Many believers worldwide are aware that something huge is about to happen but almost all are making wrong assumptions as to what this actually means spiritually and practically. Unfortunately there are those who are declaring that we are nearly half-way through the Great Tribulation and that Yah'shua (Jesus) will be back within the next four years - others are not so date-specific but are still interpreting events to mean that the 'Rapture' and Second Coming are imminent, that is to day, within a few months or maybe a year or two. DO NOT LISTEN TO THEM. We are going through tribuation, and it will get a lot worse, but this is NOT the end-time 'Great Tribulation' (Mt.24:21; Rev.2:22; 7:14), there will be no rapture and the Second Coming of Messiah is not imminent, and will not occur in my generation.

Yes, there are going to be enormous changes, yes we need to prep (though that should largely be finished now), yes there will be economic collapse (it has already started and will accelerate), yes there will be even more 'natural' disasters (including man-made ones), and yes there will be more war, but do not fall into the trap of every generation that has interpreted any kind of tribulation, calamity, war, economic collapse (like the Great Depression of the 1930's) or pandemic (like the Spanish 'flu after World War I) as the sign of the return of Messiah. This was done during the last two world wars, the Napoleonic wars, and during other crises during the last two millennia. Deceived believers will do the same thing again during this time, fortified as they believe they are by blood-moons and solar eclipses, zealous doomsday preachers, and various in-vogue theories and doctrines that are the invention of carnal man. Most will not believe me, however, until after the events which they thought would happen but which never did. The more thoughtful and honest will admit that they were deceived and will want to know why, and desire to be cleansed. For many who invested their lives in false political ideologies like Zionism and decorated it with false biblical markers will have a crisis of faith when the events they thought were going to happen in the Middle East not only dodn't happen but take an entirely different and unforseen direction. The rapture-mongers will also wonder why they are still here suffering and bloodied, and kick themselves for having made no preparations. There will be a lot of bewildered and lost Christians and Messianics by the time the currently developing penultimate tribulation reaches its height and after the ashes have settled.

I have a great deal to share with you today so I ask for your patience as there is a lot to get through. This is extremely important. This message was planted in my heart a couple of weeks ago and has been gestating ever since as Yahweh has unfolded His immediate plans. I cannot share everything publically because not everything is for the public - those who assemble at the appointed time at the New Year will hear the rest. This message is for those who will be assembling - it is a calling to kol beit Yisra'el - all the House of Israel - to prepare for a cleansing. By the time we have finished today you will understand that we have a choice as to how we want to be cleansed - by voluntarily submitting to Yahweh or involuntarily passing through tribulation until we make proper teshuvah (repentance).

Before I go into a full explanation I must first share the kernel of the revelation that was given me and then we shall proceed with a full exposition and explanation:

1. The Davar Elohim (Word of God) received on the 9th day of the 11th month (Thursday 29 January 2015 at 00:30) for all the qodeshim (saints, set-apart ones) of the New Covenant Assemblies of Yahweh, and those seeking to unite with you by b'rit (covenant) and by sacrifice:

2. Sanctify the whole Mishkan (Temple of) Yahweh - sanctify yourselves that no unclean thing may be found within you, removing all that is unclean from the Sanctuary and carry it outside to the valley of burning, in accordance with the tavnith (pattern) that was revealed unto Hezekiah of the Bayit Yehudah (House of Judah), but according to the B'rit Chadashah (New Covenant), not with the blood of animals according to the former B'rit (Old Covenant) but with the Blood of the Eternal Cohen Gadol (Hight Priest) which is above, even Messiah Yah'shua (Jesus) the Deliverer, King and Righteous Judge.

3. Restore the Altar with all its furnishings, and the tables on which the rows of bread are set with all its furnishings. Set all the furnishings before the Altar of Yahweh which have been cast aside on account of the sacrilegious doings of those who called themselves cohenim (priests) and shlichim (apostles) but were not cohenim (priests) and shlichim (apostles), and on account of those potentates - kings and presidents and the rulers of men - who named My Name but who did not obey Me, who committed blasphemy for their own filthy gain and in honour of the condemned one (Lucifer) who is fallen.

4. Commence the consecration of the Courtyard on the first day of the first month of the New Year (Aviv 1) and enter the Porch of the Temple on the eighth day (Aviv 8). There the nasi Efrayim (prince of Ephraim) before the nesi'im Yisra'el (princes of Israel), shall read out the Mishpat Yahweh to the nations who have profaned My Name.

5. Thereafter ye shall consecrate My House for eight more days, ending on the sixteenth day (Aviv 16), which is Yom haBikkurim (the Day of Firstfruits). Yahweh-Tsevaot has spoken it.

What I am going to share with you today is an example of what we call cyclical, repeating prophecy. What this means, for those of you not familiar with it, is that a revelation and/or a series of prophetic events such as occurred in the days of Hezekiah (Hizkiyah, Hizkiyahu), King of Judah, may be repeated one or more times in different parallel cycles of history but with different characters and in different locations but with similar circumstances until the climax of history has been attained, specifically, the end of the age and the return of Messiah to inaugurate the Millennium. The historical events surrounding the life of Hezekiah are now being repeated TODAY to which these events were also directly pointing prophetically. As we examine these events in depth today you will be astonished by the similarities with own time. 717-687 BC, the life span of Hezekiah, point directly to the time that we are currently in. You will see precisely how everything fits in. One prophetic marker in particular fixes the date precisely - the year of Hezekiah's accession to the throne.

Hezekiah, whose name means 'Yah is Strength', was the son of apostate King Ahaz (whose name means 'He holds') of Judah and his wife Abijah ('Abiyah, whose name means 'My Father is Yah'), became king at the age of 25 and reigned 29 years until his death at the age of 54 (2 Ki.18:2; 2 Chr.29:1). He nearly died aged 39 but was granted 15 more years by Yahweh. Judah was, at this time, a vassel of Assyria. Four years into his reign, when Hezekiah was 29, Shalmanezer beseiged the northern Israelite capital of Samaria for three years and took the bulk of the 10 tribes into Exile (2 Ki.18:11-12). So important events were occurring at this time, just as they are in our own. This parallel 'exile' (oppression and dislocation) will be taking place in our time quite soon and what this means practically is the enslavement of the Ephraimite and Manassehite nations along with the other Israelite tribes with whom they are in intimate association in the West. I am talking about the fall of the hegemony of the USA, UK, Europe and allied nations. To give you some idea of the time-scale we are already prophetically in the first year of the reign of Hezekiah. We will identify modern-day 'Judah' presently - it is not what you have been told it is, or at least only in part.

