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Democracy in Israel, and the Gospel!

3/30/2022

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The Gospel is impacting Israel like never before!  As many in the Orthodox community are coming to faith, we were taken to court  because of their family members who started following Yeshua.  They sued Google and One for Israel ordering us to take down our videos.   Will Israel uphold freedom of religion or will we be forced to shut our Israeli social media channels?  Join us as Dr. Erez Soref shares about the legal battle and the results of this important case in Israel.

Join with us and help more hear the life giving Gospel!
https://www.oneforisrael.org/arise-online/




​This is tough because for two thousand years the Hebrew scripture has been -viewed- from two ‘different angles.’ Its difficult because -the gospel- is most -misunderstood- probably in areas within Judaism, and -i understand- the reasoning behind that. Ultimately, the israeli judge in the “Peace Court” ruled that the discrimination and “anti-christian sentiment” against Yeshua, and followers of Yeshua in this case was ‘unlawful,’ undeserved, and unfair. So what is lawful? “Gods law? or Mans?”

Theres a large and “growing messianic jewish and arab/muslim christian community” that -follow Jesus- and they have -god given- rights in israel too (his home) although being a minority is always -met with hardship. Thankfully, “the side of history” that israel is on today is that of a democratic country with freedom of religion, and freedom of speech- two necessities for “true peace” its truly wonderful:) Actually whats happening with his followers in israel today is repeating what happend after his first coming, so its come -full- circle. Its being shared more because more is coming to -light- as prophecies continue to -fulfill- in the days ahead!:) 

The phrase the law and the prophets refers to the entire Hebrew Bible, what we call the Old Testament. Jesus spoke of “the law and the prophets” multiple times, such as when He listed the two greatest commandments (Matthew 22:40). In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus pointed to His absolute perfection, saying, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them” (*Matthew 5:17*)

I sincerely wonder why -sharing the gospel is unwanted- in israel- perhaps judiasm, and why God would want that? Its his nation. His people. Would god want -someone to search- for him? Why cant people search for answers? Learning and researching is not wrong- it has always been -what  unites- people, its how we -understand other people- its what brings unity. Why would government in a nation that has freedom of religion not allow people to read the new testament? What is there to be scared of? ‘God? Or is it Man?’ Why are people who want to know their creator being -excluded from their faith- community? If it werent true, why arent they proving its not true or allowed to prove its not true? Is that a standard all people should live by? How will we -ever understand- each other? 

Theres better news, the future is so much greater and the REWARD is BEYOND measure- hes a GOD of ALL PROMISES to his people, he -will- provide! Thats why im -confident- all of the PROMISES in the Hebrew bible are TRUE. We are all ‘one human race.’ Jesus Christ, yeshua, IS the Jewish messiah spoken of in the Hewbrew Bible. It is indeed, the best news!! Its not a message of conversion, its a TESTIMONY of TRUTH!! We are All ‘United in One’ God!:) We are one Isreal. WE are One Family, “One  Tree.” 

The Holy Spirit is co-equal with God the Father and God the Son and is of the same essence. Yet He is also distinct from them. Scripture describes the Holy Spirit in personal terms, not as an impersonal force, when it says that He teaches, guides, comforts and intercedes.1 He possesses emotions, intellect and will. The Scriptures also attest to the deity of the Holy Spirit. He is spoken of as God and is identified with the title of Jehovah.5 The Christian who is indwelt by the Spirit is indwelt by God.6 The Holy Spirit possesses the attributes of deity, such as omniscience, omnipresence, omnipotence and eternality.7 He does works only God can do, such as creating, regenerating and sanctifying. The Holy Spirit teaches and gives insight; “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you,” John 14:26. The Holy Spirit will give you insight into what you are reading and furthermore, will help you recall what you’ve read in Scripture. He brings to your mind understanding and truth.  The Holy Spirit uses you for evangelism. “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth,” Acts 1:8.
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Telling others about Jesus and making disciples is our most important role on this earth. It’s literally the last thing Jesus said before he ascended into heaven! Having the Holy Spirit with us means having power to be a witness. To tell people about what Jesus did for them on the cross and how he conquered death and reigns victoriously! Don’t shy away from being an advocate for Christ; it’s what you are called to do.

“But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.” (Romans 8:11) “The Holy Spirit illuminates the minds of people, makes us yearn for God, and takes spiritual truth and makes it understandable to us.” –Billy Graham. The Holy Spirit is a beautiful and powerful part of who God is. We need Him in our life as a conduit to become who God created us to be, and through His power we have aid in all situations. Without Him, we are powerless. Who is the Holy Spirit? Our first encounter with the Holy Spirit is when He convicts us of our sin, shows us that none of us can live up to the righteousness of Jesus, and reveals to us the judgment that is coming to those without a Savior (John 16:8-11). As we repent, confess our sins and receive the gift of Salvation the Holy Spirit regenerates our dead inner human spirit which now becomes sensitive to the spiritual things of God (John 3:1-16; Acts 2:38). There is a second work of the Holy Spirit when He baptizes a believer (Acts 2:1-4). It's available to all (Acts 2:39) and a gift of empowerment, helping the believer to live a holy life. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, the Helper, we become more like Jesus and are directed to do the Father's will. Furthermore, the gift is primarily for the empowerment to witness to others (Acts 1:8). We are encouraged to ask the Holy Spirit to fill us up on a regular basis. When you feel depleted or need strength, ask Him to replenish you (Ephesians 5:18).

“Then I looked, and behold, a #lamb standing on Mount #Zion, having His Father’s name written on their foreheads.” Rev-14.1 It is the same for we who are spiritual residents of the kingdom of heaven – the heavenly Jerusalem-#dwelling place of christ #messiah. (Rev14:1) Zion is where Yahweh, the God of Israel, dwells (Isaiah 8:18; Psalm 74:2), the place where he is king (Isaiah 24:23) and where he has installed his king, David (Psalm 2:6). In the Bible, the Land of Israel and the city of Jerusalem are both referred to as Zion. The name refers to both a hill in Jerusalem and to the city itself — also used to mean "holy place" or "kingdom of heaven." After Jerusalem was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BC, the Israelites could not forget Zion (Psalm 137), and, in the prophecy after the Babylonian Exile of the Jews, Zion is the scene of Yahweh’s -messianic- salvation. It is to Zion that the exiles will be restored (Jeremiah 3:14), and there they will find Yahweh (Jeremiah 31). After the crucifixion, the 2nd temple *falls to destruction from the pagan romans. This is when the same *context of OT scriptures in Judaism and christianity diverge interpretation. The collections of scriptures in the Hebrew cannons were -displaced- of chronological -order- of context and storyline. Because of the destruction of the temple- This Hebrew canon, though somewhat fluid up to the early 2nd century BC, was finally -fixed- by a council of rabbis at Jabneh (Jamnia), now in Israel, c. AD 100. The Oral Torah, transmitted orally, explains the Written Torah- untill written after 70AD. Though scripture is all of the above- because of the reordering and transmission it is only being *seen as being about people, god and land, which in its -entirety- and -order- depicts the unifying picture of *humanity, salvation and *redemption. The Prophets in the Protestant canon include Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel from the Hebrew Latter Prophets. The Minor Prophets (The Twelve) are treated as 12 separate books; thus the Protestant canon has 17 prophetic books. Here- Zion #symbolizes a longing by wandering or lost people for *returning to their safe *homeland -with- God. 

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God had a BIG purpose for MOSES

3/12/2022

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God asked Moses to lead his people out of slavery in Egypt to the Promised Land. Moses was at first reluctant, thinking that the Israelites would not believe he had heard the word of God. God then gave Moses special powers and inspired by this, Moses returned to Egypt and demanded freedom for his people.

God had big plans and a big purpose for Moses- But WHY was Moses sent to the wilderness? What is the SYMBOLISM of this narrative?

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The Purpose of the Wilderness in the Lives of God’s People:

If you are at a wilderness place in your life, you may find it to be more puzzle than purpose. You might be overwhelmed and confused. You might find yourself questioning God’s wisdom—or maybe even your own.

I want you to think for a moment about being in the center of God’s will. What does that mean?  What would it look like?  Would it be a time of happiness and fulfillment? Is there ever a time that the center of God’s will might be a place of discouragement and difficulty? What about the children of Israel? God called Moses to bring them out of Egypt and into the center of His will.  The center of His will for them would eventually be Canaan, but for a time, the center of God’s will was a great and terrible wilderness.

Has God’s will for you included a period of time in the wilderness? Time in the wilderness means facing wilderness struggles, and wilderness hardships, and wilderness questions.  It can be a place of problems, and at the same time, a place of purpose.  The wilderness is a puzzle from our perspective, but from God’s perspective, it is His perfect plan for our lives.  

We have said enough about wilderness questions. What can we know for sure about the purpose of the wilderness in the lives of God’s people?

The Wilderness is a Place of Separation
God carried them into the wilderness so that they could be apart from the influences of Egypt.  The uncertainties of the wilderness create a need for God and a dependence upon God.  God lets you do without, so you can come to know Him as your provider. God lets you be lonely, so that you can come to know Him as your friend.  God lets you be frightened and worried, so that you can come to know Him as your peace. God lets you be weak, so that you can know His strength.

In the wilderness, God reveals Himself.  In the darkness of the wilderness, He is your light.  In the confusing maze of the wilderness, you learn to let Him be your guide. In the wilderness, He separates you from the influences of the world, as well as the things and people that you have learned to depend on, so that you will learn to depend on Him. God will be faithful to you in whatever wilderness you are facing, just as He was to the people He led out of Egypt. 

The Wilderness is a Place of Preparation.
Looking back on those years in the wilderness, this is what God said to His people as they came to the Promised Land.  5“I have led you forty years in the wilderness; your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandal has not worn out on your foot. 6“You have not eaten bread, nor have you drunk wine or strong drink, in order that you might know that I am the LORD your God.  Deuteronomy 29:5-6

What has been your God appointed wilderness?  Are you there right now?  What do you suppose God is trying to teach you? Are you learning the lessons that God wants you to learn?

When God takes you to the wilderness, He withholds that which you have come to depend on other than Him.  Maybe you came to depend on your job to provide.  God removes the job for a time, so that you will learn to depend on Him.  Maybe you came to depend on your own strength or stamina.  Then God brings weakness into your life, so that you will learn that your strength is in Him.  You see it as deprivation.  God sees it as preparation.  
“You shall remember all the way which the LORD your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. 3“He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD. 4“Your clothing did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years. 5“Thus you are to know in your heart that the LORD your God was disciplining you just as a man disciplines his son. 6“Therefore, you shall keep the commandments of the LORD your God, to walk in His ways and to fear Him.  Deuteronomy 8:2-6
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The Wilderness is a Place of Revelation.
In the third month after the sons of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on that very day they came into the wilderness of Sinai. When they set out from Rephidim, they came to the wilderness of Sinai and camped in the wilderness; and there Israel camped in front of the mountain. 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 howI 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.  Exodus 19:2-6

When the center of God’s will is the wilderness, what is God’s purpose? Did you see why God brought them to the wilderness? He brought them into the wilderness to bring them to Himself.Why do you suppose that God brings you to Himself?

I read again today about Jesus calling the disciples.  He called unto Him the twelve.  And why did He call them?  Did He call them to Him to give them an assignment? Yes?  But the preparation for that assignment came out of being with Him.  He called the twelve to Himself, that they might be with Him and that He might send them forth to preach. Mark 3:14
Part of the preparation for what God wants you to do will grow out of the revelation of Himself that He gives you.  For most of us, the only place we can be readied to receive that revelation is in some wilderness, where God separates us from what we have learned to lean on, in order that He can show us that we need to lean on Him alone.

Where are you right now? Do you find yourself in the midst of some God-Appointed wilderness struggling to know God’s will and God’s way?  Do you feel alone there?  Do you feel abandoned there?  I know how you feel.  I have been to the wilderness.  I have lived in the wilderness.  I felt alone. I felt discouraged.  But I came to understand that the wilderness was the place of God’s presence.

If you are in the wilderness, you might be angry at God.  You may have considered abandoning God.  In your discouragement, the wilderness can even become a place of sin.  Where is God then?  How will God respond to you when you have proved to yourself that you are not worthy of His love.
Sometimes God takes us to the wilderness not only to show us Himself—but to show us ourselves.  The truth about who we are and how we trust God surfaces in the wilderness.  There, we are proved to be worse sinners than we knew ourselves to be.  How does God respond then?

Consider this passage from Nehemiah. “You came down on Mount Sinai; you spoke to them from heaven. You gave them regulations and laws that are just and right, and decrees and commands that are good.  You made known to them your holy Sabbath and gave them commands, decrees and laws through your servant Moses.  In their hunger you gave them bread from heaven and in their thirst you brought them water from the rock; you told them to go in and take possession of the land you had sworn with uplifted hand to give them. “But they, our ancestors, became arrogant and stiff-necked, and they did not obey your commands. They refused to listen and failed to remember the miracles you performed among them. They became stiff-necked and in their rebellion appointed a leader in order to return to their slavery. But you are a forgiving God, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love. Therefore you did not desert them,  even when they cast for themselves an image of a calf and said, ‘This is your god, who brought you up out of Egypt,’ or when they committed awful blasphemies. “Because of your great compassion you did not abandon them in the wilderness. By day the pillar of cloud did not fail to guide them on their path, nor the pillar of fire by night to shine on the way they were to take.  You gave your good Spirit to instruct them. You did not withhold your manna from their mouths, and you gave them water for their thirst.  For forty years you sustained them in the wilderness; they lacked nothing, their clothes did not wear out nor did their feet become swollen. Nehemiah 9:13-21

The first few chapters of Exodus are a build up where we see Moses prepared for an impossible task: liberating the Hebrew slaves after 400 years in Egypt. He, of course, does not feel prepared at all. How could he? How could anyone? But he was. On the one hand, he was a fugitive on the run, encumbered with an embarrassing stutter. On the other, he had grown up in the royal palace. It’s true that the king he’d grown up with had died and another was in his stead (Ex 2:23), so a personal connection with the hard-hearted Pharaoh may not have been there, but still Moses, by God’s design, was part and parcel of Egyptian high society. He knew the lingo and the etiquette of Egyptian nobility and his way around the royal household. Like Esther, Moses was secretly Jewish, yet ended up providentially living in the palace of the king, for such a time as this.
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Moses was sent by God on one heck of a mission. His job—at least the first part of it—was to demand the immediate release of about a million Israelites from cruel bondage. To insist that Pharaoh should allow the Hebrew slaves, his free workforce, to just leave.

