The year 5775 in the Jewish calendar
was a Shmita year –
a special, one-in-seven kind of a year.
God instructed Israel to let the fields lie fallow every seventh year, and "give the land its sabbath rest."
This is called the “shmita” year in Hebrew,
which means a year of “release”.
Not only is it a "massive test of faith to not work the land for an entire year" but it also has "blessings for those in poverty and debt," the poor are free to glean all the naturally growing crops they want for "no charge" and all "debts among the people of Israel are cancelled"
They are released.
That can only be good, right?
The 24th September signalled the Jewish New Year,
(same day as hurricane Ian)
before the Sukkah at least in the "eyes of the Rabbis" and the beginning of the Shmita year. Chapter 25 of the Book of Leviticus promises bountiful harvests to those who observe the shmita, and describes its observance as a test of religious faith.
The most recent Shmita year was 2021–2022
or Anno mundi 5782 in Hebrew calendar.
The year 5789 on the Jewish calendar (Sept. 20, 2028–Sept. 9, 2029)
will be the next Sabbatical year. As such, "The tribulation" is 7 years.
The year following the destruction of the second Holy Temple (3829 from creation, equivalent to 68–69 CE) was the first year of the seven-year Sabbatical cycle. We continue counting sevens from then.
Most of the Sabbatical year’s observances are agricultural in nature, and are -relevant only- in Israel.
'For those in the Diaspora," the Sabbatical year has two practical ramifications: a) Produce which is imported from Israel must have "rabbinical certification, and is also subject to certain laws and restrictions" due their "sanctity." b) The "laws of debt" absolution are in effect in all locations.
WHAT DOES THIS REALLY MEAN IN ISRAEL TODAY?
When we look at the history of the -shmita year- and how it was viewed in Jewish literature, both ancient and modern,
it’s "easy to think" that there’s A LOT of "cheating" going on!
All kinds of ways have been invented to circumvent actually
"foregoing the year’s produce,"
so that things could continue without
"technically breaking the commandment."
For example, things grown in "greenhouses" are "technically exempt"
from the shmita law, -according to- rabbinic 'rulings.'
Some people leave the "GATE of their field gates OPEN" as a signal that it no longer “belongs” --to them-- and "others can come" and help themselves!
But when you stop to think about what it would actually mean to properly and -fully- obey that commandment, it would take a gigantic "leap of faith" to stop all agriculture for an entire year.
Terrifying, in fact. How will they eat??
Without "supernatural help and PROVISION" it looks pretty alarming!
God, predictably, had thought of that. Here’s what He says in Leviticus 25:20-22 –
“‘And if you say, “What "shall we eat in the seventh year" since we shall not -sow nor gather- in our produce?” Then I will command My blessing on you in the sixth year, and it will -bring forth produce- enough for three years. And you shall sow in the eighth year, and eat old produce until the ninth year;
'until its produce comes in" you shall "eat of the -old- harvest.”
He -promises to provide- But He also wants the inhabitants of the Land to remember -who it really -belongs to.
The very next verses say,
“‘The land shall not be sold permanently, for the land is Mine; for you are strangers and sojourners with Me. And in all the land of your possession you shall "grant redemption of the land.”
Like a fast, or a weekly shabbat rest, holding back from the temptation to work in the shmita year allows God’s people
"more opportunity to lift their -eyes above- the -chores- of everyday life" up to heaven and "eternal matters."
It takes faith and discipline, but we can "look to God for provision and for fruitfulness as we obey -Him- even when it costs us."
However, this was not an optional extra in God’s book. Failing to keep the weekly Sabbath and also the Sabbath year of rest for the fields had -serious consequences- for the people of Israel. In fact, the Bible tells us that the reason for the "70 year exile" in Babylon was to let the land "catch up" on the 70 sabbath years’
rest that it should have had… and did not get.
2 Chronicles 36:21 says that the exile was,
“To -fulfill the word- of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah,
until the land had enjoyed its Sabbaths.
All the days that it lay desolate it kept Sabbath, to fulfill seventy years.”
As a prophet, Jeremiah pronounced God's judgment upon the people of his time for their wickedness.
He was concerned especially with false and insincere worship and
failure to trust Yahweh in national affairs.
He denounced social injustices
but not so much as some previous prophets, such as Amos and Micah.
All the law is fulfilled
in the Law, and the Prophets.
The Gospel of Matthew says that
the temple leaders action
was a fulfillment of this prophecy:
"Then what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: ‘
They took the thirty pieces of silver,
the price set on him by the people of Israel,
and they used them to buy the potter’s field,
as the Lord commanded me’”
(Matthew 27:9–10).
However, the prophecy that Matthew alludes to
regarding 30 pieces of silver
is most likely from Zechariah 11:12–13,
which reads, “I told them,
"If you think it best, give me my pay;
but if not, keep it.’
So they paid me thirty pieces of silver.
And the Lord said to me,
‘Throw it to the potter’--
the handsome price at
which they valued me!
So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them to the potter at the house of the Lord.” Why would Matthew appear to attribute
the prophecy of the 30 pieces of silver to Jeremiah instead of Zechariah?
The answer is found in the
structure of the Hebrew Bible.
The Hebrew Bible is divided into three sections called the Law, Writings, and Prophets. Jesus refers to these divisions in Luke 24:44. The collection of the Prophets began with the book of Jeremiah.
The scrolls were sometimes referred to by the name of the first book,
which in the case of the Prophets would be Jeremiah.
So, when Matthew says that “Jeremiah says,”
he means that the prophecy was found in the “Jeremiah Scroll.”
It is also interesting that the one gospel writer to note this event was Matthew,
who had previously worked as a tax collector.
He would have been very familiar with monetary transactions and likely well aware of the purchase price of the Field,
which he immediately connected with
Zechariah’s prophecy of 30 pieces of silver.
Matthew used this connection to show one of the ways
the coming of Jesus fulfilled numerous predictions
in the Old Testament,
affirming Jesus as the true Messiah.
Judas Iscariot was one of the original twelve disciples who followed and were taught by Jesus.
Being in Jesus’ “inner circle,”
Judas had a closer relationship to Jesus than most
people during His ministry.
Judas betrayed the Lord to the Jewish authorities.
The pre-arranged signal was that the person Judas kissed
was to be arrested and taken away
(Mark 14:44).
In this way the Son of Man was betrayed with a kiss
(Luke 22:48).
In the culture of first-century Israel, a kiss was not always a romantic expression of love; rather, a kiss on the cheek was a common greeting, a sign of deep respect, honor, and brotherly love (see Luke 7:45; Romans 16:16; 1 Corinthians 16:20; 2 Corinthians 13:12; 1 Thessalonians 5:26; 1 Peter 5:14).
For a student who had great respect for his teacher, a kiss fell well within the healthy expression of honor.
What really stands out in the mode of Judas’s betrayal
is that Judas used such an intimate expression of love and respect
to betray Jesus.
Judas’s actions were hypocritical in the extreme—his actions said, “I respect and honor you,” at the exact time he was betraying Jesus to be murdered. Judas’s actions illustrate Proverbs 27:6,
“Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses.”
Often, foes disguise themselves as friends. Evil often wears a mask to conceal its true purpose.
In Luke 22:3, we see that Satan entered into Judas before Judas went to see the chief priests and set things up to betray Jesus.
Satan possessed Judas in hopes of using him
to destroy Jesus’ ministry and get Him out of the way,
and Satan used a kiss—a sign of affection--to unleash a "surge of hatred."
However, there is nothing the Evil One does
that God doesn’t know about or
have complete control over.
God allowed Satan to possess Judas and use him to betray Jesus in such a deceptive and hypocritical way in order to bring about our redemption.
The betrayal itself was
prophesied hundreds of years
before its fulfillment
(Psalm 41:9).
When Jesus was betrayed by a kiss,
He identified with the troubles of David,
who wrote,
“If an enemy were insulting me, I could endure it; if a foe were rising against me, I could hide. But it is you, a man like myself, my companion, my close friend, with whom I once enjoyed sweet fellowship at the house of God,
as we walked about among the worshipers”
(Psalm 55:12–14).
Job’s emotional pain also foreshadowed Jesus’ sorrow:
"Those I love have turned against me”
(Job 19:19).
Once Judas gave the kiss, the deed was done.
Jesus was betrayed
into the government’s hands to be crucified.
Before his crucifixion, Jesus said,
"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.
For truly I tell you,
until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter,
not the least stroke of a pen,
will by any means disappear from the Law
until everything is accomplished”
(Matthew 5:17–18).
This important statement of our Lord gives us
insight into His mission and the
character of God’s Word.
Jesus’ declaration that
He came to fulfill the Law and the Prophets,
not to abolish them,
obviously contains two statements in one.
There is something Jesus did and something He did not do.
At the same time,
Jesus emphasized the
eternal nature of
the Word of God.
Jesus goes out of His way
to promote
the authority of
the "Law of God."