Those of you who know the history of the kings of Israel and Judah will remember that Hezekiah's father, Ahaz, succumbed to paganism, closed the Temple of Yahweh, and paid tribute the the King of Assyria. Though many messianics and non-messianic Jews are hell-bent on identifying Germany as modern-day Assyria, this is a false marker, for Germany is primarily the dispersion of the half-tribe of East Manasseh, and along with the UK (Ephraim) is the dominant power in Europe today. The other half-tribe of West Manasseh (United States) is not only the dominant power in the New World but has been the World or Global Power since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. That, as you all know, is about to end any day now [1].

Hezekiah was one of the few shining lights in the annals of the kings of Israel and Judah [2], unlike his despicable father Ahaz who had led the nation to virtual ruin. He was the best King of Judah ever (2 Ki.18:3) but had a weakness that he repented of:

"But Hezekiah's heart was proud and he did not respond to the kindness shown him; therefore Yahweh's wrath was on him and on Judah and Jerusalem. Then Hezekiah repented of the pride of his heart, as did the people of Jerusalem; therefore Yahweh's wrath did not come upon them during the days of Hezekiah" (2 Chr.32:25-26, NIV).

If there is time, we will examine this character flaw as it relates to us later or in another sermon, though pride is nothing new and is a flaw in the character of all human beings. Otherwise, what was Hezekiah best remembered for? His piety (2 Chr.32:10; Is.38:10-20), the fact that he and his followers patronised the wise ("these also are proverbs of Solomon which the men of Hezekiah king of Judah copied..." - Prov.25:1, NKJV), like Solomon also he was an architect, linking the spring of Gihon outside the city to the Pool of Siloam so that Jerusalem could withstand a long siege and not die of thirst (2 Ki.20:20; 2 Chr.32:30; Is.22:9-11). His reign led to a strengthening of moral and political authority and tied the Judahite population more closely to Jerusalem and its Temple, and as we shall see he invited remnants of the northern Israelite tribes to join in a common Pesach (Passover) celebration (2 Chr.30:1-11).

We must not here today neglect the details of such matters. They are very relevent to us because we are called to enter into a Hezekiah-type ministry too. Piety speaks for itself. When the commander of the besieging Assyrian army demanded to know what the inhabitants and their king were trusting in, saying, "In what do you trust, that you remain under siege in Jerusalem?" (2 Chr.32:10. NKJV), no answer was given, but it was pretty obvious what the answer was. Though distressed by the calamitous things going on around him, Hezekiah's response was worthy of any true man of Elohim (God):

"...what can I say? [Yahweh] has spoken to me, and He himself has done this. I will walk humbly all my years because of this anguish of my soul" (Isa.38:15, NIV).

In spite of all the tribulation - his capital surrounded by the army of the mightiest Empire of the then known world - he had never-the-less witnessed a miracle of Yahweh and could not deny and and was constrained to lift up his heart in praise and adoration, saying:

"Yahweh, by such things men live; and my spirit finds life in them too. You restored me to health and let me live. Surely it was for my benefit that I suffered such anguish. In your ahavah (love) you kept me from the pit of destruction (because of pride); you have put all my sins behind your back. For the grave cannot praise you, death cannot sing your praise; those who go down to the pit cannot hope for your faithfulness. The living, the living -- they praise You,as I am doing today; fathers tell their children about your faithfulness" (Isa.38:16-19, NIV).

I have to tell you that we too shall have to face such a time in a few years down the road, just as we have faced sinmilar though lesser tribulations in the past as a Work of Elohim (God). And it will be permitted, in part, to strengthen us as Hezekiah was. Yahweh has never promised us a tribulation-free life, only the means to successfully pass through such tribulation, fortified and refreshed if we do so in emunah (faith), with teshuvah (repentance) and with courage. Most of you who are a part of this work today were not with us in the early days and so know little of the attempts of the enemy to destroy us both physically and spiritually. But I would be dishonest if I did not tell you up front that you too must pass through these things, but you will not be doing so alone. Most of you have already had your own tribulations in the past before you knew us and one of the reasons you are here now is that you overcame them, even if you messed up as Hezekiah did, for we are owned and loved by a merciful Elohim (God), full of grace. So seek the piety of Hezekiah, maintain the piety of Hezekiah, and seek wisdom from such as Solomon as Hezekiah did.

We must not casually pass by Hezekiah's building of an underwater channel from the spring of Gihon outside the walls of Jerusalem to the Pool of Siloam made famous by the story of the blind man in Yah'shua's (Jesus') day who was told to go and wash the clay and spittle out of his eyes that the Master had placed there (Jn.9:6 - read the whole chapter). The tunnel Hezekiah constructed was used later for more than channelling water - it was also used as an escape route when Jerusalem later fell to the Babylonians, which for us points to a later time - to the next generation and to the Great Tribulation of which the present one is a forerunner.

More than all this is the important emet (truth) that this, mayim (water) was channelled into the city from OUTSIDE the City of David, the original finger-shaped Jebus which became the early Jerusalem. In other words, the life-saving mayim (waters) of emet (truth) and chayim (life) are to be had from an unexpected place as far as conventional religionists are concerned, that is to say, from outside the temporal (and thus temporary) Citadel of Yahweh. For in these latter-days you will not find mayim chayim or the waters of life in the conventional, established and accepted places of men's learning and religion - it must be obtained, through much tunnelling through rock and hard work, from elsewhere.

The word Gihon literally means 'stream' and that is to be understood prophetically as running water - not the still, stagnant water of Western Academia and its seminaries, or the sterile Jewish rabbinical schuls or their unclean kabbalism, but the source of chayim (life) itself. Do you remember where that Source was crucified for the sins of those who would make teshuvah (repent) and by emunah (faith) receive salvation? Outside the city walls just as Gihon was! Salvation is outside of man and his institutions because it is in a Person, the Son of the Living Elohim (God).