It seems like Moses didn’t feel like he had that authority though. With his brother Aaron at his side for emotional support, Moses ventured back to the place he grew up to face the tyrannical ruler, Pharaoh, no doubt with some trepidation:

Afterward Moses and Aaron went and said to Pharaoh, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness.’” (Exodus 5:1)

But that wasn’t quite the message God had told him to say, was it? Moses and Aaron appear to be asking for a temporary excursion for the Hebrew slaves. A short trip, a picnic in the Egyptian outback. God was demanding total release.

“Come,” said God to Moses. “I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.”
But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?”

He said, “But I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”
(Exodus 3:10-12)
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God’s plan was to bring them completely out of Egypt in a very real and permanent manner—there would be no going back. And that they would meet Him over at Mount Sinai in the land of Midian, where He’d appeared in the burning bush. There He would establish His covenant with the whole house of Israel and make them a holy people with a holy calling. Then He would lead them on to the Promised Land. But Moses tries to soften the blow and paints it as a one-off religious event out in the desert. It was no such thing. It was a categorical extraction. An exodus.

Fortunately, God was prepared for this, and knowing that it wouldn’t matter how nicely they asked Pharaoh would never agree, had a few tricks up His sleeve. With each plague, or blow, as it is in Hebrew, God’s demand intensified: “Let my people go!”  which in Hebrew means, "Send the people of Israel into their Destiny."

This throws interesting light on what was actually happening in the Exodus. God was killing multiple birds with one stone. He had waited for the sin of the Amorites to reach its full measure (Genesis 15:16) before executing justice on them and giving the land to the tribes of Israel. He rescued His covenant people from their living hell, and thew the Egyptians into the sea just as they had thrown countless Hebrew babies into the Nile. He was fulfilling His promises to the patriarchs to bring their descendants back to the Land of Promise, and establishing a faith community that would carry His word and His light to the whole world.
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They were not just being taken out of Egypt, they were being SENT out, with a mission: to be a light to the Gentiles.

God often does both-and rather than either-or. He operates on multiple levels all the time. We often have no idea how many facets there are to God’s actions and decisions, and can foolishly interpret them to be all about us… our own life, family, community or nation. But God has a very wide-angle lens. His ways are perfect and nothing is ever wasted in His economy. God brought deliverance and blessing to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in fulfillment of His promises to them. They would receive their inheritance from His hand, along with blessings of spiritual nourishment, revelation, and life, which they were to pass on to all the nations of the world.

The command to “Let my people go” forced Pharaoh to send Israel out of slavery and into their global calling, into their destiny.
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In a similar manner, we have been delivered from slavery and death by the blood of the sacrificial lamb, and brought through the waters of baptism. But God’s rescue mission wasn’t so we could sit around and eat cake—we are also sent into the world with a calling and a destiny! Whenever we thank God for His amazing salvation, His perfect plans, and the future He has prepared for us, let’s ask Him again: What is my part in Your plans and purposes? What are You sending me to do?
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Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”
(Isaiah 6:8)
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Why do you suppose God takes you into the wilderness to show you yourself so that you can see what a sinner you are? God takes you to the wilderness and shows you what a sinner you are so that He can show you what a Savior He is! In spite of the rebellion of His people, He remained faithful.  He still gave them water for their thirst.  He still gave them their daily bread.  He still guided them on their journey.  He never left them.  
God will be faithful to you in whatever wilderness you are facing, just as He was to the people He led out of Egypt. “In the wilderness … you saw how the LORD God carried you, just as a man carries his son, in all the way which you have walked until you came to this place. Deuteronomy 1:31 
Do you suppose God might also be carrying you? I am sure you have asked God some of the same questions that I ask from time to time.  “God, am I a castaway?  Can you still use me?”  “Do you still want me?  Do you still love me?”



"The very words I write were born in one of those moments in my life. I will never forget the day I was in my office working on this message. I was preparing it for me, because I keenly felt everything I have shared with you. I had allowed a deadline to pass that seemed to me to be critical to my future. I let it pass because I had no word from God. God was silent. As a result of His silence, I saw my future slip away. My despair grew deeper by the day. It reached a zenith on a Wednesday in December of 2006. I was preparing this message for my church, but I was really describing what was going on in my own life. God must have been watching as I paced around in my office that day. I was a desperately discouraged man. As I typed away at this message on my computer, the phone rang. Within an hour of that phone call, all my questions were answered. My future seemed to be restored. I had been called by God to the assignment I thought I had missed.' When that day started, I was convinced I missed God completely.  I was lost in the wilderness.  I felt abandoned and forgotten, and I felt I deserved to be.  But that day, I met God in the wilderness, and it altered the direction of my life.  Six months later, I shared the same message with my church on a Sunday night. The next day, I would be stepping through the door God had opened. This is what I said in closing: “Tomorrow I set foot on the road that God called me to travel. It may not lead out of the wilderness—but I am convinced that it will lead me to Him.” That is, after all, the purpose of the wilderness in the lives of God’s people. He brings us into some great and terrible wilderness, so that He might bring us to Himself." (-Story by Eddie Eshtaigi)






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Yeshua is the 'Prophet like Moses'

7/31/2021

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​There is a telling passage in Deuteronomy 18 where Moses tells us, “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers – it is to him you shall listen”. (verse 15). And later in verse 18; “I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers . And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him.”
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No prizes for guessing who that prophet might be with hindsight, but John the Baptist wasn’t a hundred percent sure so he sent some people to his cousin, Yeshua, to double check. “Are you The Prophet?” they asked. Philip felt pretty sure, and told his brother, Nathaniel, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the Prophets wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, son of Joseph.”
 
Let’s look at Yeshua’s qualifications – is He really the “Prophet Like Moses”? First off, He’s definitely from “among the brothers” of Israel, so that’s a good start.

The Prophet must be Jewish, and Jesus’ heritage was from the tribe of Judah. Both were shepherds – Yeshua said, “I am the good shepherd”, and Moses also tended sheep – figuratively and literally.
​Both were sent to bring salvation after 400 years of apparent inactivity from God – the Israelites had been enslaved for 400 years in Egypt, and the 400 years before Yeshua came had been notably silent years from God. Both fasted for 40 days and nights – Moses while on Mount Sinai, and Yeshua in the Judean desert, when being tempted by Satan Both spent time in Egypt as children (as Yeshua had to be hidden there for a while as a baby to escape Herod) Both were born at a time when evil kings pronounced death to all Jewish baby boys in the area – Pharaoh had commanded all Hebrew baby boys to be drowned at birth, and Herod had issued a command to kill all baby boys under the age of two. Both were miraculously rescued from that threat Both were called by God to lead and save Both did miracles to testify to their God-given authority Both instituted a covenant of blood that brought salvation for many – Moses with the Passover lamb’s blood on the doorposts, Yeshua, Lamb of God, brought in the new covenant in his blood on the beams of the cross Both were given God’s public stamp of approval with an audible voice from heaven, heard by the crowd – Moses at Sinai, and Yeshua at his baptism Both gave up great riches to lead a humble life of service and poverty – Moses from the palace of the King of Egypt, Yeshua from the heights of heaven. Both were noted for their great humility (Numbers 12:3, Hebrews 11:26-27, Philippians 2) Both were initially rejected by the Jews when the foretold salvation didn’t seem as if it was going to happen. When Moses first challenged Pharaoh, things got a lot worse for the Israelites, leading to despair and anger.

​Yeshua’s crucifixion looked like a hopeless defeat. Both salvation situations initially looked like the promises were not going to come true. But they did. Both were criticized by their own families – Mary and Yeshua’s brothers in Mark 3:20-21, and Moses’ sister and brother in Numbers 12:1. Both were willing to sacrifice their own lives for the sake of those they were leading, and to pay for the sins of their people – Moses in Exodus 32, and Yeshua’s own readiness to die on our behalf is evident in the Garden of Gethsemene Both miraculously provided the people with bread to eat – manna was sent from heaven for the Israelites and Yeshua famously fed the multitudes. Twice. Both were accepted by Gentiles – Moses’ father in law, a Midianite, instantly believed (Exodus 18:10-11) The Egyptians too came to believe that the God of Israel was real and true. And the non-Jews readily accepted Yeshua’s message of salvation. Under Moses, all those who believed him, those who followed the instructions and put the sacrificial blood on their doors, were saved from death. This means that all those who left Egypt had taken a step of faith and been saved. They were no longer just Hebrews ethnically, they had become a faith community.

​Similarly, under Yeshua, all those who appropriate his sacrificial blood, shed for us to save us from the power of death have entered into the faith community of those who follow Him. Seven weeks (50 days) after the Exodus, the Israelites waited upon God to receive the Torah – now that they had been saved, how then should they live? God gave Moses His covenant and instructions on how to live as a faith community. Seven weeks (50 days) after the resurrection, the disciples waited as Yeshua instructed them to receive the Holy Spirit, and the church was born – a new faith community, and a new way to live as believers. Both of their faces shone with the glory of heaven, as was noted by people who saw them – Moses had to wear a veil over his face because it was beaming so much, and Yeshua’s disciples saw His glory on the Mount of Transfiguration. Moses chose 12 spies to explore Canaan, and Yeshua chose 12 disciples. Moses appointed 70 rulers over Israel, and Yeshua sent 70 disciples out to share the gospel. Moses led the people out from slavery into… the wilderness. 40 years of wandering, hardship, and a lot of lessons learned the hard way – but all with God’s help and presence. The promised land would come only later. Yeshua has redeemed us into… life with Him, still on this fallen earth. A limited time not without pain and struggle, and many lessons learned the hard way – but all with God’s help and presence. The life we were created for with no sickness, pain or death is yet to come. There are so many more similarities if you feel like digging! But there are a few crucial differences too: Moses was not perfect, and did not cross into the promised land (until the Transfiguration in his resurrection body!) but Yeshua is perfect, and has gone before us, to prepare a place for us, and sits at the right hand of the Father.
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God only saved one people group through Moses. Through Yeshua, salvation is available to every nation, tribe and tongue. Interestingly enough, a fourteenth century rabbi Rabbi Levi Ben Gershon (RALBAG), said this in his commentary on the verse in Deuteronomy 18: ‘A Prophet from the midst of thee.’ In fact, the Messiah is such a Prophet as it is stated in the Midrash of the verse, ‘Behold my Servant shall prosper’ (Isaiah 52:13).…Moses, by the miracles which he wrought, brought a single nation to the worship of God, but the Messiah will draw all peoples to the worship of God. [1] Crucially, of course, Yeshua was in fact the Son of God – the very Word of God, come to tabernacle amongst us, full of grace and truth. God became flesh and dwelt among us: Yeshua the Messiah.
 
[1] What the Rabbis Know About The Messiahby Rachmiel Frydland, (Cincinatti, OH: Messianic Publishing Company, Messianic Literature Outreach, 1991) page 22, as cited by Jews for Jesus article mentioned above
See also, the Jews for Jesus article, “A Prophet Like Unto Moses” and “Moses’ prophecy of Messiah” by Hebrew4Christians.com

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The tribulation

9/1/2020

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The tribulation is a future seven-year period of time when God will finish His discipline of Israel and finalize His judgment of the unbelieving world. The church, made up of all who have trusted in the person and work of the Lord Jesus to save them from being punished for sin, will not be present during the tribulation. The church will be removed from the earth in an event known as the rapture (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; 1 Corinthians 15:51-53). The church is saved from the wrath to come (1 Thessalonians 5:9). Throughout Scripture, the tribulation is referred to by other names such as the Day of the Lord (Isaiah 2:12; 13:6-9; Joel 1:15; 2:1-31; 3:14; 1 Thessalonians 5:2); trouble or tribulation (Deuteronomy 4:30; Zephaniah 1:1); the great tribulation, which refers to the more intense second half of the seven-year period (Matthew 24:21); time or day of trouble (Daniel 12:1; Zephaniah 1:15); time of Jacob’s trouble (Jeremiah 30:7).

An understanding of 
Daniel 9:24-27 is necessary in order to understand the purpose and time of the tribulation. This passage speaks of 70 weeks that have been declared against “your people.” Daniel’s people are the Jews, the nation of Israel, and Daniel 9:24 speaks of a period of time that God has given “to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy.” God declares that “seventy sevens” will fulfill all these things. This is 70 sevens of years, or 490 years. (Some translations refer to 70 weeks of years.) This is confirmed by another part of this passage in Daniel. In verses 25 and 26, Daniel is told that the Messiah will be cut off after “seven sevens and sixty-two sevens” (69 total), beginning with the decree to rebuild Jerusalem. In other words, 69 sevens of years (483 years) after the decree to rebuild Jerusalem, the Messiah will be cut off. Biblical historians confirm that 483 years passed from the time of the decree to rebuild Jerusalem to the time when Jesus was crucified. Most Christian scholars, regardless of their view of eschatology (future things/events), have the above understanding of Daniel’s 70 sevens.

