “Married”; for the LORD delights in you, And to Him your land will be married.” (Is 62:4) The Holy One Himself will provide the living waters from the Garden spring of Eden. This may explain how the miraculous River of Life flows from the Temple Mount, first east into the Kidron Valley, then south to the Salt Sea, the Arava wilderness, and then to the Red Sea. At that point, the purified, holy earth of the Temple and the living waters of “Lebanon” above have kissed, producing healing waters that become a type of interstate waterway for nations to come up and worship at the feasts as Zechariah prophesies (Zech 14:16-19). Here, however, is the dilemma, and perhaps it explains why the journey begins on the waters: “Every cooking pot in Jerusalem and in Judah will be holy to the LORD of hosts; and all who sacrifice will come and take of them and boil in them. And there will no longer be a Canaanite in the house of the LORD of hosts in that day.” (Zech 14:21) How this ritual purity is acquired is the subject of Vayikra (Leviticus). It contains the holies of the space suit. Personal ideas of what constitutes holiness is nothing but filthy rags. The Father’s prescribed preparation is engaged with obedience. While those nations learn, they have the benefit of th

The Treehouse: Sketches of the Millennial Kingdom If this is your first newsletter, you’ve jumped into the last of a four-part series that began with The Gift Horse, Watch the Smoke, and Wetter than Water. Click on the links to start at the beginning. In last week’s teaching, we concluded with these mysterious statements concerning the striking of the Rock Messiah in the wilderness: · “Tell Aaron and his sons to be careful with the holy gifts of the sons of Israel, which they dedicate to Me, so as not to profane My holy name; I am the LORD.” (Le 22:2) · “’...for in the wilderness of Zin, during the strife of the congregation, you rebelled against My command to treat Me as holy before their eyes at the water.’ These are the waters of Meribah of Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin.” (Nu 27:14) The water, the text says, “came forth abundantly, and the congregation and their beasts drank.” (Nu 20:11) The English translation of “abundantly” is from the Hebrew rav [rabim H7227] which has several meanings. Among its first uses in Scripture, we have context of a quarrel, which emphasizes that it was not only the people who were quarreling, but the water, too. Messiah had a beef with the situation, and he demonstrated it with how he yielded the waters: · Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. (Ge 6:5) · In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on the same day all the fountains of the great deep burst open, and the floodgates of the sky were opened. (Ge 7:11) · And the land could not sustain them while dwelling together, for their possessions were so great that they were not able to remain together. (Ge 13:6) The first two examples above are of The Holy One’s quarrel with mankind, and the third is of the quarrel between the shepherds of Avraham and Lot. If Messiah’s reaction to being struck by Moses and Aaron was quarrelsome water, it sounds as if it wasn’t a gently flowing stream! It was a real gusher. From the sentence imposed on Moses and Aaron, the implication is that the quarrel was with their actions in striking instead of speaking. Striking instead of teaching holiness. But what was the reason Messiah withheld water after Miriam’s death? Was he, too, joining with them in mourning? Was he giving the royal priesthood an opportunity to rise to a more intimate level with him? For them to understand that the Word in their mouths also had power to restore the plants, heal, and sanctify in the Bridegroom’s Name? Perhaps Messiah wanted the Israelites to speak to him about restoring their holy gifts by the stream, yet they were conditioned to look to their leadership. The text says only that “the people drank.” That wasn’t their first concern, remember? It was the miraculous plants and the purifying stream of water for a royal priesthood. They mentioned drinking water for themselves and their beasts only last. The natural earthly realm was literally the least of their worries. Let’s tie this in with the River of Life in the millennium: · “In that day the Branch of the LORD will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth will be the pride and the adornment of the survivors of Israel.” (Is 4:5) The Branch of YHVH is Messiah Yeshua, the Rock in the wilderness. Because of the Branch and miraculous water, miraculous Edenic plants grew on the banks of the stream: orchards, spices, and vineyards on a heavenly timetable, not earthly. If not overnight, then within a month of the camp’s settlement. Israel is prophetic of the world to come. She is uniting realms that have been disconnected since the fall from the Garden. In the wilderness, they came very close to Eden as demonstrated by the manna, ever-wear garments and sandals, and healing (their feet did not swell; all were healed at Mt. Sinai, for everyone stood, saw, heard, and said). Israel is very close to the Garden kingdom, but they still don't touch, for the Bride is being adorned, preparing for spiritual Jerusalem above to marry earthly Jerusalem below. A royal priesthood is learning how to manage living successfully-which would mean in holy obedience-in both realms. She's being adorned for her husband so that these realms may finally touch, a marriage consummated by dwelling continuously in the holy Presence. The adornment of this Bride, Isaiah prophesied, will be the “fruit of the earth.” Let’s explore that. This camp in the wilderness with miraculous vegetation growing beside the streams is prophetic of the millennium. A miraculous, healing stream will emerge from the Temple grounds, and it will be a healing River of Life that waters the land of the South. In fact, it will water the land all the way back to Miriam's burial place in the Arava desert. Here are hints to this new state of healing and resurrection in the millennium: The wilderness and the desert will be glad, And the Arabah will rejoi

Wetter than Water This is a long teaching, but I think it’s worth it for the destination. It might be worth printing out and reading when you have some quiet time. Next week, we’ll see where this wilderness trail is taking us...the River of Life in the millennium. The section of the Song of Songs we've been working with is Your shoots are an orchard of pomegranates with choice fruits, henna with nard plants. (So 4:13) This orchard of pomegranates is linked to the Torah that Moses instructed the Israelites in the wilderness. The pips of the pomegranates represent the individual commandments, or mitzvot. The Torah was given to Israel as an eternal covenant to be maintained generation after generation. The orchard of pomegranates is also tied to the miraculous well in the wilderness, which traditional is referred to as the well of Miriam. The well is associated with her leadership because when she died in the Tzin wilderness, the Rock quit yielding water. The rock was Yeshua, a gift from the heavenlies. Why was Yeshua so sensitive to her death that he stopped the flow of Heavenly water to Israel? Remember our principle that we’ve been learning: when we respond in the natural realm to the Bridegroom, and we give Him gifts in the natural realm, He responds and gives the Bride a similar gift, but sourced from the spiritual realm. It's something miraculous. What we offer is not miraculous unless maybe it's a miracle we would give it because of the transformation that he's done in us. That would make us generous people, like Abraham and Sarah, who “made souls.” They were not stingy and contributed to the building of a congregation. In order for light to increase in the earth, assemblies need to grow to be that light, to build the congregation. This is how we make the Bridegroom’s Name famous, and he in turn promises to make His bride famous with His splendor: “’Then your fame went forth among the nations on account of your beauty, for it was perfect because of My splendor which I bestowed on you,’ declares the Lord GOD.” (Ezekiel 16:14) In this gift transaction, we wonder why the Bride was gifted with the Well of Miriam? The manna (Torah) was in the merit of Moses, the covering cloud in the merit of Aaron’s grace, for he ran to offer the healing incense during the plague. The well, however, was in the merit of Miriam. You can figure this one out! Miriam guarded Moses’ journey in the Nile, risked her life in approaching Pharaoh’s daughter at the river, and led the Israelite women in praise after the miraculous sea crossing, singing the Song of the Sea. She celebrated the overthrowing of the “horse and his rider,” not only the death of Pharaoh and his charioteers, but the death “rider” that John describes in Revelation. Yeshua prevails over death by providing a way of salvation through the sea. Women are often associated with wells of water, and therefore, Miriam is associated with that miraculous well streaming water from the Rock Messiah. It was thought that Messiah would come with the miracles of Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. Yeshua identified himself as the bread of heaven, the manna, and then he miraculously multiplied bread. This recalled the miracles of Moses, the faithful shepherd. Moses led the people out like a shepherd to feed them. He was the natural shepherd. Then Heaven responded and fed the sheep with spiritual food, manna. Aaron ran to make intercession with natural incense and stood between the people and the plague with the cloud of smoke to heal the plague. So this cloud of protection was a spiritual gift for Israel. This cloud continued with them in the wilderness as a kind of a memorial to that heart Aaron had. The spiritual gift perfecting the earthly gift. Yeshua in turn came healing and was acknowledged by the cloud on multiple occasions as recorded in the Gospels. But how did Yeshua come with the sign of Miriam, the first woman to praise and worship when Israel came through the sea? He came from the Galilee! Jewish tradition says that before he died, Moses sank the miraculous Rock in the bottom of the Galilee. Although many were puzzled by a teacher from the Galilee, he was born in Beit-Lechem, the House of Bread. His teaching was also water, the Rock from the wilderness journey. Three leaders, three signs, one Messiah! The Rock would flow with pure water once the Israelites encamped. It would form multiple routes with its stream so that it routed by the Levitical camp for the preparation of sacrifices and the purifications, and then it routed around each tribe’s territorial encampment, encircling it so they didn’t have to travel potentially miles to obtain their water each day for cooking, washing, and drinking. It is said the water was deep enough to swim across. This water started flowing in their new encampments quickly and miraculously, not over a long period of time. Likewise, Jonah's gourd vine grew up over his sukkah overnight. Aaron’s rod budded overnight. Adonai caused them to grow. Lik

Watch the Smoke In The Gift Horse newsletter, we located the spiritual gifts the Bridegroom gave to Israel as a result of her gifts to build the Mishkan. Two main points emerged: · The Bridegroom’s spiritual gift is a re-gifting. Having received the Bride’s gift into the Heavenlies, He completes it in spiritual realms, and returns it to her completed in splendid beauty. For that matter, the Bride re-gifted as well, for the earth was created by the Bridegroom and her resources belong to Him. · The bridegroom doubles his gifts. If she gives this much, he gives that much doubled, or even more, because it’s not just a doubling. It's an eternal bounty. It's way more than a double portion. It's a forever portion. The forever portion is mentioned by the Bridegroom in Is 4:2-6. It will occur when “The Lord will wash away the filth from the daughters of Zion and purge the bloodshed of Jerusalem from her midst by the spirit of judgment and the spirit of burning.” Jerusalem and the Temple Mount will be maintained in a state of perpetual holiness so that her covering of glory gift is never lost, nor does it decay. So how will the Bridegroom remove those who aren't fit for this most holy place? I read a news article that stated since the war began on October 7th, 82,700 citizens have left Israel. People have gone to other nations. They just didn't want to be there with the war going on. It wasn't worth fighting for. He's washing away some unbelief and godless motivation. He's washing it off of us as well in the nations where we're exiled. Judgment and burning has and will expose our own relationship with The Holy One of Israel. He's purging bloodshed even though we're right in the middle of heavy bloodshed. Sometimes to purge something, it takes more of it in order to remove it. Let any unrepentance go up in smoke. According to so many of the prophecies of Scripture, filthiness becomes more exposed and bloodshed increases before we see the filth washed away and removed. When this process is complete, there will be those who are recorded for life in Jerusalem, not simply visitation. The nations will be recorded for life in their assigned coastlands. They'll have visitation rights, especially at the feasts. They'll want to go up. They'll want to be instructed and know how to go up to experience His Presence at those appointed times. But there will be a Bride who is not required to return to her nation because she is recorded for life in Jerusalem. She will have an inheritance in the land. She is a permanent citizen by the gift of the Bridegroom. The eternal gift passage in Isaiah says, · Then at that time the Lord will create over the whole area of Mount Zion and over her assemblies... Assemblies. That's what we emphasize all the time, Shabbat. The moedim. This is why we observe them, to rehearse living under the holy gift. · ...over her assemblies a cloud by day, even smoke and the brightness of a flaming fire by night, for over all the glory will be a canopy and [like a wedding chuppah] there will be a shelter to give shade from the heat by day, and refuge and protection from the storm and the rain. This is the eternal gift that the Bridegroom gives to the Bride. She has more than eternal protection from the elements of the natural earth; she has eternal privileges in His Presence, for the cloud represents His hovering, covering Presence. She won't have to go out from it anymore. She might be dispatched with a mission to the nations, but it is entirely possible that an individual so designated would never leave the Holy City. The land itself, according to Ezekiel, will extend from Egypt all the way up to the Euphrates. The Land will be stretched out to accommodate the population of the obedient, protecting them from the natural elements. The cloud of His Presence may extend over that entire full territory of Israel, not the limited area that defines it today. Since the cloud protects even from the natural elements of wind, fire, water, and storm, those who farm the Land will enjoy it as the Garden of Eden descended, kissing the earth with the spiritual gift perfecting the natural resources. Let’s return to another prophecy of the Bride’s garments of glory: · In that day, the Branch of the LORD will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth will be the pride and the adornment of the survivors of Israel. There are different kinds of fruit. One kind is that from the natural earth, but these fruits will be so glorious because they are Edenic fruits just like the spies saw when they prepared to cross into the Land. They didn’t believe they could live in that state of holiness, for Moses had asked them if they saw a “tree.”* Well, they saw lots of trees! Why one tree? What about the Tree of Life that Moses saw on the mountain when he saw the perfect pattern? It is from THE tree that all kinds of good fruit trees grow. The original tree, the Branch! On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve k

Please SUBSCRIBE to our newsletter to get new teachings.

