The Creation Gospel Podcast

Dr Hollisa Alewine – Footsteps of Messiah Part 132 (The King's Authority, Angels, and Demons) for week of November 17, 2024

The King's Authority, Angels, and Demons

Last week, we examined the prophetic value of waving and shaking the lulav:   •      With the lulav, we call home the exiles from all directions of the earth to the sukkah. They are called to their Kingdom assignments, their reward, and to further repentance. •      First fruits offerings and those consecrated for service are typically waved •      Is 13:13; Mt 24:29; Mk 13:25; Lk 21:26; Re 6:13 describe how powers and principalities will be shaken out of the way to prepare the way for Messiah’s return and Kingdom.  •      When Messiah sets up his Kingdom, the tribes will take the places of the removed “stars,” ruling from the twelve gates of Jerusalem under the King’s authority. (For the full explanation, review Powers and Principalities)   Today, disciples of Yeshua are still commissioned to learn, practice, and rehearse their future Kingdom responsibilities wherever they live among the nations. Learning to walk both in and under authority is something vital to orderliness in our walk today and absolutely vital in serving our now-and-future King in the millennium. Yeshua left us an incredibly valuable teaching on our preparation:   And when Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, imploring Him, and saying, “Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, fearfully tormented.” Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.” But the centurion said, “Lord, I am not worthy for You to come under my roof, but just say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I also am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to this one, ‘Go!’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this!’ and he does it.” Now when Jesus heard this, He marveled and said to those who were following, “Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel. I say to you that many will come from east and west, and recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven; but the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” And Jesus said to the centurion, “Go; it shall be done for you as you have believed.” And the servant was healed that very moment. (Mt 8:5-13)   The text implies the servant was not suffering only from a physical malady, but a demonic oppression, or torment. The centurion frames his discussion on authority as being able to tell a subordinate to come or go, and they have to obey. Even demons are subordinate to the Word, and the centurion recognized Yeshua’s authority to send them away. Our King is the Living Word, not to be argued with by any demonic entity.    This is the authority that was to be invested in Israel as rulers with King Messiah. As they rehearsed their leadership in the wilderness encampment, preparing to replace powers and principalities, so Yeshua dispatched his disciples with instructions to practice healing and casting out demons in his Name, or authority. As with any learning exercise, sometimes they encountered challenges. Some demons didn’t accept their authority to send them back to their own realm. By definition, a demon attached to a human is out of bounds. Out of authorized areas. The question is, does the believer understand the authority to send it back to its assigned space?   And the evil spirit answered and said to them, “I recognize Jesus, and I know about Paul, but who are you?” (Ac 19:15)   Yeshua taught the disciples that for stubborn cases, prayer and fasting beyond the annual Yom HaKippurim was necessary. Just as some ancient warriors, like Uriah or Jonathan, purified themselves, abstained from marital relations before a battlefield encounter, or made vows, so a little yom kippur is a way of preparing for serious spiritual battle by humbling the soul.    This does not mean that if you are not healed, you are deficient in faith. Even Timothy was often ill. Early believers fell ill and were subject to torture and death, so we prepare, pray, and practice using Yeshua’s authority, but sometimes the answer is no. We walk within the authority of the King, and if He has willed a different outcome, then we can only pray and accept that our ministry is not authorized to override a royal decree, only to appeal that it be somehow mitigated.    Yeshua links the final gathering at the resurrection to calling in the Bride-to-be with the “lulav” principle of Avraham, Isaac, and Jacob who are buried at Hebron, awaiting the resurrection. If you’ll remember from last week, the three myrtle branches of the lulav symbolize the three pairs of patriarchs/matriarchs who are buried at Hebron. Because Hebron was thought to be an entrance back to the Garden of Eden, it was a signal to all their descendants that there will be a resurrection.    Having faith in that central idea of the Word is what characterizes those who will return to the Garden, which hovers just above Jerusalem. In the Jewish tradition, when a righteous person crosses into the Garden after death, he is greeted first by Adam with joy, and then there is a sit-down meal with the Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the fathers of our faith. Yeshua said there will be lots of room at that table of believers in him. If they walk in righteousness with him, they will experience a pleasant family reunion while they await the resurrection.      So why did Yeshua connect walking in the authority of the Living Word of Adonai with the resurrection?    Learning to walk in authority and under authority today is our preparation FOR the resurrection. Life is not over then, but just beginning. We need faith skills. We need humility. We need a ministry work ethic. We need to understand what authority we have and don’t have in the Word especially if we must be prepared to judge angels! (1 Co 6:3)      Please SUBSCRIBE to our newsletter to get new teachings.

Dr Hollisa Alewine – Footsteps of Messiah Part 131 (What You Did) for week of November 10, 2024

What You Did

for the Greater Exodus

 

When is the best time to plan for Sukkot?

 

Immediately after Sukkot!

 

There’s not much chance of a smooth eight days next year if you’re not already working on your calendar and negotiating the days off. One thing’s for sure...if you bumble and stumble through a feast, the kids and grandkids are watching. What must they think? Their friends’ parents put up the December holiday lights and decorations weeks ahead of time, but mom had no idea that there was a significant rip in the tent roof or grandpa tried to hold a sukkah together with zip-ties and fishing line as the sun set on the first day of Sukkot?

