Our Roots IN Him

Our Roots IN Him

Our congregation, The Vineyard of Yahweh, meets at a Vineyard, The Corey Ippolito Winery.  When Yahweh called us to start having Shabbat services we were meeting in our home and we quickly outgrew the space.  Kevin and Nancy Corey, who own the Corey Ippolito Winery, had been our friends for several years.  The first time they came to our home for services Kevin looked at how cramped we were and offered to open up their home as a place for us to meet.  They have a beautiful, spacious home, which they use to operate as a bed and breakfast.  In April 2011 we held our first service at The Vineyard and we knew it Yahweh’s will that we worship there.  

One day after Passover 2011, Kevin told me that God would begin to teach me about The Kingdom through the way the vines grow and how they are pruned and harvested.  He was right.  I have learned many things about how The Kingdom operates and I can better understand Yeshua’s teachings when He refers to; the vines, pruning, the vineyard owner, and the harvest.   There are also many references in the Old Testament to the House of Israel being a vineyard.

We live in east Tennessee and this winter was very mild compared to winters of the past several years.  In the first week of February, the Corey’s made a statement that spoke to me about our life in Messiah.  The statement was;

 “Without a hard cold winter we won’t have a good harvest. We need winter for a great harvest next fall.  A great harvest means great wine.”

I didn’t understand how cold weather and even snow on the ground could help produce a great harvest of fruit.  So I asked, “What are you talking about, how can cold weather help produce a great harvest?”

They went on to explain that when the cold weather arrives it causes the roots of the vines to grow deep into the ground.  All of the energy of the vine is in the roots during the winter.  There are no flowers, leaves, or fruit to pull energy and nutrients from the root system.  The cold weather and snow will actually force the roots deeper into the earth.

As they explained this to me my Spirit was stirred and my mind began to think back during hard “winter” seasons of my life.  It was during those times that my “roots” grew deeper in Him.  It was those times that produce the faith that I live by now, and those seasons produced in me stability and confidence in Him.  

We as believers go through many seasons in life.  Some are great, warm, enjoyable times of pleasure, and fellowship.  These seasons may be referred to as summer.  There are also times and seasons of new growth which can be difficult but the budding flowers we see make those times refreshing and exciting.

There will also be seasons of pain, suffering, loneliness, and grief.  These seasons are like winter for us.  As it is in the natural so it should be in the spiritual, it is His desire that during these winter seasons, the roots of our faith grow and are strengthened.  It is during these seasons that our Father is forcing us to grow deeper in Him.  He is preparing us for a great harvest of fruit in our own life and in the lives of those He sends us to in the future.  We will be His ambassador to comfort others.  We will be His hands and feet.

2Cr 1:3-5  Blessed [be] the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ.

When you enter into the autumn season, 

let Him use your “winter” experience to help someone else.

1Pe 1:6-9   In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.          These have come so that your faith--of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire--may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

1Cr 2:9  But as it is written: Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.

We must remember, these hard times are only for a season.  During these times He wants you to grow deeper roots and stronger faith.  Lean on Him, draw nourishment from Him and you will find there is a friend that sticks closer than a brother. (Prov 18:24)

Ecc 3:1-8  To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up [that which is] planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

The Origin of Communion

The Origin of Communion

In this article we will examine the origin of the Christian Ordinance most commonly referred to as Communion, also called the Lords Supper or the Table of the Lord.  What we will discover is the two elements taken together during communion; the bread and wine, come directly from the Passover Seder.

What Christians call Communion, the Jewish people call desert.  Both communities have the same tradition (Communion and Desert) but the understanding of why they do it is different.  Christians take communion In Remembrance of the Body and Blood of Yeshua the Messiah.  Judaism has the third cup of Passover and the broken Afikomen and to them it is just desert (i.e., a snack after the meal).  Christians take the bread and wine without including it in the Passover Seder, and Jewish people have the Passover Seder and desert without the revelation of the Messiah’s Body and Blood.  It is Yahweh’s plan to bring the Messiah to the Jewish Passover Seder.  Likewise He desires to connect the Christian Ordinance of Communion with Jewish Passover Seder.  

The Passover Table

At every Passover Seder there is a table set up for the one who will lead the Seder. It is called the head table.   At this table there are numerous objects set out to be explained during the illustrated teaching.   

For the purpose of this article we will only cover three. 

1.    The cups of wine 

2.    The Matzah (unleavened bread) 

3.    The Matzah Tosh

The Cups of Wine

There are four cups of wine at the head table for every Passover Seder.  These four cups are explained during the central part of the teaching.  There is an additional cup of wine sat out called Elijah’s cup.  The four main cups each have names and an important role in the Seder teaching.

The first cup is called the Cup of Holiness or Kiddish.  The second cup is called the Cup of Wrath.  The third cup is called the Cup of Redemption.  It is this Cup, the Cup of Redemption, which takes on great significance for believers in the New Covenant.  The fourth cup is called the Cup of Praise or Hallel.  

For the purpose of this article we will only be focusing on the third cup called Redemption.  It is this cup, the Cup of Redemption, that the New Covenant cup of Communion has its origin.   

Matzah

Matzah is unleavened bread.  In the Torah there are instructions given concerning how to observe what are called The Days of Unleavened Bread.  All of the bread with leaven is to be taken out of the home for seven days.  During these seven days, only Matzah (i.e., Unleavened Bread) is to be eaten.