THE GIFT HORSE This week we will do more work with the gift exchange between the bride and bridegroom. These exchanges occur from the time between their betrothal at Mt. Sinai and when the Bride is drawn into the Cloud of His Presence at the resurrection. To review from last week, the Bride sent gifts to the Groom to build a place for His Presence to dwell. In return, the Groom gifted Betzalel and Oholiav with the Divine ruach to transform those gifts into the Mishkan (Tabernacle). The Bride brought the Bridegroom thirteen items as gifts for the building of the Mishkan: Gold Silver Copper Turquoise wool Purple wool Scarlet wool Linen Goat hair Red-dyed ram skins Tachash skins Acacia wood Shoham stones Stones for the settings This list does not include items that were depletable, such as olive oil and spices for anointment. Then the Bridegroom gave her similar gifts, each mirroring one of her gifts to Him for the preparation of a Mishkan to make a place for His Presence to dwell with her: “I also clothed you with embroidered cloth and put sandals of porpoise skin on your feet; and I wrapped you with fine linen and covered you with silk. I adorned you with ornaments, put bracelets on your hands and a necklace around your neck. I also put a ring in your nostril, earrings in your ears and a beautiful crown on your head. Thus you were adorned with gold and silver, and your dress was of fine linen, silk and embroidered cloth. You ate fine flour, honey and oil; so you were exceedingly beautiful and advanced to royalty. Then your fame went forth among the nations on account of your beauty, for it was perfect because of My splendor which I bestowed on you,” declares the Lord GOD. (Ezekiel 16:10-14) Enumerated for easier reading: Embroidered cloth Tachash (porpoise or badger) sandals Fine linen (priesthood) Silk ("cloud of glory”) Ornaments Bracelets (tablets of Ten Words) Necklace (words of Torah bound around the neck/heart) Nose ring (justice) Earrings (Shma) Crown of beauty (Divine Presence Is 60:19) Gold (purity of Torah) Silver (redemption) Fame (of the Groom's Name) Again, the pattern is that the Bride brings earthly gifts, which the Bridegroom matches with spiritual gifts. The Bride contributes earthly resources, and the Groom mirrors them with Heavenly resources. If she understands that that are two realms, and she understands He is Creator and she is created, she realizes the gifts weren't hers at all. It was because of Adonai that the Hebrews plundered the Egyptians. He redesignated the wealth of the Egyptians to the Hebrews. The gifts Israel gave were His. He created them. It's all His. Adonai puts wealth in our pockets, so we can't think when we contribute something to the congregation that it's coming out of our pockets. It's coming out of His creation. He even gives the ability to earn that money or that gift. Without His giving the ability to earn, we could bring no gift. Lots of people on this earth do not have the ability to earn anything at all. They have disabilities. Some can only earn a little. Simply to be born with the ability to go out and earn, labor, and collect that paycheck is a gift from Heaven. We are brought up to believe we earn our paychecks, but they all originate in His Creation, and Elohim chose to make us able-bodied and healthy so we could give back to Him. He lets you put it in your pocket as if it's yours. But we can’t be too sassy because He created both the Bride and the earth that yields its resources to her. That's hard to acknowledge when we associate reward with the work that we do. Yes, you contributed. You contributed your earthly natural resources to that paycheck, and you contributed some of that treasure back to Him. This made it holy. Designated. Just like the Bride. She is holy to the Groom. Designated to Him alone. The Groom rewarded you with the spiritual resources so that its status changed. It’s no longer secular, mundane, but a holy offering or tithe. The earth and its fulness belong to Elohim, yet He wants His unique creation, human beings, to take from that earth and offer a fine gift to Him. By passing the resource through the human being, it is elevated to holy status as the gift completes the circle back to the Creator. Some believers, for whatever reason, choose not to give gifts to their Creator, or they give only sparingly...even though they have enough to do so, like Kain. Whatever the reason, they are limiting what the Groom will give them. The pattern is that He responds with a similar spiritual gift to the natural gift the Bride sends Him. Worse yet, there are non-workers. They have the ability to earn, they are believers, yet they have a pattern of not working at all or being such a lousy worker that they ensure they cannot hold a job to provide for their families, much less give holy gifts to the Creator. While the stingy believer withholds what he has, the non-worker refuses to even earn anything that could lead to the willing heart decision to

When those four riders of the apocalypse come, think about... In Scripture, the head often represents the authority, the will of the person. When we dedicate our heads to Yeshua, we submit our will to him. Because he submitted his will to the Father, he has bounty in his hand. That bounty consists of the Bride, those who respond to the Father, who drew them to Yeshua. They have a marriage covenant with Heaven as described by King Solomon in the Song of all Songs: Your shoots are an orchard of pomegranates with choice fruits, henna with nard plants. (So 4:13) It was customary for the bridegroom to send pomegranates as gifts to the bride in the interim between the betrothal and the actual ceremony and consummation of the marriage. These are gifts of the Bridegroom to the Bride to “wear" until he comes. It is the way for the Bride to learn the nature of her Groom until they physically dwell together. When she learns who he is, his will, what pleases and displeases him, she adjusts her own attitude and behavior to reflect those desires. She prepares for him just as he prepares for her. Ultimately, Yeshua is preparing a place for the Bride "in my Father's House." Because no one can dwell in the Father's House in rebellion, the Bridegroom is preparing the bountiful Bride to dwell in the Presence of the Almighty's House. As she walks in the Father's will, and therefore Yeshua's will, the Living Word, she builds the reputation of the King of Kings. She proclaims His Name on earth by her deeds, which are His deeds. She re-introduces mankind to their Creator and Lover of their Souls. The Good Name built by the pomegranates, whose pips (seeds) represent the 613 commandments, is pictured by the ancient marriage customs. Although betrothed and technically married, the couple lives apart until the final stage of the marriage, kiddushin. Only then will they dwell together. In the meantime, though, the bride is considered already married, forbidden to all others, and she wears the name of the bridegroom. This gift of a good name reflects unity with the Bridegroom, who by His “pomegranates” has set apart the Bride from all other nations and gods who represent an adultery for her: “And what one nation on the earth is like Your people Israel, whom God went to redeem for Himself as a people and to make a name for Himself, and to do a great thing for You and awesome things for Your land, before Your people whom You have redeemed for Yourself from Egypt, from nations and their gods?” (2 Sa 7:23) “So keep and do them, for that is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes and say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’” (Dt 4:6) The Mishkan (Tabernacle in the Wilderness) is a template of the Famous Name gift exchange between Bride and Bridegroom. The Bride brought the Bridegroom thirteen items as gifts for the building of the Mishkan: Gold Silver Copper Turquoise wool Purple wool Scarlet wool Linen Goat hair Red-dyed ram skins Tachash skins Acacia wood Shoham stones Stones for the settings This list does not include items that were depletable, such as olive oil and spices for anointment. Then the Bridegroom gave her similar gifts, each mirroring one of her gifts to Him for the preparation of a Mishkan to make a place for His Presence to dwell with her: “I also clothed you with embroidered cloth and put sandals of porpoise skin on your feet; and I wrapped you with fine linen and covered you with silk. I adorned you with ornaments, put bracelets on your hands and a necklace around your neck. I also put a ring in your nostril, earrings in your ears and a beautiful crown on your head. Thus you were adorned with gold and silver, and your dress was of fine linen, silk and embroidered cloth. You ate fine flour, honey and oil; so you were exceedingly beautiful and advanced to royalty. Then your fame went forth among the nations on account of your beauty, for it was perfect because of My splendor which I bestowed on you,” declares the Lord GOD. (Ezekiel 16:10-14) Enumerated for easier reading: Embroidered cloth Tachash (porpoise or badger) sandals Fine linen (priesthood) Silk ("cloud of glory”) Ornaments Bracelets (tablets of Ten Words) Necklace (words of Torah bound around the neck/heart) Nose ring (justice) Earrings (Shma) Crown of beauty (Divine Presence Is 60:19) Gold (purity of Torah) Silver (redemption) Fame (of the Groom's Name) The Bride brought earthly gifts, which the Bridegroom matched with spiritual gifts. The next building block is understanding that the Bridegroom doubles the gifts of the Bride. In fact, the principle that the Queen of Sheba brought Melekh Shlomo a huge quantity of spices (1 Ki 10:10) which could be measured, for it was earthly riches, but which he exceeded so far in his gifts back to her that they had no measure and could only be described as “royal bounty.” These represent spiritual gifts. What is in one's hand is what he/she cont

