Hanukah Revisited, A Prophetic Segue
Unlike most times of seeking the essence (is God here? is God near?) within the presence of God we tend to try to make sense of what significance some individual circumstance might implicate. These events may even become historically accurate in our struggles to find meaning in these times of troubles and any group that has ever tried to seek God has also been caught seeking signs. But these outward signs are not actually restoring revelation that produces the signs but rather the manifestation of the works of God from someone who knows and understands God. There were indeed signs and wonders throughout the Scriptures of God intervening with man in ways that showed His power and His presence. It is this internal hope to see those signs of His presence that can also lead us to follow false signs and false wonders which can have the capacity to even deceive the elect. The elect is speaking of being “those that are trying to be in relationship through seeking Him in His Scriptures.
The broad stacking of information that has some religious inference is what most of us are aware of and often follow by rote and without any true understanding. Religious leaders of the Jewish people reject seeking Yeshua Hamashiach (Jesus), a heavily prophetic sign given to allow every to know and understand this work of God as it happened. John the Baptist (Elijah to come according to Yeshua in Matthew 11:14 was another prophetic sign which follows the format designed and ordained of God by understanding Amos 3:7 as a key. To the religious leaders, their “oral interpretive laws and religious doctrines” created a peril of offense still being implied, especially to the Jews that have known of the four apostate rulers. Not unlike most major moves of God, religion blinds and only the softened hearted can be led afresh to know and acknowledge these prophetic moves. Simeon and Anna are prophet and prophetess in Luke chapter 2 that recognized Messiah coming to the temple on the eighth day to be offered up to God as the first child to open the womb. In all of Jerusalem there were “two witnesses” that both independently knew and understood from God who this baby was and worshipped God their Father for sending His salvation in Yeshua. This prophetic tension and intention still exists, even to this day and the best way to describe this move of God is “hidden in plain sight.” In ways the Gentiles were given the task of making the Jewish people jealous toward our personal relationship that was to be deep and involved with their God as we were becoming disciples. But like most societal failures: our present relationships are most likely replaced with religious ceremonial teachings, as well as a Roman Empire’s stamp of religious ceremony. In this way of imposing history by doctrines to convey authority to these teachings and theological training that provide regularity in a partial blinded pathway. We are raised and always fed these religious doctrines but rarely trained to be those that study the roots of those doctrines, especially by ourselves.
It is the way of the “Berean that was highly praised” for this group that was anxious to hear even the newest teaching and then to seek out the Scriptures for proof of the teaching! The Scriptures are unchanging but doctrines and teaching about the Scriptures are quite numerous as well as quite different in many ways because of the eyes through which they are seen.
When we realize that the Scriptures are prophetically concealed, God simply does not allow everyone to see them clearly, it is by His design and appointment. For instance we might take a look at Deuteronomy 29:29 which brings a double jeopardy component to a great portion of the Gentile believers who are “new testament only.” In fact possibly triple jeopardy when we alienate the Jews who all know the Tanakh (Catholic Old Testament) is their commandment from God still having a remnant devout in deep relationship. How could the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and David (a man after His own heart) forget His covenants toward the apple of His eye based on His lovingkindness which is everlasting? Read Psalm 136 if you doubt their King’s capacity as their Father where 26 times in a row, whereby He declares His glory to resound over all the earth! However this doctrinal style of teaching has a very corruptive way of dismissing the actual instruction from God that the Berean camp never lost sight of and that is God has shown us Himself! Are we willing to seek Him out diligently on our faces needing to understand His will and His ways or are we sufficiently satisfied with our religious robes, titles and doctrines.
My personal belief is the Father only opens the prophetic portions and this verse in Deuteronomy 29:29 is a mini-declaration of this substance saying, “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law.” (NASB)
To the Jewish people the Torah is Moses and the person to whom they delighted as he sought God for them and taught them of His ways through His instruction…the commandments of God! But in the commandment (instruction given to Moses) (His law to instruct Israel) a very important piece of instruction has been religiously warped by association, a doctrinal patch! If we can step back for a moment and understand one thing about God is He has not left us orphans nor widows nor without perfect instruction. But it is spiritually appraised and fully hidden to all whom are the apostate and partially hidden to all of us trying to seek Him in reading these perfect words. If we consider the “Song of Moses” in Deuteronomy 32:1-43 we see the prophetic pathway of Israel even to this day which has had one intensely close moment led by Joshua and then a steady decline as predicted. Harsh yes, but necessary to realize, religious zealousness does not fully restore personal relationship, this prophetic song is a stunning insight from their Father, Almighty God the besmirched King.
In fact the term “widow” refers to the stifling of the Husband relationship of Israel to her King by rite of divorce in I Samuel 8:7 where they rejected God from being King, wanting a man king. The term “orphan” refers to all the people that wander through life not knowing the love of God in which the salvation of God has come to every tribe and nation, made available. Caring for the widow and orphan is this great commission from the Father that is forgotten in our religious confusions, both Gentiles and Jews.
I believe I can make this statement about a very familiar portion of Scripture for me which is from the book of Job. If Job is read the main insight is that no one wants to be like poor Job who went through such great testing’s and trials which is clearly a portion of what we find. However the more important thing to understand and know in Job is that it is a book that a disciple can read and find out there capacity to understand the difference between beliefs. Scripture, unaltered and unfettered with doctrine is the truth from God to us whereby it needs to be the Berean standard of discernment and therefore the seal of God to know His ways. But what we see is the enemy using Job’s three friends to bring the accusations and therefore the tempestuous revilings of the enemy into his presence bringing confusion and calamity. Job is already suffering but now it is the fires of the enemy adding calamity to the storms through his friends “coming to help” him, not seeking God but to bring in their worldly belief’s. These are these “winds of doctrines” that do not explain the works of God nor the word of God but rather their very limited perception of what might be really happening, and we all do this. But Amos 3:7 defines the ways of God in bringing His prophet Elihu just prior to proclaim the actual truths of God in chapters 33 through 37 and then God speaks directly to Job in chapters 38-42:6 clearly. The Scriptures give incredible detail and God has not left us without the knowledge of how to seek Him fully and completely but we tend to like ritual over relationship. We also tend to like play over being discipline and tickling doctrines over actual repentance, no wonder we are in such an apostate stage in these last days, we are all in troubled waters.
Part of this hope of getting close to God is that we might substantiate a path that might be easier to follow for our generation and as well for the next generation. But God does not tend to speak afresh often to the apostate and when He does their capacity to hear spiritually is almost diminished to nothing because the words are hidden in plain sight spiritually. These types of occurrences are all portions of the prophetic segue in Scripture that are filling every page but we simply do not have eyes to see what is written that brings us the knowledge from God. Even more corrupting then are those that might have some initial insight instructed through the word and interpreted by a man without the capacity to hear but teaches now their doctrines. We all do this spiritual assignment of doctrines to explain the truth “as we understand it” and regrettably most of these things are contrary to the Word. Most concerning to all of us is do we actually know the Scriptures well enough to see “any conflict” in our religious doctrines?
