Beloved Family, as I write this in the late summer of 2017, we are about to enter into the Biblical season of the Fall Feasts that God commanded His chosen Blood Covenant people to celebrate with Him… the Feast of Trumpets… the Day of Atonement… and the Feast of Tabernacles… And it is my belief, and that of many others, that when Father sends His beloved Son to Earth again… He will fulfill the only feast that has not yet been fulfilled: the Feast of Tabernacles or ‘Sukkot.’ And that is what we see prophesied in the book of Revelation:
Revelation 21:1-7
“Then I saw a new Heaven and a new Earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of Heaven from God, made ready as a Bride adorned for her Husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying,
“Behold, the Tabernacle (Succah) of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.”
“And He who sits on the Throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” And He said, “Write, for these words are faithful and true.” Then He said to me, “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the Water of Life without cost. He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son!”
I believe that this Fulfillment is coming in the near future. This is what FMM is all about. It is also my belief that we in FMM have been given the task of helping those who have ears to hear what God is saying, and the hearts to respond to His call for us to prepare ourselves… to become full participants in all that God will be revealing and fulfilling here on Earth during that awesome approaching End Time season. So, as always, I urge you to pray… for all of us, for all of our present, and soon to come, Family members.
Yes, the FMM Family is growing in numbers, and hopefully, we’re also growing in the knowledge of our Redeemer and His Way and His Truth. The stream of new people that are joining us through the Internet is becoming larger. And more are joining us through the influence of the booklets containing our material that the members of our Family in Africa continue to translate, print and distribute. The booklets are taking the Gospel of Righteousness into every continent and into many countries and cultures. So the weak, tiny little FMM ‘infant’ that was birthed in the ‘womb’ of my home congregation in 2011, is spreading and maturing beautifully, and steadily.
A New Stage
I also sense that we’re about to enter into a new stage of development. A deep intuition tells me we will soon see tangible signs of progression – a new stage in the spiritual development of this generation of New Covenant disciples – a season of increasing supernatural gifting and anointing, a surge in Spirit-empowered world-changing fruitfulness will begin to emerge and grow among us. I do not yet know in detail what that is going to look like… but I ask you to pray now … that we will all become Spirit-prepared and fully ready to receive and embody whatever Father will tell His Son to be and to do to us… in us… and through us. We are truly small and weak in ourselves… but we’ve been joined to Someone who is Overwhelmingly Great, Deep and Eternally Far-Reaching in Influence and Scope… He will make all the difference in our outcomes. To Him be Glory and Praise and Worship Forever!
But although my focus has been on the Last Days and the development of that ultimate generation of New Covenant disciples, I also can’t help thinking about the way it was in the beginning of the New Covenant Era in the first century. I say that because the Beginning is what is going to be Fulfilled at the End of the New Covenant Process. So it’s important for Last Days disciples to know what is in the apostolic Seed that God plants into all New Covenant believers, so that they will know what to expect coming out of them, what the growing season of that Seed reaches its full Fruit-producing Harvest Fulfillment. So, let’s learn what we can from the way it was for our apostolic forbearers in those days.
In the first century, when the New Covenant was first being launched, the Remnant of Israel, God’s chosen New Covenant people, were forced to endure the agonizing, heartbreaking disaster of what the emperor of Rome and his army did to Israel in 70 C.E. How could we possibly even imagine what that must have been like for all of Israel and for all of the first century Jewish disciples of Yeshua? Even if we only consider the task God entrusted to their faithful obedience to spread the Gospel throughout the whole world, that would have been, in itself, stupendously difficult and personally very costly for the followers of Messiah Yeshua. But then, when we consider all that was heaped on top of that… the trauma, upheaval, confusion and uncertainty that went on after Jerusalem’s destruction…the scattering of the Jewish people and disappearance of the priesthood and temple worship that created such an enormous vacuum in the self-identity of all Jewish people, that must have complicated matters even more for the apostles. Who can comprehend or even begin to imagine the devastation, confusion and uncertainties they had to endure, as they did their best to protect, enhance and spread Yeshua’s Message and care for the ever-growing flock He had entrusted to their care.