The Matzah that is used for Passover has to be made in a very specific manner, under the supervision of a Rabbi.

It must be:

• Unleavened
• Baked until brown spots appear (Bruised Looking)
•  It must have holes (Pierced)
• It must be Striped

Matzah Tosh

The Matzah tosh is a large pouch with three pockets.  Inside each pocket is a “hidden” piece of Matzah.  During the beginning of the teaching, the one who is leading the Seder takes the middle piece of Matzah out of the pouch (manifesting or revealing it).  It is broken in half.  After breaking it in half the leader wraps it in a white linin cloth and hides it. 

The tradition of having a Matzah Tosh at the Passover Table is shrouded in mystery.  It is unclear when this custom first appeared or how it evolved into what we have at the modern Passover Seder.  For believers in the Messiah Yeshua this Matzah Tosh becomes the central focus of the whole Passover Seder.

For Jewish people the most important Command and Prayer is the Shema: 

Hear o Israel Yahweh our God Yahweh is one.

The Oneness of God is one of the primary teachings of Judaism.  Christians also believe that there is only one God.  For most believers in the New Covenant the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are one.  The Matzah Tosh therefore can be viewed as a picture of the one God and middle piece can be seen as the Messiah Yeshua.     

Afikomen

This middle piece of Matzah is called the Afikomen.  The word Afikomen is a word that means, that which comes later.  After the Passover meal is eaten, the Afikomen is “brought back” from where it was hidden.  It is unwrapped from its white linin cloth and revealed again.  A small piece is broken off by the leader and then it is passed around the table and each person breaks a piece off, until each one has a small broken piece of Matzah.  When each person has a small piece of Matzah the third cup of wine is lifted up and blessed.  The third cup of wine is called the Cup of Redemption. In the left hand is the little piece of Matzah and in the right hand is the Cup of Redemption. These two are taken together at the end of every Passover Seder.

Do This in Remembrance of Me

Luke 22: 14-16   When the hour had come, He sat down, and the twelve apostles with Him. Then He said to them, “With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.”

On the night before Passover Yeshua sits down to eat a meal with His disciples.  Yeshua is having a Seder meal the day before Passover because He is going to die as the Lamb of God the next day, on Passover.  Yeshua is teaching His disciples that the main focus during Passover from now on, will be Him.  The Passover Seder had always been about remembering Moses and the exodus from Egypt.  Now Yeshua is adding a whole new dimension to the Seder and transforming it into an illustrated teaching about His life, death, burial and resurrection.   

Luke 22: 19-20    And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me. Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.   

The bread mentioned here is the broken piece of Matzah that was taken from the middle of the Matzah Tosh.  It had been broken in half and wrapped in a white linin cloth and hidden.  In this passage Yeshua would have taken this hidden (in the tomb) “Afikomen” and unwrapped its white cloth saying “this is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.”  He would have broken a small piece of Matzah off and passed it around.  Each disciple would do the same until each one had a small piece.  Yeshua then took the third cup, the Cup of Redemption saying “this cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.”   

Paul received instructions directly from Yeshua about this tradition.

1 Cor 11:23-24   For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.

1 Cor 11:24-25   In the same manner He also took the cup (the Cup of Redemption) after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in My blood. Do this in remembrance of Me, as often as you drink it. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.

Yeshua is the Matzah

Remember the details of how Matzah is made; unleavened, bruised, pierced and striped.  Leaven is a picture of sin, so unleavened bread is “without sin.”  Yeshua is unleavened, without sin.  Matzah is baked until brown spots appear, giving the appearance of bruising.  Yeshua was beaten until bruises appeared on His flesh.  Matzah is made with stripes and holes in it.  Yeshua was beaten with a whip until stripes appeared on His skin and He was pierced in His hands feet and side.  The middle piece of Matzah taken out, broken, wrapped in a white linin cloth, hidden (buried) and brought back is the Body of Yeshua.  This Matzah is taken with the third cup called Redemption.  Behold the Gospel of Messiah; the body and blood given and poured out for the forgiveness of sins. 

The Origin of Communion

As we can see Communion comes from the Passover Seder.  There is much more to the Last Supper than the casual reader will understand.  Without the Hebrew and Jewish roots being restored to the Christian faith there are missing puzzle pieces.  Once Christians understand that Yeshua was teaching His disciples during a Seder meal the whole picture comes into focus.  The missing pieces come together to paint a beautiful portrait of the Jewish Rabbi Yeshua sitting at the head table teaching His disciples the traditions they had followed their whole life are all about HIM.  In like manner when Jewish people put their faith in Yeshua as Messiah the whole Seder comes to life.  The desert becomes a way to remember the death of the Lord Yeshua until He comes.  May Yahweh combine these two customs into one ceremony revealing the Messiah, and these two groups of people into One in His hand.

Bedikot Chamets

Bedikot Chamets

Have you ever wondered where the tradition of spring cleaning comes from? In this article we will examine the origin of spring cleaning.  We will discover it is rooted in an ancient Jewish tradition called Bedikot Chamets.  We will also learn that cleaning the leaven out of our homes is to teach us about cleaning the leaven/sin out of our hearts. 

Time for Spring Cleaning

Lev 23:4-6            These are the feasts of the LORD, holy convocations which you shall proclaim at their appointed times. In the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight [is] the LORD's Passover. And on the fifteenth day of the same month [is] the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD; seven days you must eat unleavened bread.