Let me articulate a religious impairment done with purpose by the Roman Empire to make a very clear separation from the Jews in their religious zealously triggering doctrine. So is it wrong to seek Jesus, might be a first contest that most will articulate while being willing to be open or at least interested it something makes it obvious that God might be real to us as we might seek him during out lifetime? Is this time all about the Gentiles now as we have derailed our Jewish brethren in the details of this religious vernacular, changing of the Jewish feasts dominated our Gentile festivals and rituals. This current stalemated condition is still worth understanding and knowing: was the “Jewish Messiah” named Jesus from birth or was He named Yeshua Hamashiach? Indeed His name was Yeshua Hamashiach and was renamed Jesus as part of the Latin liturgy to make the Gentile Catholic religion a “dominating religious power”, a Roman Empire ruling. This Roman Empire is the fourth kingdom age and the fifth successive king according to “prophetic instruction from Daniel” was indeed the Iron Kingdom, still in existence. This religious overtone is still one of the most insidious manifestations of the fingerprint of the enemy to divide, the opposite of unity.
Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, given to this king to seek out the meaning of this matter, foretold by God to the Babylonian king would be empowered to the end of this Gentile age. This was to be a powerful agency of a dominating world religion, prophetically decreed for our knowledge that still has far reaching impacting overtones. So were these works all bad and clearly marked in total darkness or is this all good where nothing has been tainted: we must ask in retrospect and not merely religiously but prophetically?
As we study the Scriptures which are pure instructions from God: have the absolute authority to bring us into this perfect light of God to wash us and regenerate us into His perfection. Especially when we are “filled with the Spirit” and systematically changed by seeking the face of God day by day by knowing the grace of the Father through His only Son. But in so many ways, long before we are truly capable of have the Word bringing us into this intended relationship we also might have some “religious trainings” that possibly twist or taint our capacities. There are 10 differing sects of Judaism by now and we must ask: could they all be perfect if there is division over the exact meanings of how we are to be seekers? There are 2 major Roman versions of the dominating Gentile world religion that had the greatest dominion in the Gentile places for at least eleven hundred years with the Latin shrouding. “Roman Catholics” were taught to believe that the pope was god on earth and the Roman orthodox were taught to believe that the pope was not all knowing and all seeing. This caused the first religious Gentile split called the “Great Schism” in 1100 AD although this initial dispute was as early as 400AD.
The protestant reformation started by Martin Luther, a catholic priest was perturbed in his spirit by the building of the Sistine Chapel by selling pre-sin certificates to the wealthy for donations (pledges). Maybe, just maybe that was not God changing His mind and was rather a religious enticement to bribe money from the wealthy with a “religiously ordained” tale! This hypocrisy of the church as a religious organization had the capacity to cover over sin in a projected religious justification that did not have the authority from or by the Scriptures. The pope becomes a god, the priest becomes Jesus and congregants confess their sins to this liaison who tells of penitence through repetitions of prayers to Mary the mother of Jesus as well as the Lord’s Prayer. Then the congregants partake in the Eucharist representing the physical body and blood in this religious institution. Praying to anyone but Messiah to forgive our sins is an alteration from the Scriptures although we are to confess our sins one to another. The priest is mandated by this system to have authority to do that work by their manmade doctrines along with many other doctrines that do not wholly follow the path and way of Messiah.
To the Gentile believers the “pope” assuming the place of authority over God on the earth should be an outrage, and to the Jewish person who has known of the glory of God absolute blasphemy. But can’t we all just get along and not get all worked up about these little differences? In reality God is coming back as King and He indeed will restore His reign on earth, there will be no man on this earth that will stand before His recompense for sowing to the wind! And indeed where does this wind of doctrine come from, oh the enemy of God, the prince of the power of the air as described in Ephesians 2:1-3 for all to understand prophetically. He has been marked by God for all to recognize his cunning ways still at work to bring chaos and confusion to all that are not willing to seek out the treasuries of God in His Scriptures.
Then and likely because Martin Luther saw this abuse in the realm of “religious authority” he was the agent that was used to allow the word to be made into the commoners language in Germany. A few other men had translated the Latin translation back into another language but never really got it into the hands of the public domain, largely illiterate as well at that time. Fortunately the printing press was also just coming into use so the “Catholic church” was not able to destroy the manuscripts as fast as they were being distributed and the Lutherans came to exist reading the Scriptures. And indeed they captured the Scriptures from Jews and Gentiles alike as they persecuted all that sought the kingdom of heaven not bringing glory and bended knee to Ceasar. The protestant reformation did get us to have the Word of God back in our hands and we are thankful for that indeed. However our religious ceremony to divide ourselves by the perceived instruction of God has more failures to behold as well. Synagogues and churches all have doctrines that encase what their belief system majors in and sometimes also minors in, which can include manmade doctrines as well. Were these works all bad and clearly marked in total darkness or is this all good where nothing has been tainted: we must ask in retrospect and not merely religiously but prophetically?
Some of the things that have almost always happened in the “called or even so called religious movements of God” are that there is “an implication” that God revealed some truth to some man. How, when and where this happens is as vast as the stars, that are said “seekers of Him” but regrettably our capacity to get it all right is limited and especially if He has not intervened! These capacities now, fragmented by time become well established because the events and the history of the events become more fragmented especially where history can be changed in text. Then when trained under these various religious doctrinal encampments have implied substance in “a faith” that may or may not have absolute clarity or even at times any basic substance of truth. Now every major “religious faith” has some addition text from which their “faith is delivered” and also has some doctrinal application of whom, and through whom defines how that “like faith” might be implemented.
For instance, these works of God to tell prophetically by His capacity to not only know the future but to also give detailed reference in His absolute clarity through His instructions. This should signifies our need to study His invocations, desire His guidance and to seek His wisdom rather than falsely hope to understand the future on our own? One of these clarifications is found just prior to the “Song of Moses” given by God to basically tell of the future’s failure so that they might respond correctly at some point. I should hope that as we understand and know these things it should bring us back to drawing near to the King who loves us dearly as His children. Remember the work of God to let us know His insights, calling us the widows and orphans driven to be confused by the religious trimmings of doctrines incited by the god of this world, the enemy of God. And religiously equally confused: both the Jew and the Gentile with differing doctrines, but the exact same enemy do not be confused! This enemy is named in Job, Genesis, at the heart of Korah’s rebellion, Balaam’s failure, the faithless workings of 10 of the twelve spies going into the Promised Land. Saul’s failure as the first man king over Israel, and Israel’s desire to have a man king deposing God as King, the failure of Solomon having forbidden wives and having his heart turned away from God. It was in the seeking of prophets with a good word to an apostate people rejecting the actual prophets sent by God to bring correction in His lovingkindness. It is this constant dripping of rejection, this parade of systematic rebellion that finally God stopped sending messengers for four hundred years after Malachi. Hanukah is 250 years into that silence, a manifestation of hoping to see a move of God and defining a sign as that move, another false prophetic interpretation of a truly prophetic event!
