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This article is part of the devotional: Under the Vine published through Messianic Jewish Resources . Click like on the 'like' button on its FB :
https://www.facebook.com/MessianicJewishResources?fref=ts Revelations 14: 4 These have been redeemed from mankind as firstfruits for God and the Lamb. In the beginning of the Book of Numbers, we learn about the redemption of the firstborn (Numbers 3:43–51). Joseph and Miriam brought Yeshua, their firstborn to the Temple to be redeemed. The functioning priest who performed the redemption that day was Simeon (Luke 2:22–26). Since there is no Temple today there cannot be a functioning priest so the redemption ceremony that Jews currently practice is only ceremonial one as they wait for the days of the third Temple. Though non-applicable at this time, the principle is still rich. Israel, as the biological descent of Jacob is called God’s firstborn (Exodus 4:22), and according to the Torah, the firstborn has a special status in the family. They receive a double inheritance and carry the role of patriarchs of the family, clan, or tribe. The role of firstborn is not necessarily according to chronological birth. God often usurped it because of the unrighteousness of the actual firstborn. We see this principle at work in the cases of Isaac against Ishmael, Jacob against Esau and Joseph against Reuben. The idea of firstborn is linked to the idea of firstfruit. A harvest is dedicated to God by the waving of the firstfruit, of the first harvested omer. In the very same manner, a family of sheep or goats is consecrated to God by the giving up and consecration of the one who opens the matrix. The Book of Revelation tells us about the consecrated firstborn of the harvest of the earth. They come from the twelve tribes of Israel (Jacob’s descendants). They have been chosen and sealed by Hashem with his name and that of the Lamb. In essence, they are Messiah believers from the twelve tribes of Israel and they represent the harvest of believers from the whole world before the Father (Revelation 7; 14:1–4). Yeshua himself is their firstborn who represents them before the Father (1 Corinthians 15:20). We are approaching the end of the season of counting the Omer. On the first day of the Counting of the Omer the first sheave of barley was brought to the temple for the dedication of the harvest. Messiah rose on the Day of Firstfruits. Later during the counting of Omer he appointed his intimate disciples, his firstborn harvest from the Land of Israel as his representatives to the rest of the tribes in Diaspora, and to the world (Matthew 28). The fiftieth and last day of the Omer, which is Pentecost, is the time for the firstfruit of Israel’s wheat to be brought to the Temple. On that day also, Israelites and God-fearers from other countries brought their firstfruit to Jerusalem, as they did also during the time of the book of Acts. These became the firstfruit of Diaspora Israelites (Acts 2). Through them, the Words of the Master were carried to the rest of the world until today. Hallelu-Yah! P. Gabriel Lumbroso To order The Lumbrosos new CD, Chag Sameach, click on www.thelumbrosos.com For P. Gabriel Lumbroso's devotional UNDER THE FIG TREE in Kindle edition click here.
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Matthew 6: 24 (KJV) No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. About 3,400 years ago the people of Israel learned that Egypt was an unreliable staff. Not only did they learn that Egypt was no match for God, but that the fish, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic didn’t really cost nothing; it came at the price of servitude to Pharaoh, the god of the land (Exodus 11:5). Ultimately Hashem Himself challenges Pharaoh’s pride, destroys his army, and takes his country down several notches. The only option at freedom for Israel was to throw itself at God’s mercy in total devoted obedience to His will. About eight centuries later, both Israel and Egypt are found to learn the same lesson. Pharaoh Hophra thinks himself to be god and Israel seeks refuge under his provisions. Judea had been told to submit to Babylon and live (Jeremiah 27:12), but stubbornly refused, which eventually caused its destruction and seventy years captivity. Those left from the captivity see themselves again under Babylonian attacks and seek refuge under Ophra of Egypt, thus absolutely rejecting Jeremiah’s advice to stay put in Israel (Jeremiah 42). In the end, Israel finds itself between the Babylonian army coming as locusts to destroy Pharaoh and Egypt (or ‘between ‘Iraq' and a hard place’’) (Jeremiah 46:23; Exodus 10:4, 12-14). The only option for Israel again will be to throw itself at God’s mercy in total devoted obedience to His will. Today Israel faces the same dilemma. Having a divine destiny to re-conquer and re-populate the Promised Land, Israel is discovering that the political credit and financial support it receives from the international community may come at the price of heavy compromises