Hezekiah's construction project is a prophetic reminder also of the eventual fate of these institutions of men and indeed of the physical city itself when men rebel against Yahweh. The latter was burned by Babylon and later completely demolished by Rome, along with the Temple of Solomon and the Temple of Herod after it. It is a reminder that we are not in the business of reconstructing the old Jerusalem or its Temple but the new one, the building blocks being our very lives. So when I come to talk of re-instituting Hezekiah's work, I hope you all realise I am not talking of outer material things, but of the inner life where the Mayim Chayim (Waters of Life) of Messiah meet our souls to cleanse, change and empower them.

Hezekiah made the decision to revolt against the Assyrian king, Sargon II after carefully forging political alliances and fortifying Jerusalem and other cities of Judah. He supported the Philistine rebellions at Ekron and Ashkelon, imprisoning Pali, king of Ekron. He made contacts with Babylon, then a vassal of Assyria, and with Tyre and Egypt too (2 Ki.18:21; 20:12-15; Is.18:1-2; 30:2; 31:1). Whether that was a wise thing to do is open to debate; politically it made sense but Yahweh has never commanded Israel to rely on pagan nations for its security, but this was before Hezekiah's had to deal with an invading army.

Sargon II died in 705 BC and was succeeded by Sennacherib. At first the new monarch had difficulties quelling revolts and this emboldened Hezekiah to withhold tribute from the Assyrians and prepare for war. It was at this time that he carried out his sweeping religious reforms which included the:

• 1. Removal of the pagan high places;
• 2. Demolition of Canaanite religious symbols;
• 3. Destruction of Nehushtan, the brass serpent erected on a pole by Moses in the wilderness, with the Judeans had started worshipping;
• 4. Purification and restoration of the Temple (2 Chr.29:3-36);
• 5. Renewal of Pesach (Passover) celebration (2 Chr.30:1-27); and
• 6. Reorganisation of the Priesthood (2 Chr.31:2-19).

Yahweh wants us to do the same by:

• 1. Removing all pagan idolatry out of our lives, those 'high places' which we set above Elohim (God) - if you haven't stopped celebrating Christmas, Easter, Valentine's Day, Halloween, or whatever ir is you do that honours the devil, you'd better hurry up and be permanently finished with them;
• 2. Removing all pagan symbols from your body (tattoos and piercings), from your clothes and from your homes - they give the enemy access to you and the legal rights to defile and oppress you;
• 3. Destroying anything that may have originally been good and lawful which you personally have turned into an idol - such as venerating crucifixes, for example;
• 4. Purifying your bodies by, for example, removing toxins out of our diet or unkosher food because your body is a Temple of the Ruach haQodesh and belongs to Yahweh, not you, the steward (1 Cor.3:16,19);
• 5. Renewing Pesach (Passover) if you are not obeying the festivals by starting to do so, and if you already are, but it is but dead outward observance, by seeking the Presence of the Ruach (Spirit) in them; and
• 6. Reorganising the ministry so that those who have the Ruach (Spirit) are leading and those who do not cease to be - in Hezekiah's day the Levites were more sanctified than the cohenim (priests)!

Sennacherib was not long in consolidating his power, in spite of the initial difficulties, and soon he had the eastern part of his Assyrian empire pacified. He he turned west and began retaking Tyre, replacing its king Luli (who fled to Cyprus), then by conquering the rebellious cities of Philistia whose revolt Hezekiah had supported. That left only Egypt whose armies were routed at the Battle of Eltekeh. With all the revolts suppressed except Judah's, Hezekiah realised he was alone and in serious in trouble with so tiny a territory as his. In the 14th year of his reign, 10 years after Sargon had attacked, destroyed and deported Israel to the north, Sennacharib invaded Judah, captured 46 cities and deported their entire populations to Assyria, leaving Hezekiah an effective prisoner in Jerusalem.

We pause here to consider something very interesting - a large number of Judahites were deported to Assyria where they joined the 10 northern tribes whom, you will remember, were deported earlier by Sargon II. Christians and Messianics are quick to forget that large numbers of the tribe of Judah went into captivity before the better-remembered fall and exile of the inhabitants of Jerusalem. These early Judahite deportees included Benjamites, Levites and Simeonites who become totally separated from those who would be later forced into exile in Babylon (and later Persia). The Assyrian Judahite deportees did not intermingle with Edomites as the Babylonian returnees were to do, or later with Khazars and other races whom they converted - the people from the towns of the countryside knew nothing of what had happened to their Jerusalemite compatriots but shared the migrations of Israel as she moved north and west through Europe. This is important to remember when we consider who Judah is today.

Hezekiah knew that he didn't stand a chance against Sennacherib's army and sued for peace. He didn't have a choice. Though Judah lost its brief independence, Hezekiah retained his throne, which was not typical - usually conquerers replace conquered kings with reliable puppets. In spite of bribing the Assyrian monarch with 300 talents of silver and 30 talents of gold in tribute, which he obtained by stripping the House of Yahweh of all the wealth David had gathered and which Solomon had placed there during the construction of the Temple, Assyria was not placated and a huge army arrived outside Jerusalem anyway. We'll return to some of the important details of this action in a moment but for now let's just remember how Hezekiah had pled in tears for deliverance and Yahweh sent a malak (angel) which slaughtered 185,000 Assyrian soldiers (2 Ki.19:35; Is.37:36 cp. 2 Chr.32:21). When rumours of political and military setbacks back home came to Sennacherib's ears, he returned to Nineveh, the Assyrian capital, where he was assassinated by his two sons (2 Ki.19:36-39; Is.37:37-38; 2 Chr.32:21).

Two nev'im (prophets) were contemporaneous with Hezekiah and they were Micah and Isaiah. It was during Hezekiah's day that Micah prophesied the final destruction of Jerusalem and the deportation of its inhabitants by a future enemy:

"Zion shall be plowed like a field, Jerusalem shall become heaps of ruins, and the mountain of the temple like the bare hills of the forest" (Jer.26:18, NKJV).