Eternity Wear A few weeks ago, we looked at Yeshua's parables of great treasure. In the Song of Songs, there is another opportunity to see the fruits of wisdom operating in the Bride who awaits the resurrection of the dead. It is only then that she will see the real fruits of her labor for the Kingdom. The verse in the Song lumps all the choice fruits in there together. We're much more familiar with an orchard of pomegranates, but other good fruits might be planted with purpose. A henna plant would be planted with purpose in order to harvest the dye out of it. A nard plant would be planted with purpose in order to harvest this very valuable aromatic. All three products that are mentioned in this orchard of "shoots" are things that are not random.They are planted with purpose because the produce from them and the benefit derived from them is extremely valuable. The orchard planting requires a lot of effort, patience, and planning, but perhaps there was one early decision that determined whether the orchard would even be planted. There are some opportunities that are going to be for us like Jacob's glimpse into the gateway to Heaven. We're going to realize a unique opportunity Adonai drops into our laps. We're going to say, "How awesome is this place?" But there's really only one chance. It's one of those things where you have to be quick. So many opportunities out there aren't time dependent, but every now and then, the Father puts something before you that is so awesome. You know it's awesome when you encounter it. And you know there's a danger that if you keep going through life, and you don't deal with that thing as fast as you should, it will be an opportunity lost. And this is what Yeshua says in Matthew. He says, “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.” (Mt 13:43-46) What these two parables have in common, other than a great treasure, is that it cost the buyers everything they had to obtain that great treasure. They really only had one opportunity. If either of those men had delayed, if they had not wanted to risk selling everything for that treasure, there would have been no great return. The question of the treasure is, "Do you really want to start back from scratch?" You have to build from scratch, even though it's a great treasure. You have to leave first things behind with their security. Paul had to do it. He took three years apart to re-think everything he knew in light of the revelation of Yeshua in the Torah. In order to realize the potential of the great treasure, that once-in-a-lifetime revelation, there should be no delay. Had the first man delayed, somebody else could have bought the field. He realizes that when he sees this treasure, it will require everything he owns in order to go back and buy it. Maybe he already had a house. Maybe he already had two fine cars. Maybe he already had the furniture his wife liked. Maybe he had a swimming pool. The house and neighborhood and boat or club membership may be everything that he wanted… and developed through great care and sacrifice. But now he realizes that he must relinquish everything he has accumulated to obtain that treasure. And then he'll have to figure out how to invest it because he's just sold the security that he had. And then in the second parable, the merchant sells pearls, so it's certain that he already has a pocket full of fine pearls. But then he finds that one pearl. And he will have to sell every pearl he has in order to buy that one. In either case, if they delay, somebody else could buy that field. Somebody else could buy that pearl. They did not have plenty of time. They couldn't say, "Well, let me just start selling off a few things, cutting back here or there." No, both of them had to immediately go out and find buyers. Typically, when you try to sell something quickly, you take a price far below its value, but they were willing to do that in order to obtain this one thing of great value. So the pressure of the parable is if they had delayed at all, they might have missed the opportunity of a lifetime. And that's the thing. Life is time. Our life is time. How we spend our time. What we purchase with our time. Time is precious. We don't have a lot of it, most of us. Our generation is structured that way. Time is so valuable because we know that if we lose it, it is irretrievable. It's not that every single moment we need to be worried that, oh my goodness, I've just lost time. I'm going to weep and gnash my teeth in the long run because I didn't get this and that done. Yeshua's saying, there's going to be a once in a lifetime opportunity for a believer. You have to know when that moment is. I think for a lot of us, we know when that mo

The Story of Hanukkah...continued Please SUBSCRIBE to our newsletter to get new teachings.

The Story of Hanukkah... Please SUBSCRIBE to our newsletter to get new teachings.

Please SUBSCRIBE to our newsletter to get new teachings.

Turning Tables Here in Egyptalon, it's a language issue. The Hebrew language. One day, the tables will turn: “For at that time I will change the speech of the peoples to a pure speech, that all of them may call upon the name of the LORD and serve him with one accord.” (Zephaniah 3:9) This echoes the three principles of the fall moedim, which are a step of sorting the sealed righteous from the intermediates from the wicked. Prayer to purify, repentance to seal, charity to the suffering to prove the heart change and willingness to serve the Kingdom. The first principle, prayer, is a practice of purifying the speech, measuring one’s own prayer against the standard of the Word. Those sealed with the Name of YHVH are one as He is One. They do not bear the many names of individual idols, but they are a unified, accurate reflection of His image as a nation apart. In a sense, because we tend to impose our face over the face of Elohim (“no other gods in front of me”), the world sees a distorted representation of His Name in us, especially when we assemble all our individual gods that we sometimes choose to place before obedience to YHVH. Too often, we are not a representation of Him, but of our mixed obedience and unreliable loyalty to His Oneness. In that sense, it is also a hearing issue: “Hear, O Israel, YHVH our Elohim, YHVH is One.” At the end of days, “The LORD shall be King over all the world, on that day the LORD will be One and His Name one.” (Ze 14:9) There will be no misrepresentation of the Holy Name in that day. Because the names, or reputations of people will reflect the holiness of the Word, His true reputation will be known by all the living. The blasphemous names of the Great Harlot in Revelation may be a reference to traditional thought about how even in slavery in Egypt, Israel maintained a vital connection to the Promise of the Fathers: their names in exile. The Israelites’ Hebrew names, uncorrupted with Egyptian names, set them apart, even the tribes of Joseph, Ephraim and Menashe. They retained a “pure speech,” Hebrew, even though many among them descended into idolatry. They were still a nation apart because of their literal names, but a name is also reputation. Their sexual purity retained the identity of the nation through the generations. Only when the greater part of the nation maintained sexual morality could they retain their identity with their family, clan, tribe, and nation. These two identifiers, speech and sexual morality, set them apart in Egypt. James, who addresses the “twelve tribes scattered abroad” places emphasis on Godly speech in order to keep one’s Bridal garments unstained, the Bridal Bridle: “If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man’s religion is worthless. Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.” (Ja 1:25-27) James emphasizes three aspects of the bridal garments as the three pillars of the fall moedim: Controlling the tongue by keeping the waters pure, also a prayer practice Exercising practical holiness by alleviating the suffering of those in distress, charity Sealing the fountain with repentance, which aids #1 by not allowing new pollutants to fall in. See how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity; the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of our life, and is set on fire by hell. For every species of beasts and birds, of reptiles and creatures of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by the human race. But no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God; from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way. Does a fountain send out from the same opening both fresh and bitter water? Can a fig tree, my brethren, produce olives, or a vine produce figs? Nor can salt water produce fresh. (Ja 3:5-12) In a play-on words, James warns against both sins of the tongue and sexual immorality, for the “sealed fountain” is thought to refer sometimes metaphorically to the holy marriage bed, each spouse sealing the fountain from outside persons: husbands sealing their fountains from all but their wives, and wives sealing their cisterns from all but their husbands. So apart from the easy understanding, which is that our speech should be free of cursing, scorn, and gossip, and we should maintain holy marriage beds, how else can we understand the language of a Hebrew? “A garden locked is my sister, my bride, A rock garden locked, a spring sealed up.” (So 4:12) The tongue, as James pointed out, is like a fountain, a spring. Israel is referred to as a · Locked garden · A locked rock garden ·

...That's All She Wrote Have you ever written a book? Or thought you might? It seems like a good idea until you start trying to put the words on the page. Or laptop. Everyone has the material to write a book, but not everyone will take the time to write it. The truth is that every single human being has written a book, is still in the process of writing it, or will write it when they are born. The biographies of our lives are transcribed in Heaven. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. (Re 20:12) So there are books of our lives. Why so many? Perhaps we are also judged according to the places our lives intersected other lives in their books. And then there is THE book, The Book of Life. This is the standard by which every life will be judged. It is the Law of the Land and the Law of Heaven. The Word of Adonai. The things written in the book are the deeds of each individual. What you write is your “name,” or reputation, based on your deeds and attitudes. In Hebrew naming, the name chosen for a child represents the many righteous deeds that the parents hope will characterize his or her biography. The Greek word for “written” is grapho: Strong’s Definitions γράφω gráphō, to "grave", especially to write; to describe. Outline of Biblical Usage I.to write, with reference to the form of the letters to delineate (or form) letters on a tablet, parchment, paper, or other material II.to write, with reference to the contents of the writing to express in written characters to commit to writing (things not to be forgotten), write down, record used of those things which stand written in the sacred books (of the OT) to write to one, i.e. by writing (in a written epistle) to give information, directions So congratulations, you’re an author! Your book will be judged by the Author of Life Who wrote THE Book of Life, our instructions. He wrote the basics of life, gave us THE Book, and then breathed life into us so we could start writing. As we grew and learned His Book, we began to write, first instinctively, then consciously, our book intersecting with thousands, maybe millions, of other biographies. Imagine the size of Abraham and Sarah’s books at this point. What you write can certainly affect the biographies of those who are born after you! While the Torah instructs us in the precepts, each person may creatively live them, making the biography uniquely his or hers. Imagine how the Father takes joy when we find a beautiful or inspired way to write that precept into our own biography. When we write such beautiful things in our book, we are beautifying our garments as a Bride-to-be awaiting the arrival of her husband. That’s not nearly as scary as the second resurrection, which is reserved for those who were not gathered into the cloud at the first resurrection. In our weekly Zoom classes, we have been examining the twenty-four garments of the Bride as listed in Isaiah Three. Although Isaiah is chastising Israel for using those garments for the harlotry of idolatry, the judgment prophesied gives insight into how those twenty-four garments should be used to prepare for the Bridegroom’s coming. “Around the throne were twenty-four thrones; and upon the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white garments, and golden crowns on their heads.” (Re 4:4) Everything is double on Shabbat. Double manna. Double joy. Double peace. Guard and remember. In celebrating Shabbat, the Bride experiences a taste of Heaven on earth, a peaceful millennium and firstborn double portion under the rule of Messiah when “the day that is all Shabbat” is administrated by the twelve tribes of Israel from their assigned gates of New Jerusalem. By putting on the twenty-four garments of the Bride, Israel signifies the “double” principle of the millennial Kingdom of Messiah. To illustrate the garment preparation for the Kingdom of Messiah, this week we focused on garment Number Twenty-three, gilyonim, or “robes.” 23. robes [gilyonim] [hand mirrors] גִּלָּיוֹן a tablet for writing (as bare); by analogy, a mirror:—glass, roll. How interesting is it that one garment can connote such different things: Hand mirrors? A writing tablet? A scroll (roll)? A glass? Each of these items is reflective. How do we see ourselves? James picks up the mirror-garment as one of the essentials for the Bride, explaining how it works: “But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an e

The King's Authority, Angels, and Demons Last week, we examined the prophetic value of waving and shaking the lulav: • With the lulav, we call home the exiles from all directions of the earth to the sukkah. They are called to their Kingdom assignments, their reward, and to further repentance. • First fruits offerings and those consecrated for service are typically waved • Is 13:13; Mt 24:29; Mk 13:25; Lk 21:26; Re 6:13 describe how powers and principalities will be shaken out of the way to prepare the way for Messiah’s return and Kingdom. • When Messiah sets up his Kingdom, the tribes will take the places of the removed “stars,” ruling from the twelve gates of Jerusalem under the King’s authority. (For the full explanation, review Powers and Principalities) Today, disciples of Yeshua are still commissioned to learn, practice, and rehearse their future Kingdom responsibilities wherever they live among the nations. Learning to walk both in and under authority is something vital to orderliness in our walk today and absolutely vital in serving our now-and-future King in the millennium. Yeshua left us an incredibly valuable teaching on our preparation: And when Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, imploring Him, and saying, “Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, fearfully tormented.” Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.” But the centurion said, “Lord, I am not worthy for You to come under my roof, but just say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I also am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to this one, ‘Go!’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this!’ and he does it.” Now when Jesus heard this, He marveled and said to those who were following, “Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel. I say to you that many will come from east and west, and recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven; but the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” And Jesus said to the centurion, “Go; it shall be done for you as you have believed.” And the servant was healed that very moment. (Mt 8:5-13) The text implies the servant was not suffering only from a physical malady, but a demonic oppression, or torment. The centurion frames his discussion on authority as being able to tell a subordinate to come or go, and they have to obey. Even demons are subordinate to the Word, and the centurion recognized Yeshua’s authority to send them away. Our King is the Living Word, not to be argued with by any demonic entity. This is the authority that was to be invested in Israel as rulers with King Messiah. As they rehearsed their leadership in the wilderness encampment, preparing to replace powers and principalities, so Yeshua dispatched his disciples with instructions to practice healing and casting out demons in his Name, or authority. As with any learning exercise, sometimes they encountered challenges. Some demons didn’t accept their authority to send them back to their own realm. By definition, a demon attached to a human is out of bounds. Out of authorized areas. The question is, does the believer understand the authority to send it back to its assigned space? And the evil spirit answered and said to them, “I recognize Jesus, and I know about Paul, but who are you?” (Ac 19:15) Yeshua taught the disciples that for stubborn cases, prayer and fasting beyond the annual Yom HaKippurim was necessary. Just as some ancient warriors, like Uriah or Jonathan, purified themselves, abstained from marital relations before a battlefield encounter, or made vows, so a little yom kippur is a way of preparing for serious spiritual battle by humbling the soul. This does not mean that if you are not healed, you are deficient in faith. Even Timothy was often ill. Early believers fell ill and were subject to torture and death, so we prepare, pray, and practice using Yeshua’s authority, but sometimes the answer is no. We walk within the authority of the King, and if He has willed a different outcome, then we can only pray and accept that our ministry is not authorized to override a royal decree, only to appeal that it be somehow mitigated. Yeshua links the final gathering at the resurrection to calling in the Bride-to-be with the “lulav” principle of Avraham, Isaac, and Jacob who are buried at Hebron, awaiting the resurrection. If you’ll remember from last week, the three myrtle branches of the lulav symbolize the three pairs of patriarchs/matriarchs who are buried at Hebron. Because Hebron was thought to be an entrance back to the Garden of Eden, it was a signal to all their descendants that there will be a resurrection. Having faith in that central idea of the Word is what characterizes those who will return to the Garden, which hovers just above Jerusalem. In the Jewish tradition, when a righteous person crosses into the Garde

