The Clarion, Sept. 2021
Welcome
It’s hard to believe that it is September. The summer is coming to a close. How quickly time goes by and as time goes so does our lives. We celebrate the Fall Feasts this year all in September. The Fall Feasts represent the second coming of the Messiah. We read last month that the time between the Spring and Fall Feasts represent the Bride preparing for her wedding. We are the Bride and while we have been preparing ourselves, Yeshua has also been preparing, for He has been preparing a place for us as John 14:3 tells us, “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” This is a reference to the Feast of Tabernacles. When we build our little sukkah, it represents God’s dwelling and when we live in our sukkah for seven days, it is like God dwelling with man. It is just like the Tabernacle in the wilderness. Yeshua came and dwelt among us as John 1 :14 tells us, “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us; and we saw His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” This is why we celebrate the birth of the Messiah during the Feast of Tabernacles. Yeshua was born on the first day of Tabernacles and on the eighth day He was circumcised. The eighth day is called Shemini Atzeret, “Rejoicing in the Word.” So enjoy your September and give God the glory.
A Waiting Father
I think that most people have heard about the prodigal son and how the father waited for his son day and night, always looking down the road for him to come back. But today we are going to look at another waiting father. I think we all know about Abraham and how long he waited for a son. He waited so long that he got impatient and tried to help God by having a child by another woman. But the waiting father that we are going to look at today is God the Father. Just think how long God waited for His only begotten Son to be born. He knew that He was going to send His Son before the foundation of the world as Revelation 13:3 tells us, “And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.”
So before God even created the heavens and the earth, God knew that He would have to send His Son into the world to die for our sins. His Son Yeshua (which means God’s salvation ) would not only enter into man’s time and space, but that
Philippians 2:5-7 tells us, “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Messiah Yeshua, who, as He already existed in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but emptied Himself by taking the form of a bond-servant and being born in the likeness of men.”
Hebrews 4:15 also says, “For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things just as we are, yet without sin.”
So why did our Father wait so long to send Yeshua? Why did He keep mankind separated for so long? Romans 5:6-8 says, “For while we were still helpless, at the right time Messiah died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous person; though perhaps for the good person someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, the Messiah died for us.” We know that in God’s time He makes all things beautiful as Ecclesiastes 3:11 tells us. And even though man was separated from God, He did make a way for His people to draw near. That is what the Tabernacle in the wilderness was all about. It was a foreshadowing of God dwelling with man and man could draw near to God by the shed blood of an animal. For without the shedding of blood there could be no cleansing for man. Hebrews 9:22 quotes Levitcus 17:11, “And almost all things are cleansed with blood, according to the Law, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”
You see, this is why it is so important to understand the Hebrew Scriptures. They are not nullified as we have been taught to believe, but they are the foundation to all of God’s teachings (that is what the word torah means) and that is why there are so many references to the Torah in the New Testament. You cannot build upon anything without a foundation. It is important to learn about the Tabernacle and how it operated and the priesthood and the sacrifices, because they were all a foreshadowing of things to come, and those things all represented the heavenly Tabernacle were the Lamb of God was slain before the foundation of the world and where He is our High Priest today, (Hebrews 9:12, 4:14-16).
It all points to the Messiah, salvation and the heavenly Sanctuary of God.
So why did God wait? Because Yeshua had to die upon a tree. Yes! The sin of man was that they ate from the tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. The Romans had perfected the method of crucifixion in Yeshua’s day. Also, God waited for when the time was turning from before the Common Era to the Common Era. Yeshua gave a very crypted answer one day right after He had cleansed the Temple. They questioned Him and wanted a sign from Him as to why He does these things, like throwing out the moneychangers, (Matthew 21:12-13). John 2:19, gives us His answer, Yeshua answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” What did He mean by that? We also see another time when they ask Him for a sign and He said this in Matthew 12:39-40, “ But He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation craves a sign; and so no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah the prophet; (for just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea-monster, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the depths of the earth.)” What does all of this mean? First of all, we know that Yeshua died on the fourteenth day of Nissan, which was the day of preparation. This was the night of the Passover, even Paul tells us that Yeshua is our Passover Lamb in 1 Corinthians 5:7, “Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed.”
And we know that He rose on the sixteenth day of Nissan, the Feast of the First-Fruits as Paul also confirms in 1 Corinthians 15:20, “But the fact is, Messiah has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep.”
So as we see that this was not three days and three nights in the grave. The way to answer this is that this was added to the Scriptures as so often there are comments added, but they are not in the original text. Again this is why it is important to know the Hebrew Scriptures. So what was Yeshua actually saying? Jonah was sent to Nineveh to tell the people to repent. Yeshua also told the people to repent, for He said, “ Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand.” (Mark 1:15)
Now we are in the third millennium of the common era. The Temple was destroyed in 70AD. We know that there are many Scriptures that tell us that the Temple will be rebuilt, in Ezekiel and Revelations for a few. Yeshua was pointing to a time when the Temple, which He knew was going to be destroyed, would be rebuilt on the third day.