The Challenges of First Century Christians
Truly, their situation required the supernatural, miraculous Power of God to sustain and provide for them and to protect, prolong and propagate the Message that God had entrusted to their care. How could we even envision the monumental responsibilities and challenges they had to face and work through?
And of course, those fledgling New Covenant believers also had to endure the scorn and violent opposition of the pagan Gentile world. In addition, they had to contend with the continuous rejection and contempt that the hurting, frightened, hyper-suspicious, unbelieving Jewish people heaped upon them.
The destruction of Judaism’s infrastructure, their sacred temple, and its system of worship by the emperor’s fears, insecurities and contempt, drove the people of Israel to become deeply suspicious and defensive. And so the stupefying shock and confusion and uncertainty forced upon all of Israel by Rome’s invasion got in the way of them being open to hear about the Gospel of Yeshua that was so strange and alien to their habitual ways of seeing and thinking and living.
So very few among us can even come close to understanding what they went through; nor have most of us ever come close to experiencing the level of hardship and difficulty they were forced to endure. But, even though it’s very hard for us to comprehend and understand what the launching of the New Covenant Era was like… it will no doubt be even harder for us, at this time, to imagine how much deeper and vaster and more difficult the Last Days Tribulation Era will be like, when the awesome Return of our Resurrected Messiah is actually at hand!
Revelation 12:13-17
“And when the Dragon saw that he was thrown down to the earth, he persecuted the Woman who gave birth to the male Child. But the two wings of the Great Eagle were given to the Woman, so that she could fly into the wilderness to her place, where she was nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the Serpent. And the Serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, so that he might cause her to be swept away with the flood. But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and drank up the river, which the Dragon poured out of his mouth. So the Dragon was enraged with the woman, and went off to make war with the rest of her children (Jews and Gentiles), who (serve and obey God together, to) keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.” (Amplification and emphasis added.)
So, in the first century, God had a very definite and necessary reason for allowing all that was going on, to engulf His chosen New Covenant Remnant. Their hardship and the apparent hopelessness of their situations provided the perfect backdrop against which to display the Glory of the unbreakable Blood Covenant Bond that God had sent His Living Word to create and establish with Israel and with the rest of the repentant Gentile world.
God’s New Covenant Israel is the ‘object lesson’ for the entire human race! Her failure to honor and fulfill her responsibilities in the Covenant of Sinai, and the total agonizing Deuteronomy 28 devastation to which her violation of that Covenant made her liable, proved to be the perfect ‘backdrop’ against which God was able to display His Eternal, Airtight Blood Covenant Faithfulness to the Revelations and Commandments and Promises that He had made to His chosen people through His Living and written Word!
That failure was no shock to God. He knew that would happen. But that is what He used to drive home His Eternal Reality and Word-centered Truth! And this is why He continues to highlight His beloved Son and continually draws our attention to Him. He is teaching us all what we must learn and experience from and with our Messiah… and the experiences the Covenant requires us to share with Him… if He’s going to be able to cover and redeem and save and regenerate us by the Power and Authority of Almighty God!
Matthew 28:18-20
“And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “ALL AUTHORITY has been given to Me in Heaven and on Earth! Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I AM WITH YOU ALWAYS, even to the End of the Age!”
2 Corinthians 12:7-10
“Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me—to keep me from exalting myself! Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me. And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for (My) Power is perfected in (your) weakness!”
“Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the Power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong!”
So, yes, Israel failed. But the Truth was that she couldn’t help but fail to honor and fulfill her responsibility to honor God and observe her part of the Covenant of Sinai. Her Sin-corruption and mortality made it impossible for her to function in God’s Eternal Life and Righteousness. Her utter bankruptcy and state of living death were the very reasons why God entered into an Eternal Blood Covenant Bond with her! She was to be the ultimate demonstration, ‘The Lesson’ that God had to teach to the entire world and force the entire fallen race of the children of Adam to realize and comprehend! He used that spectacular, heartbreaking failure of God’s special, highly blessed chosen people, and all of the turbulence and uncertainty that was sweeping all across the Roman Empire to engulf them… to highlight His Eternal Faithfulness to His Covenants and to those to whom He had joined Himself in those Covenants!