What You Did for the Greater Exodus When is the best time to plan for Sukkot? Immediately after Sukkot! There’s not much chance of a smooth eight days next year if you’re not already working on your calendar and negotiating the days off. One thing’s for sure...if you bumble and stumble through a feast, the kids and grandkids are watching. What must they think? Their friends’ parents put up the December holiday lights and decorations weeks ahead of time, but mom had no idea that there was a significant rip in the tent roof or grandpa tried to hold a sukkah together with zip-ties and fishing line as the sun set on the first day of Sukkot? I know. I’m not helping your anxiety level. It happens to most folks, though, until they learn to plan. Let’s see if I can help. Would it help if you understood the prophetic value of the seemingly minor activities during Sukkot? Like waving and shaking the lulav for seven days? The lulav, or four species, is comprised of seven components. The palm branch is the lulav, but the entire bundle is also called the lulav [1≈7]. To some, each of the species (minim) represent a type of believer, from extremely pious to minimally active spiritually. Even though there is a range of observance, they are all one bundle. The good traits of others can offset the lazier ones, who nevertheless might have some redeeming quality to contribute to the group. There are other traditions as well. The feasts are filled with symbolic objects, foods, and actions. In one tradition, the symbolism of the lulav is: • One palm branch, representing the one Elohim. • One citron, representing the one nation (Israel). • Three myrtle branches, representing the three forefathers buried at Hebron • Two willow branches, representing the two Tablets of the Word The palm branch, or lulav, must come from the crown of the dekel, or palm tree. It is the new growth that is still tightly compact, unopened, very straight like a spine that supports the body. The citron is the etrog, the pleasant-smelling “heart” of the lulav because of its shape. The etrog is invalidated if the pitom is broken off or missing. The pitom is the prominent tip. We must serve Adonai carefully and with a whole heart. The myrtle is hadas, and its leaves look like eyes. If crushed or even brushed against, it releases a fragrant oil. We should always be on the lookout for opportunities to release the fragrance of Messiah Yeshua in our interactions with others. The Living Word leaves a tangible fragrance others appreciate. It is a sign of spiritual life, a prophecy of the resurrection. There must be three myrtle branches, a symbol of resurrection. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and their wives are buried in Hebron because it was thought to the an entrance back to the Garden of Eden; thus, the resurrection number of three still speaks to us that we should walk in the faith of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The aravot are the two willow branches. Willows are very flexible, but they send down deep roots and dwell in well-watered places and along rivers of living water. Their long branches make a stunning whooshing noise if waved back and forth, which they were in the Temple water-pouring ceremony. These branches remind us that the Word must be inspired of the Ruach HaKodesh to inspire others. The commandments are embraced both with the spirit and letter, or practical doing of them. The lulav is waved in seven directions. The Elyah Rabbah (Orach Chaim 651:1) writes: "All together, seven, corresponding to the seven heavens.” The bundled lulav is waved, or shaken, specifically in the direction of the four winds in a linear method as well as toward Heaven and earth, south-north-east-upward-downward-west. These directions are mentioned in Isaiah: · Do not fear, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring 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, everyone who is called by My name, and whom I have created for My glory, whom I have formed, even whom I have made.” (Is 43:5-7) There are sheep out in the sheepfolds of the nations, sons and daughters. They were exiled to the “wilderness of the peoples,” but they will come home to the Land of Promise in the Greater Exodus. They were emplaced in the nations just like Israel was emplaced in Egypt for a purpose: · “Now not with you alone am I making this covenant and this oath, but both with those who stand here with us today in the presence of the LORD our God and with those who are not with us here today (for you know how we lived in the land of Egypt, and how we came through the midst of the nations through which you passed; moreover, you have seen their abominations and their idols of wood, stone, silver, and gold, which they had with them)...” (Dt 29:14–17) It is important for us to SEE the abominations and idols of the nation in which we live. That means we should re

Wee the People Did you have to memorize the preamble to the Constitution in school? "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution...” I never had a problem memorizing things for school. It was getting up in front of people that was terrifying. Eighth grade was a veritable shark tank of hormones, cliques, and mean girls and guys. A public mistake likely meant a nickname you didn’t want. Not much tranquility among “we the people” in junior high. We the people. The politicians did get a few things right back then. A sense of common identity, community, mutual respect, and all those things that define a people group were at the top of their agenda. Not a bad start for a government defining and agreeing on what “constitutes” a nation. But the signers of the Declaration of Independence and Constitution didn’t want a king, even a good one. Israel in the wilderness was a miracle, a people group preserved in Egypt over hundreds of years without losing their identity. They had a king, a pharaoh, yet they kept their own language. They kept their tribal identity. These things became even more defined in the wilderness when they received their covenant in Hebrew, affirming their collective mission. Each tribe’s blessings were clarified, territory defined in the encampment, leaders chosen and instructed. A central place of worship nestled in their center, reminding them that they should provide for the common defense of the Ark, maintain their boundaries in tranquility, and look to the welfare of their families so that their posterity would be able to enter and inhabit the Land of Promise. Their King was YHVH, Who betrothed them to Himself at Mount Sinai. Everyone signed on with “We will do, and we will hear.” Unlike the Tower of Bavel, where human beings united to build a name for themselves, Israel united to build the Name of the Holy One of Israel. There is ultimate power in unity, which is reflected in our proclamation of the greatest commandment: “Hear O Israel, the LORD your God, the LORD is One.” What happens, though, when our “we” becomes my “I”? Oh, my. The stutter-steps in the wilderness occurred when the I’s developed an independent agenda or envied others. There were rebellions against the authority of Moses and Aaron, rebellions against the mitzvot, even passive-aggressive disobedience. In the wilderness, that means just not showing up when you know you should. Each problem emerged when “I” outweighed “we the people.” Even rebel groups were not truly a “we.” They had different agendas, so they were bound as “we” only in dissatisfaction, which would not be enough to hold them together had they been successful, such as Korach and the Reuvenites. Truth is, they were a collection of “I’s”. The secret to a successful “we”, as in “We will do, and we will hear,” or “We the people,” is that we have to become wee people. Smaller than our egos tell us we should or ought to be. Or, in some cases, bigger than our fears will allow us to be. In that case, doing more is actually an act of humility. If we obey the fear, we will not be fruitful in the congregation. We have to make the fear smaller and our Divine spiritual calling greater. Great faith means wee fear. WE are not alone as we battle our egos or our fears: “Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us...” (He 12:1) The clouds surrounded the Israelites in the wilderness. Within the cloud were many witnesses to the exodus from Egypt, the miracles along the way, and the national purpose to build the Kingdom of the only true King of Kings. “I” could never forget what “we” experienced because there were so many witnesses in the surrounding cloud. What I experienced was what we experienced. This is a race we run together. The only time there is one runner is called a “walk-over” in horse racing. It means that there is an entry in the race that is so formidable that no one else dares even enter another horse in the race. That horse has only to walk over the finish line. In other sports, a walkover occurs when the opposing team forfeits because of the overwhelming skill of the opponent. The race is not against other believers! The race is against the enemy within, the sin that so easily bogs us down, entangles us. Did you know that every horse race is designed to be a theoretical dead heat? The track experts rate each horse, and then the faster ones with more stamina carry extra weight in their saddles to slow them. Less proven horses carry less weight so they can run faster. Although there is rarely a true dead heat, that is the goal. Within the Bride of Messi

In this teaching Dr Hollisa Alewine discusses the two hauntings after Yom HaKippurim. Please SUBSCRIBE to our newsletter to get new teachings.

We examine why the green grass is burned in Revelation. Please SUBSCRIBE to our newsletter to get new teachings.

The three reckonings of Yom Teruah ... Please SUBSCRIBE to our newsletter to get new teachings.

The Bride's Wilderness Laundromat The wilderness journey brings up all sorts of practical questions. Practical questions often lead to impractical, but not impossible, answers. Although the Israelites looted the Egyptians, it is unlikely that the garments lasted for forty years in the harsh desert. How did they keep up with the laundry? What about the children born who would need clothes of their own? Having done my laundry in the Aravah several times, I know from experience that clothes hung on a line to dry have a coating of sand by the time they dry and I take them down to fold them. The pillars of cloud and fire, as well as the cloud cover in which the Israelites walked, provided supernatural assistance in these practical questions. The hint is found in the following verses: •“Your clothing did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years.” (Dt 8:4) •“I have led you forty years in the wilderness; your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandal has not worn out on your foot.” (Dt 29:5) Egyptian clothes surely wear out. The sandals even more so with a nation on foot. These supernatural garments and shoes must have come from somewhere. The Midrash explains: •“From where did they obtain clothing to wear throughout the forty years that the people of Israel spent in the Wilderness? They were from what the ministering angels clothed them. Thus it is written, ‘I clothed you (Israel) in rikmah (Ezekiel 16:10). Rikmah is a royal garment.” (Midrash Rabbah Shir HaShirim 4§23) The hint in Ezekiel is that these splended, durable garments were garments of royalty, fit for a royal priesthood. They were also fit TO a royal priesthood. It was thought that the supernatural garments grew with the person like a shell grows with the chilazon, the snail from which techelet (blue) dye is extracted for tzitziyot to remind Israel of the mitzvot. From infant to adult, the garment grew. This helps us understand how the commandments grow with us when we continue to set our affection on what is above, learning to use what is below for the service of Heaven. The commandments become bigger and stronger in their protection and beauty as we grow because they are growing with us! This passage in Ezekiel is thought to describe Israel’s bridal agreement to betrothal at Mount Sinai when they said, “We will do and we will hear”: •“Then I passed by you and saw you, and behold, you were at the time for love; so I spread My skirt [wing, kanaf] over you and covered your nakedness. I also swore to you and entered into a covenant with you so that you became Mine,” declares the Lord GOD. Then I bathed you with water, washed off your blood from you and anointed you with oil. I also clothed you with embroidered cloth [rikmah] and put sandals of porpoise skin on your feet; and I wrapped you with fine linen and covered you with silk. I adorned you with ornaments, put bracelets on your hands and a necklace around your neck. I also put a ring in your nostril, earrings in your ears and a beautiful crown on your head. Thus you were adorned with gold and silver, and your dress was of fine linen, silk and embroidered cloth.” (Ezekiel 16:8-13) Israel the Bride was at the time for “love,” or able to Shma, to hear and to love with all her heart, soul, and strength. At that time, the ministering angels were thought to clothe Israel with miraculous garments that did not wear out and give them the sandals that did not wear out. They were also given two royal crowns, one for “we will do” and one for “we will hear.” After the golden calf, those crowns were taken away and the “jewelry” were retrieved, but the miraculous royal garments and sandals remained upon them. (Dt 8:4) Like the Kohen HaGadol, every member of the royal priesthood was clothed in “garments of honor and glory.” The Midrash asks: •But did the clothing not need washing? “The pillar of cloud, which accompanied the nation throughout their journey in the Wilderness, brushed against the clothing and cleansed them.” (ibid 4§23). The garments could withstand the fire of the pillar of cloud because they were manufactured in Heaven. These were garments with the smell of the blessed field, a place of eternal life. The fire actually refined the garments instead of destroying them! Likewise, Yeshua’s garment of salvation and robes of righteousness, which we may put on, have a Garden fragrance of eternal life and a royal priesthood, a fragrance of Lebanon, as Chapter Four of Song of Songs says. Lebanon is from lavan, which means “white.” Salvation and obedience are white robes from the pleasant Land of the Garden. A great "cloud of witnesses" to the commandments of God and the testimony of Yeshua wears clean, pressed white garments: •“When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained; and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy an

