"In the reign of Ahaz son of Jotham (Yotam), son of Uzziah (Uziyahu), king of Judah, Razon (Retzin) the king of Aram went up Jerusalem with Pekah (Pekach) son of Remaliah, king of Israel, to lay siege to it; but he was unable to capture it.

The news was brought to the House of David. 'Aram' they said 'has reached Ephraim.' Then the heart of the king and the hearts of the people shuddered as the trees of the forest shudder in front of the wind. Yahweh said to Isaiah, 'Go with your son Shear-jashub, and meet Ahaz at the end of the conduit of the upper pool on the Fuller's (Launderers', Washers') Field, and say to him:

'Pay attention, keep calm, have no fear,
do not let your heart sink
becuse of these two smouldering (smoking) stumps of firebrands,
or because Aram, Ephraim, and the son of Remaliah
have plotted to ruin you, and have said:
Let us invade Judah and terrorsise it
and seize it for ourselves,
and set up a king there,
the son of Tabeel (Taveal, Tob - Judg.11:3).

'The Master Yahweh says this:
It shall not come true; it shall not be.
The capital of Aram is Damascus (Dameshek),
the head of Damascus, Razon;
the capital of Ephraim, Samaria,
the head of Samaria, the son of Remaliah.
Six or seven years more
and a shattered Ephraim shall no longer be a people.
But if you do not stand by Me,
you will not stand at all.'" (Is.7:1-9, Jerusalem Bible/JB)

Chag sameach Rosh Chodesh kol beit Yisra'el and Mishpachah - a blessed New Moon, the 11th month of the current year of many troubles. I pray that the message I have been led to share with you today will be a blessing; and if not immediately so, that it will at the very least shake you up sufficiently to move quickly into action at this last hour of global meltdown. We are entering the final phase.

Many of you listening to this message today may have had, or are currently having, feelings not unlike that of Judah on learning that they were about to be invaded by an alliance of two nations - Aram (modern Syria) on the one hand, and apostate Ephraim or Israel on the other. Ephraim, representing the 10 northern tribes, was a kindred nation which had turned away from Yahweh and to the kind of paganism that its ally, Aram, had long practiced. The scripture we have just read says that Judah, upon hearing the news of the invasion, shuddered with fear, their hearts sank, and they began to panic. And no wonder - Ahaz had been defeated by a combined Aram and Israel earlier (2 Chr.28:5-8) and feared another catastrophe. You, too, may have withstood some terrible storms up to now but face a renewal of the assault on your lives and are wondering, desperately, how this will all end.

So whether it is an economic crisis, such as we ourselves are currently experiencing, the sudden death of a loved one, news of an incurable illness, betrayal by family or friends, loss of work, loss of your home, or whatever your trouble may be, I have a message for you - for us, for me, for all of us - to the besieged Remnant undergoing the trial of its life. So pay close attention.

Stunned by the news of an amassing army readying for a second invasion, the navi (prophet) Isaiah (Yeshayahu) is told by Yahweh to bring a message to the king of Judah. I have read the first half of it to you. But Isaiah was told not to go alone but to bring his son along with him to meet King Ahaz. That son's name was a most unusual one, a prophetic one given by Yahweh both for this particular occasion of renewed national crisis and well as for a general prophetic scene concerning the longer-term future. His name was Shear-Yashuv, or Shear-jashub in English, and that name translated from the Hebrew means, 'a remnant will return'.

The navi (prophet) brought a spoken message given him by Yahweh to relay to the king in order to to meet an immediate emergency. He also brought an unspoken word concerning the longer term fate of the Kingdom of Judah, a word for the more distant future after the king was dead. The short-term message was this: pay close attention, stay calm, don't be afraid. This crisis will pass in an unexpected way. The invaders - both the strangers (the Arameans)and those of your own kith and kin, Israel - will fail. Jerusalem, your citadel, will not fall. And in 5 or 6 years' time, the nation of Israel led by apostate Ephraim, shall no longer exist - it will be shattered and dispersed. Well, as often occurs in such desperate situations, unexpected events from afar off change everything. You see, Damascus would subsequently be crushed by the King of Assyria, Tiglath-Pileser III, in 732 BC and Israel was soundly defeated that same year too...the "two smouldering stubs". But - and here is the warning - "if you do not stand firm in your faith" - if you do not stand by Yahweh and His navi (prophet) - "you will not stand at all", says Yahweh (Is.7:9, NIV).

Now I think as you by now all know I am not one to go looking for hopeful signs in past historical events too often. I have seen too much misplaced faith in such things by others and witnessed the disasterous results when things haven't panned out the way they hoped. This is the great danger of the rhema doctrine of Pentecostals and Charismatics. Many years ago a group of Korean Christians were on their way to a conference. The journey was on foot and long through the countryside as they were too poot to be able to afford transport. They came to a river they needed to cross that was swollen with spring snow melt from the mountains. There were no bridges but there was a shallow spot they usually forded. Since there was no other way across, and not crossing would have meant returning home and missing the conference, they decided to go on in faith. Remembering that Yah'shua (Jesus) once walked on the waters of a storm-swept Sea of Galilee, they claimed what they assumed was a promise that given enough faith they could walk on the water. So they made the attempt after mighty prayer...and most of them drowned that day. They made a claim on Scripture that Scripture did not give. That incident was for Peter...and for Peter alone. Some Scriptures make general promises for all believers but others are only for local, non-repeatable events.

