Deuteronomy 30—”Return to Me!”

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Deuteronomy 30:1, It shall come to pass. This is an end time prophecy concerning the people of YHVH.

Deuteronomy 30:1–5; 31:16, Returning to Elohim. Israel’s departure from her covenantal agreements with YHVH was assured. Moses prophesied it. But repentance (verse 2) was always an option—an open door of return back to right relationship with YHVH. Have you repented of straying from his Torah-commands whether out of ignorance or purposely?

Deuteronomy 30:2, You will return unto YHVH. The word return is shuv/CUA, which means “to come back, turn back.” Bear in mind that one cannot turn back to what one never had in the first place. This prophecy says that those who YHVH has scattered because of their disobedience to his Torah-covenants will return to him. To whom is this referring? In Hosea 3:4–5, we find similar language:

For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim: afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek YHVH their Elohim, and David their king; and shall fear YHVH and his goodness in the latter days. (emphasis added)

Relate this to Revelation 18:4 and Malachi 4:4–6 along with Jeremiah 16:19 (read verses 15–21 for context).

Let us not forget that, “Ideal repentance is motivated by the desire to return to [Elohim], not because one seeks to rid oneself of suffering, and benefit from Divine blessings” (The ArtScroll Stone Edition Chumash p, 1091).

With all your heart. Moses makes the heart of man a major focal point in this chapter (see also vv. 6, 10, 17. The subject here is about returning to Elohim after having turned away from him, but this can only happen when the heart of man is willing disposed to do so, and not a minute before that. Repentance is all conditional on the heart of each individual person.

This scriptural passage presents the view that if YHVH’s people will return to him with all their heart and soul from the places he has scattered them because of their disobedience and that of their forefathers (v. 2) that he will begin to gather them together in their foreign lands (vv. 3–4). Eventually this will result in his people returning to the promised land of their inheritance (v. 5). In the process, after his people have inclined their hearts to following YHVH, he will respond by circumcising their hearts and that of their children to love him more, so they can walk in harmony with him by keeping his Torah commands, so he can bless them. This is all predicated upon his people making a choice to obey him (v. 19). Once the choice is made, he will pour out his grace upon his people, so they can continue to obey him with all their hearts. 

Deuteronomy 30:3, From all the nations to which YHVH … has scattered you. The Scriptures over and over again record that the house of Israel (Ephraim) would be scattered over the face of the whole earth (Ezek 34:6, 12; 36:19; 37:21; John 11:52), and that YHVH will regather them in the end times and return them to the land of Israel (Deut 30:3–5). Deuteronomy 32:26 says, “I said, I would scatter them into the corners …” The ArtScroll Stone Edition Chumash comments, “This refers to the exile of the ten tribes who were scattered to an unknown place where they have never been heard from again.

On the phrase of the same verse, “I would make the remembrance of them to cease from among men. …” the same Chumash states, “This is a reference to the exile of Judah and Benjamin, the Davidic kingdom from which today’s known Jews are descended.” It goes on to say that though nations would seek to destroy Israel entirely, YHVH would never allow Israel to become extinct or disappear. Israel’s perpetual existence is a constant reminder of YHVH’s plan and eventually Israel will thrive and fulfill YHVH’s intention for it” (pp. 1105–1106). 

Nineteenth orthodox Jewish scholar S. R. Hirsch in his commentary on the same verse translates the phrase, “I would scatter them into the corners …” as, “I would relegate them into a corner …,” and then says that the Hebrew here refers to the “extreme end of a surface, the side or corner ….” He, too, relates this fate to the Ten Tribes who would be scattered “to some distant corner of the world, where, left entirely to themselves, they could mature towards serious reflection and ultimate return to Me …” (p. 650). 

Some in the Christians deny that these Scriptures passages pertain to the ten tribes of the Northern Kingdom of Israel and instead insist that they are speaking about Judah (the Jews) only. They insist that the return of the Jews to the land of Israel starting in 1948 is the fulfillment of these prophecies and the ten tribes of Israel are lost forever. How can this a correct understanding in light of the Scriptures and the Jewish sages interpretations of those scriptures that states again and again that the ten tribes will return at the end of the age to be reunited with the Jews under the reign of Messiah Son of David (Ezek 37:15–28)?

Deuteronomy 30:6, Circumcise your heart.Obedience to YHVH is all about the heart, all about love and relationship between him and us. Are his commandments too difficult to keep? (See verses 11–14.) Ultimately obedience is about our making choices. What are those choices and what are both the long-term and short-term results of those choices? (Compare verses 29:27–28; 30:9, 20 with 30:15–16, and relate this to what Yeshua told the rich, young ruler in Matthew 19:16–19.)

