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Month 4:28, Week 4:6 (Sheshi/Kippur), Year:Day 5941:117 AM
2Exodus 7/40, Omer Count: 7 Sabbaths + Day #50
Gregorian Calendar: Sunday 19 July 2020
Shavu'ot 2020
The Well-Worn Path, Judgment
& the Blossoming of the Remnant

    Introduction

    Chag sameach Shavu'ot kol beit Yisra'el and Mishpachah - we send greetings to all our brethren and sisters around the world who are gathering today for the fourth annual moed known as the Feast of Weeks which is celebrated in the summer. We also want to especially welcome Brother Gabriel who is back in Sweden from Kigali in Rwanda where he runs our East Africa Mission. We are looking forward to more of his broadcasts while he is here. Alas, the border remains closed with Norway because of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic so Brother Herman cannot be with us, as was the case before at the Passover Season when we were all under strict quarantine.

    Counting the Omer in the Correct Way

    I know Brother Gabriel and I are agreed that this current assembly, which is in response to the mitzvah (commandment) given by Yahweh to the children of Israel in Leviticus 23 and verses 15 and 15, is so very important in this year of judgment, so let's begin by looking at those two verses which I shall be reading from the Ferrar Fenton translation:

      "You shall also count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath that you bring the Wave-Sheaf, seven Sabbaths. They must be complete. Then after the seventh Sabbath, you shall count fifty [more] days, when you shall present a new [meat] offering to Yahweh" (Leviticus 23:15-16, adapted from the Holy Bible in Modern English, Ferrar Fenton).

    A People Out of Control and 3,000 Dead

    It was on this day that Yahweh restored the Torah on Mt.Sinai through Moses and it was on this day that about 3,000 were killed because, as most translations politely and diplomatically put it, "the people were running wild and ... Aaron had let them get out of control and so become a laughingstock to their enemies" (Ex.32:25, NIV). Now whether some Amalekites or others were spying out the camp when this disgraceful business happened, or whether the heathen simply came to hear about what had transpired later and had a good time mocking these people who were supposed to be so 'special' and 'different' from them, when in reality they were just as depraved, we don't know. We only know that Israel disgraced himself.

    Torah Day and Rebellion

    You see, this was the day that Yahweh not only revealed the Constitution of the Kingdom of Elohim (God) - of the future Chosen Nation - summarised in the Ten Commandments, but on the very same day the people rebelled when Moses 'took his time' in returning to them after a long absence communing with Yahweh in the mountain. It's a terrible testimony to human impatience and a failure to trust Elohim (God) when He doesn't do the things He says He will as fast as we demand. Modern versions of the Bible like the New International Version (NIV) and New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) translate the Hebrew para' as "running wild"; others like the English Standard Version (ESV), "broken loose", and older ones like the King James Version (KJV) understate what was actually going on, using typical Anglo-Saxon modesty, by simply saying the rebels were "naked", that is to say, engaging in a spot of 'shameful nudism'; paraphrases like the New Living Translation (NLT) read, "completely out of control", and the Amplified Version (AmpV), "unruly and unrestrained".

    An Historical Act of Apostacy in the Desert

    In other words, the children of Israel, on this high and qadosh (holy, set-apart) moed or divine appointment - one of the seven sacred annual festivals of Yahweh, quickly lapsed into the worst of heathen debauchery - they apostacised completely and descended into a vile pagan orgy out there in the desert, unrestrained and unchecked by a pathetically weak Aaron who was deputising while his brother, the navi (prophet), was absent.

    A Prophetic Marker for Our Day

    Why do I underscore this? Because this was also, in addition to being a disasterous historical event, a living prophecy of what was going to happen once more in the very last days in that final year of the Great Tribulation just before Yah'shua (Jesus) returns - there will be mass apostacy and degeneration. And though that end-time event is yet a few years off, we, at this time, in the Roman year of 2020, are about to witness a similar judgment - a penultimate or last-but-one judgment - brought about by Messianic Israel doing pretty much the same thing as our ancient forebears did. This year is going to see, and is already seeing, the Judgment of the Body of Christ - Messianic Israel, Christianity, the Church - prior to the judgment of the élites, who rule this Babylonian Order, along with their followers. That day is today, Sunday 19 July 2020 in the Gregorian Calendar.

