The Creation Gospel Podcast

Dr Hollisa Alewine – Footsteps of Messiah Part 149 (The Geography of Wrath Part Two) for week of 30 March, 2025

The Geography of Wrath Part Two Before the LORD Destroyed Sodom Last week, we looked at The Geography of Wrath, a preface to this lesson on the danger of the last watch of the night.   “Lot lifted up his eyes and saw all the valley of the Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere—this was before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah—like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt as you go to Zoar.” (Ge 13:10)   When Lot “lifted up his eyes,” he saw prophetically. Before their destruction, the five cities of the valley enjoyed an Edenic-like climate and prosperity, yet the prophetic phrase “lifted up his eyes” predicts a restoration of that area, which sits in the Arava.   Revelation predicts a great miracles of the two witnesses, which helps us to understand "Sodom and Egypt":   "And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which mystically is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified." (Re 11:8)   What Sodom and Egypt have in common is that those who were saved and set on a path of righteousness (Lot and the Israelites in the wilderness) looked back at what at enslaved them as more to be desired than the Garden of Eden, the authentic Promised Land, that lay before them if they would walk in their salvation.   When the bodies of the two witnesses are caught up from Jerusalem, it is a witness to be understood as a last warning to believers who, in those last days, continue to cling to the cargoes of Babylon, who persist in begging to go "by way of Zoar to Egypt" instead of repenting and returning to the righteous walk of salvation epitomized by Avraham. The night is far spent by then.   The commercial success of the five cities lured Lot in. The deception was that its fruitfulness “like the Garden” was to be desired over the fruitfulness of the stars promised to Avraham. Lot’s wife preferred the deception of luxury with wickedness over the promise of good gifts from above.The Midrash concerning Sodom details how travelers were lured in, then maimed or killed and their goods confiscated.   “When morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, ‘Up, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away in the punishment of the city.’” (Ge 19:15)   The sun had risen over the earth when Lot came to Zoar. Then the LORD rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven, and He overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. But his wife, from behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt. Now Abraham arose early in the morning and went to the place where he had stood before the LORD; and he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the valley, and he saw, and behold, the smoke of the land ascended like the smoke of a furnace. (Ge 19:24-28)   Before Adonai destroyed Sodom, he sent warning of the wrath to come. Lot was aware of the blessings promised to Avraham, but he was also aware of the righteous life required for such eternal blessings. Lot chose precarious salvation over a life of obedience and teaching his children after him:   “For I have chosen him, so that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice, so that the LORD may bring upon Abraham what He has spoken about him.” (Ge 18:19)   Lot was troubled by the wickedness of Sodom, but not enough to forfeit living in it: “and if He rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men…” (2 Pe 2:7) It took the wrath of Adonai to remove him, not to abundant life, but bare salvation.   “Insignificance” is the meaning of the small city Zoar in which Lot requested to live, and so was his contribution to the Kingdom of Adonai compared to Avraham. Avraham viewed the valley of Sodom and saw the smoke of the cities ascending like the smoke of a furnace. Sodom's is the fate of those who choose an easier life in the midst of wickedness, which they desire more than single-minded righteousness. They do not have the sense to even be aware of righteousness walking among them that might delay the wrath of Adonai upon them.   Just as the wicked among the Israelites in the wilderness believed Moses had taken them FROM a land flowing with milk and honey to a place of wrath, so the wicked repeatedly get it wrong. Just because the comforts and luxuries of Egypt and Sodom are “like” the Garden of Eden doesn’t mean it IS Eden. “Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had arrogance, abundant food and careless ease, but she did not help the poor and needy.” (Ezek 16:49)   Likewise, the Israelites in the wilderness were given free food every morning, clothes and shoes never needed mending, and there was little to do but learn Torah. Nevertheless, many craved the foods and relative ease of farming life in Egypt (Dt 11:10) in spite of the horrors of its slavery. Perhaps this is why Zoar is described as "on the way to Egypt." It describes those who have tasted the goodness of Adonai, yet the sensualities of the world taste better, and they are still enslaved to them even after their salvation:   "It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age and who have fallen away, to be brought back to repentance. To their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace." (He 6:5-6)   The smoke of the great furnace portends either great salvation and sealing in the Ruach HaKodesh or great wrath. There are two views of the “smoke of a great furnace.” In the first, the smoke of Mount Sinai accompanying the Presence of Adonai and His Word is a marvel to those who agree to walk in it:   Now Mount Sinai was all in smoke because the LORD descended upon it in fire; and its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked violently. (Ex 19:18)   In the second, the smoke of the great furnace accompanies the wrath of Adonai upon the wicked:   He opened the bottomless pit, and smoke went up out of the pit, like the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke of the pit. (Re 9:2)   Avraham was in no danger of the smoke of Sodom; Lot was in grave danger.   Avraham walked after Adonai and His righteousness; Lot was merely vexed by the lack of righteousness, but not enough to devote his life to pursuing righteousness.   What Lot pursued was only “like the Garden of Eden.” Its grass always looks greener than the obedience required to pursue righteousness, but in the end, it is destroyed and overturned with wrath. The last watch of the night is a time of great danger to Lots of people who are believers, yet firmly attached to the comforts of a nominally and unenthusiastic righteous life.   The last watch of the night is a last opportunity to flee such false security. It is the last opportunity to flee the people whose wicked agenda vexes the righteous Holy Spirit within. If one waits until the morning's dawn to flee, he flees with nothing. Only the deeds of the righteous can follow them into the eternal Kingdom of Messiah, for those are the only eternally true and fit deeds.   The overturn of the cities of Sodom likely took place at Passover, for Lot baked unleavened bread for the angel of wrath. Avraham and Sarah had received a message of new birth and laughter, for they were looking for the coming of travelers with whom to share a meal so they could “make souls” for the Kingdom (Ge 12:5). Lot’s concern was simply for the safety of the angels through the night watches. He was not looking to leave Sodom before the morning dawned. Perhaps the miracle is that he agreed to leave at all after the last watch of the night.   May we all view the coming Wrath of the Lamb like Avraham.   From above and far away.   Please SUBSCRIBE to our newsletter to get new teachings.

Dr Hollisa Alewine – Footsteps of Messiah Part 148 (The Geography of Wrath Part One) for week of 23 March, 2025