Deuteronomy 30:6, Will circumcise your heart…and of your seed. This is a prophecy concerning the Renewed Covenant, to which Jeremiah makes reference (Jer 31:31, 33) as does Ezekiel (Ezek 36:26–27), and the writer of Hebrews (Heb 8:8).

 

Hebrews 1–4—Are YOU in the true rest of YHVH?

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Hebrew 1

Hebrews 1:9, Loved righteousness and hated lawlessness. To the degree that we love righteousness, we will hate Torahlessness and vice versa. To love righteousness and the laws of Elohim is to love his him, to love his Word and to love Yeshua. To the degree we disdain his Torah is the degree that we disdain him and Yeshua the Messiah, the Word made flesh regardless of our protestations to the contrary, regardless of our religious activities and regardless of how much we throw our emotions at him and call it praise and worship. Obedience to his Torah-Word from Genesis to Revelation is barometer indicating the depth of our love for him.

Hebrew 2

Hebrews 2:1-2, Lest we drift away. One can lose one’s salvation (see also 1 Cor 9:27; Heb 6:4–6; 10:26 cp. 1 Tim 1:19; Matt 13:20–22) if one neglects (v. 2) and doesn’t carefully guard and maintain their spiritual relationship with YHVH and his Word.

Hebrews 2:7, A little lower. See notes at Ps 8:5.

Hebrews 2:18, He is able to aid. To receive the aid of Yeshua, our Great High Priest, all we have to do is to humble ourselves and recognize that we are sinners and need help, and then to ask him for help as well as to avail ourselves of the help that he has already give us, namely, the light of his Word, which, if we study and feed on, will guide us and keep us in the straight and narrow path. 

Hebrew 3

Hebrews 3:3, He who built the house. Yeshua is the builder of his spiritual house—the church. Interestingly, his earthly father trained him to be a carpenter. Often the physical or natural and spiritual dimensions parallel each other. The idea of Yeshua being the Creator of all things including humanity (Heb 1:10; John 1:3, 10) and being the builder of his spiritual house provides us with an important truth. How is it that the death of Yeshua—one human—could pay for the sins of the whole earth—many humans? Simply this. Yeshua in his pre-incarnate state as the Word of Elohim created all humans. His life is more valuable than the lives of all those he created, since he is the Creator, even as life of the builder of a house has more value than all the houses he builds. This is why Yeshua could pay for the sins of the whole world, and why his life was more valuable than those of all the humans that have ever lived in the history of the world.

Hebrews 3:6, Hold fast…firm to the end. Ultimate salvation—the redemption of our bodies, our glorification and inclusion in the family of Elohim (or theosis) occurs after we have overcome the world, the flesh and the devil and remained firm to the end. The end is either our physical death, or our spiritual transformation or the first resurrection at Yeshua’s second coming.

Hebrew 4

Hebrews 4:2,The gospel was preached. The children of Israel heard the gospel message even as it was preached in the time of Yeshua, the apostles and in our day. They were without excuse for not accepting the gospel message. As the writer goes on to show, they rejected it because of the hardness of their hearts. People still reject the gospel today for the same reason.

Hebrews 4:3, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11, Rest. The term rest is also a biblical Hebraic idiom or Hebraism (see Deut 12:9, 10; 25:19; 1 Kgs 8:56; 1 Chron 23:25; Ps 95:121; 1 Thess 1:7) for the rest from one’s enemies and that one obtains once one has come into the promised land of their inheritance that YHVH has prepared for his saints. For the Israelites, this was the physical Promised Land in which they settled after having defeated the Canaanites. For the saint, ultimately, this is the Promised Land of the kingdom of Elohim and the New Jerusalem, which they will obtain in the final sense at the second coming of the Messiah when they receive their glorified bodies at the resurrection during the millennium, of which the seventh day Sabbath is a prophetic picture.

Hebrews 4:9–10, Rest. The Greek word sabbatismos means “a keeping of the Sabbath” and is derived from the Hebrew word sabbaton meaning “the seventh day or Sabbath.” In Hebrew the word for Sabbath is shabbat, which originates from the root verb shabat meaning “to cease, desist, rest.” Those who have entered into the Sabbath rest do so by following the example of YHVH the Creator who not only rested spiritually, but literally rested on the seventh day after the creation. He set this as an example for man to follow. 

Some people see this verse in Hebrews only as a mandate to rest from their spiritual works by putting their faith in Yeshua. This is only partial rest. We must follow the example of YHVH who literally rested on the seventh day as well. 

Yeshua in his preincarnate state was YHVH the Creator (Heb 1:10; John 1:3, 10). He kept the Sabbath as YHVH the Creator, and as Yeshua the Messiah as well. (If Yeshua didn’t keep the Sabbath, then he was a sinner in that he violated the law, and is not our perfect, sin-free Savior! If he kept the Sabbath, and the Gospels record that he did do so, we are to imitate him as his obedient disciples and imitators by doing what he did (1 Cor 11:1; 1 John 2:6). 