    The Spiral of Prophecy

    I am not saying, as I am sure you must realise, this cycle has not been repeated many time in the past on the prophetic spiral because it has. Rather, we are to be witnesses of an apostacy the likes of which has not been seen since Sinai, with equally fatal consequences, and it will come in two stages - the first, right now, serving as a warning to others who might be tempted by the lure of the false gospel in all its many forms being preached everywhere.

    The Conspiracy

    You do realise, don't you, that the approximately 3,000 souls executed by the Levites weren't the only casualities at Sinai...that was just the beginning of their chastisement. What about all the rest? Remember, it wasn't just 3,000 who were guilty. We're told that everyone, with the exception of Joshua and Caleb, was involved:

      "When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered Aaron and said to him: 'Come, make gods for us, who shall go before us: as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him'" (Ex.32:1, NRSV).

    The Golden Calf Débâcle

    Then Aaron gave directions for making the golden calf and an altar, which they did.

      "They rose early the next day, and offered burnt-offerings and brought sacrifices and well-being, and the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to revel" (Ex.32:6, NRSV).

    To 'revel' is just a polite Anglo-Saxon way of saying that they had a great drunken party that led to an orgy. So they were all involved, including Moses' complicit brother, Aaron, the designated Cohen Gadol or High Priest! How much worse can it get when the highest officer in the priesthood behaves in such a way! And yet that is precisely what is happening in many denominations today - the parallels are obvious. The 3,000 whom the Levites killed were simply the first to be punished for the evil they had all done.

    Then the Plague...

    Now consider what happened next:

      "The next day Moses said to the people, 'You have committed a great sin. But now I will go up to Yahweh; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.'

      "So Moses went back to Yahweh and said, 'Oh, what a great sin these people have committed! They have made themselves gods of gold. But now, please forgive their sin -- but if not, then blot me out of the book you have written.'

      "Yahweh replied to Moses, 'Whoever has sinned against me I will blot out of my book. Now go, lead the people to the place I spoke of, and my malak (angel) will go before you. However, when the time comes for me to punish, I will punish them for their sin.'

      "And Yahweh struck the people with a plague because of what they did with the calf Aaron had made" (Ex.32:30-35, NIV)

    The Covid-19 Plague of 2019-20

    Yahweh was about to wipe out the entire nation and start again through Moses and his offspring. But Moses interceded, begging for grace. So Yahweh sent a plague instead, in His mercy. What sign have we just had in the world that Yahweh is displeased the gross, idolatrous practices of some calling themselves 'Christians' and 'Messianics', but who are maybe a bit 'liberal' and rebellious in other areas? We have just had a plague and are at the tail-end of it, a plague that the enemies of Yahweh have manipulated and exploited to devilish ends as part of a global agenda for satanic control. And for years now Christians have been slaughtered by followers of the so-called 'Religion of Peace'.

    A Foretaste of What's Coming

    Now, I know that many of those who have suffered from this Coronavirus and have recovered - and that includes believers - have been through hell. I am not making light. Many tens of thousands of others - including believers - have died. This is only a tiny foretaste of what is coming on a massive scale at the very end of the Æon or Age, so that you know what it will be like in the Great Tribulation at the very end. It seems so much worse than it actually has been because of the hysterical news coverage which has deliberately blown the statistics out of all proportion, force-fed by governments controlled by the élites.

    The Locusts of the Book of Revelation

    The Book of Revelation is pretty brutal in some of its descriptions of what is coming. What, for example, were the finger-sized locust-like creatures that "had tails and stings like scorpions, and in their tails they had power to torment people for five months" (Rev.9:10, NIV)? I don't know. I only know that the very last days are far from pleasant, and that we're getting a foretaste of them now. There are even locust plagues all over the world right now, little reported by the media, the latest continent to be struck being South America, and in particular Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil. They're in Australia too.