With 483 years having passed from the decree to rebuild Jerusalem to the cutting off of the Messiah, this leaves one seven-year period to be fulfilled in terms of Daniel 9:24: “to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy.” This final seven-year period is known as the tribulation period—it is a time when God finishes judging Israel for its sin.

Daniel 9:27 gives a few highlights of the seven-year tribulation period: “He will confirm a covenant with many for one ’seven.' In the middle of the ’seven' he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on a wing of the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.” The person of whom this verse speaks is the person Jesus calls the “abomination that causes desolation” (Matthew 24:15) and is called “the beast” in Revelation 13. Daniel 9:27 says that the beast will make a covenant for seven years, but in the middle of this week (3 1/2 years into the tribulation), he will break the covenant, putting a stop to sacrifice. Revelation 13 explains that the beast will place an image of himself in the temple and require the world to worship him. Revelation 13:5 says that this will go on for 42 months, which is 3 1/2 years. Since Daniel 9:27 says that this will happen in the middle of the week, and Revelation 13:5 says that the beast will do this for a period of 42 months, it is easy to see that the total length of time is 84 months or seven years. Also see Daniel 7:25, where the “time, times, and half a time” (time=1 year; times=2 years; half a time=1/2 year; total of 3 1/2 years) also refers to “great tribulation,” the last half of the seven-year tribulation period when the beast will be in power.

For further references about the tribulation, see Revelation 11:2-3, which speaks of 1260 days and 42 months, and Daniel 12:11-12, which speaks of 1290 days and 1335 days. These days have a reference to the midpoint of the tribulation. The additional days in Daniel 12 may include the time at the end for the judgment of the nations (Matthew 25:31-46) and time for the setting up of Christ’s millennial kingdom (Revelation 20:4-6).

In summary, the Tribulation is the 7-year time period in the end times in which humanity’s decadence and depravity will reach its fullness, with God judging accordingly.

The tribulation saints are, quite simply, saints living during the tribulation. We believe that the church will be raptured before the tribulation, but the Bible indicates that a great number of people during the tribulation will place their faith in Jesus Christ. In his vision of heaven, John sees a vast number of these tribulation saints who have been martyred by the Antichrist: “There before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands” (Revelation 7:9). When John asks who they are, he is told, “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (verse 14).

The tribulation will be a time of great trouble for the wicked, because of God’s judgments. It will also be a time of great persecution for the believers—or saints—because of the Antichrist’s persecution (Revelation 13:7). Daniel saw the Antichrist “waging war against the saints and defeating them” (Daniel 7:21). Of course, the saints’ eternal salvation is secure: Daniel also saw that “the Ancient of Days came and pronounced judgment in favor of the saints of the Most High, and the time came when they possessed the kingdom” (Daniel 7:22; cf. Revelation 14:12–13). 

The tribulation saints will hear the gospel from several possible sources. The first is the Bible; there will be many copies of the Bible left in the world, and when God’s judgments begin to fall, many people will likely react by finding a Bible to see if prophecies are being fulfilled. Many of the tribulation saints will also have heard the gospel from the two witnesses (Revelation 11:1–13). The Bible says these two individuals “will prophesy for 1,260 days [three and a half years]” (verse 3) and perform great miracles (verse 6). And then there are the 144,000 Jewish missionaries who are redeemed and sealed by God during the tribulation (Revelation 7:1–8). Immediately following the description of their sealing in Revelation 7, we read of the multitudes of tribulation saints who are saved from every corner of the world (verses 9–17).

The tribulation saints will serve their Lord Jesus Christ in the midst of desperate surroundings. Faithful to the end, many of these believers will die for their faith. But in their death, they overcome; “They overcame [Satan] by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death” (Revelation 12:11). And God will reward them: “He who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them. Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat upon them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes” (Revelation 7:15–17). 

We praise the Lord that the great day of trouble will also be a great day of grace. Even as God is meting out His just punishment on an unbelieving world, He will be restoring Israel to faith and extending grace to all who believe, both Jew and Gentile. God has always been in the business of saving people, and that salvation will still be available during the tribulation. Don’t wait until then, however; receive Jesus now (John 1:12).

The 144,000 are first mentioned in 
Revelation 7:4, “Then I heard the number of those who were sealed: 144,000 from all the tribes of Israel.” This passage comes in an interlude between the judgment of the sixth seal of the tribulation (Revelation 6:12–17) and the opening of the seventh seal (Revelation 8:1).

How one answers the question “who are the 144,000?” depends on which interpretive approach one takes to the book of Revelation. The futurist approach, which we consider the best, interprets the 144,000 literally. When taken at face value, Revelation 7:4 seems to speak of 144,000 actual people living during the end-times tribulation. Nothing in the passage leads to interpreting the 144,000 as anything but a literal number of Jews—12,000 taken from every tribe of the children of Israel, according to verses 5–8.


These 144,000 Jews are “sealed,” which means they have the special protection of God. They are kept safe from the divine judgments and from the wrath of the Antichrist. They can freely perform their mission during the tribulation. It had been previously prophesied that Israel would repent and turn back to God (Zechariah 12:10; Romans 11:25–27), and the 144,000 Jews seem to be a sort of “first fruits” (Revelation 14:4) of that redeemed Israel. Their mission seems to be to evangelize the post-rapture world and proclaim the gospel during the tribulation period. As a result of their ministry, millions—“a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language” (Revelation 7:9)—will come to faith in Christ.

It is true that there will be people ruling in the millennium with Christ. These people will be comprised of the church (believers in Jesus Christ, 
1 Corinthians 6:2), Old Testament saints (believers who died before Christ’s first advent, Daniel 7:27), and tribulation saints (those who accept Christ during the tribulation, Revelation 20:4). Yet the Bible places no numerical limit on this group of people. Furthermore, the millennium is different from the eternal state, which will be established at the completion of the millennial period. At that time, God will dwell with us in the New Jerusalem. He will be our God, and we will be His people (Revelation 21:3). The inheritance promised to us in Christ and sealed by the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13–14) will become ours, and we will be co-heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17).



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Noah- Theme in Genesis;

4/9/2020

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​“Theme in genesis; Noah”

Noah, also spelled Noa, in the Hebrew Bible- the hero of the biblical Flood story in the Old Testament book of Genesis, the originator of vineyard cultivation, and, as the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth, the representative head of a “Semitic genealogical line.” A synthesis of at least three biblical source traditions, Noah is the image of the “righteous” man made party to a covenant with Yahweh, the God of Israel, in which nature’s future protection against “catastrophe” is assured. Scholars attend that anti-christian sentiment found living today can be traced from this storyline. 

Noah appears in Genesis 5:29 as the son of Lamech and ninth in descent from Adam. In the story of the Deluge (Genesis 6:11–9:19), he is represented as the patriarch who, because of his “blameless piety,” was chosen by God to perpetuate the human race after his wicked contemporaries had perished in the Flood. A righteous man, Noah “found favour in the eyes of the Lord” (Genesis 6:8). Thus, when God beheld the “corruption of the earth” and determined to destroy it, he gave Noah “divine warning of the impending disaster” and made a covenant with him, promising to “save him and his family.” 

Noah was instructed to build an ark, and in accordance with God’s instructions he took into the ark “male and female specimens” of all the world’s species of animals, from which the stocks might be replenished. Consequently, according to this narrative, the entire surviving human race descended from Noah’s three sons. Such a genealogy sets a universal frame within which the subsequent role of Abraham, as the father of Israel’s faith, could assume its proper dimensions.

The story of the Flood has close affinities with Babylonian traditions of apocalyptic floods in which Utnapishtim plays the part corresponding to that of Noah. These mythologies are the “source” of such features of the biblical Flood story as the “building and provisioning of the ark,” its flotation, and the subsidence of the waters, as well as the part played by the human protagonist. Tablet “XI” of the Gilgamesh epic introduces Utnapishtim, who, like Noah, survived -cosmic destruction- by heeding “divine instruction” to build an ark.

The religious meaning of the Flood is conveyed after Noah’s heroic survival. He then built an “altar on which he offered burnt sacrifices” to God, who then bound himself to a pact -never again- to curse the earth on “man’s account.” God then set a rainbow in the sky as a visible guarantee of his promise in this covenant. 🌈 God also -renewed- his commands given at creation but with two changes: man could now kill animals and eat meat, and the murder of a man would be punished by men.

Despite the tangible similarities of the Mesopotamian and biblical myths of the flood, the biblical story has a unique Hebraic perspective. In the Babylonian story the destruction of the flood was the result of a disagreement among the gods; in Genesis it resulted from the “moral corruption of human history.” 

The primitive polytheism of the Mesopotamian versions is “transformed” in the -biblical story- into an -affirmation- of the “omnipotence and benevolence of the one righteous God.” Again, following their survival, Utnapishtim and his wife are admitted to the circle of the immortal gods; but Noah and his family are commanded to undertake the -renewal- of history.

The narrative concerning Noah in Genesis 9:20–27 belongs to a different cycle, which seems to be unrelated to the Flood story. In the latter, Noah’s sons are married and their wives accompany them in the ark; but in this narrative they would seem to be unmarried, nor does the shameless drunkenness of Noah accord well with the character of the pious hero of the Flood story. Three different themes may be traced in Genesis 9:20–27: first, the passage attributes the -beginnings- of agriculture, and in particular the “cultivation of the vine,” to Noah; second, it attempts to provide, in the persons of Noah’s “three sons,” Shem, Ham, and Japheth, ancestors for “three of the races” of mankind and to account in some degree for their historic relations; and third, by its censure of Canaan, it offers a -veiled justification- for the later Israelite conquest and subjugation of the Canaanites. Noah’s drunkenness and the disrespect it provokes in his son Ham result in Noah’s laying of a curse on Ham’s son Canaan. 

This incident may -symbolize- the “ethnic and social division” of Palestine: the “Israelites” (from the line of Shem) will “separate from the pre-Israelite” population of Canaan (which is depicted as licentious), who will live in subjection to the Hebrews. The symbolic figure of Noah was known in ancient Israel, before the compilation of the Pentateuch. Ezekiel (14:14, 20) speaks of him as a prototype of the righteous man who, alone among the Israelites, would be spared God’s vengeance. 

In the “New Testament,” Noah is mentioned in the genealogy of the Gospel According to Luke (3:36) that delineates “Jesus’ descent from Adam.” Jesus also uses the story of the Flood that came on a “worldly generation” of men “in the days of Noah” as an example of Baptism, and “Noah is depicted as a preacher of repentance” to the men of his time, itself a “predominant theme” in Jewish “apocryphal and rabbinical writings.”

Hebrew Bible, also called Hebrew Scriptures, Old Testament, or Tanakh, collection of writings that was first compiled and preserved as the sacred books of the Jewish people. It also constitutes a large portion of the Christian Bible, known as the Old Testament. Except for a few passages in Aramaic, appearing mainly in the “apocalyptic Book of DANIEL,” these scriptures were written originally in Hebrew during the period from 1200 to 100 BCE. 

The Hebrew Bible probably reached its current form about the 2nd century CE.

In its general framework, the Hebrew Bible is the account of God’s dealing with the Jews as his chosen people, who collectively called themselves Israel. After an account of the world’s creation by God and the emergence of human civilization, the first six books narrate not only the “history but the genealogy” of the people of Israel to the conquest and “settlement of the Promised Land” under the terms of “God’s covenant with Abraham,” whom God promised to make the progenitor of a great nation. This covenant was subsequently “renewed by Abraham’s son Isaac and grandson Jacob” (whose byname Israel became the collective name of his descendants and whose -sons, according to legend, fathered the “13 Israelite tribes”) and centuries later by “Moses” (from the Israelite tribe of Levi). 

The following seven books continue their story in the Promised Land, describing the people’s constant “apostasy and breaking of the covenant,” the “establishment and development of the monarchy in order to counter this,” and the “warnings by the prophets both of impending divine punishment and exile and of Israel’s need to repent.” The last 11 books contain poetry, theology, and some additional history.

The Hebrew Bible is the literature of faith, not of scientific observation or historical demonstration. God’s existence as a “speculative problem” has no interest for the biblical writers. What is -problematical- for them is the “human condition and destiny before God.” 

The great biblical themes are about God, his “revealed works” of creation, provision, judgment, deliverance, his covenant, and his promises. The Hebrew Bible sees what happens to humankind in the light of God’s nature, righteousness, faithfulness, mercy, and love. The major themes about humankind relate to “humanity’s rebellion, estrangement, and perversion; humankind’s redemption, forgiveness, and reconciliation are all viewed as the gracious works of God.”

The Hebrew Bible’s profoundly monotheistic interpretation of human life and the universe as creations of God provides the basic structure of ideas that gave rise not only to Judaism and Christianity but also to Islam, which emerged from Jewish and Christian tradition and which views Abraham as a patriarch.

Utnapishtim, in the Babylonian Gilgamesh epic, survivor of a mythological flood whom Gilgamesh consults about the secret of immortality. Utnapishtim was the only man to escape death, since, having preserved human and animal life in the great boat he built, he and his wife were deified by the god Enlil. Utnapishtim directed Gilgamesh to a plant that would “renew” his youth, but the hero “failed to return with it to his home city.”