 

I know. I’m not helping your anxiety level. It happens to most folks, though, until they learn to plan. Let’s see if I can help. Would it help if you understood the prophetic value of the seemingly minor activities during Sukkot? Like waving and shaking the lulav for seven days?

 

The lulav, or four species, is comprised of seven components. The palm branch is the lulav, but the entire bundle is also called the lulav [1≈7]. To some, each of the species (minim) represent a type of believer, from extremely pious to minimally active spiritually. Even though there is a range of observance, they are all one bundle. The good traits of others can offset the lazier ones, who nevertheless might have some redeeming quality to contribute to the group.

 

There are other traditions as well. The feasts are filled with symbolic objects, foods, and actions. In one tradition, the symbolism of the lulav is:

 

•      One palm branch, representing the one Elohim.

•      One citron, representing the one nation (Israel).

•      Three myrtle branches, representing the three forefathers buried at Hebron

•      Two willow branches, representing the two Tablets of the Word

 

The palm branch, or lulav, must come from the crown of the dekel, or palm tree. It is the new growth that is still tightly compact, unopened, very straight like a spine that supports the body. 

 

The citron is the etrog, the pleasant-smelling “heart” of the lulav because of its shape. The etrog is invalidated if the pitom is broken off or missing. The pitom is the prominent tip. We must serve Adonai carefully and with a whole heart.

 

The myrtle is hadas, and its leaves look like eyes. If crushed or even brushed against, it releases a fragrant oil. We should always be on the lookout for opportunities to release the fragrance of Messiah Yeshua in our interactions with others. The Living Word leaves a tangible fragrance others appreciate. It is a sign of spiritual life, a prophecy of the resurrection. There must be three myrtle branches, a symbol of resurrection. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and their wives are buried in Hebron because it was thought to the an entrance back to the Garden of Eden; thus, the resurrection number of three still speaks to us that we should walk in the faith of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

 

The aravot are the two willow branches. Willows are very flexible, but they send down deep roots and dwell in well-watered places and along rivers of living water. Their long branches make a stunning whooshing noise if waved back and forth, which they were in the Temple water-pouring ceremony. These branches remind us that the Word must be inspired of the Ruach HaKodesh to inspire others. The commandments are embraced both with the spirit and letter, or practical doing of them.

 

The lulav is waved in seven directions. The Elyah Rabbah (Orach Chaim 651:1) writes: "All together, seven, corresponding to the seven heavens.” The bundled lulav is waved, or shaken, specifically in the direction of the four winds in a linear method as well as toward Heaven and earth, south-north-east-upward-downward-west. These directions are mentioned in Isaiah:

 

·     Do not fear, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, and gather you from the west. I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’ And to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’ Bring My sons from afar and My daughters from the ends of the earth, everyone who is called by My name, and whom I have created for My glory, whom I have formed, even whom I have made.” (Is 43:5-7)

 

There are sheep out in the sheepfolds of the nations, sons and daughters. They were exiled to the “wilderness of the peoples,” but they will come home to the Land of Promise in the Greater Exodus. They were emplaced in the nations just like Israel was emplaced in Egypt for a purpose:

 

·     “Now not with you alone am I making this covenant and this oath, but both with those who stand here with us today in the presence of the LORD our God and with those who are not with us here today (for you know how we lived in the land of Egypt, and how we came through the midst of the nations through which you passed; moreover, you have seen their abominations and their idols of wood, stone, silver, and gold, which they had with them)...” (Dt 29:14–17)

 

It is important for us to SEE the abominations and idols of the nation in which we live. That means we should recognize those as contrary to every precept of life in the Scripture. We are not to see in order to absorb the abominations or to be absorbed into them, but to become the Light of the Word that stands against them in that nation.

 

Out there among the nations is a Bride-to-be. She may not even know she is a Bride yet. She has not yet heard or responded to the Good News of Messiah. “How lovely on the mountains are the feet of him that brings good news, announcing peace. Keep your feasts, O Judah!” (Na 1:15) This is why observing the feasts is important. Just as the Bride was called out of their chains in Egypt, so there are others in that wilderness of the nations who must shrug off the Egyptian chains and hang them in a sukkah at Sukkot. 

 

SHAKING AND WAVING

•      With the lulav, we call home the exiles from all directions of the earth to the sukkah. They are called to Kingdom assignments, their reward, and to perfecting repentance.

•      First fruits offerings and those consecrated for service are typically waved

•      Is 13:13; Mt 24:29; Mk 13:25; Lk 21:26; Re 6:13 describe how powers and principalities will be shaken to prepare the way for Messiah’s return. 

•      When Messiah sets up his kingdom, the tribes will take the places of the removed “stars.” Just as they encamped in the wilderness to prepare to reign from the twelve gates of Jerusalem in place of those principalities and powers, so we are in the wilderness of the nations preparing ourselves and preparing the nations for the reign of the one and only Elohim of the universe.

 

If you’ve ever noticed Jews shaking the lulav, they don’t just wave it in the directions of the four winds, heaven, and earth, they SHAKE it hard. As the Bride-to-be is called home from the four directions of the nations, she is called forth from the earth where she is buried and from the heavens where her soul awaits the blowing of the shofar for the resurrection. 

