Chag sameach Rosh Chodesh kol beit Yisra'el and Mispachah and welcome to this assembly to mark the beginning of the fifth month in the sacred calendar of our Elohim (God). This year there is, as I have mentioned before, a significance in the fact that three of the divine moedim (appointments) are lying side-by-side, and if there is one theme that has dominated Shavu'ot (Weeks, Ekatost, 'Pentecost') this year it's how grace - the undeserved loving-kindness of our Elohim (God) - underpins absolutely everything. It is the beginning of the fifth month, another grace number.

So you will imagine my surprise when earlier this morning, when I asked Yahweh what His message was, I very clearly heard Him tell me to turn to Psalm 50...yes, I know, the number of the second half of the Omer Count leading to Ekatost (or '100') of Shavu'ot. And though I knew the message was in the first two verses, I read through the entire Psalm to be sure there wasn't more, and then returned to the first two verses again, so let's first of all read those:

"El Elohim, Yahweh, has spoken (speaks) and summonses (qara, calls) the earth (haErets) from the rising of the sun to the setting. Out of Tsiyon (Zion), the perfection of beauty (yofiy), Elohim (God) has shone (shines forth, yapha')" (Ps.50:1, ESV/NKJV)

As I gazed intently at verse 1 in the Hebrew I did not at first realise how dense in meaning it was. It begins with a most unusual sequence of divine titles, found only in one other place, in Joshua 22:22 - "El Elohim Yahweh" which you'll find translated in all sorts of bizzare ways in English Bibles because the translators aren't quite sure what to do with it. Here are some examples from Protestant, Messianic and Catholic Bibles, and a couple from Jehovah's Witness bibles and the Latin Vulgate for contrast:

• 1. "The Mighty One, God, the Lord" (NIV, ESV);
• 2. "the LORD, God of gods!" (NRSV);
• 3. "The Lord of gods" (NLT);
• 4. "The Mighty One, God, is ADONAI" (CJB);
• 5. "El Elohim, Hashem El Elohim" (OJB);
• 6. "The Mighty One, Elohim, YHWH, the Mighty One, Elohim, YHWH" (MATS);
• 7. "The Mighty One, God, Yahweh, the Mighty One, God, Yahweh" (ATOT);
• 8. "'El, Elohim, Yahweh, 'El, Elohim, Yahweh" (HRV);
• 9. "The Lord the God of gods, the Lord the God of gods" (NEB);
• 10. "El Elohim YHWH, El Elohim YHWH" (ISRV);
• 11. "The God of gods, Yahweh, the God of gods, Yahweh" (JB);
• 12. The LORD is the God of gods, the LORD is the God of gods" (RNAB);
• 13. "Divine One, God, Jehovah, Divine One, God, Jehovah" (NWT 1e);
• 14. "The God of gods, Jehovah! The God of gods, Jehovah!" (NWT 2e);
• 15. "Fortissimus Deus Dominus, Fortissimus Deus Dominus" (Latin Vulgate).

So let's put aside the English wording and simply consider the original Hebrew: El Elohim Yahweh. These are not synonyms [1] but have distinct meanings: 'El' is the title of the Father and denotes power and/or might (as well as being the generic name for the Creator in pagan Middle Eastern cultures), Elohim is the title of the Godhead and denotes both plurality of persons and plurality of power, namely, powers, and 'Yahweh' is the Scared Name that pincipally refers to the Father, and in a secondary sense to the Son, and in a general sense to all the Elohim. However, many translations assume that 'Elohim' refers not to the Creator but to the pagan gods and/or fallen malakim (angels) posing as 'gods', that is, it refers to elohim with a lower-case 'e' (with a similar usage for Israelite rulers who are also called 'elohim'), and that is admittedly a possibility. We find this thought in many places in Scripture:

"For Yahweh (the LORD) your Elohim (God) is Elohim (God) of elohim (gods) and Master (Lord) of masters (lords), the great El (God), mighty (gibbor) and awesome (yare', terrifying)..." (Deut.10:17, NKJV; cp. Ps.135:5; 136:2; Dan.2:47; 11:36).

You'll also have noticed that all Messianic translations and modern Christian ones, including the ancient Latin Vulgate of Jerome, double 'El Elohim Yahweh' to 'El Elohim Yahweh, El Elohim Yahweh'. And though this doubling-up is not to be found in the Hebrew, it has become fashionable for translators to do so in order to indicate the terribleness of the occasion (the fate of those who have fallen into gross sin) and to reflect the vigour of the sense of these words (as is also found, for example, in Nehemiah 9:32). Personally I do not believe this doubling-up is necessary - just putting El, Elohim and Yahweh next to each other is sufficient to make it clear that the whole energy, substance and character is being concentrated in what amounts to wrath in Joshua 22:22.