including the giving up of Jerusalem. Again, Israel has to make hard choices, and throw itself at God’s mercy in total devoted obedience to His will. On an homiletical level, this lesson may apply to us all. In the global economy in which we live, when someone sneezes in Asia or the Middle East, our whole economy gets sick with a cold. Suddenly, that far away ‘sneeze’ echoes and sends shivers into our very pocket books and ability to provide for our families here at home. The good news is that as believers and followers of God, we have the admonition from Yeshua to not rely on the shaky uncertainty of an international economy already so sick that it is actually dead, only made to look alive by the life support of political lies and pretences (Matthew 6; 19-34; Philippians 4:19). Most of the time also, successful business in a capitalistic society comes at the price of aggressive financial maneuvers that go against the principles of Torah and of God’s commandment to not practice usury, but to give in love preferring the welfare of others before that of our own. We all therefore have hard choices to make!, and ultimately need to throw ourselves at God’s mercy in total devoted obedience to His will! Mark 11:26 (DHE)
But as for you, if you do not pardon, neither will your Father who is in Heaven forgive your transgressions. When two brothers do not recognize each other, it is like each is exiled from the family unity. The sages taught us that God's Shekinah cannot dwell where there is no unity; in disunity, all are exiled. Joseph was exiled in Egypt, but it is also said that God's Shekinah does not abide on a mourning soul, so through Jacob's continual mourning for Joseph, his whole family was exiled from Hashem's Presence. Only joy, zest for life, and unity between brothers can bring it back down. King David so beautifully expresses these thoughts in, Oh, how good, how pleasant it is for brothers to live together in harmony. It is like fragrant oil on the head that runs down over the beard, over the beard of Aharon, and flows down on the collar of his robes. It is like the dew of Hermon that settles on the mountains of Tziyon. For it was there that Adonai ordained the blessing of everlasting life (Psalms 133:1-3). Aaron was known for being a peacemaking force who often worked reconciliation between people within the tribes of Israel. David knew that so he used the anointed High-Priest as a metaphor to tell us that unity between brethren is fluid. It flows everywhere positively affecting everything in its path. From the head, it descends to every part enveloping all with its shine, smoothness, and healthy properties. It is like two mountains on two opposite ends of a country, one sharing its proverbial abundant dew (material blessings) with the other who shares its divinely appointed blessing (spiritual wealth); everything working in perfect harmony. This is the picture that we see in Joseph and his brothers kissing and reuniting with each other (Genesis 45:15). The son of Rachel acted as a true godly leader. Joseph revealed himself thus putting an end to the four generation old game of concealed identities. He also forgave his brothers stopping the never-ending returning measure of evil for evil. Unity is restored; Hashem is now able to bless Israel and send it to its destiny of growing into the powerful nation that will eventually teach the whole world about Him. May we learn from this. As disciples of Yeshua, we have a job to do of sharing the Spirit of His mission to everyone. We therefore do not have the right to indulge in grudges; it is actually forbidden by the Torah (Leviticus 19:18). The sages mentioned that even entertaining grudges in our hearts was sinful, thus agreeing with the Master (Matthew 5:21) who even implied that holding grudges against our brothers nullifies our offerings and prayers (Matthew 5:23-24). It is funny how in English we use the term 'holding' a grudge; all we have to do is let go of it! 1Timothy 3:6
Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil (KJV). It is easy to see Joseph the son of Jacob as a foreshadow of Messiah. Even classic Judaism presents Joseph as prefiguring the Messiah. Because of the messianic allusions to both Joseph and Judah, Judaism even believes in two Messiahs; first a suffering one: Joseph, and second a ruling one: Judah. We know now that the two ideas are resolved in Yeshua’s first and second coming. Joseph and Judah were the recognized heads over the families conceived by their respective mothers: Leah and Rachel. Tensions were high between the two brothers, which resulted in the dividing of the country. From the onstart, Joseph seemed rather unwise. He flaunted his father Jacob’s preferential love strutting around in his princely coat. He also probably didn’t have to pull in as much of a work load as his brothers. He was treated like a first-born. To add insult to injury, Joseph volunteered his seemingly narcistic dreams at which even Jacob was astounded. His brothers even surnamed him, ‘The Master of Dreams’, which proved in