    This is Not a Game

    Irrespective of what form the final torments will take as this wicked world receives its just desserts, we are all being given the opportunity to make a full repentance and be saved. The alternative is to perish. So if your repentance up until now has just been an insincere token, or just a ritual, I want you to sober up. This is for real, not some 'religious thing' with no connection to the 'real', outside world. Look around you. And we all know how billions are going to respond in the end times. There is no hiding the final casualty tally any more than there was after the Flood.

    Yahweh's Demand for Repentance

    So this comparatively small outbtreak of Covid-19 is an act of grace on Yahweh's part. It's to prepare us. The economic consequences will be even more devastating...and the "love of money", as we all know and agree, is one of the greatest idolatries of any age (1 Tim.6:10; Heb.13:5). Yahweh demands an end to lawlessness in the Messianic Community or 'Church' - an end to the unrestrained, loose, uncontrolled, wild and unruly behaviour of the kind we see spreading like a plague throughout practically every segment of the Body of Christ. We must issue a dire warning, as we are doing now, and we must deal concretely and decisively with any involvement in idolatrous sin on our part today - now - because an accounting is demanded by Heaven at Yom haKippurim in the autumn (fall) to enable the ongoing separation of the Remnant from the diseased Body that refuses to repent. There is, if you like, a massive 'cell division' being initiated today as two entirely separate organisms are being formed.

    Baptised in Fire

    So let me ask you all a question: what does Christendom as a rule do on what they call the 'Day of Penetcost'? Firstly they observe it about a month-and-a-half too early (as do Jews, Messianic Jews, and other Messianic groups). Secondly, they quite rightly remember and celebrate what happened about two thousand years earlier at the First Messianic Shavu'ot in Jerusalem, and you all recall what happened then...that was when the first believers were baptised in the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit) and in fire. That must have been something amazing to experience!

    The Curse of Babel Reversed

    Seven sabbaths and 50 days after the resurrection of Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ) at Yom haBikkurim or the Day of Firstfruits, a group of Messianic Yehudim or Judahites from all over the Roman Empire, who had assembled for this summer feast, the fourth in the sacred calendar, were supernaturally transformed and gifted from on high; and what they did that day, when tongues of fire rested on their heads and they started speaking foreign languages they didn't themselves know, but which the many visitors from all over the Empire did who were present, was that they symbolically reversed the curse of the Tower of Babel and thereby usshered in the first of many signs of the New Creation manifested in Yahweh's people themselves.

    Delivered from the Slavery of Sin in a New Exodus

    And as Israel, one-and-a-half thousand years before, had been released from slavery in Egypt, so then the very first Israelites were released from the slavery of sin in a New Exodus through the resurrection power of Messiah as a result of their repentance and trusting in Yah'shua (Jesus), becoming supernaturally equipped to be the first wave of international messengers of the Besorah - the Gospel or Good News of the Kingdom.

    The Slaughter of the Guilty

    Now there is one important key here which we must not miss: can anyone remember how many Israeles were killed for their apostacy at Sinai? Let us recall the terrible consequence of their rebellion and debauchery:

      "Moses saw that the people were running wild and that Aaron had let them get out of control and so become a laughingstock to their enemies. So he stood at the entrance to the camp and said, 'Whoever is for Yahweh, come to me.' And all the Levites rallied to him.

      "Then he said to them, 'This is what Yahweh, the Elohim (God) of Israel, says: 'Each man strap a sword to his side. Go back and forth through the camp from one end to the other, each killing his brother and friend and neighbour.'' The Levites did as Moses commanded, and that day about three thousand of the people died" (Ex.32:25-28, NIV)

    The Baptism of Fire and the Two 'Three Thousands'

    So, about 3,000 perished on that terrible day for their brazen idolatry and vileness. And can you remember how many souls were saved on the First Messianic Shavu'ot (Weeks, 'Pentecost') in Jerusalem? The believers had been speaking in tongues, in known foreign languages, and Peter had started preaching to the bewildered onlookers, some of whom at first thought they the talmidim (disciples) were drunk, engaging, as they supposed, in an 'orgy of slurred and meaningless words'. This was the consequence of that miraculous outpouring of the Ruach (Spirit) that day:

      "When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, 'Brothers, what shall we do?'

