Month 3:1, Rosh Chodesh, Year 5935:057 AM
ROSH CHODESH III (Shleshi haChodesh)
Gregorian Calendar: Thursday 2 June 2011
Rosh Chodesh III
A Message for the Watchmen of Israel
"Thus says Yahweh: 'Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, where the good way is, and walk in it; then you will find rest for your souls. But they said, 'We will not walk in it.' Also, I set watchmen over you, saying, 'Listen to the sound of the trumpet!' But they said, 'We will not listen'" (Jer.6:16-17, NKJV).
Chag Sameach Rosh Chodesh kol beit Yisra'el and welcome to this assembly to hear the words of the prophets.
In today's passage Yahweh announces that He has set "watchmen" over His people Israel. A tsafah is one who peers into the distance, observes and waits. A tsafah can either be one who is watching physically, spiritually, or both. My primary message this morning is for you watchmen like myself who are keeping a sharp lookout in both the visible and invisible realms to warn the flock.
"How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news (salvation), who proclaims shalom (peace), who brings glad tidings of good things, who proclaims salvation, who says to Zion, 'Your Elohim (God) reigns!' Your watchmen shall lift up their voices, with their voices they shall sing together; for they shall see eye to eye when Yahweh brings back Zion" (Isa.52:7-8, NKJV).
The first duty of Israel's watchmen is to bring the Message of Salvation, the besorah, salvation, good news or gospel of Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ). This "good news" translates the Hebrew word yeshuah which is also the Name of the Saviour - the One who brings Salvation. Therefore our first calling is to preach Yah'shua (Jesus) to those who will listen and His message which brings beauty and glad tidings into the lives who receive Him no matter what calamities may surround them in the outside world. Without that inner strength no man can easily endure what is coming and has already come.
What a contrast this is to the false watchmen, or rather, those who ought to be watchmen but are not. Of these Yahweh says:
"...[the] watchmen are blind, they are all ignorant; they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber. Yes, they are greedy dogs which never have enough. And they are shepherds who cannot understand; they all look to their own way, every one for his own gain, from his own territory" (Isa.56:10-11, NKJV).
One of the characteristics of false shepherds and watchmen is that they are, like dogs, territorial, guarding their own patches, churches, assembles, and ministries as though they were their private possessions, which they use for their own gain. The true watchmen of Israel are not territorial. They may have congregations, ministries and even denominations but they all recognise that they all being to something much bigger than these things, namely, Messianic Israel, and that they are all brethren. They may have theological differences for the time being but they have the same lev (heart) and the same ahavah (love) for the Emet (Truth) and for the Master of Emet (Truth), Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ). They blow the same trumpet of warning even though they know most will not listen. And there is another thing they are all agreed upon, which is this:
"For there shall be a day when the watchmen will cry on Mount Ephraim, 'Arise, and let us go up to Zion, to Yahweh our Elohim (God)'" (Jer.31:6, NKJV).
For the sake of those who are still deceived by false tradition I want you to note well that the watchmen are crying out from "Mount Ephraim" because that is where Yahweh's watchmen are - not on 'Mount Judah' or on any other tribal mount, kingdom or domain. And at the risk of offending the pride of Judah, whose day of prominence as the head of the 12 Tribes while Ephraim acted the harlot with his heathenism in generations past, today's day is that of Ephraim, the firstborn, as he repents from his Torahlessness. Judah and Ephraim as Israel are now called to be echad (one) in a symbiotic relationship as depicted in this beautiful piece of prophetic imagery:
"For I have bent Judah, My bow, fitted the bow with Ephraim, and raised up your sons, O Zion...and made you like the sword of a mighty man" (Zech.9:13, NKJV).
A bow (Judah) without an arrow (Ephraim) is useless (except as a flimsy club), just as an arrow (Ephraim) without a bow (Judah) is useless (except for a bit of ineffectual prodding). And the bowman is, of course, Yahweh. Both tribes are His instruments with different rôles. Specifically, the bow is Torah and the arrow is Messiah - they can't exist without the other in the New Covenant of Messianic Israel! Nevertheless the arrows are being fired from Mount Ephraim.
The watchmen of Israel have many other things they have to watch out for in these dangerous times as there is an all-out assault on our lives through totalitarian-minded and corrupt politicians, industrialists, and others who are poisoning our food and trying to deny us healthy food, the pushers of drugs or divers sorts (like cancerous medications and dangerous as well as useless psychotropic drugs), a rise of both man-made and naturally-made epidemics (like the recent E.coli outbreak in Europe), tornadoes, earthquakes (they're worldwide at present), tsunamis (many in the Pacific), volcanic eruptions (the latest is in Iceland), oil spills, poisoning of the sea by cleanup agents (the destriction of the Gulf of Mexico by the BP spill), huge climatic changes (such as the halting of the Gulf Stream - not the global warming scam), wars (Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan), revolutions (Egypt), nuclear fallout (Fukushima), inflation and imminent financial collapse (the US Dollar $ and Euro € are teetering), the approach of Planet X/Comet Eminem, the UFO menace, and so on - the list is endless. There is much for Yahweh's Watchmen to watch and to warn Messianic Israel and the world of!
This morning Yahweh spoke to me and my fellow watchmen. This time He spoke to me audibly saying:
Brethren and sisters, the job of a watchman isn't just for prophets, seers, pastors and others in leadership positions. When it comes to all that's going on in the world, I rely for nearly everyhing from others who are out in the field watching. I rely on all of you. Everyone has his or her part. Mostly I simply collate and process data, weeding out what I think is false or suspect and bringing together or gathering that which is relevent.
However, as I said at the beginning, this is only the secondary mission of Israel's watchmen, our first is to bring the message of salvation, because without it, the rest will be of little value. We have know what Yahweh wants us to do and that means listening to Him persionally and individually for our families. You men in particular, but also you single mothers, have a great responsibility toward your wards who are depending on you for their welfare and possibly even their lives.
Have a blessed Rosh Chodesh and a great Israelite Father's Day!
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