Some deceptive Christian “teachers” will state that Yeshua broke the Sabbath by quoting John 5:18. First, again if Yeshua had broken the fourth commandments, he would have become a sinner (1 John 3:4), but we know that he was sinless (Heb 4:15), so this was not the case. Second, John records that it was the misguided Jews who were accusing Yeshua of sin, even though he had done nothing to break any of the Torah’s laws regarding the Sabbath. Third, the word “break” as used in John 5:18 is the Greek word luo, which in its primary definition means “to loosen literally or figuratively.” Yeshua was “breaking” or “loosening” the man-made, extra-biblical laws or constraints that the Pharisees had put on people with regard to how to keep the Sabbath. Yeshua was brushing aside or “breaking” or “loosening” some of these non-biblical and man-made restrictions to bring people back to a Sabbath observance that was less burdensome and restrictive. He in no way was violating the Torah, which would have made him a sinner.

When we rest both physically and spiritually, we’re walking out a higher level of truth by walking out both the letter and the spirit of YHVH’s Torah-law as Yeshua taught us to do in his Sermon on the Mount (Matt 5:17–48), and as such, we’ve positioned ourselves before YHVH to receive more divine revelation from him. 

In other words, the more we obey him faithfully in love, the more truth he can entrust us with for safekeeping, for he knows we won’t take for granted or trample his precious truth nuggets. To those who are faithful in much, YHVH gives more. That’s how it works in his spiritual economy. 

To this day, many of the religious keep the Sabbath by physically resting on this day, but they have missed the revelation of spiritual rest in Yeshua, while the mainstream Christians have rejected the physical Sabbath rest but they accepted the spiritual rest in the Messiah. Both sides have half the truth. Let’s put the two halves together and walk out the full truth—both the physical and the spiritual side of the Sabbath as Yeshua and his disciples did! 

Keeping the seventh day Sabbath with this fuller understanding is another way of connecting the gospel message to its Hebraic, pro-Torah roots.

Hebrews 4:12, Soul and spirit. (See notes at 1 Thess 5:23.) Here the writer attests to the separateness of the soul and the spirit of man. They are not indistinguishable from each other.

Hebrews 4:14,Great high priest. How could Yeshua, a non-priest (non-cohen) be our Great Heavenly High Priest, since he was from the tribe of Judah and not from the tribe of Levi, much less a descendant of Aaron? (See notes at 7:14; Exod 19:2, 4). 

Hebrews 4:16, Come boldly. The veil (Heb. porechet) in the Tabernacle of Moses separated the compartments of the holy place and the holy of holies which housed the ark of the covenant and the was where the glory or presence of Elohim resided. The holy of holies pictured the heavenly throne room of Elohim, and only the high priest could enter it once a year on the Day of Atonement (or Yom Kippur). It was forbidden for anyone else to come into the holy of holies (except Moses, who as a prophetic picture of Yeshua the Messiah, who often went there to receive instructions from Elohim). That veil separating Elohim from the people thus preventing the common person from entering into the holy of holies was miraculously ripped in two when Yeshua died on the cross (Luke 23:45), thus symbolizing that now the way was open way for every saint to come boldly through the “vieil” of Yeshua’s flesh (i.e. through the atoning blood of and a personal spiritual relationship with Yeshua; Heb 10:20) into the very presence of YHVH Elohim.

 

Background and Outline of the Epistle to the Hebrews

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Photo is from Natan Lawrence’s 1790 KJV Bible

A debate exists among scholars as to when the Epistle to the Hebrews was written. Some believe it was written just before the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem in 70 AD, while others maintain that it was written just after 70 AD. This author favors the former position since the author of Hebrews speaks of the sacrificial system in the present tense as if it were still functioning (Heb 10:11; 13:10, 11).

At the same time, the author of Hebrews seems to be addressing the concerns of early believers that without the temple standing and the sacrificial system functioning, there is no longer remission for sins. He assiduously points out how the patterns and prophecies of the Tanakh are pointing to the greater priesthood of Messiah Yeshua in the heavenly tabernacle. As such, the author seems to have in view the destruction of the temple, yet while the temple is still standing. After all, Yeshua predicted the temple’s demise and that its destruction would be so complete that not one stone would be left standing on another (Matt 24:2; Luke 21:20–21).

Perhaps, the author was writing Hebrews in the four-year time period (between A.D. 67 to A.D. 70) when the Romans besieged Jerusalem, then pulled away for one year, then rebesieged and finally destroyed the city in A.D. 70. The events of A.D. 67 to 69 may have caused the writer to feel that Jerusalem’s fall was imminent in fulfillment of Yeshua’s earlier prophecies.

