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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!
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Hebrews 3:14-15
For we have come to share in Messiah, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. As it is said, "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion." Many look at the day of their salvation, the day they recognize Messiah as their Redeemer, as an end in itself. They do not recognize that it is actually a means to an end, the beginning of a process to be completed. The program of full redemption is very well illustrated for us in the story of the Exodus from Egypt to the Promised Land. This is where we find what I will coin as the ‘Four Steps of Full Redemption’. First we are rescued, or saved from the angel of death coming upon the land. This salvation is purely by God’s choosing. Jew or Gentile who obeys the instruction concerning the lamb’s blood on the doorposts of their houses will be ‘saved’ and eligible to leave Egypt that very night. There is no ‘Torah’ yet. Only one thing is required regardless of who we are or of our past: the blood of the lamb. That’s the first step. Second, we must cross the Red Sea. This step takes us out of Egypt. With the help of mighty miracles from God, we have left our old life and culture behind. Paul referred to the crossing of the Red Sea to a national immersion, or baptism (1 Corinthians 10:1-2). That’s the second step. Third, we go to Mt Horeb to receive the Torah. We have left our old life, culture, and country behind. We need a new life, a new identity in a new country, a new culture, under a new king, with a new set of rules. Going to Mt Horeb provides us with the Instructions for our new life in our new kingdom. That’s the third step. Finally, after experimenting and learning to live under this new set of rules, we enter the Promised Land, receiving full citizenship of the Kingdom. This is the fourth and final step. In Hebrews, the writer warns us about not making the same mistake the first generation did in the desert fearing to accomplish the last and final step of entering the land because of unbelief. I do not know what this exactly means but the warning remains. They were like the bride who got ‘cold feet’. She went through the whole ordeal and great expense of getting married, but in the end feared to move in with the groom. The writer of Hebrews speaks of entering the Promised Land as the Shabbat. We have to make a conscious effort to enter the Shabbat. We have to agree to stop our personal activities; we have to trust that God will supply if we stop working; to enter the Shabbat we have to literally surrender ourselves to God. Is this what the Children of Israel feared? Without surrender there is no peace, and no Shabbat. May we learn to surrender to Him every Shabbat so that we do not harden our hearts at His Voice when He calls in to enter that final step of entering the Promised Land of His Kingdom when it is established on earth as it is in Heaven. 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 firstborns (Numbers 3:45-51). Yoseph and Miriam brought Yeshua, their firstborn to the Temple to be redeemed. The functioning priest who did 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 waiting for the days of the third Temple. Though non-applicable at this time, the principle is rich with teachings. I am a firstborn of my father and never was redeemed. Technically then, I belong to the descendants of Aaron. As an adult, I could redeem myself but I never did. In religious villages of Russia, firstborns of animals couldn’t be used for farm work. As a result, they were left roaming by themselves. They were dirty; they got into the garbage, messed up things and caused overall trouble. Maybe that’s my excuse for causing ‘trouble’ sometimes! Israel, as the biological descent of Jacob is called God’s firstborn (Exodus 4:22). Biblically speaking firstborns have 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 by passed 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 Revelations tells us about the consecrated firstborns of the harvest of the earth. They come from the twelve tribes of Israel (Jacob’s descendants). They have been chosen and sealed by God 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 (Revelations 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 Omer counting season. On the first day of the Omer the first sheave of barley is brought to the temple for the dedication of the Harvest. This is the day Messiah rose. Later during the counting of Omer He appointed His intimate disciples, His firstborns harvest from the Land of Israel as His representatives to the rest of the tribes in Diaspora, and to the world (Matthew 28). On the fiftieth 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 the whole world brought their firstfruit to Jerusalem. These became the firstfruit of Diaspora Israelites (Acts 2). Through them the Words 0of the Master were carried to the rest of the world until today. Hallelu-Yah! Matthew 19:20