He did not come to abolish the Law,
regardless of what the Pharisees accused Him of.
In fact, Jesus continues His statement with a commendation for those who teach the Law accurately and hold it in reverence:
"Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven,
but whoever practices and teaches these commands
will be called great in the kingdom of heaven”
(Matthew 5:19).
Note the qualities that Jesus attributes to the Word of God,
referenced as “the Law and the Prophets”:
1) The Word is everlasting; it will outlast the natural world.
2) The Word was written with intent;
it was meant to be fulfilled.
3) The Word possesses plenary authority; even the smallest letter of it is established.
4) The Word is faithful and trustworthy;
“everything”
it says will be accomplished.
No one hearing Jesus’ words
in the Sermon on the Mount
could doubt His commitment to the Scriptures.
Consider what Jesus did not do in His ministry.
In Matthew 5:17,
Jesus says that He did not come to abolish the Law and the Prophets. In other words, Jesus’ purpose was not to abrogate the Word, dissolve it,
or render it invalid.
The Prophets will be fulfilled;
the Law will continue to accomplish the purpose for which it was given
(see Isaiah 55:10–11).
Next, consider what Jesus did do.
Jesus says that He came to fulfill the Law and the
Prophets.
In other words, Jesus’ purpose was to
establish the Word,
to embody it,
and to
fully accomplish all that was written.
“Christ is the culmination
of the law”
(Romans 10:4).
The predictions of the Prophets concerning the Messiah
would be realized in Jesus;
the holy standard of the Law would be perfectly upheld by Christ, the strict requirements personally obeyed,
and the ceremonial observances finally and fully satisfied.
Jesus Christ fulfilled the Prophets in that, in His first coming alone, He fulfilled hundreds of prophecies concerning Himself (e.g., Matthew 1:22; 13:35; John 19:36; Luke 24:44).
Jesus Christ fulfilled the Law in at least two ways:
as a teacher and as a doer.
He taught people to obey the Law (Matthew 22:35–40; Mark 1:44), and He obeyed the Law Himself (John 8:46; 1 Peter 2:22). In living a perfect life, Jesus fulfilled the moral laws; in His sacrificial death, Jesus fulfilled the ceremonial laws.
Christ came not to destroy the old religious system
but to build upon it;
He came to finish the
Old Covenant and establish the New.
Jesus came not to destroy the Law and the Prophets but to fulfill them.
In fact, the ceremonies, sacrifices, and other elements of the
Old Covenant were “only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves”
(Hebrews 10:1).
The tabernacle and temple were “holy places made with hands,” but they were never meant to be permanent; they were but “copies of the true things” (Hebrews 9:24, ESV).
The Law had a built-in expiration date,
being filled as it was with “external regulations applying
until the time of the new order”
(Hebrews 9:10).
In His fulfillment of the Law and Prophets, Jesus
obtained our eternal salvation.
No more were priests required to offer sacrifices and enter the holy place (Hebrews 10:8–14). Jesus has done that for us, once and for all.
By grace through faith,
we are made right with God:
"He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross”
(Colossians 2:14).
There are some who argue that, since Jesus did not “abolish” the Law, then the Law is still in effect—and still binding on New Testament Christians.
But Paul is clear that the
believer in Christ
is no longer under the Law:
“We were held in custody under the Law,
locked up until faith should be revealed.
So the Law became our guardian to lead us to Christ,
that we might be justified by faith.
Now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian”
(Galatians 3:23–25, BSB).
We are not under the Mosaic Law but under
“the law of Christ”
(see Galatians 6:2).
If the Law is still binding on us today, then it has not yet accomplished its purpose--it has not yet been fulfilled.
If the Law,
as a legal system,
is still binding on us today,
then Jesus was wrong in claiming to fulfill it
and
His sacrifice on the cross
was insufficient to save.
Thank God,
Jesus fulfilled
the whole Law and now grants us
His righteousness as a
free gift.
“Know that a person is not justified
by the works of the law,
but by faith in Jesus Christ.
So we, too,
have put our faith in Christ Jesus
that we may be justified by faith in Christ
and not by the works of the law,
because by the works of the law no one will be justified”
(Galatians 2:16).
God really wants us to release,
to let go,
and to TRUST Him by "following HIS WAYS"
even when it is scary.
We need to let go of control and admit that
not only the "Holy Land is His"
but our lives
and indeed "all the world is His."
He made it, He owns it,
and if He says put your tools down and rest, we need to obey.
We can "trust Him to look after us" -when we walk- in obedience.
Here is the instruction for us in Psalm 46:10,
"Be still [or let be, let go, "release"] and -know- that
I AM God;
I will be "exalted among the nations"
"I will be exalted in the earth!”
This is just what Isaiah,
Jeremiah, and Ezekiel promised he would do.
Ezekiel looks to the
future salvation of God's people and
speaks God's word
(in 37:23f.):
"I will save them from all the backslidings in which they have sinned,
and will cleanse them and they shall be my people and I will be their God.
My servant David shall be king over them; and
they shall have one shepherd"
(see 34:23).
Jeremiah stresses that the
coming king will fulfill the condition of righteousness
(in Jeremiah 23:5–6):
"Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord,
when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch,
and he shall reign as king and deal wisely and shall execute justice
and righteousness in the land.
In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will dwell securely.
And this is the name by which he will be called:
"The Lord is our righteousness'"
(see 33:21, 25–26).
But it was Isaiah who saw the glory of the Son of David more clearly than anyone and virtually identified him as God (in 9:6–7):
"For unto us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government will be upon his shoulder,
and his name will be called '
"Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.'
Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end,
upon the throne of David
and over his kingdom to establish it and to uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
from this time forth and forevermore."
So the surety of the covenant with David lies ultimately in the fact that
God himself will come as king and sit upon the throne.
When a covenant is conditional
and yet is also certain,
you can be sure God himself will
intervene to fulfill the conditions.
When the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary in Luke 1:31–33,
he said,
"Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David,
and he will reign over the house of Jacob for ever,
and of his kingdom there will be no end."
Therefore, beyond any shadow of a doubt the Bible
teaches that the promise to David
that his descendant would rule forever
is fulfilled in Jesus Christ.
As the Son of David
(Romans 1:3)
and the Lord of David
(Matthew 22:45; Psalm 110:1)
Jesus now reigns as king in heaven
(1 Corinthians 15:25)
over the true house of Israel.
Consider Acts 15:14–18.
You recall that at the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15
the issue was whether Gentiles had to be circumcised
in order to be saved.
The apostles saw themselves
as heirs of the Old Testament promise to Israel:
the Messiah, Son of David, had come;
he had died for Israel's sin and had been raised from the dead;
he ruled in heaven and was coming again
to judge and reign on earth.
The big question was:
could Gentiles benefit from all this
without becoming Jews through circumcision?
At the Jerusalem Council Peter told how the Gentiles had
received the Spirit
just like the Jews had
(15:8).
Paul and Barnabas told of their success among the Gentiles.
Then James dealt the
final blow to Jewish exclusivism
in 15:14–18 with a reference
to the Davidic covenant and its relation to Gentiles:
"Simeon [Peter] has related how God first visited the Gentiles to take out of them a people for his name. And with this the words of the prophets agree, as it is written [quoting Amos 9:11],
"After this I will return and I will build the dwelling of David
which is fallen;
I will rebuild its ruins, and I will set it up,
that the rest of men may seek the Lord,
and all the Gentiles who are called by my name.'"
God's job description which he revealed to David
included not just the responsibility
to establish a righteous ruler in Israel forever,
but also to put that ruler over
the church and then over all the world.
Isaiah said, "Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end." It will be worldwide. And the angel says in Revelation 11:15,
"The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign for ever and ever."
When
God has completed all the responsibilities in his job description, the house of David will be planet earth.
And the subjects of the king
will not just be Jews but people from
every tongue and tribe and nation
(Revelation 7:9).
The mission of the church today is to submit ourselves to
the Son of David
who right now rules invisibly from heaven
until he puts every enemy under his feet.
And our mission is to announce the
good news
to people in every neighborhood and
every nation
that they can be happy subjects of
Christ's kingdom forever if they transfer their allegiance
from the kingdom of this world
to the kingdom of Christ.
To put it another way, personal holiness means learning the attitudes and customs of a new kingdom—the kingdom of Christ.
And personal evangelism means telling people that the rightful king of the world against whom they have rebelled is willing to grant amnesty to all who return and live under his rule.
Jesus Christ,
the Son of David,
the eternal King of the world
will come from heaven and establish a reign of
joy and righteousness and peace
over all his loyal subjects forever and ever.
And until he comes, the worldwide mission of the church is to
extend complete, free,
universal amnesty to people from every nation.
Turn to Isaiah 55:1–3.
The point of this invitation is that the very sovereignty and wisdom and love of God which assured David of an eternal kingdom can also assure you of God's eternal kindness as a part of that kingdom.