      "Peter replied, 'Repent and be baptised, every one of you, in the name of Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ) for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit). The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off - for all whom Yahweh our Elohim (God) will call.'

      "With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, 'Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.' Those who accepted his message were baptised, and about three thousand were added to their number that day" (Acts 2:37-41, NIV).

    The Symbolic Meaning of 3,000

    So about 3,000 were saved, the same number as at Sinai who were slaughtered, only this time people are being saved because of their repentance and their emunah (faith), and are not destroyed because of their unbelief, apostacy and rebellion like their ancestors! You must remember this number. '3' is the number of divine perfection and the number of the Elohimhead/Godhead because it has the necessary dimensions of substance: length, breadth and height. '1,000' is also a number of perfection, representing oneness and the perfect rule of Messiah during the Millennium (amongst other things), so 3,000 denotes either perfect judgment (in the case against the rebels at the first Shavu'ot at Sinai) or the perfect compliment of the saved in Messiah, as well as New Creation whose foundation is grace - the undeserved loving kindness of our Elohim (God). This is what we are going to be talking about over the next three days, today at Shavu'ot (Weeks), at the regular sabbath tomorrow, and at Rosh Chodesh the day after.

    Lawlessness or Obedience?

    Christians and Messianics are not usually accustomed to making the association between 'Pentecost'/Shavu'ot and Judgment because we normally reserve contemplating judgment at Yom haKippurim (or Yom Kippur as it is usually abbreviated). However, as the symbolism of 3,000 has alerted us to, we cannot do that any longer, because every blessing of heaven is preceded by a purging or purification and the entering into of a binding covenant of obedience. Our faithfulness to that covenant and its Constitution, consisting of Mitzvot (Commandments), Chukkim (Statutes) and Mishpatim (Judgments), directly factors into our spiritual well-being, contentment and happiness. As David would later testify:

      "Happy is the man who fears Yahweh by joyfully keeping His mitzvot (commandments)" (Ps.112:1, JB)

    Hiding Behind a Foreign Species of 'Grace'

    All that is associated with, or connected to, 'wildness', 'looseness', 'loss of control', 'unruliness', 'unrestrainedness', 'disorder' - in a word, lawlessness or Torahlessness - has to be addressed because Yahweh demands it before allowing His people to move on to the next phase of spiritual growth and maturity: and - especially important for us - moving on to the next leg of the Final Exodus. It's our choice: shall we obedient to the mitzvot (commandments) or make excuses by hiding behind a foreign species of grace that the Bible nowhere recognises or acknowledges, as so many try to do, a species of 'grace' that spits on the mitzvot (commandments) and Torah as a whole, as though Yahweh were some sort of lawless, modernist or post-modernist, a heavenly Dispensing Machine or Sugar-Daddy.

    False Gnostic Grace vs. the True

    This fake 'grace' insists, to varying degrees (depending how radical the group is promoting it) that the Elohim (God) of the Old Testament lacked it whereas the Elohim (God) of the New Testament has a super-abundance of it, a blasphemous Gnostic idea that pits the Old Testament against the New as though they were rival religions with different Rulers and agendas. And yet nearly a hundred times in the Tanakh (Old Testament), David and Jeremiah in particular articulate such intense feelings as, "O give thanks unto Yahweh; for He is tov (good, beautiful, bountiful, full of grace); for His chesed (mercy, loving-kindness, favour, beauty) endureth for ever" (1 Chron.16:34, KJV), a sentiment echoed by James the apostle (Jas.5:11) because it's the same tender-hearted Elohim (God) that they're all talking about.