fact true, as the story confirms later (Genesis 37). Joseph was truly the ‘Master’ of dreams’, and he was to be established over his family and the known world of his day for that matter. But in order to fulfill his destiny he still needed the humiliations that only slavery and unjust incarceration could offer. It doesn’t seem to be good enough for Hashem that we fulfill our destiny for Him. This is true of all of us. If we are to represent Him through our life or even verbal messages, we are to represent Him properly by exerting a life of humility and virtue He can be proud of. Before being finally given his God-given destiny, like Joseph, every man needs to go through rejection, slavery and the cruel injustice of man. Only the distress and humiliation of wrong and unjust treatment provides the qualities needed for Godly leadership. Without it, any would-be leader of God’s people is prone to the pitfalls of novices. Come to think of it, the same was told of Messiah (Hebrews 5:8). Yeshua was not to be given the crown without the cross. As a nation, it is also true of God’s people. For centuries, like Joseph and Messiah, the nation of Israel as a whole was afflicted by the world without as cause, just for being Jews. We are told though that it is God who put ‘blindness’ on Israel for awhile so that the nations could have their time (Romans 11:25). This time of humiliation of Israel serves therefore to prepare him for its priestly destiny in the World to Come (Exodus 19:6). As we approach the time of the fulfillment of the Messianic era, the true followers of Messiah will all be unjustly treated, just because they are God’s people (Revelations 12:17). May this coming tribulation, as it did with Joseph, heal us from our arrogance, pride, and immaturity that we may be worthy to rule and reign with Him in the World to Come (Revelations 20:4). Philippians 1:6
And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Yeshua HaMashiach. Moses seems to peer into the future as he warns the Congregation in the desert of their future apostasy and exile. He seems to know that Israel will eventually forget the God that delivered her from Egypt. He knows that she will pervert the beauty of Torah observance, and go after idols according to the willfulness of her own heart (Deuteronomy 2916-29). According to these passages, some people claim that God forsook Israel when it deviated from the straight and narrow path of obedience to Torah and as a result rejected Messiah. I find this strange because God's Oracle through Moses doesn't stop there. It continues. It continues with a prophecy of Israel's repentance and return to the Land (Deuteronomy 30 1-14). As a new bride who carelessly played the harlot in her husband's house while he was away, Israel has been ravished, raped, used, misused, and abused. The nations kidnapped her and made her house desolate: a result of her own willful choices. I don't know about you, but I believe in the God who inspired Paul with the words, "he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Yeshua HaMashiach (Philippians 1:6)". After the Holocaust Israel said, "that is enough"! As the Prodigal Son of the Master's parable, she assessed her fate and made a decision to return home where the Father waits for her with open arms and tears of joy (Luke 15:14-24). As with Jacob returning from exile at Laban's, angels wait for her at the entrance of the Land; God also gives her wisdom on how to deal with Esau's evil intentions (Genesis 32 and 33). As with Nehemiah' crew rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem, God protects her from the Samaritans who try to intimidate her from rebuilding; she works hard at rebuilding her home, one hand with the work tool and the other holding a weapon (Nehemiah 1-6). Many look at Israel today and can hardly think of it as a godly nation. The Israel Hashem so carefully nurtured in the desert has returned soiled with the spiritual, moral and idolatrous filth she has collected during her sojourn in the nations. It is like going to jail and live among criminals. One will be affected. God knew that would happen. But her returning to the home God had appointed for her through Abraham and rebuilding herself as a sovereign nation is the mustard seed of faith that precipitates the rest of the prophecy spoken by Moses, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and many others (Isaiah 27:13; 56:8; Ezekiel 37: 21-24; Jeremiah 31:31-40). After this extensive punishment that God claims being 'double for what she's done (Isaiah 40:2; 61:7), like Job Israel is restored twice above her former glory as in the days of Solomon's reign (Job 42:10). She also regains her place as a Light to the nations, and nations even flock to her for the Feasts of Tabernacle that they may hear the "Torah that comes out of Zion" (Zechariah 14; Isaiah 2:3; Micah 4:2). Thus goes the story, a beautiful story that indeed ends well. We must just be patient and not draw a premature ending. All things truly will be restored. May it happen soon Abba, even in our days! Revelations 7:4