Listen:
"Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come buy wine and milk without money and without price.
Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
Hearken diligently to me and eat what is good,
and delight yourselves in fatness.
Incline your ear and come to me; hear that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant,
my steadfast sure love for David."
The very mercy and faithfulness
that guarantees David an eternal kingdom
can guarantee you all the joy and righteousness and peace of that kingdom.
God is saying to you this morning: if you will come to me empty-handed and hungry, willing to receive what I give, then I will write for myself in your presence a job description and bind myself with an oath to
treat you forever with the
same mercy and faithfulness that I have demonstrated in my covenant with David.
And listen to the entreaty of the Lord Jesus himself in the last chapter of the Bible (Revelation 22:16f.):
"I am the root and the offspring of David,
the bright and morning star . . . let him who is thirsty come,
let him who desires take the water of life without price."
Come to the Son of David, come to the King of kings,
and he will sign with his own blood your personal copy of the job description he has written for himself—to be God to you. And he will give it to you as an eternal covenant, never to turn away from doing you good.
It is the first day of the first Shemitah (Sabbath) year
on the Biblical calendar to be celebrated in a
"meaningful way"
since the
"Romans razed Jerusalem in AD 70."
The Time of the crucifixion, 2,000 years ago.
What is the Shemitah and why is it significant?
The Shemitah is an ancient Biblical mandate
given by God to the people of Israel
through Moses at Mount Sinai.
It is a God-ordained year of rest for the land that is to be "observed"
every "seven years."
During this Sabbath rest for the land, it
is not to be
sown, cultivated or harvested.
Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘When you enter the land I am going to give you, the land itself must observe a Sabbath to the LORD. For six years sow your fields, and for six years prune your "vineyards and gather their crops." But in the seventh year the land is to have a year of sabbath rest, a sabbath to the LORD. Do not sow your fields or prune your vineyards.
Do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the grapes of your untended vines.
The land is to have a year of rest.’
(Leviticus 25:1–5)
5782: As in the
Days of Noah
“But as the days of Noah were, so also will
the coming of the Son of Man be.
For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking,
marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and -did not know until the flood came- and took them all away,
so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.”
Matthew 24:37-39
'It was a -collision of God's Word- and His "revealed Word"
This is a leap year in the Hebraic traditions with two Adar months, Adar 1 and Adar II. It is also a Shmita year or a year of rest.
Noah's name means "rest." This fact accentuates the sense of the "Days of Noah." During a Shmita year, the land is left to lie fallow.
We are preparing for a new year, a "new season" the Hebraic year 5782 is ahead. In Hebraic tradition, fruit and vegetables that grow on their own may be picked by anyone. It is also a time when "debts are forgiven."
As a Shmitah year, God is taking what has been "worked in our spiritual soil" and "readying it to produce more."
What is the Lord saying?
When Noah appeared on the biblical scene, God was -so grieved- with what had happened to -His creation- He wanted to destroy it: “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them” (Genesis 6:7).
Amid the -CHAOS- however, Noah FOUND
"favor and grace in the eyes of the Lord" (Genesis 6:8).
How did Noah grab God’s attention? Genesis 6:9 explains: “Noah walked with God.” Noah walked differently than others. He walked in closeness with the spirit of God, he KNEW him intimately, and he gave him
all the Glory!
The word walk in Hebrew is hâlaḵ. Strong’s describes this word as continually, to be conversant, exercise, FOLLOW. In other words, the distinctives of this walk is that it was "intentional." There is purpose and engagement in the walk that came from the heart. God saw Noah's love for him.
It is the same word used when Adam and Eve, after the fall, “heard the sound of the Lord God walking” (Genesis 3:8). God was on a purposeful walk towards Adam and Eve. He knew what had happened but with intentionality was moving towards them to restore.
Similarly today, in the midst of chaos, God is calling us to “halak” with Him. The “halak” walk is a walk that carries a weight for change and "transition." Amid the turmoil today, there is a "transition taking place that is shifting the course of lives," and even all nations into the end-time narrative.
Can you hear the sound of the walk?
What is its nature? How do we navigate the rhythms of heaven?
From Noah's life we can glean an understanding...
The Halak Walk
"Carries the Presence of God."
Genesis 6:9 Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. '
"Noah walked with the spirit of God."
Noah Opens his ears to "hear the voice of God:" Noah listened to God.
Genesis 6:13-20: Noah understood the importance of obeying God and followed His instructions, in spite of opposition. Hebrews 11:7; By faith Noah, being "divinely warned of things not yet seen," moved with godly fear, prepared an "ark for the saving" of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the "righteousness which is according to faith."
Would you recognize God's Ark today? What could save us from tragedy? We can we find that hope?
Noah Understands the importance of "rest as a place of covenantal RENEWAL." Rest involves "trust...trusting God knows what He is doing and WHAT He is CALLING us to do." How do we discern what the living God is calling us to do? If we follow in the ways of Abraham, we live by faith and trust, not by sight. If we can do that,
God provides provision and vision.
The name "Jehovah Jireh"
is first seen in Genesis 22:14 when God provides a ram in the thicket in place of the sacrifice of his son:
And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh:
as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen.
So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. And to this day it is said,
"On the mountain of the LORD
it will be provided."
When God introduces himself (the Bible is His word, after all) as Jehovah Jireh, meaning “the Lord will provide,” it’s not in the context of snacks or cars or money or bills. It’s in the context of the most profound physical need a person can face – the loss of life. In Genesis 22, we read the story of Abraham being commanded by God to take his son Isaac to Mount Moriah and sacrifice him. Isaac was the son of promise, a miraculous gift from God when Abraham and Sarah were old. He was the promised child whom God had promised to make into a great nation. He was God’s provision, or so it seemed until God said to lay him on the altar and offer him as a sacrifice.
“After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, ‘Abraham!’ And he said, “Here I am.” He said, ‘Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.’… When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son” (Genesis 22:1-2; 9-10).
Abraham obeyed.
Hebrews 11 tells us that he acted in faith that God would raise Isaac. He obeyed in the belief that God would provide a miracle of some kind, and God did – a ram caught in a thicket as a substitute sacrifice.
As these two, Abraham and Isaac, were traveling up the hill, the son bearing the wood, and the father with the sad burden of the fire and the knife, the boy said: 'Where is the lamb?' and Abraham, thrusting down his emotion and steadying his voice, said: 'My son, God will provide Himself a lamb.' When the wonderful issue of the trial was plain before him, and he looked back upon it, the one thought that rose in his mind was of how, beyond his meaning, his words had been true. So he named that place by a name that spoke nothing of his trial, but everything of God's provision—' The Lord will see,' or 'The Lord will provide.'
There is nothing in this life that we need so much as to do the will of our Father in heaven. All outward wants are poor compared with that.
The one thing worth living for,
the one thing which being secured we are blessed, and being missed we are miserable, is compliance in heart with the commandment of our Father; and that compliance wrought out in life. So, of all gifts that He bestows upon us, and of all the abundant provision out of His rich storehouses, is not this the best, that we are made ready for any required service? When we get to the place we shall find some lamb ' caught in the thicket by its horns'; and heaven itself will supply what is needful for our burnt offering. God Himself will provide a Lamb - the spotless sacrifice of Jesus for the sins of the world.
Abraham christened the anonymous mountain-top, not by a name that reminded him or others of his trial, but by a name that proclaimed God's deliverance - Jehovah Jireh. He did not say anything about his agony or about his obedience. Let us name the heights that lie behind us, visible to memory, by names that commemorate, not the troubles that we had on them, but the deliverances that on them we received from God.
“But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called the name of that place, “The Lord will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided” (Genesis 22:11-14).
“By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, of whom it was said, ‘Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.’ He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back” (Hebrews 11:17-19).
God the provider, Jehovah Jireh, gave life. He saved the promised son from being a sacrifice. He preserved His promise to make Isaac a great nation. He acted faithfully in response to Abraham’s faith in His provision.
At our worst we think of God’s provision as if he is a waiter: we signal him to our life, place our orders in “faith,” and receive what we have requested. More often, though, we are not so trite. We do think of God providing for us – jobs, family, friends, care, church, abilities, answered prayers. These things are significant and meaningful; they are absolutely a portion of God’s provision to us. But too often we stop there, and in doing so we stop short of the deep reality of what “the Lord shall provide” truly means.
In Matthew 6 Jesus tells his disciples
“Do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on . . . Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they . . . Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.”
In these verses, Jesus shows one end of the spectrum of God’s provision. He cares for the smallest and even the inanimate in his creation. He clothes and feeds them. His eye is on them as treasured created things. So why should we worry about His provision? Are we not image bearers, uniquely made to be God’s children? He provides as a father ought – exactly those things that are best for His children without hesitation and always at the right time.
In Jesus’ teaching we see one side of God’s provision.
In Jesus’ mission on earth we see the other.
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). Jesus came so that we might “have life and have it in abundance” (John 10:10). And this provision, this inestimable gift of His son, was more than kindness.