So no matter how Israel may have failed… no matter what disasters may continue to befall her… Almighty God remains the same… True… Steadfast… Faithful… Dependable… Reliable and Trustworthy to an Infinite Extent! He is ever faithful to His chosen one. No matter what… Israel is thus able to continue to trust and rely upon Him… because GOD ALWAYS KEEPS HIS COVENANT PROMISES, NO MATTER WHAT!
The same is true for all the rest of the human race. He never stops trying to reach out to reconcile with those that are His enemies. He keeps trying to get through to them to save them while there is still time for them to repent and turn to Him. This is what God is teaching to the world through the example of His chosen people. Regardless of how terrible and disastrous the state of affairs may be on Earth, all of that serves to highlight the Perfection of God’s ways as He regards us and provides everything we will ever need to fulfill His will and His Plan… from His vantage point upon His Throne in Heaven. By using the flaky, treacherous and uncertain ways of Jewish and non-Jewish men, Father reveals the Glory of His Covenant Trustworthiness. He is assuring us that no matter how Sin-loving and rebellious the children of Adam become, no matter how fickle, treacherous and changeable they prove themselves to be, God will never change in the way He regards His intended human image and likeness! He is with us… and He is for us… and He stands by us… all the time, in any circumstance, no matter what!
This is why He sent His Living Word to serve as Israel’s Covenant Passover Lamb and Kinsman Redeemer. Sin-corrupted humans violate their vows, oaths and covenants repeatedly. But the Covenant Loyalty and Lovingkindness that God swore to bestow upon His chosen ones… is proven, by and through Messiah Yeshua… to be airtight and everlastingly reliable. We see this repeatedly affirmed from what He instructed His prophets, like Hosea, to continue to reveal:
Hosea 2:13-15
“I will punish her for the days of the Baals when she used to offer sacrifices to them and adorn herself with her earrings and jewelry, and follow her lovers, so that she forgot Me,” declares the Lord.
“Therefore, behold, I will allure her, bring her into the wilderness and speak kindly to her. Then I will give her vineyards from there, and the valley of Achor as a door of hope. And she will sing there as in the days of her youth, as in the day when she came up from the land of Egypt.”
Isaiah 40:1-5
“Comfort, O comfort My people,” says your God. “Speak kindly to Jerusalem; and call out to her, that her warfare has ended, that her iniquity has been removed, that she has received of the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.
“A voice is calling, “Clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness; make smooth in the desert a highway for our God. Let every valley be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; and let the rough ground become a plain, and the rugged terrain a broad valley; THEN the Glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all flesh will see it together; for the mouth (Living Word) of the Lord has spoken!” (Amplification and emphasis added.)
In other articles that discuss God’s chosen people and their awesome Covenant relationship with God, we picture our Messiah Yeshua, and His betrothed future Bride, Israel, as being ‘the two ends of God’s Blood Covenant Staff.’ The staff symbolizes the marital union that God created between Himself and His people when He sent His Living Word to propose and enter into His Covenant with His chosen Jewish and Non-Jewish people.
Historically, ever since Yeshua appeared on Earth in the first century, the majority of Israel’s people have remained distant and at odds with Yeshua. They’ve insisted on remaining as far apart from Him as they could possibly get! Nevertheless, when you look at that situation through the lenses of God’s eternal Covenant and the unbreakable bond He created between His people and His Living Word, we have no choice but to see them as one unit, regardless of the current temporary circumstances that have existed throughout history to this very day! At this point in the Journey, Israel’s resurrected Messiah abides with His Father in the Eternal, Heavenly Dimension of the Kingdom of Heaven. So, thanks to His Word, God’s end of God’s Blood Covenant Staff is in direct touch with Almighty God’s Eternal Infinite Perfection, as it exists in the changelessness of His Eternal Glory!
Unifying Purpose
But at the other end of that Staff, Israel keeps struggling and suffering here on Earth, in the dimension of time and space. And so the Covenant Staff abides simultaneously in Heaven and Earth and in Eternity, and time and space. The Eternal Covenant Bond unites those two vastly diverse dimensions; and thus God is demonstrating that NOTHING will ever be able to force Him and His Covenant people apart from each other!