Main Themes

In his Epistle to the Hebrews, the author emphatically asserts that:

  • Yeshua is over all. 
  • Yeshua is leading his people to the ultimate higher spiritual reality.
  • The Tanakh (Old Testament) validates the gospel message.
  • The Epistle to the Hebrews is about transformation, shifting, growing from a lower level to a higher level spiritually. It is about one coming closer to the reality of heaven in their spiritual walk; about one approaching and growing closer to Elohim.
  • Though Hebrews doesn’t deal directly with this issue, we have to ask the following question: While in this flesh on the earth, do we abandon the letter of the Torah-law’s types and shadows and live in a spiritual dimension only? We know from Hebrews that through Yeshua’s death and resurrection, we have moved from the higher spiritual level with regard to the tabernacle system, and the Levitical priesthood and sacrificial systems. But does this apply to the rest of the Torah as well (e.g. the Sabbath, feasts, dietary laws, etc.)? Christianity by in large teaches that it does. But this is not what the writer of Hebrews is saying. The transformation of the priesthood and sacrificial systems to the higher level of reality in Yeshua doesn’t invalidate the rest of the Torah. Believers are still required to keep the rest of the letter of the Torah law as best they can. As physical beings living in this earthly dimension, we still have to follow the Torah-Word of Elohim as it applies to our physical walk (e.g. don’t murder, steal, commit adultery, lie, worship idols, etc.). But at the same time, we are to walk, as much as possible, in the heavenly dimension by following spirit of the Torah, being led of the Spirit in our walk and by focusing our attention on Yeshua, our heavenly High Priest. As such, redeemed believers are caught having to walk between the physical and the spiritual dimensions. We are in the process of being transformed from the physical to spiritual. Until this total transformation takes place, we must meld the physical or letter of the law and the spiritual realms, and we must keep progressing toward the ultimate goal of the higher Torah, which is total spiritual existence and oneness as Elohim’s children in his eternal kingdom as characterized by the New Jerusalem. 

Outline of Hebrews

Overview: Yeshua is priest, prophet and king

In the Tanakh, the priest, prophet and king were the three principal leaders in ancient Israel. No one except Moses was all three. David was a king and prophet, but not a priest. Samuel was a priest and a prophet, but not a king. Scripture tells that Moses was all three. Yeshua was the only other Person who was all three. Deuteronomy 18 tells us that Moses was a prophetic shadow picture of a greater Moses who would come. The writer of Hebrews validates this and shows that Yeshua was that greater Moses.

Hebrews 11:1 explains this process by defining faith. We live in the physical world, but we hope through faith for the spiritual world to come. Our spiritual forefathers went through this process successfully, though they paid a great price physically, anticipating in faith their heavenly reward. This is the story of Hebrews 11—the faith chapter.

Yeshua is the vehicle that leads us onward and upwards to the higher spiritual dimension. He is the ladder to and gate or door of heaven. He proclaims this in John 1:51 and John 10:7. Jacob dreamed of this ladder or highway to heaven, which was a picture of the Written and Living Torah (literally, a Torah scroll). (See telios: Col 1:28; Eph 4:13; Phil 3:13)

Hebrews and other places in the Testimony of Yeshua (NT) talk about coming to this higher goal (e.g. Matt 5:17; Rom 10:4; Heb 9:9, 11; 10:14; Heb 6:1; Heb 7:19; 9:9; 10:1, 14; 12:23).

The Tanakh prophesies that the Messiah to come would be a priest, prophet and king.

It is important to note that Hebrews focuses on Yeshua’s role as that greater heavenly high priest that the Tanakh prophesied would come.

The Superiority of Messiah Yeshua Over OT Personages (1:1–4:13)

  • Yeshua as Creator, Sovereign and Sustainer of the universe is superior to all things including the prophets — 1:1–3 (Ps 110:1)
  • Yeshua is superior to the angels —1:4–2:18 (Ps 97:7)
  • Yeshua is superior Moses —3:1–19 (Deut 18:15–19)
  • Yeshua is superior to Joshua — 4:1–13

The Superiority of Messiah Yeshua’s Priesthood Over OT Priesthood (4:4–5:10)

  • Yeshua is superior to Aaron — 4:14–5:10 (Ps 110:4; Mal 3:1–3; Isa 53:12 —Yeshua, the Suffering Servant, to take the role of high priest as an intercessor for transgressors before Elohim)
  • Yeshua’s priesthood is after the order of Melchizedek — 7:1–8:5 (Ps 110:4)

Yeshua Mediator of a Better Covenant Than the First Covenant (8:6–10:18)

  • The Renewed Covenant: a better covenant — 8:6–13 (Jer 31:31–33)
  • The First Covenant’s sanctuary and sacrifices — 9:1–10 
  • Compared with the Renewed Covenant — 9:11–10:18
 

What Is the Purpose of the Torah?