And I heard the number of the sealed, 144,000, sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel: 14:1, 4: Then I looked, and behold, on Mount Zion stood the Lamb, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father's name written on their foreheads. These have been redeemed from mankind as firstfruits for God and the Lamb. After the Ba'al Pe'or incident, five sisters come to Moses with an inheritance question Numbers 25-27). These events required the presence of hands-on leadership, so when God informs Moses that he will soon be gathered with his people, he anticipates the need for a new leader over Israel (Numbers 27:16-17). God's people are often compared to sheep or children. Sheep do not survive very well without the help of a shepherd. They do not know where the green pastures and the still waters are (Psalms 23). Also, not being equipped with a defense system, they need protection from predators. Children also are vulnerable and easily led astray, sometimes by others, but most often by their own inclinations. Time and again Moses saw that just having the commandments was not enough. A strong and faithful leader was always needed to embody these commandments and lead the people to them, without it, they are scattered each one towards their own ways (Judges 17:6). Our present leader-less day marked with divided theologies and many raising themselves as a self-appointed prophets or leaders, very much proves the point. From the times the original disciples of the Master died, the Congregation of Messiah has been plagued with teachers of all kinds teaching all sorts of things mostly through ignorance, but also through anti-Semitic rejection of the original teachings of the sages of classic Judaism, which following the sample of the Master, the disciples often referred to. We today are also in dire need of the 'appointed' leader over God's people. As we pray with Moses for the appointed leader over the congregation (Numbers 27:16-17), we pray for the return of Messiah. It is interesting that Joshua and Yeshua are the same name, the Master's name simply being a shorter Aramaic version. With the appointment of Joshua a military census was taken, and the children of Israel were reminded of their responsibilities towards the appointed festivals (Numbers 28-29). This census counts the fighting force of the congregation of Joshua. In the same manner, we see today a worldwide phenomenon of the followers of Yeshua being reminded of their responsibilities towards the Biblical festivals, and as the Master returns, a census of the tribes is also taken (Revelations 7:4-8). This census is of the Israelites believers who, as the ancient tribes followed Joshua over the Jordan on to the Promised Land, will follow Yeshua into the World to Come of the Kingdom of God on earth. These are the firstfruit, the 'omer' dedicated to God and representing the rest of the harvest of the world (Leviticus 23:10; Revelations 14:4). It is redemption by representation. It is no wonder that throughout generations the devil has tried to get rid of the Israelites: believers from the tribes are the 'omer' representation to be brought before Yeshua the High-Priest to represent the harvest of the world! Ephesians 2:14
For he himself (Messiah) is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility. Everything about the Tabernacle was designed to mirror immortality. It is the reason why offerings were salted and why honey and leaven were forbidden on the altar. Resinous shittim wood also like cedar is resistant to corruption. On the third after the offering meat turns rancid, so after two days (on the third day) any meat from peace offerings was to be burnt. Anyone who partook of the meat of a peace offering on the third invalidated the offering and was regarded as cut off (Leviticus 7:16-21). This brings us into the ‘third day’ reoccurring theme of the Scriptures. Rather than seeing corruption, on the third day meat from a peace offering put on incorruptibility through being burnt. The fire of the altar, a fire which originated from heaven, lifts the offering back to heaven in the form of smoke (Leviticus 9:23-24). In the story of Samson, we see an example of the ‘Angel of the Lord’, (who is really Messiah) rising back to Heaven through the smoke of a burnt offering called in Hebrew the ‘olah’ or the ‘ascent’ (Judges 13:20). The peace offering is the only one in which the offerer partakes. It is symbolic of communion and fellowship with God through a meal. Hospitality was a big thing in the East and to invite someone to eat showed great acceptance. In the same way eating with God shows He accepts us. Moses and seventy-three other people ate with God on the mountain and the whole congregation of Messiah’s people will eat with Him at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb (Exodus 24:11; Revelations 19:9). The Passover Lamb being a shadow of Messiah is a peace offering as people partake of it. Paul often used the imagery of the peace offering to describe Messiah’s role in our