So, through the union of God’s Living Word (who serves as Israel’s Passover Lamb and High Priest and Covenant Representative Messiah,) and the people of Israel, who are still making their Exodus Journey through this demon-possessed temporal world called Earth, God remains eternally joined to His own. This is what the Holy Spirit revealed in the Torah, in Genesis 28:10-17, when He used the image of the ‘Ladder’ that was connecting Heaven to Earth, and vice versa. The Ladder was a prophetic revelation of God’s Living Word that would one day surely come to rescue Israel and restore her completely… acting as her Messiah. And this is what God’s Living Word was promising to Jacob… and His natural and spiritual descendants… through these awesome words:
Genesis 28:12-17
“He (Jacob) had a dream, and behold, a Ladder was set on the earth with its top reaching to Heaven; and behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie, I will give it to you and to your descendants. Your descendants will also be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and in you and in your descendants shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”
“Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place (the Land of Israel), and I did not know it.” He was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the House of God, and this is the Gate of Heaven.”
So, beloved friends, I remain in perpetual awe and wonder as I ponder these things. And I’m forced to keep trying to fathom the meaning and significance of the awesome relationship between God and the children of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob… and any others who would dare to allow God’s Word to graft them into the Root of Salvation that comes out of this everlasting Covenant Bond that God has created for His Word and His Word’s future Bride, the Remnant of Israel. God tells us that the marvelous Wedding Feast that is waiting for Israel in Eternity after these Last Days of the first Earth have run their course, contain Eternal Realities that are filled with Joy, Peace, Rest and Consummation that no human mind can even imagine at this time! Almighty God is preparing His Eternal ‘Honeymoon’ that awaits His beloved Son and His Bride, when they finally become totally one with each other, in Spirit and in Truth!
Their union may not appear to be so beautifully perfect at this present time, but beloved, I urge you to ask God to show you, by His Holy Spirit, what their union will it be like after God’s redemptive handiwork has finally run its course, and the Finished Product that God has in mind, which He is in the process of fashioning even now, is finally ready to be gloriously displayed in its Eternal Consummated State!
Ezekiel 16:8-14
“Then I passed by you and saw you, and behold, you were at the time for love; so I spread My skirt over you and covered your nakedness. I also swore to you and entered into a Covenant with you so that you became Mine,” declares the Lord God. “Then I bathed you with water, washed off your blood from you and anointed you with oil. I also clothed you with embroidered cloth and put sandals of porpoise skin on your feet; and I wrapped you with fine linen and covered you with silk. I adorned you with ornaments, put bracelets on your hands and a necklace around your neck. I also put a ring in your nostril, earrings in your ears and a beautiful crown on your head. Thus you were adorned with gold and silver, and your dress was of fine linen, silk and embroidered cloth. You ate fine flour, honey and oil; so you were exceedingly beautiful and advanced to Royalty. Then your fame went forth among the nations on account of your Beauty, for it was Perfect because of My Splendor which I bestowed on you,” declares the Lord God.” (Emphasis added.)
So in light of that glorious Finish to this story, I ask you to consider the utter disaster and desolation that Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, and the legions of Rome inflicted on Israel, when they destroyed Israel’s two temples and scattered her people all across the known world. I ask you to ponder how much more influence Israel was able to exert upon the rest of the Sin-adoring world, as a result of that dispersion! The world did not destroy and absorb and annihilate Israel by those dispersions… it was Israel… by the Power and Authority of God… that continues to change and absorb the world… until what began as ‘Egypt’ in Scriptural terms, finally transforms completely into God’s New Israel!
So ponder the meaning underlying the invasions of those other nations that have successively overrun the Land of Promise throughout human history. On the surface… it seems as if the Gentiles keep stamping out God’s chosen people. But is that true? Has it happened? Has Israel disappeared? Have her enemies ever succeeded in wiping her off the face of the Earth? Or is it her enemies who continue to run out of fuel… and stop dead in their tracks… and disappear from the face of the Earth? What has happened to Babylon and the ancient Persians, Assyrians, Egyptians, Greeks and Romans? What has happened to any of the other invaders and so-called ‘conquerors’ of Israel? Has Israel disappeared? Have her people died out? Or does she continue to fulfill the ancient promises that God made to Abraham so many centuries ago?