It was a rescue, a ransom, a debt paid, a punishment
born as a substitute for the guilty – us.
The same God who smiles on the brilliance of wildflowers and feeds a baby sparrow sent His Son as the atoning sacrifice for sins already committed (Romans 3:25). Jesus was the last and final sacrifice, the flawless lamb able to redeem all sinners and pay for all sins once for all time. Jesus is God’s perfect and complete provision, the answer to every person’s deepest question and the fulfillment of their deepest needs.
In Genesis Abraham’s only son was set to be sacrificed and was saved by God’s miraculous provision. In the gospels God’s only Son was sacrificed as the miraculous provision for all people.
When we say Jehovah Jireh, The Lord will provide, we can be certain it is true. We can see it in the flowers and birds. And we can see it at the cross – Jesus is His great provision.
Genesis 6:18 But I will "establish My covenant" with you; and you shall go into the ark. Noah had faith, he accepted God's loving and free provision without working for it. He accepted the call of the living God.
Genesis 8:20 Then Noah "built an altar" to the Lord. He gave the living God Glory.
Noah’s halak walk with God carried him through 100 years of chaos, opposition, and resistant culture, listening and obeying God through it all. Despite the chaos, Noah knew the “rest” of God. He knew the rhythms of rest in order to "see the fulfillment" of his calling.
Today as "birth pangs" awaiting the second coming of the Messiah hit the nations and rattle the frontlines of the news, we are increasingly needing to know how to enter the “rest” of God lest we get tired and weary and fall back into the wings of complacency, and a “busyness” that will eventually dry up our spiritual lives.
This is a year of awakening!
The "rest" of God is preparing the soil we have all tilled and labored for so we can produce more.
New levels of trust with God and one another will prepare us to multiply productivity in the "season ahead."
Let us not grow weary. Rather, let us understand His rest. It requires us to stay engaged and continually pursue our walk with Him. The awakening is coming! May the “Halak” walk be upon you to encourage and strengthen you in days of adversity.
In Daniel 9:24-27, Daniel lays out the first coming of the Messiah and the events that will occur leading up to the time of Jesus’ second coming. The 70 weeks prophecy in the book of Daniel refers to a period of seventy years and the desolation of Jerusalem.
In Daniels 70 weeks, there is one week left and it’s a Shmita cycle, it’s not any random 7 years. “Which means if the tribulation doesn’t start this year (2023), it can’t start for seven more years because the first year of the tribulation has to begin the first year of a Shmita cycle,” Biltz says.
“The tribulation can’t start any day, any month or any year, God is on a schedule,” he says.
Will the "tribulation" start this year? We will have to wait and watch for the signs, if not, the tribulation won’t start for seven more years.
“Just like the seven years of famine for Joseph lasted seven years after the seven years of prosperity, we have to realize God works in seven year segments, He’s not random,”
How do we know
if we are in the tribulation?
Some false covenant will be made
to divide the land of Israel...
If we "see" one of the two witnesses talked about in the Bible.
In Revelation 11:3–12 is a description
of two individuals
who will help accomplish
God’s work during the tribulation:
"I will appoint my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days,
clothed in sackcloth”
Moses and Elijah
are seen as possibilities for the two witnesses due to the specific miracles that John says the witnesses will perform. The witnesses will have the power to turn water into blood (Revelation 11:6), which duplicates a famous miracle of Moses (Exodus 7). And the witnesses will have the power to destroy their enemies with fire (Revelation 11:5), which corresponds to an event in Elijah’s life (2 Kings 1). Also giving strength to this view is the fact that Moses and Elijah both appeared with Jesus at the transfiguration (Matthew 17:3–4). Further, Jewish tradition expects Moses and Elijah to return, based on the prophecy of Elijah’s coming in Malachi 4:5 and God’s promise to raise up a prophet like Moses (Deuteronomy 18:15, 18), which some Jews believe necessitates Moses’ return.
Zechariah has a vision in which he sees a solid gold lampstand. On top is a bowl of oil, and an olive tree stands on each side (verses 3–4). The lampstand gives its light without human maintenance, being constantly supplied by the olive oil flowing from the trees into the bowl. God’s message to Zechariah was that God’s work (rebuilding the temple) would be accomplished “
not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit”
(verse 6).
Zechariah asks about the meaning of the olive trees and the branches supplying the oil, and the angel who speaks to him says, “These are the two anointed ones who stand by the Lord of the whole earth” (Zechariah 4:14, ESV). In other words, God’s power to sustain His work is flowing through two individuals set apart for the task. In Zechariah’s context, these two individuals are Joshua (the current high priest) and Zerubbabel (the current governor of Judah). We can also see a
foreshadowing of Jesus Christ here, as the
Messiah would combine
the offices of priest and king.
Then we come to Revelation 11:4. In the description of the two witnesses, John says,
"They are ‘the two olive trees’
and the two lampstands,
and ‘they stand before the Lord of the earth.’”
John quotes from Zechariah 4.
The two witnesses of Revelation, like Joshua and Zerubbabel, will have God’s power flowing through them to accomplish God’s work.
'If we see some people showing up in Jerusalem this Passover, we have to see what they teach because what’s scary is that the anti-Christ and the false prophet are going to do miracles so you can’t follow the miracles,” Biltz says.
“When you study what Elijah and Moses do, they cause major problems. They turn water to blood, they kill those who oppose them and make fire fall from the sky,” he says. We know it is then the Antichrist shows up and he’s the one that kills the witnesses and people think he’s the messiah.
Many think the Antichrist will come first, but really it’s going to be
God’s two witnesses warning everyone
and then he will show up and he will be like Solomon.
In Biltz’s book: “Decoding the Antichrist and the End Times,” he talks about how Solomon is a type of Antichrist using scripture.
Someone who comes and solves all the Middle East problems appearing to be a peace maker. He could preach Judaism, Christianity and Islam, and loving one another. “I really think a lot of people are going to be deceived,” he says.
End times signs?
In Daniel 9:24-27,
Daniel lays out the first coming of the Messiah and the events that will occur leading up to the time of Jesus’ second coming. The 70 weeks prophecy in the book of Daniel refers to a period of seventy years and the desolation of Jerusalem.
In Daniels 70 weeks,
there is one week left and it’s a Shmita cycle,
it’s not any random 7 years.
"Which means if the tribulation doesn’t start this year (2023),
it can’t start for seven more years because
the first year of the tribulation has to begin the first year of a Shmita cycle,”
“The tribulation can’t start any day, any month or any year,
God is on a schedule,” he says.
Will it start this year?
We will have to wait and watch for the signs, if not, the tribulation won’t start for seven more years.
The spiritual will come before the physical
“Just like the seven years of famine for Joseph lasted seven years after the seven years of prosperity, we have to realize God works in seven year segments, He’s not random,”
How do we know if we are in the tribulation?
Some kind of covenant will be made to divide the literal land of Israel.
If we see one of the two witnesses talked about in the Bible. “If we see some people showing up in Jerusalem this Passover, we have to see what they teach because what’s scary is that the anti-Christ and the false prophet are going to do miracles so you can’t follow the miracles,” Biltz says. “When you study what Elijah and Moses do, they cause major problems. They turn water to blood, they kill those who oppose them and make fire fall from the sky,” he says. We know it is then the Antichrist shows up and he’s the one that kills the witnesses and people think he’s the messiah.
Many think the Antichrist will come first, but really it’s going to be God’s two witnesses warning everyone and then he will show up and he will be like Solomon. In Biltz’s book: “Decoding the Antichrist and the End Times,” he talks about how Solomon is a type of Antichrist using scripture.
Someone who comes and solves all the Middle East problems appearing to be a peace maker. He could preach Judaism, Christianity and Islam, and loving one another. “I really think a lot of people are going to be deceived,” he says.
For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
Matthew 24:3
3 As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”
Matthew 24:36
36 “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.
Matthew 24:32-33
“Now learn this lesson from the fig tree:
As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near.
Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door.
This is the return of Israel to the land,
the State, then the Gospel being preached in Israel again,
and coming to faith in Yeshua the Messiah.
“Of the many peculiar phenomena which characterize the present generation, few events can claim equal significance as far as Biblical prophecy is concerned with that of the return of Israel to their homeland. It constitutes a preparation for the end of the age…Israel, God’s ‘super-sign’ of the end times, is a clear indicator that time is growing short.”
Departure from Truth
1 Timothy 4:1-2
1 The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught falsehood.
Application: Why this is important for the end
Departure from truth
Truth is now relative
Departure from truth
Truth is now relative
Good is called evil and evil is called good
Isaiah 5:20
20 Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.
Global economy
Revelation 13:16-17
Global economy
Global communication
Revelation 1:7
7 “Look, he is coming with the clouds,” and “every eye will see him, even those who pierced him”; and all peoples on earth “will mourn because of him.”