The Geography of Wrath The grapes of wrath are perhaps one of the most terrifying passages in Scripture:   Who is this who comes from Edom, ​​With dyed garments from Botzrah, ​​This One who is glorious in His apparel, ​​Traveling in the greatness of His strength?— ​“I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save.” ​Why is Your apparel red, ​​And Your garments like one who treads in the winepress? ​“I have trodden the winepress alone, ​​And from the peoples no one was with Me. ​​For I have trodden them in My anger, ​​And trampled them in My fury; ​​Their blood is sprinkled upon My garments, ​​And I have stained all My robes. For the day of vengeance is in My heart, ​​And the year of My redeemed has come." (Is 63:1-4)   Why would Yeshua come from Edom and Botzrah?   Out of many reasons (because of Edom’s modern identity), one Torah prophecy-template is that it retraces part of the route of the exodus from Egypt and the southern journeys to the Promised Land. Yeshua went to the wilderness to be tested in his first coming, and he overcame in forty days of testing what the Israelites took forty years to do.   The difference in the Greater Exodus is that the slaves in exile will come from many nations, not just Egypt. It is the geography of Edom that ties it all together, for it is an ancient commercial intersection of the world. In the Shabbat livestream, we'll look at maps to help decipher the prophecy, but we'll do the best we can here in the newsletter with words.   Edom and Israel present in conflict in the geography of the South. The region is separated by the north/south running Great Rift Valley in which two great tectonic plate continually rub against one another and move the earth. In his appearance on the Mount of Olives, Yeshua's feet cause a great earthquake right along this valley from Jerusalem all the way to the Red Sea in the South.   In times of Israel’s spiritual awakening, Israel/Judah controlled the South from Tamar (Ovot/Oboth) all the way to Etzion-Geber (Eilat). It is a vital trade route between East and West, North and South, from ancient times.   In times of Judah's apostasy, Edom controlled it, often in trade treaties with powers such as (first) Egypt, then Assyria, Babylon, Greece, and Rome. Their relatives are the mighty merchants the Nabateans, who controlled trade over the land of the South much as the Phoenicians controlled maritime trade.   Esau/Edom was a “man of the field,” controlled by the nefesh, or soul, the beast nature. The most cunning beast of the field is the serpent (land) or his counterpart in the water, the crocodile. These two, the serpent and beast, are in league in the Revelation, and will be judged together, the authority of the serpent wielded by the beast. For a review of these principles, see “A Concise History of the Beast” on YouTube, Workbook Four: The Scarlet Harlot and the Crimson Thread, and Workbook Two: The Seven Abominations of the Wicked Lamp.   When Yeshua comes from Edom, the perfect man has subdued both the scarlet beast and his source authority, the serpent. His march is a way of “splitting the sea” in the sight of all nations to make a way of salvation for his exiles and the nations:   "When I have brought them again from the people, and gathered them out of their enemies' lands, and am sanctified in them in the sight of many nations…"(Ezek 39:27)   The Jewish sages parse the verses of the Exodus that describe the splitting of the waters of the Reed Sea to imply that the waters of every nation were split at exactly the same time so that the miracle could be viewed by all nations (another lesson!).   From even before the time of the Exodus, Egypt the serpent and Edom the beast collaborated in harvesting copper [nechoshet] from the South. The Hebrew word for serpent is nachash, sharing a root with copper, which is plentiful in the South. The copper serpent in the wilderness reminded the Israelites of the real disease from which they needed healing: soul sickness.   If you've seen pictures of the Arava in the South, you've noticed how similar the red rock is at Timna to Petra (Sela). The South, or Arava, is where “The King’s Highway,” the Spice Route, and other travel routes intersected. Over the centuries they connected the Far East with the ports of the Great Sea (Mediterranean) and Egypt in the West, Assyria and Babylon in the North, and the Arabian kingdoms of the South. In other words, they were coveted, conquered, and controlled in turn by:   Egypt the Crocodile Serpent Assyria, who is not counted as a "beast" kingdom because it never conquered Jerusalem, was assimilated into the provinces of the first beast kingdom Babylon the Lion Medo-Persia the Bear Greece the Leopard Rome the Conglomerate Monster spread over the earth.   Recently, the American president expressed a desire to open an overland route from the Red Sea through Israel to the Mediterranean for trade. It was used thus when Egypt began overcharging to use the Suez a few years ago and before the Houthis choked off the sea route. The South is still an important area to world trade.   Botzrah was the capital of Edom. It is adjacent to Petra (Sela), the stronghold of the Nabateans. It is thought the Nabateans are the descendants of Nevaiot, the brother-in-law of Esau and son of Ishmael, who grew up in the Wilderness of Paran, the region of Edom.   Sela is Hebrew for “rock,” and the major city was later renamed Petra, a Greek name meaning rock. In ancient times, the ENTIRE REGION of the South from the Arabian peninsula to the Sinai peninsula was referred to as Arabia or Arabi, from the Hebrew root arav, thus, the Arava. Without knowing this, it is easy to mistake modern Saudi Arabia for the "Arabia" of English translations of the Bible.   Botzrah and Sela are very close to one another, and Seir is in the same area. Mount Seir and the Wilderness of Paran generally apply to the area south of these cities. Yeshua’s garments dyed in blood suggest he’s conquered the commercial trade of the beast kingdoms connecting the world.   Yeshua the Messiah will come to bring salvation and the redemption of “human souls” from slavery to the image of the beast whose head was in Babylon comes. He will accomplish this by trampling the nations in his wrath. Sukkot, the Feast of the Nations, is a time of both offering first fruits of the grapes as well as drinking wine to celebrate Adonai's provision. The return of Yeshua mentions grapes of wrath that will precede the peaceful days of his millennial reign in which the obedient nations will come to worship and obey him.   To represent this wrath upon the world's commercial systems, Yeshua comes "from Edom." In the encampment in the wilderness, the Southern three tribes camped under the standard of Reuven, which was the man. The lion was to the East, the eagle to the North, and the ox to the West. Revelation describes this destruction of the commercial system that trafficks in human souls:   “And the kings of the earth, who committed acts of immorality and lived sensuously with her, will weep and lament over her when they see the smoke of her burning, standing at a distance because of the fear of her torment, saying, ‘Woe, woe, the great city, Babylon, the strong city! For in one hour your judgment has come.’ And the merchants of the earth weep and mourn over her, because no one buys their cargoes any more cargoes of gold and silver and precious stones and pearls and fine linen and purple and silk and scarlet, and every kind of citron wood and every article of ivory and every article made from very costly wood and bronze and iron and marble, and cinnamon and spice and incense and perfume and frankincense and wine and olive oil and fine flour and wheat and cattle and sheep, and cargoes of horses and chariots and slaves and human lives. The fruit you long for has gone from you...” (Re 18:9-13)   ”Human lives” is “human souls,” referring to the nefesh, the human soul enslaved to its innate sensuality: appetite, emotion, desire, and intellect...   The deception, or sorcery of the beast Edom, The Red One, is to manipulate human desire, the “fruit you long for,” into believing the cargoes are “good things,” when the truth is that they are instruments of the serpent's fruits of death. Truly good things come from the Father who makes the disciple into a kind of first fruit to be restored to the Garden, planted along the River of Life to in turn disciple the nations with their fruit and healing leaves of the “Word of Truth.”   Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow. In the exercise of His will He brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits among His creatures. (Ja 1:13-18)   Yeshua’s arrival from “Edom” with his garments dyed in blood suggests that his “coming” is to destroy the deception of the beast, not just in the South of Israel geographically, but according to what the South symbolizes in the history of world trade and how it augmented the beast kingdoms all the way to its present “toes.”   In the Song of Songs, the Bride invites the Beloved to the Garden, but she does not have the strength to assist Him. As in the crossing of the Reed Sea, she must “stand still and see the Salvation,” just as the nations are standing still, watching, helpless to stop the destruction that will lead to the restoration of human life.   This suggests the template of the first Exodus [and Creation], when Israel cried out for help, then the nations witnessed salvation.   “...For the day of vengeance was in My heart, and My year of redemption has come. I looked, and there was no one to help, and I was astonished and there was no one to uphold; so My own arm brought salvation to Me, and My wrath upheld Me.” (Is 63:4-5)   The shoresh, or Hebrew root, of “I looked,” נָבַט, is used the first three times in Genesis. First in 15:5 to Avraham: “Look at the stars, count them if you’re able, so shall the number of your descendants be.” This is the counting of fruitful descendants, the saved children of Avraham. This is a look forward to prophecy fulfilled for all Israel.   The second two times it is mentioned in the escape of Lot and his family from the destruction of Sodom (19:17,26) In v. 26, Lot’s wife “looked” back, and turned to salt. She mourned the luxuries left behind.   How attached are we to the luxuries of the world? When Yeshua comes to lead us away from the nations enslaved to commercialism, will we instead be too attached to our luxuries and conveniences to follow him home whole-heartedly?   “Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had arrogance, abundant food and careless ease, but she did not help the poor and needy.” (Ezek 16:49)   If even those whom he's saved from Egypt and Sodom can't let go when the beast system is exposed and destroyed, no wonder Yeshua tramples in anger. In Numbers 16:13, the "Lot's wives" among the Israelites in the wilderness even complained that Moses had led them FROM a land flowing with milk and honey, not to it.   May we not be frozen in our longing for the world's riches so that we cannot desire the journey of resurrection with Yeshua. "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." (He 10:31)   In this podcast, we will take a look at maps of the South that will illustrate the geography of the Messiah's victory over the Beast.   Please SUBSCRIBE to our newsletter to get new teachings.

Dr Hollisa Alewine – Footsteps of Messiah Part 147 (Gambling on a Day Like Purim) for week of 16 March, 2025