Now don't get me wrong - I absolutely believe in miracles but none of us has the right to 'name and claim' whatever we want. We aren't charismatic godlets. Miracles do happen. Indeed, again some years ago now, some Indonesian Christians were being pursued by their persecutors who had murderous intent and they finally got cornered at a lakem just as Moses and Israel once had been at the Red Sea. Yahweh had told them to flee and prmonised to protect them. When they came to the lake they went in with a view to swimming across yet they ran across. You see, Yahweh had made them a promise and they weren't presumptuous - they didn't demand as their right as imagined King's 'brats' to have wheatever they wished. We need to remember that. Sometimes we're supposed to miss appointments. Sometimes we are called to be martyrs. What matters is Yahweh's will.

Moreover, the fact that certain historical characters may inspire us doesn't mean we can, or shlould, walk in their foorsteps other than in the most general sense of imitating their righteousness. Hitler was obsessed with Frederick the Great of Prussia, a brilliant soldier and enlightened man, and deluded himself into thinking that his mission and fate was somehow tied to 'Old Fritz' as he was affectionally called in his time. But Hitler was no Frederick. Frederick succeeded and Hitler failed. Frederick was a moral man, Hitler was not. Frederick built a nation, Hitler destroyed one. Frederick died a natural death, Hitler killed himself. And understand this as we look at King Ahaz's promises from Yahweh - it was not on account of this king's righteousness that Judah would be spared, nor was it because Judah was particularly righteous either. We can't say to ourselves: 'Look, Yahweh spared this wicked King so we can trust that He will spare us in our wickedness too.' He and Juidah were spared was because of promises made to others. Yahweh had a longer-term plan. All that was granted by way of rescue at this time, and at ours now, was principally by Yahweh's grace, and His grace alone. We can, and most certainly should, rely on the general promises of Scripture but when it comes to our particular situation, we must either act on a word specifically given to us or simply wait on Him in faith. I and my family have seemingly insurmountable financial and health problems right now and we simply wait on Him, doing whatever we can in the interim and not expecting anything fo anyone as any kind of supposed 'right'.

Pekhah, the king of Israel, was a usurper king. And often - too often, alas - false brethren who are not called will often claim a calling that is not theirs to have because Yahweh has not given it to them. There are a lot of presumptuos ministers - self-appointed 'teachers', 'prophets', 'apostles', etc. The House of Judah was the legitimate head of the 12 tribes in the pre-Messianic era. However, that authority was not unconditional - neither for Ahaz nor his country. For divine authority is always conditional upon obedience to the mitzvot (commandments), for in its absence, we are told, we cannot stand. And that is why Isaiah was told to bring his son, Shear-Yashuv, to his meeting with Ahaz because he was a living prophecy that Judah would not stand in the faith but would desert it and become no less accursed than his brother Israel-Ephraim. Out of that exiled nation Yahweh would one day choose a Remnant, and that Remnant would return from Exile to the Promised Land, just as another Remnant is being called in our own time out of the Body of Christ, from churches and messianic synagogues that are about to be either enslaved or destroyed because of apostacy too. History repeats itself in what are by now familiar prophetic cycles.

Not many people, when trouble comes, adhere to the faith. The majority do not, in fact. We are no exception. Many enemies have come against us over the years, and there has been much fear, at times, with threats to kill us, abduct our children, etc.. But where are those enemies today? What did they achieve in coming against us? Nothing. They themselves were dashed against the very rock they sought to smash because out allegiance was not to ourselves but to the Rock. The ashpiles of some of them have long since blown away in the wind or been washed back into the earth by the rain. What makes it hard - very, very hard - is that like Israel relative to Judah, many of those souls have been from our own family. That is not easy which is why Yah'shua (Jesus) warned that our worst enemies would be those of our own households:

"Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn 'a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law - a man's enemies will be the members of his own household'" (Mt.10:34-36, NIV)

And He also reminds us that in the New Covenant - in the new spirituality that is represented by Christ - we are to view family, and make judgments about it, in a new and salvific way. For He said:

"'Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?' Pointing to His talmidim (disciples), He said, 'Here are My mother and My brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother'" (Mt.12:48-50, NIV).

The ties that bind us together are agonisingly strong and at times contradictory. In the end, they are either of the Ruach (Spirit) or of the flesh, and the two cannot co-exist. I well remember a time in Norway when relatives were going out of their way to destroy us...some claimed to be Christians even...with one, ironically, even confessing that we were living purer and holier lives then they. That's...family sometimes. My own father threatened to cut me off economically when I became a believer and I was then a student utterly dependent on him financially. He relented, in the end, no doubt (without knowing why) because of Yahweh's invisible moving in his life, but I was willing to pay the price. And it didn't matter to my parents that I said I would always love and honour both of them but that Yahweh would always have my greater love. They were most hurt by that; but by the by, when they saw I would not stop loving them, or diminish my love for them in order to love Elohim (God), we were soon reconciled. Sometimes we must prove our loyalty by undergoing testing. We need to be seen to actually be what we claim to be. Many fail that test and, for whatever reason, yield to the flesh. I dare say we have all done that. The measure of our character and the bigness of our heart - which are the main things - is how we apply that rule of faithfulness to Yahweh in our lives.