 

The tribes come home, but they also awake from the dust at the resurrection so that they may ascend to New Jerusalem. There they will form one Bride, one Body of Messiah, an adornment for the Bridegroom. From the height of that cloud, they will descend, perfected, to rule and reign on earth. 

 

She must shake off the dust of death to arise even as the principalities and powers are shaken out of their places to make room for the new administration of the King of Kings.

 

Sukkot are often decorated with paper chains. One legend says that two descendants of Ephraim ran away from the slavery in Egypt, attempting to return to the Promised Land of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Pharaoh’s soldiers captured them, put them in chains, and paraded them through the cities of Egypt to warn people what happened to any attempting to flee slavery to Pharaoh. When Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt and they first encamped in Sukkot, the two boys, who had kept the chains of their captivity so as not to forget the day of their freedom, hung the chains from their sukkot. Therefore, today children make paper chains to hang from the sukkah. 

 

Israel should never go back to the chains of slavery, but travel forward to the Covenant, the Land of Promise, and after the resurrection from the earth which they were formed, to take their places in the administration of Messiah during the millennium:

 

Shake yourself from the dust, rise up,

O captive Jerusalem;

Loose yourself from the chains around your neck,

O captive daughter of Zion. (Is 52:2)

 

Does that help any anxiety about preparing for Sukkot? When you shook the lulav, this is what you did. You were part of prophecy! 

 

Sukkot and the lulav each year teach us the responsibilities of being a Light of the Torah in the Greater Exodus of Israel as she returns to her Land of Promise. It’s a promise to Avraham, Isaac, and Jacob kept; it’s broken chains of sons and daughters in every sukkah on the journey home.

 

It’s the opportunity to be a part of that great cloud of witnesses to which we will awake at the resurrection. It’s a rehearsal to party with the righteous from centuries past at the resurrection. It’s a rehearsal to become acquainted with the Bride-to-be with whom we will be serving in the millennium. 

 

Wake it and shake it already!

 

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Dr Hollisa Alewine – Footsteps of Messiah Part 130 (Wee the People) for week of November 3, 2024

 

