End Times Prophecy: On Returning to Elohim

Posted on by
4

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. This chapter 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 chapter 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).

 

The Book of Revelation: Can We Understand End Times Bible Prophecy Before It Happens?

Posted on by
5

We all have our hunches about how Bible prophecy along with the book of Revelation will play out, but we’re all wrong. Some of us may have parts and pieces of the truth, but most Bible prophecy will not be fully understood until after it happens. 

For the most part, those prophecy pundits and Bible students who formulate timelines, charts and write commentaries on the book of Revelation and other end time Bible prophecies in an attempt to explain the exact meaning of the metaphorical symbols and to predict how these prophecies will be fulfilled, by whom and when are engaging in folly. No one knows these things exactly, and know will know, again, in most cases, until after they have come to pass, and even then, most people will not even understand the prophecies at that time.

Here is a case in point: Even Yeshua’s disciples didn’t understand what his role was to be or how he was to fulfill the many Old Testament Messianic prophecies about him until after his resurrection. Do we really think that our biblical understanding and spiritual perspicacity is greater than theirs? If so, than this is not only folly on our part, but extreme arrogance and hubris! Perhaps we need to explore the biblical meaning of humility and faith. Let me explain what I mean.

Regarding faith, if we were to know the exact details concerning the fulfillment of biblical prophecy including the book Revelation, then our spiritual walk would no longer be a faith walk as per the biblical definition of faith in Hebrews 11:1, would it?

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

We’d now be walking by sight, not by faith, which is the opposite of what Scripture enjoins us to do (2 Cor 5:7).

No, the main purpose of Bible prophecy isn’t to provide us with a sort of crystal ball to know what’s going to happen in the future. It’s purpose is only to raise our hope by providing us with a shadowy understanding of future events, like looking through a glass darkly (1 Cor 13:12), even as the ancient Jews had a shadowy understanding about the coming of Messiah, but they didn’t know the full or exact details of how biblical prophecies concerning him would play out. The exact fulfillment of those prophecies was hidden from the majority of Jews, which is why they killed him. YHVH divinely revealed only to a few of Yeshua’s closest associates how he perfectly fulfilled the Old Testament prophecies concerning him.

Now this brings us to the main purpose of Bible prophecy, as I see it. It’s not so that humans can use the Bible as a sort of crystal ball or as a means to divine or augur the exact details of the future, but so that after the prophecies have been fulfilled, and the understanding of them is divinely revealed to YHVH’s faithful saints (as occurred to Yeshua’s disciples after his resurrection) that the omniscience and glory of YHVH Elohim will be manifested causing humans to glorify, praise and worship him. Please not: Even an understanding of the fulfillment of the prophecies is by divine revelation and will not be understood by the vast majority of people. For example, what majority of the Jewish population understood that Yeshua the Messiah was who he was in his day…or even today? 

What, therefore, should be the main focus of our spiritual walk as Bible believers? Namely this: We need to pursue holiness and righteousness through a spiritual relationship with Yeshua as we love him by obeying his Word. Our future is in his hands, and the just shall walk by faith, not by sight (2 Cor 5:7; Heb 11:1). In his hands, we are safe and secure no matter how the prophecies of the Bible play out.

What is the bottom line here? Keep your eyes on Yeshua and have faith in him, and not on how you think Bible prophecy is going to play out, because no one knows these things. Make no mistake about it, the vast majority of those people who “understand” Bible prophecy are those who have something to sell you; they want to make a name for themselves for the purpose of human pride, control and mammon. Beware!

 

Without Holiness, No One Will See Elohim! Holiness Is YHVH’s Chief Quality

Posted on by
2

Our modern society has no concept of holiness. NONE whatsoever! This is because there is no fear—either reverential or dread—of Elohim. NONE! People, generally, are not only unaware of Elohim, but could care less. Live for them moment, make money and pursue the lusts of the flesh and eyes, and do what feels good is all most care people care about. And we wonder why society is ripping apart at the seams and lawlessness, anger, suicide, drug addictions, hatred and strife abound everywhere? Are we that clueless and lost as a society to be able to add two and two? Read on for the answer to these problems.