Hosea 8:12 defines the concept of precepts, which are the instructions of God in many different and diverse ways to state clearly what the problems are prophetically. And because God is the keeper of the prophetic gateway, He is the only one that can give us the eyes to see these things, indeed hidden in plain sight to our apostate eyes and spiritually deafened ears! Add to that the capacity of the enemy of God to kill, steal and destroy we are in big trouble if we do not see the pathway our of our confusion, which is repentance, the most underutilized method under heaven!
Deuteronomy 31:21-22 states, (21.) “Then is shall come about, when many evils and troubles have come upon them, that this song will testify before them as a witness (for it shall not be forgotten from the lips of their descendants), for I know their intent which they are developing today, before I have brought them into the land which I swore.” (22.) So Moses wrote this song the same day, and taught it to the sons of Israel. (NASB)
A safeguard if it is kept stewarded by men that are clearly hearing from God prophetically and are led by His Spirit to come to understand, to know His will through instruction into His ways. However men have a way of filling in the blanks they have not heard clearly or defined with scriptures and we have the chaos of the “modern many ways to God” religious context! Indeed God did not fall short in giving us perfect instruction but our capacity to hear it conflicts with what we have been taught in our religious communities. So how do we shift from our failures to Scripture without making our many political and religious systems collapse as institutions and cause chaos in the funding through participants who lose “faith”? Part of the struggle is the church structure as a business verses the people functioning under the calling of sharing the gospel, sojourning as believers seeking the kingdom of heaven. Then how, the where, the when, what and finally who must all be brought into a vast redefining. There is such a massive information and disinformation highway that must be seen, known and understood which is complicated and almost universally exhausting! The polarization to right or wrong is so defined by protocol and organization in bylaws and rules that everyone has a legal authority to believe in their belief system with a pathway that follows these amassed traditions.
This is an exhausting journey not many of us will ever be willing to walk out in ways that will make a tangible difference to how the religious groups function and respond. In ways, it is clear that Messiah was willing to address and willing to teach those that were in the synagogues at the time. It is imperative to see that the major conflict between the Messiah who was the Word made flesh was confronted with statements of religious legalities not yet written down in what would become the “Oral Law” that were conflicting. The “Word” was the instruction from God to man, the “Oral Law historically written in 1000 AD” was said to be all of the instruction given to Moses and passed down through Moses to the leaders of Israel. If this was absolutely true why was there a direct conflict again and again? And is it possible that this direct conflict and address was a religious spirit filled with pride rather than a humble repentant Spirit filled moment of finding reconciliation to the King through the King of kings? Deuteronomy does an unmistakably powerful address to recognize our failure, will we hear?
That song spoken of is Deuteronomy 32:1-43 which is one of the most broadly cast visions with incredible details of the failings and plight of Israel as a nation and is comparable only to Ezekiel 36:1-38 proving we cannot serve God and mammon together. Even more so now; that the decreed significance of Romans chapter 11 brings this concept of the greater work of God into our midst if we will prepare our hearts to see it in repentance. Let’s just read through these two portions of Scripture to see this pathway prophetically foretold in immense detail even up to this present time and the work of God still coming touted in the Word.
Deuteronomy 32:1-43 the prophetic “Song of Moses” says, (1.) “Give ear, O heavens, and let me speak; And let the earth hear the words of my mouth. (2.) Let my teaching drop as the rain, My speech distill as the dew, As the droplets on the fresh grass And as the showers on the herb. (3.) For I proclaim the name of the LORD; Ascribe greatness to God! (4.) The Rock! His work is perfect, For all His ways are just; A God of faithfulness and without injustice, Righteous and upright is He. (5.) They have acted corruptly toward Him, They are not his children because of their defect; But are a perverse and crooked generation. (6.) Do you thus repay the LORD, O foolish and unwise people? Is not He your Father who has bought you? He has made you and established you. (7.) Remember the days of old, Consider the years of all generations. Ask your father, and he will inform you, Your elders, and they will tell you. (8.) When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, When He separated the sons of man, He set the boundaries of the peoples According to the number of the sons of Israel. (9.) For the LORD’S portion is His people; Jacob is the allotment of His inheritance. (10.) He found him in a desert land, And in the howling waste of a wilderness; He encircled him, He cared for him, He guarded him as the pupil of His eye. (11.) Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, That hovers over its young, He spread His wings and caught them, He carried them on His pinions. (12.) The LORD alone guided him, And there was no foreign god with him. (13.) He made him ride on the high places of the earthm And he ate the produce of the fiels; And He made him such honey from the rock, And oil from the flinty rock, (14.) Curds of cows, and milk of the flock, With fat of lambs, And rams the breed of Bashan, and goats, With the finest of wheat—And the blood of grapes you drank wine. (15.) But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked—You are grown fat, thick, and sleek—Then he forsook God who made him, And scorned the Rock of his salvation. (16.) They made Him jealous with strange gods; With abominations they provoked Him to anger. (17.) They sacrificed to demons who were not God, To gods whom they have not known, New gods who came lately, Whom your fathers did not dread. (18.) You neglected the Rock who begot you, And forget the God who gave you birth. (19.) The LORD saw this, and spurned them Because of the provocation of His sons and daughters. (20.) Then He said, ‘I will hide My face from them, I will see what their end shall be; For they are a perverse generation, Sons in whom is no faithfulness. (21.) They have made Me jealous with what is not God; They provoked Me to anger with their idols. So I will make them jealous with those who are not a people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation. (22.) For a fire is kindled in My anger, And burns to the lowest part of Sheol, And consumes the earth with its yield. And set on fire the foundations of the mountains.
(23.) ‘I will heap misfortunes on them; I will use My arrows on them. (24.) They will be wasted by famine, and consumed by plague And bitter destruction; And the teeth of beasts I will send upon them, With the venom of crawling things of the dust. (25.) Outside the sword will bereave, And inside terror—Both young man and virgin, The virgin, The nursling with the man of gray hair. (26.) ‘I would have said, “I will cut them to pieces, I will remove the memory of them from men,” (27.) Had I not feared the provocation by the enemy, That their adversaries would misjudge, That they would say, “Our hand is triumphant, And the LORD has not done all this.”’”
(28.) “For they are a nation lacking in counsel, And there is no understanding in them. (29.) Would that they were wise, that they understood this, That they would discern their future! (30.) How could one chase a thousand, And two put ten thousand to flight, Unless their Rock had sold them, And the LORD had given them up? (31.) Indeed their rock is not like our Rock, Even our enemies themselves judge this. (32.) For their vine is from the vine of Sodom, And from the fields of Gomorrah. Their grapes are grapes of poison, Their clusters, bitter. (33.) Their wine is the venom of serpents, And the deadly poison of cobras.”