Genesis 12:3
“And I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”
And we see God’s faithfulness to Abraham’s son, Isaac:
Genesis 26:18-25
“Then Isaac dug again the wells of water which had been dug in the days of his father Abraham, for the Philistines had stopped them up after the death of Abraham; and he gave them the same names which his father had given them. But when Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and found there a well of flowing water, the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with the herdsmen of Isaac, saying, “The water is ours!” So he named the well Esek, because they contended with him.
“Then they dug another well, and they quarreled over it too, so he named it Sitnah. He moved away from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it; so he named it Rehoboth, for he said, “At last the Lord has made room for us, and we will be fruitful in the land.” Then he went up from there to Beersheba. The Lord appeared to him the same night and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham; do not fear, for I am with you. I will bless you, and multiply your descendants, for the sake of My servant Abraham.”
“So he built an altar there and called upon the name of the Lord, and pitched his tent there; and there, Isaac’s servants dug a well.”
And we see God doing the same thing on behalf of Isaac’s son, Jacob:
Genesis 28:13-15
“And behold, the Lord stood above it (the Ladder Jacob saw in his dream) and said, “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie, I will give it to you and to your descendants. Your descendants will also be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and in you and in your descendants shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” (Amplification added.)
Despite what Israel’s cruel, selfish neighbors tried to do to destroy her… they continued to fail… and eventually they disappeared from the picture. Instead of them succeeding in their plots and schemes against Israel, God continued to unpack and reveal His plan to use Israel to bless the children of Adam in all parts of the world. So, in light of that fact, I ask you to consider the carnage and heartache inflicted by Israel’s enemies in succeeding generations. For example, consider the Crusaders and the Inquisition of Roman Catholicism, and the Holocaust of Hitler and the incessant Muslim threats that continue to afflict Israel to this very day. Consider that spine-chilling date… that part of the year called ‘Tisha B’Av’ (the ninth day of the month of Av), upon which so many anti-Israel atrocities have taken place throughout history.
Beloved, what are we to make of all of that? What purpose does God have in permitting all of that devastation to keep happening to His people generation after generation? Based on what I’ve seen in God’s written Word, I can’t help but see these tragedies as confirmations of that awesome Blood Covenant Bond that has made God’s Living Word and Israel to be one Entity, just the way a man and wife, past, present and future, become one entity after they’re married to each other. The Bride is sharing everything that pertains to her Husband, who is the Redeemer of the entire Spectrum of Creation. Thus, the Husband, through this Covenant Bond, becomes one with everything that pertains to His Bride! So whatever has befallen Israel throughout the centuries, and regardless of what still lies ahead of her… all of that is living proof that the Bride who is betrothed to God’s Living Word, is in the process of being prepared for the awesome day when her Bridegroom will return for her… to take her to the Eternal Home that He has prepared for them to inhabit forever. At that time, all of Creation will see that they have always been… utterly one… at all times and in all things… for the Salvation of all of Creation!
This awesome Finished Reality has already been created in the Eternal Mind and Heart, Will and Kingdom of Almighty God! It was established from Eternity… from the very first moment that God spoke His Word and began to create matter, time and space… and all of His unspeakably beautiful Creation… and its past, present and future!
Genesis 2:1-3
“Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts. By the seventh day God completed His work, which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work, which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.” (Emphasis added.)
“Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob and tell the sons of Israel: ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings, and brought you to Myself. Now then, if you will indeed obey My Voice and keep My Covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; and you shall be to Me a Kingdom of Priests and a Holy Nation.’ These are the words (concerning what God has already created and established in Eternity) that you shall speak to the sons of Israel.”
Exodus 19:3-8
“So Moses came and called the elders of the people, and set before them all these words which the Lord had commanded him. All the people answered together and said, “All that the Lord has spoken (through the Eternal Perfection and Completion of God’s Living Word, our Covenant Friend,) we will do!” And Moses brought back the words of the people to the Lord.” (Amplification and emphasis added.)