    Many Words Contain the Idea of Grace

    These two Hebrew words tov and chesed mean so much more than the simple English 'good' and 'mercy', respectively, and have tremendous overlap. You saw that both could mean 'beauty'. Yahweh is tov or gracious - full of undeserved loving-kindness. And there are other words in Hebrew that similarly overlap with these like ahavah, meaning 'love'. As we move from Genesis to Revelation, Yahweh reveals more and more of this grace, unfolding it, demonstrating it, until finally He reveals so much of it that He sends His Son to the earth so that mankind might have even more grace. Thus Yah'shua (Jesus) would say, in fulfilment of this divine self-revelation of His Heavenly Father and of ours:

      "I have come that [the sheep] may have chayim (life), and that they may have it more abundantly" (John 10:10, NKJV).

    or as N.T.Wright renders this passage:

      "I came so that they could have chayim (life) - yes, and have it full to overflowing" (Jn.10:10, KNT; "far more life than before" - J.B.Phillips).

    More and More Heavenly Life-Giving

    And so this heavenly life-giving - this supply of the undeserved loving-kindness of Yahweh - continues moving in the same direction, ever multiplying in the lives of those willing to receive it by preparing vessels of obedience. He does not hand it out willy-nilly to thieves and robbers but to His sheep who trustingly follow Him:

      "I am the gate for the sheep. All who ever came before Me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved ('safe and sound' - JBP; 'in safety' - Barclay; 'be safe' - NEB; 'he will live' - HRV). He will come in and go out, and find pasture (food, nourishment - spiritual and physical)" (John 10:7-9, NIV).

    Greater Abundance and New Clothing

    Not only is Yahweh increasing the supply of grace at Shavu'ot (Weeks) but He is carrying out a redemptive transaction initiated by the cross - he is giving, symbolically, the life back to the 3,000 who perished at Sinai if they will repent and trust in this Saviour who brings chayim (life), indeed, bringing it abundantly to overflowing, as represented by the first harvest of 3,000 souls at the First Messianic Shavu'ot in Jerusalem where the qodeshim (saints, set-apart ones) had been waiting patiently and faithfully for the endowment promised them by Messiah!

      "'And see, I am sending what My Father promised; so stay here in the city [of Jerusalem] until you have been clothed ('endued' - KJV, NKJV = sinking into a garment of clothing) with power from on high'. Then He led them out as far as Bethany and, lifting up His hands, He blessed them. While He was blessing them, He withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven. And they worshipped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great simcha (joy); and they were continually in the temple blessing Elohim (God)" (Lk.24:49-43, NRSV).

    (If you'd like to know more about this, then please see last year's sermon, The Shavu'ot Blessings: What the New Covenant Did to Them)

    Gathering to be Reclothed

    In addition to renewing our covenants every year - covenants of obedience to New Covenant Torah - we gather at Shavu'ot in anticipation - in the fervent hope - that we will be re-endued, refitted, and reclothed in this mantle of the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit). Notice the imagery is not so much as having something poured into us (though that's certainly a part of it), but rather of trustingly falling backwards into the hands of a spiritual tailor or someone who it placing a new coat on you. And if you're going to do that, then you must stretch out your hands so the garment can be slipped onto you, making your chest and back completely vulnerable and defenseless, maybe even throwing your head back a little. Do you see the symbolism? It is simultaneously an act of complete surrender as well as worship because that is what the foundation of true worship is - submission!

    A Prayer

    O Father, we are in such great, great need as we wait and hope for your super-abundance of undeserved loving-kindness. We cannot wait to cast off the old garment of sin and be clothed with a new one. We are sorry for having soiled the old one so badly. Please forgive us and make us whole once more, in body, mind and heart. We want to sincerely - genuinely, with real intent - re-covenant to obey your mitzvot (commandments) again and to walk in authentic faith, trusting in Your Son.