Flood myth, also called deluge myth, any of numerous mythologies in which a flood destroys a typically “disobedient” original population. Myths of a great flood (the Deluge) are widespread over Eurasia and America. The flood, with a few exceptions, is an expiation by the water, after which a new type of world is created. 🛳🌊

Mount Ararat, Turkish Ağrı Dağı, volcanic massif in extreme eastern Turkey, overlooking the point at which the frontiers of “Turkey, Iran, and Armenia” converge. Its northern and eastern slopes rise from the broad alluvial plain of the Aras River, about 3,300 feet (1,000 metres) above sea level; its southwestern slopes rise from a plain about 5,000 feet (1,500 metres) above sea level; and on the west a low pass “separates it from a long range of other volcanic ridges extending westward toward the eastern Taurus ranges.” The Ararat Massif is about 25 miles (40 km) in diameter.

Ararat consists of two peaks, their summits about 7 miles (11 km) apart. Great Ararat, or Büyük Ağrı Dağı, which reaches an elevation of 16,945 feet (5,165 metres) above sea level, is the highest peak in Turkey. Little Ararat, or Küçük Ağrı Dağı, rises in a smooth, steep, nearly “perfect cone” to 12,782 feet (3,896 metres). Both Great and Little Ararat are the product of eruptive volcanic activity. Neither retains any evidence of a crater, but well-formed cones and fissures exist on their flanks. Towering some 14,000 feet (4,300 metres) above the adjoining plains, the snowcapped conical peak of the Great Ararat offers a majestic sight. The snowline varies with the season, retreating to 14,000 feet above sea level by the end of the summer. The “only true” glacier is “found” on the northern side of the Great Ararat, near its summit. The middle zone of Ararat, measuring from 5,000 to 11,500 feet (1,500 to 3,500 metres), is covered with “good pasture grass and some juniper; there the local Kurdish population graze their sheep.” Most of the Great Ararat is treeless, but Little Ararat has a few birch groves. Despite the abundant cover of snow, the Ararat area “suffers from scarcity of water.”

Ararat traditionally is associated with the mountain on which Noah’s Ark came to rest at the end of the Flood. The name Ararat, as it appears in the Bible, is the Hebrew equivalent of Urardhu, or Urartu, the Assyro-Babylonian name of a “kingdom that flourished between the Aras and the Upper Tigris rivers from the 9th to the 7th century BCE.”  Ararat is “sacred to the Armenians,” who believe themselves to be the “first -race- of humans to appear in the world after the Deluge.” A Persian legend refers to the Ararat as the “cradle of the human race.” There was formerly a village on the slopes of the Ararat -high above- the Aras plain, at the spot where, according to local tradition, Noah built an -altar- and planted the first vineyard. Above the village Armenians built a monastery to commemorate St. Jacob, who is said to have “tried repeatedly but failed to reach the summit of Great Ararat in search of the Ark.” In 1840 an eruption and landslide destroyed the village, the monastery of St. Jacob, and a nearby chapel of St. James, and it also killed hundreds of villagers.

Local tradition maintained that the Ark still lay on the summit but that God had declared that “no one should see it.” In September 1829, Johann Jacob von Parrot, a German, made the first recorded successful ascent. Since then Ararat has been scaled by several explorers, some of whom claim to have “sighted” the remains of the Ark.

Turkey, country that occupies a unique geographic position, lying partly in Asia and partly in Europe. Throughout its history it has acted as both a “barrier and a bridge between the two continents.”

A -long succession- of “political entities existed in Asia Minor” over the centuries. Turkmen tribes invaded Anatolia in the 11th century CE, founding the Seljuq empire; during the 14th century the Ottoman Empire began a long expansion, reaching its peak during the 17th century. The modern Turkish republic, founded in 1923 after the “collapse” of the Ottoman Empire, is a “nationalist, secular, parliamentary democracy.” 

After a period of one-party rule under its founder, Mustafa Kemal (Atatürk), and his successor, Turkish governments since the 1950s have been produced by multiparty “elections based on universal adult suffrage.”

The mountain “system falls into two main parts.” West of Antalya a complex series of ridges with a north-south trend reaches 6,500 to 8,200 feet (2,000 to 2,500 metres), but the most prominent feature is the massive “Taurus (Toros) mountain” system, running -parallel- to the Mediterranean coast and extending along the southern border. There crest lines are often above 8,000 feet (2,400 metres), and several peaks exceed 11,000 feet (3,400 metres). In the eastern third of the country, the northern and southern fold systems converge to produce an extensive area of predominantly mountainous terrain, with pockets of relatively level land confined to valleys and enclosed basins, as are found around Malatya, Elazığ, and Muş.

The central massif is located in the western half of the country, between the Pontic and Taurus systems (Taurus-the bull is the fixed modality of the three earth signs, the others being Virgo- this symbolic form of the virgin mary birth giver of jesus; incarnation and indwelling of the divine god without genetic seed, and Capricorn- the birth of jesus, star of David). This “elevated zone” is often referred to as the Anatolian plateau, although its relief is much more varied than this term suggests. At least “four subdivisions” of the central massif can be “identified.” Inland from the Aegean as far as a line from Bursa to Denizli, a series of faulted blocks gives a north-south alternation of steep-sided plateaus rising 5,000–6,500 feet (1,500–2,000 metres) and low-lying valley floors. Alluvial plains along the larger rivers, such as the Gediz, Küçükmenderes, and Büyükmenderes, are among the largest in Turkey and are of special agricultural value. East of this section, roughly to a line from Eskişehir to Burdur, is a complex upland zone. The general surface level rises to the east from 1,500 to 3,000 feet (460 to 900 metres); set into the upland are several downfaulted basins, and above it short mountain ranges rise to 6,500 feet.

The most distinctive part of the central massif is the area bounded on the south by the Taurus Mountains and on the northeast by a line from Ankara through Lake Tuz to Niğde. There the term “plateau” is most applicable, with large expanses of flat or gently sloping land at elevations of about 3,000 feet separated by low upswellings in the surface. Measuring some 150 by 200 miles (240 by 320 km), these are by far the most extensive plains in Turkey; however, their agricultural value is reduced by the effects of altitude and location on their climate.

The geologic structure of Turkey—where recent “faulting and folding are widespread” and mountain building is still in progress—is particularly conducive to “earthquakes, of which there have been many of varying intensity in modern times.” A number of serious events have been centred in the east, near Erzurum in 1959 and 1966, Bingöl in 1971 and 2003, and Erzincan in 1939 and 1992. In 1999 the country’s northwest was struck by a powerful earthquake near İzmit (Kocaeli) that killed more than 17,000 people and evoked “strong criticism of state institutions for their delayed response to the disaster.”

Meaning of the Twelve Stars of Revelation

Q: Do the twelve stars in Rev. 12.1 refer to the twelve apostles?
A: The Marian interpretation of Rev. 12.1 indeed allows for the suggested interpretation (see: Laurentin, Lyonnet, Deiss, Koehler, Feuillet relating this passage to the Daughter of Zion). Mary is the archetypal symbol of the Woman who is Israel (original) and the Church (developed). As archetype of the Church she is a sign that the Church is surrounded by God's power and protection ("Clothed with the Sun"). She is in continuity with the original people of God but stands also for the renewed people of God, the Church. Here is where the star symbol applies. The twelve stars above her head apply to both the twelve patriarchs of the tribes of Israel (original people of God), and the twelve apostles (renewed people of God). Of course, this symbolism has been interpreted in different and more subjective ways, especially for various devotional forms. For example, the devotion of the twelve stars (Baroque period) where each one of the stars symbolizes a special charism or privilege of Mary. It is legitimate to go a step further and read this image of Rev. 12.1 as Queen of Heaven, since Mary is (for example, according to the Litany of Loreto) Queen of both Patriarchs and Apostles. She is also in Rev. 12.1 the image of the eschatological Church or heavenly Jerusalem. She was related to the star sign Virgo (not surprisingly) – the Queen of Heaven and Queen of the angels.

The archaelogical record suggests that Asherah was the Mother Goddess of Israel, the Wife of God, according to William Dever, who has unearthed many clues to her identity. She was worshiped, apparently throughout the time Israel stood as a nation.  In many homes, images like the one above decorated household shrines. She no doubt aided in the concerns of mothers, including “conception and childbirth,” but was probably also the mother of all, a comforter and protector in an uncertain world. Inscriptions from ancient Israel tell us that Yahweh and “his Asherah” were invoked together for personal protection. Her identification with trees suggests that Asherah was, in effect, also Mother Nature — a figure we “remember in our language,” but unfortunately have “lost as a part of our mainstream religions.” She was, in other words, everything you would expect from the feminine half of the divine creative duo, a Great Mother. Asherah’s image was lost to us not by chance, but by deliberate action of fundamentalist monotheists.  First Her “images were torn down, then Her stories were rewritten, then Her name was forgotten.” In fact, Her name appears -40 times- in modern translations of the Bible, but not at all in the first English translation, the King James Bible.  Since no one knew who Asherah was anymore in the 17th century when the King James Version (KJV) was being created, Her name was translated as “groves of trees or trees or images in groves,” without understanding that those trees and groves of trees “represented a mother goddess.”

When archaeologists unearthed a treasure trove of Canaanite stories and other writings in Ugarit, in modern day Syria, they discovered that the mysterious “Asherah” was not an object, but a Goddess: the mother goddess of the Canaanites. When archaeologists discovered Her in Israel as well, a “whole new picture of early Hebrew religion began to emerge.” The argument is straightforward: Asherah was a known Canaanite Goddess, the Mother Goddess and wife of the Father God. She was worshiped, according to the Bible, in the woods with Baal AND in Yahweh’s temple. The common sense interpretation is that Israelites worshiped the mother goddess Asherah. And that She was the wife of whichever male God had the upper hand at the time: El, or Baal, or Yahweh.  Israelite religion was not much different from Canaanite religion. The gods vied for supremacy, but the goddess remained.

Since archaeologists in the Holy Land tended to be religious and to enter the field of biblical archaeology in order to unearth evidence substantiating the Bible’s story, it has taken awhile for the “plain truth to become clear.” Gradually, however, more objective archaeologists, such as Dever, are making headway in proving Asherah’s case.  The Bible says Hebrews kept worshiping Asherah; the archaeological record confirms it. What the Bible doesn’t say, and the archaeological record shows, is that Asherah was a mother goddess.

In Ugarit, She was known as Athiratu Yammi, She who “Treads on the Sea.” This suggests She was responsible for “ending a time of chaos represented by the primordial sea and beginning the process of creation.” The Sea God, or Sea Serpent Yam is the entity upon which She trod.  In a particularly bizarre and suggestive passage in the Bible, 2 Kings 18:4, one monotheistic reformer, pursuing the typical course of “smashing sacred stones and cutting down Asherahs records” this additional fact: He broke into pieces the bronze snake Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had been burning incense to it. (It was called Nehushtan.)

Here are the serpent and the tree being worshiped together. (Garden of Eden anyone?) So, what exactly were people doing out there in the woods? They were worshiping idols, of course, burning incense, we are told.  This passage from Hosea is instructive: Hosea 4:12,13 condemns those who “inquire of a thing of wood,” suggesting they were asking questions of an oracle,  and who sacrifice under oak, poplar and terebinth “because their shade is good.” They are accused also of playing the harlot, which could be a reference to sexual activity, or simply an analogy in that the monotheists are claiming the people sold out to the “false” Canaanite gods.  Israel was considered the bride of Yahweh in monotheistic thought, so worshiping other gods was whoring after them.

These passages make sense when you understand that this tree symbolism is closely connected with Asherah.  Now we know She was worshiped in the wood, with an image made of wood and that people “sought knowledge and made sacrifices there.”

Many of us learned about the tree of knowledge of good and evil from an early age. Even if we didn’t have a church background, our pop culture seems full of references of Adam and Eve eating the forbidden fruit and dooming the world to plunge into a sinful state. As a refresher, we’ll include a passage below from Genesis about this tree found smack dab in the middle of the Garden of Eden.
Genesis 2:15-17: “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”

As the story goes, the devil, shaped like a serpent tempts Adam and Eve to eat the forbidden fruit, to have knowledge like God. They do and earn eternal separation because of their sin. What all do we know about this tree? Why in the world would God create a conifer doomsday device in the middle of paradise? Although God allows for Adam and Eve to partake in the fruit of any tree in the Garden of Eden, he forbids them from eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He gives this with a warning that they will die if they do so. Supposedly, the tree could give them the knowledge of good and evil, but doing so would come at a cost. Another tree in the Garden was the tree of life (Genesis 2). Adam and Eve, as long as they lived in the Garden, had access to its life-giving fruit. But once they ate of the forbidden tree, they had to leave this place of paradise. What does the tree of knowledge symbolize in the Garden of Eden? As pointed out in this article, perhaps the tree of knowledge represented the law (which brings death, 2 Corinthians 3:6) and the tree of life represented a right relationship with God. Adam and Eve, when they disobeyed and ate the fruit, decided they’d rather abide by the rules than by a relationship. Other theologians have posited it had knowledge that only God was meant to possess. 

Suffice to say, we don’t know the precise nature of the knowledge they received. But we do know that this tree also later represents the fall of man. The tree itself wasn’t evil. But because God had given explicit instructions not to eat of its fruit, and Adam and Eve disobeyed, sin polluted both them and the tree. The ground, human nature, everything ends up cursed because of what happens in Genesis 3.