Ahaz and Pekah were family but Ahaz was, at least nominally, a follower of the true Elohim (God); he was a legitimate monarch in the line of David, whereas Pekah was an idolater and a usurper, a follower of gods which are no gods at all. Throughout the Tanakh (Old Testament), following the break-up of Israel after David's death into the northern Kingdom of 10-tribed Israel led by Ephraim and the southern Kingdom of 2-tribed Judea led by Judah, there were numerous conflicts but also moments of cooperation, both for good and evil - some fleshy, some not. And though Aram was kin too, it was more distant and therefore less intimate as a non-covenant people.

When conflicts arise between kin, as they always do, our first loyalty (not exclusive loyalty, mind you, and higher than that owed to unbelievers) must always be to the Family Yahweh has Himself given us in the Messianic Community (Church) because that alone is eternal, and together we are the same Bride. And though we should always seek out, and try to reconcile with, rennegade family members, and continue to love them, we are never to place Yahweh's family on the altar of sacrifice in order to do so. Why? Because loyalty to Yahweh and His Truth is the prime thing. And Yahweh treasures the spirit of loyalty to Him and His people above all things. Read Yah'shua's (Jesus') High Priestly Prayer in the Gospel of John, chapter 17, shortly before He was arrested and crucified, and you will see that this intricate to the Grand Design. It's what we created to be and do.

Blood is not thicker than water in the Kingdom of our Elohim (God) because it is not blood which determines who we will spend eternity with, but faithfulness to our Creator and His Bride. This is where the picture of the polygamous Bride becomes important to understand, and why Yahweh allows that practice. That is the challenge, albeit a hard one at times, that we must all face, because even the Bride doesn't get on with itself. We are all kinds of characters. And one of the most famous of such painful conflicts was that between David and his rennegade sons: long-haired Absalom, whose hair got caught in a tree when he was fleeing his father, thus sealing his fate, whose rebellion against his father cost the Nation much blood and turmoil, because of the civil war he started. So many died needlessly, so many wives were defiled. You see, one of David's sins (and there were many, including adultery and murder) was that he was willing to put his own flesh-and-blood - who had becomes enemies of the Kingdom by the bad choices they made - ahead of His loyal subjects and the faithful worshippers of Yahweh. And he did that more than one. You may remember the disastrous consequences of the census he took to see how many military men-of-age that he could muster and tax which Yahweh had strictly forbidden, so that his leaders would not lean on the arm of flesh but on Him (2 Sam.24:1; 1 Chr.21:1). We are not top concern ourselves with numbers but with principles, because righteousness is might, not numerical superiority. That goes for the number of dollars we may, or may not, own too.

Such a warning is being reiterated here in today's text. You see, Ahaz was not a 'shining light' exactly. Despite the fact that Isaiah, Hosea and Micah all actively prophesied during his reign (Is.1:1), rank idolatry marked his time as king. He not only allowed it among his subjects but also personally engaged in pagan sacrificing himself, to the extent of offering up his own sons in fire in the valley of Hinnom (2 Ki.16:3-4; 2 Chr.28:3-4)! And it was because of the misrule of this Judahite king that Ahaz's rule was beset by a flood of troubles, of which this invasion by Syria (or Aram as it was then called) was one. And it wasn't only Aram and Israel who attacked Judah - the Edomites hit the nation from the south-east too, seizing the opportunity, causing Judah considerable losses. That is the background to today's passage. Don't get the idea that Ahaz was an angel for he was nothing of the sought. He was a wicked man. So why did Yahweh send Isaiah to help him? For these three reasons: for the sake of the Remnant, to preserve the Messianic bloodline, and to give this apostate king one last chance to repent.

The line between the 'goodies' and the 'baddies' isn't always clear-cut but most often is very blurred. Yahweh uses everyone for His own purposes, the good, the bad and the ugly'. All serve a purpose though it is no credit to the wicked to be thus used. They'll not be earning any heavenly 'brownie points'. The fact that today 'bad guys' are being used by Yahweh to crush the 'really bad guys' doesn't mean that Yahweh endorses the 'bad guys'. He uses them for the sake of the righteous. But woe unto those who try to interfere with His plans by opposing the 'bad guys' if Yahweh is temporarily backing them for the greater good! Did not Yahweh tell some of His nevi'im (prophets) to instruct apostate kings like Ahaz to submit to pagan enemy nations and not rebel against them? Do you remember when Jeremiah told King Zedekiah (Mattaniah) of Judah that if he and his people would humbly submit to the yoke of pagan Babylon that they wouldn't be destroyed? (2 Ki.24ff.) He refused and far worse than becoming a tributary nation happened: Judah was destroyed and the people taken into captivity for 70 long years. Often such reckless kings paid no attention to the nevi'im (prophets) and it cost them their lives - but worse, so did the people they led who followed the king's foolish example. David did so when he refused to carry out justice on some of his criminal sons - one who rebelled and another who committed incest with his half-sister, to name but two.