:
Matthew 24:44
44 So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.
The year 5775 in the Jewish calendar
was a Shmita year –
a special, one-in-seven kind of a year.
God instructed Israel to let the fields lie fallow every seventh year, and "give the land its sabbath rest."
This is called the “shmita” year in Hebrew,
which means a year of “release”.
Not only is it a "massive test of faith to not work the land for an entire year" but it also has "blessings for those in poverty and debt," the poor are free to glean all the naturally growing crops they want for "no charge" and all "debts among the people of Israel are cancelled"
They are released.
That can only be good, right?
The 24th September signalled the Jewish New Year,
(same day as hurricane Ian)
before the Sukkah at least in the "eyes of the Rabbis" and the beginning of the Shmita year. Chapter 25 of the Book of Leviticus promises bountiful harvests to those who observe the shmita, and describes its observance as a test of religious faith.
The most recent Shmita year was 2021–2022
or Anno mundi 5782 in Hebrew calendar.
The year 5789 on the Jewish calendar (Sept. 20, 2028–Sept. 9, 2029)
will be the next Sabbatical year. As such, "The tribulation" is 7 years.
The year following the destruction of the second Holy Temple (3829 from creation, equivalent to 68–69 CE) was the first year of the seven-year Sabbatical cycle. We continue counting sevens from then.
Most of the Sabbatical year’s observances are agricultural in nature, and are -relevant only- in Israel.
'For those in the Diaspora," the Sabbatical year has two practical ramifications: a) Produce which is imported from Israel must have "rabbinical certification, and is also subject to certain laws and restrictions" due their "sanctity." b) The "laws of debt" absolution are in effect in all locations.
WHAT DOES THIS REALLY MEAN IN ISRAEL TODAY?
When we look at the history of the -shmita year- and how it was viewed in Jewish literature, both ancient and modern,
it’s "easy to think" that there’s A LOT of "cheating" going on!
All kinds of ways have been invented to circumvent actually
"foregoing the year’s produce,"
so that things could continue without
"technically breaking the commandment."
For example, things grown in "greenhouses" are "technically exempt"
from the shmita law, -according to- rabbinic 'rulings.'
Some people leave the "GATE of their field gates OPEN" as a signal that it no longer “belongs” --to them-- and "others can come" and help themselves!
But when you stop to think about what it would actually mean to properly and -fully- obey that commandment, it would take a gigantic "leap of faith" to stop all agriculture for an entire year.
Terrifying, in fact. How will they eat??
Without "supernatural help and PROVISION" it looks pretty alarming!
God, predictably, had thought of that. Here’s what He says in Leviticus 25:20-22 –
“‘And if you say, “What "shall we eat in the seventh year" since we shall not -sow nor gather- in our produce?” Then I will command My blessing on you in the sixth year, and it will -bring forth produce- enough for three years. And you shall sow in the eighth year, and eat old produce until the ninth year;
'until its produce comes in" you shall "eat of the -old- harvest.”
He -promises to provide- But He also wants the inhabitants of the Land to remember -who it really -belongs to.
The very next verses say,
“‘The land shall not be sold permanently, for the land is Mine; for you are strangers and sojourners with Me. And in all the land of your possession you shall "grant redemption of the land.”
Like a fast, or a weekly shabbat rest, holding back from the temptation to work in the shmita year allows God’s people
"more opportunity to lift their -eyes above- the -chores- of everyday life" up to heaven and "eternal matters."
It takes faith and discipline, but we can "look to God for provision and for fruitfulness as we obey -Him- even when it costs us."
However, this was not an optional extra in God’s book. Failing to keep the weekly Sabbath and also the Sabbath year of rest for the fields had -serious consequences- for the people of Israel. In fact, the Bible tells us that the reason for the "70 year exile" in Babylon was to let the land "catch up" on the 70 sabbath years’
rest that it should have had… and did not get.
2 Chronicles 36:21 says that the exile was,
“To -fulfill the word- of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah,
until the land had enjoyed its Sabbaths.
All the days that it lay desolate it kept Sabbath, to fulfill seventy years.”
As a prophet, Jeremiah pronounced God's judgment upon the people of his time for their wickedness.
He was concerned especially with false and insincere worship and
failure to trust Yahweh in national affairs.
He denounced social injustices
but not so much as some previous prophets, such as Amos and Micah.
All the law is fulfilled
in the Law, and the Prophets.
The Gospel of Matthew says that
the temple leaders action
was a fulfillment of this prophecy:
"Then what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: ‘
They took the thirty pieces of silver,
the price set on him by the people of Israel,
and they used them to buy the potter’s field,
as the Lord commanded me’”
(Matthew 27:9–10).
However, the prophecy that Matthew alludes to
regarding 30 pieces of silver
is most likely from Zechariah 11:12–13,
which reads, “I told them,
"If you think it best, give me my pay;
but if not, keep it.’
So they paid me thirty pieces of silver.
And the Lord said to me,
‘Throw it to the potter’--
the handsome price at
which they valued me!
So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them to the potter at the house of the Lord.” Why would Matthew appear to attribute
the prophecy of the 30 pieces of silver to Jeremiah instead of Zechariah?
The answer is found in the
structure of the Hebrew Bible.
The Hebrew Bible is divided into three sections called the Law, Writings, and Prophets. Jesus refers to these divisions in Luke 24:44. The collection of the Prophets began with the book of Jeremiah.
The scrolls were sometimes referred to by the name of the first book,
which in the case of the Prophets would be Jeremiah.
So, when Matthew says that “Jeremiah says,”
he means that the prophecy was found in the “Jeremiah Scroll.”
It is also interesting that the one gospel writer to note this event was Matthew,
who had previously worked as a tax collector.
He would have been very familiar with monetary transactions and likely well aware of the purchase price of the Field,
which he immediately connected with
Zechariah’s prophecy of 30 pieces of silver.
Matthew used this connection to show one of the ways
the coming of Jesus fulfilled numerous predictions
in the Old Testament,
affirming Jesus as the true Messiah.
Judas Iscariot was one of the original twelve disciples who followed and were taught by Jesus.
Being in Jesus’ “inner circle,”
Judas had a closer relationship to Jesus than most
people during His ministry.
Judas betrayed the Lord to the Jewish authorities.
The pre-arranged signal was that the person Judas kissed
was to be arrested and taken away
(Mark 14:44).
In this way the Son of Man was betrayed with a kiss
(Luke 22:48).
In the culture of first-century Israel, a kiss was not always a romantic expression of love; rather, a kiss on the cheek was a common greeting, a sign of deep respect, honor, and brotherly love (see Luke 7:45; Romans 16:16; 1 Corinthians 16:20; 2 Corinthians 13:12; 1 Thessalonians 5:26; 1 Peter 5:14).
For a student who had great respect for his teacher, a kiss fell well within the healthy expression of honor.
What really stands out in the mode of Judas’s betrayal
is that Judas used such an intimate expression of love and respect
to betray Jesus.
Judas’s actions were hypocritical in the extreme—his actions said, “I respect and honor you,” at the exact time he was betraying Jesus to be murdered. Judas’s actions illustrate Proverbs 27:6,
“Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses.”
Often, foes disguise themselves as friends. Evil often wears a mask to conceal its true purpose.
In Luke 22:3, we see that Satan entered into Judas before Judas went to see the chief priests and set things up to betray Jesus.
Satan possessed Judas in hopes of using him
to destroy Jesus’ ministry and get Him out of the way,
and Satan used a kiss—a sign of affection--to unleash a "surge of hatred."
However, there is nothing the Evil One does
that God doesn’t know about or
have complete control over.
God allowed Satan to possess Judas and use him to betray Jesus in such a deceptive and hypocritical way in order to bring about our redemption.
The betrayal itself was
prophesied hundreds of years
before its fulfillment
(Psalm 41:9).
When Jesus was betrayed by a kiss,
He identified with the troubles of David,
who wrote,
“If an enemy were insulting me, I could endure it; if a foe were rising against me, I could hide. But it is you, a man like myself, my companion, my close friend, with whom I once enjoyed sweet fellowship at the house of God,
as we walked about among the worshipers”
(Psalm 55:12–14).
Job’s emotional pain also foreshadowed Jesus’ sorrow:
"Those I love have turned against me”
(Job 19:19).
Once Judas gave the kiss, the deed was done.
Jesus was betrayed
into the government’s hands to be crucified.
Before his crucifixion, Jesus said,
"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.
For truly I tell you,
until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter,
not the least stroke of a pen,
will by any means disappear from the Law
until everything is accomplished”
(Matthew 5:17–18).
This important statement of our Lord gives us
insight into His mission and the
character of God’s Word.
Jesus’ declaration that
He came to fulfill the Law and the Prophets,
not to abolish them,
obviously contains two statements in one.
There is something Jesus did and something He did not do.
At the same time,
Jesus emphasized the
eternal nature of
the Word of God.
Jesus goes out of His way
to promote
the authority of
the "Law of God."