Let’s get back to our waiting Father. We have seen that God had to wait for His Son to come into the world at just the right time so that He could die for our sins at the proper time and in the proper way. God who is so merciful that He held back judgement in the days of Noah, so that the people would repent and so too, in the days of Jonah and even in the days of the Messiah, is now waiting for us to repent. The signs that Messiah gave, all had to do with repentance and judgement. We are in the third day. We also know that Israel is back in their own land. We also know that today we have a global system in place that will bring about the antichrist. The Father is waiting now for us to repent. This is what the Fall Feasts are all about…repentance. The Feast of Trumpets represents the coming King and it also represents the coming Judgement. The Day of Atonement which is ten days later and is the holiest time of the year, represents having the gate of heaven open for all who will repent. You could say like when the door was open to the ark until the time came for the rain to come down, so too, are the gates open. But at the end of the day, (the Day of Atonement), there is the closing of the gate ceremony, just like in the day of Noah, God shut the door, and He will shut the gates to heaven. We see so many parables of Yeshua where He speaks of the door closing and those left out crying and gnashing their teeth, because now they must enter into judgement,(Matthew 13:41-42, Luke 13:28). We must not take advantage of the mercy of the Lord. 2 Peter 3:9 tells us, “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not willing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance.” Let us quickly come to God with a humble and contrite heart, for by this He will not turn us away. (Psalm 51:17). Then and only then we will be with Him for eternity, which is represented in the Feast of Tabernacles. So today let us not be like the people in the wilderness as Psalm 95:7-8 tells us, “ For He is our God,
and we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand.
Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as at Meribah,
As on the day of Massah in the wilderness, when your fathers put Me to the test,
They tested Me, though they had seen My work.” And the writer of the Hebrews quotes in Hebrew 3:13-15, “But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in Messiah if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”
Today, we have a waiting Father and He is waiting for you and me to come to Him with our garments white, (Revelation 7:14) serving Him and living only for Him, (John 12:26) so that He can say, “Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into My Kingdom.” (Matthew 25:21) Today, let us walk in the footsteps of our Messiah, for we too, must deny ourselves and pick up our cross and follow Him, (Matthew 16:24, Luke 9:23) for He is the door. (John 10:9) He is the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Him. (John 14:6) Today, while that door is still open, let us repent and follow Yeshua as He takes us
through the door, and we will have a life in Him. Don’t be fooled, we all sin and we all have to repent each day, to keep walking with our Messiah.
Today’s Recipe
When September comes, the days of picnics and playing in the sun begin to wane. So too those great summer desserts also begin to leave us as the fall fruit begins to be harvested. So enjoy this last summer fling.
Strawberry Chantilly by Allrecipes
Ingredients: 1 cup all -purpose flour
¼ cup packed brown sugar
½ cup butter ½ cup chopped walnuts
2 eggs whites
1 cup white sugar
2 cups fresh strawberries
1 cup heavy cream
1 tsp lemon juice
Directions: Step 1…Preheat oven to 3oo degrees F (150 degrees C)
Step 2… Mix flour, sugar and butter until crumbly. Stir in chopped walnuts.
Step 3… Press two-thirds of the mixture in the bottom of a 9×13-inch baking dish; the remaining crumble will be used for the topping. Bake in a preheated oven for 20 minutes. Cool crust completely.
Step 4… In a large deep bowl, stir together egg whites, sugar, strawberries, and lemon juice. Whip with an electric mixer at high speed for 10 minutes. You can substitute one 10-ounce package of frozen strawberries (thawed); with frozen berries, decrease sugar to 2/3 cup.
Step 5… In another mixing bowl, whip whipping cream until stiff and fold into strawberry mixture. Spread over cooled crust. Sprinkle with remaining crumb mixture. Freeze for 6 hours or overnight before serving.
Serves 12
Sandiegram/The Path of My Life Copyright 2010
Lord of My Life
Jesus, Jesus, Lord of my life, the door to my heart is opened. Walk in and close the door and never leave me. Let my heart be a tabernacle and let Your Spirit dwell in it. Live with me and guide me. Show me Your truth. Lead me on the righteous path so that one day I can meet the Father face to face.
Hebrew Corner:
Ayin ע
Ayin is the sixteenth letter in the Hebrew alphabet and sometimes even the seventeenth letter, if you count it by the letters that make Ayin. Yod (10) and Zayin (7). Pronounced (Ah Yeen). Ayin, like the letter Aleph, has no sound of its own, but usually has a vowel associated with it. It has a numerical value of 70. The word Ayin means “to see” or to understand and obey. Jeremiah 5:21, Isaiah 6:10, Matthew 13:15, “For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.”
Ayin also represents the spiritual light of God as mentioned in Genesis 1:3, “And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.”
According to Jewish midrash, the divine light is far greater than the light that comes from the sun or stars. Though concealed in the Torah, the spiritual eye can behold the presence and the radiance of God by means of the Holy Spirit and don’t forget the “Eyes of the Lord,” that sees all, good and bad, Proverbs 15:3. But with an eye comes two eyes. We all have a choice in life whether we use our good eye or our evil eye to see something in the true light or in a distorted untruthful light.
Allegorically, it is said, because Ayin is a silent letter, and although it sees, but does not speak, therefore it represents humility (or anavah). Anavah begins with an Ayin,as does the word for service (avodah), but like the two eyes, Ayin can also represent idolatry (avodah zara) and also slavery (avedut) both of which are born out of the heart of envy.
The letter Ayin with its equivalent value of 70 is seen many times in the Scriptures. 70 people went into Egypt from Joseph’s family. 70 elders of Israel saw God on Mt Sinai. Israel was in captivity in Babylon for 70 years. According to Jewish tradition, there were 70 members in the Sanhedrin, 70 names of God and 70 birth pangs until the coming of the Messiah.
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