All of this is to say that we cannot afford be led by our emotions or by the flesh. We have to be led by the Ruach (Spirit) and by the emet (truth) as defined by Yahweh in Scripture, not 'truth' as defined by the world or your own imaginary 'truth'. At times such as those we currently live in, where it is often not clear who the good and bad guys are, we need to be very, very careful whom we support. Sometimes our own nations and families are the '[really] bad guys' which can be a real tug on our heart-strings because of those close family ties. The splitting of Israel and Judah, both of whom are depicted allegorically as simultaneously being the two wives of Yahweh until at length He divorced them for their failure to repent after breaking covenant-faith with Him, is a perfect example of this dilemma we humans face with our own families sometimes. How are we do deal with such conflicts? The same way as Yahweh did - with grace - undeserved loving-kindness - until that grace is exhausted and the second worse thing has to be done that man is sometimes called upon to do: to separate and 'divorce'. The worst that can happen is to be forced to execute someone, and it is not for nothing that murder and adultery are ranked as the worst of all sins.

So here, in today's text, Yahweh tells Ahaz that 5 or 6 years hence, the Kingdom of Israel will be no more. And then He warns him, indirectly, that a similar fate awaits him and his nation of Judah too if neither of them repent. But without speaking - just using the prophetic figure of Isaiah's own son - He tells us that Judah will go the same way as Israel (as indeed historically it did) by the navi Isaiah being instructed to bring along his son to the conference with the king.

And now something even more extraordinary happens in the story line. The verses that follow are very familiar to all Christians and even a good many unbelievers yet very few of them realise the context or grasp its multi-layered significance. You'll see what I mean as we read it together now, beginning at verse 10:

"Once again Yahweh spoke to Ahaz and said, 'Ask Yahweh for a sign for yourself coming either from the depths of Sheol (the world of the dead) or from the heights above (the world of the living).' 'No,' Ahaz answered, 'I will not put Yahweh to the test'" (Is.7:10-12, JB).

Reading on:

"Then He said:

'Listen now, House of David:
are you not satisfied with trying the patience of men
without trying the patience of my Elohim (God) too?
The Master Himself will give you a sign.
It is this: the maiden (virgin) is with child
and will soon give birth to a son
whom she will call Immanuel.
On curds and honey will he feed
until he knows how to refuse evil
and choose good,
the land whose two kings terrify you
will be deserted.
Yahweh will bring times for you
and your people and your father's House,
such as have not come
since Ephraim broke away from Judah
([he will bring] the king of Assyria).
That day Yahweh will whistle up mosquitoes
from the Delta of the Egyptian Niles,
and bees from the land of Assyria,
to come and settle
on the steep ravine, on the rocky cleft,
on the thorn bush and on every pasture.
On that day the master will shave
with a blade hired from beyond the River
(the King of Assyria),
the head and hares of the body,
and take off the beard, too.
That day each man will raise
one heifer and two sheep,
and because of the abundance of milk they give,
all who are left in the country
will feed on curds and honey.
That day, where a thousand vines used to be,
worth one thousand pieces of silver,
all will be briar and thorn.
Men will enter it with arrows and bow,
since the whole country will revert to briar and thorn.
On any hillside hoed with the hoe
no one will come
for fear of briars and thorns;
it will be pasture for cattle and grazing for sheep'"
(Is.7:13-15, JB)

The interesting part of this passage is the prophetic 'sign'. One thing you need to remember about prophetic 'signs' in biblical literature is that such were normally fulfilled within a few years after being uttered by the navi (prophet) (e.g. Is.20:3; 37:30 - cp.8:18), so the meaning in the first instance cannot be a messianic reference to Yah'shua (Jesus) which is not to say that the Virgin Birth isn't hidden up in this prophecy (because it absolutely is)...only that prophetic level wasn't for the King of Judah. Besides, how could Yah'shua (Jesus), who was yet 2,700 or so years in the future, have been a 'sign' to King Ahaz? This was specifically a sign for Ahaz, addressing his own situation as the rest of the prophecy bares out. So who was this young 'maiden' or 'virgin'? Since Isaiah does not name the woman and since it is he who is the prophetic message-bearer, it is almost certainly a reference to a young woman who was betrothed to Isaiah himself (Is.8:3) at that time and was about to become his second polygamous wife. Each of Isaiah's two wives had a son with a different prophetic message that ran concurrently. And no, the first wife didn't die before he married the second one - we would almost certainly have been informed as we were of Ezekial's (Ezek.24:18) and besides the two must have been alive at the same time because of what they signify as we shall see. Such interpretations are born out of misguided Western scruples and prejudices about the way Yahweh does things. Yahweh's Torah-culture isn't Roman like the Western Church's!