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Deuteronomy 28:1, Commandments. Most people with whom I have engaged in discussions about the Torah-law of Elohim have a limited understanding of the breadth, scope and purpose of Elohim’s law. If they were to understand the full ramifications of the Torah, they would likely be less inclined to dismiss its validity in their lives. When discussing the Torah with people who have a traditional Christian view of  “the law,” it might be helpful to keep the following truths in mind; they help to “blow the lid” off of people’s theological boxes!

(Excerpted from a larger work by Ya’acov Natan Lawrence entitled, YHVH’s Instructions In Righteousness—A Messianic Believer’s Introduction to the Torah available online at http://www.hoshanarabbah.org/pdfs/torahprimer.pdf)

The purpose of the Torah is to show man how to walk in right relationship (or righteousness) with his Creator. To do this, we must love YHVH with all our heart, soul, mind and strength (Deut 6:5; Mark 12:30) and love our neighbor as ourself (Lev 19:18; Mark 12:30). Once one is saved by grace through faith (See my teaching article entitled: The Abrahamic Covenant: The Covenant of Salvation, available at http://www.hoshanarabbah.org/pdfs/abracov.pdf.), Torah helps show man how to walk in the straight and narrow path that leads to blessings and life and avoids the curses of the law (Deut 30:15; 32:47). The Torah shows man how to avoid sin (which is the violation of YHVH’s Torah-commandments, 1 John 3:4), which is walking contrary to YHVH’s instructions in righteousness that are for our blessing and benefit.

The Torah does not set an impossible standard by which to live. We must ask ourselves, would a righteous and just Creator and a loving Heavenly Father give to his chosen people and children a set of standards that were humanly impossible to perform, and then curse them for their inability to meet these standards? Of course not! Rather, the Torah (including both the Abrahamic and Mosaic Covenants) sets a standard of faith, trusting in Elohim, and of following its system of repentance and sacrifice for obtaining forgiveness from Elohim and restoring a condition of being considered righteous in his sight. After all, Moses, the human instrument through whom YHVH revealed the Torah to the Children of Israel, states in Deuteronomy 30:11–14:

For this [Torah] commandment which I command you this day, it is not hidden from you, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that you should say, “Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it?” Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, “Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it?” But the word is very near unto you, in your mouth, and in your heart, that you may do it.

Paul quotes this very passage in Romans 10:6–8 where he relates the written Torah to Yeshua, the Living Torah or Word of Elohim incarnate (in the flesh, see John 1:1, 14). He shows that they are one in the same and that Messiah Yeshua came to live and reveal to us the righteousness of the Torah-law (verse 4) that is available to us if we will but have a heartfelt faith in him (verses 4, 9–10) and allow him to live out his righteousness in us through the empowering work of the Spirit of Elohim. In verses 11 through 21, Paul goes on to relate this very truth to being the central message of the gospel that Isaiah prophesied (Isa 52:7) would be preached to redeem both houses of Israel to Yeshua their Messiah.

It might be said that in a sense that the Torah itself is neutral; neither positive nor negative, for it is like a mirror simply reflecting the image portrayed in it. Torah reacts according to human action. Those who obey it are blessed and those who disobey it are cursed. David Stern in his Jewish New Testament Commentary lists both some of the “negative” and some of the positive functions of the Torah.

On the “negative” side:

1) The Torah has the capacity to stir up sin in an individual. This capacity of the Torah to make us sin is not a fault in the Torah but a fault in ourselves. A healthy person thrives in an environment deadly to someone who is ill; likewise, the Torah, beneficial to a believer living by faith, is an instrument of death to these controlled by their sinful nature (p. 375).

2) The Torah can still produce guilt feelings in a believer—as it rightly should whenever he contemplates how his behavior falls short of the standard Elohim sets in the Torah. But these feelings are not irremediable. The remedy is once-and-for-all trust in Yeshua the Messiah’s final atonement for sin (Rom 3:21–26), followed by ongoing confession of and repentance from sins (1 John 1:9) (Ibid.).

3) The Torah also provides a framework of justice by which Elohim, the Just Judge of the universe, will judge the actions of men to determine both their level of punishment for its violation and their level of reward for obedience to it.

4) Because of the righteous standards the Torah sets out, for the sinner it points out the fact that they have sinned and how far they have fallen short of the glory of YHVH (Rom 3:23) and hence their need for a Savior or Redeemer. The Torah actually points the way to Yeshua as Paul points out in the book of Galatians (3:25).