What happened to the tree of knowledge? After all, the tree of life does make another appearance in Revelation 2 and Revelation 22:2. Does the tree of knowledge show up anywhere else in the Bible or in history?

After the fall (Genesis 3), Adam and Eve are disbanded from the Garden of Eden, never to enter again. Considering the tree of knowledge was in the middle of the Garden, and since trees don’t have a tendency to walk apart from Tolkien stories, we can assume it stayed put.

Symbolically the tree of knowledge lives on in the hearts of every man. We choose, every one of us, to place something else in the throne of our lives instead of Jesus. Thankfully, because of Jesus’ sacrifice, we can come back to the relationship with God and experience the tree of life. The tree of life represents a rightful relationship with God and the tree of knowledge symbolizes the death that comes through the law. Every human being, ever since the Garden of Eden, intuitively knows about God (Romans 1:20). Many of us have also received specific revelation through Scripture or other means. Because of this knowledge, we have no excuse when we stand in the presence of God and have to explain our deeds on Earth. 

In Revelation, after the apostle John describes the river of life, he mentions another striking feature: “On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations” (Revelation 22:2). The tree of life is mentioned three times in Genesis 2, in Eden, and again four times in Revelation, three of those in the final chapter. These instances seem to refer to Eden’s literal tree of life. We’re told the tree of life is presently in Paradise, the intermediate Heaven (Revelation 2:7). The New Jerusalem itself, also in the present Heaven, will be brought down, the tree of life and all, and placed on the New Earth (Revelation 21:2). Just as the tree was apparently relocated from Eden to the present Heaven, it will be relocated again to the New Earth. In Eden, the tree of life appears to have been a source of ongoing physical life. The presence of the tree of life suggests a supernatural provision of life as Adam and Eve ate the fruit their Creator provided. Adam and Eve were designed to live forever, but to do so they likely needed to eat from the tree of life. Once they sinned, they were banned from the Garden, separated from the tree, and subject to physical death, just as they had experienced spiritual death. Since Eden, death has reigned throughout history. But on the New Earth, our access to the tree of life is forever restored. In the New Earth, we will freely eat the fruit of the same tree that nourished Adam and Eve: “To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God” (Revelation 2:7). Once more human beings will draw their strength and vitality from this tree. The tree will produce not one crop but twelve. The newness and freshness of Heaven are demonstrated in the monthly yield of fruit. The fruit is not merely to be admired but consumed. The description of the tree of life in Revelation 22 mirrors precisely what’s prophesied in the Old Testament: “Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river. Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail. Every month they will bear because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing” (Ezekiel 47:12).

Interestingly, the word Elat is translated in the Bible as terebinth, a large shade tree found in Israel. A great deal of the time, God is a translation not of Yahweh, his particular name given to Moses, but of the Hebrew name Elohim, which is plural, gender neutral, meaning “gods.”  This word is also related to the word for oak tree.  What did it really mean to the ancients to worship in a grove of trees? To see the gods as like the oaks? The goddess as a green tree spreading Her leaves over the worshiper, providing shade in a hot country? Hebrews were not alone in worshiping gods of the forest, of course.  Celtic, Greek, and Germanic peoples also worshiped in groves.  Their gods were gods of nature.  Were the Israelites really so different? In the Bible, Elohim created a man and woman.

Genesis 1:26:

“Then Elohim said, ‘Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’ So Elohim created man in his own image, in the image of Elohim he created them; male and female he created them.” Takes on a whole new meaning, doesn’t it, when you become aware of the Mother Goddess being worshiped next to God in every home and under every green tree in the forest groves?  Who is this “US” doing the creating? Well, evidently, the creator(s) is/are male and female, like the creatures he/She/they created. Now move on to a later passage, in 1 Kings 18: 19 , which makes it clear that  Asherah was served by “400 prophets.” This is no “minor religion.” Maybe when the prophets complained She was worshiped under every tree, they meant it. Every tree, every home, and also, sometimes, in the temple.

In Exodus, we are told that God warned the people to get rid of Asherah’s emblems when they conquered the land of Canaan; in the periods of the books of the “Judges and the Kings,” we are told that the “good” prophets, kings and reformers “continually had to burn and smash the idols of Asherah;” finally, in Jeremiah, we are told that worship of Asherah has resulted in the fanatical monotheistic God’s decision to wipe out Israel and Judah (the southern portion of the formerly united kingdom) via the “invasion of outside peoples.” The thing is, we are told most of these things by a single author, or group of authors: “the Deuteronomist.” 

This is a character (or possibly group of characters) writing and rewriting portions of the Bible in later days, around the 7th century BC, either just before or during the exile of the Jews to Babylon. According to the Deuteronomist, the priest Hilkiah claims in 2 Kings, chapter 22, to have “discovered” the “ancient laws of Moses during temple renovations.” These writings, “The Book of the Law” were mysteriously mislaid leading Israel to get its religion all wrong, apparently.

The works of the Deuteronomist conveyed a story that the Israelites had a covenant with Yahweh to worship him and only him. He claimed the Israelites had taken Canaan “by force through a holy war” in which they massacred the original inhabitants, putting to death (by God’s command) men, women and children in Jericho.  (This claim is not supported by the archaelogical record.) And he claimed that God was a jealous God, one who demanded to be worshiped alone and who would punish the unfaithful by bringing other nations to conquer them if they worshiped others.

Was this really the religion of Israel? Apparently not.  The “common folk kept right on putting up their Asherahs in the woods and the temple and the little votive Asherahs in their home shrines.” 

Only after Israel was conquered and the people of Judah -returned from exile- in Babylon did the “fundamentalist fanatics with their violent, patriarchal, monotheistic God win the argument.” The Deuteronomist’s work, along with the works of two other primary authors, the Yahwist and the Elohist, were compiled by a fourth source, called the Priestly source, to become the Bible we have today.

Asherah, tree goddess, mother of life, was lost.  “Truly, we were cast out of the Garden of Eden by Yahweh, or at least, his supporters.” Separated from the Tree of Life, our mother, we flounder like orphans.  America’s religiosity is more comparable to Iran’s than to that of Western Europe, where Yahweh’s religion is in decline.  Is it coincidence that we, the worshipers of a male warrior, spend our money on war while children are allowed to live in poverty without health care? Worshipers of a sky god, we are so alienated from our earthly mother that we endanger all of human life by our activities. And the hard edge of the fundamentalist who claims to have found the one true law and believes those who think otherwise are worthy of death (or eternal damnation) is still with us today.

Still, I think it has only ever been a relatively small percentage of people who hold to the hardest edge of monotheism.  We are surrounded by Mother Nature and she seeps into our traditions.  The Shekinah,  Mary, the Mother of God, the Christmas Tree and the Easter Egg, the bumper sticker imploring us to Honor Thy Mother with an image of the earth as seen from above, the fairies and elves and lost brides of our children’s tales are all ways in which the Mother Goddess seeps back into our lopsided psyche.  

The Goddess is lost, officially, but remembered deep within. Archaeology’s gift of restoring Asherah to our consciousness reminds us of what we already know: God does indeed have a wife. He must.  For if we are his children, then we must have a mother. Mary Magdalene, sometimes called Mary of Magdala, or simply the Magdalene or the Madeleine, was a woman who, according to the four canonical gospels, traveled with Jesus as one of his followers and was a witness to his crucifixion and resurrection. Virgo (♍︎) (Greek: Παρθένος, Parthenos) is the sixth astrological sign in the Zodiac. Under the tropical zodiac, the Sun transits this area, on average, between August 23 and September 22. The symbol of the maiden is based on Astraea. In Greek mythology, she was the last immortal to abandon Earth at the end of the Silver Age when the gods fled to Olympus – hence the sign's association with Earth. Mercury (Mercury symbol is the ruling planet of Gemini and Virgo and is exalted in Virgo). In classical Roman mythology, Mercury is the messenger of the gods, noted for his speed and swiftness. Echoing this, the scorching, airless world Mercury circles the Sun on the fastest orbit of any planet. Mercury takes only 88 days to orbit the Sun, spending about 7.33 days in each sign of the zodiac. Mercury is so close to the Sun that only a brief period exists after the Sun has set where it can be seen with the naked eye, before following the Sun beyond the horizon. In modern astrology, Mercury is regarded as the ruler of the third house; traditionally, it had the joy in the first house. Mercury is the messenger of the gods in mythology. It is the planet of day-to-day expression and relationships. Mercury's action is to take things apart and put them back together again.

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New Jerusalem spirit if the bride

7/26/2019

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​The New Jerusalem, which is also called the Tabernacle of God, the Holy City, the City of God, the Celestial City, the City Foursquare, and Heavenly Jerusalem, is literally heaven on earth. It is referred to in the Bible in several places (Galatians 4:26; Hebrews 11:10; 12:22–24; and 13:14), but it is most fully described in Revelation 21.

In Revelation 21, the recorded history of man is at its end. All of the ages have come and gone. Christ has gathered His church in the Rapture (1 Thessalonians 4:15–17). The Tribulation has passed (Revelation 6—18). The battle of Armageddon has been fought and won by our Lord Jesus Christ (Revelation 19:17–21). Satan has been chained for the 1,000-year reign of Christ on earth (Revelation 20:1–3). A new, glorious temple has been established in Jerusalem (Ezekiel 40—48). The final rebellion against God has been quashed, and Satan has received his just punishment, an eternity in the lake of fire (Revelation 20:7–10.) The Great White Throne Judgment has taken place, and mankind has been judged (Revelation 20:11–15).

In Revelation 21:1 God does a complete make-over of heaven and earth (Isaiah 65:17; 2 Peter 3:12–13). The new heaven and new earth are what some call the “eternal state” and will be “where righteousness dwells” (2 Peter 3:13). After the re-creation, God reveals the New Jerusalem. John sees a glimpse of it in his vision: “The Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband” (Revelation 21:2). This is the city that Abraham looked for in faith (Hebrews 11:10). It is the place where God will dwell with His people forever (Revelation 21:3). Inhabitants of this celestial city will have all tears wiped away (Revelation 21:4).

The New Jerusalem will be fantastically huge. John records that the city is nearly 1,400 miles long, and it is as wide and as high as it is long—the New Jerusalem being in equal in length, width, and depth (Revelation 21:15–17). The city will be dazzling in every way. It is lighted by the glory of God (verse 23). Its twelve foundations, bearing the names of the twelve apostles, are “decorated with every kind of precious stone” (verse 19). It has twelve gates, each a single pearl, bearing the names of the twelve tribes of Israel (verses 12 and 21). The street will be made of pure gold (verse 21).

The New Jerusalem will be a place of unimagined blessing. The curse of the old earth will be gone (Revelation 22:3). In the city are the tree of life “for the healing of the nations” and the river of life (verses 1–2). It is the place that Paul spoke of: “In the coming ages [God] might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:7). The New Jerusalem is the ultimate fulfillment of all God’s promises. The New Jerusalem is God’s goodness made fully manifest.

Who are the residents of the New Jerusalem? The Father and the Lamb are there (Revelation 21:22). Angels are at the gates (verse 12). But the city will be filled with God’s redeemed children. The New Jerusalem is the righteous counter to the evil Babylon (Revelation 17), destroyed by God’s judgment (Revelation 18). The wicked had their city, and God has His. To which city do you belong? Babylon the Great or the New Jerusalem? If you believe that Jesus, the Son of God, died and rose again and have asked God to save you by His grace, then you are a citizen of the New Jerusalem. “God raised [you] up with Christ and seated [you] with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:6). You have “an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade” (1 Peter 1:4). If you have not yet trusted Christ as your Savior, then we urge you to receive Him. The invitation is extended: “The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ And let the one who hears say, ‘Come!’ Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life” (Revelation 22:17).

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Son of man...

5/7/2019

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​The Son of Man title (from Book of #Ezekiel) showed how Jesus emphasized his perfect humanity. In #Daniel, it depicts his #identity as the #Messiah — the anointed One from God and #promised #deliverer #foretold in the Hebrew Bible. Jesus- the perfect God-man would bring in God’s everlasting kingdom for both Jew and Gentile. Jesus had a deep conviction of special mission to the Jewish nation, who were God’s treasured possession (Exodus 19:5). He expressed this so strongly; and careful consideration of his words reveals his strategy: As Paul expressed-His mission was “to the Jew first, and also to the Greek” (Rom1:16; 2:10). Jesus’ concern for Israel was shown in the instructions to the 12 disciples as He sent them on their first preaching mission. “Do not go in the way of the Gentiles,” He said, “and do not enter any city of the Samaritans; but rather go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matthew 10:5-6). His ministry was restricted primarily, but not exclusively to the Jews (Matthew 8:1-13). Indeed, in the very same -context- is the prediction that the preaching ministry of the disciples would be extended to the Gentiles; “You shall even be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles.” Luke’s Gospel tells of a later preaching mission in which 70 others were sent out two by two (Luke 10:1). -Just as- the 12 apostles symbolically represent the 12 tribes of Israel, the 70 -symbolize- the Gentile nations (In Genesis 10, the descendants of Noah are listed, #70). Rabbinical tradition presumed that this was the total number of nations scattered over the earth after the Tower of Babel, and referred to the “70 Gentile peoples.” #Jesus used this means of #symbolizing his long-range #purpose. (The 12 were sent to heal the sick and announce the #nearness of God’s kingdom. The 70 were sent later on a “training mission” in preparation for their ultimate mission- to the whole world).
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Living Water;

3/2/2018

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Jesus uses the phrase “LIVING water” in two instances in the Bible. The first instance is FOUND in John chapter 4. Jesus was tired and sat at a well while His disciples went into town to buy food. A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus asked her for a drink. The Samaritan woman was quite shocked because Jesus was a Jew, and Jews simply hated the Samaritans. Of course, she had no idea who Jesus was and asked Him how He could ask her for water since He was a Jew. ❤️☺️

Jesus ignored the question and went right to the POINT, “If you -knew the GIFT of God- and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you LIVING water” (John 4:10). Notice that He does not say that He is the living water, but that He would “give living” water to her, and when she received it, she would never thirst again. Of course, that does not tell us what the living water is! For that, we must go to another passage of Scripture. In this case, Jesus is in the temple surrounded by a throng of worshipers. He suddenly cried out, “If ANYONE IS THIRSTY, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in ME, as the Scriptures said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of LIVING water.’ But this He spoke of the SPIRIT, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet GLORIFIED” (John 7:37–39, emphasis added).