    The Shavu'ot Covenant of Obedience

    If you are a baptised and covenanted follower of Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ), then in a moment I am going to invite you to publically say with all your heart, "Everything Yahweh has said we will do". If you have come today to take that covenant for the first time - to be Chrismated, Confirmed or take your Bar- or Bat-Mitzvah, then join in with us as you enter into your communal covenant with us all, your spiritual family. If you have not been baptised and believe, then I urge you to be baptised as quickly as possible, without further delay, for the days are evil and believers need this clothing - this special covering, enduement or endowment of Christ. For the remainder who are already baptised into Messiah, but also those who mean to follow through with baptism right away, please repeat after me:

    "Everything Yahweh has said we will do"

    The Need to Hold Out

    Amen! But we can't leave it there this time, brethren and sisters - we must not only really mean it but be prepared to hold out when the going gets rough and not keep wanting to go back to the old unsaved life in Egypt as Israel did out in the Sinai wilderness, or later when it started imitating the surrounding pagan nations. There has to be a complete and final severance with the past life of unbelief and disregard for the Davar Elohim (Word of God). There must also be an end to pretending to be Christian/Messianic, an end to all play-acting in order to maintain appearances in the Body of Messiah, all self-deception in this regard, and an end to secret sinning and compromising with the world.

    A Word for the Shavu'ot Assembly

    I was praying about all of this five days ago and was led to a beautiful word in the Book of Isaiah for those who mean to be faithful, for those who intend to continue clinging on to Yah'shua (Jesus) through the storms and walking the Torah Way. I had had a really, really bad night and had woken up even more exhausted than I had been when I had turned the lights out. I sat on the edge of my bed in despair and asked Yahweh for a word of hope and assurance. Before I read that passage to you to end today's Shavu'ot presentation, let me first of all give you the verses immediately before them so that you will understand to whom this promise was originally directed both then and now in the repeating prophetic spiral.

    Perfect Peace and the Well-Trodden Way

    If you have your New King James Version (NKJV) with you, join me in Isaiah chapter 26 and the third verse (Evidence Bible, p.954):

      "You will keep him in perfect shalom (peace),
      Whose mind is stayed on You,
      Because he trusts in You.
      Trust in Yahweh forever,
      For in Yah-Yahweh [1], is everlasting strength.
      For He brings down those who dwell on high,
      The lofty city;
      He lays it low,
      He lays it low to the ground,
      He brings it down to the dust.
      The foot shall tread it down --
      The feet of the poor
      And the steps of the needy."

      "The [well-trodden] way of the just (justified, righteous) is uprightness;
      O Most Upright,
      You weigh the path of the just.
      Yes, in the way of Your judgments,
      O Yahweh, we have waited for You;
      The desire of our soul is for Your name
      And for the remembrance of You.
      With my soul I have desired You in the night,
      Yes, by my spirit within me I will seek You early;
      For when Your judgments are in the earth,
      The inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness"

      (Isa.26:3-9, NKJV).

    An Habitual Walk of Faith

    I want you to notice that "the way of the just" is a special kind of way, the 'orach, a road that is well-trodden because it is habitually used. And that's the thing about being a Covenant people of Yahweh, the Way of Yahweh is supposed to be walked daily and not just periodically hopped onto at Sabbaths and Annual Festivals such as this one. When we take our annual covenant at Shavu'ot, we're talking about 24/7 discipleship, not the occasional bit of discipleship when it suits us, not about simply keeping up appearances. The 'orach describes the kind of well-worn road used by caravans day-in and day-out. Yahweh is talking to those believers who mean business.