Wee the People

Did you have to memorize the preamble to the Constitution in school?   "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution...”   I never had a problem memorizing things for school. It was getting up in front of people that was terrifying. Eighth grade was a veritable shark tank of hormones, cliques, and mean girls and guys. A public mistake likely meant a nickname you didn’t want. Not much tranquility among “we the people” in junior high.   We the people. The politicians did get a few things right back then. A sense of common identity, community, mutual respect, and all those things that define a people group were at the top of their agenda. Not a bad start for a government defining and agreeing on what “constitutes” a nation.    But the signers of the Declaration of Independence and Constitution didn’t want a king, even a good one.    Israel in the wilderness was a miracle, a people group preserved in Egypt over hundreds of years without losing their identity. They had a king, a pharaoh, yet they kept their own language. They kept their tribal identity. These things became even more defined in the wilderness when they received their covenant in Hebrew, affirming their collective mission.    Each tribe’s blessings were clarified, territory defined in the encampment, leaders chosen and instructed. A central place of worship nestled in their center, reminding them that they should provide for the common defense of the Ark, maintain their boundaries in tranquility, and look to the welfare of their families so that their posterity would be able to enter and inhabit the Land of Promise.    Their King was YHVH, Who betrothed them to Himself at Mount Sinai. Everyone signed on with “We will do, and we will hear.” Unlike the Tower of Bavel, where human beings united to build a name for themselves, Israel united to build the Name of the Holy One of Israel. There is ultimate power in unity, which is reflected in our proclamation of the greatest commandment: “Hear O Israel, the LORD your God, the LORD is One.”   What happens, though, when our “we” becomes my “I”? Oh, my.   The stutter-steps in the wilderness occurred when the I’s developed an independent agenda or envied others. There were rebellions against the authority of Moses and Aaron, rebellions against the mitzvot, even passive-aggressive disobedience. In the wilderness, that means just not showing up when you know you should.    Each problem emerged when “I” outweighed “we the people.” Even rebel groups were not truly a “we.” They had different agendas, so they were bound as “we” only in dissatisfaction, which would not be enough to hold them together had they been successful, such as Korach and the Reuvenites. Truth is, they were a collection of “I’s”.    The secret to a successful “we”, as in “We will do, and we will hear,” or “We the people,” is that we have to become wee people. Smaller than our egos tell us we should or ought to be. Or, in some cases, bigger than our fears will allow us to be. In that case, doing more is actually an act of humility. If we obey the fear, we will not be fruitful in the congregation. We have to make the fear smaller and our Divine spiritual calling greater. Great faith means wee fear.   WE are not alone as we battle our egos or our fears:   “Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us...” (He 12:1)   The clouds surrounded the Israelites in the wilderness. Within the cloud were many witnesses to the exodus from Egypt, the miracles along the way, and the national purpose to build the Kingdom of the only true King of Kings. “I” could never forget what “we” experienced because there were so many witnesses in the surrounding cloud. What I experienced was what we experienced.   This is a race we run together. The only time there is one runner is called a “walk-over” in horse racing. It means that there is an entry in the race that is so formidable that no one else dares even enter another horse in the race. That horse has only to walk over the finish line. In other sports, a walkover occurs when the opposing team forfeits because of the overwhelming skill of the opponent.   The race is not against other believers! The race is against the enemy within, the sin that so easily bogs us down, entangles us. Did you know that every horse race is designed to be a theoretical dead heat? The track experts rate each horse, and then the faster ones with more stamina carry extra weight in their saddles to slow them. Less proven horses carry less weight so they can run faster.    Although there is rarely a true dead heat, that is the goal. Within the Bride of Messiah, however, that is the ONLY way we finish the race, together. We might look around and point the finger at others for interfering with us, blocking us, bumping us, discouraging us. With our race, however, Paul tells the Corinthians that WE are our own obstacles.    Our own sin, whether rebellious and aggressive, or rebellious and passive, is a burden, or “encumbrance” in the NASB. It’s not extra weight that someone else slips into our saddle, but extra weight we choose to carry. And we don’t have to. And we shouldn’t. Because we want to finish the race at the same time as everyone else. This is not a speed race, but a finishing race. To finish with everyone in the cloud is the win. That’s why Paul says it’s an endurance race. There are no walkovers in the cloud in the wilderness.   We are not alone in our walking race. The cloud of the Presence of Adonai with us includes the inspirational souls of Israel who have gone before in their royal priesthood bridal garments. Like all who would take the yoke of the Torah upon them were standing at Mt. Sinai, so we are part of that great cloud of witnesses...   As the Israelites neared the Promised Land at the end of their journey, Moses reminded them, “You are witnesses today...”   The goal is to finish the testing in the wilderness, which is a race of endurance, not speed. We are in the wilderness of the peoples. In the wilderness of the peoples, we also are surrounded by that great cloud of witnesses and the Presence of Adonai:   “Now not with you alone am I making this covenant and this oath, but both with those who stand here with us today in the presence of the LORD our God and with those who are not with us here today (for you know how we lived in the land of Egypt, and how we came through the midst of the nations through which you passed; moreover, you have seen their abominations and their idols of wood, stone, silver, and gold, which they had with them)...” (Dt 29:14–17).   Like the Israelites had to see the gods of Egypt and of the nations in their exodus, so the great cloud of witnesses are “with” us as we also journey, exiting Egypt, being tested for any shred of idolatry left within us from the “midst of the nations” where our wilderness of the peoples occurs.   Endurance is the race strategy, not speed. In this race, all finish at the same time, the resurrection of the dead. In the warning to Sardis in Revelation, Yeshua cautioned that not all who were called will be fully clothed in the supernatural garments that allow them to pass into and out of the “cloud” of New Jerusalem as they minister to the nations and kingdoms of the millennium. Although all were educated by Moses and the Ruach in the cloud in the wilderness, not all obeyed His compassionate mitzvot with joy, and they died in the wilderness. The Cloud expels rebels and practicing sinners. It re-assigns them to less holy spaces.   Nehemiah explains Israel’s royal priestly semi-Edenic journey, reiterating the special garments in a cloud dwelling where the Lamp was the Lamb, the Word of God, and they ruled the peoples from this portable Jerusalem/Temple. (Re 21)   “You, in Your great compassion did not forsake them in the wilderness; the pillar of cloud did not leave them by day, to guide them on their way, nor the pillar of fire by night, to light for them the way in which they were to go. You gave Your good Spirit to instruct them, Your manna You did not withhold from their mouth, and You gave them water for their thirst. Indeed, forty years You provided for them in the wilderness, and they were not in want; their clothes did not wear out, nor did their feet swell. You also gave them kingdoms and peoples...” (Ne 9:19-22)   From the wilderness the Israelites were educated how to rule kingdoms and peoples on behalf of the King of Kings. They had to see the abominations and idols in their journey in order to know how to minister to those peoples with the Light of the Torah. Although Hebrews, they understood the language of the Egyptians.  They were to see what NOT to do; they weren’t supposed to absorb it and do it.   Although we are Israelites in the wilderness of the peoples, we speak the languages of our exile. We see their abominations and idols. And in spite of all we see in our many Egypts, we retain our identity and the Scripture, the Hebrew “language” of righteousness. We, like every other witness at Mount Sinai, are being educated by Moses and trained in righteousness by the Ruach HaKodesh. The Divine constitution of our nation rests in our midst, the Presence of our King among us, abiding among us through His Word.    We are no longer I.    For now, our temporary tribal territory has been defined so that we may observe the nations and their abominations and idols, so that we may intercede for them now, lead them to repentance, and demonstrate to them that even though we are many Hebrews, we are one in Messiah. We eat the same spiritual food and drink the same spiritual drink in this wilderness.    Where, you ask, is this manna and water in our wilderness?   It’s on your end table. Your nightstand. Your desk. Your laptop. Even your phone.    The Israelites had to walk out each morning together to gather the manna and draw water from the rock’s streams in the desert. We, however, have the Scriptures at our fingertips without ever leaving our homes, our chairs, or even our beds. Never has a wilderness generation had such easy access to manna and spiritual water of the Word.   Therein is a great blessing, and therein is a great danger.   When we don’t have to gather together to gather the Bread of Heaven, we can remain isolated in our feeding upon the Word. I read. I study. I post. It appeals to both the inflated ego and the passive one who remains aloof, hiding from brothers and sisters in the cloud. The cloud is not a place to hide our faces from one another. It is not the cloud that makes us invisible to one another. It is the encumbrance of sin and rebellion we still lug around.   Although it seems like a great blessing for the Word to be so easily gathered and ingested, it is also a test in our wilderness of the peoples. Moses was the most humble man on the face of the earth. He humbled both aspirations and fears. He decreased so Adonai could increase in the faith of the Israelites. He decreased so the King’s witnesses could increase to fulfill their mission and finish the journey. He decreased so kingdoms and peoples could be joined to Israel. Moses became a wee person who could draw near the Divine Presence and draw others near as well.    In Yeshua’s temptations, neither aspirations nor fears clouded his understanding of the Word and his mission. Our Messiah Yeshua put off the Divine glory to become a wee person, to draw many into the cloud of witnesses.    Shouldn’t wee?