Gambling on A Day Like Purim   THE GAMBLER The threat of adultery appears repeatedly in the story of redemption. Sarah and Rivkah were put at risk with Pharaoh and Avimelech. By legal custom, Tamar was to have married Judah's youngest son, but Judah had delayed the marriage, so it was thought that Tamar had committed adultery when she began to show her pregnancy. Rahab was thought to be a harlot. However, each of these women proved themselves righteous, courageous, and faithful in affirming the promise of a Land, a Covenant, and a People in Israel.   Although subtler, the question of fidelity is also present in the Scroll of Esther. Esther has requested that the Jews fast and pray for three days. On the third day, associated with resurrection, she approaches the King. Perhaps she knew when she resigned herself, "If I perish, I perish," that although the risk required her voluntary surrender to that possible death, it could also become a resurrection day in a number of ways. On this third day, Queen Esther requests that the King and Haman attend a wine banquet.   The wine banquets hold two mysteries. First, wine is associated with the Feast of Sukkot, which is a time to bring the first fruits from the wine vat. Esther is positioning herself to negotiate salvation not simply for the Jews, but prophetically for the first fruits from among the nations where the Jews have been scattered. In the winepress of the King's wrath, Esther becomes a waving lulav of hadassah branches at Sukkot, waving for the four corners of the Earth where Israel is scattered.   The second mystery is found in the Hebrew grammar of Esther's invitation. In Esther 5:4, she requests, "If it please the King, let the King and Haman come today to the banquet that I have prepared for him." There is the problem. The subject is plural, "the King and Haman," yet the pronoun is singular, "him." She should have said, "a banquet I have prepared for them."    This plants a seed of doubt in the King's mind. Is she preparing the banquet for him or Haman?[1]   The King and Haman attend the third-day wine banquet, but Esther still conceals her motive for inviting them...or is it him? Instead of giving a direct answer, Esther requests that they attend another wine banquet the following day, the fourth day. In Revelation, the message to the fourth assembly, Thyatira, marks the transition with the fourth day from "tribulation" to "great tribulation." The King knows Esther is troubled, nevertheless he is even more troubled by nightfall. He can't sleep!   What is he thinking about? Perhaps the relationship between his Queen and his second-in-command, Haman. Why would a woman kept in seclusion with her maids and eunuchs request only Haman's presence along with the King’s? How did she know Haman? The King had been the subject of assassination plots before, so what was Haman up to? Not coincidentally, this tribulation of mind keeps the King awake that fourth night, which had already begun at sundown that evening.[2] The text reads more literally than usually is translated in English. It would be better translated as, "The sleep of the King was shaken." He calls for the record books to be read.   At this point, the King hears about Mordechai's intervention on his behalf when two of his high officers plotted to kill him. At last, a loyal subject, this Jew Mordechai. And wasn't Esther his Queen the one who'd actually informed him of the plot? No wonder the King was troubled. At this opportune moment, Haman enters to request permission to hang Mordechai in advance of the decreed destruction upon the Jews. Speak of the devil!   The King tests Haman with a question, but Haman's pride prevents him from grasping the questions hidden within the question, which might be, "Haman, what are you up to? Are you trying to steal my kingdom and my queen? Second-in-command and my ring aren't enough for you?" The King asks Haman what should be done with a man the King desires to honor. Haman gives the worst possible answer, at least in terms of his personal safety. He suggests adorning the man with things the King has worn or used: a crown, a robe, and a horse.   From the King's troubled perspective, this is virtual confirmation of his suspicions. Haman wants his throne. King Achashverosh orders Haman to do those very things for Mordechai, whom Haman has come to request permission to kill. In fact, Haman had constructed an etz on the third day on which to hang Mordechai. The same Hebrew word for tree, etz, is used for “gallows.” The resurrection Spirit of Etzah, the Third Spirit of Adonai, is pushing something hidden to the surface, and the fourth day has indeed become a turning point for the king, Esther, Haman, Mordechai, the Jews, and the 127 provinces.   At the second wine banquet, the King persists in asking Queen Esther what her hidden problem is. To his horror, he finds out that Haman indeed wants to take what is his, his beloved Queen of all the provinces, the unifying symbol of his kingdom. It is not as he suspects, though, that Haman wants to kill him and possess his Queen; instead, Haman desires to kill the Queen. In a rage, the King walks into the garden, and Haman again does the worst possible thing he could do: he flings himself at Esther on her cushion.[3] When the King returns, he finds Haman in this very compromising position. Had Esther not already revealed Haman’s intent to kill her, the King may have come to a different conclusion about their relationship.   The wrath of the King is executed upon Haman and his family, and King Achashverosh gives Esther and Mordechai his signet ring and full authority to write whatever decree they can that will annul the wrath already decreed. They could not reverse his previous decree, but they could write something that would definitely make the wicked among the provinces think twice before they attacked the Jews. To make something of no effect is to make it null, but it does not mean that the original decree or vow did not exist. Its strength has simply been neutralized. With Esther and Mordechai writing with the King's authority, the People of the Covenant are preserved among the provinces to one day return to their Land.    Some conclusions may be appropriate here. The name of Esther's fast and feast is Purim. Most assume, as the text hints, that the purim, or lots, cast by Haman against the Jews are what characterize this holiday. Sound-alike words can offer additional hints to Biblical themes and its internal commentaries. The fall feasts' central theme is coverings, which is derived from the middle feast in the fall, Yom HaKippurim. Creation Gospel Workbook Two offers a more complete explanation about the hints to coverings associated with the clouds of the Feast of Trumpets and the winged birds with feathers on the Fifth Day of Creation, but Sukkot is an obvious covered shelter of leafy branches.    What about Yom HaKippurim, the Day of Coverings, itself? The kaphar of kippur means a covering, atonement. On Yom HaKippurim,[4] the High Priest can see the covering cherubim in the Holy of Holies when he enters in a cloud of incense, and he makes a covering of blood on the Mercy Seat of the Ark of the Covenant. On the seven-branched menorah, Yom HaKippurim is chiastic[5] to the Feast of Unleavened Bread.[6] During the Days of Unleavened Bread beginning with actual Sabbath day of Unleavened Bread, Israel fasts from all forms of leaven, but on Yom HaKippurim, Israel fasts both food and water for a day. The days of fasting that Esther proclaims for the Jews is during the days of Unleavened Bread.   Ki in Hebrew means "like, similar to." Pur is a lot, an object of chance that determines fate. The suffix im designates plural. On Yom HaKippurim, the High Priest drew lots, or purim, to designate the fate of the two goats, one L'Adonai, and one L'Azazel. The goat L’Adonai is slaughtered and its blood sprinkled on the Mercy Seat of the Covenant. L’Azazel is taken to the wilderness with all the sins of the nation and pushed over a precipice. In this sense, Yom HaKippurim is "A Day like Purim." One figurative goat is hanged, while the blood of the other is admitted into the Throne Room, the Holy of Holies, and it covers all Israel in safety. Yeshua becomes the "second-in-command" by virtue of his sacrifice.    There are other parallels between Purim and Yom HaKippurim. On Yom HaKippurim, the High Priest must make atonement first for himself; that is, he must cover himself. Afterward he makes atonement for the people. Two specific atonements are required that day. Esther also makes two trips to the “Holy of Holies,” the King’s inner chamber of his home where one enters only by invitation. Only the King’s mercy would spare any uninvited intruder.    This is the same principle applied to the Holy of Holies in the Temple. Only the High Priest is invited at a specific time; any other intruder faces death. Interestingly, though, the blood is applied to the Mercy Seat of the Ark of the Covenant.[7] The very name of the Covenant is Mercy, and this is exactly what Esther receives. To merit this mercy, however, Esther must shed her blood, at least figuratively. She must first acknowledge that she deserves to lose her life for approaching, which is the example of the Yom HaKippurim goat that dies “before the Lord.”   The first trip to the inner chamber results in Esther’s request for the King to save her life personally, just as the High Priest has to make personal atonement. The second trip is to petition for his help in saving the Jews against his earlier decree, which could not be rescinded. It is on the second trip to the inner chamber to touch his scepter that Esther receives the signet ring and the means to annul the evil decree against her nation among the 127 provinces.   The role of the sacrificed goat may also be pictured by Mordechai’s actions. Mordechai was elevated to second in the Kingdom, for he risked his life by refusing to bow to Haman. As a result, he was covered in the King's robes in honor and given the royal horse and crown. In a sense, Mordechai also sacrificed his own adopted daughter Hadassah by insisting that she go to the King unbidden. Scripture appears to present a virtual sacrifice as equivalent to an actual physical death of an animal. Merely the acceptance of one’s death for the sake of the Land, Covenant, or People may substitute for the actual death, which may or may not follow. Peter’s acceptance of his method of death and the reason for it supports the other examples of the patriarchs, matriarchs, heroes, and heroines of Scripture.   Queen Esther’s sacrificial role as a co-heir, "up to half the Kingdom," protected her far-flung people Israel among the nations. Esther knew that going before the King unbidden would be a walk through the valley of the shadow of death, but like the goat L'Adonai, she says, "If I perish, I perish," and she puts on the royal coverings to approach the inner chamber of the King’s house. The Ten Awesome Days of repentance between The Feast of Trumpets and the judgment of Yom HaKippurim have a parallel with Haman’s ten sons hung with him in judgment. Even the problem with rescinding the King’s decree is related to the principles of Yom HaKippurim, which brings atonement for the nation. The decree was “a public law known by the people of the King’s provinces – so transgression would be a public offense like the sin of Vashti.”[8]   The changing of garments at Yom HaKippurim demonstrates some connections to Esther. In her first visit to the bedchamber of the King, Esther wears very simple garments upon the Chief Eunuch’s advice. This wins her personal favor. The High Priest also removed his official ornamented garments when he visited the Holy of Holies on Yom Kippur. When she goes to invite the King to a banquet, Esther changes to royal robes.    This second trip to the inner chamber seems the reverse practice of the High Priest, but a clue is given in the Book of Hebrews, which explains an additional priestly pattern, the pattern of the royal priesthood of Melchi-tzedek, which Yeshua fills. This makes sense. Esther dresses in the simple fashion of the Levitical priesthood’s entrance to the Holy of Holies on her first visit to the King, but her successive trip merits the garments of a royal priesthood. Types and shadows are concealed throughout the Scroll of Esther.   One thing we know. King Achashverosh, whose authority was challenged and insulted by a queen who refused to take her place at his side before the nations, selected a virtuous and courageous queen who would. Queen Esther became every man and woman's Queen, for her anonymity made her perfect to represent every people, no matter the social class or humble beginning. Vashti’s banishment was to ensure “every man should rule his own home and speak the language of his own people.”    The King recognized the diversity of Sukkot fruits over which he ruled, and he needed a woman who would nurture them and give each of them rest in their own languages, a provision symbolized by the Holy Spirit on Shavuot (Acts Two). Judaism recognizes that the Torah was offered to the 70 nations at Mount Sinai on Shavuot, each in their own tongue. Shavuot is a preparation for the diversity of gifts at Sukkot. Queen Esther is a woman who embodies the Ruach HaKodesh according to the pattern of the matriarchs. The heart of her husband safely trusts in her to gather the nations. Queen Esther perfectly fulfills her husband's need to draw together his Kingdom in unity.    [1] Fohrman, 2011, p. 44 [2] Jews reckon days from sundown to sundown, or evening to evening, the pattern of Genesis One. [3] This links the question mark of fidelity with the adulterous woman in Proverbs who has spread coverings upon her couch. [4] The literal name of the day is Yom HaKippurim, the Day of Coverings or Atonements [5] See the Appendix [6] See Creation Gospel Workbook One [7] The “Covenant” is the Torah, the Book of the Covenant ratified between Adonai and Israel at Sinai. A copy of the Torah was put into the Ark of the Covenant as a testimony. This Ark was also called a Mercy Seat, or throne of mercy. The primary description of the Torah Covenant is mercy. [8] Zlotowitz, 2003, p. 78     Please SUBSCRIBE to our newsletter to get new teachings.

Dr Hollisa Alewine – Footsteps of Messiah Part 146 (Jackals and Ostriches) for week of 9 March, 2025

Jackals and Ostriches

You’ve jumped into the last of a series that began with The Gift Horse, Watch the Smoke, Wetter than Water, The Treehouse: Sketches of the Millennial Kingdom and Hamas: The Violence of the Mind. Click on the links to start at the beginning.

 

“Behold, I will do something new, now it will spring forth; will you not be aware of it?

I will even make a roadway [derek] in the wilderness [midbar], rivers in the desert. The beasts of the field will glorify Me, the jackals and the ostriches, because I have given waters in the wilderness [midbar] and rivers in the desert, to give drink to My chosen people.” (Is 43:19–20)

 

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Dr Hollisa Alewine – Footsteps of Messiah Part 145 (Hamas: the Violence of the Mind) for week of 2 March, 2025

Hamas:

The Violent Mind

If this is your first newsletter, you’ve jumped into the last of a four-part series that began with The Gift Horse, Watch the Smoke, and Wetter than Water,  and The Treehouse: Sketches of the Millennial Kingdom. Click on the links to start at the beginning.