On the positive side:

Continue reading →
 

Amos—A Famine of Hearing (i.e. Doing) YHVH’s Word in the Last Days

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Amos 8:11, A famine…of hearing. Hearing is the Hebrew word shema, which has the compound meaning of both hearing and doing. In our modern world, the word of Elohim is more proliferated than ever before, especially with the advent of the internet. Many people have access to Elohim’s word and hear it, but very few actually do it. There are many people who are religiously active following the traditions and doctrines of men, but very few who actually read, study and then actually bring their lives into conformity with the actual word of Elohim. To do so is the biblical definition of hearing. 

Amos 8:12, Run to and fro. Not only was there a famine “of hearing the words” of YHVH, but the prophetic word of Elohim is also scarce, and people are running to and fro seeking it in ancient times, but presently as well. Why is this and what is going on?

Earlier in the book of Amos, YHVH promises to do nothing except that he reveals it first to his servants the prophets (Amos 3:7). The prophet throughout his little book rebukes the people of his day for their greed, idolatry, injustice, pride and their refusal to repent of their errant spiritual ways. Perhaps it was because of Israel’s state of spiritual apostasy that prophets were so scarce in that day, which is why people were having to run to and fro over long distances seeking a true prophetic word from Elohim. 

We read in Proverbs that without a prophetic vision from Elohim that is based on a solid foundation of Torah, YHVH’s people perish or become spiritual unloosened or unrestrained (Prov 29:18). 

At the same time, there are plenty of carnal or profane prophets in the modern church who prophesy out of the dictates of their own hearts without any understanding of the Torah and do little good for the spiritual well-being of YHVH’s people (see Jer 23; Isa 28; Ezek 13; 28) unless you consider their enriching their bank accounts at the people’s expense to be a good thing. 

Moreover, in Amos’ day as is the case today, when a true prophet would speak, Amos complained that the people hated hearing such a prophet (Amos 5:10). The same is true today. People are people. Why should YHVH send one of his prophets to such people? The people won’t hear him anyway. 

It’s ironic and sad how YHVH’s people have this strong yearning to hear a prophetic word from YHVH (probably because of the human yearning to divine the future), but when he sends one of his true prophets to deliver it, the people refuse to hear it (because with future predictions of YHVH’s prophets comes the message of repenting of sin,which people don’t want to hear). Ezekiel noted this proclivity of YHVH’s people and complained about the problem (Ezek 33:30–33). The people want to hear the prophet’s words, but they don’t want to obey the word of YHVH because it goes against their carnal desires (Ezek 33:31). Ezekiel goes on to predict that eventually, though each generation tends to reject the prophets YHVH sends to them, once the prophets are dead, subsequent generations would recognize them as true prophets (Ezek 33:33). Indeed this was the case, for later generations of Jews accepted those rejected prophets as divinely sent and put their writings into the canon of Scripture. Yeshua noted this phenomenon in the Gospels (Luke 112:46–51 cp. Matt 23:31–36). That generation now accepted the prophets of old that their forefathers had rejected, but following in the same path as their forefathers,and in their own day, they rejected Yeshua—the greatest Prophet of all.

 

Deuteronomy 27—Ye stiffnecked “Christian” rebels, why do you refuse to obey the Word of Elohim?

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Deuteronomy 27:2–10, Set up for yourselves. Immediately upon crossing the Jordan and upon entering the Promised Land, YHVH instructed the Israelites to set up a stone monument containing the Torah and to construct an altar for burnt sacrifices. What is the significance of these and why was it so important that this be Israel’s first order of business upon entering the Land of Promise? Matthew Henry states in his commentary that the Word of YHVH (the Torah) and prayer (the altar) must always accompany each other. Discuss this and relate it to Psalms 51:16–19 and Hosea 6:6 and the believer’s spiritual walk. Also, why did YHVH command the Israelites to construct the altar of uncut and whole stones? To whom does this prophetically point? (Read Dan 2:35, 45; Ps 118:22; Matt 21:42; Luke 20:17.) The stones of the altar were rough and uncut. To whom does this point who became our Living (spiritual) Altar and Sacrifice? (See Isa 53:2.)