(34.) ‘Is it not laid up in store with Me, Sealed up in My treasuries? (35.) Vengeance is Mine, and retribution, In due time teir foot will slip; For the day of their calamity is near. And the impending things are hastening upon them.’ (36.) “For the LORD will vindicate His people, And have compassion on His servants, When He sees their strength is gone, And there is none remaining, bond or free. (37.) And He will say, ‘Where are their gods, The rock in which they sought to refuge? (38.) Who ate the fat of their sacrifices, And drank the wine of their drink offering? Let them rise up and help you, Let them rise up and help you, Let them be your hiding place! (39.) See now that I, I am He, And there is no god besides Me; It is I who put to death and give life. I have wounded and It is I who heal, And there is no one who can deliver from My hand. (40.) Indeed, I lift up My hand to heaven, And say, as I live forever, (41.) If I sharpen My flashing sword, And My hand takes hold on justice, I will render vengeance on My adversaries, And I will repay those who hate Me. (42.) I will make My arrows drunk with blood, And My sword will devour flesh, With the blood of the slain and the captives, From the long-haired leaders of the enemy. (43.) Rejoice, O nations, with His people; For He will avenge the blood of His servants, And will render vengeance on His adversaries, And will atone for His land and His people.” (NASB)
Ezekiel 36:1-38 says so many of the same things but in uniquely different ways to tell the children of Israel their failures and the capacity of Him to change their corruption into His goodness, saying, (1.) And you, son of man, prophesy to the mountain of Israel and say, ‘O mountain of Israel hear the word of the LORD. (2.) “Thus says the Lord GOD, Because the enemy has spoken against you, ‘Aha’ and, ‘The everlasting heights have become our possession,’ (3.) therefore prophesy and say, Thus says the Lord GOD, “ For good reason they have made you desolate and crushed you from every side, that you would become a possession of the rest of the nations and you have been taken up in the talk and the whispering of the people.”’” (4.) “Therefore , O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord GOD to the mountains and to the hills, to the ravines and to the valleys, to the desolate wastes and to the forsaken cities which have become a prey and a derision to the rest of the nations which are round about, (5.) therefore Thus says the Lord GOD, “Surely in the fire of My jealousy I have spoken against the rest of the nations, and against all Edom, who appropriated my land for themselves as a possession with wholehearted joy and with scorn of soul, to drive it out for a prey.” (6.) Therefore prophesy concerning the land of Israel and say to the mountains and to the hills, to the ravines and to the valleys, “Thus says the Lord GOD, ‘Behold, I have spoken in My jealousy and in My wrath because you have endure the insults of the nations.’ (7.) “‘Therefore thus says the Lord GOD, ‘I have sworn that surely the nations which are around you will themselves endure their insults. (8.) ‘But you, O mountains of Israel, you, will put forth your branches and bear your fruit for My people Israel; for they will soon come. (9.) For, behold, I am for you, and I will turn to you, and you will be cultivated and sown. (10.) I will multiply men on you, all the house of Israel, all of it; and the cities will be inhabited and the waste places will be rebuilt. (11.) I will multiply on you man and beast; and they will increase and be fruitful; and I will cause you to be inhabited as you were formerly and will treat you better than at the first. Thus you will know that I am the LORD. (12.) Yes, I will cause men—My people Israel—to walk on you and possess you, so that you will become their inheritance and never again bereave them of children.’ (13.) Thus says the Lord GOD, ‘Because they say to you, ‘You are a devourer of men and have bereaved your nation of children,” (14.) therefore you will no longer devour men and no longer bereave your children,’ declared the Lord GOD. (15.) I will not let you hear insults from the nations anymore, nor will you bear disgrace from the peoples any longer, not will you cause your nations to stumble any longer,” declares the Lord GOD. (16.) Then the word of the LORD came to me saying, (17.) “Son of man, when the house of Israel was living in their own land, they defiled it by their ways and their deeds; their way before Me was like the uncleanness of a woman in her impurity. (18.) Therefore I poured out My wrath on them for the blood which they had shed on the land, because they had defiled it with their idols. (19.) Also I scattered them among the nations and they were dispersed throughout the lands. According to their ways and deeds I judged them. (20.) When they came out to the nations where they went, they profaned My holy name, because it was said of them, ‘These are the people of the LORD; yet they have come out of His land.’ (21.) But I had concern for My holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations where they went.”
(22.) “Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD, “It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for My holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you went. (23.) I will vindicate the holiness of My great name which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD,” declares the Lord GOD, “when I prove Myself holy among you in their sight. (24.) For I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands and bring you into your own land. (25.) Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from aall your filthiness and from all your idols. (26.) Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. (27.) I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances. (28.) You will live in the land that I gave to your forefathers; so you will be My people and I will be your God. (29.) Moreover, I will save you from all your uncleanness; and I will call for the grain and multiply it, and I will not bring a famine on you. (30.) I will multiply the fruit of the tree and the produce of the field, so that you will not receive again the disgrace of famine among the nations. (31.) Then you will remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and your abominations. (32.) I am not doing this for your sake,” declares the Lord GOD, “Let it be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your ways, O house of Israel! (33.) Thus says the Lord GOD, ‘On the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will cause the cities to be inhabited, and the waste places will be rebuilt.’ (34.) The desolate land will be cultivated instead of being a desolation in the sight of everyone who passes by. (35.) They will say, ‘This desolate land has become like the garden of Eden, and the waste, desolate and ruined cities are fortified and inhabited.’ (36.) Then the nations that are left round about you will know that I, the LORD, have rebuilt the ruined places and plant that which was desolate; I, the LORD, have spoken and will do it. (37.) ‘Thus says the Lord GOD, “This I will let the house of Israel ask Me to do for them; I will increase their men like a flock. (38.) Like the flock for sacrifices, like the flock at Jerusalem during her appointed feasts, so will the waste cities be filled with flocks of men. Then they will know that I am the LORD.”’” (NASB)
Deuteronomy lays out this incredible journey of failures of Israel and Judah, each and every tribe eventually went astray like almost all sheep do and yet God keeps showing His love. As I studied Deuteronomy again this profound message keeps reverberating; these “doctrines” (men’s rules for any belief) that conflict with the ways that all structured religions replace our potential of relationship. A question for all of us to consider then is do our man made rules have more impetus to blur the truths we can actually see? Ezekiel chapter 23 is a confirmation of the epic failure of these two portions of Israel as a divided nation because of the initial failure of Solomon the third king of this rebellion toward the King, Almighty God. The two kings that follow are Rehoboam the son of Solomon and Jeroboam the prior servant and warrior of Solomon who cast two golden calves and put one in Dan and one in Bethel. He changed the feasts, changed the dates of the feasts, changed the purposes of the feasts and turned them into worldly celebrations rather than bringing the honor and glory to the King, Almighty God. The catholic church just followed a known program to bring a unity into another apostate kingdom and we all continue the parade not noticing, we long left the narrow path in rebellion.