Nard and saffron, cane and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense, myrrh, and aloes, with all the chief spices. A garden spring, a well of living waters, streaming from Lebanon. (So 4:14-15)

In this mini-series about the relationship between the Bride and Bridegroom in the Song of Songs, we’ve viewed an amazing level of prophecy of the millennium in the Song. In the journey, we’ve seen how Scripture projects the reality of the millennium: there are people who have prepared, and people who haven’t.

Last week we took a boat ride from the South up the River of Life with the “fish” from the nations. Although there are those among these nations who survived the tribulation that precedes the millennium, they weren’t completely prepared to serve the Kingdom of Heaven. They yet needed instruction on how to approach The Holy One and survive the entry into His gates in Jerusalem. Although Zechariah prophesies that they will, it is Ezekiel and John (in Revelation) who tell us how they prepare to stand before a Presence that can kill flesh-and-blood who appear in presumption before Him.

It is not as though The Holy One wants to destroy flesh-and-blood that He created to fellowship with Him. It is simply the reality of who He is relative to what He created. To stand in His Presence, He uses a variety of “space suits” so that we can draw close without harm from the intense glory. In a sense, it comes down to glory, which is beautiful.

When we acquire His glory through obedience, putting on the “space suit” that allows us to occupy that space near Him, it will only protect us insofar as we acknowledge that He is the Creator and bestower, the instructor and source of that glory. When human beings use the glory of Elohim to draw attention to themselves, diverting praise to themselves or twisting/omitting the instructions, then as a mere creation stealing the praise of Elohim, they can die. That’s just a rule of the universe, like earth’s gravity. Nothing personal.

Because the Father created us for fellowship with Him and longs for fellowship with us, then imagine how angry He is when those gifted with His Word in this world fail to teach others how to put on that space suit. Whether just a basic resurrection to eternal life or resurrection as a royal priest, Bride, and pillar in His Presence in the Temple, the Father wants to bring as many as possible as close as possible to His Presence.

Last week we took a close look at the prophecy of Song of Song 4:13, and this week, we progress to the next verse which is similar:

·     Nard and saffron, cane and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense, myrrh, and aloes [some, balsam oil], with all the chief spices. A garden spring, a well of living waters, streaming from Lebanon. (So 4:14-15)

These verses pair the spices for the incense service of the Temple with their location: the Garden of Eden where four rivers flow. The prophetic element is that in the millennium, the Heaven and Earth once again “marry” as Elohim intended, the perfect spiritual Heaven touching the purified place of the earth. In Yeshua is this perfect picture of Heaven and earth “married.” The Land of Israel, particularly Jerusalem and Judah, will achieve an unprecedented level of holiness so that the third heaven descends:

·     “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)

 

The Holy One Himself will provide the living waters from the Garden spring of Eden. This may explain how the miraculous River of Life flows from the Temple Mount, first east into the Kidron Valley, then south to the Salt Sea, the Arava wilderness, and then to the Red Sea. At that point, the purified, holy earth of the Temple and the living waters of “Lebanon” above have kissed, producing healing waters that become a type of interstate waterway for nations to come up and worship at the feasts as Zechariah prophesies (Zech 14:16-19).

Here, however, is the dilemma, and perhaps it explains why the journey begins on the waters:

“Every cooking pot in Jerusalem and in Judah will be holy to the LORD of hosts; and all who sacrifice will come and take of them and boil in them. And there will no longer be a Canaanite in the house of the LORD of hosts in that day.” (Zech 14:21)

How this ritual purity is acquired is the subject of Vayikra (Leviticus). It contains the holies of the space suit. Personal ideas of what constitutes holiness is nothing but filthy rags. The Father’s prescribed preparation is engaged with obedience. While those nations learn, they have the benefit of the cleansing water of the River of Life. Water is one of the things by which humans may be purified for service and appearance in holier places of the Presence. Fire is another.

If the household cooking pots in Jerusalem and Judah are pure enough for pilgrims to the feasts to boil their sacrifices in, then that is an incredible level of holiness! The fishermen along the River of Life and the trees of righteousness, shoots from the “Branch,” the Tree of Life, have an important job to do in preparing the noble ones among the nations to make pilgrimage to the Holy City. They are a royal priesthood:

·     But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God’s OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light... (1 Pe 2:9)

“Excellencies” is Strong’s G703, which is “moral excellence, purity.” Its cognate in Hebrew is hod, or glory, as used in Zechariah 6:12-13:

·     Behold the man whose name is The BRANCH; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the LORD: Even he shall build the temple of the LORD; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne...

Teaching the nations who approach the proper purity of preparation for the Holy City and while in the Holy City falls to Yeshua’s disciples who “fish” the River of Life for those approaching the Holy Land. They explain the moral excellence of glory. Rebellion against the Word of Adonai or even ignorance of the Word of Adonai has consequences: violence and death. There is no bold approach to the Throne of Grace without repentance in hand as a sacrifice of the personal will.

First, however, a royal priesthood much teach the fish what sin is, what obedience is, what impurity and purity are, and even the principles of Shabbat rest. Failing to live a life of moral excellence disqualifies one from the royal priesthood just as failing to wear all eight garments disqualifies a high priest from service. We teach both by example and instruction in the Word. This leads to a purification of the mind, which the rest of the body will follow. Once the mind is straight, all the limbs will be straight, for the mind is connected to the heart.

Not to teach the moral excellence of the Torah, particularly purity and Shabbat, is literally to do violence to the Torah and the One Who gave it. Adonai desires people to enter His sanctuary, and he uses the righteous, His royal priesthood to do so just as He used the Levitical priesthood to teach the twelve tribes of Israel. Instead, they taught hamas:

·     “Her priests have done violence [hamas] to My law and have profaned My holy things; they have made no distinction between the holy and the profane, and they have not taught the difference between the unclean and the clean; and they hide their eyes from My sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.” (Eze 22:26)

·     “Her prophets are reckless, treacherous men;

Her priests have profaned the sanctuary.

They have done violence to the law.” (Zeph 3:4)

חָמַס ; hamas; to be violent; by implication, to maltreat:—make bare, shake off, violate, do violence, take away violently, wrong, imagine wrongfully.

The teaching of the Word is a River of Life that flows from the holy mountain.

The Levites' cities were to be a place the tribes could immerse in the purity of the Word so that they could ascend the Holy Mountain at the appointed feasts. These are the times His Presence is the most manifest.

Melekh Shlomo’s palace was called “The House of the Forest of Lebanon.” It was located adjacent to the Temple Mount with its own special entrance to the Temple. Water will flow from the Temple Mount in the millennial kingdom. As our verse in the Song of Songs says, it flows from “Lebanon,” a euphemism for the buildings of the Temple and the royal palace, which was called “The House of the Forst of Lebanon”:

·     He built also the house of the forest of Lebanon; the length thereof was an hundred cubits, and the breadth thereof fifty cubits, and the height thereof thirty cubits, upon four rows of cedar pillars, with cedar beams upon the pillars. (1 Ki 7:2)

·     And all king Solomon's drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of pure gold; none were of silver: it was nothing accounted of in the days of Solomon. (1 Ki 10:21)

The forty-eight assigned cities of the Levites were so that each tribe had access to Torah teachers, or “wells,” of Torah knowledge like they did in the wilderness with the Rock, Messiah. Symbolically, that is four wells of Torah per tribe, and four is symbolic of the Ruach HaKodesh (remember your Workbook One lessons?). It’s not just Torah, it was to be LIVING Torah that purifies the mind, leading to purification of the body. Likewise, there are four rivers that circle Eden.

The Hebrew word for ”brain” or “mind” is mach, or moach, which is where we get machshev, for computer: situated place for a “brain.”

מחַ = 48

•      For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, THAT HE WILL INSTRUCT HIM? But we have the mind of Christ. (1Co 2:16)

•      Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin. (Ro 7:25)

It was the Levites’ job to instruct the twelve tribes in the excellence of the Torah so that the twelve tribes could approach in a proper states of holiness and enjoy Him as He wanted to enjoy them. Human minds tend to rebel against wearing the space suit because it pinches our flesh! When our minds are purified and healed by the Living Water of Yeshua, the LIVING Word, we acquire Yeshua’s mind, which desires holiness and life.

If we reject the living instructions of our Creator, we do hamas, violence, to the Word of Elohim our Creator, killing and destroying, trampling and mutilating, twisting and omitting, descending deeper and deeper into a cult of death. The violence humans do to His Word, they also do to fellow human beings, for having put themselves in the place of Elohim, human beings become drunk with blood. The mind becomes a stench, a desolate field of death, not the spiced fragrance of the blessed field of Eden. Hamas stands between the thirsty and the well of Living Water. They drink death, but are never satisfied.

On the other hand, a royal priesthood instructs the nations about the purity of the Living Word. They are swimming instructors in the River of Life, assisting eager swimmers to heal their minds while they learn. When they attain Jerusalem for their fragrant appearance before the Holy One in HaMakom, The Place, that space suit will fit just fine!