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Dr Hollisa Alewine – Footsteps of Messiah Part 129 (The Haunted Sukkot House: The Two Hauntings of the Lukewarm) for week of October 20, 2024

In this teaching Dr Hollisa Alewine discusses the two hauntings after Yom HaKippurim.

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Dr Hollisa Alewine – Footsteps of Messiah Part 128 (Green Grass of the Apocalypse) for week of October 13, 2024

We examine why the green grass is burned in Revelation. 

 

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Dr Hollisa Alewine – Footsteps of Messiah Part 127 (Rosh HaShanah: Who's Counted and What Counts?) for week of October 6, 2024

The three reckonings of Yom Teruah ...

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Dr Hollisa Alewine – Footsteps of Messiah Part 126 (The Bride's Wilderness Laundromat) for week of September 22, 2024

The Bride's Wilderness Laundromat

The wilderness journey brings up all sorts of practical questions. Practical questions often lead to impractical, but not impossible, answers. Although the Israelites looted the Egyptians, it is unlikely that the garments lasted for forty years in the harsh desert. How did they keep up with the laundry? What about the children born who would need clothes of their own?

 

Having done my laundry in the Aravah several times, I know from experience that clothes hung on a line to dry have a coating of sand by the time they dry and I take them down to fold them.

 

The pillars of cloud and fire, as well as the cloud cover in which the Israelites walked, provided supernatural assistance in these practical questions. The hint is found in the following verses:

•“Your clothing did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years.” (Dt 8:4)

•“I have led you forty years in the wilderness; your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandal has not worn out on your foot.” (Dt 29:5)

Egyptian clothes surely wear out. The sandals even more so with a nation on foot. These supernatural garments and shoes must have come from somewhere. The Midrash explains:

•“From where did they obtain clothing to wear throughout the forty years that the people of Israel spent in the Wilderness? They were from what the ministering angels clothed them. Thus it is written, ‘I clothed you (Israel) in rikmah (Ezekiel 16:10).

Rikmah is a royal garment.” (Midrash Rabbah Shir HaShirim 4§23)

 

The hint in Ezekiel is that these splended, durable garments were garments of royalty, fit for a royal priesthood. They were also fit TO a royal priesthood.

 

It was thought that the supernatural garments grew with the person like a shell grows with the chilazon, the snail from which techelet (blue) dye is extracted for tzitziyot to remind Israel of the mitzvot. From infant to adult, the garment grew. This helps us understand how the commandments grow with us when we continue to set our affection on what is above, learning to use what is below for the service of Heaven. The commandments become bigger and stronger in their protection and beauty as we grow because they are growing with us!

 

This passage in Ezekiel is thought to describe Israel’s bridal agreement to betrothal at Mount Sinai when they said, “We will do and we will hear”:

 

•“Then I passed by you and saw you, and behold, you were at the time for love; so I spread My skirt [wing, kanaf] over you and covered your nakedness. I also swore to you and entered into a covenant with you so that you became Mine,” declares the Lord GOD. Then I bathed you with water, washed off your blood from you and anointed you with oil. I also clothed you with embroidered cloth [rikmah] and put sandals of porpoise skin on your feet; and I wrapped you with fine linen and covered you with silk. I adorned you with ornaments, put bracelets on your hands and a necklace around your neck. I also put a ring in your nostril, earrings in your ears and a beautiful crown on your head. Thus you were adorned with gold and silver, and your dress was of fine linen, silk and embroidered cloth.” (Ezekiel 16:8-13)

Israel the Bride was at the time for “love,” or able to Shma, to hear and to love with all her heart, soul, and strength. At that time, the ministering angels were thought to clothe Israel with miraculous garments that did not wear out and give them the sandals that did not wear out. They were also given two royal crowns, one for “we will do” and one for “we will hear.” After the golden calf, those crowns were taken away and the “jewelry” were retrieved, but the miraculous royal garments and sandals remained upon them. (Dt 8:4) Like the Kohen HaGadol, every member of the royal priesthood was clothed in “garments of honor and glory.”