In this scripture Yahweh is telling the children of Israel about two of the spring feasts; Passover and Unleavened Bread.  On the fifteenth day of the first month He instructs them to eat unleavened bread for seven days.

Exod 12:15-20   Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel. And in the first day there shall be an holy convocation, and in the seventh day there shall be an holy convocation to you; no manner of work shall be done in them, save that which every man must eat, that only may be done of you. And ye shall observe the feast of unleavened bread; for in this selfsame day have I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt: therefore shall ye observe this day in your generations by an ordinance for ever.  In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at even, ye shall eat unleavened bread, until the one and twentieth day of the month at even. Seven days shall there be no leaven found in your houses: for whosoever eateth that which is leavened, even that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he be a stranger, or born in the land. Ye shall eat nothing leavened; in all your habitations shall ye eat unleavened bread.

The children of Israel were to take the leaven out of their homes for seven days.   Usually the process of cleaning the leaven out of the home begins one or two weeks before the feast of Unleavened Bread begins.  The home is meticulously cleaned for all traces of bread with leaven.  This process of cleaning out the homes of leaven always happens in the spring, right before Passover.  While cleaning out the home of all leaven products, the women began to give the whole house a deep clean.  From this deep cleaning comes the tradition of what we now call “Spring Cleaning.”

Bedikot Chamets

Another interesting tradition that comes from this process of cleaning the leaven from the home is Bedikot Chamets.  Bedikot Chamets means the search for the leaven.  This “search for the leaven” evolved into an event that the whole family would participate in the day before Passover.   

Four items are needed for the custom Bedikot Chamets:

• Candle
• Feather
• Wooden Spoon
• White Napkin

This tradition involves all members of the family.  Traditionally the woman of the home cleans all the leaven products out of the home.  On the day before Passover, in the evening, she will hide some crumbs of leaven in the home.  The “hidden” leaven is placed in a spot eye level with the children, so it is easy to find.   The Father will turn all the lights off.  He will then light the candle and go, from room to room with the children, looking for the “hidden” crumbs of leaven.  When the crumbs are spotted by the children, the Father will take the feather and gently sweep them into the wooden spoon.  He will then wrap the spoon in the white cloth and remove the spoon and leaven from the home.

New Covenant believers can learn a lot from this traditional family ceremony.  The true leaven that needs to be removed is the leaven in our hearts.  Leaven is a picture of sin.  The word of God is the light that we search the “rooms” of our heart with.  The “hidden” crumbs of leaven are hidden areas of sin we need to remove from our life.  Paul writes about this very thing in first Corinthians.

1Cr 5:2 & 6-8   And you are puffed up, Your glorying is not good. Don’t you know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Purge out therefore the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, as you are unleavened. For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us: Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

Paul is writing to the “New Testament” believers during the years shortly after Yeshua ascended.  He instructed them to “keep the feast.”  Paul is teaching “Christians” to keep the feast.  While literally keeping the feast, he instructs them to focus on the leaven in the heart, which is sin.  Paul makes no distinction between Jew and Gentile; they are one people whom he calls the Israel of God.  This agrees with what Moses teaches in Numbers.

Num 15:14-16   For the generations to come, whenever an alien or anyone else living among you presents an offering made by fire as an aroma pleasing to Yahweh, he must do exactly as you do. The community is to have the same rules for you and for the alien living among you; this is a lasting ordinance for the generations to come. You and the alien shall be the same before the LORD: The same laws (i.e., Torah) and regulations will apply both to you and to the alien living among you. 

Bible Tradition vs Traditions of Men

There is an intense battle going on to hinder these Bible traditions from being done by Christians.  Whereas man made and pagan traditions are accepted, encouraged and practiced inside the walls of Churches and Christian homes.  For centuries people have used the writings of Paul to teach that Christians are not to keep the seventh day Sabbath and the Feasts.  Here is what Peter writes about Paul.

2 Pe 3:15-16   And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction. 

The Word Wrest

·       To twist, or pervert, one who wrests or tortures language in a false sense

Many things are said about Paul, his teachings and his writings that are twisted by men.  Peter writes saying, these men who twist Paul’s writings are unlearned and unstable.  Unlearned in what?  

·       In the Torah, the teaching and instructions of Yahweh. 

Peter also writes saying, some things Paul writes are “hard to understand.”  To properly place Paul and his writing in context, one must understand he does not contradict Torah.  Likewise, in order to have Paul’s teaching line up with what Yeshua teaches in Matthew 5:17-20, one must understand the Torah, the Sabbath and the Feasts were not “done away with,” at the cross.

Paul Teaches Traditions

2Th 3:6   Now we command you brothers, in the name of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, that you withdraw yourselves from every brother that walks disorderly, and does not follow the tradition which he received from us. 

The Word Tradition

·       G3862 παράδοσις paradosis

·       Instructions written or given orally, Jewish traditional laws (i.e., Torah)

Paul teaches the Jewish traditional laws in the New Testament which means he was a Torah teacher as well as evangelist.  He would have taught people to clean out the leaven from their homes for seven days.  Paul was teaching the oral traditions, what you are learning now about the days of Unleavened Bread:

·       Clean the leaven out of your homes and get ready to “keep the Feast”

·       Clean the leaven out of your heart, the old leaven which is sin

Leaven is a Picture of Sin

Leaven makes the bread rise.  Leaven is a hidden influence that corrupts completely.  Sin is an unseen force that has corrupted mankind completely.  Leaven is alive.  Leaven is a natural rising agent, a fermented mixture of water, flour and the microscopic yeasts which are present in the air. It's a living, delicate substance, sensitive to the external environment.  Likewise we are dust (flour), water and sin (leaven).  Sin is alive.