Hebrews 12:14, Holiness…see YHVH. 

Holiness is the chief attribute of Elohim and the most defining aspect of his character. It has to do with the fact that Elohim is entirely good and without evil or moral defect and totally sinless. This is why the spiritual beings around his heavenly throne are constantly crying, “Holy, holy, holy” in his Presence (Isa 6:3; Rev 4:8). This is why one of his titles is The Holy One of Israel,which is used more than thirty times in the Tanakh (e.g. 2 Kgs 19:22; Ps 71:22; Isa 1:4; Jer 50:29). This is why the high priest who ministered in the Tabernacle of Moses and later in the temple wore a golden crown or headplate with the words inscribed on it, “HOLINESS TO YHVH.” Not only was this pointing upward to YHVH’s set-apartness, but man himself is to become holy or set-apart even as YHVH Elohim is set-apart, for we read in the Epistle to the Hebrews that the attribute of holiness is a prerequisite for a man coming into the Presence of Elohim (Heb 12:14).

YHVH Elohim made mankind in his own image (Gen 1:27), so that man could eventually become his glorified spirit children (John 1:12; Rom 8:14–15; 2 Cor 6:18; Gal 4:5–6; 1 John 3:1–2; Rev 21:7). As part of the process of becoming an immortal child of Elohim, man must become holy as he is holy (Lev 11:44, 45; 20:7, 26; 1 Pet 1:16). This is the ultimate destiny of those who will submit to YHVH’s process of transforming man from profane or polluted, sin-ridden beings to becoming holy or set-apart. What does this process involve and how does it affect you?

YHVH Is Preparing His Saints to Be a Kingdom of Priests

In the Bible, YHVH declared that it was the destiny of the Israelite nation to become a chosen and peculiar people and a kingdom of priest—to be special and unique among the nations of the world—to reflect the character and nature of YHVH Elohim—to be holy (in Hebrew, kadosh) as he is kadosh. The Hebrew word kadosh means “sacredness, consecrated, set-apartness or separateness.” Set-apart or separate from what? From the sin, profaneness and pollutions of the world with all of its sin and rebellion against the Creator. YHVH Elohim is set-apart or kadosh in that he is transcendent or above the mundane with its sinfulness. He invites humans to transcend the pollutions of the carnal and the mundane and to come up to his level. The saints as the end times priesthood of Yeshua need to embrace and internalize this identity for themselves as we will discuss below.

Continue reading →
 

Where did they go and are you one of them?

Posted on by
4
Yes! We’re speaking to YOU!

Deuteronomy 29:28–30:1–20, A time is coming when Israel, including the ten northern tribe will be redeemed and regathered back to the land of Israel after having been exiled into captivity from their land. What is the captivity from which Israel will be returning? 

What Is This Captivity? 

The biblical term captivity is often a reference to Samaria, the capital of the Northern Kingdom or house of Israel, being brought out of captivity by YHVH (Ezek 16:53). Also compare Isaiah 61:1 with Luke 4:18–21 where, while preaching in the region of Galilee and Nazareth (the historic homeland of the Northern Kingdom or House of Israel), Yeshua quotes the Isaiah 61 passage relating it to his ministry to the ten tribes of the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Matt 10:6). Yeshua states that it was his mission “to preach the gospel to the poor … to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captive and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bound, to preach the acceptable year of YHVH.” 

To what“captivity” is Yeshua referring? Is it a physical or spiritual captivity? Compare this with Revelation 18:4 where YHVH states that his people (the saints) are enslaved to the last days’ Babylon the Great religious-economic-political system and must come out of it. What is this religious part of this system that he is now calling his people to leave?