He did not come to abolish the Law,
regardless of what the Pharisees accused Him of.
In fact, Jesus continues His statement with a commendation for those who teach the Law accurately and hold it in reverence:
"Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven,
but whoever practices and teaches these commands
will be called great in the kingdom of heaven”
(Matthew 5:19).
Note the qualities that Jesus attributes to the Word of God,
referenced as “the Law and the Prophets”:
1) The Word is everlasting; it will outlast the natural world.
2) The Word was written with intent;
it was meant to be fulfilled.
3) The Word possesses plenary authority; even the smallest letter of it is established.
4) The Word is faithful and trustworthy;
“everything”
it says will be accomplished.
No one hearing Jesus’ words
in the Sermon on the Mount
could doubt His commitment to the Scriptures.
Consider what Jesus did not do in His ministry.
In Matthew 5:17,
Jesus says that He did not come to abolish the Law and the Prophets. In other words, Jesus’ purpose was not to abrogate the Word, dissolve it,
or render it invalid.
The Prophets will be fulfilled;
the Law will continue to accomplish the purpose for which it was given
(see Isaiah 55:10–11).
Next, consider what Jesus did do.
Jesus says that He came to fulfill the Law and the
Prophets.
In other words, Jesus’ purpose was to
establish the Word,
to embody it,
and to
fully accomplish all that was written.
“Christ is the culmination
of the law”
(Romans 10:4).
The predictions of the Prophets concerning the Messiah
would be realized in Jesus;
the holy standard of the Law would be perfectly upheld by Christ, the strict requirements personally obeyed,
and the ceremonial observances finally and fully satisfied.
Jesus Christ fulfilled the Prophets in that, in His first coming alone, He fulfilled hundreds of prophecies concerning Himself (e.g., Matthew 1:22; 13:35; John 19:36; Luke 24:44).
Jesus Christ fulfilled the Law in at least two ways:
as a teacher and as a doer.
He taught people to obey the Law (Matthew 22:35–40; Mark 1:44), and He obeyed the Law Himself (John 8:46; 1 Peter 2:22). In living a perfect life, Jesus fulfilled the moral laws; in His sacrificial death, Jesus fulfilled the ceremonial laws.
Christ came not to destroy the old religious system
but to build upon it;
He came to finish the
Old Covenant and establish the New.
Jesus came not to destroy the Law and the Prophets but to fulfill them.
In fact, the ceremonies, sacrifices, and other elements of the
Old Covenant were “only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves”
(Hebrews 10:1).
The tabernacle and temple were “holy places made with hands,” but they were never meant to be permanent; they were but “copies of the true things” (Hebrews 9:24, ESV).
The Law had a built-in expiration date,
being filled as it was with “external regulations applying
until the time of the new order”
(Hebrews 9:10).
In His fulfillment of the Law and Prophets, Jesus
obtained our eternal salvation.
No more were priests required to offer sacrifices and enter the holy place (Hebrews 10:8–14). Jesus has done that for us, once and for all.
By grace through faith,
we are made right with God:
"He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross”
(Colossians 2:14).
There are some who argue that, since Jesus did not “abolish” the Law, then the Law is still in effect—and still binding on New Testament Christians.
But Paul is clear that the
believer in Christ
is no longer under the Law:
“We were held in custody under the Law,
locked up until faith should be revealed.
So the Law became our guardian to lead us to Christ,
that we might be justified by faith.
Now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian”
(Galatians 3:23–25, BSB).
We are not under the Mosaic Law but under
“the law of Christ”
(see Galatians 6:2).
If the Law is still binding on us today, then it has not yet accomplished its purpose--it has not yet been fulfilled.
If the Law,
as a legal system,
is still binding on us today,
then Jesus was wrong in claiming to fulfill it
and
His sacrifice on the cross
was insufficient to save.
Thank God,
Jesus fulfilled
the whole Law and now grants us
His righteousness as a
free gift.
“Know that a person is not justified
by the works of the law,
but by faith in Jesus Christ.
So we, too,
have put our faith in Christ Jesus
that we may be justified by faith in Christ
and not by the works of the law,
because by the works of the law no one will be justified”
(Galatians 2:16).
God really wants us to release,
to let go,
and to TRUST Him by "following HIS WAYS"
even when it is scary.
We need to let go of control and admit that
not only the "Holy Land is His"
but our lives
and indeed "all the world is His."
He made it, He owns it,
and if He says put your tools down and rest, we need to obey.
We can "trust Him to look after us" -when we walk- in obedience.
Here is the instruction for us in Psalm 46:10,
"Be still [or let be, let go, "release"] and -know- that
I AM God;
I will be "exalted among the nations"
"I will be exalted in the earth!”
This is just what Isaiah,
Jeremiah, and Ezekiel promised he would do.
Ezekiel looks to the
future salvation of God's people and
speaks God's word
(in 37:23f.):
"I will save them from all the backslidings in which they have sinned,
and will cleanse them and they shall be my people and I will be their God.
My servant David shall be king over them; and
they shall have one shepherd"
(see 34:23).
Jeremiah stresses that the
coming king will fulfill the condition of righteousness
(in Jeremiah 23:5–6):
"Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord,
when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch,
and he shall reign as king and deal wisely and shall execute justice
and righteousness in the land.
In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will dwell securely.
And this is the name by which he will be called:
"The Lord is our righteousness'"
(see 33:21, 25–26).
But it was Isaiah who saw the glory of the Son of David more clearly than anyone and virtually identified him as God (in 9:6–7):
"For unto us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government will be upon his shoulder,
and his name will be called '
"Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.'
Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end,
upon the throne of David
and over his kingdom to establish it and to uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
from this time forth and forevermore."
So the surety of the covenant with David lies ultimately in the fact that
God himself will come as king and sit upon the throne.
When a covenant is conditional
and yet is also certain,
you can be sure God himself will
intervene to fulfill the conditions.
When the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary in Luke 1:31–33,
he said,
"Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David,
and he will reign over the house of Jacob for ever,
and of his kingdom there will be no end."
Therefore, beyond any shadow of a doubt the Bible
teaches that the promise to David
that his descendant would rule forever
is fulfilled in Jesus Christ.
As the Son of David
(Romans 1:3)
and the Lord of David
(Matthew 22:45; Psalm 110:1)
Jesus now reigns as king in heaven
(1 Corinthians 15:25)
over the true house of Israel.
Consider Acts 15:14–18.
You recall that at the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15
the issue was whether Gentiles had to be circumcised
in order to be saved.
The apostles saw themselves
as heirs of the Old Testament promise to Israel:
the Messiah, Son of David, had come;
he had died for Israel's sin and had been raised from the dead;
he ruled in heaven and was coming again
to judge and reign on earth.
The big question was:
could Gentiles benefit from all this
without becoming Jews through circumcision?
At the Jerusalem Council Peter told how the Gentiles had
received the Spirit
just like the Jews had
(15:8).
Paul and Barnabas told of their success among the Gentiles.
Then James dealt the
final blow to Jewish exclusivism
in 15:14–18 with a reference
to the Davidic covenant and its relation to Gentiles:
"Simeon [Peter] has related how God first visited the Gentiles to take out of them a people for his name. And with this the words of the prophets agree, as it is written [quoting Amos 9:11],
"After this I will return and I will build the dwelling of David
which is fallen;
I will rebuild its ruins, and I will set it up,
that the rest of men may seek the Lord,
and all the Gentiles who are called by my name.'"
God's job description which he revealed to David
included not just the responsibility
to establish a righteous ruler in Israel forever,
but also to put that ruler over
the church and then over all the world.
Isaiah said, "Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end." It will be worldwide. And the angel says in Revelation 11:15,
"The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign for ever and ever."
When
God has completed all the responsibilities in his job description, the house of David will be planet earth.
And the subjects of the king
will not just be Jews but people from
every tongue and tribe and nation
(Revelation 7:9).
The mission of the church today is to submit ourselves to
the Son of David
who right now rules invisibly from heaven
until he puts every enemy under his feet.
And our mission is to announce the
good news
to people in every neighborhood and
every nation
that they can be happy subjects of
Christ's kingdom forever if they transfer their allegiance
from the kingdom of this world
to the kingdom of Christ.
To put it another way, personal holiness means learning the attitudes and customs of a new kingdom—the kingdom of Christ.
And personal evangelism means telling people that the rightful king of the world against whom they have rebelled is willing to grant amnesty to all who return and live under his rule.
Jesus Christ,
the Son of David,
the eternal King of the world
will come from heaven and establish a reign of
joy and righteousness and peace
over all his loyal subjects forever and ever.
And until he comes, the worldwide mission of the church is to
extend complete, free,
universal amnesty to people from every nation.
Turn to Isaiah 55:1–3.
The point of this invitation is that the very sovereignty and wisdom and love of God which assured David of an eternal kingdom can also assure you of God's eternal kindness as a part of that kingdom.