How can we be certain that this is the correct interpretation? Because the word 'almah used here always refers to a woman about to be fully married in the very near future (Gen.24:43; Prov.30:19). The mother of the offspring of this union is described as a neviah or "prophetess" (Is.8:3, NIV, NRSV, etc.). And whilst the claim is rightly never made in Scripture that Mary, the mother of Yah'shua (Jesus), was an institutional neviah (prophetess), there is no doubt that she prophesied when filled with the Ruach (Spirit) and spoke what has since come to be known as the Magnificat (Lk.1:46-55). The fact that Isaiah's next wife would be a 'prophetess' would have made her as significant to Ahaz as Isaiah himself was. For one as wicked as Ahaz, this would have been potentially a 'double whammy'! A navi (prophet) and a neviah (prophetess) who are echad (one) in Yahweh would have been really potent and would have made a lot of people back then 'sit up and pay attention'.! The birth of their son, revealed in the next chapter to be 'Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz' (meaning 'speedy spoil, quick booty', or words to the effect), would have been a prophetic warning of what was to happen to Aram and Israel. But in the passage we are looking at today, he is called "Immanuel" ('God with us') meaning that for now - at the time Isaiah 7 was spoken to Ahaz, Yahweh would be with Judah and King Ahaz.

The fact that Matthew 1:23 quotes this passage demonstrates at least two things. First, that Isaiah's second son was a foreshadowing of Messiah who would also be called 'Immanuel'. In the same way that this name was supposed to convince Ahaz that, in spite of their earlier defeat at the hands of the same enemies, Yahweh could rescue the king and Judah from his enemies (Num.14:9; 2 Chr.13:12; Ps.46:7), just as Yah'shua (Jesus) can rescue us from our enemies, and most especially our greatest enemy, sin and death. Secondly, this is a pointer to the fact that Yahweh is the allegorical polygamous husband to both Judah and Israel, showing the validity and prophetic purpose of this kind of complex marriage, so long demonised by orthodox Christianity. Its prophetic purpose is shown by the fact that for a navi (prophet) to be married to a neviah (prophetess) he must first be married to the female equivalent of a Torah-teacher, someone wise and seasoned in the Scriptures. Only when these two are 'married' polygamousely with their Husband, the Creator, our Saviour, can we appreciate what Yahweh is telling us. This is the only mention of such an arrangement - of a prophet being married to a prophetess - in the whole Bible so we're supposed to pay close attention.

But there's another hidden meaning to this union: if Isaiah's second wife was a prophetess, what was his first? If we carefully follow Yahweh's divine tavnith or pattern, then Isaiah's marriages are also a picture of the Mount of Transfiguration event when Moses (representing the Torah/Law) and Elijah (representing the Nevi'im/Prophets) appeared with Yah'shua (Jesus). Isaiah thus becomes a type of Yah'shua (Jesus). And the two wives are also types of the Two Witnesses whose allegorical Bridegroom is the Returning Messiah! (Rev.11:3-13). It's also a spiritual reason why missionaries are supposed to go in two's since the witness of the mitzvot (commandments) and the prophetic must go hand-in-hand, quite apart from the need for companionship and mutual protection.

But most importantly of all for the Messianic Community (church) to understand is that the true prophetic gift cannot be manifested without Torah-obedience! Any person claiming to be a 'prophet' who rejects the Torah is therefore acting like someone with a monogamy-only mindset and is, in effect, saying that you can have prophets without commandment-faithfulness, or holiness. I put this before you so that you can make spiritual connections and understand that for a full restoration to take place all of these things must be in place - Torah-obedience and Prophecy are the inseparable Brides of Isaiah and the reunited Brides of Yahweh, Israel and Judah. This, then, is a strong pointer to one of the defining characteristics of Messianic Israel by which she may be recognised and a clear revelation that the so-called 'Church' is an incomplete thing that can at best only represent part of the Kingdom, and at worst (and most typically) distort the Kingdom mandate altogether. And its rejection of polygamy, since the edict of the Roman Emperor Justinian, is itself a sign of this incompleteness and untrustworthiness.

It's why so many modern prophecies have been a dismal failure and a reason why it itself is responsible for provoking the backlash that is cessationism which itself is a retrograde step and even farther removed from the goals of the end-time Remnant. Both the cessationists and lawless continuationists have a lot to repent of; and their failure is what is in part delaying the Final Gathering. That's another reason we are not currently entering the Great Tribulation yet but rather a Penultimate Judgment and why the Second Coming is yet some years off. And, sadly, this realisation will probably not come to most Remnant-called Christians and Messianics until they see that they haven't been raptured (and never will be) and that Christ still hasn't returned in spite of what the false lawless prophets told them based on human assessments of politics. (All the rest will by then be in the globalists' One World Religion). Only then will large numbers of Remnant believers have fully awakened and will start coming home to this work. We shall, in the meantime, be patiently waiting and praying for them.

In the story of Ahaz, Israel is about to be divorced but we must wait another 700 or so years before Judah is finally divorced too. Yah'shua (Jesus) replaces them spiritually as the New Israel standing for all Twelve Tribes; and He Himself has two 'wives' that become as one (and many), the Judahites and Gentiles. the female aspect of Israel. So there's a lot going on here on multiple levels. Everything is coming together.