Pontius Pilot asked a pervading and provocative question when he asked “What is truth?” while having the duty of presiding over the accusations against Messiah by the “Jewish laws.” From that standpoint alone when we see the two consistent confrontations between Yeshua Hamashiach and the religious leaders trying to know who He actually was? And by their laws imposed by their religious leaders who had accumulated doctrines incited by the instruction of the enemy, poorly perceived by the masses and hidden from the leaders, rejected Him. But everything that the Messiah said was from the unfiltered instruction (Law of God) including the very things that would prove Him, approved and appointed by His Father in gross detail. Psalm 22 and Isaiah 52:10-53:12 are two immediate clauses. Moses picked twelve leaders from the tribes of Israel to spy out the land and ten came back with a bad report. Messiah had 12 picked by His Father one being the “son of perdition” to betray Him for thirty pieces of silver fulfilling a prophetic clause, who was Judas! The Father also picked the replacement who was Saul of Tarsus who became the largest writer of the Brit Chadeshah accounted for in Acts chapter 9 by the will of God.
So, for myself: the beam in my eye was the christian religious doctrines that never saw the works and working of God to restore Israel. Indeed out religious structures have more doctrines than are healthy and the long term study of tracking our uncorrected failures are a continued besmirching of the Jewish peoples. Thankfully due to the calling in the grace of God, He continues to show us the need of repentance for our gross failures and even more “an honest openness” to allow the instructions of God to always take the position of authority! For the Catholic churches which have an apostate conditioning of doctrines that led to the Roman Empires conquest and a polarization and crushing of the Jews, I repent before God in the name of Yeshua. As a former Catholic by family tradition I have now been a protestant for 50 years and also see the doctrines that separate our faiths as well. Is the Spirit for today? Is Yeshua the exact same as the Father? Why is God the King? Have the Gentiles deposed Him from His throne on our hearts as King? Why is Yeshua the King of kings and Lord of lords? Does that mean the King of kings does not submit to the King of all creation, Almighty God? Did God eliminate the Spirit that He put on His Son to do His will? Did the Son not give us the Spirit to be able to accomplish the work and will of His Father capable of seeking and knowing the truths of God? Do we still not see that as a Scriptural indictment and a prophetic work of the Father for these end times to be able to function in Unity as one as They are One? The Scriptures and the prophetic instructions are not just words but Spirit directed works of God to bring us into His truth and His way and His life. Messiah came to do His Father’s will and indeed we should be in pursuit of doing the Father’s will as well once we have come into the fold through the prophetic gate of the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. You noticed hopefully that I mentioned that we might see some religious doctrines that are contradictory to the Scriptures! I hope they are a little more exposed in your religious indoctrinations to become aware of and maybe, just maybe pierced in your heart a bit to say, woe is me…a sinner!
Some believe the Deity of Yeshua was in Him as a man rather than now as a man seeking His Father’s face in prayers, fastings and supplications to know the will of His Father. Mark chapter one is a great place to study and define this work of the Father to put His Spirit on His Son, just like He had put His Spirit on His prophets as His servants in prior times. But also in that exact current time as well who was John the Baptist, Elijah to come. Matthew 11:1-17 give this contrast of the prophet Elijah called John in this new life eating locust and honey in the wilderness and Yeshua eating and having wine with the peoples of the land. The King sent His vinedresser as the Servant to restore relationship but our religious filters through doctrines blind us. In ways I see the present condition of the Gentile organized churches having the potential of missing the second coming of Messiah because this time He is coming as the Scepter of God to establish the Kingdom of God on earth. We are doing church and a lot of religious things but not really about our Father’s business and Messiah did because we have displaced the Father as King just as much as Israel did in 1 Samuel 8:7 to our worsened demise. The most major failure of the Gentile church is our lack of understanding the prophetic because it is the Father who is both the driver of the prophetic but also the revealer of the prophetic. Our understanding of Revelation, Romans, Hebrews, Ephesians, the gospels and James are the tip of the hidden iceberg it appears! It is knowing in part that always gets us in the worst troubles because we have the tendency of becoming prideful and arrogant, contented that we own truth, at least Pilot questioned his capacity! That is discernment and all of us need a heavy dose of that for today, looking for the new doctrines to tickle our ears and new teacher to groom a societal message that pleases our semi-apostate condition! Laodicea is likely the most prevalent condition of the modern church and likely why we absolutely will not look at Revelation because God the Father has concealed it for His glory. If we do not give Him credit for being the King why should He given us revelation? But rather we have eyes that do not see and ears that do not hear what the Spirit of God is trying to say to us…many have displaced the Spirit of God as well, have we not? But should this be since the Father has told us His Spirit can lead us into all truth, maybe…just maybe it is time to be humbled and broken before the mighty hand of God?
Where I feel like the Gentile churches have failed the most is to believe in the necessity of the Tanakh as instruction conveying that the “law” is outdated or superseded in every form. In this very present religious confusion there might be some lack of understanding of covenantal promises that the King has ordained by His power and might. Ezekiel chapter 36 is a very hard chapter to fit in our Gentile perception of a “new and only covenant” or how the Father might bring that about for the “Apple of His eye!”
The evidence of our struggle in this continuum of the many religious pursuits is now confronted with a universal connection of now coming together in the unification of all faiths, so worldly. The “one world religion” Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon showed a debut led by a musical invocation of the statue he built for himself to be honored as the king of kings. Not because he was supposed to allow his pride to get the better of himself but all men are moved by the pride of life, lust of the flesh and lust of the eyes. He made it 60 cubits tall which was the height of the temple of God which he tore down without instruction from God and 6 cubits wide. The number of man is 6 which is very interesting just to marvel at in the way this act played out!
Daniel 3:1-7 gives us a little insight into this kind of “worldly king like” display of power that will come about as well in these end times and made it out of pure gold which represented his kingdom. (1.) Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, the height of which was sixty cubits and the width six cubits; he set it up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon. (2.) Then Nebuchadnezzar the king sent word to the assembly the satraps, the precepts and the governors, the counselors, the treasurer, the judges, the magistrates and all the rulers of the provinces to come to the dedication of the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king set up. (3.) Then the satraps, the prefects and the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the judges, the magistrates and all the rulers of the provinces to come to the dedication of the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up. (4.) Then the herald loudly proclaimed: “To you the command is given, O peoples, nations and men of every language, (5.) that at the moment you hear the sound of the horn, flute, lyre, trigon, psaltery, bagpipe and all kinds of music, you are to fall doewn and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up. (6.) “But whoever does not fall down and worship shall immediately be cast into the midst of a furnace of blazing fire.” (7.) Therefore at that time, when all the peoples heard the sound of the horn, flute, lyre, trigon , psaltery, bagpipe and language fell down and worshiped the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king has set up. (NASB)
Let me suggest this solemn grouping in today’s societal posture might have brought a little both some unseen and likely unwanted Trojan horses into our very presence into almost every religious gathering. But I also believe God has also equipped as well as kept a His remnant, they are the most ostracized grouping historically by the religious zealots! Is this divisive corruption, this working of the kingdom of darkness, carrying the altered, deluded religious perception and practices that exists today: present, alive and typically well funded? This is a needed clarification from all of our present religious practices that are contrary to the work and working of God to confound the intelligent and wise? Regrettably it can be any and all of these things and one of the greatest implications is this: that the Word of God must be known and understood prophetically to understand the differences. When we let our religions alone define the moves of God we must be prepared to meet the whirlwind that God always sets up before He shows up in a significant way.