Listen:
"Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come buy wine and milk without money and without price.
Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
Hearken diligently to me and eat what is good,
and delight yourselves in fatness.
Incline your ear and come to me; hear that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant,
my steadfast sure love for David."
The very mercy and faithfulness
that guarantees David an eternal kingdom
can guarantee you all the joy and righteousness and peace of that kingdom.
God is saying to you this morning: if you will come to me empty-handed and hungry, willing to receive what I give, then I will write for myself in your presence a job description and bind myself with an oath to
treat you forever with the
same mercy and faithfulness that I have demonstrated in my covenant with David.
And listen to the entreaty of the Lord Jesus himself in the last chapter of the Bible (Revelation 22:16f.):
"I am the root and the offspring of David,
the bright and morning star . . . let him who is thirsty come,
let him who desires take the water of life without price."
Come to the Son of David, come to the King of kings,
and he will sign with his own blood your personal copy of the job description he has written for himself—to be God to you. And he will give it to you as an eternal covenant, never to turn away from doing you good.
It is the first day of the first Shemitah (Sabbath) year
on the Biblical calendar to be celebrated in a
"meaningful way"
since the
"Romans razed Jerusalem in AD 70."
The Time of the crucifixion, 2,000 years ago.
What is the Shemitah and why is it significant?
The Shemitah is an ancient Biblical mandate
given by God to the people of Israel
through Moses at Mount Sinai.
It is a God-ordained year of rest for the land that is to be "observed"
every "seven years."
During this Sabbath rest for the land, it
is not to be
sown, cultivated or harvested.
Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘When you enter the land I am going to give you, the land itself must observe a Sabbath to the LORD. For six years sow your fields, and for six years prune your "vineyards and gather their crops." But in the seventh year the land is to have a year of sabbath rest, a sabbath to the LORD. Do not sow your fields or prune your vineyards.
Do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the grapes of your untended vines.
The land is to have a year of rest.’
(Leviticus 25:1–5)
5782: As in the
Days of Noah
“But as the days of Noah were, so also will
the coming of the Son of Man be.
For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking,
marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and -did not know until the flood came- and took them all away,
so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.”
Matthew 24:37-39
'It was a -collision of God's Word- and His "revealed Word"
This is a leap year in the Hebraic traditions with two Adar months, Adar 1 and Adar II. It is also a Shmita year or a year of rest.
Noah's name means "rest." This fact accentuates the sense of the "Days of Noah." During a Shmita year, the land is left to lie fallow.
We are preparing for a new year, a "new season" the Hebraic year 5782 is ahead. In Hebraic tradition, fruit and vegetables that grow on their own may be picked by anyone. It is also a time when "debts are forgiven."
As a Shmitah year, God is taking what has been "worked in our spiritual soil" and "readying it to produce more."
What is the Lord saying?
When Noah appeared on the biblical scene, God was -so grieved- with what had happened to -His creation- He wanted to destroy it: “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them” (Genesis 6:7).
Amid the -CHAOS- however, Noah FOUND
"favor and grace in the eyes of the Lord" (Genesis 6:8).
How did Noah grab God’s attention? Genesis 6:9 explains: “Noah walked with God.” Noah walked differently than others. He walked in closeness with the spirit of God, he KNEW him intimately, and he gave him
all the Glory!
The word walk in Hebrew is hâlaḵ. Strong’s describes this word as continually, to be conversant, exercise, FOLLOW. In other words, the distinctives of this walk is that it was "intentional." There is purpose and engagement in the walk that came from the heart. God saw Noah's love for him.
It is the same word used when Adam and Eve, after the fall, “heard the sound of the Lord God walking” (Genesis 3:8). God was on a purposeful walk towards Adam and Eve. He knew what had happened but with intentionality was moving towards them to restore.
Similarly today, in the midst of chaos, God is calling us to “halak” with Him. The “halak” walk is a walk that carries a weight for change and "transition." Amid the turmoil today, there is a "transition taking place that is shifting the course of lives," and even all nations into the end-time narrative.
Can you hear the sound of the walk?
What is its nature? How do we navigate the rhythms of heaven?
From Noah's life we can glean an understanding...
The Halak Walk
"Carries the Presence of God."
Genesis 6:9 Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. '
"Noah walked with the spirit of God."
Noah Opens his ears to "hear the voice of God:" Noah listened to God.
Genesis 6:13-20: Noah understood the importance of obeying God and followed His instructions, in spite of opposition. Hebrews 11:7; By faith Noah, being "divinely warned of things not yet seen," moved with godly fear, prepared an "ark for the saving" of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the "righteousness which is according to faith."
Would you recognize God's Ark today? What could save us from tragedy? We can we find that hope?
Noah Understands the importance of "rest as a place of covenantal RENEWAL." Rest involves "trust...trusting God knows what He is doing and WHAT He is CALLING us to do." How do we discern what the living God is calling us to do? If we follow in the ways of Abraham, we live by faith and trust, not by sight. If we can do that,
God provides provision and vision.
The name "Jehovah Jireh"
is first seen in Genesis 22:14 when God provides a ram in the thicket in place of the sacrifice of his son:
And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh:
as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen.
So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. And to this day it is said,
"On the mountain of the LORD
it will be provided."
When God introduces himself (the Bible is His word, after all) as Jehovah Jireh, meaning “the Lord will provide,” it’s not in the context of snacks or cars or money or bills. It’s in the context of the most profound physical need a person can face – the loss of life. In Genesis 22, we read the story of Abraham being commanded by God to take his son Isaac to Mount Moriah and sacrifice him. Isaac was the son of promise, a miraculous gift from God when Abraham and Sarah were old. He was the promised child whom God had promised to make into a great nation. He was God’s provision, or so it seemed until God said to lay him on the altar and offer him as a sacrifice.
“After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, ‘Abraham!’ And he said, “Here I am.” He said, ‘Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.’… When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son” (Genesis 22:1-2; 9-10).
Abraham obeyed.
Hebrews 11 tells us that he acted in faith that God would raise Isaac. He obeyed in the belief that God would provide a miracle of some kind, and God did – a ram caught in a thicket as a substitute sacrifice.
As these two, Abraham and Isaac, were traveling up the hill, the son bearing the wood, and the father with the sad burden of the fire and the knife, the boy said: 'Where is the lamb?' and Abraham, thrusting down his emotion and steadying his voice, said: 'My son, God will provide Himself a lamb.' When the wonderful issue of the trial was plain before him, and he looked back upon it, the one thought that rose in his mind was of how, beyond his meaning, his words had been true. So he named that place by a name that spoke nothing of his trial, but everything of God's provision—' The Lord will see,' or 'The Lord will provide.'
There is nothing in this life that we need so much as to do the will of our Father in heaven. All outward wants are poor compared with that.
The one thing worth living for,
the one thing which being secured we are blessed, and being missed we are miserable, is compliance in heart with the commandment of our Father; and that compliance wrought out in life. So, of all gifts that He bestows upon us, and of all the abundant provision out of His rich storehouses, is not this the best, that we are made ready for any required service? When we get to the place we shall find some lamb ' caught in the thicket by its horns'; and heaven itself will supply what is needful for our burnt offering. God Himself will provide a Lamb - the spotless sacrifice of Jesus for the sins of the world.
Abraham christened the anonymous mountain-top, not by a name that reminded him or others of his trial, but by a name that proclaimed God's deliverance - Jehovah Jireh. He did not say anything about his agony or about his obedience. Let us name the heights that lie behind us, visible to memory, by names that commemorate, not the troubles that we had on them, but the deliverances that on them we received from God.
“But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called the name of that place, “The Lord will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided” (Genesis 22:11-14).
“By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, of whom it was said, ‘Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.’ He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back” (Hebrews 11:17-19).
God the provider, Jehovah Jireh, gave life. He saved the promised son from being a sacrifice. He preserved His promise to make Isaac a great nation. He acted faithfully in response to Abraham’s faith in His provision.
At our worst we think of God’s provision as if he is a waiter: we signal him to our life, place our orders in “faith,” and receive what we have requested. More often, though, we are not so trite. We do think of God providing for us – jobs, family, friends, care, church, abilities, answered prayers. These things are significant and meaningful; they are absolutely a portion of God’s provision to us. But too often we stop there, and in doing so we stop short of the deep reality of what “the Lord shall provide” truly means.
In Matthew 6 Jesus tells his disciples
“Do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on . . . Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they . . . Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.”
In these verses, Jesus shows one end of the spectrum of God’s provision. He cares for the smallest and even the inanimate in his creation. He clothes and feeds them. His eye is on them as treasured created things. So why should we worry about His provision? Are we not image bearers, uniquely made to be God’s children? He provides as a father ought – exactly those things that are best for His children without hesitation and always at the right time.
In Jesus’ teaching we see one side of God’s provision.
In Jesus’ mission on earth we see the other.
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). Jesus came so that we might “have life and have it in abundance” (John 10:10). And this provision, this inestimable gift of His son, was more than kindness.