Isaiah's second son - the first son of his second wife - has two complimentary names. One is positive (Immanuel - 'God is with us', the old motto of Prussia, incidentally [1]) and is used of the faithful; the other is negative (Maher-shalal-ash-baz - 'the spoil speeds, the prey hastens') and is used of the faithless showing how they will be plundered as Israel and Aram would be by the unexpected intervention of the Assyrians which rescued Judah from certain oblivion.

So this is a really good example of a dual prophecy - the first level being for Ahaz and the second for those of the New Covenant in Christ, the first pointing to the second. The Assyrian invasion, when it came, really devastated the land, forcing the survivors to live off a simple diet consisting of curds (a kind of yogghurt) and honey. So farming became impossible (Is.7:22-25). All of this is a foretaste of the "Day of Yahweh" here referred to as "in that day" (Is.7:18,20,23) which is pointing to the difficulties that will come upon believers and the whole world in the 'Day of Yahweh'...which is what we're currently discussing in some depth in our Book of Revelation course. This is one of the reasons, I suspect, why Yahweh specifically let me to this passage for this Rosh Chodesh message. This is the same 'in that day' time that Isaiah uses in chapter 4:

"And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, 'We shall eat our own food and wear our own clothes; only let us be called by your name, to take away our reproach. In that day the Branch of Yahweh shall be splendid and esteemed. And the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for the escaped ones of Israel" (Is.4:1-2, ISRV).

The 'Branch' here is both the Saviour on the primary level and the Remnant on the secondary - the Bridegroom and the Bride. The seven women are a picture of that end-time Remnant or Bride, seven women living in a plural marriage relationship to a man of Messianic Israel who has a shem tov or 'good name' or 'reputation'; that is, a good name like the name of Isaiah the navi (prophet) with his two faithful wives, the second of which was a neviah or prophetess in her own right as we've seen.

Two is the first number that can be divided from itself symbolising division or difference which can be either positive of negative. In the positive sense it represents Yahweh's two allegorical wives, Israel and Judah, when they are faithful, who are reflected in Isaiah's two faithful wives, one of whom has an office similar to his own; also in the positive sense, reflected in Moses and Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration with Yah'shua (Jesus) their Head; the Two Witnesses of the Book of Revelation, and pairs of messionaries going out to evangelise.

Seven, as in the seven wives of Isaiah 4:1, is the number of completion, of spiritual perfection - the completion and pefection of the six days of creation plus one sabbath day of rest, represented by David's seven true wives as the one whose life, when lived righteously, pointed to the Messiah in whose royal Davidic line Yah'shua (Jesus) was. So there are many truths all joined together in these passages of Isaiah with this particular chapter 7 being more significant than most realise. It points to both the future Messiah and to the future Remnant which is starting tentatively to be assembled now, an end-time Remnant embarking on a Second and Last Exodus which will be foreshadowed by another remnant which, in Isaiah's day, was to come from Judah emerging from the Babylonian Exile.

The eventual destruction of 10-tribed Israel by Assyria would see once rich agricultural land turned into land covered with briars and thorns good only for grazing cattle. What had once been cultivated became uncultivated. This is a picture of what happens to individuals, religious associations and societes in general when they turn away from Elohim (God). Civilisation is destroyed, the work of centuries eradicated in practically no time at all because it is easy to destroy but takes a long time to build up.

But, as the song of Grandpa Potts in the movie Chitty Chitty Bang Bang reminds us, "from ashes of failure grow the roses of success"; likewise, from the ashes of apostacy by one group of people grow the roses of faithfulness of their successors. Judah would have to start all over again after the Babylonian Exile just as this world will have to start all over again after the present apostacy and Penultimate Judgment, and the Great Apostacy and Final Judgment are complete, both of which are accelerating as I speak. It's a new world that we shall be building which will be very different from the old one, and we must start learning the skills to accomplish that now, in advance. Isaiah gives us lots of pictures of what this new Messianic world will look like. The old is being washed away in order to bring the new into being. This is truly an exciting moment in the prophetic scheme of things, and we are witnesses to it, and partakers of it by association in truth and love with one another in community, even if it involves a certain amount of pain and uncertainty along the way because the terrain is new.

I meet a lot of bewildered believers these days, both regular orthodox Christians as well as Messianics. They know something big is going on but they don't know what exactly. They think that they are going to receive the wine of a new anointing but mistakenly think they will be allowed to fill the old wineskins of the church system with it. It won't work. I meet many who instinctively know changes are coming to the systems they were brought up in. What they don't know is that this is to be a mass cleansing with all the old swept away and that we are only weeks or months away from such an upheaval, maybe even days.

I am grateful for the lessons learned during the communist era of East Europe when believers were persecuted. Interestingly, it is only in times of peace and security that denominationalism arises. In times of crisis, differences evapourate. Shared trials and tribulations create interesting bedfellows. In communist Romania, during the terrible, oppressive Ceaucescu régime when Christians were tortured and murdered, Eastern Orthodox, Catholics, Baptists, Pentecostals, and even Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses were all thrown together and had put aside their differences. The same happened on the Zinzendorf Estate in Germany though under happier circumstances as people from different Christian traditions quickly learned to thrive together in the Ruach (Spirit).