lives (1 Corinthians 10:18; Romans 5:1; Ephesians 2:14; Colossians 1:20). In the same way, His body was not allowed to see corruption (Psalms 16:10; 49:9) but as a proper peace offering, He rose from the tomb on the third day. Hoseah prophecied on the resurrection of Israel’s great Diaspora (exile) in the following words: "Come, let us return to the LORD; for he has torn us, that he may heal us; he has struck us down, and he will bind us up. After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him (Hoseah 6:1-2). Seeing as with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day (2 Peter 3:8), the prophet prophesied of the resurrection of Israel on the third millennium of the present exile, third millennium in which we are also witnessing the resurrection of the Jewish state which contains a strong Messianic first fruit element of believers which brings it incorruptibility. In this day, in our day, the peace offering is finally being consumed. At the time appointed, at the sound of the great shofar of the Last Day, it will rise to Him in immortality and find fellowship with God. All those who partake of Messiah’s offering of peace are part of this everlasting promise. Romans 11:15
For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead? Israel could have gone from Goshen Egypt to Israel without any Red Sea crossing. Had they walked straight North-East, they would have been back Home in a few days and the whole ordeal was over. But this wasn’t God’s plan. Not only God needed to bait pharaoh’s army into the Red Sea, but Israel needed to go through a cultural renewal before entering their restored independent lives as the people of God. Part of the program was for Israel, and for the ‘mixed multitude’ from the nations following them to go through a rebirth process (Exodus 12:38). They needed to get ‘baptized’ clean from their old Egyptian lives and ways into their new identity. For the Israelites it meant to be cleansed from ‘Egypt’, but it meant literal conversion for the strangers with them. The process would be repeated forty years later when the second desert generation crossed the Jordan (Joshua 3). In Judaism the main staple of conversion is immersion in water. In keeping with Jewish ideas, Paul mentions the crossing of the Red Sea as a baptism (Rabbi Kaplan: The Waters of Eden; 1 Corinthians 10:1-2). This was the gist of the conversation between Yeshua and Nicodemus. Just as the Priests and Levites did with John the Immerser, Nicodemus boasted that being already Jewish he didn’t need the conversion rebirth of immersion, but just like John answered the Jerusalem visitors Yeshua told Nicodemus that he still needed to be reborn (Matthew 3:9-11; John 3:1-21). Judaism teaches that when the ‘mixed multitude’ crossed the Red Sea with Israel, they became Children of Abraham, they became Israelite. It is interesting because the whole time in the desert no circumcision (and important part of conversion to Judaism) was performed. They just had a mass circumcision just before they entered the land (Joshua 5:2-8). Another important event is Amalek intercepting Israel (Deuteronomy 25:18). It seems that the descendants of Esau always intercept Israel returning home. It happened before with Jacob (Genesis 32:6), then during the Exodus, and it is happening again today. The first time peace was reached (Genesis 33), the second time God ordered the destruction of Amalek (Deuteronomy 25:19; 1 Samuel 15:1-3). What will it be this time? The Yeshua believing world needs to know that as believers in the Jewish Messiah, as true born again people, they share the fate of Israel just like the ‘mixed multitude’ of the Exodus. The Children of Esau are intercepting trying to annihilate Israel. They have done so from the on start in 1948. Can Israel count on the ‘mixed multitude’ with them fight at their side? This is not just Israel’s fight; the future of all believers is at stake (Romans 11:15). “He that stands idle while the rights of others are being violated will very soon become victim to these same evil forces” (Personal narration of famous quote). Matthew 6: 24 (KJV)
No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. About 3,400 years ago the people of Israel learned that Egypt was an unreliable staff. Not only did they learn that Egypt was no match for God, but that the fish, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic didn’t really cost nothing, but came at the price of servitude to Pharaoh, the god of the land (Exodus 11:5). Ultimately God Himself challenges Pharaoh’s pride, destroys his army, and takes his country down a few notches. The only option at freedom for Israel was to throw itself at God’s mercy in total devoted obedience to His will. About eight centuries later, both Israel and Egypt are found to learn the same lesson. Pharaoh Hophra thinks himself to be god and Israel seeks refuge under his provisions. Judea had been told to submit to Babylon and live (Jeremiah 27:12), but stubbornly refused, which eventually caused its destruction and seventy years captivity. Those