Deuteronomy 29:28, Cast them into another land. “This verse also alludes to the fate of [those Israelites] who had become so assimilated among other peoples that their [i.e. the Israelite’s] origins had become forgotten. When the final redemption comes, these hidden ones known only to [Elohim] will be reunited with the rest of the nation and be restored to the status of their forefathers” (The ArtScroll Stone Edition Chumash, p. 1090). To whom is the author referring here? Who became assimilated among the peoples and forgot their origins? Who is it that Elohim will bring out of hiding from among the nations where he, in judgment, scattered them and reunite with the Jews (the tribe of Judah) in the end times during what the Jews refer to as “the final redemption”? In Jewish thought, what is the “final redemption”? (For the answer, read Ezek 34:13; 36:24; Isa 56:8; Matt 24:29–44; Acts 1:6; 1 Cor 15:51–53; Rev 11:15–18.)

Continue reading →
 

New Video: The Restoration of All Things Is Occurring—Preparing the Way for Messiah

Posted on by
2
 

New Video: The Gospel Message Preached From an Apple Tree

Posted on by
4
 

What? There’s more than one resurrection?

Posted on by
5

Hebrews 11:35, A better resurrection. This verse indicates that there is more than one resurrection of the righteous dead, and that there is at least one resurrection that is better than another one. 

Likely, the first resurrection will be the best resurrection, since the righteous dead saints and the righteous living saints will be resurrected at that time to meet Yeshua in the air at his second coming. The resurrection/s that will occur subsequent to that (whether they occur during the millennium or at the white throne judgment) will likely be inferior to the first resurrection. Why is this? 

Those saints who will be part of the first resurrection are those who endured and overcame the world, the flesh and the devil and remained faithful to Yeshua against such opposition. They are the strongest and most righteous saints, since their mettle, loyalty, faith and endurance was tested under the most trying circumstances, and they still remained faithful to Yeshua. They will likely be those who will be greatest in the kingdom of heaven (Matt 5:19). 

Those saints who will be resurrected subsequent to that will have had to go through great refining trials because they are spiritually subpar. This will perhaps be because they weren’t faithful in living up to the spiritual light they were given, or perhaps because not as much was given to them in the first place, so not as much was required of them (note the Parable of the Talents in Matt 25:14–30; Luke 12:48). 

Those who come to faith in the millennium will likely have a lower reward, since their overcoming faith didn’t need to be as strong. This is because they lived during ideal times when evil was suppressed because Yeshua was ruling the world and Satan was imprisoned in the bottomless pit, thus making it easier to live a righteous life without the struggles and downward pulls of Satan and his demonically controlled world. 

All this goes to show that there are levels of rewards in the kingdom of heaven (e.g. Matt 5:19; Matt 25:20–23, 29; Rev 2:23; 2:7, 11, 17, 26; 3:5, 12, 21; 20:12), even as there are levels of punishment (e.g. Luke 12:47–48). 

Those who are currently lukewarm believers and who turn their lives around now and who open the door of their life to Yeshua (Rev 3:20) becoming red hot for him prior to his first coming (and first resurrection; Rev 3:15), will have a chance to receive the highest reward in Yeshua’s kingdom, that is, to sit with Yeshua on his throne (Rev 3:21). This shows the mercy and grace of YHVH in that he can take even lukewarm saints who desire to turn their lives around and to repent and reward them with the highest position in his kingdom. 

Lest we get smug in our spiritual complacency, let’s not forget what Peter said, “the righteous are scarcely save” (1 Pet 4:18). Every saint living is lukewarm to one degree or another by YHVH’s highest, righteous spiritual standards. Those who don’t think they are lukewarm are blinded by their own pride and self-righteousness, which is the greatest sin of all (Prov 6:16–17)! In fact, the Bible teaches that our best righteousness is as filthy rags (Isa 64:6). Yet, at the same time, there is hope for us all to come to the higher spiritual level! This, however, won’t occur without our having to go through the refining fires of trials (Rev 3:18) or, for some, even great tribulation (Rev 7:14) at the end of the age prior to Yeshua’s second coming.