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Dr Hollisa Alewine – Footsteps of Messiah Part 144 (The Tree House: Sketches of the Millennium) for week of 23 February, 2025

The Treehouse: Sketches of the Millennial Kingdom   If this is your first newsletter, you’ve jumped into the last of a four-part series that began with The Gift Horse, Watch the Smoke, and Wetter than Water. Click on the links to start at the beginning.   In last week’s teaching, we concluded with these mysterious statements concerning the striking of the Rock Messiah in the wilderness:   ·     “Tell Aaron and his sons to be careful with the holy gifts of the sons of Israel, which they dedicate to Me, so as not to profane My holy name; I am the LORD.” (Le 22:2) ·     “’...for in the wilderness of Zin, during the strife of the congregation, you rebelled against My command to treat Me as holy before their eyes at the water.’ These are the waters of Meribah of Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin.” (Nu 27:14)   The water, the text says, “came forth abundantly, and the congregation and their beasts drank.” (Nu 20:11) The English translation of “abundantly” is from the Hebrew rav [rabim H7227] which has several meanings. Among its first uses in Scripture, we have context of a quarrel, which emphasizes that it was not only the people who were quarreling, but the water, too. Messiah had a beef with the situation, and he demonstrated it with how he yielded the waters:   ·     Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. (Ge 6:5) ·     In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on the same day all the fountains of the great deep burst open, and the floodgates of the sky were opened. (Ge 7:11) ·     And the land could not sustain them while dwelling together, for their possessions were so great that they were not able to remain together. (Ge 13:6)   The first two examples above are of The Holy One’s quarrel with mankind, and the third is of the quarrel between the shepherds of Avraham and Lot. If Messiah’s reaction to being struck by Moses and Aaron was quarrelsome water, it sounds as if it wasn’t a gently flowing stream! It was a real gusher.   From the sentence imposed on Moses and Aaron, the implication is that the quarrel was with their actions in striking instead of speaking. Striking instead of teaching holiness.   But what was the reason Messiah withheld water after Miriam’s death? Was he, too, joining with them in mourning? Was he giving the royal priesthood an opportunity to rise to a more intimate level with him? For them to understand that the Word in their mouths also had power to restore the plants, heal, and sanctify in the Bridegroom’s Name?   Perhaps Messiah wanted the Israelites to speak to him about restoring their holy gifts by the stream, yet they were conditioned to look to their leadership. The text says only that “the people drank.” That wasn’t their first concern, remember? It was the miraculous plants and the purifying stream of water for a royal priesthood. They mentioned drinking water for themselves and their beasts only last. The natural earthly realm was literally the least of their worries. Let’s tie this in with the River of Life in the millennium:   ·     “In that day the Branch of the LORD will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth will be the pride and the adornment of the survivors of Israel.” (Is 4:5)   The Branch of YHVH is Messiah Yeshua, the Rock in the wilderness. Because of the Branch and miraculous water, miraculous Edenic plants grew on the banks of the stream: orchards, spices, and vineyards on a heavenly timetable, not earthly. If not overnight, then within a month of the camp’s settlement.   Israel is prophetic of the world to come. She is uniting realms that have been disconnected since the fall from the Garden. In the wilderness, they came very close to Eden as demonstrated by the manna, ever-wear garments and sandals, and healing (their feet did not swell; all were healed at Mt. Sinai, for everyone stood, saw, heard, and said).   Israel is very close to the Garden kingdom, but they still don't touch, for the Bride is being adorned, preparing for spiritual Jerusalem above to marry earthly Jerusalem below. A royal priesthood is learning how to manage living successfully-which would mean in holy obedience-in both realms. She's being adorned for her husband so that these realms may finally touch, a marriage consummated by dwelling continuously in the holy Presence. The adornment of this Bride, Isaiah prophesied, will be the “fruit of the earth.” Let’s explore that.   This camp in the wilderness with miraculous vegetation growing beside the streams is prophetic of the millennium. A miraculous, healing stream will emerge from the Temple grounds, and it will be a healing River of Life that waters the land of the South. In fact, it will water the land all the way back to Miriam's burial place in the Arava desert.   Here are hints to this new state of healing and resurrection in the millennium:   The wilderness and the desert will be glad, And the Arabah will rejoice and blossom; Like the crocus. It will blossom profusely And rejoice with rejoicing and shout of joy... Then the eyes of the blind will be opened And the ears of the deaf will be unstopped. Then the lame will leap like a deer, And the tongue of the mute will shout for joy. For waters will break forth in the wilderness And streams in the Arabah. (Is 35:1-6)   Let’s read Ezekiel 47, taking time to explain his millennial vision:   ·     Then he brought me back to the door of the house; and behold, water was flowing from under the threshold of the house toward the east, for the house faced east. And the water was flowing down from under, from the right side of the house, from south of the altar. 2 He brought me out by way of the north gate and led me around on the outside to the outer gate by way of the gate that faces east. And behold, water was trickling from the south side.   If you stand on the Mount of Olives looking out over the Kidron Valley, you see the Lion's Gate, aka the Eastern gate, The Golden Gate. That gate went out to the east. Water will flow down from under from the right side of the House, from the south of the altar. So water will flow toward the east, going out in that Kidron valley, which might explain what are they going to do with all those graves.   It sounds like the old graveyard might be underwater after the earthquake. The watercourse will go east, then south. Typically, pilgrims would ascend from the south side. That's where the Huldah Gates are, and there was a pathway up to them and steps. If you went back down the path toward the south, you would end up in the city of David.   ·     3 When the man went out toward the east with a line in his hand, he measured a thousand cubits, and he led me through the water, water reaching the ankles. 4 Again he measured a thousand and led me through the water, water reaching the knees. Again he measured a thousand and led me through the water, water reaching the loins. 5 Again he measured a thousand; and it was a river that I could not ford, for the water had risen, enough water to swim in, a river that could not be forded.    The water won’t flow like it did when the Rock was struck. Instead, it gradually increases in depth until it becomes a river that cannot be crossed on foot. This is what the tradition is about the streams that encircled the tribes’ encampments in the wilderness. The water was deep enough to swim in.   ·     6 He said to me, “Son of man, have you seen this?” Then he brought me back to the bank of the river. 7 Now when I had returned, behold, on the bank of the river there were very many trees on the one side and on the other. 8 Then he said to me, “These waters go out toward the eastern region and go down into the Arabah; then they go toward the sea, being made to flow into the sea, and the waters of the sea become fresh. 9 It will come about that every living creature which swarms in every place where the river goes, will live. And there will be very many fish, for these waters go there and the others become fresh; so everything will live where the river goes.    That's where Miriam's buried, the Tzin wilderness of the Arava. That watercourse will flow through what is called the Dead Sea or the Salt Sea. It will no longer be dead, but hold waters of life and healing. There will be many fish, which Yeshua promised his disciples would catch in their nets. Fish are people, the nations.   ·     10 And it will come about that fishermen will stand beside it; from Engedi to Eneglaim there will be a place for the spreading of nets. Their fish will be according to their kinds, like the fish of the Great Sea, very many.    There will be many kinds of fish, many kinds of people who “swim” to the River of Life for discipleship. They will be discipled by the disciples of Yeshua, his royal priesthood.   ·     11 But its swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they will be left for salt.    Every sacrifice, especially those of thanksgiving and peace, should be offered with salt!   ·     12 By the river on its bank, on one side and on the other, will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither and their fruit will not fail. They will bear every month because their water flows from the sanctuary, and their fruit will be for food and their leaves for healing.”   Trees on both sides of the River ring a bell! We've read about it in John’s Revelation (Re 22:2). While John describes it as THE Tree of Life, Ezekiel sees it as “all trees.” Which is correct? Yes!   These miraculous, resurrected plants are “shoots” of the Tree of Life, the Living Word, Yeshua. “In that day the Branch of the LORD will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth will be the pride and the adornment of the survivors of Israel.” There is healing in these plants because they are not normal plants. Their fruits and leaves will heal and disciple the nations who travel to the Holy City by this southern route in the River of Life.   The leaves of those righteous trees growing by the River of Life from the Holy House will not wither, and their fruit will not fail. That's miraculous. It’s the kiss of Heaven on earth. This is the fulfillment of the prophecy of the Rock in the wilderness. When the streams from the well of Miriam went out, it turned everything fresh.   The trees would grow with incredible speed. Within a month's time, they bloom and fruit because their water flows from the sanctuary of the House, from the Rock of Ages.   The royal priesthood is going to be able to snag these fish. As it said, they're going to be able to throw their nets up on the banks where the fruit and leaves are growing. This is a good kind of fishing, because you want the multitude of peoples to return in obedience.   These trees become the holistic doctors in the millennium. Each tribe represented a month out of the year, so these tribes, these miraculous trees, will be able to minister to the nations, feeding them with the miraculous food of the Word, and their shoots, even their leaves, will be for healing.   The nations will be healed from their stupidity concerning Who created them and what pleases Him. The fishermen and trees make ignorant people wise and understanding in the ways of the Creator.   These trees are not like natural trees that take months to produce mature fruit after the leaves appear. It doesn't sound like they were subject to the Three/Four-Year plan of the natural tree. A natural fruit tree planted in the Land is counted as uncircumcised for three years, and the fourth year it's holy to Adonai. In the fifth year, you can eat of its fruit. (Le 19:23-25)   Because these are miraculous trees, their fruit can be eaten within a month after they bear. Why? These are established trees! They're not new trees. They didn’t just spring up after the resurrection. These were planted before the resurrection of the dead. They're matured spiritual, earthly trees, and they're prepared to go to work in the millennium, benefiting those who eat from their teaching.   Immediately they can heal with the power of Yeshua, the Living Word.   Immediately they can teach those fish on the banks of the River.   With the help of these fishermen, these trees of righteousness, the nations can prepare themselves to ascend to Jerusalem, the Holy City, to worship the Holy One of Israel. This is the calling of the Royal Priesthood and the Bride of Messiah Yeshua.   Then the eyes of the blind will be opened And the ears of the deaf will be unstopped. Then the lame will leap like a deer, And the tongue of the mute will shout for joy. For waters will break forth in the wilderness And streams in the Arabah.     Please SUBSCRIBE to our newsletter to get new teachings.

