The Clarion, Oct. 2022
Welcome
It is amazing how fast the cycle of life comes and goes. Once again we find ourselves in Fall. We planted our seeds and watched them grow and harvested our fruits and vegetables and now we are here at the end of the process once again. Psalm 103: 15-16 reminds us of this, “The days of man are like grass. He grows like a flower of the field. When the wind blows over it, it is gone. Its place will remember it no more.” This is the theme of the Biblical Fall Feasts. We have no time to waste. Everyday that we live, we must live for the future, oh! not our future here on earth, but our future for eternal life. Yom Kipper asks the question, “Is your name written in the Book of Life?” And Sukkot (Tabernacles) asks the question, “Where will your eternal home be?” These are two important questions which we must ask ourselves everytime we participate in these two feast days. 2 Peter 1:1-11 tells us this, “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us to His own glory and excellence, by which He has granted to us His precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Messiah Yeshua. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Messiah Yeshua.”
Yom Kipper asks us to examine ourselves honestly, and if we are honest, I think we all would say, “There is room for improvement.” And that is why we keep the day of Yom Kippur.
A Time of Rest
Everyone needs rest. Our bodies were made to rest. We spend most of our lives sleeping, and a great deal of our time resting. I think everyone will agree to that.
We see even God needed to rest as Genesis 2:1-2 tells us, “And so the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their heavenly lights. 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.”
I suppose after all of that creating any one of us would have needed to rest.
But doesn’t it seem strange that God the Almighty would have needed to rest?
There must be something more to all of this. Let’s take a closer look to find out why God rested. The first chapter of Genesis tells us all about Creation. God created for six days and He said that it was all good, even very good! Now if a day equals a thousand years or if it doesn’t, does not really matter as far as God needing to rest. But what we do know is that on the seventh day He rested. If we look at our calendars we see that we have seven days to our week, so the seventh day was not just a reference to God resting, and it wasn’t a day belonging only to Him, but it was a day that He gave us. We have seven days in our week, not six, not eight but seven. Why? Because seven is the number for completion, like in a week. We see Noah took seven pairs of every clean animal in Genesis 7:2. After seven days it began to rain, 7: 3. We see that every week Noah sent out a dove, 8:10. Pharaoh’s dream had seven good cows and seven bad cows, Genesis 41:4. The Feast of Unleavened bread is seven days, Exodus 12. The Menorah has seven branches with seven flames. Exodus 25: 37. How about the feeding of the four thousand with only seven loaves, with seven large baskets leftover, Matthew 15. How many times should we forgive our brother..seventy x seven, Matthew 18:22. Seven men were chosen to be deacons, Acts 6:3. Letters to the seven churches, Revelation 1:4. Seven stars, Rev. 1:16, seven golden lampstands, Rev.1:20, seven spirits, seven seals, seven angels, seven trumpets, seven peals of thunder, seven heads, seven crowns, seven bowls,seven mountains…all of these in the Book of Revelation and we only listed a fraction of seven. We see that seven is an important number with God. It is so important with God that Genesis 2:3 tells us this, “And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, because it was the day when He ceased this work of Creation.”
God gave the seventh day His blessings, and He set it apart from the other six days.Wow! This is truly the Lord’s day. It is the day that commemorates the completion of Creation. This is what Yeshua says about this day, Mark 2:28, “And He was saying to them, “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.” Yeshua, our Lord, is the Lord of the Sabbath. And you know what else He said in Mark 2:27?
“Yeshua said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.”
This is the seventh day Sabbath that He was referring to and He said it was made for man…not God! The Sabbath was the crown jewel of Creation. Everything was complete. God had just made man, and now He created the seventh day as a day just for Him and man to be together. This is why He blessed it, this is why He set it apart. God considered it holy. When God gave the Ten Commandments, notice that after He speaks of the commands regarding Himself, He gives the command of the Sabbath. The Commandments were given to the Jewish people only because they were the only people who believed in the One True God. At Mount Sinai, God gave them the Torah (the first five books) and part of the Torah was the Commandments, which covers several chapters. There is more to it than just one line of the Commandment. This was His covenant with them, but this covenant did not eliminate the one with Noah or with Abraham as Galatians 3:17 tells us, “What I am saying is this: the Law, which came 430 years later, does not invalidate a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to nullify the promise.” Not even God can nullify a covenant because then He would be going back on His word.
Jeremiah 31:31-34, says this, “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put My law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be My people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
What God can change is the mediator. Moses was the mediator of the first covenant, but then God made Yeshua the mediator of the second. This did not change the covenant. This did not change the commandments, this only changed the mediator. Hebrews 9:13-15 tells us, “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 Messiah—who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God—cleanse our conscience from dead works to serve the living God? For this reason He is the mediator of a new covenant, in order that those called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—since a death has taken place that redeems them from violations under the first covenant.”