·       Rom 7:17   As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.

·       Rom 7:20   Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

Leavened bread is called Chamets in Hebrew.

Chamets =  חָמֵץ

·       To sour or ruin

This word Chamets means to sour or ruin.  Bread with leaven will spoil over time.  Unleavened bread will not spoil it will just get stale.

חָמָס  = Chamas

·       To cause violence

This word Chamas means to cause violence.  These two words are related, they both begin with the same Hebrew letters (Chet and Mem) and have a similar definition.  Chamas is defined as; to cause violence.  Chamets is defined as; to spoil.  To spoil and to cause violence have a similar connotation. It is not a coincidence that the terrorist organization that causes violence to Israelis and Christian Zionist is called Hamas.

Gen 4:7   If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin (leaven) is crouching at your door (sin lies at the door) it desires to have you, but you must master it.

Sin is laying at the door to trap you, spoil you and cause violence to you.  If the sin in the heart is not put in subjection to the will of Yeshua it will manifest into thoughts and actions that will cause your life to be ruined and spoiled.  Sin, like leaven desires to take over the whole body, as Paul writes, “leaven the whole lump.”  Therefore let us “keep the Feast” and literally clean the leaven out of our homes, but more importantly let us clean the leaven out of our hearts.

WWJD

What would Jesus do?

He would keep the Feast.

Let me encourage you to try and keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread in your home for seven days.  Have fun and do what your Savior did when He walked the planet as a human.  Moses to Elijah, Isaiah to John the Baptist, Yeshua to Peter, all of these men would have kept the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days.  Let us strive to follow their example and do as Paul writes “follow me as I follow Messiah.”

The Biblical Calendar

The Biblical Calendar

If you were to ask a person “Can you tell me the time,” the person will most likely look at their watch or cell phone.  In like manner if asked for the date, one would consult the calendar or again check the cell phone.  These sources will give us the time and date but are they really the correct time and date.  Time for the most part is a universal standard.  Dates however depend on what calendar one uses.  

There are many ways to set calendars and even in Christian and Jewish communities there seems to be much debate and uncertainty over “how to” determine days and months.  Even the seventh day Sabbath is going through a fiery trial to hold its independence apart from the moon as a way to determine the correct “seventh day.” 

In this article we will find out how the Creator of heaven and earth recons/establishes time.   

We will study:

·       What determines the beginning of “regular” months

·        And how the “first” month of the year is determined

Determining the regular months

During the time from Moses to the fourth century, the first visible crescent of the new moon was used to determine the regular months.  The Children of Israel would watch the sky for the crescent new moon and declare that evening Rosh Chodesh (i.e., the first day of the month).  

In the fourth century, Hillel II (a Jewish Rabbi) established a fixed calendar for Judaism based on mathematical and astronomical calculations (cited by R. Avraham Hiyya in his Sefer Ha'ibbur). This Jewish calendar, still in use today, standardized the length of months and the addition of months over the course of a 19 year cycle, so that the lunar calendar realigns with the solar years.  This is not the calendar Yahweh established. 

Note: Constantine (the Christian emperor) also changed Yahweh’s calendar in the fourth century, a change that remains hidden to most Christians. 

Determining the first month of the year

Exd 12:2-20  This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you

During the time when the children of Israel were in the desert they were an agrarian people.  The first harvest of the year would come in early spring, this was the barley harvest.  Yahweh instructed them to bring an offering of flour made from barley, to be waived by the Priest on the day after the Sabbath during the seven day Feast of Unleavened Bread.

Passover is the 14^th day of the “first” month; the Feast of Unleavened Bread is from the 15^th day to the 21^st day and Firstfruits is the day after the weekly Sabbath during the seven day Feast of Unleavened Bread.    

                

Lev 23:9-11 And Yahweh spoke unto Moses, saying, Speak to the children of Israel, and say unto them, When you come into the land which I give to you, and you reap the harvest, then you shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the Priest: And he shall wave the sheaf before Yahweh, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it.

On the day after the Sabbath, the Feast called Firstfruits, a bundle of barley was brought into the Court of the Temple and thrashed; then 'parched' on a pan perforated with holes, so that each grain might be touched by the fire, and finally exposed to the wind. Then it was ground in a barley-mill, which left the hulls whole.  Then the flour was passed through thirteen sieves, until the flour was sufficiently fine (Men. vi. 6, 7).  Though one ephah, or ten omers, of barley was cut down, only one omer of flour (i.e., about 5 pints), was offered in the Temple on Firstfruits as a wave offering.  The omer of flour was mixed with three-fourths of a pint of oil, and a handful (approximately) of frankincense was mixed in it, then a handful was burned on the altar.