God’s Word proposed this Blood Covenant betrothal union to Israel; and Israel accepted it and said, ‘Yes!’ So, when I regard Israel, as she goes through the roller coaster of historical ups and downs, and when I see the dawn of the arrival of the Last Days Era taking place… I can’t help but think that the day of the Wedding and the Full Consummation of their Union is drawing ever closer… and, now, it is very, very near. And when that day finally arrives, the Bride (who will be made up of a Remnant of Jewish and Non-Jewish disciples) will finally complete the arduous preparations needed for her to be properly and fittingly ready to receive the Husband to whom she has been betrothed for a long time. Finally, God’s True Israel will be ready to join herself to Him and their Marriage Union will begin and their Oneness will be total and complete and Eternally Perfect!
So from this, we can better understand why Israel’s purifying earthly tribulations had to take place. For the Bride to be utterly united to this Awesome Husband, in Spirit and in Truth, she has to share in His redemptive sufferings! So, throughout human history, she has been following Him into and sharing with Him, what His Father sent Him to Earth to be and to do!
Matthew 16:24-27
“Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and will then repay every man according to his deeds.”
John 12:24-26
“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal. If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also; if anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him.”
Israel has been sharing in her Husband’s sufferings and in His Death since her beginning. First she came out of God’s Living Word… and then God’s Living Word came out of her… and now, from their union with each other… the Salvation and Redemption and Full Restoration of Creation will come out of their Covenant Union. So that is why our Messiah has had to experience the depths of desolation and devastation of His Bride… and of the rest of the human race! He invaded the Realms of Darkness and broke the hold and the power that the Demonic Rebellion and the sentence of Death held over all the children of Adam. And His Bride, Israel, has had to be with Him at His side, sharing all that was His to endure.
Thus we see a depth of meaning in all of those disasters and expulsions and persecutions that have dotted Israel’s history to this point. Nothing is being overlooked in her preparation; everything about her will be purified and reconfigured to Perfection so that when Her Bridegroom does return to Earth to summon her and take her Home with Him, she will be completely ready to leave everything of the past behind… and then she will move into the Eternal Glory of His Resurrection Triumph with Him. That Glory will be their Home… the Abode He has been preparing for her, ever since she accepted His marriage proposal and became His betrothed. After their Eternal Union is consummated, Israel will enter into the Fullness of what God has always had in mind for her:
Isaiah 40:9-11
“Get yourself up on a high mountain, O Zion, bearer of Good News, lift up your voice mightily, O Jerusalem, bearer of Good News; lift it up, do not fear. Say to the cities of Judah, “HERE IS YOUR GOD!”
“Behold, the Lord God will come with might, with His Arm ruling for Him. Behold, His Reward is with Him and His Recompense before Him. Like a Shepherd He will tend His flock, in His Arm He will gather the lambs and carry them in His bosom; He will gently lead the nursing ewes.”
John 14:1-6
“Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, THAT WHERE I AM, THERE YOU MAY BE ALSO. And you know the way where I am going.” Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, how do we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am The Way, and The Truth, and The Life; no one comes to the Father but through Me!”
That blessed Eternal Oneness with Yeshua is the Bride’s intended Abode and Wedding Garment and Future Glory. God’s True Israel is not a created place or thing. It is being ‘In Messiah,’ in this Eternal Blood Covenant Union sense. God Himself is Israel’s Eternal Home and Inheritance and Destiny. The Reward is not a created thing; but a Perfect Eternal Person… the Creator Himself!
Genesis 15:1
“After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not fear, Abram, I am a Shield to you; your Reward shall be very great!” (Emphasis added.)
So, the beginning of Israel’s story can be understood at one end of that Covenant Staff, and the end of her story will be seen at the other end of that Covenant Staff, in all of its Eternal Wonder and History-Resolving Magnificence. The End is emerging out from the same Matrix from which the Beginning appeared. This is God’s Eternal Covenant between the Husband and the Bride: the two ends of God’s Covenant Staff, God’s Living Word, and Israel His Bride… joined to each other by the unwavering, everlasting Lovingkindness of Almighty God! If you consider one end of that Covenant Staff, you must also include and consider the other end, for they are always one Staff. So, in the end, everything that Israel lost and has had to suffer, will be fully purified and completely restored… and nothing but the Eternal Fulfillment of the Husband and His Bride will remain.