2 Corinthians 3:2:3 tells us, “You are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all people, revealing yourselves, that you are a letter of Messiah, delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.”
So how is the Word now written on our hearts? Galatians 5:16-18 tells us, “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the desire of the flesh is against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, in order to keep you from doing whatever you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law.” The word law here is referring to the curse of the law which Galatians 3:13 tells us, Messiah redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us—for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”
So what does all of this have to do with the seventh day Sabbath?
Just this! We are all under the first covenant. You can not be under the New Covenant unless you are under all of the covenants. They all hinge on each other. We want Abraham’s Covenant but not Moses’. From Noah to Yeshua, God laid a foundation, and all that He has built has been built on that foundation. So if we build our house upon the Rock then it must have it’s foundation from the beginning. Sunday starts the first day of the week and not even God can change His Covenant, so who gives man the right? Yet, it was man who changed the Sabbath. People are beginning to return to the truth. No, you will not find the world changing, but we are not of the world. God made the Sabbath for man, so that man and God could be together. We are to rest from our work, and take time to worship our Creator, for this is what God intended. This gives witness to the Creation and the Creator. Yeshua, His disciples and for many decades after Yeshua’s death, believers kept the seventh day Sabbath. We are to come out from Babylon and have nothing to do with her. Babylon represents Humanism which is the religion of the Devil, for it says, there is no God and we are all gods. When we do not worship God on the day that He set apart from the beginning and Yeshua who is the Lord of the Sabbath, then we are saying that we are following man and not God the Creator. You may say this is ridiculous, but God’s Word is the truth and all you have to do is follow the truth and this is what we tried to lay out for you in this teaching. The seventh day is for mankind, not just the Jews. God is not just the God of the Jews. Yeshua said, if you love Me, then keep My Commandments. Yeshua is our example in all things and He kept the seventh day holy. He never said, not to! Today if you find that you are struggling with this then we say this, start by remembering the Sabbath. Take time to pray, maybe even sing and worship for a time. Read the Scriptures, we have a weekly schedule on our website, and begin to cut back on your activities. Soon with the help of the Holy Spirit you will see that the Sabbath is a joy and not a burden. You can always go to church on Sunday to gather with believers, but you will see that you will look forward to meeting with God on His Biblical day of rest.
Recipe Corner: Beef Stroganoff Soup by the Pioneer Woman
Ingredients:
5 tbsp. Butter, Divided
1 lb. Beef Steak (Sirloin Is Great), Thinly Sliced (See Note)
1 Small Onion, Finely Chopped
8 oz. weight Baby Portobello Mushrooms, Thinly Sliced
2 tbsp. All-purpose Flour
3 c. Beef Broth
2 c. Heavy Cream
1 tbsp. Worcestershire Sauce
Salt And Pepper, to taste
6 oz. weight Egg Noodles
1 c. Sour Cream
1/4 c. Finely Chopped Parsley
Directions:
Heat a soup pot over medium heat. Melt 2 tablespoons butter in the pot and add beef. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring frequently, just until the steak is browned. Remove to a plate along with the juices.
Melt remaining butter in the now-empty pot. Add onion and cook until beginning to soften, about 5 minutes. Add mushrooms and cook until tender, about 5 more minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle in flour and cook for 2 minutes. Whisk in beef broth and cream. Bring to a boil. Add Worcestershire sauce and season to taste with salt and pepper.
Add noodles and cook for the length of time recommended on the package, or until cooked to your preferred firmness. Remove from heat. Stir in beef (along with the juices), sour cream, and parsley. Taste once more to adjust seasoning and serve.
Notes:
• It’s easiest to slice beef thinly when it’s still somewhat frozen but not rock-hard.
• You can substitute ground beef for the steak if you prefer. If you do make that substitution, you can brown the meat “dry” in the pan and leave out the extra 2 tablespoons of butter.
Hebrew Corner: The Month of Tishrei
Tishrei is the seventh month after Passover. We now have left the sixth month which was the month of preparation, and now Tishrei begins with the Feast of Rosh Hashanah. It is a month of renewal, repentance, and restoration. Being that seven is the number of completion, the seventh month completes the Biblical Feasts of Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kipper, and Sukkot, also known as the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement and the Feast of Tabernacles, all which represents Messiah’s Second Coming. These three feasts give us a picture of the coming King, the coming Judgment, and the coming of our future home, the New Jerusalem.
Revelation 19:11-16 says, “Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.
Revelation 20: 11-15, “Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.”
Revelation 21:9b-14, “Come, I will show you the bride, the Lamb’s wife.” And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God. Her light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal. Also she had a great and high wall with twelve gates, and twelve angels at the gates, and names written on them, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel: three gates on the east, three gates on the north, three gates on the south, and three gates on the west. Now the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. ”
This is the seventh month, the month of Yeshua’s second coming.
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