The statement of God in Matthew 24:35-41 to say, (35.) “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away until all things take place.” (36.) But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone. (37.) For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. (38.) For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, (39.) and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be. (40.) Then there will be two men in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. (41.) Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one will be left.” (NASB)
Romans 11:32-36 does such a great job of broadening our view based on His instructions which are redemptive by nature due to His lovingkindness which says, (32.) For God has shut up all in disobedience so that He may show mercy to all. (33.) Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! (34.) For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, OR WHO BECAME HIS COUNSELOR? (35.) Or WHO HAS FIRST GIVEN TO HIM THAT IT MIGHT BE PAID BACK TO HIM AGAIN? (36.) For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen. (NASB)
When we hear of this we must realize that the threshing floor of the entire earth is in the structure and insights of the God who sees perfectly. Sometimes the justice of God is laid open for all to see as He brings judgment on His people first to show His absolute capacity and authority on His people first to rekindle a healthy fear of the King. I believe our capacity to see the things that God is trying to show us is directly linked to Daniel’s awareness that we all are pretty corruptible in this present age of sinfulness making His grace often cheapened. And our capacity to follow religiously indoctrinated substantiation rather than to fulfill the great commission is the resulting present state of worldwide apostasy which is likely the “Greatest Omission.”
Isaiah 40:9-10 gives us a clarification of what that might look like considering Matthew 13:24-30 discussing the separation of the “Tares” that look like wheat until the grain is formed just prior to the harvest.
Isaiah 40:9-10 gives us a clarification of what that might look like considering Matthew 13:24-30 has stated: Isaiah 40:9-10 says, (9.) Get yourself up on a high mountain, O Zion, bearer of good news. Lift up your voice mightily, O Jerusalem, bearer of good news; Lift it up, do not fear. Say to the cities of Judah, “Here is your God. (10.) Behold, the Lord GOD will come with might, With His arm ruling for Him. Behold, His reward is with Him And His recompense before Him. (NASB)
Many will say and believe that this work in Isaiah 40 was already done when Messiah came the first time fulfilling this some of this prophecy, not completely in my opinion. Therefore I would disagree with that as “an absolute” because prophecy is the living Word of God and has dimensions beyond what we know and see as mere men. Seeing and understanding the prophetic is only accomplished by God opening any of our eyes as He chooses based on what He wants to do with His vessels.
Matthew 13:15-31 has clearly stated the potential of the enemy sowing religious artifacts that look so sanctified but really are allusions of the truth and delusional in Scriptural perspective, (15.) “Therefore when you see the ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION which was spoken through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), (16.) then those who are ion Judea must flee to the mountains. (17.) Whoever is on the housetop must not go down to get the things out that are in the house. (18.) Whoever is in the field must not turn back to get his cloak. (19.) But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! (20.) But pray that your flight will not be in the winter, or on a Sabbath. (21.) For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now not ever will. (22.) Unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short. (23.) This if anyone says to you, ‘Behold, there is the Christ,’ or ‘There He is,’ do not believe him. (24.) For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect. (25.) Behold, I have told you in advance. (26.) So if they say to you, ‘Behold, He is in the wilderness,’ do not go out, or, ‘Behold, He is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe them. (27.) For just as lightning comes from the east and flashes even to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be. (28.) Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.”
(29.) “But immediately after the tribulation of those days THE SUN WILL BE DARKENED , AND THE MOON WILL NOT GIVE ITS LIGHT, AND THE STARS WILL FALL from the sky, and the powers of heaven will be shaken. (30.) And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of eh earth will mourn, and they will see the SON OF MAN COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF THE SKY with power and great glory. (31.) And He will send for His angels with A GREAT TRUMPET and THEY WILL GATHER TOGETHER His elect from the four winds, for one end of the sky to the other.” (NASB)
Do you now recognize why “signs” and “wonders” have the capacity of being false works of the enemy to make people believe it might be a false miracle and are led astray? Also the context of understanding the destruction of the temple in 70AD and the crushing of so many in Jerusalem through 120AD could be thought to have completed this portion. But the portion directing us to notice that the “Second Coming of the Son of Man now glorified” also takes place! The Risen Messiah has conquered sin and death in His first coming and now is the Scepter of the Father in the Father’s right hand now “Whom also is coming as King,” restored to His rightful place! It is the collision of both the Father as King and His Son Messiah Yeshua Hamashiach (the Latin Jesus) that has so much religious displacement separating the Jew and the Gentile! May we learn and understand some of the “Tares” the enemy of God has sown in our religious institutions and recognize our need to repent! It is the Word of God that will bring unity not the many words of man where sin abounds that will bring only a false sense of unity through doctrines.
Let me even be a little more blunt if you might allow me a few moments to open this conundrum a little wider, from a nobody that might be hearing of our flaws? Moses and Joshua are two of the leaders that got it right, at least most of the time. Moses, although revered as the most significant prophetic leader in the Jewish community, I believe few other men at least rivaled his relationship in obedience and being used in significant ways during their lifetimes! Joshua and Caleb who were the only two men above 20 years old of all the children of Israel to enter into the Promised Land! The book of Joshua brings the only time in the Scriptures that I can account for that the people of Israel were “as one people” following Joshua as he followed after the heart of God. The first son of Hannah that opened her womb after being a barren woman for years by the name of “Samuel” was sent to be the voice of God to a people easily already corrupted. Hannah followed the instruction of God (Law) by gifting the service of her firstborn to the service of God from the time that he was weaned from her breast. David, the second king was “a man after God’s own heart” and although he failed greatly he also was repentant and humbled before the LORD ultimately being obedient in faith to the One King who had called him as His servant. David as a man was corrupted at times by being the king but God faithfully sent prophets to speak to him about his failures and he repented, Psalm 51 is a legendary message for all of us to witness. It is the prophet purpose of God to impact our corruption and deception with a returning of the peoples to their God that restores and brings the imputed righteousness of God to cover over our failures.