 

The Midrash asks:

•But did the clothing not need washing? “The pillar of cloud, which accompanied the nation throughout their journey in the Wilderness, brushed against the clothing and cleansed them.” (ibid 4§23). 

 

The garments could withstand the fire of the pillar of cloud because they were manufactured in Heaven. These were garments with the smell of the blessed field, a place of eternal life. The fire actually refined the garments instead of destroying them!

 

Likewise, Yeshua’s garment of salvation and robes of righteousness, which we may put on, have a Garden fragrance of eternal life and a royal priesthood, a fragrance of Lebanon, as Chapter Four of Song of Songs says. Lebanon is from lavan, which means “white.” Salvation and obedience are white robes from the pleasant Land of the Garden. A great "cloud of witnesses" to the commandments of God and the testimony of Yeshua wears clean, pressed white garments:

•“When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained; and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” And there was given to each of them a white robe; and they were told that they should rest for a little while longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed even as they had been, would be completed also.” (Re 6:9-11)

If, according to Rashi, the garments were also pressed daily, does that seem too fantastic? Perhaps not! The cloud and fire was the Bridegroom’s way of keeping the Bride’s garments of glory washed, pressed, and perfectly sized: 

•“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the Word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless. So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself; for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, because we are members of His body.” (Eph 5:25-30)

Remain in the Word, and the spiritual water and fire will clean your salvation garment and robes of Yeshua's righteousness daily. It will even give them a fine pressing so that there is not even a wrinkle in your commandment-keeping as you journey through the wilderness of the peoples. No wrinkles also means you've grown into them and matured in the journey. What might have seemed overwhelming at the beginning of the journey, you'll find was nothing to worry about. Your garments grew with you, and you grew into the garments!

 

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Dr Hollisa Alewine – Footsteps of Messiah Part 125 (The Wild Kingdom) for week of September 15, 2024

The Wild Kingdom

As we approach the High Holy Days, we prepare to read a passage of Scripture on The Feast of Trumpets called The Akeidah. It refers to the binding of Isaac. A key verse is this:

 

• Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” And he said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering? Abraham said, “God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” So the two of them walked on together.” (Ge 22:7)

 

For now, notice two things:

 

1. Isaac respectfully addresses Avraham, "My father."

2. Avraham responds, "Hineni." "Here I am, my son."

 

They are in unity as to what is about to happen. Avraham will sacrifice Isaac, and Isaac will be figuratively resurrected from the dead. From henceforth, there is no question as to the line of succession. Two sons. One will be labeled "a wild donkey" (Ge 16:11-12), and one will receive the promise of a Land, Covenant, and People to pass along to his offspring. Although Avraham longed for Ishmael to live before Adonai, the birthright was awarded to the one who would sacrifice himself. The son walks with the father. The Son walks with the Father. 

 

When it is time for Isaac to in turn bless one of two sons, he nearly makes a mistake. Rivkah his wife knows that Esau unburdened himself of the birthright for a bowl of stew. He "hated" the promise, though later he sought it carefully with tears when he realized he wasn't entitled to the blessings if he didn't accept the birthright. Believers are not so different today. They quickly claim the promises, but when it comes to the obligations of the Torah, they are nowhere to be found. They're just playing a wild game. In order to deceive Isaac, Rivkah instructs Jacob to dress in Esau's special garment and to put goat skins on his arms.

 

• “So he [Jacob] came close and kissed him; and when he smelled the smell of his garments, he blessed him and said, “See, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field which the LORD has blessed...” (Ge 27:27)

 

Although the voice didn’t add up to Isaac, the pleasant field fragrance was apparently a singular aroma, one not easily duplicated or confused with another. Where did it come from?

 

The sages say it was from the blessed field of Creation, the garment Elohim made for Adam when he drove the first couple from the Garden. The garment was handed down to Noah, but after the Flood, the fear and dread of mankind fell upon the animal kingdom. With the special garment, though, the animal kingdom continued to have no fear. It still held the fragrance of obedient Eden. The animals would approach anyone wearing the garment, recognizing his authority in the Creation. It is thought that eventually Nimrod "the mighty hunger before the Lord" took control of the garment, which gave him power over the animals. When people saw this special power, they submitted themselves to him, giving him dictatorial power. At some point, Esau killed Nimrod and took this pleasant garment for his own:

 

• Then Rebekah took the best (chemdah) garments of Esau her elder son, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob her younger son. (Ge 27:15)

 

וַתִּקַּח רִבְקָה אֶת־בִּגְדֵי עֵשָׂו בְּנָהּ הַגָּדֹל הַחֲמֻדֹת אֲשֶׁר אִתָּהּ בַּבָּיִת וַתַּלְבֵּשׁ אֶת־יַעֲקֹב בְּנָהּ הַקָּטָן׃

 

חֶמְדָּה chemdâh feminine of H2531; delight:—desire, goodly, pleasant, precious.