In order for this month to be the First month of the year:

• The barley had to be made into flour for the Firstfruits wave offering
• Therefore the barley (the flour is made from) must be RIPE

In the spring, as the 12^th month ends (on Yahweh’s calendar), during the last two days of the lunar month, the barley is examined to see if it is Aviv or ripe (i.e., ready to harvest).  Without having Aviv/ripe barley, the flour for the wave offering cannot be presented to Yahweh.  Without having barley flour for the wave offering, the main event for this Feast (the waive offering of barley flour) would be absent.  Without the wave offering, the Feast would be incomplete and therefore unacceptable to Yahweh.

There are two factors Yahweh established to determine the “first” month of the year:

• The crescent New Moon must be see
• The Barley must be Aviv/ripe

The month of Abib

Exd 13:4   This day you came out in the month Abib. You shall keep the feast of unleavened bread: you shall eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded you, in the time appointed of the month Abib; for in it you came out of Egypt: and none shall appear before me empty handed

Deu 16:1  Observe the month of Abib, and keep the Passover to the LORD Yahweh your God: for in the month of Abib the LORD Yahweh your God brought you forth out of Egypt by night.

The English word Abib is Aviv, in Hebrew.  This is why we see the title for this month in scripture called “the Month of Abib.” Because the “first” month of the New Year comes in the spring of the year, the word Aviv is one way to say spring in Modern Hebrew.

Note: If the barley is not Aviv/ripe at the end of the 12th month, an extra month is added to the calendar, and the “first” month of the New Year will arrive at the sighting of the next crescent new moon.

In conclusion

Yahweh is calling Christians to worship Him on His Feast days according to His calendar.  The calendar most Messianic Jews and Christians are using today is based on the Hillel II calendar.  This calendar is based on mathematical calculations, not the visible new moon and ripe barley.  Although many are still using the Hillel calendar, the Biblical calendar Yahweh established is beginning to be used by many who are seeking truth rather than tradition.  Not since the first century have so many believers been drawn to keep Yahweh’s Feast days on the true calendar.  This way of determining time should be something Christians are familiar with, but the blind have been leading the blind.  Yahweh is opening the eyes of pastors, teachers, elders and other leaders within the body of Messiah so that His True Calendar and True Feast days may be understood and therefore taught.

Note: We must never judge our brothers in Messiah for which calendar they use or how they choose to keep the Feasts.

Col 2:16 Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.

The Husband Must Die

The Husband Must Die

In this article we will study the death of Yeshua as the “Husband” of Israel.  Most believers understand the death of Yeshua as the ransom (Ex 30:11-16, Mark 10:45) payment that brings us atonement.  Countless more however have no insights on the death of Yeshua as the Husband that had to die (Deut 24:1-4, Rom 7:1-4) in order to “remarry” the House of Israel (Rev 19:9) that He previously divorced.  

Yahweh Split Israel into two Nations, the House of Israel and the House of Judah (1 Kings 12:20).  In this article we will examine the death of Yeshua, in regards to the House of Israel.  We will study how the Torah deals with marriage, divorce, and remarriage, and we will connect these Torah principles with the House of Israel.

The Law of Marriage

Yahweh Marries Israel at Mount Sinai on Shavuot (Ex 19:7&8; Ex 24:7&8; Ta'anith 26b).  Yahweh divides Israel into two camps, the House of Israel and the House of Judah (1 Kings 11:29-32).  The House of Israel begins to change the Feast days of Yahweh (1 Kings 12:32), ordain non Levites into the priesthood (1 Kings 12:31) and they began to incorporate idol worship as a method to worship Yahweh (1 Kings 12:28).  For these things they become an unfaithful bride, and consequently Yahweh divorces the House of Israel (Jer 3:1-8)

Rom 7:1-4 Brothers and sisters, all of you understand the law (Torah) of Moses. So surely you know that the law rules over people only while they are alive. For example, a woman must stay married to her husband as long as he is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from the law of marriage. But if she marries another man while her husband is still alive, the law says she is guilty of adultery. But if her husband dies she is free from the law of marriage. Then if she marries another man, she is not guilty of adultery.

The Key to understanding the death of Yeshua for the House of Israel is called the Law of Marriage (Deut 24:1-4).

Rom 7:4  Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law [of Marriage] through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God. 

This scripture tells us that because of Yeshua’s death and resurrection believers are dead to the Law of Marriage.  We are not dead to the Law (of Moses) which is the Torah; we must read this in context to understand what is being taught by Paul.

The next thing we must realize is Paul expected the Roman congregation to have knowledge that comes from studying the Torah.  He writes “Brothers and sisters, all of you understand the law (Torah) of Moses” (Rom 7:1).  In this passage Paul is teaching from the Torah where Yahweh gives very detailed instructions on marriage and divorce.

Deut 24:1-4 When a man hath taken a wife, and married her, and it come to pass that she find no favour in his eyes, because he hath found some uncleanness in her: then let him write her a bill of divorcement, and give [it] in her hand, and send her out of his house. And when she is departed out of his house, she may go and be another man's [wife]. And [if] the latter husband hate her, and write her a bill of divorcement, and giveth [it] in her hand, and sendeth her out of his house; or if the latter husband die, which took her [to be] his wife; Her former husband, which sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after that she is defiled;

Moses lists these three things that must done in order for the divorce to be legitimate according to Torah.  Write the divorce document, deliver it to the wife and send her out of His House.  As we will soon discover Yahweh did all three of these things to the House of Israel.