Here Jesus refers to the “Holy SPIRIT”✨ as the LIVING water. External influence of the Spirit had always been given in the conversion and SANCTIFICATION of the Old Testament saints and PROPHETS, but the gift of the Spirit who would “INDWELL believers” had not yet been received (ACTS 10:44–45). So, though many people say that Jesus is the living water, Jesus Himself intended the phrase to mean the “HOLY SPIRIT” who “DWELLS in believers and SEALS them for salvation” (Ephesians 1:13–14). It is the -ministry- of the Spirit, flowing out of a heart “REDEEMED by GOD,” that BLESSES believers and, -through- them, brings LIFE and LIGHT to the WORLD.☀️❤️🌈

Proverbs 18:24; All translations agree that there is a friend that STICKS closer that a brother - there is a friend who displays such loyalty towards us that no matter what we say or do they will remain loyal to us. They will SUPPORT and ENCOURAGE us, help and COUNSEL us, comfort and WARN us and they will love us no matter what happens.

Most branches of Judaism consider Jews to be the "chosen people", in the sense that they have a special role to "preserve God's revelations" (revelations come from the jewish new testament but the jewish people have their unique and special gifts and callings) or to "affirm our common humanity". This attitude is reflected, for example, in the policy statement of Reform Judaism, which holds that Jews have a responsibility to "cooperate with all men in the establishment of the kingdom of God, of universal brotherhood, Justice, truth, and peace on earth". (Well- ultimately, Identity politics and identity ideology opposes peaceful existance) Some secular and critics affiliated with other religions claim (christianity is non secular, and its not a claim) the concept implies favoritism or racial superiority, as have some Jewish critics, such as Baruch Spinoza. Some Jews find the concept of "chosenness" problematic or outdated, and such concerns led to the formation of Reconstructionist Judaism, whose founder, Mordecai Kaplan, rejected the concept of the Jews as the chosen people and decried it as being ethnocentric. (Very well could be the chosen people, but that is the definition of ethnocentric and racial superiority which was what was “claimed trump supporters” (christian Americans to be- which is -completely- backwards. If thats not definition of double standard, i dont know what is). 

Our culture has embraced the idea of -suffering- for a CAUSE, but it has cheapened the CONCEPT of martyrdom in the process. Terms like social change martyr, digital martyr, work martyr, and political martyr have expanded the meaning of martyr to include “any inconvenience resulting from expressing an opinion.” But in order to UNDERSTAND just how bad the TRIBULATION will be, we need to know what WORDS like martyr MEAN in their biblical CONTEXT.

Revelation 6:9 makes the meaning clear: "When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the WORD of GOD and for the TESTIMONY which they held." Slain is a sacrificial term that means

 "slaughter, butcher, murder." 

God's people have always experienced PERSECUTION in parts of the world, and many have sacrificed their lives for the GOSPEL throughout the centuries. As the world's END draws NEAR, persecution will rise to unprecedented levels, and many will be martyred—murdered—for their FAITH.

The Tribulation martyrs will weigh their earthly suffering against the “greater SPIRITUAL SUFFERING” of denying CHRIST, and they will arrive at the same conclusion as Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German pastor who was hanged during World War II:

[Messengers of the GOSPEL] must not fear men. Men can do them no harm, for the power of men ceases with the death of the body. But they must overcome the fear of death with the fear of God. The danger lies NOT in the judgement of men, but in the judgement of GOD, not in the death of the body but in the eternal destruction of body and soul. Those who are still afraid of men have no fear of God, and those who have fear of God have ceased to be afraid of men.

The APOSTLE John says the Tribulation martyrs will be killed "for THE WORD of God and for the TESTIMONY which they HELD" (Revelation 6:9). Armed with the TRUTH of God's Word, the martyrs will preach REPENTANCE and “warn of the judgment to come.” In 2 Corinthians 2, Paul describes the Christian life as a fragrance that smells like a sweet perfume to God and other Christians. But to "those who are perishing," the aroma smells like decay and death (verses 14–16).

During the Tribulation, there will be few believers around to appreciate the fragrance of righteousness. Most people will have hardened their hearts and will “reject the message” of salvation. With the -Antichrist firmly in control- of world politics and religion, society will react violently to any trace of Christianity. Many will be CALLED upon during the Tribulation to love God more than their very lives (Revelation 12:11; see also Psalm 44:22).

A story from the Old Testament helps us understand how humans, who were created in God's IMAGE (the individual, free speach, equal platform, ideological diversity), could hate someone for serving Him. Two kings, Ahab of Israel and Jehoshaphat of Judah, were “preparing for war.”

Jehoshaphat insisted on consulting one of God's PROPHETS. Ahab, who worshiped false gods, summoned four hundred prophets who readily “agreed with the kings' battle plan” (hmmmmm) Jehoshaphat -wasn't fooled- (NOPE) and again asked for a prophet of the Lord. Ahab finally admitted there was one godly prophet, Micaiah, who could be consulted. 

Before calling the prophet, Ahab explained his disregard this way: "I hate him, because he does not prophesy good concerning me, but evil" (1 Kings 22:8).

Ahab rejected TRUTH because it did not CONFORM to his expectations (correct). He preferred the “flattery of pagan prophets” to the SINCERITY of “God's prophet” (unfortunately correct). In 2 Timothy 4:3–4, the apostle Paul warned Timothy that a time would come when mankind "will not endure sound DOCTRINE, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will “turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to FABLES” (media rumors) ." Ahab's attitude is typical of what happens in a heart that has turned away from God.

The DIGITAL AGE (amazing accomplishment!) has made it possible for people to “select which news” they hear and “how it is reported.” Universities have created “safe spaces” where students can insulate themselves from “unwelcome ideas.” (What else could be a safe space from unwelcoming ideas?) 

Recent court cases have threatened the civil LIBERTIES of Christian business owners who try to conduct their businesses according to biblical standards. When Christianity in practice arouses the “DORMANT conscience of a non–Christian,” the response is to "KILL THE MESSENGER." That is why Christians have been persecuted throughout history and will be increasingly PERSECUTED as the Day of the LORD draws NEAR.

The apostle John describes the martyrs as crying out from under an altar contained inside the fifth of seven seals on a scroll (Revelation 6:9–10). Each of these seals represents a separate “judgment” upon the earth. This means the world will be “judged, among other things, for the -blood- of the martyrs.”

The PRAYERS of the saints CRYING out for justice become the “punishment of the sinners.”

The third bowl judgment, turning freshwater to blood, declares God's retribution against those who have martyred HIS people. Here are the words of the angel who pours out this judgment.

In the words of 2 Peter 3:9, "The Lord isn't really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for YOUR SAKE. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to REPENT" 

In Revelation 6, the martyrs' CRIES FOR JUSTICE were answered with white robes and encouragement to "rest a little while longer, until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they were, was completed" (verse 11). 

As in the days of Sodom and Gomorrah, God will delay His judgment until every “WILLING soul” is preserved (Genesis 18:32). Now in Revelation 16, the cries are answered with the Lord's vengeance.

As Christians CELEBRATE Easter Sunday 2022, we take notice that Good Friday and the start of Passover occurred simultaneously (law and prophets FULFILL the law- star of bethlaham leads to jesus, two stars merge) this year and as such, we should not ignore the “shared symbolism.” Just as Jesus's RESURRECTION from the dead on Easter Sunday led to the start of Christianity, the Israelite's LIBERATION from Egypt led to the beginning of Judaism.  Both Easter and Passover represent “cultural freedom and rebirth” - two principles NEEDED to UNITE our Country (UNITY comes through true UNDERSTANDING). 

An Israeli Rabbi has claimed that the biblical prophecy of Balaam, which says that the appearance of a new star will precede the coming of the Messiah, matches an astronomical event that scientists predict will occur in 2022 (TRUE). Although the Jewish faith does not believe that Jesus is the Messiah, some Christians have interpreted the Rabbi’s prediction as proof that Jesus’ second coming will occur in 2022 (body of messiah through christians falls in this timeframe- the actual appearance no one knows). 

Rabbi Yosef Berger of King David’s Tomb on Mount Zion claimed that biblical prophecy of Balaam and “Jewish esoteric sources” show that the astronomical event predicted for 2022, the collision of two stars to form a brand NEW STAR in the night sky, will herald the ARRIVAL of the MESSIAH. The astronomical event FULFILLS an ancient prophetic SIGN (law and prophets) of the coming of the Messiah, the Rabbi claimed, according to Breaking Israel News.

Rabbi Berger claimed that Balaam’s prophecy and other Jewish mystical sources say that the coming of the Messiah will be preceded by HEAVENLY SIGNS involving multiple stars (the SIGNS are truly EVERYWHERE right now). 

The ancient prophecy of the arrival of the Messiah matches recent predictions by astronomers that a dazzling display from a red nova explosion will appear in the sky in 2022, following the collision of two faint stars in the constellation of Cygnus, according to the Rabbi.

The new star, expected to appear in 2022 in a blaze of LIGHT called a nova, will be the brightest heavenly body visible in the nighttime sky for six months. It will be the “first time in recorded history” that a celestial event of this kind will be WITNESSED by the naked eye.

Beyond its scientific uniqueness, the appearance of the new star could have much bigger implications for the earth-bound, one prominent rabbi told Breaking Israel News, pointing to a Biblical prophecy of Balaam which hails the appearance of a new star as the precursor to Messiah (CORRECT).

I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not nigh; there shall step forth a star out of Yakov, and a scepter shall rise out of Yisrael, and shall smite through the corners of Moab, and break down all the sons of Seth. Numbers 24:17

Rabbi Yosef Berger, rabbi of King David’s Tomb on Mount Zion, cited Rabbi Moses ben Maimon, known by the acronym Rambam, the foremost Torah authority of the 12th century, whose rulings are still used as the basis for much of Jewish law.

“The Rambam brings this verse about a star appearing as PROOF that the Messiah will come one day,” Rabbi Berger told Breaking Israel News. “But he says it will come from Jacob, and not from Esau. More specifically, from the TRIBE of JUDAH.”

According to the Hebrew Bible, the tribe of Judah was one of the twelve Tribes of Israel, named after Judah, the son of Jacob. Judah was the first tribe to take its place in the Land of Israel, occupying the southern part of the territory. Jesse and his sons, including King David, belonged to this tribe.

The tribe of Judah settled in the region south of Jerusalem and in time became the most powerful and most important tribe. Not only did it produce the great kings David and Solomon but also, it was prophesied, the Messiah would come from among its members. (They were Asher, Dan, Ephraim, Gad, Issachar, Manasseh, Naphtali, Reuben, Simeon, Zebulun, Judah and Benjamin. Of these 12, only the tribes of Judah and Benjamin survived). 

The new star, announced last week by Larry Molnar, a professor of astronomy at Calvin College in Michigan, will certainly be unusual. It is a binary star, or two stars orbiting a central point. Molnar described it as “two peanuts sharing a single shell.”

In his observations, Molnar noted that the orbital period was decreasing at an accelerating rate, leading him to understand that the two stars were moving closer to each other. Based on a previous case of binary stars, Molnar predicted the two stars stars would collide in 2022, resulting in a massive explosion.

“[The collision] will release as much energy as the sun releases in its entire lifetime,” Molar said in a video about the discovery.

When the two finally collide, it will create a new star, a red nova. The star’s brightness will increase ten-thousandfold, making it one of the brightest points in the heavens for six months, after which it will fade and remain as a smaller dot in the sky. It will be the first time in history that the creation of a new star will be visible with the naked eye.

“It’s a one-in-a-million chance that you can predict an explosion,” Molnar said. “It’s never been done before.”

Machefsky quoted the Talmud (Sukkoth 29a).
“Thus saith HaShem, ‘Learn not the way of the nations, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven, for the nations are dismayed at them, the idolaters will be dismayed, but Israel will not be dismayed.’” (The talmud is similar to the new testament, but it is historically and disorganized, more repeating a lot of what the nt says except written by religious men, not godly authority or divibe spirit and paints a very inaccurate picture of christianity because christianity is true. So this was Gods plan all along- to keep the two separate). 

“According to Hasidic philosophy, the wellsprings of knowledge (spirit of truth, holy spirit, jesus is the living water, the way, the truth, and the life) will be opened up in the times of the Moshiach (Messiah),” Machefsky said. “It is truly amazing that astronomers can predict this when just a few years ago we wouldn’t have known about this until the star suddenly appeared. Science has enabled us to share in God’s natural processes (internet- technology- oneforisrael- apple iphone).”

Machefsky quoted the Talmud (Sukkoth 29a).
“Thus saith HaShem, ‘Learn not the way of the nations, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven, for the nations are dismayed at them, the idolaters will be dismayed, but Israel (christianity or messianic Judaism) will not be dismayed.’”