The Wild Kingdom As we approach the High Holy Days, we prepare to read a passage of Scripture on The Feast of Trumpets called The Akeidah. It refers to the binding of Isaac. A key verse is this: Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” And he said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering? Abraham said, “God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” So the two of them walked on together.” (Ge 22:7) For now, notice two things: 1. Isaac respectfully addresses Avraham, "My father." 2. Avraham responds, "Hineni." "Here I am, my son." They are in unity as to what is about to happen. Avraham will sacrifice Isaac, and Isaac will be figuratively resurrected from the dead. From henceforth, there is no question as to the line of succession. Two sons. One will be labeled "a wild donkey" (Ge 16:11-12), and one will receive the promise of a Land, Covenant, and People to pass along to his offspring. Although Avraham longed for Ishmael to live before Adonai, the birthright was awarded to the one who would sacrifice himself. The son walks with the father. The Son walks with the Father. When it is time for Isaac to in turn bless one of two sons, he nearly makes a mistake. Rivkah his wife knows that Esau unburdened himself of the birthright for a bowl of stew. He "hated" the promise, though later he sought it carefully with tears when he realized he wasn't entitled to the blessings if he didn't accept the birthright. Believers are not so different today. They quickly claim the promises, but when it comes to the obligations of the Torah, they are nowhere to be found. They're just playing a wild game. In order to deceive Isaac, Rivkah instructs Jacob to dress in Esau's special garment and to put goat skins on his arms. “So he [Jacob] came close and kissed him; and when he smelled the smell of his garments, he blessed him and said, “See, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field which the LORD has blessed...” (Ge 27:27) Although the voice didn’t add up to Isaac, the pleasant field fragrance was apparently a singular aroma, one not easily duplicated or confused with another. Where did it come from? The sages say it was from the blessed field of Creation, the garment Elohim made for Adam when he drove the first couple from the Garden. The garment was handed down to Noah, but after the Flood, the fear and dread of mankind fell upon the animal kingdom. With the special garment, though, the animal kingdom continued to have no fear. It still held the fragrance of obedient Eden. The animals would approach anyone wearing the garment, recognizing his authority in the Creation. It is thought that eventually Nimrod "the mighty hunger before the Lord" took control of the garment, which gave him power over the animals. When people saw this special power, they submitted themselves to him, giving him dictatorial power. At some point, Esau killed Nimrod and took this pleasant garment for his own: Then Rebekah took the best (chemdah) garments of Esau her elder son, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob her younger son. (Ge 27:15) וַתִּקַּח רִבְקָה אֶת־בִּגְדֵי עֵשָׂו בְּנָהּ הַגָּדֹל הַחֲמֻדֹת אֲשֶׁר אִתָּהּ בַּבָּיִת וַתַּלְבֵּשׁ אֶת־יַעֲקֹב בְּנָהּ הַקָּטָן׃ חֶמְדָּה chemdâh feminine of H2531; delight:—desire, goodly, pleasant, precious. Chemdah [chamud/chamuda] can apply to precious things like jewelry or clothes, but it especially applies to the Land of Israel, the reflection of the Garden above it. Here are some examples of its use in context with the Land: “Then they despised the pleasant land; they did not believe [הֶאֱמִינוּ] in His Word...” (Ps 106:24) “...but I scattered them with a storm wind among all the nations whom they have not known. Thus the land is desolated behind them so that no one went back and forth, for they made the pleasant land desolate.” (Zech 7:14) Israel, “the pleasant Land,” is the most beautiful inheritance one may have among all the nations that the peoples may inherit. Those who bear the lingering fragrance of obedience founded on their belief, or faith, will be collected from the nations to inherit with “sons”: ‘Return, O faithless sons,’ declares the LORD; ‘For I am a master to you, and I will take you one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion.’ “Then I will give you shepherds after My own heart, who will feed you on knowledge and understanding. It shall be in those days when you are multiplied and increased in the land,” declares the LORD, “they will no longer say, ‘The ark of the covenant of the LORD.’ And it will not come to mind, nor will they remember it, nor will they miss it, nor will it be made again. At that time they will call Jerusalem ‘The Throne of the LORD,’ and all the nations will be gathered to it, to Jerusalem, for the name of the LORD; nor will they walk anymore after the stubbornness of their evil heart. In those days the house o

Rise Up Come Down, Jerusalem (Part 2 of Charm School) The haftarah (reading from the Prophets) supplies our study this week, a continuation from "Charm School" of the Torah portion Vaetchanan. It is Isaiah 51:12-52:12. Verses and 1 and 2 supply our question and answer: Does Jerusalem, the Bride, arise at the resurrection or does she descend to be seated (dwell)? YES! First one, then the other. The foreshadowing of the restoration is found a little farther along in Isaiah: It will no longer be said to you, “Forsaken,” nor to your land will it any longer be said, “Desolate”; but you will be called, “My delight is in her,” and your land, “Married”; for the LORD delights in you, and to Him your land will be married. (Is 62:4) This explains the “New Jerusalem” as Eden above able to once again “marry” the physical Land of Jerusalem and Israel from which she withdrew after the first sin. Once the Land is cleansed, those who could heed the command to “Arise” at the resurrection at the Last Trump will descend adorned with the ornaments of the written and lived Word, and they will be seated, or “dwell” (sheviyah) in the Bride’s renewed intimate Edenic habitation: Then I saw a new [renewed] heaven and a new [renewed] earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.” (Re 21:1-4) Not all who were called will be fully clothed in the garments that allow them to pass into and out of the ”cloud” of New Jerusalem as they minister to the nations and kingdoms of the millennium. Although all were educated by Moses and the Ruach in the cloud in the wilderness, not all obeyed His compassionate mitzvot with joy, and they died either in the wilderness of the exodus from Egypt or the wilderness of the peoples in the last exile (Ezek 20:35). The Cloud expels rebels and practicing sinners. They evaporate in the Light of the Word, not the cloud. Nehemiah explains their royal priestly semi-Edenic journey, reiterating the special garments in a cloud dwelling where the Lamp was the Lamb, the Word of God, and how they ruled and will again rule the peoples from this portable Jerusalem/Temple. (Re 21) “You, in Your great compassion did not forsake them in the wilderness; the pillar of cloud did not leave them by day, to guide them on their way, nor the pillar of fire by night, to light for them the way in which they were to go. You gave Your good Spirit to instruct them, Your manna You did not withhold from their mouth, and You gave them water for their thirst. Indeed, forty years You provided for them in the wilderness, and they were not in want; their clothes did not wear out, nor did their feet swell. You also gave them kingdoms and peoples...” (Ne 9:19-22) The bridal garments are garments of a royal priesthood tried in the wilderness, ready to reign and rule with Messiah Yeshua, the Living Word of the Father. He is Bread, Water, garments of righteousness, and peace that do not wear out, for those royal bridal blessings of eternal life are from the Garden above. The feet don't swell because those feet are not exactly touching the natural earth after Jerusalem once again is married to the earth below. The Bride is adorned with beautiful mitzvot full of the Light of the Torah and the Lamp of the Word. That is the Light with which they also will light the world when they have come to rest in the Holy City: “I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. In the daytime (for there will be no night there) its gates will never be closed; and they will bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it; and nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.” (Re 21:22-27) The Lamb is the Word of God, full of light that calls the Bride to arise and shine, for her Light has come. She also wears garments of glory, the 24 garments of the Word that light the way for the nations. Gates that never close have no threat from the Beast, who always strives to carry burdens of commerce through the beautiful gates of glorious Jerusalem. You. You, Jerusalem below, are adorning yourself to arise, to prepare for your role as Jerusalem who will descend and dwell on earth

Please SUBSCRIBE to our newsletter to get new teachings.

Charm School Have you ever seen something in a Judaica catalog or shop that made you scratch your head? Symbols are always a hot topic in our circles, and often the discussions are full of extremes. In our quest to be willingly obedient to the Word of Adonai, sometimes it's obvious we never went to charm school. Or charm and symbol school. Frank Houtz, may his memory be for blessing, did an excellent job addressing fears of idolatory in words and symbols in his lecture, “Discerning Between Good and Evil” (2010), and he presents a reliable hermeneutic to identify customs that are indeed evil from those that mean exactly what those who use them believe them to mean. In Creation Gospel Workbook Six, we address some of the controversy: “The Magen David (Star of David) is a good example of symbolism that has been appropriated by some pagan religions. Because of that, some believers with a poor hermeneutical skill set have averred that the Magen David is a pagan symbol. Without adding anything but common sense to Houtz’ insightful, careful work with the subject, the obvious questions are, “What is the symbol’s primary source, and what did the Magen David mean to the people who began to identify with it?” If pagan cultures at some time appropriated the symbol, it has no bearing on what it originally meant to those who began to use it, for the Fourth Day of Creation of sun, moon, and stars antedated by far any pagan identification. I’m sure no Christian wants Christianity judged by the number of cross necklaces worn in mug shot photos or at lewd, filthy concerts. Just because trees have been worshiped as gods and used as pagan symbols doesn't mean we can have trees in our yards. The symbol of the Magen David is accepted universally as a symbol of the Jewish people. It is not so much an ancient Israelite symbol, but more cultural and ethnic identity. At this point in history, it is the observance of the Biblical moedim that sets apart Israel from the heathen nations, making the association of the Magen David with paganism antithetical. The Jewish people have long been associated by other nations both with the moedim of Scripture as well as the symbol of the Magen David. Monotheism. (*Scroll down for full communication from Frank) But what about other symbols, like charms? There is a fine line between a symbol of remembrance or identification and believing the symbol itself has power that belongs to the Creator. For instance, in times past, our congregation was accused of worshiping a Torah scroll. No, we respect the Word; it is valuable to us. Now if we marched the scroll down to the local ATM, held it up to the machine and believed it would miraculously spit out $10,000 every time, there's a bronze serpent problem. Twenty-four ornaments of the Bride are based on the richness that Israel used to seduce her lovers instead of her Bridegroom who gave them to her: “...and the LORD will make their foreheads bare. In that day the Lord will take away the beauty of their anklets, headbands, crescent ornaments, dangling earrings, bracelets, veils, headdresses, ankle chains, sashes, perfume boxes, amulets, finger rings, nose rings, festal robes, outer tunics, cloaks, money purses, hand mirrors, undergarments, turbans and veils. Now it will come about that instead of sweet perfume there will be putrefaction; instead of a belt, a rope; instead of well-set hair, a plucked-out scalp...” (Is 3:18-24 NASB) In the Shabbat livestream, we’ll examine the spiritual significance of each of these bridal ornaments, but one of them, the amulet, is a head-scratcher. That’s primarily because we’re only familiar with the corruption of the symbol, not the Scriptural, Hebrew meaning of it that makes it an ornament fit for a bride. amulets [lehashim] לַחַשׁ a whisper, i.e. by implication, (in a good sense) a private prayer, (in a bad one) an incantation; concretely, an amulet:—charmed, earring, enchantment, orator, prayer. Are they forbidden magic and superstition, or is there a more ancient use? The variety of necklace-type adornments links the wording of how to lay tefillin to wearing a pendant, amulet, necklace, etc. My son, keep my words and treasure my commandments within you. Keep my commandments and live, and my teaching as the apple of your eye. Bind them on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart. (Pr 7:1-3) My son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments; for length of days and years of life and peace they will add to you. Do not let kindness and truth leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. So you will find favor and good repute in the sight of God and man. (Pr 3:1-4) The above is very much like the description of how Yeshua grew in Scriptures and with people, the exact vertical/horizontal relationship found in the two greatest commandments, love Adonai and love your neighbor. “And Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.”