In reality God is the least effected by our failures and being all knowing saw this capacity of men to make up what they didn’t know and for us to follow leaders purposed at times to mislead. The tone of “like sheep we have fallen away” and the prophetic comments of false shepherds, “wolves dressed in sheep’s clothing” all come into view! It is this generational drift toward complex failure in relationship that allows us to separates of from seeking the face of God into a religious contamination that allows the drift and rifts to confuse.
God is always willing and trying to get us to recognize our failures in relationship although I believe in many ways our religious experience tends to insulate our symptoms perfectly. We are likely to see our condition as good and all others to have failed by rote, clearly to see the imperfection in others while to remain contented in our present hypocrisies! The Scriptures tell us our condition clearly if we might be willing to listen to the prophetic voice talking about us having not merely a speck in our eye but rather a log! And with that log clearly causing us personal pain and lack of clearly seeing any speck in another’s eyes we are trying to work on their speck rather than our log. Can it get more drastic in the ways of being words to bring us to know and understand but both our pride as well as our religious conditioning; keeps us from having ears that either hear or bring us to repentance?
Matthew 12 defines people that desire to “seek a sign” as an evil and adulterous generation and likely in proud America, we have become that generation. In ways now, looking to see if it is in other nations and other cultures negates the need to be cautious with the significance of our own failure by trying to see if there might be a speck in someone else’s eye? I don’t know if that affects you as much as it does me, but how important it is to see this stewardship of God trying to get our attention, let’s not forget our obedience in the matter.
Christmas and Easter have a lot of religious conditioning around the real purpose of the Roman Empire to bring in the celebrations of the winter solstice and the summer solstice which were both pagan holidays. These concentrated calendar times were connected by Roman Empire edicts to the new-year feast of Nissan connected to the Jewish people gathering for the barley harvest, the Passover and the 49 days of awe until the wheat harvest. The calendar shift was to define the “christian event” rather than keeping Jewish festivals. Jeroboams defecting, opened by Solomon’s defecting led by the nation of Israel’s defecting from have the King be the prophetic opener of eyes, we died again just like in the garden. Hanukkah was basically an added Jewish date to replace Christmas but with this portrayal of the significance of the purified oil for one day lasting 8 total days before the final refinement could take place. Malachi was the last prophetic utterance from God, before Elijah the prophet returned as John the Baptist and the reasoning of God was why give the prophetic words when no one was listening? But to stay consistent God sent John to proclaim Yeshua Hamashiach as the Father was sending His salvation to the Jew first and then to the Gentile. Two hundred fifty years after Malachi the people were getting desperate to have a sign that God was doing something among them as His people, “the apple of His eye.” But what they watched and their interpretation of the event were fractured rather than perfect, however there was actually a prophetic message.
Hanukkah has a lot of this spiritual conditioning of the trauma that occurs when any group is not seeing the partial covering of God does not have His full blessing, of which we are all capable. Not only are we not all capable but it is also important to convey that we are all culpable in this process as well, we all have failed and fallen short of the glory of God to keep relationship. Does it mean that He is not covering at all or just not as much, I do not believe we can know fully nor should we speak for God but His lovingkindness is likely doing more that we should ever ask! One of the four lesser Greek kings after the death of Alexander the Great caused the Israelites not to be able to have access to the temple of God. A small group of Israelites called the Maccabean Revolt defeated a Seleucid Empire’s strangulation hold on the temple worship around the years of 167-160 BCE. The Hanukkah festival is a tribute to the one day of oil to light the Menorah in the 2nd Temple of God meant for a single day’s supply that lasted 8 days while new oil was pressed and waiting clarification of rest for 7 days by direction of the Law of God. Said to be a miracle of God that the oil lasted 8 days is this celebrated and now solemn holiday but is this evidence of a miracle or rather the provision of God to reveal another prophetic truth remaining unseen?
Having played with alcohol lamps as a child the size of the flame eschewing from the wick and the amount of the wick that can be exposed has a great deal to do with the supply of the alcohol in that case. As the alcohol is consumed the wick is slowly consumed closer and closer to the confined space the wick comes through and is simply burned away to be evidenced by what is supported by the flow available. If the wick is exposed too much for the alcohol present the wick flickers and burns as part of the flaming process until it finds a perfect state of equilibrium. Always being interested in the scientific meaning I played with extremely dried out wicks to see just how long they could sustain a flame long beyond when you would suppose them to fail. Trimming the wicks back reduces the flow and therefore reduces the light that is available by reducing the availability of the fluid to ignite into flame. The priests would know this exact placement to make the wick burn that full flask of oil day by day so as to fully light the temple in accordance with the directive of God to the priests. So the question is not whether this was a miracle of God or was it a prophetic mystery to be revealed for such a time as this? As I see the times and events happening and coming I truly believe it is the revealing of the prophetic to bring us all into the perfection that God intends for these last days though prophecy. The wicks in the temple were made of the priestly garments worn thin hopefully seeking the presence of God for themselves and also for the sake of the people as the watchmen, hearing from God. Clearly God showed this purpose of intention, but it is contrasted by this constant drift of relationship that is compromised by religion through doctrines.
Fascinating that Hanukkah should bring us to a prophetic condition that made the recognition of other prophetic events be magnified by the word spoken about the wick not fully supplied by the in sufficient oil supply. Isaiah 42:1-9 is a declaration from the God who sees outside the timeline and the circumstances that keep us focused on the calamity rather than losing His presence because of stagnant relationships. Oh may we have eyes to see His deliverance and lovingkindness that desires that we come to our senses and obey Him starting with repentance.
Isaiah 42:1-9 says, (1.) “Behold, My Servant, whom I uphold; My chosen one in whom My soul delights. I have put my Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the nations. (2.) He will not cry out or raise His voice, Not make His voice heard in the street. (3.) A bruised reed He will not break And a dimly burning wick He will not extinguish; He will faithfully bring justice. (4.) He will not be disheartened or crushed Until He has established justice in the earth; And the coastlands will wait expectantly for His law.”