“According to Hasidic philosophy, the wellsprings of knowledge will be opened up in the times of the Moshiach (Messiah),” Machefsky said. “It is truly amazing that astronomers can predict this when just a few years ago we wouldn’t have known about this until the star suddenly appeared. Science has enabled us to share in God’s natural processes.”

The history of the tribe of Judah, which eventually became a nation, begins in the book of Genesis. Judah was the fourth son of the patriarch Jacob by his first wife, Leah (Genesis 29:35). He grew up with his brothers, working in the family business tending cattle and sheep.

In time Judah and his brothers grew jealous and envious of their younger brother Joseph. Joseph was favored by his father, who gave him a special coat (Genesis 37:3). But it was when Joseph told his brothers about his dreams, which indicated he would be greater than them, that their hatred of him intensified (verses 5-11).

The hatred grew to the point that the brothers wanted to actually kill Joseph; but Reuben, the firstborn, stepped in to stop them. Joseph was placed in a pit; and while Reuben was absent, Judah came up with the idea of selling Joseph to Midianite traders for 20 shekels of silver (verses 18-22, 26-29). The brothers killed a goat and covered Joseph’s coat with blood to deceive their father into believing a wild animal had killed him. Jacob could never get over his grief for the loss of his son (Genesis 37:35).

Judah suffers with family problems
Judah and his brothers thought they had taken care of the problem of their younger brother, but God did not let that be the end of the story. God preserved Joseph and blessed him in Egypt, where he had been sold as a slave. Meanwhile, Judah’s family suffered many trials over the next 20 years or more. Judah married a Canaanite woman, the daughter of Shua. They had three sons, Er, Onan and Shelah.

Judah took a wife, Tamar, for his firstborn son, Er, but he was so evil that God took his life (Genesis 38:6-7). Judah commanded his second-born son, Onan, to marry Tamar and produce an heir for his deceased brother as God’s laws commanded in such circumstances. Onan would not carry through with this act because it would not be his heir. God then took Onan’s life for his refusal to give his brother an heir (Genesis 38:8-10).

A strange event in Judah’s life
Following Onan’s death, Judah asked Tamar to not remarry, but to wait in her father’s house until Judah’s youngest son, Shelah, was old enough to marry. Tamar complied with Judah’s wishes. But quite a number of years went by, and Judah’s wife died. Tamar realized that she was not going to be given in marriage to Shelah, who was now grown (Genesis 38:11-14).

One day Tamar heard that her father-in-law was heading out to shear his sheep. She removed her widow’s garments and dressed to appear as a harlot as she sat along the road where Judah would pass by. Judah did not recognize her and propositioned her; and she demanded his signet, cord and staff for collateral. When it was later discovered that she was pregnant, Judah threatened her with death for harlotry. To save her life, she presented the items belonging to Judah and said, “By the man to whom these belong, I am with child” (Genesis 38:18, 24-26).

Tamar had twins. At delivery, one twin put out his hand first and the midwife tied a scarlet thread on it and said, “This one came out first.” But the other twin, Perez, came out unexpectedly followed by Zerah with the scarlet thread tied on his hand (Genesis 38:27-30).

God would use the unusual birth of these twins to establish two lines of genealogy in the tribe of Judah.

The second great promise God gave to Abraham stated, “And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:3). This promise would come through the line of Perez. King David and the kings of Judah would descend through the line of Perez. But most importantly, Jesus Christ would come through this line so “all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Matthew 1:3, 16).

As the apostle Paul wrote, “Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, ‘And to seeds,’ as of many, but as of one, ‘And to your Seed,’ who is Christ” (Galatians 3:16).

Why the tribe of Judah?
In looking at the life of Judah and his character, it is hard to see why the tribe of Judah should become so prominent among the tribes of Israel. On the one hand, Joseph lived a righteous life and was blessed with the birthright in place of Reuben, the firstborn. The name of “Israel” was passed on to Joseph’s two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh.

Yet God also chose Judah and his descendants for a special place in His plan through the ages. The prophecy God gave to Jacob at the end of his life concerning his sons’ descendants “in the latter days” reveals a special blessing for the tribe of Judah (Genesis 49:1, 8-10).

In speaking of the tribe of Judah, Jacob said, “Judah, you are he whom your brothers shall praise; your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; your father’s children shall bow down before you. Judah is a lion’s whelp; from the prey, my son, you have gone up. He bows down, he lies down as a lion; and as a lion, who shall rouse him? The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh comes; and to Him shall be the obedience of the people” (Genesis 49:8-10).

In this passage God looked at Judah as a strong warrior and likened him to a young lion sleeping in its den after devouring its prey. Perhaps it was this strength of character and determination that God foresaw in this tribe that influenced Him to choose Judah to be His lawgiver and the tribe from which His Son would later be born (Hebrews 7:14). Jesus Christ is called “the Lion of the tribe of Judah” (Revelation 5:5).

Regarding Genesis 49:10, Expositor’s Bible Commentary says, “The word ‘Shiloh,’ found in some English versions, is simply an untranslated form of the Hebrew expression meaning ‘one to whom it belongs.’” Jesus Christ is the “one to whom it belongs” (Frank E. Gaebelein, ed.).

Judah is also described as a lawgiver in the Psalms. God inspired David to twice say that “Judah is My [God’s] lawgiver” (Psalms 60:7; 108:8).

The tribe of Judah has not only been a lawgiver, but a preserver of God’s written laws. The apostle Paul said, “What advantage then has the Jew? … Much in every way! Chiefly because to them were committed the oracles [that which was spoken or commanded] of God” (Romans 3:1-2).

Through the centuries, the Jews have faithfully preserved the books of the Old Testament and the Hebrew calendar.

Judah prevails over his brothers
The postexilic writer of 1 Chronicles, probably Ezra, wrote, “Yet Judah prevailed over his brothers, and from him came a ruler, although the birthright was Joseph’s” (1 Chronicles 5:2).

How did Judah prevail?

During the time of Moses, the tribe of Judah became the stronger tribe and “prevailed over his brothers.” The census in Numbers 1 shows that Judah was the leading tribe in population and in men who could go to war (Numbers 1:2-3, 27).

After the death of Joshua, God chose the tribe of Judah to take the lead in conquering the nations who were living in the land promised to the 12 tribes (Judges 1:2). The first chapter of Judges shows that the tribe of Judah was aggressive and strong in driving out the Canaanites in the southern half of the land of Canaan.

Redeemer.An even more important way that Judah prevailed over his brothers took place during the time of one of Judah’s most famous descendants, King David. The tabernacle of God had long been in Shiloh in the territory of Joseph. But David set the stage for the temple to be built on Mount Zion, “which He [God] loved,” and which David made his capital (Psalm 78:67-70).

God chose David to be His shepherd and Jerusalem (Mount Zion) for His place to dwell. God also chose David to hold the “scepter,” a symbol of kingship that would always remain in the tribe of Judah (Genesis 49:10; Psalm 89:34-37).

The tribe of Judah suffers national captivity
After the death of Solomon, the nation of Israel became divided. Solomon’s son Rehoboam refused to lighten the burden of taxes that had been imposed by his father. In fact, Rehoboam threatened to make life far worse for the people than what his father had done.

This resulted in 10 tribes separating and becoming the northern kingdom of Israel with its capital city in Samaria (1 Kings 12:12-14). The tribes of Judah, Benjamin and a part of Levi stayed with Rehoboam and became the southern kingdom of Judah, with Jerusalem as its capital.

The northern kingdom of Israel immediately went into idolatry and turned away from worshipping God. After 200 years, they went into national captivity at the hands of the Assyrian Empire. The southern kingdom of Judah lasted more than a hundred years after the fall of the northern kingdom of Israel. Judah also turned away from the God of their fathers and went after idols several times, and several times righteous kings instituted reforms.

God sent prophets to warn them of their slide into idolatry, but eventually they would no longer listen. The Jewish nation was taken into national captivity by the Babylonians in several waves of deportations culminating in 586 B.C.

End-time nationhood of the tribe of Judah
After 70 years of captivity in Babylon, some of the Jews returned to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple, but they didn’t fully return to the status of a sovereign nation until the 20th century.

Jesus—the Messiah, the Savior of mankind, the Lion of the tribe of Judah—would come through the tribe of Judah, but He would be rejected by His own people. The Church Jesus established initially sprang out of the tribe of Judah. But since the middle of the first century, the Church of God has become largely non-Jewish in membership.

Approaching the 20th century, many Jewish groups and Christian churches were advocating a homeland in Palestine for the tribe of Judah. Jewish groups wanted to return to Judea because it was their ancient homeland. Christian groups saw the establishment of a Jewish state as a sign of end-time prophecy being fulfilled that would lead to the imminent return of Jesus Christ.

One such prophecy can be found in Daniel 12:11, which indicates that the Jews will resume animal sacrifices before the return of Christ. Presumably, they would need their own homeland to do this.

In 1917 the Balfour Declaration made public Great Britain’s support of a Jewish homeland in Palestine. But it would not become a reality until May 14, 1948. Today, the nation called Israel is a major power in the Middle East, but will it remain such a power until the second coming of Jesus Christ?

Tribulation and restoration of the tribe of Judah
Jesus in His Olivet Prophecy said, “For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be” (Matthew 24:21). The tribe of Judah and the State of Israel will not be spared from this traumatic time. In Luke’s account of the same prophecy, Jesus said, “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is near” (Luke 21:20).

The prophet Zechariah also spoke of this same time, “For I will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem; the city shall be taken, the houses rifled, and the women ravished. Half of the city shall go into captivity, but the remnant of the people shall not be cut off from the city” (Zechariah 14:2). Invasion and war will come to Jerusalem and to the tribe of Judah.

Following the prophecy of the invasion of Israel and Jerusalem, Zechariah announced the good news of the coming of Christ: “And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives. … And the LORD shall be King over all the earth” (Zechariah 14:4, 9).

Jeremiah spoke of this same time when he said, “In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell safely; now this is His name by which He will be called: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS” (Jeremiah 23:6).

The good news for the tribe of Judah and this world is that the “Lion of the tribe of Judah,” Jesus Christ (Revelation 5:5), will return to establish the Kingdom of God, and the tribe of Judah will finally accept its Redeemer (Romans 11:26).

Read more about this wonderful promised future in the section on the “Kingdom of God.” You can also find related articles in this section about the “12 Tribes of Israel” and the section about the “Middle East in Bible Prophecy.”

In John 7:38, Jesus makes a seemingly odd metaphorical statement: “Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of LIVING water will flow from WITHIN them.” Yet, as it turns out, the statement isn’t so odd, because Jesus actually had much to say about the idea of water and ✨NEW LIFE.✨

Earlier, Jesus had told Nicodemus that one had to be born of “water and the Spirit” in order to enter the kingdom of God (John 3:5). Most likely, Jesus’ reference to water here was simply to physical birth, in contrast to “spiritual birth” (John 3:6). In John 4:10Jesus tells the Samaritan woman that He could give her “living water.” 

This was in -contrast- to the “physical-water” (physical realm/humanistic view verses spiritual realm/GOD) that the Samaritan woman came to the well to retrieve. That physical water would run out, and she would need to continually return to get more. But Jesus offered the woman water that would never run out—water that would become within the believer “a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:14). 

Jesus later would return to this theme when He STOOD UP in PUBLIC and said, “If ANYONE is thirsty let him COME TO ME and drink” (John 7:37). In this way, He was again OFFERING Himself as the water of LIFE and telling ALL they could come to Him and receive that never-ending life! 

After making the offer of life-giving water, Jesus adds that rivers of living water would flow from the heart of the believer (John 7:38). Jesus alludes to Isaiah 55:1and Isaiah 58:11—passages that similarly present the Messianic HOPE in terms of life-giving water (cf. Exodus 17:1–6; Psalm 78:15–16; 105:40–41; Proverbs 18:4; Isaiah 12:3; Ezekiel 47:1–11; and Zechariah 14:8). 

Jesus was not simply using metaphor to liken His own life-giving ministry to that of water. He was actually claiming to be the FULFILLMENT of Scripture’s water allusions and prophecies. Because He was the Life-giver, those who believed in Him would have eternal life within them and would no longer need to seek for life from external sources. 

Later, it is revealed that God would put His Spirit within each believer (Romans 8:9), and each believer would have eternal life (John 6:47) and the EVIDENCE of life (in the Holy Spirit) within. It is in that sense that “rivers of living water” would FLOW from the HEARTS of believers. 

Later, Paul would describe that in LOVE Christ SANCTIFIES His church, washing her with the water of His WORD (Ephesians 5:25–26). The writer of HEBREWS continues the theme, noting that our hearts are sprinkled and “our bodies washed with pure water” (Hebrews 10:22). 

PETER adds that believers are cleansed as if by water (1 Peter 3:20–21). (Baptism theme) Finally, in a beautiful portrayal of Jesus’ MINISTRY, John says that the 

“Lamb would be the Shepherd, -leading His people- to the water of life (Revelation 7:17)”

This is reminiscent of David’s song of Psalm 23 in which the Shepherd leads David beside quiet waters (Psalm 23:2) and RESTORES his SOUL. Just as each of these writers recognized, we need to -understand that Jesus is the One- who freely gives eternal life.

The phrase the law and the prophets refers to the entire Hebrew Bible, what we call the Old Testament. Jesus spoke of “the law and the prophets” multiple times, such as when He listed the two greatest commandments (Matthew 22:40). In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus pointed to His absolute perfection, saying, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to FULFILL them” (Matthew *5:17).