Dog Food Your lips, my bride, drip honey; Honey and milk are under your tongue, And the fragrance of your garments Is like the fragrance of Lebanon. The Torah, the Word of Adonai, is compared to milk and honey. The more we learn, the more we do. The more we learn, the more we can speak with spiritual intelligence. Midrash Rabbah 4§22 says: If one can make his words pleasing like honey and milk mixed together when he is speaking [under your tongue], then he is fit to say words of Torah [honey drops from your lips]...he must incorporate multiple branches of Torah knowledge in his addresses, like the different tastes of honey and milk mixing together. The "different tastes" can mean incorporating different parts of Scripture into one's words, or it can mean selecting the words to fit the understanding level of the hearers. Incorporating different parts of Scripture in an exhortation or teaching is likened to the twenty-four adornments of the Bride listed in Isaiah. Just as the high priest may not serve if he is missing even one of his eight garments, so the Bride should be well-versed (!) in all of the Word so that she may present them as delicious meals that are both appreciated and digested. The Midrash continues: Before one undertakes to present a reproachful sermon to an audience, he must determine that his message of inspiration and reproof will be so appealing to its recipients that it can potentially turn them around, transforming ‘unclean’ sinners into pure and holy people. Only when one’s sermons meet this ‘milk-and-honey’ standard-when they resonate with the masses and inspire them to repentance-does he have license to give them; otherwise, they are better left unsaid. Anyone who says words of Torah in public, and they are not pleasing to those who hear them is like the bride, who is pleasing to people when under her wedding canopy, it would have been better for him had he not said them. If the audience does not appreciate them, the words of Torah that he is imparting will suffer disgrace. One must ensure that he teaches Torah using the choicest of words, entirely free of inaccuracy or imperfection. A teacher should not teach according to his or her own disappointments, hurts, anger, fears, or grief. Those words will not be beautiful, nor will they move people to repentance. Life experiences inform what we teach, but personal emotions should never be allowed to direct the Word in a way to inflict one's own anger, fear, or disappointment onto the hearers. Those types of tantrums disguised as teaching or preaching bring reproach to the beautiful Word. Additionally, if the teacher is unfamiliar with the whole Word, or the teaching is not in harmony with the whole Word, the teacher will teach inaccurately. This is the danger of fixation on one doctrine. There is another danger as well... Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces. (Mt 7:6) While this sounds harsh, look at the Torah clues to Yeshua’s warning. Dogs may eat trafe, or “torn” meat, that which does not meet the criteria of food for the holy community. Such food is not slaughtered precisely, without cruelty, according to high standards. Dogs slaughter and eat their food through strangling and tearing. Yeshua isn't calling people dogs and pigs; he's using the analogy to show how the food offered needs to fit the eater. Pigs do not recognize as valuable what is valuable to humans. They only value what goes into their stomachs. The beautiful pearls of Scripture are not useful to them. It’s important to know your audience or students. Teach over someone’s head, and the time is wasted. Insult their learning level, and the time is wasted. In a mixed audience, try to hit somewhere in the middle. Teach to the students’ needs, yet stretch them to holier places. Challenge with milk and honey until they can consume holy meat without tearing it in the processing. If they are “hogging” on a single doctrine, consider whether the pearls of Torah will be trampled in their pursuit. Their appetites may need to change before the whole Word is appreciated. The prophets often proclaimed the Word to people who didn’t heed their words, nor did they repent. They often tore and trampled the prophets or killed them. On the other hand, a remnant heard. If you are inspired of the Ruach HaKodesh to proclaim the Word, then do so. You might be planting seeds of repentance such as Stephen planted in Paul even as he was being martyred. Stephen’s dying sermon was full bridal adornment, taking the hearers on a TANAKH tour. Peter’s Shavuot sermon moved thousands. We don’t have control over what the hearers do with the Word, whether they will let it encourage them or cause them to repent. The remnant heard and repented, passing along the Scriptures we have today. What is the balance then? Milk and honey, or fiery hellfire diatribes? It’s not that you can’t speak hard words

Please SUBSCRIBE to our newsletter to get new teachings.

The Filling Station When I was around four years old, my aunt borrowed my dad’s work truck, probably to carry a load of tomatoes to market. If you’ve never had a freshly-picked southwest Arkansas-grown Bradley tomato, you don’t know what you’re missing. My Aunt Frances took me along, and she pulled into a filling station to get gas. For those of you too young to know what a filling station is, it’s a lot like a gas station, but there’s someone there to pump the gas, often dressed in a uniform. He checked the tire pressure and cleaned the windshield while the gas pumped. Eventually, they called that “Full service.” Back then, it was the only kind of service. The attendant asked my Aunt Frances what kind of gas she wanted. My aunt wasn’t sure what Dad used, so she asked me, “Hollisa, what kind of gas does your daddy put in this truck?” Happy to have the right answer to a very adult question, I replied, “He gets Fillerupregular.” Nowadays, I suppose it’s even more important to select the right kind of fuel for different kinds of engines. In the Kingdom of Heaven, often disputes arise about grace vs works because we are pouring the wrong kind of fuel. The fuel is wrong because the question is wrong. The question is wrong because of a misunderstanding of the fundamentals of salvation, grace, obedience, and holiness. Like my four-year-old understanding of gasoline, often we simply parrot what we’ve heard someone say, someone older or wiser than we. We memorize the answer before we understand the words. There is a reason two cheruvim guard the entrance to the Garden. Death cannot dwell there. Sin falls under the legal purview of death. Rebellion and transgression sins transfer a person under the custody of death. To allow a sinner to enter the holier spaces of the Presence is to consign them to the custody of death. It’s like trying to drop a quarter into the slot only big enough for a dime. The way to the most powerful dwelling of the Divine Presence grows narrower as we walk with Adonai. Salvation begins the walk, but sanctification is a lifelong process of letting the Ruach HaKodesh shape us and strip away impairments that might delay our ability to stand and serve in holier places of the Presence. Adonai does not want us foolishly scampering into a holier place than that for which our obedience has prepared us. Just as there is glory to glory, life to life, growth to growth, so there are different kinds of “death.” Death is a matter of separation. The Mishkan drew levels of holiness in the Camp of Israel. The pattern of the kohanim illustrates how a nation of priests should approach the holy spaces of ministry in holy garments so that they are not cut off... You shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother, for glory and for beauty. You shall speak to all the skillful persons whom I have endowed with the spirit of wisdom, that they make Aaron’s garments to consecrate him, that he may minister as priest to Me. These are the garments which they shall make:..(Ex 28:2-4) ... “They shall be on Aaron and on his sons when they enter the tent of meeting, or when they approach the altar to minister in the holy place, so that they do not incur guilt and die.” (v. 43) Even the Kohen HaGadol could die from his service! It doesn't mean he wasn't saved from the second death, but that he couldn't fit into that holy space in disobedience. Rashi comments to the passage above: “When they enter the Tent of Meeting...and die.” See that you have learned from this verse that a Kohen who performs the service lacking any of the Kohen’s garments in subject to death.” This is a death “at the hands of Heaven,” not execution by the courts. It may or may not have an immediate visible effect to the natural eye. Rashi to Ex 28:41 “With them you shall dress Aaron your brother and his sons with him; you shall anoint them [with anointing oil], and you shall fill their hand, and you shall sanctify them, and they shall be Kohanim...” “Any filling of the hands in Scripture is an expression of inauguration when one enters upon a matter to be acknowledge as holding it from that day on that is called filling of the hands...filling the hands connotes taking full possession of something, e.g., a position of authority.” Even though Aaron’s sons Nadav and Avihu had died in a holier place of the Presence than their obedience and level of consecration permitted, nevertheless, Aaron was required to stay in the Mishkan because the anointing oil was upon him. The authority and responsbility had been poured into his hands. As Kohen HaGadol, his consecration had prepared him for the realm of holiness, the incense service, for which his sons had not yet been authorized. Obedience and consecration fills our hands with the authority of the Holy One to serve in the holier places, and unlike the rest of Israel, Aaron was limited in how he could grieve. The anointing prepares us for the suffering we will do in order to “fit” in those holier places of the Presence