So putting these three words together is supposed to overwhelm you, fill you with awe at the greatness of...Him...Them...and the repetition of these titles and names both here in Psalm 50:1 and in Joshua 22:22 by many modern translatros certainly gives the statement an oath-like quality. Asaph the Psalmist says, "El Elohim, Yahweh, has spoken (or 'speaks') and summonses (or has 'ummonsed') the earth (haErets) from the rising of the sun to the setting" and Joshua in Joshua 22:22 says, "El Elohim, Yahweh! He knows! And let Israel know. If this has been in rebellion or ddisobedienc to Yahweh, do not spare us this day" (NIV). This is a desparate plea for Israel repent and so get into right relationship with the Almighty, and to be anxious about not having done right and to have failed to act in obedience. Joshua is keen to know that he has done right; Asaph is simply decaring that to be thus related is to also be a witness of yapha - of beauty - arising from Zion, for this is an absolute definition of beauty! And such beauty can only arise out of what the word 'Tsiyon' actually means. What a contrast!

These last two days we have talked about completeness, wholeness and perfection that come about as a result of repentance and obedience - beauty is a manifestation of the fruit these things. What is beautiful to Yahweh should also be beautiful to us. Even our own English word conjures up a mystical association between the qualities of shape, proportion and colour in, for example, the human face or form, that delights the physical sight. We have also talked about the intimacy of yada of 'knowing' Elohim and our spouses, which is another kind of beauty. By beauty we also mean that we view something or someone as possessing the virtue of 'exceptional goodness', bring us delight. And here, in today's passage, El Elohim Yahweh says that His idea of beauty comes out of Tsiyon or Zion. But what can that mean? How are we to 'recognise' or 'see' it and, indeed, how are we to pursue it to the exclusive glory of El Elohim Yahweh?

There is no way you can ever quantify beauty. You cannot write down a mathematical formula for it because it isn't something mechanical even though the ancient Greeks discovered beauty in outward form and were the consummate artists of their day. We know that there are certain curves or geometric forms that somehow delight the human soul. I am sure you have seen Lissajous curves like the ones below.

As a boy I was always fascinated by geometry and even now there is something about the sphere, the pyramind, and the cube that delight me, a reason I am fascinated by crystal geometry and the properties of atoms and minerals, an interest my younger daughter (who is an artist) shares too. Plato and Leonardo da Vinci were fascinated by 3-dimensional geometric objects - tetrahedrons, cubes, octahedrons, dodecahedrons and icosahedrons whixh Plato linked (quite arbitrarily) to the elements. So are New Agers...though they ten to ascribe mystical-magical properties to certain shapes and virtually worship them. And yet living things are essentially an assortment of curves, some intersecting (as in the mouth), some like a series of waves as you go down the side of the body from the top of the head to the feet. Just look at the flowers, at their shapes and symmetries. We see some mathematical formulae in nature like the Fibonacci Number (in sea shells and the like) - I am sure you have heard of the 'Golden Ratio' or the 'Divine Proportion' because of its aesthetic appeal to the human eye. It's found in beautiful architecture but most importantly, as the astronomer Johannes Kepler discovered, it is to be found in man himself. All of these things are certainly a physical reflection of Yahweh's beauty. But for human beings, the consummate beauty - which in essence os spiritual - comes from where? It flows out of Zion (Tsiyon).

These last two days we have been looking also at the divine pattern or tavnith of the festivals of Israel...the moedim of Zion, which is itself an intricate set of mathematical principles too. The divine tavnith (pattern) in Scripture, in the Davar (Word), in the Torah and even in marriage itself has greatly excited my interest over the years, and as you know I have created an entire website on it. It has opened up so mahy doors of revelation and been an unending source of delight to me personally. But what does it mean when Yahweh says that His beauty comes out of Zion?