(5.) Thus says God the LORD,
Who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and its offspring, Who gives breath to the people on it And spirit to those who walk in it, (6.) “I am the LORD, O have called you in righteousness, I will also hold You by the hand and watch over You, And I will appoint You as a covenant to the people, As a light to the nations, (7.) To open blind eyes, To bring out prisoners from the dungeon And those who dwell in darkness from the prison. (8.) “I am the LORD, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another, Nor My praise to graven images. (9.) “Behold, the former things have come to pass, Now I declare new things; Before they spring forth I proclaim them to you.” (NASB)
There are so many fractured religious traditions we all have come capable of doing by rote rather than relationship. And because they are done without recognition of what might have been done in a fractionated way they become a religious address that becomes part of the maze that is hard to detangle so as to clean up responsibly. I believe our biggest concerns should be surrounded by the prophetic institution of God making the Jews first the institution of reconciliation and the Gentiles with them as one people. There is so much to this move of God that has taken the work of my second book to fully scale all these workings of God to be understood from the many different directives in the Scriptures. This is not done for the making of a newly defined religion but rather for all of us to be more capable of seeing our religious infections and deceptions against the prophetic catalyst of the holy fire of God. For the disruption of the Gentile churches in both ignorance and portions that may have indeed been corrupted it is important to recognize and fully take ownership and stake reconciliation as the preferred pathway. The Jewish people have been assaulted and treated horribly in so many instances. I, for one, am not only aware but am deeply in remorse over these apostate conditions the Jews have had to endure at the hands of “christian religions” over the centuries. I have another post on this website that goes through Isaiah Chapter 58 that will give clarity in how our relationship is to become this work of God to break our religious perceptions. Then how to walk in ways that are pleasing to Him as the King, knowing the Messiah’s prophetic journey that we may have missed because of our leaders that also may have been misled by rote. I do not think any “normal groups” of us desire to mislead or be misled but rather hope to raise our families well being good parents and respectable people. But always the prophetic structures of God brings us to crossroads along the way where we have a choice to accept His Words or to reject His Words, don’t let the enemy of God delude you!
Yeshua, Jesus tells a parable of two men: one standing and one broken in spirit, on his face before God...it was the point of the parable.
This is the point of the parable—and it seals everything.
Yeshua is not contrasting right theology vs wrong theology.
He is contrasting posture before God, His Father.
In the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector (Gospel of Luke 18:9–14):
One man stands — confident, upright, cataloging his righteousness
One man cannot stand — broken, face down, unable even to lift his eyes
And Yeshua statements are a verdict: this should be unmistakable:
“This man went down to his house justified rather than the other.”
Not because the tax collector was morally superior.
Not because he had better doctrine.
But because he knew where he stood—and where he did not.
Why this parable matters so much?
This parable is the spiritual X-ray of everything.
Isaiah 58 exposes people who think they are humble
Hanukkah exposes light that survives only by mercy
Romans 11 exposes boasting on both sides
This parable exposes the heart posture beneath it all
The Pharisee’s problem was not in the outward obedience to pray but rather the outright confidence that he was truly standing correctly before God.
The tax collector’s prayer toward righteousness was not achievement he saw himself as already arriving at this entitled station; it was rather a recognition of his personal failures, surrendering.
“Humble yourselves in the sight of the LORD, and He will lift you up.”
— Epistle of James 4:10
(echoed again in First Epistle of Peter 5:6)
Notice what the command does not say.
It does not say:
humble yourself so others will see
humble yourself so God will approve your theology
humble yourself so you can be used
humble yourself so you can be elevated
It says in the sight of the LORD.
That is the entire difference isn’t it, can God see us seeking or are we entitled and confused?
Humility does not lead to lifting by effort.
Humility creates space for God to lift—if He chooses.
Why the Father must do the lifting, through forgiveness and imputed righteousness!
If we lift ourselves:
pride survives
insulation remains
religion reforms itself
If He lifts us:
pride is broken
sight is restored
relationship is re-established
That is kingship language.
Kings lift.
Subjects bow.
The quiet warning embedded in the promise
“He will lift you up” is a promise—
but only after the humbling is real.
Not pre-formative.
Not strategic.
Not comparative.
Real humility leaves no résumé.
Only mercy and grace covered in love.
This is why revelation follows humility
You’ve already seen it in your study:
Revelation withheld → pride present
Revelation given → humility restored
God does not reveal Himself to be analyzed.
He reveals Himself to be honored.
This is the eye of the needle to the camel...the beast of burden...coming through on it's knees in painful pursuit...
When Yeshua says it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for the rich to enter the kingdom (Gospel of Matthew 19:24), He is not mocking impossibility for effect. He is exposing posture.
The eye of the needle is not about size
The camel must trust it's master and therefore must choose to be willing to please knowing it is an ask...cannot be demanded the camel is to strong if it's will is not processed with obedience...so key!
The camel cannot be forced through the eye of the needle: it is too strong, too capable, too accustomed to carrying weight. What makes passage possible is not constraint—it is consent. We cannot be our own master’s and serve our Master, there is no capacity to do both and the exposure is that it is likened to a rich man choosing to give up his wealth to serve God wholly!
Why is trust this decisive factor? A camel will only kneel if it trusts its master and wants to please him as well, rare indeed.
Force produces resistance
Fear produces rebellion
Pressure produces refusal
But trust produces surrender and possibly in the rarest of cases willingness to please.
That’s why this image is so devastatingly precise.
This teaching in Gospel of Matthew 19 is not about wealth alone—it’s about our will to seek the kingdom of heaven for the sake of others following Yeshua over the prosperity of this world.
The issue is not:
how much the camel carries in its possession and strength of its might
but rather whether it will release what it carries at the request of its master
Obedience cannot be demanded at this level
This is where religion fails.
Religion tries to:
command kneeling
enforce humility
regulate surrender
legislate obedience
But at the narrow gate, obedience must be chosen.
The camel kneels because:
it trusts the voice
it believes the path is good
it knows the master is faithful
it is willing to be made low
comes in service to the King just as His Son had done
That is relational obedience, not coerced compliance.
This reveals the Father’s heart
The Father does not drag His sons into the Kingdom.
He asks.
And the asking itself is the test.
Will you trust Me enough to:
unload what defines you
kneel where you once stood
move forward without leverage
pass through without guarantees
That is why the gate is narrow.
That is why few find it.
That is why humility precedes lifting.
This completes the parable perfectly
The Pharisee stood—confident, unmoved
The tax collector fell—trusting mercy
The camel kneels—trusting the master
Strength is not the obstacle, but rather our un-submitted will is the religious contesting.
And that’s why this can never be demanded.
It must be chosen.
Religion applauds compliance to the system that urges it to greater things rarely does it seek to be broken to a more humiliated status in obedience. But it is the obedience that sees the final edict of God...many are called but few are chosen...our will must die to do His will...
This statement cuts straight to the marrow.
Religion rewards compliance because compliance can be measured, managed, applauded, and replicated.
But the true Kingdom does not advance by compliance. It advances by death of the will.
That is why Yeshua says:
“Many are called, but few are chosen.”
— Gospel of Matthew 22:14
The call goes out broadly it is the gifting of grace to come taste as see the goodness of God.
The choosing happens at the point of surrender when we see we are bought with a ransomed price that only the King could make with His only Son.
Galatians 2:20 states the Apostle Paul’s commitment to value the gift given to him, a sinner saved by grace, saying: “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” (NASB)
I believe the study into Isaiah 58 is another insight into the ancient pathway that God has so eloquently designed for us to be broken if we are willing and to comply when we see it with new eyes that see.
These are teasers to this clarification that I have been researching and writing for the last eleven years as I have been broken to see, may this brokenness become a deeper relationship for many?
Messiah’s Colt