That Day You Went Missing That's not like you. He wasn't himself. She's having a bad day. Ever say that to or about someone? After the beloved Miriam's death, the gracious Moses and Aaron go missing: And the people of Israel, the whole congregation, came into the wilderness of Zin in the first month, and the people stayed in Kadesh. And Miriam died there and was buried there. Now there was no water for the congregation. And they assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron. And the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Would that we had perished when our brothers perished before the Lord! Why have you brought the assembly of the Lord into this wilderness, that we should die here, both we and our cattle? And why have you made us come up out of Egypt to bring us to this evil place? It is no place for grain or figs or vines or pomegranates, and there is no water to drink.” Then Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the entrance of the tent of meeting and fell on their faces. And the glory of the Lord appeared to them, and the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Take the staff, and assemble the congregation, you and Aaron your brother, and tell the rock before their eyes to yield its water. So you shall bring water out of the rock for them and give drink to the congregation and their cattle.” And Moses took the staff from before the Lord, as he commanded him. Then Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, “Hear now, you rebels: shall we bring water for you out of this rock?” And Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock with his staff twice, and water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their livestock. And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not believe in me, to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them.” These are the waters of Meribah, where the people of Israel quarreled with the Lord, and through them he showed himself holy. (Nu 20:1-13) When Moses and Aaron took the message to the congregation, did they transmit the Glory of the Presence? Was it consistent with Kadesh, a place of testing in holiness? When they delivered the message, did Israel see what they saw in the Tent of Meeting? In Chukkat, there are three examples of the “sanctification of the Name” to witnesses through the death of a righteous person: 1)The death of Miriam The death decrees of 2)Moses and 3)Aaron. Before that, the deaths of Nadav and Avihu... Then Moses said to Aaron, “It is what the LORD spoke, saying, ‘I will be sanctified by those who are close to Me, and before all the people I will be honored.’ So Aaron, therefore, kept silent.” (Le 10:3) When a righteous person is judged or simply passes away peacefully, it definitely creates awe, mourning, and fear in those who see or hear it, thus sanctifying the Name. But the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “Since you did not believe in Me to sanctify Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore, you will not bring this congregation to the land which I have given them.” They are the waters of strife, where the children of Israel contended with the LORD, and He was sanctified through them. (Nu 20:12-13 Artscroll) As a result, the trio were all removed from the congregation before entering the Promised Land. Missing. A garden locked is my sister, my bride, A rock garden locked, a spring sealed up. (So 4:12) A hint to our missing persons, Miriam, Moses, and Aaron, may be found in the “eyes of the people,” the Bride being tried in the wilderness: “Take the staff, and assemble the congregation, you and Aaron your brother, and tell the rock before their eyes to yield its water.” (v 8) “...to treat Me as holy in the sight of the sons of Israel...” (v 12) Einayim (pl), ein, "eye," or "sight" also means a spring, a fountain. Had Moses and Aaron spoken tenderly to the sealed “rock garden,” it may have released the holy spiritual power of faith, hope, and love within the Bride. Instead, they scolded angrily, and it released only natural water. This did not really help the congregation through the test, only pointed out their shortcomings. Nothing has changed in our Exodus story at this point. Israel is the Bride being tested according to the mitzvot, particularly the Ten Words they agreed to at Har Sinai: “You shall remember all the way which the LORD your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not.” (Dt 8:2) In this week’s Torah portion, we can find tests of at least five of the first six Words: First Commandment (Exodus 20:2) I am the Lord Your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Second Commandment (Exodus 20:3-6) You shall have no other gods beside Me. Yet, Moses and Aaron say, “Shall we bring forth water for you out of this

A Tried Bride In Creation Gospel Workbook Five Volume Four (Bamidbar), students are challenged with the following exercise: Draw a circle on a sheet of paper, but don’t close it. Inside write all the gifts, abilities, and characteristics that you KNOW are completely you. Don’t write what you’d like to be or do, but what you already know describes you. Let the circle sit for a few days or even weeks. Add or remove as necessary. It is okay to consult close friends or family who know you well. When you’re satisfied that what’s inside that circle describes what can be definitively known about you, close the circle. This simple exercise helps us to explain the problem in the Torah portion Korach this week: Therefore you and all your company are gathered together against the LORD; but as for Aaron, who is he that you grumble against him? (Nu 16:11) The leading administrators from the tribes of Reuven and Levi became jealous and bitter against Moses and Aaron. They are influencers of their generation. Moses reminds them that they were each given important leadership roles and service in the Body of the their future Messiah, but for some reason they became angry with Adonai; however, Moses and Aaron were the physical scapegoats for their jealousy. Moses wants to know why they were picking on Aaron. Who was he but an assigned agent of the Holy One? Authority comes from Heaven, not personal ambition or the ability to influence people. Aaron was a man walking in obedience to his gifts and calling; he was walking in the Way. When a disciple walks in The Way of obedience to Adonai, then he walks in a power of the Ruach HaKodesh that threatens the satan. Aaron was walking in the power of THE NAME. He was operating to the best of his ability in the gifts and abilities he’d been given to intercede for Israel. We saw his Divine gift early in the story when he met Moses and willingly interceded as a speaker for Moses when Moses was still struggling to walk in his own gift of administration...which he'd learned early in the house of Pharaoh, then abandoned for a time while he learned shepherding in the wilderness. The simple circle warmup exercise above was taken from a rabbi who was teaching on confusion and doubt. It is better to inventory one’s strengths and weaknesses early in a journey than to leave the path littered with ill-fitting armor and unrealistic dreams. In this context, the exercise points out where Korach and his assembly, and we as well, covet and enter spaces and places not apportioned by HaShem. Once the circle is closed, spend all your effort developing what’s inside it, never what is outside it. This is your portion. If something else will be added later, it will grow from what is inside the circle, not what is outside. The warmup exercise of drawing the circle is a way of helping disciples avoid doubt and confusion as to their roles in the Body of Messiah, families, work, etc. Every disciple must build the “name” or reputation and deeds uniquely apportioned to him in this world. The writer of Proverbs acknowledges that a Godly balance is desired in the portion: Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is my portion… (Pr 30:8) The Father knows how to apportion His gifts to His children. He supplies food and water inside the circle, like the Garden of Eden. The difficulty for most of us is that we don’t want to close the circle. We want to keep our options open so we can be or have more or be responsible for less. This brings us back to Shavuot and the story of Boaz and Ruth. Once Boaz realizes who Ruth is, he doesn’t react exactly as we’d expect him to. Yes, he invites her to his table, makes sure she gleans more with less effort, and she’s protected in his field. What he doesn’t do is lavish gifts or an all-expenses paid new home and car. Or donkey. He doesn’t woo her with expensive gifts. If he is such a close relative, and we know that from the first time he laid eyes on her he was attracted, why not roll out the red carpet? Even as she sweats to glean in his field, Boaz and the whole city know this about Ruth's name, her reputation: “Now, my daughter, do not fear. I will do for you whatever you ask, for all my people in the city know that you are a woman of excellence." (Ru 3:11) Boaz wants to see if she would be content with her portion. Having been Divinely guided to his field, would she be content in it and grow into maturity with him, or would she seek a faster way to the top outside his authority? Would she follow the reaping crowd to new fields? This was the testing of the future bride as the testing of the Bride in the wilderness. Korach and the other leaders had the potential to build within their assigned positions. Had they applied the energy of coveting Aaron and Moses’ positions into developing their own, imagine what a blessing they would have been to Israel. They failed the test of the Tenth Word: Tenth Commandment (Exodus 20:17) You shall not covet your neighbor’s

A Wedding of Words Part Two Recap: Each year, it is traditional to read the scroll of Ruth at Shavuot. We might say the three scrolls of Ruth, Esther, and Song of Songs are the Bridal Scrolls of return from exile. What happened to Israel in leaving Egypt at Pesach is what happened to Ruth in leaving Moab and arriving at the House of Bread (Beit Lechem) at Pesach. The Israelites left Egypt as strangers there before she became a Bride, and Ruth left Moab to become a stranger inside the gate of Judah before she became part of the Bride. Israel and Ruth moved to holier places in their journeys. The setting of Ruth’s story is Beit Lechem, the House of Bread, where Judah was recovering from the famine. The wilderness also was a place of miraculous, Heavenly Bread and Living Water. A place of covering, anointing, preparation, and clean clothes for a nation of priests. The wilderness was where the Bride was purified with the Torah as she walked as she walked after her Bridegroom, picking up what He dropped for her each morning. Let’s see if there are wilderness template parallels in the story of Ruth: The Ten Words to the Bride at Shavuot, Mount Sinai, Via Moshe, Friend of the Bridegroom become Ten Witnesses to the Bride’s purity and offspring. If what happened to Israel in the wilderness at Mount Sinai happened to Ruth, then we should be able to find the Ten Words at work in the Megillat Ruth. Last week, we found the first four commandments. This week, we'll find the remaining six: Fifth Commandment (Ex 20:12) Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord God gives you. Ruth honors her father and mother in a way that many have had to when their parents were idolators and habitual sinners...she doesn't do what they would want, but what her mother "in Torah" would want. Her disobedience to her parents to honor her Heavenly Father is the only way to honor her earthly parents. All that you have done for your mother-in-law after the death of your husband has been fully reported to me, and how you left your father and your mother and the land of your birth and came to a people that you did not previously know. (Ru 2:11) Enjoying "long days on the earth" is a kind of security that is thought to allude to eternal security in the Kingdom of Heaven. Then Naomi her mother-in-law said to her, “My daughter, shall I not seek security for you, that it may be well with you? Now is not Boaz our kinsman, with whose maids you were? Behold, he winnows barley at the threshing floor tonight. Wash yourself therefore, and anoint yourself and put on your best clothes, and go down to the threshing floor; but do not make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking. It shall be when he lies down, that you shall notice the place where he lies, and you shall go and uncover his feet and lie down; then he will tell you what you shall do.” She said to her, “All that you say I will do.” So she went down to the threshing floor and did according to all that her mother-in-law had commanded her. (Ru 3:1-6) In Ruth, the Moses role and priesthood role along with “young men” shifts to Naomi as the friend/mediator between bride and bridegroom, and the young women (na’arot) are emphasized instead of young men (na’arim). Boaz tells Ruth to follow his young women. This shift in emphasis honors the “mother” [in law]. Whereas Moses instructs Israel what to do, Naomi instructs Ruth, who obeys her in all. Then Moses came and recounted to the people all the words of the LORD and all the ordinances; and all the people answered with one voice and said, “All the words which the LORD has spoken we will do!” Moses wrote down all the words of the LORD. Then he arose early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain with twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel. He sent young men of the sons of Israel, and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls as peace offerings to the LORD. (Ex 24:3-5) She said to her, “All that you say I will do.” So she went down to the threshing floor and did according to all that her mother-in-law had commanded her. (Ru 3:1-6) Naomi's instructions to Ruth to wash herself and her garments and anoint herself echo Moses instructions to the Israelites to prepare to meet the Bridegroom: “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow and let them wash their garments; and let them be ready for the third day, for on the third day [first fruits of barley] the LORD will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. You shall set bounds for the people all around, saying, ‘Beware that you do not go up on the mountain or touch the border of it; whoever touches the mountain shall surely be put to death. No hand shall touch him, but he shall surely be stoned or shot through; whether beast or man, he shall not live.’ When the ram’s horn sounds a long blast, they shall come up to the mountain.” So Moses went down from the mountain to t