Rabbi Jonathan Kahn, in His recently published book, ‘The Book of Mysteries,’ describes that final fulfillment process in a unique and insightful way. He describes what we’re discussing, as it appeared on the Earth when the New Covenant was first beginning. It came out of Jerusalem and spread to the rest of the world. It has been emerging from the days of the apostles… to what it will finally become by the End… when we reach the Finale of the Last Days drama:
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The Return of the Prototype
It was at the beginning of the age,” said the teacher, “that the new covenant faith was in its original and most natural state.”
“And what was its original and most natural state?”
“Revolutionary,” he said, “set against the status quo of the world… underground, miraculous, countercultural, distinct, radical, powerful, overcoming, and world-changing… And it was also something else.”
“What?”
“Jewish. What the world knows as Christianity, in its original and prototypical form, is a Jewish faith. But something happened in those first centuries. The more embedded and established the faith became in the mainstream of Western civilization, the more it lost its original and natural identity. What was a countercultural faith became a cultural faith, what was a radical faith became an established faith, what was a revolutionary faith became the faith of the status quo… and what was Jewish faith became a non-Jewish faith. As the faith became joined to a non-Jewish Western culture… its Jewish disciples, messengers, and apostles began to disappear.” He paused at that point as if to delineate a change.
“But now we’ve come to the other side of the phenomenon. We are now witnessing the separation, the dislodging, and the disestablishing of the faith from Western civilization.
“That’s not a good thing,” I said.
“And yet, in one sense it is. The reverse of the phenomenon means that the faith will return to its original and natural state. From a cultural faith to a countercultural faith, from an established faith to a radical one, and from a faith of the status quo to a revolutionary faith.”
“But then there must be one more transformation,” I said. “The faith must change from its non-Jewish identity and form and return to its original Jewish form and identity.”
“Yes,” said the teacher, “and we might also expect the return of Jewish disciples. So notice what this reveals. The more established and of the world this faith becomes, the weaker its spiritual power. But the more separate from the world it becomes, the greater its spiritual power. Apply this to your life. Disentangle yourself from all compromise, from worldliness, and from the status quo. And you will grow stronger in spiritual power. Remember, this faith, in its truest and natural form, is always radical and revolutionary. Live your life accordingly.
The Mission: Divest yourself today from worldly attachments, that you might gain spiritual power. Exchange a comfortable walk for a revolutionary one.
Zechariah 8:3-8; Matthew 23:37-39; Acts 2:16-18, 39; Romans 11
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Restoring the Faith
Dear ones, I believe, from what I see in God’s written Word, and also from what I see developing in modern societies around the globe that the current humanistic status quo has already begun to ‘morph’ and change in its configurations at various levels. It is feeling threatened on several levels, and its anxiety and fear is arousing it to unprecedented levels of anger and animosity. Nevertheless, Scripture tells us that its days are numbered. And at the end, it will collapse completely and forever.
So the status quo with its time-honored priorities and values and systems will disappear, and what remains will transform into new configurations that will be revolutionary and, by current standards, countercultural. And we will see that what was Original, in God’s Plan, is even now being quietly and progressively restored to its original pristine Heavenly Identity and Character. God is restoring the Faith… back to what it was when He first gave it to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And that Restoration will be completed to Perfection, through the New Covenant that the original Jewish apostles of Yeshua were commissioned to teach and spread in the first century. And by the End, what God was saying in the Beginning, will be fully manifest and His Name and His Word will be fully validated and vindicated!