But we remember Isaiah better of the two because he provided personal on-hand guidance to Hezekiah. Though initially opposing Hezekiah's revolt against Assyria (Is.30:1-7; 31:1-5), once the Assyrians had slandered the Name of Yahweh (2 Ki.19:22-34; Is.37:27-38; 2 Chr.32:21) he was directed to encourage the Judahite king to resist, for Yahweh's Name's sake. It's worth comparing this with Jeremiah's advice to the later King Zedekiah of Judah when he chose to rebel against Babylonian control which was that he not revolt but rather pay tribute. But Zedekiah was no righteous Hezekiah and resistance would have been futile for Yahweh was not with that monarch or his lapsed, rebellious people. So Hezekiah resisted Sennacherib and was justified because he did so by command of Yahweh for Yahweh's Name's sake. Therefore his prayers were answered.

This is a vitally important point for Yahweh's people to understand both in our time and in the time of the last generation. In this generation we are commanded to stand our ground once we have made the necessary reforms. That is critical. To resist without making proper teshuvah (repentance) would be both futile and fatal. We must always remember that. Zeal is one thing, but zeal without divine approbation is folly. That is why we must wait on Yahweh until we receive a clear Davar Elohim (Word of God) and not run ahead. Hezekiah waited on the Davar Elohim (Word of God) from a bona fide navi (prophet), Isaiah, and acted accordingly. He did not go it alone or in a state of rebellion as the last king of Judah, Zedekiah, did. This applies not only to Messianic Israel as a whole, or to the remnant thereof, but to every family too. We dare not run ahead, not in this evil-saturated world where powerful demonic forces are at work thanks to the progressive demonisation of man by his own wicked choices. But when the last generation is finally faced with the destructive power of the enemy, they will have no option but to retire to the twelve cities of refuge for the final gathering or they will perish for sure.

So do not confuse the missions and options of this generation with the last one. They're not the same but the last generation will surely have much to learn from the Hezekiah-type experiences of this one. 'Assyrian'-type sieges of 'Jerusalem' will soon be our lot.

Let me please share a prophetic pointer for the last, younger generation, one or two of whom are gathered here today, and for those who will later receive this instruction. There was one last reformer like Hezekiah and his name was Josiah (Yoshiyahu). He came to the throne as the Assyrian Empire, which had so plagued Hezekiah, came to an end and was replaced by a new power, Babylon. Josiah did much the same as Hezekiah but we don't have time to examine his labour in detail. His reign was predicted by a navi (prophet) in 1 Kings 13:2.

Judah's apostacy was far worse then than it had been in Hezekiah's time. Egyptian, Babylonian and Hebrew culture were by then all thoroughly mixed together. The situation was so bad, the apostacy so extensive, thanks to the wickedness of his father Manasseh, that Josiah issued an edict making it a capital offence to worship foreign deities. The Torah had all but been forgotten until a scroll was found containing it. Once he had read it, Josiah realised that his nation was doomed. There weren't even any nevi'im (prophets) left, only a single prophetess, Huldah - knowledge of Yah's emet (truth) was so abysmal that Josiah had to have Huldah verify the authenticity of the Torah scroll for him! And that, you younger ones have to realise, is what the state of the world is going to be like in your generation - the Besorah (Gospel) will be all but unknown, even in former Christian nations, because of the extent of the paganisation of the last generation. That's the world you are going to inherit.

If you meet any Christians preaching 'Kingdom Now' doctrine, the modernish teaching that the Besorah (Gospel) will gradually spread throughout the nations so that Yah'shua (Jesus) returns to a largely believing world, mark them down as liars. By then there will be a 'gospel' making this claim but it will be a completely false one, heavily steeped in New Age and occultic thinking and practice and quite unlike anything the one you know today which we teach. This false 'gospel' already here in a seminal form but by the time your day comes, it will be fully ripened and completelty satanic even if it borrows the language of the true Besorah (Gospel), and by that means deceive the uninformed and careless. Don't be fooled. It will have a very real 'power' to be sure, with miracles attending, and that will be its fatal attraction to lazy, rebellious men and women seeking "another Besorah (Gospel)" though infinitely far more removed and wicked from the counterfeit Gnostic in Paul's day (Gal.1:8-9). But it will lack the power to change hearts and lead souls to Torah-obeedience.

Following in Hezekiah's footsteps, Josiah set about the wholesale destruction of all pagan places of worship, dissolved all Levitical stations that weren't in Jerusalem where they were supposed to be, and reinstituted Pesach (Passover). Moreover - and I want you younger ones to remember this - this last true reformation was even greater than anything that ever happened in Hezekiah's day, or even before the monarchy, which I supposed means that it was attended by a spectacular manifestation of Yahweh's presence:

"Then the king (Josiah) commanded all the people, saying, 'Keep Pesach (Passover) to Yahweh your Elohim (God), as it is written in this Book of the Covenant.' Such a Pesach (Passover) had never been held since the days of the judges who judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah. But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah this Pesach (Passover) was held before Yahweh in Jerusalem" (2 Kings 23:21-24, NKJV).

I want you, who are witnesses here today and will witness the redication this year at Aviv 1, to remember this as a promise of what you can expect when you are labouring with the remnant as we are, particularly as it will be such a dark time then, and for this draw tiqveh (hope). Indeed, you will do much as we will be doing, but witness far more power to meet the challenges of your time!

Let us return to Hezekiah. After Isaiah relayed Yahweh's Davar (Word) against the Assyrians to King Hezekiah (2 Ki.19:21-28), he said three very interesting and important things that connect this immediate time with what happened back then. The people were told to:

• 1. Eat that year what grew of itself;
• 2. In the second year eat what sprang from the same; and
• 3. In the third year, sow, reap, plant vineyards and eat fruit (2 Ki.19:29).

Does anyone here know what this is alluding to in our time? Yes, to the Sh'mittah (Sabbatical Year) and Yovel (Jubilee Year)! Now I am not saying that these two years in Hezekiah's day were actially Sh'mittah or Yovel years because I don't know but the effect on the inhabitants of Jerusalem of Sennacherib's plundering of the Judean countryside for two years would have been exactly the same as if it has been a Sabbatical Year followed by a Jubilee! Their supply of grain and fruit was cut off and the land devastated - no doubt the Assyrians pursued a scorched-earth policy to hasten the starvation of Jerusalem which had no access to anything outside the city except, providentially (thanks to the inspiration of Hezekiah's construction project) for the water channelled in through the Spring of Gihon to the Pool of Siloam! So the inhabitants had to make do for two years on whatever food they had stored up or was otherwise available in the king's grannaries. Though I am not, of course, saying that the Sh'mittah or Yovel are unimportant, because they absolutely are, the point I am trying to make is that there is likely going to be extreme food shortage for one or two years after the collapse and we had better be ready for that now! This is the parallel between our time now and Hezekiah's.