left from the captivity see themselves again under Babylonian attacks and seek refuge under Ophra of Egypt, thus absolutely rejecting Jeremiah’s advice to stay put in Israel (Jeremiah 42). In the end, Israel finds itself between the Babylonian army coming as locusts to destroy Pharaoh and Egypt (or ‘between ‘Iraq and a hard place’’) (Jeremiah 46:23; Exodus 10:4, 12-14). The only option again for Israel will be to throw itself at God’s mercy in total devoted obedience to His will. Today Israel faces the same dilemma. Having a divine destiny to re-conquer and repopulate the Promised Land, Israel is discovering that the political credit and financial support it receives from the international community may come at the price of heavy compromises including the giving up of Jerusalem. Again, Israel has to make hard choices, and throw itself at God’s mercy in total devoted obedience to His will. On a homiletical level, this lesson may apply to us all. In the global economy in which we live, when someone sneezes in Asia or the Middle East, our whole economy gets sick with a cold. Suddenly, that far away ‘sneeze’ echoes and sends shivers into our very pocket books and ability to provide for our families here at home. The good news is that as believers and followers of God, we have the admonition from Yeshua to not rely on the shaky uncertainty of an international economy already so sick that it is actually dead, only made to look alive by the life support of political lies and pretences (Matthew 6; 19-34; Philippians 4:19). Most of the time also, success in business in a capitalistic society comes at the price of aggressive financial maneuvers that go against the principles of Torah and God’s commandment to not practice usury, but to give in love preferring the welfare of others before that of our own. We all have hard choices to make!, and ultimately need to throw ourselves at God’s mercy in total devoted obedience to His will! Acts 1:6
Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? Through an undesired twist of fate, the patriarch Jacob found himself married to two sisters, Leah and Rachel, thus creating two main factions within Israel. Jacob favored Rachel and gave Joseph her firstborn the mantle of leadership over his whole household. The other brothers, the children of Leah, rejected Joseph’s authority. Reuben was the firstborn of Jacob and of Leah, but because of his actions and that of Simeon and Levy, the leadership of the house of Leah fell on Judah, Jacob’s fourth born. Israel’s History is punctuated by the rivalry between the House of Joseph and the House of Judah. Prophets have expressed the World to Come as the time when the two Houses are finally united in peace. Joseph had two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh. When Moses died, leadership of the newborn nation of Israel was given to the House of Joseph through the Ephraimite Joshua. Until the reign of Saul the Benjamite, leadership in Israel fell on Judges who were mostly from either the tribes of Ephraim or Manasseh, the House of Joseph. It is King David who united the tribes under one rule and started the Davidic dynasty that was to fulfill Jacob’s prophecy and usher in the Messiah (Genesis 49:8-12). At the end of the Solomonic reign, the country was again divided into two camps: the Ephraim and the Judah camps. Most of the tribes from the House of Leah joined with Ephraim and Judah was left alone with Benjamin. Ephraim became the Northern Kingdom, and Judah the Southern Kingdom, with Benjamin stuck in between the two. Eventually the Assyrian conquered and deported the Northern Kingdom and Nebuchadnezzar deported the Judeans to Babylon. At the end of the Babylonian exile, King Cyrus issued the order for all the captives of Israel from either North or South to be allowed to return to their land. In his prophecies of the ‘two sticks’, the prophet Ezekiel speaks to us of the Messianic Age as the time when the two houses of Israel are again united under the Judean Davidic leadership (Ezekiel 34-37). This comes in fulfillment of the Psalms which tell us: He (God) rejected the tent of Joseph; he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim, but he chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion, which he loves (Psalms 78:67-68). Ezekiel’s prophecy of the two sticks united (Ezekiel 37) is actually an echo of the reunification of the two houses foreshadowed by Joseph when he embraces his brothers lead by Judah as he reveals himself to them (Genesis 45). The reunification of the two houses is and has always been one of the main signs of the Messianic Age and of the coming of Messiah. Before Yeshua ascended to the Father, His disciples asked Him, "Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel (Acts 1:6)?" Which meant, “Will You at this time restore the twelve tribes as a sovereign nation? To which He answered, "It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority (Acts 1:7-8)." May it happen soon Abba, even in our days! |
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