On the Emmaus Road, Jesus -taught two- disciples “everything written about himself in the Scriptures, beginning with the Law of Moses and the Books of the Prophets” (Luke 24:27, CEV). Clearly, all Scripture, indicated by “the law and the prophets,” pointed to Jesus. 

The same passage also contains a three-fold division of the Old Testament: “the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms” (verse 44), but the two-fold division of “the law and the prophets” was also customary (Matthew 7:12; Acts 13:15; 24:14; Romans 3:21).

The books of the law, properly speaking, would comprise the Pentateuch: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. The prophets, in the two-fold division, would include the rest of the Old Testament. Although it may seem strange that poetic books such as “Job or Proverbs” would be included in the “prophets” category, it was common for the Jews to see any writer of Scripture as a PROPHET. Further, many of the psalms are clear messianic prophecies.

When Philip invited his friend Nathanael to meet Jesus, he referred to the whole of Hebrew Scripture in its two-fold division: “We have FOUND the one Moses wrote about in the law, and the prophets also wrote about—Jesus of Nazareth” (John 1:45, NET). Philip was right that all of Scripture has a common theme: the Messiah, the Son of God, who is Jesus.

In the Book of Revelation, the apocalyptic hopes of the early Christian community find their clearest and most complete expression. Apocalypticism was not a new phenomenon among Christians; it was a well-established belief among Jews, who held that the coming of the kingdom of God would not be brought about by a gradual transformation but by a sudden INTERVENTION, when God would end the present age and establish his kingdom in the world made new. 

This conception of COMING events is associated with the belief that prior to this future time, “the STRUGGLE BETWEEN the forces of good and evil will become more intense.” As the evil powers grow stronger, they will INFLICT PERSECUTION and in some instances even death upon those who follow a -course- of righteousness. The struggle will eventually reach a climax, at which time God will intervene, destroy the forces of evil, and set up a “new order” in which the righteous will live for all time to come. The APPEARANCE of the Messiah will coincide with the coming of these events.

When the members of the Christian community AFFIRMED their BELIEF that the crucified Jesus was the long-awaited MESIAH, they necessarily revised their understanding concerning the work Jesus was to do and especially the way in which his work would be completed. 

Because they were convinced that the work of the Messiah must end in triumph and glory, they believed that this end could be accomplished only by a return of Jesus back to this earth from the heaven to which he had ascended. This second coming, occurring at the time when all the events connected with the apocalyptic program will take place, will inaugurate the coming of the NEW AGE, as well as the final destruction of all the forces of evil.

Revelation 1

The revelation from Jesus Christ, which God gave(A) him to show his servants what must soon take place.(B) He made it KNOWN by sending his angel(C) to his servant John,(D) who TESTIFIES to everything HE SAW that is, the WORD of GOD(E) and the TESTIMONY of JESUS CHRIST. 

Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it,(G) because the time is near.

Greetings and Doxology

John,

To the seven churches(I) in the province of Asia:

Grace and peace to you(J) from him who is, and who was, and who is to come,(K) and from the seven spirits[a](L) before his throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness,(M) the firstborn from the dead,(N) and the ruler of the kings of the earth.(O)

To him who loves us(P) and has freed us from our sins by his blood,(Q) 6 and has made us to be a kingdom and priests(R) to serve his God and Father(S)—to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.(T)

7 “Look, he is coming with the clouds,”[b](U)
    and “every eye will see him,
even those who pierced him”;(V)
    and all peoples on earth “will mourn(W) because of him.”[c]
So shall it be! Amen.
8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,”(X) says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come,(Y) the Almighty.”(Z)

John’s Vision of Christ
9 I, John,(AA) your brother and companion in the suffering(AB) and kingdom(AC) and patient endurance(AD) that are ours in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God(AE) and the testimony of Jesus.(AF) 10 On the Lord’s Day(AG) I was in the Spirit,(AH) and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet,(AI) 11 which said: “Write on a scroll what you see(AJ) and send it to the seven churches:(AK) to Ephesus,(AL) Smyrna,(AM) Pergamum,(AN) Thyatira,(AO) Sardis,(AP) Philadelphia(AQ) and Laodicea.”(AR)

12 I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands,(AS) 13 and among the lampstands(AT) was someone like a son of man,[d](AU) dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet(AV) and with a golden sash around his chest.(AW) 14 The hair on his head was white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire.(AX) 15 His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace,(AY) and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters.(AZ) 16 In his right hand he held seven stars,(BA) and coming out of his mouth was a sharp, double-edged sword.(BB) His face was like the sun(BC) shining in all its brilliance.

17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet(BD) as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me(BE) and said: “Do not be afraid.(BF) I am the First and the Last.(BG) 18 I am the Living One; I was dead,(BH) and now look, I am alive for ever and ever!(BI) And I hold the keys of death and Hades.(BJ)

19 “Write, therefore, what you have seen,(BK) what is now and what will take place later. 20 The mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand(BL) and of the seven golden lampstands(BM) is this: The seven stars are the angels[e] of the seven churches,(BN) and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.(BO)

Cross references

Revelation 1:1 : Jn 12:49; 17:8
Revelation 1:1 : ver 19; Da 2:28, 29; Rev 22:6
Revelation 1:1 : Rev 22:16
Revelation 1:1 : ver 4, 9; Rev 22:8
Revelation 1:2 : ver 9; S Heb 4:12
Revelation 1:2 : ver 9; 1Co 1:6; Rev 6:9; 12:17; 19:10
Revelation 1:3 : Lk 11:28; Rev 22:7
Revelation 1:3 : S Ro 13:11
Revelation 1:4 : ver 11, 20
Revelation 1:4 : S Ro 1:7
Revelation 1:4 : ver 8; Rev 4:8; 11:17; 16:5
Revelation 1:4 : Isa 11:2; Rev 3:1; 4:5; 5:6
Revelation 1:5 : Isa 55:4; Jn 18:37; Rev 3:14
Revelation 1:5 : Ps 89:27; Col 1:18
Revelation 1:5 : S 1Ti 6:15
Revelation 1:5 : S Ro 8:37
Revelation 1:5 : S Ro 3:25
Revelation 1:6 : S 1Pe 2:5; Rev 5:10; 20:6
Revelation 1:6 : Ro 15:6
Revelation 1:6 : S Ro 11:36
Revelation 1:7 : Da 7:13; S Mt 16:27; 24:30; 26:64; S Lk 17:30; S 1Co 1:7; S 1Th 2:19; 4:16, 17
Revelation 1:7 : Jn 19:34, 37
Revelation 1:7 : Zec 12:10; Mt 24:30
Revelation 1:8 : S ver 17; Rev 21:6; 22:13
Revelation 1:8 : S ver 4
Revelation 1:8 : Rev 4:8; 15:3; 19:6
Revelation 1:9 : ver 1
Revelation 1:9 : S Ac 14:22; 2Co 1:7; Php 4:14
Revelation 1:9 : ver 6
Revelation 1:9 : 2Ti 2:12
Revelation 1:9 : ver 2; S Heb 4:12
Revelation 1:9 : S ver 2
Revelation 1:10 : Ac 20:7
Revelation 1:10 : Rev 4:2; 17:3; 21:10
Revelation 1:10 : Ex 20:18; Rev 4:1
Revelation 1:11 : ver 19
Revelation 1:11 : ver 4, 20
Revelation 1:11 : S Ac 18:19
Revelation 1:11 : Rev 2:8
Revelation 1:11 : Rev 2:12
Revelation 1:11 : Ac 16:14; Rev 2:18, 24
Revelation 1:11 : Rev 3:1
Revelation 1:11 : Rev 3:7
Revelation 1:11 : S Col 2:1; Rev 3:14
Revelation 1:12 : ver 20; Ex 25:31-40; Zec 4:2; Rev 2:1
Revelation 1:13 : Rev 2:1
Revelation 1:13 : Eze 1:26; Da 7:13; 10:16; Rev 14:14
Revelation 1:13 : Isa 6:1
Revelation 1:13 : Da 10:5; Rev 15:6
Revelation 1:14 : Da 7:9; 10:6; Rev 2:18; 19:12
Revelation 1:15 : Eze 1:7; Da 10:6; Rev 2:18
Revelation 1:15 : Eze 43:2; Rev 14:2; 19:6
Revelation 1:16 : ver 20; Rev 2:1; 3:1
Revelation 1:16 : Isa 1:20; 49:2; Heb 4:12; Rev 2:12, 16; 19:15, 21
Revelation 1:16 : Jdg 5:31; Mt 17:2
Revelation 1:17 : Eze 1:28; Da 8:17, 18
Revelation 1:17 : Da 8:18
Revelation 1:17 : S Mt 14:27
Revelation 1:17 : Isa 41:4; 44:6; 48:12; Rev 2:8; 22:13
Revelation 1:18 : Ro 6:9; Rev 2:8
Revelation 1:18 : Dt 32:40; Da 4:34; 12:7; Rev 4:9, 10; 10:6; 15:7
Revelation 1:18 : Rev 9:1; 20:1
Revelation 1:19 : ver 11; Hab 2:2
Revelation 1:20 : S ver 16
Revelation 1:20 : S ver 12
Revelation 1:20 : ver 4, 11
Revelation 1:20 : Mt 5:14, 15

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Zion

8/1/2017

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​“Then I looked, and behold, a #lamb standing on Mount #Zion, having His Father’s name written on their foreheads.” Rev-14.1 It is the same for we who are spiritual residents of the kingdom of heaven – the heavenly Jerusalem-#dwelling place of christ #messiah. (Rev14:1) Zion is where Yahweh, the God of Israel, dwells (Isaiah 8:18; Psalm 74:2), the place where he is king (Isaiah 24:23) and where he has installed his king, David (Psalm 2:6). In the Bible, the Land of Israel and the city of Jerusalem are both referred to as Zion. The name refers to both a hill in Jerusalem and to the city itself — also used to mean "holy place" or "kingdom of heaven." After Jerusalem was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BC, the Israelites could not forget Zion (Psalm 137), and, in the prophecy after the Babylonian Exile of the Jews, Zion is the scene of Yahweh’s -messianic- salvation. It is to Zion that the exiles will be restored (Jeremiah 3:14), and there they will find Yahweh (Jeremiah 31). After the crucifixion, the 2nd temple *falls to destruction from the pagan romans. This is when the same *context of OT scriptures in Judaism and christianity diverge interpretation. The collections of scriptures in the Hebrew cannons were -displaced- of chronological -order- of context and storyline. Because of the destruction of the temple- This Hebrew canon, though somewhat fluid up to the early 2nd century BC, was finally -fixed- by a council of rabbis at Jabneh (Jamnia), now in Israel, c. AD 100. The Oral Torah, transmitted orally, explains the Written Torah- untill written after 70AD. Though scripture is all of the above- because of the reordering and transmission it is only being *seen as being about people, god and land, which in its -entirety- and -order- depicts the unifying picture of *humanity, salvation and *redemption. The Prophets in the Protestant canon include Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel from the Hebrew Latter Prophets. The Minor Prophets (The Twelve) are treated as 12 separate books; thus the Protestant canon has 17 prophetic books. Here- Zion #symbolizes a longing by wandering or lost people for *returning to their safe *homeland -with- God.
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New Jeruselum

11/29/2016

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​In the Book of Ezekiel, New Jerusalem is Ezekiel's prophetic vision of a city centered on the rebuilt Holy Temple- the Third Temple, to be established in Jerusalem, which would be the capital of the Messianic Kingdom, the meeting place of the twelve tribes of Israel, during the Messianic era. Religious significance is placed on Jerusalem- site of the crucifixion of Jesus and other events central to Yeshua. In particular, the destruction of the Second Temple that took place in the year 70, a few decades after Christ followers began their split from Judaism, was seminal to the nascent Christian apocalypticism of that time. In the Olivet discourse of the Gospels, Jesus predicts the destruction of Herod's Temple, and promises that it will precede the return of the Son of Man, commonly called the Second Coming- or seemingly first for nonbelievers. This prophecy of the renewal of Jerusalem comes through God YAhwey, jewish MESSIAH- yeshua, Christ Jesus, prince of peace, alpha omega, first and last. Based on the Book of Revelation, premillennialism holds that, following the end times and the second creation of heaven and earth, the New Jerusalem will be the earthly location where all true believers will spend eternity with God. The New Jerusalem is not limited to eschatology, however, as the bible is layered in symbolism and unifying truths. Many Christians also view the New Jerusalem as a current reality, that the New Jerusalem is the consummation of the Body of Christ, the Church and that Christ followers already take part in membership of both the heavenly Jerusalem and the earthly Church in a kind of dual citizenship. In this way, the New Jerusalem represents to Christians the final and everlasting reconciliation of God and the Israelites- his chosen people, "the end of the Christian pilgrimage." The entire Hebrew bible illustrates Yeshua as God the messiah, a discovery to be uncovered. The city is interpreted as a physical and/or spiritual restoration or divine recreation of the city of Jerusalem. New Jerusalem is symbolizing the -dwelling place- of the -holy -spirit, in Christ the MESSIAH. As such, the New Jerusalem is a conception of Heaven.

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    Anew Light Ministries

    CREATING environments through the vehicles of Visual and Expressive ARTS to help plug people into their CREATOR by fostering Spiritual Growth. By combining Therapeutic Art, Christ-Centered CBT techniques, and Integrated Arts in Scriptural Education, I seek to Heal human brokenness and Redeem Fullness through the Transformative Healing Power of The Holy Spirit. 

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