Let's now read in full the sign given by Yahweh to Hezekiah through the navi (prophet) Isaiah because there are other important elements that pertain to us today there too:

"This will be the sign for you, O Hezekiah: This year you will eat what grows by itself, and the second year what springs from that. But in the third year sow and reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit. Once more a remnant of the house of Judah will take root below and bear fruit above. For out of Jerusalem will come a remnant, and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors" (2 Kings 19:29-31, NIV).

In other words, out of the remnant of survivors in Judah - those in Jerusalem - would come descendants who covered the land once again [3], as indeed happened in the years before Jerusalem's and Judah's final demise under the Babylonian invasion. The Jerusalemites would have to scavenge the countryside for two years to survive after the Assyrian had departed. Whether this was because there was a shortage of labour, or because the city folks were unskilled in farming, or because these years actually were Sh'mittah and Yovel years, is, in any case, as far as we are concerned, besides the point. Whether we are forced to do the same because of famine, pestilence, government confiscation of food from the countyside to feed the cities, natural disasters (including a Nibiru fly-by), or because we're not allowed to plant and harvest because the ground is supposed to rest is, in some respects, irrelevent too because unless people have prepped they will starve anyway. The implication is, if the comparison with our day is valid - as I believe it is - is that we are going to have to learn to live carefully and frugally for a couple of years on storage and scavanging. In 2017 we'll be able to plant and harvest again just as Hezekiah's Jerusalemites were after the two years had passed following the return of the Assyrian army back to Nineveh.

What else are we to draw from this prophetic picture in our day? That those believers in the metaphorical 'countryside' and its 'cities' - at least a good many of them, if not all (remember Judah was a very small country) - are going to be metaphorically 'deported'...swept away by the scorge that is building up in force around us now. Many believers are literally not going to survive the calamities that are on the way - many are already homeless. Heeding the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit) and the warnings of the true nevi'im (prophets) becomes essential for survival. The remnant that survives in our time will, after this tribulation has passed, again "take root downward" - both allegorically into the Torah and literally by learning to cultivate the ground and become dependent on growing their own healthy crops until Yah'shua (Jesus) returns in what will more that likely be an even more poisoned world than it already is - as well as "bearing fruit upward" which is both allegorically bearing spiritual fruit and literally raising up a crop of children for the last generation (v.30). Yes, there will be a time of comparitive shalom (peace) before the last, final storm which is the Great Tribulation, because this is a 'Hezekiah time'. We are to raise out of the remnant of survivors "Mount Zion" and - most importantly remember this, "the zeal of Yahweh will perform it" (v.31).

I want you also to note something else about the prophecy made through Isaiah, and we need to exercise the same emunah (faith) towards ourselves as the remnant: the 'King of Assyria' (the present world governing system) will never shoot an arrow (v.32) but will depart from us (v.33). Why? Because Yahweh will defend this city of qodeshim (saints, set-apart ones) for His own sake and for 'David's', which is Messiah's (v.34). How will this be possible? By being in the right place at the right time with the right preparations and in the right spirit. The feet in Daniel's idol, being made of the unlikely of mixture iron and clay (Dan.2:34), is weak and vulnerable in the clay parts but strong in the iron. The enemy's strength is not everywhere, as it will be in Great Tribulation (save in the cities of refuge, or in the final journeying to the Promised Land at the end of the Second Exodus), and though there be many such places, they are not everywhere. Therefore all must be gathered to the locations Yahweh has commanded. If you still don't know where you're supposed to be, now is the time to urgently fast and pray about it. My family has been told where we're supposed to be.

I will not here go into Hezekiah's deathly illness or the miracle of the moving shadow on the sundial or of the healing he was given plus life extension of 15 years other than to mention it in passing as it is not germaine to the immediate future but concerns a time further down the road for us (2 Chr.20:1-11). I do want to make note, again, of Hezekiah's unwise boasting to Babylonian King Berodech-baladan of the wealth in his treasury (v.12) which a later monarch would remember when he came to besiege and burn Jerusalem and take its people into captivity. We must not boast of anything, nor flaunt the wealth Yahweh has given us to unbelievers or to anyone, but remain silent save to boast of the cross of Messiah (Gal.6:14), of the living mayim (waters) from the metaphorical 'Spring of Gihon'. We are not to draw attention to ourselves in vanity but to point only to Messiah. Isaiah goes on to prophecy the loss of all Jerusalem's wealth in the future because of the indiscretion of a monarch consumed by vanity for a short while (v.16ff.). I fear our greatest danger in the future may well be the result of such carelessness on the part of undisciplined members so be sure to raise your children well, learn to bridle your tongue, and ensure that no foolish fourth virgin enters the assemblies to so expose them to the murderous lust of the enemy [4]. Learn self-discipline early [5].

Which brings me finally to what we have been called to do this New Year and to express my thanks to a brother here in Sweden and sister in Germany who independently asked me to reconsider whether we hadn't perhaps got the calendar wrong this coming year. As some of you know, we had supposed that this year was a leap year with an extra 13th month based on the assumption - false, as it turns out - that Aviv 1 is calculated from the first new moon after the spring equinox. What we hadn't realised - and I will explain this more fully in an up-coming article - is that the calculation is to be made in either direction to the nearest new moon. As a result, all the festivals were reckoned one month too late, something I admit had troubled me a little but which I hadn't thought about too much as there is usually a largish dislocation in such a leap year caused by the intercalation of an extra month.

Some other interesting things were happening in parallel. As you know, Yahweh offers believers the option of observing a Late Pesach (Passover) (please see the earlier sermon if you haven't read it) one month later on the 14th day of the second month for those unable to legitimately attend the first and main Pesach (Passover). Because of the error in adding an extra month, we scheduled the main Passover celebrations at the time of the late Passover. Unknown to me, Yahweh had told the brother concerned about the very late moedim (appointments) caused by the error that something important would happen at the time of the late Pesach (Passover) this year, but didn't know what. After I had published the error and correction he phoned me and told me of his experience. For as you will have heard in the revelation I read out at the beginning, we are commanded this year to observe a late Pesach (Passover) as a ministry so that a cleasning can take place around the time - and in place of - of the actual or first Pesach (Passover).