    The Glory That Awaits the Patient, Enduring Disciple

    He then goes on to describe the way or 'orach of this Israelite caravan living in right relationship with Yahweh - I like the way the Revised Standard Version (RSV) renders it: "The 'orach (way) of the righteous (justified) is level; Thou dost make smooth the path of the righteous" (Is.26:7, RSV). Let's hop over the next few verses to verse 16 - I do encourage you to read the whole chapter afterwards so that you get the full context. Here, I think, is a good description of Yahweh's people who have been waiting and waiting for His deliverance and have perhaps started losing hope. The navi (prophet) uses messianic resurrection imagery to illustrate what is to come for those who remain on the 'orach - the well-trodden way:

      "Yahweh, in trouble they have visited You,
      They poured out a prayer when Your chastening was upon them.
      As a woman with child is in pain and cries out in her pangs,
      When she draws near the time of her delivery,
      So have we been in Your sight, O Yahweh.
      We have been with child, we have been in pain;
      We have, as it were, brought forth wind;
      We have not accomplished any deliverance in the earth,
      Nor have the inhabitants of the world fallen.

      "Your dead shall live;
      Together with my dead body they shall arise.
      Awake and sing, you who dwell in dust;
      For your dew is like the dew of herbs,
      And the earth shall cast out the dead"

      (Isa.26:16-19, NKJV).

    Struggles and Birth Pangs

    This passage begins with a picture of the failure of Israel to carry out its mission on the earth and why it was that Yah'shua (Jesus) had to come to be Israel Himself - to do what Israel failed to do, bearing the mission-load, being what Israel failed to be, which He did by dying and rising again with healing in His wings! And we, in our turn, are to be the new Body of Israel, the light on a hill, by means of the living, Conquering Christ-within-us. We too, as we wait for Yahweh to act - often impatiently - start experiencing the kind of anguish a woman knows when she goes into labour, and there has been much in the way of labour pains or "pangs" in the Remnant today. The struggles of the Remnant have been terrible to be sure, but then the struggle to overcome is always terrible.

    The Word for Messianic Israel in 2020

    And then a word for this season of judgment, as also of the Final Judgment further down the road, and finally of new clothing or endowment:

      "Come, My people, enter your chambers,
      And shut your doors behind you;
      Hide yourself, as it were, for a little moment,
      Until the indignation is past.
      For behold, Yahweh comes out of His place
      To punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity;
      The earth will also disclose her blood,
      And will no more cover her slain"

      (Isa.26:20-21, NKJV).

    Vindication of the Victims

    Don't we see this happening right now as the iniquities of the deep state are exposed one by one, as "the earth discloses (reveals) her blood"? These mass murderers and abusers and robbers cannot escape, it is impossible. Their sins cannot remain concealed indefinitely, hard though they may try to. And when judgment comes, their guilty deeds are revealed for the world to see. The victims shall receive their vindication.

    The Message for MLT & NCAY

    Which brings me to the message I have specifically for this assembly, for those who wish to be a part of us, and for the Remnant as a whole. Now judgment comes against the demonic powers orchestrating all the evil we have just described. So chapter to 27:

      "In that day Yahweh with His severe sword, great and strong,
      Will punish Leviathan [2] the fleeing serpent,
      Leviathan that twisted serpent;
      And He will slay the reptile that is in the sea.

      "In that day sing to her (Israel) [these words],
      'A vineyard of red wine!
      I, Yahweh, keep it,
      I water it every moment;
      Lest any hurt it, I keep it night and day.
      Fury is not in Me.
      Who would set briers and thorns
      Against Me in battle?
      I would go through them,
      I would burn them together.
      Or let him take hold of My strength,
      That He may make shalom (peace) with me;
      And He shall make shalom (peace) with me."

      "Those who come He shall cause to take root in Jacob;
      Israel shall blossom and bud,
      And fill the face of the world with fruit."

      (Isa.27:1-6, NKJV).

    Conclusion

    Peace, healing, and Shavu'ot power be upon you, in Yah'shua's (Jesus') Name. I look forward to seeing you tomorrow morning. Amen

    Endnotes

    [1] Yah-Yahweh is emphasising the Father, the Greater Yahweh, as opposed to the Son who is Yah'shua-Yahweh, or the Lesser Yahweh,. for both, being Elohim (God), are Yahweh
    [2] A primaeval sea-serpent representing chaos, an apt title of Satan - for Yahweh's conquest of this monster, see Psalm 74:14

    Continued in Part 2

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