The disciples of the Last Days will see it reemerging in its restored state because God will, by His Holy Spirit, arouse and empower them to fulfill it and manifest it to Creation in all of its pristine Beauty and Glory. This will come about as soon as the fullness of the Gentiles has come in and the repentant people of Israel embrace and identify with their risen Messiah. That will take place after the age of spreading the Gospel across the earth to the Gentile peoples has run its God-appointed course. At that time, the Faith that the Gentile peoples naturally and inevitably began to morph and alter into their own image and likeness as they strove to understand it and make it their own, will be once again restored to its original Biblical, Israelite identity configurations. And the faith of the Gentiles, which throughout history became more and more alien and unrecognizable to the sons of Israel will, by Power of the Holy Spirit, regain its original Israelite appearance. And, finally, everything in God’s restored Creation will be seen and known, just as it has always been in the Eternal Mind and Heart and intentional Will of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Yes, once the salvation of the Gentiles is complete, the Gospel will regain its original Biblical configurations. Thus it will become recognizable once again, to the children of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob! Finally, the veil will be lifted from their eyes and they’ll be able to recognize their long-lost Brother, Yeshua, just like Jacob’s sons were finally able to recognize Joseph, the brother they had once rejected and sentenced to death.
2 Corinthians 3:12-18
“Therefore having such a hope, we use great boldness in our speech, and are not like Moses, who used to put a veil over his face so that the sons of Israel would not look intently at the end of what was fading away. But their minds were hardened; for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains unlifted, because it is removed in Christ. But to this day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart; but whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
“But we (the New Covenant Remnant of Israel) all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the Glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to Glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.”
The day came for Joseph’s brothers, when Joseph no longer appeared to them to be a hostile, mistrusted, alien Gentile oppressor. On the contrary, now they could suddenly see Him as their long-lost brother! And they wept with joy and relief as they embraced each other, and a tremendously healing reconciliation took place in their midst.
So too will it be when Yeshua is finally seen to be the long-awaited Messiah by His Jewish brethren. After centuries of having been clothed by His Gentile believers, in a variety of non-Biblical Gentile disguises, our Messiah will appear once again, in the Full Glory of His original Biblical Revelation. He will be seen wearing the apparel of the Son of God – the Son of Abraham and of David. He will be recognized as the Eternal Messiah King of Israel! And then the Wedding Feast will have been fully prepared and the Ultimate Reunion between Him and His Jewish and non-Jewish Covenant Blood brothers will begin to take place:
Romans 11:28-36
“From the standpoint of the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but from the standpoint of God’s choice they are beloved for the sake of the fathers; for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. For just as you once were disobedient to God, but now have been shown mercy because of their disobedience, so these also now have been disobedient, that because of the mercy shown to you they also may now be shown mercy. For God has shut up all in disobedience so that He may show mercy to all.
“Oh, the depth of the Riches both of the Wisdom and Knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His Judgments and unfathomable His Ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became His counselor? Or who has first given to Him that it might be paid back to him again? For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the Glory forever. Amen.”
Hebrews 9:13-15
“For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
“For this reason He is the Mediator of a New Covenant, so that, since a death has taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were committed under the first covenant, those who have been called may receive the promise of the Eternal Inheritance.”
Beloved… at last… the end of that Gauntlet of Tribulation through which the Bridegroom and His Beloved have had to pass for centuries… is finally coming into view! And this is why our preparations to be joined to Him in Spirit and in Truth must become increasingly more penetrating and purifying, honest, authentic and thoroughly beautifying. The Holy Spirit will go after every alien speck of self-life that remains in each one of us. Nothing that is unworthy of the Infinite Righteousness of our Lord will be allowed to remain. Time is running out for this process and its completion. And this is why the Fires of Purification are becoming hotter and more frequent and all-consuming and omnipresent:
Hebrews 12:27-28
“This expression, “Yet once more,” denotes the removing of those things which can be shaken, as of created things, so that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we receive a Kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe; for our God is a Consuming Fire!”
Beloved, God isn’t shaking up the created universe to torture and devastate His creatures! He’s shaking everything to cleanse, purify and perfectly restore His own image and likeness! He is overcoming and removing all demonic evil with His boundless, everlasting Good! He’s blasting away every lie with His Eternal Truth! He’s cancelling out every thought, word and deed that was, or still is, evil and destructive, with His airtight, ever-reliable Blood Covenant Love. In other words, God is here to bring us out of whatever is dead… and finally, He’s leading His own into His beloved Son’s Eternal Resurrection Life! And that, as we shall all see, will be a very Good End… which, at the same time, will be an utterly Glorious, Everlasting Beginning!