In the first year of his reign, Hezekiah set about his religious reforms. These are the things he did:

• 1. He opened the doors of the Temple and repaired them (2 Chr.29:2);
• 2. He re-lit the menorahs, burned incense and made offerings (v.7);
• 3. He entered into a b'rit (covenant) with Yahweh (v.10);
• 4. The Priesthood were called to stand before Yahweh and minister (v.11);
• 5. He ordered the collection of all the unclean items from the temple put there by his apostate father Ahaz, place them in the Temple courtyard, and then had them thrown into the Kidron valley (v.16), presumably into the giant perpetually burning field known as Gehenna (a huge outdoor incinerator) which would become a spiritual picture for hell - even the bodies of executed criminals were thrown into it.

Hezekiah ordered all of this to be started on Aviv 1, the first day of the biblical New Year [6], in the outer court. This cleansing operation would take 8 days. On Aviv 8 they were to enter the Temple portico:

"They began the consecration on the first day of the first month, and by the eighth day of the month they reached the portico of Yahweh" (2 Chr.29:17, NIV).

A portico or porch is an exterior open air structure forming a covered approach to the entrance of a building, a roof supported by columns or a roofed collonade. Having cleansed the temple of all the pagan objects that had temporarily been gathered in the court before disposal in the Kidrom Valley, the king and cohenim (priests) were permitted to enter the portico covering the door leading into the temple proper. The use of the word "reached" implies that this was a stepwise approach involving an 8-step process since 8 days were employed. We understand from our knowledge of divine tavnith (pattern) that each of these steps would have involved the spiritual journey of purification represented by the 8 annual festivals - Pesach (Passover), Chag haMatzah (Feast of Unleavaned Bread), Yom haBikkurim (Day of Firstfruits), Shavu'ot (Weeks/'Pentecost'), Yom Teruah (Day of Trumpets), Yom haKippurim (Day of Atonements), Shavu'ot (Tabernacles) and Shemini Atseret (the Last Great Day).

Many generations later, the apostle Paul would admonish the immature and rowdy members of the Corithian assembly (congregation) by quoting the Torah, telling them to "'...come out from among them (unbelievers), and separate from them...and don't come near the unclean thing [7], and I will receive you; and will be to you a Father, and you will be sons and daughters to Me', says Master YHWH the Almighty'" (2 Cor.6:17, AENT). He continues: "Seeing, therefore, that we have these promises [in the Torah], my beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of the flesh and of the spirit; and let us bring about that which is Set-Part (holy, qadosh), in the Fear of Elohim (God)" (2 Cor.7:1, AENT), or as the NKJV puts it, "let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of Elohim (God)" [8].

The "perfecting (of) holiness" means to cause yourself - your whole soul, body and spirit - to be set-apart, made holy or be dedicated to Yahweh according to Torah rules. This was what Hezekiah was doing in the Temple which is a picture, on one level, of each saved soul, and on another of the whole Body of Messiah. What Paul is doing is commanding the believers to 'work sanctification', proving that 'work' and 'sanctification' are not separate and/or mutually exclusive concepts but are symbiotic and synergistic, each working on, or moving, the other. What Hezekiah ordered done to the defiled temple in the Old Covenant, Yahweh commands us to do in the Temple of the Ruach (Spirit), our mortal bodies. Paul repeats this idea again and again when he admonishes the Philippians:

"Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling" (Phil.2:12, NKJV).

There is a mutual synergism here of 'grace' and 'works' - we have out part to do, our 'working out' - not 'work out' as in solving a mathematical problem or doing some vigorous bolidy exoercise, but "push through the work of your life more abundantly, with fear and trembling" (AENT) or "increasingly work the work of your life" (HRV).

The phrase "fear and trembling" is a paraphrase of Psalm 2:11 and is an admonition to the kings of the earth:

"Serve YHWH with fear, and rejoice with trembling" (Ps.2:11, HRV).

King Hezekiah was most certainly carrying out the cleansing of the Temple "with fear...with trembling" and we are commanded to do the same, not in a haphazzard sort of way, but in an orderly process. That is why we have been given the annual feasts - they show us how to do this - and when Yahweh commands us to cleanse ourselves it is with all this in mind. Nothing occurs in a vacuum in the Davar Elohim (Word of God): there's a tavnith (pattern), a structure, a defined process. In fact, Hezekiah ordered that the psalms of David and Asaph the Seer "with simcha (joy)" (2 Chr.29:30) which would have been Psalms 120-134, the famous Shir hamma'alot or 'Songs of Ascents/Decrees'. We'll study these another time very soon as they will be central to our worship when we begin the 16 day cleansing starting at Aviv 1. They are part and parcel of the consecration process. In the meantime I would encourage you to deeply meditate on them. You'll notice there are 15 of them, one for each of the 16 days but-one. Why would the process of cleansing of our fleshy temples be any different for us, the only difference being that we do not need the blood of bulls, rams, lambs, sheep and goats for sacrifices as Hezekiah did because Messiah Yah'shua (Jesus) is the final, complete and everlasting sacrifice for us. More of this another time.

We are not to do this long-faced. Soberly, seriously, with real intent, yes - but cleansing is also a time of simcha (joy). Yes, there was the mandatory "Fear of Elohim (God)" but it was co-minged with simcha (joy) because cleansing is for our good, our happiness, and our closer communion with Him. That is the sole object and so be ready for immediate service like we've never been before.

Having cleansed the Court of the Temple and having arrived at the portico and the doors leading to the Temple which Hezekiah had earlier ordered taken down and repaired, the ministers entered the Temple proper:

"For eight more days they consecrated the temple of Yahweh itself, finishing on the sixteenth day of the first month" (2 Chron.29:17, NIV).