It was a rescue, a ransom, a debt paid, a punishment
born as a substitute for the guilty – us.
The same God who smiles on the brilliance of wildflowers and feeds a baby sparrow sent His Son as the atoning sacrifice for sins already committed (Romans 3:25). Jesus was the last and final sacrifice, the flawless lamb able to redeem all sinners and pay for all sins once for all time. Jesus is God’s perfect and complete provision, the answer to every person’s deepest question and the fulfillment of their deepest needs.
In Genesis Abraham’s only son was set to be sacrificed and was saved by God’s miraculous provision. In the gospels God’s only Son was sacrificed as the miraculous provision for all people.
When we say Jehovah Jireh, The Lord will provide, we can be certain it is true. We can see it in the flowers and birds. And we can see it at the cross – Jesus is His great provision.
Genesis 6:18 But I will "establish My covenant" with you; and you shall go into the ark. Noah had faith, he accepted God's loving and free provision without working for it. He accepted the call of the living God.
Genesis 8:20 Then Noah "built an altar" to the Lord. He gave the living God Glory.
Noah’s halak walk with God carried him through 100 years of chaos, opposition, and resistant culture, listening and obeying God through it all. Despite the chaos, Noah knew the “rest” of God. He knew the rhythms of rest in order to "see the fulfillment" of his calling.
Today as "birth pangs" awaiting the second coming of the Messiah hit the nations and rattle the frontlines of the news, we are increasingly needing to know how to enter the “rest” of God lest we get tired and weary and fall back into the wings of complacency, and a “busyness” that will eventually dry up our spiritual lives.
This is a year of awakening!
The "rest" of God is preparing the soil we have all tilled and labored for so we can produce more.
New levels of trust with God and one another will prepare us to multiply productivity in the "season ahead."
Let us not grow weary. Rather, let us understand His rest. It requires us to stay engaged and continually pursue our walk with Him. The awakening is coming! May the “Halak” walk be upon you to encourage and strengthen you in days of adversity.
In Daniel 9:24-27, Daniel lays out the first coming of the Messiah and the events that will occur leading up to the time of Jesus’ second coming. The 70 weeks prophecy in the book of Daniel refers to a period of seventy years and the desolation of Jerusalem.
In Daniels 70 weeks, there is one week left and it’s a Shmita cycle, it’s not any random 7 years. “Which means if the tribulation doesn’t start this year (2023), it can’t start for seven more years because the first year of the tribulation has to begin the first year of a Shmita cycle,” Biltz says.
“The tribulation can’t start any day, any month or any year, God is on a schedule,” he says.
Will the "tribulation" start this year? We will have to wait and watch for the signs, if not, the tribulation won’t start for seven more years.
“Just like the seven years of famine for Joseph lasted seven years after the seven years of prosperity, we have to realize God works in seven year segments, He’s not random,”
How do we know
if we are in the tribulation?
Some false covenant will be made
to divide the land of Israel...
If we "see" one of the two witnesses talked about in the Bible.
In Revelation 11:3–12 is a description
of two individuals
who will help accomplish
God’s work during the tribulation:
"I will appoint my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days,
clothed in sackcloth”
Moses and Elijah
are seen as possibilities for the two witnesses due to the specific miracles that John says the witnesses will perform. The witnesses will have the power to turn water into blood (Revelation 11:6), which duplicates a famous miracle of Moses (Exodus 7). And the witnesses will have the power to destroy their enemies with fire (Revelation 11:5), which corresponds to an event in Elijah’s life (2 Kings 1). Also giving strength to this view is the fact that Moses and Elijah both appeared with Jesus at the transfiguration (Matthew 17:3–4). Further, Jewish tradition expects Moses and Elijah to return, based on the prophecy of Elijah’s coming in Malachi 4:5 and God’s promise to raise up a prophet like Moses (Deuteronomy 18:15, 18), which some Jews believe necessitates Moses’ return.
Zechariah has a vision in which he sees a solid gold lampstand. On top is a bowl of oil, and an olive tree stands on each side (verses 3–4). The lampstand gives its light without human maintenance, being constantly supplied by the olive oil flowing from the trees into the bowl. God’s message to Zechariah was that God’s work (rebuilding the temple) would be accomplished “
not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit”
(verse 6).
Zechariah asks about the meaning of the olive trees and the branches supplying the oil, and the angel who speaks to him says, “These are the two anointed ones who stand by the Lord of the whole earth” (Zechariah 4:14, ESV). In other words, God’s power to sustain His work is flowing through two individuals set apart for the task. In Zechariah’s context, these two individuals are Joshua (the current high priest) and Zerubbabel (the current governor of Judah). We can also see a
foreshadowing of Jesus Christ here, as the
Messiah would combine
the offices of priest and king.
Then we come to Revelation 11:4. In the description of the two witnesses, John says,
"They are ‘the two olive trees’
and the two lampstands,
and ‘they stand before the Lord of the earth.’”
John quotes from Zechariah 4.
The two witnesses of Revelation, like Joshua and Zerubbabel, will have God’s power flowing through them to accomplish God’s work.
'If we see some people showing up in Jerusalem this Passover, we have to see what they teach because what’s scary is that the anti-Christ and the false prophet are going to do miracles so you can’t follow the miracles,” Biltz says.
“When you study what Elijah and Moses do, they cause major problems. They turn water to blood, they kill those who oppose them and make fire fall from the sky,” he says. We know it is then the Antichrist shows up and he’s the one that kills the witnesses and people think he’s the messiah.
Many think the Antichrist will come first, but really it’s going to be
God’s two witnesses warning everyone
and then he will show up and he will be like Solomon.
In Biltz’s book: “Decoding the Antichrist and the End Times,” he talks about how Solomon is a type of Antichrist using scripture.
Someone who comes and solves all the Middle East problems appearing to be a peace maker. He could preach Judaism, Christianity and Islam, and loving one another. “I really think a lot of people are going to be deceived,” he says.
End times signs?
In Daniel 9:24-27,
Daniel lays out the first coming of the Messiah and the events that will occur leading up to the time of Jesus’ second coming. The 70 weeks prophecy in the book of Daniel refers to a period of seventy years and the desolation of Jerusalem.
In Daniels 70 weeks,
there is one week left and it’s a Shmita cycle,
it’s not any random 7 years.
"Which means if the tribulation doesn’t start this year (2023),
it can’t start for seven more years because
the first year of the tribulation has to begin the first year of a Shmita cycle,”
“The tribulation can’t start any day, any month or any year,
God is on a schedule,” he says.
Will it start this year?
We will have to wait and watch for the signs, if not, the tribulation won’t start for seven more years.
The spiritual will come before the physical
“Just like the seven years of famine for Joseph lasted seven years after the seven years of prosperity, we have to realize God works in seven year segments, He’s not random,”
How do we know if we are in the tribulation?
Some kind of covenant will be made to divide the literal land of Israel.
If we see one of the two witnesses talked about in the Bible. “If we see some people showing up in Jerusalem this Passover, we have to see what they teach because what’s scary is that the anti-Christ and the false prophet are going to do miracles so you can’t follow the miracles,” Biltz says. “When you study what Elijah and Moses do, they cause major problems. They turn water to blood, they kill those who oppose them and make fire fall from the sky,” he says. We know it is then the Antichrist shows up and he’s the one that kills the witnesses and people think he’s the messiah.
Many think the Antichrist will come first, but really it’s going to be God’s two witnesses warning everyone and then he will show up and he will be like Solomon. In Biltz’s book: “Decoding the Antichrist and the End Times,” he talks about how Solomon is a type of Antichrist using scripture.
Someone who comes and solves all the Middle East problems appearing to be a peace maker. He could preach Judaism, Christianity and Islam, and loving one another. “I really think a lot of people are going to be deceived,” he says.
For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
Matthew 24:3
3 As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”
Matthew 24:36
36 “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.
Matthew 24:32-33
“Now learn this lesson from the fig tree:
As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near.
Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door.
This is the return of Israel to the land,
the State, then the Gospel being preached in Israel again,
and coming to faith in Yeshua the Messiah.
“Of the many peculiar phenomena which characterize the present generation, few events can claim equal significance as far as Biblical prophecy is concerned with that of the return of Israel to their homeland. It constitutes a preparation for the end of the age…Israel, God’s ‘super-sign’ of the end times, is a clear indicator that time is growing short.”
Departure from Truth
1 Timothy 4:1-2
1 The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught falsehood.
Application: Why this is important for the end
Departure from truth
Truth is now relative
Departure from truth
Truth is now relative
Good is called evil and evil is called good
Isaiah 5:20
20 Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.
Global economy
Revelation 13:16-17
Global economy
Global communication
Revelation 1:7
7 “Look, he is coming with the clouds,” and “every eye will see him, even those who pierced him”; and all peoples on earth “will mourn because of him.”
:
Matthew 24:44
44 So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.
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