Mount Ebal

Deuteronomy 27:2, 4, 8, Set up great stones. On Mount Ebal on whole, un-cut stones, the Israelites were to write the Torah-law and then coat these stones with lime plaster. Elohim also told them to build an altar there where they were to make burnt and peace offerings. Why was the Torah written on stones on Mount Ebal—the mountain of the curses? Why not on Mount Gerizim, the mountain of blessing? Certainly this cannot mean that the Torah is a curse, for Paul calls it kadosh (holy), just and good in Romans 7:12. What could these stones represent symbolically? First, this symbology tells us that those who don’t follow the Torah will come under a curse, for to violate it is sin (1 John 3:4) and the wages of sin is death (Rom 6:23) and all have sinned (Rom 3:23). Second, Who is the Chief Cornerstone, the Stone the builders rejected (Ps 118:22; Matt 21:42; Acts 4:11; Eph 2:20), and the stone cut without hands (Dan 2:34)? What was the purpose of these offerings and to whom do the burnt and peace offerings point? Could white lime plaster symbolically represent the saints, the bride of Messiah, being clothed in robes of righteousness (see Rev 19:7–8)? Who is  the King of Righteousness through whom redeemed sinners become righteous? Who is clothed in robes of righteousness once their sins have been atoned for? (Read Heb 7:2, 20–28 cp. Rev 19:7–8 cp. 3:5, 18; Isa 61:10.) Who was wounded for our ­transgressions and bruised for our iniquities, had laid on him the iniquities of us all, and was made an offering for sin (Isa 53:5,  6,  10)? Who was the Living Torah, the Word of Elohim made flesh (John 1:1, 14)? Who redeemed us from the curses of the law (Gal 3:13), which came upon us as a result of our sinning (sin is the violation of YHVH’s law, 1 John 3:4), and thus bringing a death penalty upon us (the wages of sin is death, Rom 6:23)? Is it now making sense why the Torah and the altar were placed on Mount Ebal? This is another one of the many prophetic shadow pictures in the Torah pointing to the redemptive work of Yeshua at the cross. Give glory to Elohim who knows the beginning from the end and to Yeshua the Messiah, the Lamb of Elohim, who was slain from the foundation of the world! Does this strengthen your faith that Yeshua is indeed the Messiah, the Lamb of Elohim slain from the foundation of the earth? Who else could have fulfilled these prophecies?

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What Does the Book of Joel Reveal About the Fall Feasts?

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Joel 1:14–15 talks about a fast and a solemn assembly (Hebr. atzeret, Strong’s H616), which is a reference to one of YHVH’s annual feast days, which occurs before the Day of YHVH Wrath. This is an a obvious prophetic reference to Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement), which occurs in the fall between Yom Teruah and Sukkot, and is the only annual high Sabbath/solemn assembly where YHVH’s people are required to fast (Lev. 23:27). In the prophetic end time scenario of the fall feasts, Yom Kippur occurs between the catching away (“rapture”) of the saints (pictured by Yom Teruah), and the beginning of Yeshua’s millennial rule (pictured by Sukkot). Yom Kippur is the time of the judgment of the world when YHVH will pour out his wrath upon rebellious and unrepentant man (Rev 15–16, the Seven Bowl Judgments).

Joel 2:1 speaks about blowing the shofar and sounding the alarm in Zion, for the day of YHVH is coming. This is a reference to the time period surrounding Yom Teruah, the day of shofar blowing or awakening blast. These shofar blasts seem to correspond to the Seven Trumpets of the Book of Revelation, which occur just prior to the resurrection of the righteous dead (Rev 11:14–18) and the Day of YHVH’s Wrath (Rev 15–16).

Joel 2:2 further calls the time period surrounding Yom Teruah a day of darkness, gloominess, clouds and thick darkness. This cross references with Matthew 24:29–31 and tells us the timing of the resurrection of the dead, which is after (verse 29) the Great Tribulation (verse 21). All this is the precursor to the great and terrible Day of YHVH’s Wrath (Joel 2:11). The word morning in verse two is the Hebrew word sachar (Strong’s H7837) meaning “morning, dayspring, dawn.” This is darkest time of the night, and Joel uses this poetic metaphor to describe spiritual conditions existing on earth just prior to the return of Messiah Yeshua who will come as the Sun of Righteousness with healing in his wings to break the hold that spiritual darkness has had on this earth once and for all (Mal 4:2, cp. 2 Pet 1:19).

Joel 2:12–15 further identifies the time period that this series of passages is discussing as being what is commonly called by the Jewish sages “the 40 Days of Teshuvah (repentance),” which begins on the first day of the sixth month on the Hebrew/biblical calendar and ends on the tenth day of the seventh month, which is Yom Kippur. These three verses clearly delineate the major aspects of this forty-day period. YHVH’s people are to:

  • to turn from their sins (called teshuvah meaning to repent),
  • to turn to YHVH with all their hearts indicating a deep (not just a surface), heartfelt repentance,
  • to fast, which is a direct reference to Yom Kippur/the Day of Atonement when Scripture requires YHVH’s people to fast or afflict their souls (Lev. 23:27),
  • and to weep and mourn for the sins one has committed that have separated one from YHVH.