First of all, we need to understand that this is very poetic language. It is our artistic, spiritual sense that is being excited first and foremost, not our scientific curiosity, even though inevitably that too must provide its own fruit, especially for the rational aspect of our minds, both of which were created for simcha (joy). In Scripture, Zion principally refers to the original 'City of David' (1 Ki.8:1; 1 Chr.11:5), the original Jebus which was the core of what would become Jerusalem, though later it would come to refer to the Holy Land as a whole. It also refers to the mountain on which the 'City of David' stands, so in the literal sense Zion or Tsiyon refers to the place, the capital city of Israel. Both city and mountain were, from the earliest times, qadosh, holy or set-apart to Yahweh and thus is was to this place that the Ark of the Covenant was moved (2 Sam.6:17). Later, the term came to embrace the Temple area on Mount Moriah, where the Ark was moved during Solomon's reign), and the Ark, as you know, was the Throne of Yahweh on the earth.

So the city, the mountain, and the temple are all made qadosh, holy or set-apart on account of the presence of the Ark, and the Ark itself represented, and was the place where the very presence or glory of El Elohim Yahweh manifested in time and space as we discover in numerous biblical accounts. It is His Presence that renders everything qadosh (holy, set-apart) and therefore beautiful. Beauty is defined as His Presence, and where His Presence is, there is Zion, there is beauty (Ex.25:22; Lev.16:2; Ps.9:11; 74:2; 76:2; 78:68;132:12-14; 135:21). etc.). From this place therefore came help, blessing and salvation (Ps.14:L7; 20:2; 50:2; 59:6; 134:3).

But whenever the people were unfaithful and disobedient, the Presence withdrew along with divine protection for the temple, the mountain and the city (Lam.2:1,4,6,8,10,13). And though a remnant was restored to Jerusalem (Is.35:10; 51:3; 52:1-8; Jer.50:4-5,28; 51:10,24,35), this was not on account of any righteousness of the people returning from Babylonian exile per se but in order to fulfil prophecy and bring forth the Messiah. Indeed, Messiah was required to present Himself tob Zion as its King in order to fulfil the prophecy in Zechariah:

"Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!
Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold, your King is coming to you;
He is just and having salvation,
Lowly and riding on a donkey,
A colt, the foal of a donkey"
(Zech 9:9, NKJV - cp.Mt.21:5; Jn.12:15).

And as we know, only a remnant responded faithfully to Him whereas the religious leaders rejected Yah'shua (Jesus) as King and sought His death instead. Such apostacy could only be answered by Yahweh in one way: calamity for Jerusalem, the end of Zion as had been known in the Old Covenant, and its casting off by Elohim (God) (Mt.21:33-46).

Now we know from Scripture that a physical Zion will return but that it is not in any sense, shape or form the present city of Jerusalem, so loved by modern-day Zionists trying to recreate the forever but which is lost to the past and unrecoverable. Indeed, Paul underlines this truth by describing the Jerusalem of His day, even beforen its destruction in 70 AD and the scattering of the whole nation, as the City of Hagar:

"This is Hagar. Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present city of Jerusalem, because she is in slavery with her children. But the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother" (Gal.4:24-26, NIV).

Our allegiance as Christians and Messianics is solely to the Jerusalem which is in Heaven, which shall come down to earth when Christ returns, replacing entirely the present city, and indeed the ancient city, being the New Jerusalem:

"I (John) saw the Qadosh (Holy, Set-Apart) City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from Elohim (God), prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 'Now the dwelling of Elohim (God) is with men, and He will live with them. They will be His people, and Elohim (God) Himself will be with them and be their Elohim (God). He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away" (Rev.21:2-4, NIV).

So that we are in no doubt as to where perfection and beauty are to be found and manifested, the writer of Hebrews says:

"But you (believers) have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living Elohim (God). You have come to thousands upon thousands of malakim (angels)in joyful assembly, to the Assembly of the Firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to Elohim (God), the Judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, to Yah'shua (Jesus) the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel" (Heb.12:22-24, NIV).

If we have been spiritually regenerated or transformed, if we have been authentically born-again, we are already in the New Jerusalem spiritually-speaking, remembering that now - in the New Covenant - our physical bodies are individually and collectively the Temple of the Living Elohim (God) by virtue of our being linked to Messiah who, with His Father Yahweh, are the Temple of the New Jerusalem. Specifically, we are pillars in that Temple. Thus Jerusalem, Mount Zion, the Temple, and the Ark of the Covenant are now to be located in the physical bodies of all true believers, to varying degrees, according to our righteousness, according to our sanctification, according to our faithfulness. We are Tsiyon, we are the place Yah'shua (Jesus) seeks to manifest His beauty to the world as a witness and as a means of drawing all men and women to Himself who will choose to come.