The majority of Protestant Christians miss many of the concepts Paul is teaching because they have not been taught the importance of studying the Torah.  Without a “Hebraic Lens” as we study Scripture we cannot fathom the depths of Yeshua coming for “the lost sheep of the House of Israel” (Matt 15:24).

Israel says “I Do”

In Ex 19:1-8 Yahweh brings the people to the base of Mount Sinai to marry the people.  What we see in these passages is a marriage ceremony.  Yahweh speaks and writes the terms of the Covenant which are in essence “worship Me and obey Me” the people say “we will do all Yahweh says,” this is viewed as a marriage contract (i.e., Ketuba, Zohar vol 1, p. 8&9). 

Ex 24:3  Moses told the people all Yahweh's words and laws (i.e., instructions) for living. Then all of the people answered out loud together, "We will do all the things Yahweh has said.

Ex 24:7  Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it so the people could hear him. And they said, "We will do everything that Yahweh has said; we will obey.“

The mixed multitude (Hebrews and non-Hebrews) became married to Yahweh and became known from this time on as the children of Israel.  In the opinion of the early sages the date of the wedding and subsequent anniversary is Shavuot/Pentecost (Zohar vol 1, p. 8&9).  Additionally, there is a traditional concept that the wedding ring of the bride is the Holy 7^th day Sabbath.  This “ring” is an outward visible sign between Yahweh and the children of Israel forever, that they are His people (Shab. 119a; B. Ḳ. 32a, b; Gen. R. x.; Beẓah 16a; Ta'an. 27b).

Israel becomes Two Houses

In 1 Kings 12:1-17, King Solomon imposed heavy taxation upon the children of Israel in order to build the Temple.  Yahweh used this to cause a split in the tribes of Israel which persists to this day.  Ten of the twelve tribes separated from the other two tribes (i.e., Judah, Benjamin).  The ten tribes left crowned a King for themselves, and his name was Jeroboam.  The tribes that remained were loyal to the Davidic dynasty under the reign of King Rehoboam, son of Solomon, son of David.  The ten tribes who split were called the Northern Kingdom, the House of Israel and also Ephraim.  The other two tribes became known as the Southern Kingdom or the House of Judah.

The House of Israel is Divorced

In 1 Kings 12:25-33 the newly crowned King Jeroboam began to do things that would change the course of history even to this present day.  He began to change the Feast days of Yahweh, ordain non Levites into the Priesthood and incorporate idol worship as a method to worship Yahweh.  

In Hos 1:1-8 Yahweh said to Hosea, “marry a prostitute” because the people (i.e., the House of Israel) were acting like a prostitute.  Yahweh’s relationship with the children of Israel is like a natural marriage.  In a spiritual marriage or natural one the Husband and wife are called to remain faithful.  In the example of the House of Israel as a wife, she became a prostitute.  Hosea has three children with this prostitute (who is a picture of the House of Israel) and they become prophetic signs that will teach us about the House of Israel.  

The first child is named “Jezreel” which means “God scatters seed.”  “Lo-Ruhamah” is the next child and her name means “no mercy.”  Then “Lo-Ami” is born whose name means “not my people.”  In the first chapter of Hosea, through these children’s names, we see how Yahweh will divorce the House of Israel.  

Hos 2:2 "Plead with your mother. Accuse her, because she is no longer my wife, and I am no longer her husband. Tell her to stop acting like a prostitute, to stop behaving like an unfaithful wife.

Hos 2:7 Then she will say, I will go back to my first husband, because life was better then for me, than it is now.

Scripture records another prophecy about this divorce from the pen of Jeremiah.

Jer 3:1 "If a man divorces his wife and she leaves him and marries another man, should her first husband come back to her again? If he went back to her, wouldn't the land become completely unclean?

Jer 3:6-8 When King Josiah was ruling Judah, Yahweh said to me, "Did you see what unfaithful Israel did? She was like a prostitute with her idols on every hill and under every green tree.  I said to myself, 'Israel will come back to me after she does this evil,' but she didn't come back. And Israel's wicked sister Judah saw what she did.  Judah saw that I divorced unfaithful Israel because of her adultery, but that didn't make Israel's wicked sister Judah afraid. She also went out and acted like a prostitute!

This passage tells us again that Yahweh divorced the House of Israel.  We need to mention here that although the House of Judah also acted like a prostitute, Yahweh never mentions divorce of her.  Yahweh gave David an unconditional covenant to establish the House of Judah  and place one of his sons on the throne forever (2 Sam 7:13-16, 1Chr 17:11-14) whereas the House of Israel and King Jeroboam’s dynasty was contingent upon obeying Torah (1 Kings 11:37&38).

Spiritual Adultery

How is adultery defined?

In the eyes of Yahweh, according to Scripture, adultery is; worshiping the God of Israel by mixing the “WAY” or method He is worshiped (i.e., Lev 23) with the “way” the nations worship their gods (i.e., pagan sun worship holidays).  This is done by changing Torah Holy days (i.e., the Feasts of Yahweh) for pagan holidays. 

As a result of constant backsliding and spiritual prostitution, Yahweh eventually takes away the Sabbath and the Feasts from the House of Israel

Jer 3:20  But like a woman who is unfaithful to her husband, family of Israel, you have been unfaithful to me," says Yahweh. 