What's about to happen now will be similar but also different. The Zinzendorf anointing, which I spoke to you about in 2009 some 13 years ago, was a Protestant affair and very successful, I might add. It sustained, amongst other things, the far-reaching Methodist revival which so positively impacted the world. The experience in Stalinist Romania didn't start a revival but was a phenomenon born out of the need to find friends in order to survive. What's coming now is something entirely different. I read about and listen to Christians who fervently pray for revival, who see the world system for what it is, but who expect 'more of the same' from yesteryear's revivals. What's about to erupt is not a European Protestant or American Pentecostal-style revival fuelled by emotionalism and lawlessness. What's coming will be a very different species altogether. It will, if you can envision it, even if only in part, be a marriage of the the pursuit of Torah-based holiness and the prophetic, each of which will impact and shape the other under the headship of the Divine Husband and be characterised by a way of living not seen since New Testament times; and yet it will also be different from 2,000 years ago because we have matured and (hopefully) now learned from our mistakes.

The Torah-Teachers and the Elijah Prophets will become one in Messiah Yah'shua (Jesus). The Messianic Community (Church) is coming of age. And that's just the beginning. Isaiah had two wives, but the model Millennial Man will have seven, reflective of the spiritual meaning of the Seven Annual Festivals of Messianic Israel. For the last 1,500 years Christendom has been 'one-wifed' with a lot of whoring going on with paganism on the side. We are now moving over to the New Covenant Isaiah system as the first step to complete restoration, the very minimum of what is acceptable to Yahweh in these the end of the end times.

One of my tasks is to expound on, and prepare, the vessel that will be supernaturally filled by Yahweh when the appointed time arrives. In our Book of Revelation course you have seen judgments taking place in three groups of 'sevens' about which I will have more to say in the days ahead. In the meantime, the Remnant coming out of the denominations must minimally prepare for the two-fold system, a hard enough proposition for those who have been immersed in Protestant and Catholic/Orthodox traditions spanning 500 to 1,500+ years, respectively.

The Messianics are the new 'kids on the block' historically-speaking and have a lot of catching up to do, and whilst in many respects the changeover to the Millennial system will be easier for them because of their familiarity with Torah, not only do they have their own wasps' nest of false rabbinical traditions to expunge but they are going to have to swallow a lot of pride concerning their claims to exclusivity first. Whatever background you are coming from, there is a lot of repatterning to do, for the vessel of the Sukkot Anointing is of a very special heavenly design. It won't be like the earlier Shavu'ot or 'Pentecostal' anointing which has in any case been so twisted and distorted in its modern charismatic forms to have lost its original purpose and will need to be re-restored too to allow rapid evangelism across the polyglot nations of the world.

Four days ago - it's that fresh - I received a prophetic word from a completely unknown brother of Sephardic Jewish origin in Rome. I'll leave a link on the website for those who would like to read the whole text. I have received three of four such words over the years from people of various denominational backgrounds, mostly from complete strangers, words that are both enriched, and limited, by their traditions which I have learned to see beyond to the substance (something which the hyper-literalist mindset of ultra-messianics has a problem with). Yahweh uses all kinds of people who have open hearts and a passion for truth. I am guessing the latest brother is from a Pentecostal background judging by the kind of language he uses. Many Pentecostals are amongst the most eager Protestant seekers at this time, as well as those simultaneously offering the most resistance, because they are so sure they have 'the anointing' in spite of still clinging onto an anti-Torah tradition and practicing a paganised form of 'tongues'-speaking. I appreciate the contribution that will be made by these believers, as indeed I do of all traditions that have preserved truth, all of whom have been my teachers at various times. I am going to share the core of the message to you, which was for me personally, but which in content has applicability to all seeking the fullness of the Kingdom, the reason I am sharing it with you now. The only changes I have made are cosmetic to accommodate messianic terminology:

"Yahweh gives you a new beginning, gives you a new anointing, a new strength, a new vision, a new spiritual authority, a new revelation in the davar (Word), a new anointing in healing, miracles and deliverance, the Fire of the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit) with you; Yahweh has given you an anointing of restoration, Yahweh is raising up a new generation of reformers and you are part of this new generation..says Yahweh...

"Yahweh has closed the Door of your Past .. and has opened a New Door before you; Yahweh gives you New Beginnings .. Yahweh is very happy with you, for what you have done in the Kingdom of Elohim (God) .. Yahweh has seen your heart that loves [Him] and His Presence and loves people. 'The best years of his life and ministry are ahead', says Yahweh. Amen."

What's particularly interesting, though he doesn't apparently know the terminology (not that it matters because I know what he means), is that he understands that the work of the end-time Remnant consists of both ongoing reformation and restoration (See Our Threefold Vision and Mission). Reformation changes the existing state and comes in small increments of understanding and practice; restoration brings back that which has been lost and is experienced more like sudden bursts of highly energetic emet (truth) coming out of the blue that initially shocks as well as pleasantly surprises. I have said a lot of 'shocking' things over the years to those comfortable with their traditions which I condensed into a boat-rocking sermon called HOT POTATOES for those able to handle the concentrated version. Most say they can handle it in one go but in reality can't which is why that sermon contains dozens of links to aid the seeker in his or her studies. And what's in there isn't 'all' by any means, just the most important parts.