In Joel 2:15–17, we see that within these days of teshuvah there is a time of shofar blowing, followed by the sanctifying of a fast which again is connected to the idea of a solemn assembly (atzeret, verse 15). This is a clear reference to Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement), which occurs on day forty of the forty days of teshuvah (repentance), and occurs on the tenth day of the seventh month. Verse 15 speaks of blowing the shofar (on Yom Kippur), which is a reference to the third in the trilogy of shofar blasts that occur on Pentecost, Trumpets and finally on Atonement. This final or jubilee blast and is called the Great Shofar Blast or Final Shofar (Shafar haGadol) and signifies when in ancient Israel all debts were forgiven, all land was returned to its rightful owners and all captives were set free. Prophetically, this pictures when the returning Yeshua will defeat all his enemies including the armies of the Beast, Babylon the Great, which has enslaved the world spiritually, economically and politically, and Yeshua will cast Satan into the bottemless pit. This is the Day of YHVH’s Wrath or Vengeance. It is even possible that the Day of YHVH’s Wrath may last for a year and terminate on Yom Kippur of the next year.

At this point, some honest Scripture students may wonder why we think that certain key prophetic end time events have to occur on the feasts. The answer is simple: Since certain key events pertaining to Yeshua’s first coming occurred on the specific feast days that until then had prophetically pointed to those events (for example, Yeshua was crucified on Passover when the Jews were sacrificing the Passover lamb in the Temple; Yeshua resurrected one the day the Levites were offering the first fruits of barley harvest; Yeshua poured out his Spirit on the Day of Pentecost and wrote the Torah on the hearts of the saints, which corresponds to the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai on Pentecost some 1500 years earlier; etc.), we have good reason to believe (based on scriptural precedence) that such will occur again regarding events surround the fall feasts.

Joel 2:16 speaks of the bridegroom going forth from his chamber and the bride coming out of her closet. This prophetically refers to the meeting of Yeshua, the Bridegroom, and his spiritual bride (the saints who have prepared themselves for the wedding of the Lamb) who will have a joyful reunion in the air at this time after the catching away of the saints. This occurs on or after Yom Teruah and during the Day of YHVH Wrath leading up to and on Yom Kippur.

Joel 2:12–14, 17 speaks of a time period of great repentance for all the inhabitants of the earth (including the saints) not only during the first 30 days of teshuvah (repentance) leading up to Yom Teruah, but especially for those inhabitants of the earth who were not caught away to meet the Bridegroom in the air on Yom Teruah, and who still remain on this earth during the “Ten Days of Awe” between Yom Teruah and Yom Kippur when the wrath of Elohim will be poured out upon the earth (the Day of YHVH). Many will repent of their wickedness and rebellion against YHVH during this time, and many will not.

Joel 2:17 speaks of the priests weeping between the porch and the altar of the Temple and making intercession for the people. We know that this occurred on Yom Kipper when the priests would actually slaughter a bull as an atonement for the sins of the priesthood and the people between the porch and the altar (The Temple and Its Ministry and Service, by Alfred Edersheim, pp. 248–249). Their weeping and crying out to YHVH to spare his people indicates that prophetically this will be a time of great duress upon the earth as YHVH’s pours out his wrath upon unrepentant humanity.

Joel speaks of the Day of YHVH (1:15; 2:1,11,31; 3:14), which is a time period associated with the ten days between Yom Teruah and Yom Kippur. The concluding event of this time period (the wrath of Elohim) will be the Battle of Armageddon when YHVH will gather all nations to mount one final assault against the Messiah in an effort to thwart him from establishing his world-ruling kingdom on earth (3:2; 12:14). Joel refers to this as the “Valley of Decision” for these nations (verse 12). They will be given the opportunity to choose to fight or submit to King Yeshua the Messiah. There YHVH will judge the nations based on the decision they make (verse 12) (this very likely is the judgment between the sheep and goat nations Yeshua refers to in Matthew 25:31-46) before slaughtering those who persist in rebelling against him (verse 3:13; Rev 14:14–20). Zechariah also speaks of the Day of YHVH when YHVH will gather all nations against Jerusalem (Zech 14:2) and he will “go forth and fight against those nations” (verse 3), after which Messiah will touch his feet down upon the Mount of Olives (verse 4)—an event that will usher in the rule of Messiah on earth and the 1000 year long Millennium (Messianic Age).

With the back drop of the fall feasts in mind as we read from the writings of Joel, along with the Forty Days of Repentance being a time of turning from sin, mourning and weeping prior to YHVH pouring out his judgment upon unrepentant humanity, what should be our emotional and spiritual disposition as we entire the time period of the fall feasts? Yeshua is coming again to judge both the wicked and the righteous. Each will be rewarded according to the fruits of their actions. With these things in mind, please read 1 Peter 4:17–18; 1 Corinthians 5:10 and Matthew 5:19.