Another eight days, this time starting in the Holy of Holies and working backwards to the doors, and finally finishing on the Day of Firstfruits or Yom haBikkurim in the Pesach or Passover season which they were not otherwise observing. Now you may well be wondering what they were doing over eight days - we don't have time today to go into all the various sacrifices that were made but they all have equivalencies in the New Covenant. On Day #16 the princes of Israel were called and assembled (2 Chr.29:20) from both Houses - of Israel and of Judah - because Israel had not yet been deported by the Assyrian King Sargon II which would be three years later - and sin offerings were made for:

• 1. The Kingdom;
• 2. The Sanctuary; and
• 3. The Nation (both Houses) (v.21).

I want you to ask Yahweh what he wants you to do personally during this 16 day consecration as you study the passages in 2 Chronicles 29 as we have much to talk about and prepare for.

Finally, Hezekiah ordered invitations to be sent out to attend a late Pesach (Passover) in the second month, on the 14th day, as we do now (2 Chr.30:1-2) from the proverbial 'Dan to Beersheba', the length and breadth of the two nations of Judah and Israel, one of which would be destroyed in the fourth year of Hezekiah's reign. This is what Hezekiah's proclamation said:

"Children of Israel, return to Yahweh, the Elohim (God) of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel; then He will return to the remnant of you who have escaped from the hand of the kings of Assyria. And do not be like your fathers and your brethren, who trespassed against Yahweh the Elohim (God) of their fathers, so that He gave them up to desolation, as you see. Now do not be stiff-necked, as your fathers were, but yield yourselves to Yahweh; and enter His sanctuary, which He has sanctified forever, and serve Yahweh your Elohim (God), that the fierceness of His wrath may turn away from you. For if you return to Yahweh, your brethren and your children will be treated with compassion by those who lead them captive, so that they may come back to this land; for Yahweh your Elohim (God) is gracious and merciful, and will not turn His face from you if you return to Him" (2 Chron.30:6-9, NKJV).

This would be Israel's last warning before the tsunami of the Assyrian war machine violently swept them off the face of the land. They did not listen and Judah would be left all alone, surrounded by foreign nations on all sides. It is only in our day that Israel is being regathered...

Assyrian raiding parties had already been in Northern Israel and taken off a few but the apocalyptic assault on Samaria was yet to come, and within a matter of three years, along with the attempt on Jerusalem itself. So this is a call to all the 12 tribes still in the land, with Judah as yet still untouched by war for Hezekiah had not yet revolted against Assyrian hegemony. Israel would soon feel the wrath of Sargon, and the Judean countryside of Sennacherib.

What kind of response did Hezekiah get to his proclamation? How many, and from which tribes, from the northern kingdom came to this special Pesach (Passover)?

"So the runners passed from city to city through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh, as far as Zebulun; but they laughed at them and mocked them. Nevertheless some from Asher, Manasseh, and Zebulun humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem. Also the hand of Elohim (God) was on Judah to give them singleness of heart to obey the command of the king and the leaders, at the word of Yahweh" (2 Chron.30:10-12, NKJV).

I want to draw your attention to two things particularly. First, the Kingdom of Judah is no more in our day. If you are one of those who still believes that 'Judah' has been regathered and restored in the modern Republic of Israel then you need to urgenty study the sermon series, Jacob's Trouble or you are going to get all the prophetic markers mixed up and fail to keep Yahweh's moedim (appointments) correctly, with potentially fatal consequences in this approaching hour of darkness. Remember that the Kingdom of Judah is permanently over and rulership has now passed from Judah to Ephraim. Today's 'King Hezekiah' is of Ephraim yet Judah is very much present, as we shall see.

Second, whilst some of modern Jewery consists of bona fide Judahites or Jerusalemites who were later taken into captivity by Babylon and then returned from Persian rule (many remained), to be mingled with other races (as I mentioned earlier), they are a small fraction, probably less than 10% of the whole Jewish population worldwide. The bulk of Judah was taken into captivity in the days of Hezekiah, from the cities raised by Sennacherib, and deported to Assyria. They would later leave Assyria when that nation collapsed, together with the Ten Tribes, and travel north over the Caucasus and then westwards into Europe. Others of the tribe of Judah passed into Africa through the seed of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba and are to be found between Ethiopia and Zimbabwe and beyond. But there was a third group of Judahites almost no one knows about and these I want to make special, though brief, mention of today, because they are amongst us in this ministry already!

Who, then, are the original European Judahites? That is a long and complex story that we'll talk about another time in greater depth for they are scattered across the continent - remember, we're not talking about those who call themselves 'Jews' for these Judahites largely have no idea who they are and thoroughly intermingled with other races across the millennia. The House of Judah has two principle branches, Perez (Pharez) and Zarah (Zerah), whose order of birth as twins is rather interesting:

"When the time came for [Tammar] to give birth, there were twin boys in her womb. As she was giving birth, one of them put out his hand; so the midwife took a scarlet thread and tied it on his wrist and said, 'This one came out first.' But when he drew back his hand, his brother came out, and she said, 'So this is how you have broken out!' And he was named Perez. Then his brother, who had the scarlet thread on his wrist, came out and he was given the name Zerah" (Gen.38:27-30, NIV).

The Bible records many generations of the House of Perez (who was eventually declared the firstborn, incidentally) but mysteriously only three generations of the House of Zerah are to be found in the genealogies. Why? Because they were no longer associated with the main body of Israelites after the third generation. They no longer lived in Israel when the censuses were made. Even more intererestingly, the third generation of Zarah-Judah must have left Israel before the Exodus! What happened to them?

The story of Zarah-Judah is a sermon in itself and, like I said, we don't have time to go into detail today. We do know what happened to this branch of the House of Judah thanks to the image of the scarlet thread and the name. The Zarah-Judahites left the main body of Israelites under Moses. Led by Zarah's great-grandson Calcol (1 Chr.2:6) they fled westward to the land of Spain where they settled for a few years before moving on. They founded a city which still survives today bearing their ancestor's name, Zaragossa in modern-day Catalonia.

As Hebrews (the descendants of Eber - Gen.10:21) they also named the river on which Zaragossa lies after that ancestor, the Ebro. Indeed, the whole peninsular containing modern-day Portugal and Spain is also named after Zarah-Judah, namely, Iberia.