“Where do I still fall short?” I find it very difficult to explain to people the idea that I expressed in yesterday’s devotional, that the recipe for Eternal Life as proclaimed to us by the mouth of Yeshua Himself is: to keep the Commandments and follow Him (Matthew 19:16-21). Whereas people may at a later time understand, their mind is usually stuck behind a very strong and tall barrage of ‘Law-phobia’. Since the days of Luther’s Reformation, people have been accustomed to the ‘free-be’ version of the faith. As soon as they hear the slightest mention of ‘Mosaic law’, they suddenly become expert watchdogs of the faith to make sure that you are not teaching the ‘false doctrine’ of a Redemption that would cost them something. Don’t get me wrong here, I do believe that my Redemption cost me nothing, but as far as saying that Redemption is free I would suggest first asking Yeshua about it. The facts are that if it is free, it is because someone else paid the tab, so in essence it is not free. Justice had to be paid for God to be a ‘just’ God. So as the adage says, ‘there is no such thing as a free lunch’. The other question I want to ask is, ‘And what if it did cost something; don’t you think that the benefits far outweigh anything you can invest for the Kingdom? I know that this is not theologically correct, but I feel that the issue of free redemption is only appreciated for that very reason: because it is free, an attitude which seems to denote of a spirit of calculated self-preservation and selfishness. Didn’t Yeshua teach the parable of the man whom when he found the Kingdom, was happy to invest all that he had to obtain it (Matthew 13:44)’? It seems that this man fell onto the ‘pro version’. The version that requires to pay, but the one which then answers the question of our rich young ruler in Matthew 19, ‘where do I still fall short?’ As we come to the Kingdom through the ‘free version’ program, we are introduced to the pay ‘pro-version’ option which brings us deeper into the Kingdom and closer to the Master, and whereas the entrance is free, the measure of our rewards is estimated by our personal investment, the bread we cast upon the waters and the use of our talents (Ecclesiastes 11:1; Matthew 25:14-30). We are certainly free to remain in the free-version, but wouldn’t we want to get closer to him who gave everything so we could enter the kingdom? Are we just in it for the ‘free stuff’? We are supposed to emulate Him and He did not balk at the cost. Do we? James 2:5
Has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? Why does the Torah speak about people selling their daughter (Exodus 21:7-11)? It may sound archaic but we must remember that these laws were given within the context of a M. Eastern society living 3,600 years ago. This text may therefore seem useless to us today, but what about the principle behind the text? This law was formulated as a system of protection towards the vulnerable poor of the land. God created the poor (Proverbs 22:2) and Yeshua said that the poor is always with us (Matthew 26:11). Caused by man’s cruel and unfair economic systems, poverty is part of our present society and whereas the Father does not interfere with the general affairs of mankind, He still desires to protect the poor. This protection is brought about by laws condemning the abuse of the poor. As poverty today forces one out of his home, in these days the practice was that a man would sell his daughter for a price to pay his debts. But because she was a daughter of Israel she was to be respected, and this young girl was not to be used as the buyer’s private property. If he sexually approached her, he was to marry her and automatically grant her the full rights and privileges of a wife. This law and others is part of a sort of ‘Bills of Rights’ for the poor of the land. Solomon wrote much about the poor and of the judgment against those who abuse them. To have mercy and respect towards the poor is as much a part of Torah constitution as the keeping the Sabbath. All the more, we are treated in our time of trouble in the same way we treat others in theirs. Our actions for or against the poor are measured in the heavenly balances of judgment for or against our favor. We cannot do much about the decisions made by selfish and wicked men in power, but we can all share with those in need and we can certainly refrain from abusing them. Let’s remember: we are all poor in the eyes of God. In Hebrew, the words ‘charity’ and ‘righteousness’ are synonymous and James, the brother of the Master gave stern instructions concerning the poor to the Messianic Congregations of his days (James 1:27; 2:2-6). The law of the sold daughter includes another interesting clause. If the buyer abuses the young girl but does not retain her as a wife, the father then retains the right to redeem her back to him. This is eschatological as even though God has sold the Virgin of the Daughter of Zion to captivity and exile, He reserves Himself the right to redeem her if she is abused. Israel therefore having been abused by the nations still retains the right to be redeemed. |
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