A Wedding of Words Ruth's One-Way Flight Each year, it is traditional to read the scroll of Ruth at Shavuot. We might say the three scrolls of Ruth, Esther, and Song of Songs are the Bridal Scrolls of return from exile. There are many wonderful ideas about why Ruth commemmorates the giving of the Torah in addition to the story's setting, the time between the first fruits of the barley harvest at Pesach and the wheat harvest at Shavuot. Sometimes the simplest answer is the most memorable. What happened to Israel in leaving Egypt at Pesach is what happened to Ruth in leaving Moab and arriving at the House of Bread (Beit Lechem) at Pesach. The Israelites left Egypt as strangers there before she became a Bride, and Ruth left Moab to become a stranger in Judah before she became part of the Bride. The clue is in the wings that carried the Israelites and Ruth to their destinations, the wildernes and the Promised Land. In Hebrew, "wing" is kanaf (כָּנָף). And why were they carried their places? To engage in a covenant of the Ten Words: “You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings (כָּנָף), and brought you to Myself.” (Ex 19:4) “May the LORD reward your work, and your wages be full from the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings (כָּנָף) you have come to seek refuge.” (Ruth 2:12) He said, “Who are you?” And she answered, “I am Ruth your maid. So spread your covering (כָּנָף) over your maid, for you are a close relative.” (Ruth 3:9) Were Israel and Ruth flown to a place of refuge, or were they moved to holier places in their journeys? Yes. “Thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘In those days ten men from all the nations will grasp the garment (כָּנָף) of a Jew, saying, “Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.”’” (Zec 8:23) The setting of Ruth’s story is Beit Lechem, the House of Bread, where Judah was recovering from the famine. The wilderness also was a place of miraculous, Heavenly Bread and Living Water. A place of covering, anointing, preparation, and clean clothes for a nation of priests. The wilderness was where the Bride was purified with the Torah as she walked as she walked after her Bridegroom, picking up what He dropped for her each morning. Let’s see if there are wilderness template parallels in the story of Ruth: The Ten Words to the Bride at Shavuot, Mount Sinai, Via Moshe, Friend of the Bridegroom become Ten Witnesses to the Bride’s purity and offspring. Think of the Ten Words (Commandments) as Ten Witnesses, the observable grace of the Bride in preparing for her Bridegroom according to their everlasting agreement. Ruth's character exhibited this grace in the Word, witnessed by ten elders of Beit Lechem: ...for all my people in the city know that you are a woman of excellence. (3:11) He took ten men of the elders of the city and said, “Sit down here.” So they sat down. (Ru 4:2) Then Boaz said to the elders and all the people, “You are witnesses today...(v. 9) All the people who were in the court, and the elders, said, “We are witnesses. May the LORD make the woman who is coming into your home like Rachel and Leah, both of whom built the house of Israel; and may you achieve wealth in Ephrathah and become famous in Bethlehem. Moreover, may your house be like the house of Perez whom Tamar bore to Judah, through the offspring which the LORD will give you by this young woman.” (v. 11-12) Numerous times in Deuteronomy Moses called heaven and earth as well as the Israelites to be witnesses "today" of the importance of obeying the Words of the covenant. Ruth's obedience to the Ten Words had risen to such heights that she broke the "Moabite barrier," a passage in the Torah forbidding marriage to a Moabite, for they were stingy and inhospitable to their kin, Israel, as they passed in the wilderness. Ruth, however, was the exact opposite: hospitable, obedient, humble, and loyal to her words of fialty to Naomi, Judah, Israel, and the Elohim of Israel. Because of this repentance, a new understanding of the commandment against Moabites was found, just as Moses found a new understanding of the laws of inheritance through the five daughters of Tzelofechad. Now the judges realized that the prohibition was against marrying male Moabites, for the wording, when examined closely, suggested the injunction was against the males, not females [who had put away idols]. If what happened to Israel in the wilderness at Mount Sinai happened to Ruth, then we should be able to find the Ten Words at work in the Megillat Ruth. We'll start this week with the first four commandments of the Ten Words, then continue next week, b'azrat HaShem. First Commandment (Ex 20:2) I am the Lord Your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Second Commandment (Ex 20:3-6) You shall have no other gods beside Me. You shall not make for yourself any graven image, nor any manner of likeness, of any thing that is heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or

Nahum 1:15 15 Behold, on the mountains the feet of him who brings good news, Who announces peace! Celebrate your feasts, O Judah; Pay your vows. For never again will the wicked one pass through you; He is cut off completely. Please SUBSCRIBE to our newsletter to get new teachings.

Why is the Holy One so angry? Please SUBSCRIBE to our newsletter to get new teachings.

Gardener's Guide to the Tree of Life Days of Elijah Preparing the Bride She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her, and happy are all who hold her fast. (Pr 3:18) The Torah is a tree of life, and obeying it is the path to fruitfulness. This fruitfulness deepens the relationship, stitching earth to Heaven, where the roots of the Tree extend upward. After all, our eyes really see the world upside down and turn it "right" side up. Or is it? Studying the Word rights the world in the mind and circumcised heart of the diligent disciple of Yeshua. One of the frequent metaphors in Scripture is that of a tree representing a human being. "I see men like trees walking." (Mk 8:24) The Torah brought to life in a human being is indeed like a tree of life walking. In fact, the Torah gives specific instructions on how to plant a tree: When you come into the land and plant any kind of tree for food, then you shall regard its fruit as forbidden [orlah, uncircumcised]. Three years it shall be forbidden [orlah] to you; it must not be eaten. And in the fourth year all its fruit shall be holy, an offering of praise to the Lord. But in the fifth year you may eat of its fruit, to increase its yield for you: I am the Lord your God. (Le 19:23-25) The above passage from Torah portion Kedoshim, Holies, provides a teaching moment from Sefer HaChinnukh §246 and 1 Corinthians 10:23-30. Sefer HaChinnukh is a set of books explaining each commandment in the Torah. Since the Days of Elijah prepare the way of Yeshua's return, the holiness of the tree, representing human beings, instructs us in how to develop our circumcised hearts in holiness. One of the traditional views of Elijah is that he is associated with circumcision, zeal for the Torah. Holiness is often the result of a process. For instance, the seventh day of Creation was the first thing called holy in Scripture, and it was the result of a process of creation. Holiness in the Mishkan or Mikdash was something to be maintained and guarded after processes of purification. Holiness in a person is a matter of growing in sanctification. The mitzvot are the method of achieving holiness, not salvation. Since the tree is often a metaphor for human beings in Scripture, the growth of a goodly (fruit) tree is a metaphor for growing in holiness. In simple terms, a tree “planted” in the Land of Israel must be set apart for three years before its fruit may be eaten freely by anyone (assuming holy portions are removed first even after it ages into circumcision). In the fourth year, its fruit is to be eaten in the Temple by the owner or turned into money with a fifth added to be taken to the Temple and enjoyed. Only after the tree loses its orlah status is someone subject to a guilt offering if he/she took a holy portion designated for the Temple. If someone were to eat the set-apart fruit by mistake then, it would require a guilt offering plus a fifth, which is for taking holy things unwittingly. Three Levels of Holiness: The tree is planted in Israel and grows for three years The tree is holy to Adonai to be consumed by the planter only in Jerusalem, circumcised The tree finally is subject to terumah, holy tithes, firstfruits, shmittah, yovel, but otherwise freely consumed or sold by the owner; also a person may opportunistically eat of it (but not gather). By the Torah’s expression, this law applies only in the Land of Israel. The sages, however, see some doubt, and have extended this law of tree orlah, un-circumcision outside the Land of Israel. Although they do not extend the fourth and fifth year (and beyond) requirements because a Temple is lacking, they do prohibit eating the uncircumcised fruit for the first three years. This includes only trees planted in the ground, not trees in a container. The opportunistic eater presents a problem: he/she does not know the tree’s age-stage of holiness. Trees don't have signs with their birthday written on them. In general, in Jewish law where there is doubt, the sages ruled stringently, not permitting it. However, in the case of the orlah (uncircumcised), “That which is certain is forbidden; what is in doubt is permissible.” So which is it? It is explained thus... “...if an Israelite has a tree of orlah in his garden and his neighbor comes and eats of its fruit, he is not duty-bound to inform him at all that it is orlah. The sages of blessed memory used the expression, ‘It is a doubt to me, and I will eat’; in other words, as long as a man does not know for certain that it is orlah, he is allowed to eat of it....’ Only if he knows it is forbidden is he punishable by whiplashes.” Sefer HaChinnukh §246 If a passerby doesn’t ask if it is orlah, he is permitted to eat it. This extends grace to the hungry traveler, yet the owner of the tree is still developing a deeper relationship with Adonai. Now let’s see if Paul’s reasoning doesn’t make better sense when it comes to eating clean food in general... All things are lawful, but not all things are p

In this teaching, Dr Hollisa Alewine shares some very basic yet important hermeneutic principles, which will encourage us on how to dig deeper into His WORD and not misinterpret the true meaning of the text. Please SUBSCRIBE to our newsletter to get new teachings.

This week we'll cover the Torah portion Kedoshim, or "Holies" and we'll tease apart some profound details in the account of the woman caught in adultery. Leviticus 19:1-20:27 Amos 9:7-9:15 Psalm 15 John 8:2-11 "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." (Le 19:18) Kedoshim, the “holies,” is nestled in the very heart of the Torah. This commandment stitches itself to heaven and earth. Heaven and earth are two witnesses. If we love Adonai, then we will love His people. Loving His people on earth pleases Him above, for He is “glorified through his people.” Heaven should be glorified on and through the earth. “Then all your people will be righteous; they will possess the land forever, the branch of My planting, the work of My hands, that I may be glorified. (Is 60:21) “Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” (Jn 14:13) “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Le 19:18) In the explanation of the holy commandment to love one's neighbor, the Torah student is told it's the most obvious thing: “This is a great principle in the Torah. Many commandments in the Torah depend on it: Thus, a person who loves another as himself will not steal from him, will not commit adultery with his wife, will not cheat him of goods or oppress him with words, will not move his boundary and will not harm him in any way. So are many other religious duties bound up with it; the matter is evident to every understanding person.” (Sefer HaChinnukh #243) Yeshua wasn’t kidding. All the commandments really do hang on two! “...Whoever derives honor through the disgrace of his fellow-man, has no share in the world-to-come. On the other hand, when a man behaves toward his fellow in a way of love and peace, and friendship, seeking his advantage and rejoicing in his good fortune, Scripture refers to him in the verse, ‘Israel, in whom I will be glorified.’ (Is 49:3)” (Sefer HaChinnukh §243) In the Gospel of John, Yeshua elaborates on how the holy commandment will work on earth to glorify Heaven: “A new [chadasha-refreshed] commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” (Jn 13:34-35) The KJV translates Strong's H2318 in the following manner: renew (7x), repair (3x). Outline of Biblical Usage: to be new, renew, repair to renew, make anew to repair (Hithpael) to renew oneself Strong’s Definitions חָדַשׁ châdash, to be new; causatively, to rebuild:—renew, repair. The KJV translates Strong's H2319 in the following manner: new (48x), new thing (4x), fresh (1x). Outline of Biblical Usage: new, new thing, fresh חָדָשׁ châdâsh; from H2318; new:—fresh, new thing. Yeshua wasn't teaching a brand-new commandment; he was teaching how to refresh and repair the commandment they already had by explaining its function. By loving one another, the greatest commandment, to love Adonai with all one's heart, soul, and strength, would be fulfilled in such a way that the whole world could see it! Loving one’s neighbor as one’s self is impossible if the Torah is not written on the tablets of the heart. If we love our neighbor, we will not disgrace him or her. It is a commandment that has a "refresh" button! Each day, we must remind ourselves to hit "refresh and repair" on our hearts where Adonai has written love. This explanation is found in context. A person who embarrasses another believer is behaving disgracefully toward ADONAI! A person who behaves peacefully with other believers and honors them glorifies ADONAI, not the person. It honors the Father through the person. It also sets apart in holiness the one who honors others as a disciple of Yeshua in the eyes of all men. This is ONE HEART. “You are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all men; being manifested that you are a letter of Christ, cared for by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.” (2 Co 3:2-3) “Love your neighbor as yourself” is embedded in Leviticus among many statutes of holiness. If you love your neighbor, and you are holy, you will not perform those transgressions. If you love Adonai, you will not perform those transgressions; therefore, all the holy Torah hangs on those two. "Why the Law then? It was added because of transgressions, having been ordained through angels by the agency of a mediator, until the seed would come to whom the promise had been made." (Ga 3:19) Yeshua is the Promised Seed. In him, we have, are, and will be made perfect in love. A day is coming...if we will continually and faithfully "refresh" with the Father's mercy and His Ruach...when Yeshua will need only two tablets of our hearts to hold 613 commandments. We will be the perfect testimony and witness of Heaven through the earth. Please SUBSCRIBE to our newsletter to get new teachings.