Calcol and some of the other Zarah-Judahites eventually left Iberia and sailed northwards to Ireland, taking their name with them and which came to be known as Hiberland and eventually Hibernia. With Calcol as their king, these descendants of Zarah-Judah founded the Kingdom of ULSTER shortly after the year 1600 BC. From that time onwards to the present, some 3,000 years, the emblem of Ulster has consistently been a red hand surrounded by a Scarlet Cord. The use of the scarlet cord in heraldry only disappeared in 1920 when the Arms of Northern Ireland were created. The red hand appears in the crests of four of Ulster's counties - Antrim, Tyrone, Londonderry (where my maternal ancestors come from) and Dungannon. Some of Ulster's Zarah-Judahites later migrated to Britain founding at least 20 places in Wales with the prefix Aber- (a variant of Eber) such as Aberystwyth and Aberdare, in several in Scotland such as Aberdeen, Aberfeldy, Aberdour, Aberargie, Aberuthven and several others. Many of the coats of arms of the noble families of Scotland bear the emblem of the red hand.

It's a fascinating story and I could tell you more but that is enough. Suffice to day that some of the most concentrated blood of Judah, through the brother Zarah, is to be found in Northern Ireland and Scotland who have a shared history. It is unlikely that they had much knowledge of Torah when they left Egypt and were undoubtedly pagans by the time they arrived in Spain and Ireland. They would, however, convert to Christianity and adopted the Protestant faith, abandoning Catholicism for the Reformation which was the closest of the two to the New Testament emunah (faith). Those of you who know the history of Protestantism in Ireland, Scotland and Wales will know that it was fiery, far more so than in England. And though Zarah-Judahites weren't the only Israelites who left Egypt - many of the tribe of Dan went with them leaving their name behind in town names beginning with Dun- - they undoubtedly predominated. So do not be surprised to find those of Ulster, Scottish and Welsh descent coming to the fore in the end-time remnant.

Now does anyone remember which of the tribal remnants in the former Northern Kingdom accepted King Hezekiah's invitation to attend his restored late Pesach (Passover)? Most mocked the messengers but some out of Manasseh, Asher and Zebulon responded and came to Jerusalem on the 14th day of the second month. Manasseh we already know, in both its halves, being the United States (West Manasseh) and Germany (East Manasseh) [9] though Danish researcher Mikkel Stjernholm Kragh also believes there is a great deal of Reuben (Franks), Simeon and Levi (Bavarians, Allemannians and Swabians), Peres-Judah (Saxons - those that were captured from the countryside in Hezekiah's reign and went north with the Ten Tribes captured in Sargon II's) and Gad in Germany. That is quite possible (though I question his conclusions about the Saxons) given the races are well and truly mixed today everywhere. Asher is a bit harder to trace and may simply be 'in the mix' generally but Zebulon we can positively identify as the Dutch of Holland and their descendants in South Africa and Namibia, the Afrikaners. I shall be making a study of the Afrikaners another time as they also contain a mix of French Hugeunots (Reuben), Germans (E.Manasseh), Frisians (Issachar) and various smaller groups like Scandinavians, Scots (Zarah-Judah), Irish (Zarah-Judah and Dan), Greeks, Portuguese, Spaniards and Italians. Together with the Perez-Judahites from Ethiopia, Kenya and all the way south to Zimbabwe, we have a fascinating mix that gives a glimpse into the multi-racial cocktail that the Commonwealth of Israel is today! I mention these groups because I believe they will play a prominent rôle in the end-time remnant and have already started coming forward to allign themselves with Messianic Israel.

Brethren and sisters, this has been a long assembly and I would apologise for that had the message not been so important. This Aviv 1 (20 March) the Priesthood is summonsed to come to Sweden for 16 days for the rededication of Messianic Israel and on the last day the princes of the 12 tribes are summonsed too. The Pesach (Passover) festival will not be observed by NCAY on Aviv 14 this year but on the 14th day of the second month (2-9 May), the Late Pesach (Yahweh) given by Yahweh to those unable to attend the first one (which in our case will be because we have been bidden to Consecrate the Temple of Messianic Israel, and in particular, this NCAY work). We will be tarrying an extra 7 days (to 16 May) both as they did in Hezekiah's day and also in Solomon's at the original dedication of the Temple when the Congregation remained an extra seven days after Sukkot (Tabernacles) for exactly the same reason (2 Chr.7:8-10 - read the whole section on the Temple Dedication and what happened). I realise, because most of you live a very long way away and for economic reasons, that travel for such long periods of time (or even short ones) will not be possible - those who are called to Sweden will be told by the Ruach (Spirit) to do so and the doors will be opened for them, and those who are to congregate locally will be told by the same means. What's important is that you obtain a testimony that all of this is true and then to act on it (if you don't, remain as you are) - one brother has already communicated to me that he will be here. This is going to be a very special and important time indeed because the world on the other side of Late Pesach (Passover) this year is going to be progressively very different from the one on this side of it now. More details will be forthcoming very soon. May Yahweh our Heavenly Father bless you and keep you and prepare you for what I believe is going to be a very special time indeed, through Yah'shua (Jesus) our Messiah. Amen.

Endnotes

[1] See, Vision of the Fall of the USA and Israel
[2] See, The Sin of Hezekiah: How His Debt to Yahweh was Repaid
[3] See Isaiah 1:9,27; 3:10; 4:3; 6:13; 8:16-17; 10:20,22; 11:12,16; 26:1-4,8; 27:12; 28:5; 37:4)
[4] See Wise Lips, Sealed Lips: The Fourth Foolish Virgin and the Law of Secrecy and the 'Fourth Foolish Version' in the Olive Branch, Section 207:39-48
[5] For example, Dr. James Dobson, Dare to Discipline: Answers to Toughest Parenting Questions (Tyndale Momentum, , USA: 1970) and Lynda Madison, Parenting With Purpose: Progressive Discipline from Birth to Four (Andrews McMeel Publishing, Kansas City, Kansas: 1998)
[6] Not to be confused with the pagan Roman one which the word celebrates as 'New Year's Day' on 1 January
[7] Leviticus 5:2; 7:21; 11:8; Deuteronomy 14:8; Isaiah 52:11; Lamentations 4:15; Haggai 2:13
[8] See A Bountiful Harvest: Godly Fear, Self-Discipline and Prayer
[9] See East Manasseh and Germany: Unveiling an Israelite Tribe

Comments from Readers

[1] "It was a real blessing to read this, thank you" (TSP, Ireland, 3 February 2015)