Dr Hollisa Alewine – Footsteps of Messiah Part 143 (Wetter than Water) for week of 16 February, 2025

Wetter than Water

This is a long teaching, but I think it’s worth it for the destination. It might be worth printing out and reading when you have some quiet time. Next week, we’ll see where this wilderness trail is taking us...the River of Life in the millennium.

 

The section of the Song of Songs we've been working with is

 

Your shoots

are an orchard of pomegranates

with choice fruits,

henna with nard plants. (So 4:13)

 

This orchard of pomegranates is linked to the Torah that Moses instructed the Israelites in the wilderness. The pips of the pomegranates represent the individual commandments, or mitzvot. The Torah was given to Israel as an eternal covenant to be maintained generation after generation.

 

The orchard of pomegranates is also tied to the miraculous well in the wilderness, which traditional is referred to as the well of Miriam. The well is associated with her leadership because when she died in the Tzin wilderness, the Rock quit yielding water. The rock was Yeshua, a gift from the heavenlies. Why was Yeshua so sensitive to her death that he stopped the flow of Heavenly water to Israel?

 

Remember our principle that we’ve been learning: when we respond in the natural realm to the Bridegroom, and we give Him gifts in the natural realm, He responds and gives the Bride a similar gift, but sourced from the spiritual realm. It's something miraculous.

 

What we offer is not miraculous unless maybe it's a miracle we would give it because of the transformation that he's done in us. That would make us generous people, like Abraham and Sarah, who “made souls.” They were not stingy and contributed to the building of a congregation.

 

In order for light to increase in the earth, assemblies need to grow to be that light, to build the congregation. This is how we make the Bridegroom’s Name famous, and he in turn promises to make His bride famous with His splendor:

 

• “’Then your fame went forth among the nations on account of your beauty, for it was perfect because of My splendor which I bestowed on you,’ declares the Lord GOD.” (Ezekiel 16:14)

 

In this gift transaction, we wonder why the Bride was gifted with the Well of Miriam? The manna (Torah) was in the merit of Moses, the covering cloud in the merit of Aaron’s grace, for he ran to offer the healing incense during the plague.

The well, however, was in the merit of Miriam. You can figure this one out!

 

Miriam guarded Moses’ journey in the Nile, risked her life in approaching Pharaoh’s daughter at the river, and led the Israelite women in praise after the miraculous sea crossing, singing the Song of the Sea. She celebrated the overthrowing of the “horse and his rider,” not only the death of Pharaoh and his charioteers, but the death “rider” that John describes in Revelation. Yeshua prevails over death by providing a way of salvation through the sea. Women are often associated with wells of water, and therefore, Miriam is associated with that miraculous well streaming water from the Rock Messiah.

 

It was thought that Messiah would come with the miracles of Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. Yeshua identified himself as the bread of heaven, the manna, and then he miraculously multiplied bread. This recalled the miracles of Moses, the faithful shepherd. Moses led the people out like a shepherd to feed them. He was the natural shepherd. Then Heaven responded and fed the sheep with spiritual food, manna.

 

Aaron ran to make intercession with natural incense and stood between the people and the plague with the cloud of smoke to heal the plague. So this cloud of protection was a spiritual gift for Israel. This cloud continued with them in the wilderness as a kind of a memorial to that heart Aaron had. The spiritual gift perfecting the earthly gift. Yeshua in turn came healing and was acknowledged by the cloud on multiple occasions as recorded in the Gospels.

 

But how did Yeshua come with the sign of Miriam, the first woman to praise and worship when Israel came through the sea? He came from the Galilee! Jewish tradition says that before he died, Moses sank the miraculous Rock in the bottom of the Galilee. Although many were puzzled by a teacher from the Galilee, he was born in Beit-Lechem, the House of Bread. His teaching was also water, the Rock from the wilderness journey. Three leaders, three signs, one Messiah!

 

The Rock would flow with pure water once the Israelites encamped. It would form multiple routes with its stream so that it routed by the Levitical camp for the preparation of sacrifices and the purifications, and then it routed around each tribe’s territorial encampment, encircling it so they didn’t have to travel potentially miles to obtain their water each day for cooking, washing, and drinking.

 

It is said the water was deep enough to swim across. This water started flowing in their new encampments quickly and miraculously, not over a long period of time. Likewise, Jonah's gourd vine grew up over his sukkah overnight. Aaron’s rod budded overnight. Adonai caused them to grow. Likewise, it's thought that vegetation would spring up on the banks of these streams in the wilderness.

 

Overnight, trees would grow orchards and there would be the spices for the Mishkan services, even vineyards to supply the wine libations in the Mishkan.

In that sense, the Bridegroom shows us we shouldn’t begrudge what we give to the assembly like it's coming out of our pocket. Consider it a miracle in your wilderness. He put it there.

 

The Israelites didn't have to plant vineyards or trade with outside nations for wine and grain for libations and offerings. The Bridegroom supplied his own sacrifices to the Bride, so to speak. He supplied the spices for the incense service and trees for the anointing oil.

 

The Bridegroom supplied them with orchards of fruits, if not overnight, then likely no more than a month for the fruit to mature. John prophesied of this with a wilderness insight that the Jewish people would understand based on how they saw the encampment in the wilderness and how they saw this Rock Messiah that followed the Israelites in the wilderness. (Next week's teaching)

 

The Bridegroom gave His gift back to the people from Miriam’s sacrificed faithfulness to Moses and praise for the miracle of the water; He perpetuated the miracle of the parting salvation seawater with even more miraculous water activity, the Rock that purified a royal priesthood for holy service.

 

• “Then the sons of Israel, the whole congregation, came to the wilderness of Zin in the first month; and the people stayed at Kadesh. Now Miriam died there and was buried there. There was no water for the congregation, and they assembled themselves against Moses and Aaron.” (Nu 20:1)

 

When the Jewish mind reads, “Now Miriam died there and was buried there. There was no water for the congregation,” they see two connected thoughts.

When Miriam died, the water stopped. They assembled themselves against Moses and Aaron because the water stopped because Miriam died.

 

• “The people thus contended with Moses, and spoke, saying, If only we had perished when our brothers perished before the Lord. why, then, have you brought the Lord's assembly into this wilderness for us and our beasts to die here? Why have you made us come up from Egypt to bring us to this wretched place? It is not a place of grain, or figs, or vines, or pomegranates, nor is there water to drink.” (Nu 20:2-5)

 

At this point in their journey, what sticks out like a sore thumb is the complaint. “It is not a place of grain, or figs, or vines, or pomegranates...”  

 

We understand that they're complaining about water, but why in the same breath...FIRST...are they complaining about lack of grain, figs, vines, and pomegranates?  Many Israelites are young enough that they never farmed natural land. They never sowed barley or wheat. They never picked a natural fig, or a natural grape, or a natural pomegranate. They've been out of Egypt that long. So why, all of a sudden, are they complaining about the lack of grain, the figs, the vines, and the pomegranates?

 

Miriam dies.

 

The miraculous water dries up.

 

Now the grain for sacrifices would wither; the figs and the pomegranate trees for first fruits would die, and so would the vines for libations.

 

In this particular part of the wilderness, the Arava, and specifically the Tzin wilderness, it is a seabed. It's been undersea twice in the world's history. In a seabed, there's salt. The sand is salty. In fact, if you go down to Miriam’s Spring today, you will see this crusted salt over the place where there has been moisture. What was left was the crystallized salt sitting on top of the sand. You can literally pick it up. It's like sun-baked sugar.

 

When you plant a tree there, you must irrigate it unless it's a natural tree of the Arava, like the acacia or the salt bush. Even for the date tree to grow, there must be some source of fresh water close to the surface to push the salt away from the roots. Fresh water has to keep flowing. If it doesn't, the salt from the sand will encroach into the roots of the plant and kill it.

 

So it takes a continuous spring, a continuous source of fresh water to drive that salt content away from the root system of the plant. So if Miriam dies and the water dries up, this is exactly what's going to happen in the Tzin wilderness.

These plants were semi-heaven, semi-earth, and they're no longer receiving the miraculous water which grew them speedily with miraculous qualities.  

 

So below is a picture of Miriam's Spring in the Tzin wilderness. This would not have been Miriam's Well, but to this day there is a fresh water spring that flows through the location, perhaps to mark the place as a memorial in the wilderness. You can see, yes, there's greenery growing around this natural stream because it's fresh water year round, but if you venture away only a few feet, you may as well be standing on the surface of the moon. This gives you an idea, at least, of how that miraculous water would have flowed out of the rock. The salty earth even supplied the salt for those sacrifices, especially the grain offering!

 

• “You shall salt your every meal-offering with salt; you may not discontinue the salt of your God’s covenant from upon your meal-offering-on all your offerings shall you offer salt.” (Le 2:13)

 

We know that the plants were not the same when they grew up around the streams from Miriam's Well, and Paul even talks about it in 1st Corinthians. He wrote that it was important for them to know. Corinthians had no background in this story, but Paul wanted them to. This was a Jewish understanding of Torah they needed to be aware of:

 

• “For I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea; and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea; and all ate the same spiritual food; and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ.” (1 Co 10:1-4)

 

According to Isaiah’s prophecy, the covering cloud in the millennium, that eternal gift to the Bride, will have the same qualities as did the pillar of cloud in the wilderness:

 

• In that day the Branch of the LORD will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth will be the pride and the adornment of the survivors of Israel. It will come about that he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy—everyone who is recorded for life in Jerusalem. When the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and purged the bloodshed of Jerusalem from her midst, by the spirit of judgment and the spirit of burning, then the LORD will create over the whole area of Mount Zion and over her assemblies a cloud by day, even smoke, and the brightness of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory will be a canopy. There will be a shelter to give shade from the heat by day, and refuge and protection from the storm and the rain. (Is 4:5-6)

 

Remember, the Israelites, a royal priesthood, were camped at “Kadesh” (one of at least three locations by the same name), a proto-prophecy of what was to come when “he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy-everyone who is recorded for life in Jerusalem.” The royal priesthood was rehearsing for this prophetic role that ultimately would be fulfilled in Jerusalem.