When the mixed multitude from many nations became “married” to Yahweh, those people became members of the children of Israel.  In like manner the opposite is also true, when Yahweh divorced the House of Israel; they lost their identity as Israel (i.e., Jacob) and became once again, a mixed multitude from many nations.  In Gen 48:19 Jacob speaks a prophecy about Joseph’s son Ephraim saying “may he become a multitude of nations.”  This phrase transliterated in Hebrew is “melo ha goyim” and can be translated as fullness of the gentiles.  For this prophecy to become a reality Yahweh had to divorce the House of Israel (i.e., Ephraim).  As a result of this divorce they became the “fullness of the gentiles” (Rom 11:25&26) that Paul wrote about in the letter to the Romans.

Yeshua comes for

the Lost Sheep of the House of Israel

Yeshua said he came for the lost sheep of the House of Israel (Matt 15:24).  These lost sheep Yeshua is speaking of are the descendants of the House of Israel who were scattered into all the earth in 722 BCE.  They were the same ones that Yahweh had married and then divorced.  The divorce left them with the status of “a mixed multitude from the nations” or “the fullness of the gentiles.”  Yeshua came to bring them back into the marriage covenant which they had continually dishonored.  In order for Him to remarry these “Lost Sheep,” He came as Yahweh in the flesh and died as the first husband (Deut 24:1-4, Rom 7:1-4).  This may seem hard to comprehend at first, but once you understand this part of the love story between The Father and His firstborn, dearly loved son, Ephraim (Jer 31:9&20), the scriptures will come alive and be more meaningful than ever before.  Yeshua’s death to make available the remarriage is a part of the love story between Yahweh and the children of Israel, that many are unacquainted with. 

In conclusion

Yahweh married the children of Israel at the base of the mountain (Ex 19:7&8, Ex 24:7&8).  Yahweh splits Israel into two Kingdoms or Houses.  One of the Houses; the House of Israel plays the harlot and the Husband Yahweh writes them a divorce certificate (Jer 3:6-8) and sends them out of His house (i.e., the land of Israel).  Yahweh then becomes a man, Yeshua the Messiah, to die in order to release the House of Israel from the Law of marriage spoken of by Moses and Paul (Duet 24:1-4, Rom7:1-4).  This enables the remarriage (i.e., the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, Rev 19:9) to take place when Yeshua comes back for His bride, and the land not be defiled (Duet 24:4).

Many pastors teach and preach about the marriage supper of the lamb.  Pastors that teach and preach about this subject, lack the missing thread that pulls the whole fabric of scripture together as one unit.  The missing thread is:

·       the marriage ceremony on Shavuot/Pentecost with the whole House of Israel

·        the splitting of the tribes into two Houses (the House of Israel and the House of Judah)

·        the divorce of the House of Israel for spiritual adultery

·        the “Law of marriage and divorce” which requires the death of the First Husband so that the woman is free to remarry

·        the coming of Yahweh in the flesh as the first husband, Yeshua the Messiah

·       the death of the first husband Yeshua, to release the wife from the “Law of Marriage”

·       the remarriage of the House of Israel with the Husband Yeshua, which is the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.

The Tents of Shem ~ Part Four

The Tents of Shem ~ The Two Will Become One

Part Four

Yahweh Has TWO witnesses on Earth today.  They are the House of Israel (i.e., Japheth) and the House of Judah (i.e., Shem), referred to in the new testament as Jew and Gentile.  It is Yahweh’s plan is two bring them together into One New Man.  In part four and the final installment of this series we will look at how this will happen and His plan to bring them together.

Both Houses have companions

Ezek 37:15-24 Again the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, “As for you, son of man, take a stick for yourself and write on it; For Judah and for the children of Israel, his companions.”

• “Companions” are those joined to the House of Judah (Shem) Through conversion, sojourning or marriage.

Then take another stick and write on it; “For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel, his companions.” Then join them one to another for yourself into one stick, and they will become one in your hand.

• “Companions” are those joined to the House of Israel (Japheth) through Yeshua, by grafting into the olive tree.

 “And when the children of your people speak to you, saying, ‘Will you not show us what you mean by these?’— ¹⁹ say to them, ‘Thus says Yahweh Elohim: “Surely I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel, his companions; and I will join them with it, with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they will be one in My hand and the sticks on which you write will be in your hand before their eyes. ²¹ “Then say to them, ‘Thus says Yahweh Elohim: “Surely I will take the children of Israel from among the nations, wherever they have gone, and will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land; ²² and I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king over them all; they shall no longer be two nations, nor shall they ever be divided into two kingdoms again. ²³ They shall not defile themselves anymore with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions; but I will deliver them from all their dwelling places in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them. Then they shall be My people, and I will be their God. “David My servant shall be king over them, and they shall all have one shepherd; they shall also walk in My judgments and observe My statutes, and do them.

The method that Yahweh uses to bring Japheth into the tents of Shem is a process the scripture calls being a “companion.”  Companions are people from the nations that are not genetically linked to Israel or Judah but have been grafted and adopted into the family (i.e., Olive Tree) becoming citizens and members of the commonwealth of Israel. 

The Church/Israel During the time of Paul

During the time immediately after Yeshua ascended and during the time of Paul the “body” of Messiah was one unified group of people.  Jews and gentiles worshiped together; keeping the seventh day Sabbath and all of the Feasts of Yahweh.  

Shavuot/Pentecost is called the birthday of the “church” by many theologians.  This teaching did not originate in scripture.  The “church” as something other than Israel didn’t come about until three hundred years after Yeshua died.