 

Chemdah [chamud/chamuda] can apply to precious things like jewelry or clothes, but it especially applies to the Land of Israel, the reflection of the Garden above it. Here are some examples of its use in context with the Land:

 

• “Then they despised the pleasant land; they did not believe [הֶאֱמִינוּ] in His Word...” (Ps 106:24)

 

• “...but I scattered them with a storm wind among all the nations whom they have not known. Thus the land is desolated behind them so that no one went back and forth, for they made the pleasant land desolate.” (Zech 7:14)

 

Israel, “the pleasant Land,” is the most beautiful inheritance one may have among all the nations that the peoples may inherit. Those who bear the lingering fragrance of obedience founded on their belief, or faith, will be collected from the nations to inherit with “sons”:

 

• ‘Return, O faithless sons,’ declares the LORD; ‘For I am a master to you, and I will take you one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion.’ “Then I will give you shepherds after My own heart, who will feed you on knowledge and understanding. It shall be in those days when you are multiplied and increased in the land,” declares the LORD, “they will no longer say, ‘The ark of the covenant of the LORD.’ And it will not come to mind, nor will they remember it, nor will they miss it, nor will it be made again. At that time they will call Jerusalem ‘The Throne of the LORD,’ and all the nations will be gathered to it, to Jerusalem, for the name of the LORD; nor will they walk anymore after the stubbornness of their evil heart. In those days the house of Judah will walk with the house of Israel, and they will come together from the land of the north to the land that I gave your fathers as an inheritance. “Then I said, ‘How I would set you among My sons and give you a pleasant land, the most beautiful inheritance of the nations!’ And I said, ‘You shall call Me, My Father, and not turn away from following Me.’ (Je 3:14-19)

 

That's the key. Those who return will say, "My Father" and not turn away from Him and His commandments as Esau did. Esau, the Red One, the wild red beast of Revelation, is a human in whom the soul practices subjugation of the spirit. The spiritual authority of the Father is only their second thought, hindsight, with regret for the goods lost, not necessarily the rift with the Father. As an example, Esau took two idolatrous wives without his parents’ permission, and only later did he take a daughter of Ishmael.

 

Esau only regrets selling his birthright when he realizes the “loot” of the blessing was also forfeited. The scarlet beast is fully invested in the economic system to satisfy his soul. He serves the Father to obtain the goods and crown. He loves competition and games because he loves to win. That's why he hunts. Not just to eat, but to win. The taste of wild game is the reward of the hunt, fueling feelings of superiority and dominance over the creation. In Esau's case, he doesn't even want to wear the garment of the blessed field to hunt the wild game for his father. It's not enough of a challenge if the animals just walk up to him. It wouldn't have the taste of "wild" game. 

 

Notice the difference and progression of these “my fathers” related to garments:

 

• Then he [Jacob] came to his father and said, “My father.” And he said, “Here I am (Hineni). Who are you, my son?” (Ge 27:18)
• Then he [Esau] also made savory food and brought it to his father; and he said to his father, “Let my father arise and eat of his son's game, that you may bless me.” (Ge 27:31)
• When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried out with an exceedingly great and bitter cry, and said to his father, “Bless me, even me also, O my father!” (Ge 27:34)

 

Jacob approaches in shepherd-skins and says, “My father.”

 

Esau approaches and orders his father to arise, eat what he has hunted instead of shepherded, and bless him.

 

Only after Esau realizes what has happened is he humbled to plea, “O my father.”

 

Yeshua explains that real "food" is not wild, but obedient work on the obligations of the birthright: "Jesus said to them, 'My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work.'" (Jn 4:34)

 

So, who are you, my son? Who are you, my daughter? Are you wearing the garment with the fragrance of obedience in Eden? Are you serving the Father for the loot, or to sacrifice for the sake of all the souls who will be added to the Kingdom? 

 

Now is the time to examine our garments. Do they smell of the fruitful, sown seed of the diligent servant who went weeping on his way, carrying a bag of seed? Or do they smell of wild game? 

 

When the last shofar blows, he who wept first will reap gladness and joy. He who practiced disobedience will weep last, find out that his reward was only in the physical world, the here and now. His garment could not withstand the fiery swords of the cheruvim at the entrance to the blessed field. 

 

Seek first the Kingdom, the birthright of the redeemed. It may feel as though you are bound, but you will resurrect to more riches than eternity can hold.

At the resurrection, only then all the things of the blessings will be added to you. 

 

Walk on with the Father. Forever. 

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Dr Hollisa Alewine – Footsteps of Messiah Part 124 (Rise Up Come Down Jerusalem- Part 2 of Charm School) for week of September 8, 2024

Rise Up Come Down, Jerusalem

(Part 2 of Charm School)

 

The haftarah (reading from the Prophets) supplies our study this week, a continuation from "Charm School" of the Torah portion Vaetchanan. It is Isaiah 51:12-52:12. Verses and 1 and 2 supply our question and answer:

Does Jerusalem, the Bride, arise at the resurrection or does she descend to be seated (dwell)?   YES!   First one, then the other.   The foreshadowing of the restoration is found a little farther along in Isaiah:   It will no longer be said to you, “Forsaken,” nor to your land will it any longer be said, “Desolate”; but you will be called, “My delight is in her,” and your land, “Married”; for the LORD delights in you, and to Him your land will be married. (Is 62:4)   This explains the “New Jerusalem” as Eden above able to once again “marry” the physical Land of Jerusalem and Israel from which she withdrew after the first sin. Once the Land is cleansed, those who could heed the command to “Arise” at the resurrection at the Last Trump will descend adorned with the ornaments of the written and lived Word, and they will be seated, or “dwell” (sheviyah) in the Bride’s renewed intimate Edenic habitation:    Then I saw a new [renewed] heaven and a new [renewed] earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.” (Re 21:1-4)   Not all who were called will be fully clothed in the garments that allow them to pass into and out of the ”cloud” of New Jerusalem as they minister to the nations and kingdoms of the millennium. Although all were educated by Moses and the Ruach in the cloud in the wilderness, not all obeyed His compassionate mitzvot with joy, and they died either in the wilderness of the exodus from Egypt or the wilderness of the peoples in the last exile (Ezek 20:35). The Cloud expels rebels and practicing sinners. They evaporate in the Light of the Word, not the cloud.   Nehemiah explains their royal priestly semi-Edenic journey, reiterating the special garments in a cloud dwelling where the Lamp was the Lamb, the Word of God, and how they ruled and will again rule the peoples from this portable Jerusalem/Temple. (Re 21)   “You, in Your great compassion did not forsake them in the wilderness; the pillar of cloud did not leave them by day, to guide them on their way, nor the pillar of fire by night, to light for them the way in which they were to go. You gave Your good Spirit to instruct them, Your manna You did not withhold from their mouth, and You gave them water for their thirst. Indeed, forty years You provided for them in the wilderness, and they were not in want; their clothes did not wear out, nor did their feet swell. You also gave them kingdoms and peoples...” (Ne 9:19-22)   The bridal garments are garments of a royal priesthood tried in the wilderness, ready to reign and rule with Messiah Yeshua, the Living Word of the Father. He is Bread, Water, garments of righteousness, and peace that do not wear out, for those royal bridal blessings of eternal life are from the Garden above. The feet don't swell because those feet are not exactly touching the natural earth after Jerusalem once again is married to the earth below. The Bride is adorned with beautiful mitzvot full of the Light of the Torah and the Lamp of the Word.   That is the Light with which they also will light the world when they have come to rest in the Holy City:   “I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. In the daytime (for there will be no night there) its gates will never be closed; and they will bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it; and nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.” (Re 21:22-27)   The Lamb is the Word of God, full of light that calls the Bride to arise and shine, for her Light has come. She also wears garments of glory, the 24 garments of the Word that light the way for the nations. Gates that never close have no threat from the Beast, who always strives to carry burdens of commerce through the beautiful gates of glorious Jerusalem.    You. You, Jerusalem below, are adorning yourself to arise, to prepare for your role as Jerusalem who will descend and dwell on earth to serve Adonai.   “You shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother, for glory and for beauty.” (Ex 28:2)   Each of the eight garments of the Kohen Gadol atoned for different sins, depending on   a) the sincerity of Israel's repentance + b) pure intention of the Kohen Gadol.   1. The Tzitz had the power to atone for brazenness, as it was worn on the Kohen Gadol's forehead, Metzach is synonymous with brazenness. 2. The Mitznefet had the power to atone for haughtiness. It raises the Kohen Gadol's height when wearing it. 3. The Ephod had the power to atone for idolatry. 4. The Chosen Mishpat had the power to atone for miscarriages of justice. 5. The Me'il Techelet had the power to atone for public slander, as the golden bells which were attached to its hem made noise while the Kohen Gadol walked, a reminder to guard our tongues. 6. The Ketonet Tashbetz had the power to atone for certain capital crimes. 7. The Avnet had the power to atone for sinful thoughts, as it was wrapped around the Kohen's torso from just above his hips to just under his heart, where its end was tucked in. 8. The Michnasayim, which cover the Kohen from the waist to above his knees, had the power to atone for sexual misconduct. (The Temple Institute. 2-6-22)   Reb Tzadok HaKohen from Lublin writes: “The concept of Shabbat is mentioned twelve times in the Torah, and we know that everything on Shabbat is double, so essentially Shabbat is represented by the number twenty-four. This idea is also reflected in the fact that a bride adorns herself with twenty-four ornaments, and the Shabbat is referred to as the bride. A Torah scholar (familiar with the 24 books of the TANAKH) is akin to Shabbat, and the Priests and Levites were the quintessential Torah scholars of Israel, so it is appropriate that the Priests are referred to as Levites twenty-four times in Scripture.”   We are a royal priesthood, adorned with bridal garments more numerous than that of the Kohen HaGadol. If the Kohen HaGadol could die upon serving without all eight garments in place, so we should diligently study and apply the whole Word, lacking nothing. Whom we serve on Shabbat is the sum of those garments.   Like the 24 earthly courses of the kohanim and Leviim put on their garments of beauty and glory, we put on 24 garments of the royal priesthood. What “good” are our 24 garments of Yeshua’s righteousness?    They shine the Light of truth, exposing sins, leading many to repentance, and atoning for them among the nations of the world where our little tabernacles are scattered...   Time permitting, we’ll give practical examples of how the priestly garments provide insights into how we can put on our 24 royal priesthood bridal garments each day to bring the Light of Yeshua to the nations and kingdoms among which we live.     Please SUBSCRIBE to our newsletter to get new teachings.

De Pie con Israel(Standing With Israel)

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