 

Paul says a cloud hovered over them as well as the Mishkan, signifying His Presence. They were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea. He's connecting those things, for under that cloud, miraculous things happened. Isaiah says miraculous things will happen again under that cloud.

 

They passed through the sea. Why would Paul mention that? The well was in the merit of Miriam, who broke out in praise and worship at the Song of the Sea. She offered her natural gift of the Song of the Sea. She guarded baby Moses. Then the Bridegroom rewards the people with this miraculous streaming rock, Messiah. He protects them as a Bridegroom covering the Bride under the cloud.

All were immersed into Moses in the cloud and in the sea and all ate the same spiritual food right here.

 

Paul’s telling us in a simpler way what we already learned about the merit of Moses, Aaron and Miriam. The cloud was in the merit of Aaron. The spiritual food was in the merit of Moses. The miraculous water was in the merit of Miriam. Paul then states, “They all drank the same spiritual drink.” These three miracles were connected.

 

Because of the Presence of the cloud and the miraculous water of Messiah, the other supernatural food (than the manna), the grain, figs, vines, and pomegranates grew. The miracles were three, but one. Because we drink from this same Rock, eat the same spiritual food, and remain in His Presence, we produce more spiritual fruit! We maintain a state of kadesh in the current wilderness of the peoples, holiness separate from the world.

 

Speaking of holiness, here’s one more detail: did you notice the order of these challenges to Moses and Aaron?

 

• “Why have you made us come up from Egypt to bring us to this wretched place? It is not a place of grain, or figs, or vines, or pomegranates, nor is there water to drink.”

 

The FIRST concern of the Bride, a royal priesthood, described by King Solomon in Song of Songs 4 as “an orchard of pomegranates with choice fruits, henna with nard plants,” was the orchards that grew by the stream, not drinking water!

Only with fresh, living water could a royal priesthood maintain their “holies,” the many purifications described in Vayikra (Leviticus).

 

It was not only the Levitical priesthood called to the holies. The royal priesthood to the nations had to maintain household purities to mark several life events. This was so that they could enter into the more intense dwelling of the Presence in the Mishkan to offer their sacrifices and present their gifts of spices, first fruits, grain offerings, and lighting or anointing oil. They needed living water to immerse themselves, and they needed living water grow their gifts for the Mishkan, the grain, figs, vines, and pomegranates as well as the incense spices.

 

With these insights, it is easier to understand why the Bridegroom was more upset with Moses and Aaron than the Israelites. Their complaint was at a much higher level than just drinking water. The royal priesthood wanted more than the waters of salvation; they wanted holiness for service. They wanted Mashiach, to soak in his holy gifts, and they wanted him now!

 

Scripture hints at the problem:

 

• “Tell Aaron and his sons to be careful with the holy gifts of the sons of Israel, which they dedicate to Me, so as not to profane My holy name; I am the LORD.” (Le 22:2)
• “...for in the wilderness of Zin, during the strife of the congregation, you rebelled against My command to treat Me as holy before their eyes at the water.” These are the waters of Meribah of Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin. (Nu 27:14)

 

Next week, we’ll connect these wilderness miracles to Ezekiel and John’s visions of the millennium where they see both fruitful trees and THE Tree of Life flowing down through the Arava. We get a more focused insight as to how the nations of the world will come up to Jerusalem at the feasts, which seems impossible because of the prophesied level of holiness there. 

 

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Dr Hollisa Alewine – Footsteps of Messiah Part 142 (Watch the Smoke) for week of 2 February, 2025

Watch the Smoke

 

In The Gift Horse newsletter, we located the spiritual gifts the Bridegroom gave to Israel as a result of her gifts to build the Mishkan. Two main points emerged:

 

·     The Bridegroom’s spiritual gift is a re-gifting. Having received the Bride’s gift into the Heavenlies, He completes it in spiritual realms, and returns it to her completed in splendid beauty. For that matter, the Bride re-gifted as well, for the earth was created by the Bridegroom and her resources belong to Him.

·     The bridegroom doubles his gifts. If she gives this much, he gives that much doubled, or even more, because it’s not just a doubling. It's an eternal bounty. It's way more than a double portion. It's a forever portion.

 

 

The forever portion is mentioned by the Bridegroom in Is 4:2-6. It will occur when “The Lord will wash away the filth from the daughters of Zion and purge the bloodshed of Jerusalem from her midst by the spirit of judgment and the spirit of burning.” Jerusalem and the Temple Mount will be maintained in a state of perpetual holiness so that her covering of glory gift is never lost, nor does it decay.

 

 

So how will the Bridegroom remove those who aren't fit for this most holy place?

 

 

I read a news article that stated since the war began on October 7th, 82,700 citizens have left Israel. People have gone to other nations. They just didn't want to be there with the war going on. It wasn't worth fighting for. He's washing away some unbelief and godless motivation. He's washing it off of us as well in the nations where we're exiled. Judgment and burning has and will expose our own relationship with The Holy One of Israel.

 

He's purging bloodshed even though we're right in the middle of heavy bloodshed. Sometimes to purge something, it takes more of it in order to remove it. Let any unrepentance go up in smoke. According to so many of the prophecies of Scripture, filthiness becomes more exposed and bloodshed increases before we see the filth washed away and removed. When this process is complete, there will be those who are recorded for life in Jerusalem, not simply visitation.

 

The nations will be recorded for life in their assigned coastlands. They'll have visitation rights, especially at the feasts. They'll want to go up. They'll want to be instructed and know how to go up to experience His Presence at those appointed times. But there will be a Bride who is not required to return to her nation because she is recorded for life in Jerusalem. She will have an inheritance in the land. She is a permanent citizen by the gift of the Bridegroom. The eternal gift passage in Isaiah says,

 

 

·     Then at that time the Lord will create over the whole area of Mount Zion and over her assemblies...

 

 

Assemblies. That's what we emphasize all the time, Shabbat. The moedim. This is why we observe them, to rehearse living under the holy gift.

 

 

·     ...over her assemblies a cloud by day, even smoke and the brightness of a flaming fire by night, for over all the glory will be a canopy and [like a wedding chuppah] there will be a shelter to give shade from the heat by day, and refuge and protection from the storm and the rain.

 

This is the eternal gift that the Bridegroom gives to the Bride. She has more than eternal protection from the elements of the natural earth; she has eternal privileges in His Presence, for the cloud represents His hovering, covering Presence. She won't have to go out from it anymore. She might be dispatched with a mission to the nations, but it is entirely possible that an individual so designated would never leave the Holy City. The land itself, according to Ezekiel, will extend from Egypt all the way up to the Euphrates.

 

The Land will be stretched out to accommodate the population of the obedient, protecting them from the natural elements. The cloud of His Presence may extend over that entire full territory of Israel, not the limited area that defines it today. Since the cloud protects even from the natural elements of wind, fire, water, and storm, those who farm the Land will enjoy it as the Garden of Eden descended, kissing the earth with the spiritual gift perfecting the natural resources.

 

Let’s return to another prophecy of the Bride’s garments of glory:

 

·     In that day, the Branch of the LORD will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth will be the pride and the adornment of the survivors of Israel.

 

There are different kinds of fruit. One kind is that from the natural earth, but these fruits will be so glorious because they are Edenic fruits just like the spies saw when they prepared to cross into the Land. They didn’t believe they could live in that state of holiness, for Moses had asked them if they saw a “tree.”* Well, they saw lots of trees! Why one tree?

 

What about the Tree of Life that Moses saw on the mountain when he saw the perfect pattern?

 

It is from THE tree that all kinds of good fruit trees grow. The original tree, the Branch!

 

On either side of the river was the tree of life, 

bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. (Re 22:2)

 

What Ezekiel described as many fruit trees, John sees as THE Tree. The Word of Elohim.

 

The ten evil spies did not believe that Israel, the Bride, could ever live in such a holy place according to the Tree of Life, the Word. Caleb and Joshua knew they could, and they survived, just like Isaiah prophesies of the “survivors” (4:2) of Israel who will live and cross over with the believing assembly at the appointed time.

 

There was a Mishkan (tabernacle) where the Bridegroom’s Presence dwelled between the cheruvim, who protected the entrance to the Garden and the Tree of Life, but His extended Presence hovered over the entire camp in a cloud. As the tribes are assigned to their places, if this cloud extends over all their dwellings, they never go out from His Presence. They never really have to go out from the Temple, in a sense, because His Presence that defines it will hover in such a dramatic way, like Isaiah described in his beautiful turn of phrase for the eternal gift that the Bridegroom will give the bride.

 

 How important it is not to give or attend begrudgingly into the assembly! Everything we have, everything we are, belongs to Him. In fact, Yeshua said nobody can even come to him unless the Father draws him. The fact that we even found THE Tree of Life, the Torah, is not to our credit! Torah is a gift for the holy assembly of the Bridegroom’s appointed times, the Bride.

 

The Father drew us to the Torah. It's up to us what we do with it, but He drew us there, so no one can say the Torah is his or her own original work of righteousness. No, indeed. The Torah first dwelled with the Father, but now that it's a gift in our possession, we must let Him dwell in us with the continuing cycle of the Torah gifting transaction. It’s an eternal relationship. We must never forget the origin of the gift, and when we give gifts of obedience, sacrifice, thanks, tithes, or first fruits to Him, it's because He first gave to us.