Acts 7:37-38  This is what Moses said to the children of Israel , Yahweh your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren. Him you shall hear. This is he who was in the church (congregation) in the wilderness with the Angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, the one who received the living oracles to give to us.

According to this scripture the “church” was established with the giving of the Torah during Shavuot.  Was the “church” in existence during the days of Moses?  No.  Who then, was the Torah given to in the days of Moses, the Church or Israel? 

In the book of Acts the “church” was really New Covenant, redeemed Israel.  There was not even an entity called the “church” for hundreds of years after the days of Yeshua.  All those men from every nation who were filled with the Holy Spirit during Shavuot revived the Torah written on their hearts and became a part of the people Israel, not “the church.”  This Holy day, Shavuot, is not the birthday of the “church” it is the Anniversary of the marriage between Yahweh and His people Israel (Ex 19:8).  When a person enters into the New Covenant (Jer 31:31 & Heb 10:16) they have the Torah written on their hearts.  One reason the gospel is coming to men from every nation is to gather the lost sheep of the House Israel together with the House of Judah, which will also include the companions (Ezek 37:15-17)  and this will result in Japheth coming into the tents of Shem (Gen 9:27). 

Jew and gentile worshiped together from the time of the Feast of Shavout recorded in Acts two until the council of Nicaea in 325 A.D..  It was at this time that the “church” as something other than Israel began to really take shape.  The doctrine, tradition and leadership of the “body” of Messiah was becoming more and more polluted with the “ways” of the nations.  This is the precise thing Yeshua was warning His disciples about in Matt 10:5&6 (refer to Tents part three).   

Ways of the Nations

• When did Sunday Replace the Sabbath?

By CANON XXIX, Council of Laodicea 364

As the Catechism of Catholic Doctrine says on page 50 (3rd edition):
Question: Which is the Sabbath day?
Answer: Saturday is the Sabbath day.
Question: Why do we observe Sunday instead of Saturday?
Answer: We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church, in the Council of Laodicea (A.D. 364), transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday.

• CHRISTIANS must not judaize by resting on the Sabbath, but must work on that day, rather honouring the Lord's Day; and, if they can, resting then as Christians. But if any shall be found to be judaizers, let them be anathema from Christ.

How will the two Houses come together

What is Yahweh’s plan to unite the House of Israel and the House of Judah?  I believe He will use the Feasts.  The Feast of Shavuot is the Key to unity that dwells in the heart of our Heavenly Father. 

Lev 23:15-17 And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be complete:[Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto Yahweh. Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals: they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baken with leaven; [they are] the firstfruits unto Yahweh.

These two loaves of bread in this portion of scripture are baked with leaven.  This leaven in the bread is Yahweh’s way of teaching us who these two loaves represent.  Leaven is a picture of sin, so these two loaves are full of sin.  In my opinion these two loaves represent the Houses of Israel and the House of Judah.  I also see this as a Sod, a mystery hidden in the text teaching us His plan to bring the two loaves (i.e., Israel and Judah) together in the Last Days. 

It is His plan to use Shavuot to bring unity in our day.  It was during this Feast that Yahweh married a mixed multitude (which is a foreshadowing of the New Testament understanding of Jew and gentile) at the base of Mount Sinai.  The key to unity and the two coming together is going to be the Messiah Yeshua using the Feasts, in particular the Feast of Shavuot/Pentecost which is THE key regarding the TWO coming together. 

Acts 2:1-12 When the Day of Shavuot (Pentecost) had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.  And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them.  And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance  And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven.  And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together, and were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own language. Then they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, “Look, are not all these who speak Galileans?  And how is it that we hear, each in our own language in which we were born?  Parthians and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes,  Cretans and Arabs—we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God.”  So they were all amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “Whatever could this mean?”

In the Torah this Feast was used to unite a mixed multitude into one people called Israel.  In the book of Acts, this Feast was used to draw together men from every nation to one place, to worship the God of Israel.  I believe Yahweh wants use THIS Feast again to draw together men from every nation, which will bring Israel and Judah together and thus fulfill the prophecy given by Noah about Japheth coning into the tents of Shem.

Conclusion of the matter

Amos 3:3 says “how can two walk together, except they be agreed?”

They cannot.

We must walk in unity and be in agreement concerning the identity of the Messiah and how to worship the Living God of Israel.  We are living in the days when we will begin to see these prophecies about the House of Israel and the House of Judah coming together and Japheth coming into the tents of Shem, unfold and become a reality.  It is in our Fathers heart to bring together those lost sheep form the House of Israel and unite them with the House of Judah.

Christians are waking up to the truth in the scripture that says “you are no longer foreigners and strangers” and “you are fellow citizens and members of the commonwealth of Israel” (Eph 2:12).  This reality will draw the Christians back to their Hebrew roots and they will begin to understand who they are.  They will then understand the heart of the Father to unite them with the House of Judah; they will realize they are actually a part of the same family.  As Christians begin keeping the Sabbath and the Feasts it will provoke the Jews to jealousy and they will begin to accept Yeshua as the Messiah of Israel.  As these events transpire, Christians from all denominations and Jews of all sects of Judaism, will come together to worship the True and Living God, Yahweh.

For more on this subject, visit http://sermon.net/thevineyardofyahweh/sermonid/119780365

to hear a teaching on THE New Covenant Feast, Shavuot.