Over the years I have asked Yahweh for external vindication of this work by those who know nothing about me or what I teach, nor I anything about them, who had nothing to gain by doing so. By two or three witnesses shall a matter be established (Mt.18:16; cp. Rev.11:3). I now have my two witnesses - one from Kentucky (1998) and one from Rome (2023)...plus a third from Ireland (2016), from one who knows me but who had a prophetic dream over which she obviously had no control. Independent validation by servants of Yahweh is important to me since we are not to promote ourselves. There's a fourth one from Serbia but since that prophet is long dead (1829-1899) (and cannot therefore be consulted) and he did little more than point out my geographical location, I have tended not to include him as his prophecy could be interpreted differently though to my knowledge no other claimant has stepped forward. There have been others but they have been too vague to impress me that they are anything other than man's imagination and wishful thinking - I have recorded one such 'prophecy' from Kenya (2019) for illustrative purposes.

So if you're new here or have been tagging along for a number of years because you're either still counting the cost that the Remnant Message expects of you or whether you're still not sure about a number of things, then I'd like to invite you to get in contact. You don't have to commit until you're sure and are free to walk away if you so choose. We'll not hound you as some do. Indeed, if you are a fresh convert out of the world, we consider it our duty and responsibility to find you a church or assembly where you can best fit in for now as this is taught in our revelations. In the meantime we would love to get to know you and fellowship with you. We have been in the wilderness of preparation and purging for nearly 40 years since the initial calling given in 1984, waiting for this day that is practically on top of us now. It's been a long but necessary journey. The goals or 'Five Commissions', given to us by Yahweh in 1990 when we were evangelising in the United States, remain unchanged and have faithfully guided us along the way, so you'll find constancy of substance here even if various outward forms have necessarily changed to accommodate every new truth that has been progressively restored. There is yet much to come but there's enough now to launch again in a short while. We have small centres in Scandinavia and East Africa if you happen to be nearby and want to visit them, and many online forums where you can meet with us.

With that we will end this slightly longer-than-usual Rosh Chodesh assembly on this the eleventh month of the current year that is coming to a great climax. Yahweh's blessings be upon you in abundance as He guides us all along the Way, in Yah'shua's (Jesus') Name. Amen.

Endnotes

[1] Gott mit uns

Comments from Readers

[1] Shalom brother. Can you explain a bit more if you have time? Why wasn't the rulership of earth not legally taken from Satan (until we handed it over to him again through sinning)? What do you mean by external light? When the fallen angels were destroyed by a flood, did they lose their bodies or how did they go to the psychic realm or did Yahweh create a new physical dimension? "Satan was still legally the earth's 'prince'. This model also explains why external light appears before the sun becomes visible from a vantage point on the earth since it was obscured by a thick canopy of water. But that, as I'm always saying, is 'another story for another time" (SDW, Germany, 23 January 2023)

Response: "'Yahweh gives, and Yahweh takes away'. Satan has legal rights to this planet until Messiah returns which is why he has access to the Divine Council and can make accusations against us (as with Job). The degree of power which he can exercise through that legal right is, according to my understanding, a function of what humans cede to him by sinning. The system remains but sometimes it is weak (owing to righteousness prevailing) and sometimes stronger (owing to unrepented sinning). The initial rights granted Satan were not, moreover, unconditional. He had to operate within certain constraints as a steward under Yahweh until he rebelled. As to malakim (angels) and their 'bodies' - the distinctions between matter and spirit aren't always clear in the Tanakh (OT) as you will know from making a study of the words used - see The Bible Teaching on Soul - where meanings overlap (which has caused Jehovah's Witnesses, Seventh-Day Adventists, and many others many problems). One thing I know from personal experience is that as supernatural beings malakim (angels) can (and do) materialise. Furthermore, there are different kinds or orders of malakim whose bodily systems aren't necessarily identical. It is a complex subject about which Christendom knows very little at present owing to fossilised traditions about what 'spirit' is (or isn't). We have 'spirits' but malakim ARE 'spirits' which happen to have supernatural abilities. Moreover, Yahweh the Father is 'spirit', properly translated 'spiritUAL'" (CCMW, Sweden, 24 January 2023).

"Thank you, interesting. But how can a flood destroy these supernatural beings, then?" (SDW)

"Destroy them, no. Make their world uninhabitable, yes" (CCMW)

"So they need the material creation, too, in order to live full lives? Right now they only inhabit the psychic realm, right? Which supposedly reduces their living possibilites and qualities, right?" (SDW)

"I am not convinced that they are purely psychic beings. There is more than one state of matter; and given that matter and energy are interchangeable, we may be talking about a different order of physicality. Such fine distinctions as we are able to make now were not known to the ancients even though not uncommonly moderns try to read more into the Bible than is there. But, yes, it might be as you say. A big subject. The diagram below shows the human composition as revealed or hinted at by Scripture. What malakim are could be radically different" (CCMW)