 

Don’t just walk away when the smoke rises from your gifts you’ve placed on the altar of obedience. Watch the smoke rise. See your gift touching the spiritual realm just above the earth. See the enormous fruits your gift will transform into when you give with a willing heart...when you give because you want to know Yeshua and simply be an extension tree of righteousness from him, the Tree of Life.

 

Yeshua taught a rich young man that the Bridegroom does not desire humankind to simply check off commandment boxes. Selling everything to be with Yeshua on this earth would be like becoming a living prayer. The twelve disciples did this, not a random number. They prophesied of the twelve fruit trees that bear every month in the millennium because they are in relationship with THE Tree. The righteous Branch.

 

The Bridegroom uses mitzvot and prayer to draw us into the eternal gift transactions of growing, abiding holiness. The mitzvot help us to remain in close relationship with Him. Don’t just dump off an act of obedience. Don't just mumble a blessing so you can eat or the Shma so you can sleep.

 

Linger. At least a few moments.

 

Watch the smoke.

 

 

*Numbers 13:20 is often mistranslated. The Hebrew text etz is singular, not plural.

 

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Dr Hollisa Alewine – Footsteps of Messiah Part 141 (Pomegranate Waves) for week of 26 January, 2025

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Dr Hollisa Alewine – Footsteps of Messiah Part 140 (The Gift Horse) for week of January 12, 2025

THE GIFT HORSE   This week we will do more work with the gift exchange between the bride and bridegroom. These exchanges occur from the time between their betrothal at Mt. Sinai and when the Bride is drawn into the Cloud of His Presence at the resurrection. To review from last week, the Bride sent gifts to the Groom to build a place for His Presence to dwell. In return, the Groom gifted Betzalel and Oholiav with the Divine ruach to transform those gifts into the Mishkan (Tabernacle). The Bride brought the Bridegroom thirteen items as gifts for the building of the Mishkan:   Gold Silver Copper Turquoise wool Purple wool Scarlet wool Linen Goat hair Red-dyed ram skins Tachash skins Acacia wood Shoham stones Stones for the settings   This list does not include items that were depletable, such as olive oil and spices for anointment. Then the Bridegroom gave her similar gifts, each mirroring one of her gifts to Him for the preparation of a Mishkan to make a place for His Presence to dwell with her:   “I also clothed you with embroidered cloth 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. You ate fine flour, honey and oil; so you were exceedingly beautiful and advanced to royalty. Then your fame went forth among the nations on account of your beauty, for it was perfect because of My splendor which I bestowed on you,” declares the Lord GOD. (Ezekiel 16:10-14)   Enumerated for easier reading:   Embroidered cloth Tachash (porpoise or badger) sandals Fine linen (priesthood) Silk ("cloud of glory”) Ornaments Bracelets (tablets of Ten Words) Necklace (words of Torah bound around the neck/heart) Nose ring (justice) Earrings (Shma) Crown of beauty (Divine Presence Is 60:19) Gold (purity of Torah) Silver (redemption) Fame (of the Groom's Name)   Again, the pattern is that the Bride brings earthly gifts, which the Bridegroom matches with spiritual gifts. The Bride contributes earthly resources, and the Groom mirrors them with Heavenly resources.   If she understands that that are two realms, and she understands He is Creator and she is created, she realizes the gifts weren't hers at all. It was because of Adonai that the Hebrews plundered the Egyptians. He redesignated the wealth of the Egyptians to the Hebrews. The gifts Israel gave were His. He created them. It's all His.   Adonai puts wealth in our pockets, so we can't think when we contribute something to the congregation that it's coming out of our pockets. It's coming out of His creation. He even gives the ability to earn that money or that gift. Without His giving the ability to earn, we could bring no gift. Lots of people on this earth do not have the ability to earn anything at all. They have disabilities. Some can only earn a little. Simply to be born with the ability to go out and earn, labor, and collect that paycheck is a gift from Heaven.   We are brought up to believe we earn our paychecks, but they all originate in His Creation, and Elohim chose to make us able-bodied and healthy so we could give back to Him. He lets you put it in your pocket as if it's yours. But we can’t be too sassy because He created both the Bride and the earth that yields its resources to her. That's hard to acknowledge when we associate reward with the work that we do.   Yes, you contributed. You contributed your earthly natural resources to that paycheck, and you contributed some of that treasure back to Him. This made it holy. Designated. Just like the Bride. She is holy to the Groom. Designated to Him alone. The Groom rewarded you with the spiritual resources so that its status changed. It’s no longer secular, mundane, but a holy offering or tithe. The earth and its fulness belong to Elohim, yet He wants His unique creation, human beings, to take from that earth and offer a fine gift to Him. By passing the resource through the human being, it is elevated to holy status as the gift completes the circle back to the Creator.   Some believers, for whatever reason, choose not to give gifts to their Creator, or they give only sparingly...even though they have enough to do so, like Kain. Whatever the reason, they are limiting what the Groom will give them. The pattern is that He responds with a similar spiritual gift to the natural gift the Bride sends Him. Worse yet, there are non-workers. They have the ability to earn, they are believers, yet they have a pattern of not working at all or being such a lousy worker that they ensure they cannot hold a job to provide for their families, much less give holy gifts to the Creator. While the stingy believer withholds what he has, the non-worker refuses to even earn anything that could lead to the willing heart decision to give.   The Bridegroom wants us fully involved in the gift transaction, contributing to the welcoming of His presence. When we contribute earthly resources, we draw down His presence. He responds with similar gifts from the spiritual realm. The future temple is the way that the Bridegroom imagined His creation. Every creation starts with an imagination, and so He imagined a creation that would be a fusion of earth and spirit, a perfect fusion that would be willingly obedient. Not spiritual beings, not more angels, but rather, messengers of obedience that would also respond from the earthly side of them. He would respond again with the spiritual, and it would be a marriage of realms.   Isaiah's list of spiritual gifts to the Bride is an example of how the bridegroom in this interim sends gifts to the bride. She also sends gifts to him, and it heightens the anticipation. You get to know the other person sometimes by the gift. If somebody gives you a gift who's never given you a gift before, you might be a little anxious because you don't really know what kind of gift they're going to think is a gift compared to what you think a gift is. I knew this sweet little old lady years ago, and she would go to thrift sales and bring me the moldiest smelling used clothes when she cleaned her closet. To her, it was the greatest gift of all, and I had to respond as if it was the greatest gift of all, because I understood the heart that was behind it.   There's some trepidation when someone we don’t know well says, “I brought you this gift,” and we have no idea what's going to be in the package when we open it! It will tell you a lot about the person, though. When we open the gifts of the Bridegroom, and when He opens our gifts, it tells us a lot about each other. We're learning the nature and the character, the likes and the dislikes of one another in this interim period.   There's times when I love to open these spiritual gifts because they're awesome. They're splendorous. They're wondrous. I wouldn't have even imagined to ask for the gift because I didn't even know it existed until He gave it to me.   And then there's other times the Groom gives a gift, and I have some reservations, because, it's like a gift horse. If you look that gift horse in the mouth, you know that with this gift is going to come greater responsibility, greater demands, greater tests, greater trials. And you know that's the reason it's a gift is because those tests and trials are going to take you to another level of holiness, not because He’s unloaded some worn out old nag on you and called it a gift.   There's going to be a price to pay for accepting this gift, but who would refuse a spiritual gift? We're supposed to earnestly covet them. That's a thing we're allowed to covet, but they do sometimes come with a price when we open them. The bridegroom's spiritual gifts are designed to increase our holiness because this fusion of heaven and earth called the New Jerusalem will be a completely holy place. Many people will visit from the nations; they will come up and visit at the feasts, but they go home.   Those who are recorded for life in Jerusalem will be called holy:   In that day the Branch of the LORD will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth will be the pride and the adornment of the survivors of Israel. It will come about that he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy—everyone who is recorded for life in Jerusalem. When the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and purged the bloodshed of Jerusalem from her midst, by the spirit of judgment and the spirit of burning, then the LORD will create over the whole area of Mount Zion and over her assemblies a cloud by day, even smoke, and the brightness of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory will be a canopy. There will be a shelter to give shade from the heat by day, and refuge and protection from the storm and the rain. (Is 4:2-6)   There will be people recorded for life, but life somewhere else.     The Bride is recorded for life in Jerusalem, because, remember, there's no rebellion in her. She has completely embraced the pomegranates (mitzvot) of the Bridegroom, the customary gift of the Bridegroom to the Bride while she awaits his coming. She has completely embraced His will, and there is no vestige or shred of rebellion left in her that would cause her to violate His will in this extremely holy place. If you violate His will in this extremely holy place, we have the pattern in Genesis. You get kicked out.   You can be recorded for life somewhere else, but not in the most holy place, where there must be 100% obedience and submission. “We will do, and we will hear” is the agreement of the Bride to the Bridegroom’s conditions of the marriage. Through the power of the Ruach HaKodesh, Yeshua is “grooming” the Bride to conform her will to his and the Father’s will.   This gift horse is no nag, but it can be a challenge to ride because it constantly transforms our earthly gifts into holy gifts of willing obedience. Accepting that gift horse is the only way to complete the circle of personal holiness required for residence in New Jerusalem, a place where natural and spiritual have a perfectly harmonious marriage.   In that day there will be inscribed on the bells of the horses, “HOLY TO THE LORD.” And the cooking pots in the LORD'S house will be like the bowls before the altar. (Zech 14:20)   As she prepares, dedicating her earthly work to Him, allowing Him to turn it into a sacred offering, the Bride transforms more and more into the image of the Creator.   Just as He imagined.

 

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