Who of all those professing to be Christians or Messianics qualify to be this Tsiyon? to be the Bride of Christ? Those who overcome the flesh and its fallen passions:

"I (Yah'shua/Jesus) am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown. Him who overcomes I will make a pillar in the temple of my Elohim (God). Never again will he leave it. I will write on him the Name of my Elohim (God) and the name of the city of my Elohim (God), the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my Elohim (God); and I will also write on him My new name" (Rev.3:11-12, NIV).

The overcomers are those who are of the company of the Assembly of the Firstborn, the 144,000 of all the tribes of Messianic Israel. You don't qualify to be a part of that elect company by joining some organisation like the Jehovah's Witnesses, the Mormons, or indeed any church or messianic synagogue. These are they who are purchased by the Blood of the Lamb from the earth, these are they who are on the Heavenly Mount Tsiyon. So get your eyes of the Middle East and alight them on the New Jerusalem above whence cometh our salvation!

The Olive Branch revelations speak much of Tsiyon (Zion), both its outward and inward aspects, and especially about its beauty. Look up the references to it on page 1060 because Tisyon is very much what this work is ultimately all about:

"Let the House of Bricks and of Wood (your homes) be subject unto the House of Flesh (your bodies); and let the House of Flesh (your bodies) be subject unto the House of Ruach (Spirit), that all may be done in the proper order, that Tsiyon (Zion) may arise clean and pure" (OB 30:10-11).

And finally, let me share just one more extract from the Olive Branch, to whet your spiritual appetites as it were, because it speaks of this place where we are assembled today - it is the vision of 1994 I mentioned to you at Shavu'ot two days ago:

"I was just coming out of sleep when I heard a voice say, 'Tsiyon (Zion)', and then I saw a vast field of ripe, yellow corn. Above each stem of corn was a flickering tongue of fire so that the whole field was covered with these small flames. The vision closed in two stages. First, the stems of corn disappeared leaving only the tongues of fire which remained for perhaps another ten to fifteen seconds, until they too disappeared.

"The day before the qodeshim (saints, set-apart ones) had conducted a search for Kadesh on the Day of Shavu'ot ('Pentecost') and I had immediately understood from the vision that they had done so without the anointing of the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit) as had been given the first Christians on the day of Shavu'ot ('Pentecost'); and that the Shavu'ot anointing is absolutely vital for any gathering, and is given only to those who are seeking Tsiyon with their whole minds, hearts, and strength, and have done everything possible to be obedient to the mitzvot (commandments) [Torah]. This, then, is Tsiyon, the Spiritually Anointed Ones, who alone can come to spiritual maturity and ripening. Amen" (OB 356)

That place we were searching for in Norway in 1994, and failed to find, is this very place we are sitting in today in Sweden, Kadesh-biyqah. The miracle of how we found and got it you all know. This is the place and once the Penultimate Judgment is over, and maybe even before, this is where it all begins. It is why hell has combined to try and destroy this place, why we have experienced so much grief and suffering, so much betrayal, so much illness, and so much longing. But Yahweh is not done with this place, and whilst it may appear to be nothing right now, and whilst some may have lost the vision, do not let your eyes deceive you.

Many have come and gone but it is not over. Indeed, it has not even really begun. We are old, sick and weak now, but it is precisely in our weakness that we may yet become strong. Christendom (not to mention the world) has heaped scorn on us, but as Paul said:

"We are fools for Christ, but you are so wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are honoured, we are dishonoured!" (1 Cor.4:10, NIV).

Who are we? Nothing, and we know it.

"I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong" (2 Cor.12:10, NIV). Is it not written of Yahweh's people that their "weakness was turned to strength" (Heb.11:34, NIV)?

Yahweh's grace is always greater than our doubts and fears, or even our mistakes. The important thing is we have hung on and not tried to go our own way or returned to the churches that spawned us. The vision is sharp and clear to me still, and here I stand. The Good Ship Tsiyon is still on course. And as it started with a handfull in Jerusalem, so it shall once again start with a handful who have been touched by the Shavu'ot and Sukkot anointings, who have tasted and know what heavenly beauty is. This is such a time. "Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees" (Heb.12:12, NIV); get up, trust in Yahweh, and see what He can do. We may not be the generation to do it, but my generation laid a firm foundation to build on. This is the message to you today. Amen.

Endnotes

[1] Atheistic liberal scholars, who do not believe in revelation, subscribe to the thesis that either these terms 'evolved' and are basically the same thing, or that they are the titles of different 'gods' that became fused over time by the emerging Israelites as they invented their Scriptures and 'God'.