Shabbat shalom kol beit Yisra'el and Mishpachah. It's good to see you all again, I hope you have had a fruitful week and are ready for some deep pondering as today we continue re-examining our faith in what I hope you will find new - and yet really not so new - and exciting ways.

To remind those who were here last sabbath, and for the benefit of those who may be with us for the first time this morning, let me remind you we are looking at the navi (prophet) Jonah not just in the traditional way of a disobedient servant of El Elyon (the Most High) who initially refused to go on a mission to Nineveh to preach repentance to his nation's mortal enemy, was himself confronted for disobedience by Yahweh in the belly of a great fish, and who went on to subsequently preach to the Assyrians in their capital city and deliver them from judgment and certain destruction. We looked at the roots of his personality, his failure to deal with his major problem which was unforgiveness, and the pathetic attempt he made to blame Elohim (God) for his own shortcomings.

Today we are going to scale up this incident from an individual level to that which concerns the whole of Christendom. We're going to use Jonah as a springboard into something on a far bigger scale. Jonah's behaviour, we will all agree, was unsatisfactory on many counts, leaving the story of his personal life unfinished and therefore not fully told. And you will remember how the Book of Jonah just suddenly ends, as though in the middle of the story, without a conclusion. Today we are going to prophetically conclude that story but this time looking at the whole nation of Israel over the centuries which, as far as Scripture is concerned, had equally abruptly ended with the 28th chapter of the Book of the Acts of the Apostles. And just as Jonah undoubtedly lived on for many years until his death in unknown circumstances, so in parallel the Messianic Community (Church) has 'lived on' for nearly 2,000 years. Nevertheless, that Acts story is not told in the Bible which itself ends abruptly, with these words:

"Paul lived there (in Rome) for two whole years at his own expense, and welcomed everyone who came to see him. He announced the Kingdom of Elohim (God) and taught the things about the Master Yah'shua (Lord Jesus) with all boldness, and with no one stopping him" (Ac.28:30, KNT).

Then Yahweh said, 'You feel sorry about the plant (gourd), though you did nothing to put it there. A plant is only, at best, short lived. But Nineveh has more than 120,000 people living there in spiritual darkness, not to mention all the animals. Shouldn't I feel sorry for such a great city?'" (Jonah 4:10-11, NLT).

Two men - Paul and Jonah - each faithful to their missions in their own way, the first willingly and the second unwillingly, ending their work at Rome and Nineveh, respectively. The difference is, of course, that Paul was in right relationship with Yahweh after his conversion, and Jonah was not. On the other hand, Rome did not repent en masse but Nineveh did. Both stories end there even though the Messianic or Christian story goes on for another 2,000 years, the history of which we know reasonably well. And though there is lots more Bible after the end of the Book of Acts, and though it is jam-packed with revelation given through Paul, Peter and John, even though it is full of the stories of local congregations, their establishment, trials and triumphs, by the time the biblical part of that story concludes at the end of the first century AD, there are only seven faithful congregations left, in Asia Minor, and even these are in a mess. The Messianic Community (Church) has nearly been extinguished!

The story continues beyond the Bible record but it is not a very happy story. It's a mixed bag and theologians have been trying to make sense of it all ever since. And as we honestly look at the Christian/Messianic landscape today what do we see? We see that it is very much the same as it was at the beginning of the Book of Revelation. The seven assemblies (churches) there - Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea (Rev.1:11) - all located in modern western Turkey, today Moslem, a picture of the world system - and all are really the prophetic story of Christendom from the time of the last apostle - John - to the modern time, until today. Since 'seven' is the perfect number, the 'seven assemblies' or 'churches' represent all the assamblies (churches) in Asia Minor just as the assemblies (churches) in Asia Minor represent the worldwide Messianic Community (Church).

Chapters 2 and 3 of the Book of Revelation tell us about the special circumstances in each assembly (church) as well as the special circumstances in each city. Quite possibly they are listed in the order in which they were visited which a messenger carrying letters would travel, and yet the letters were not sent separately to these assemblies (churches) but together in one document. In other words - and these details are important to be aware of - the individual letters were to be taken as a whole. You can therefore understand why Bible teachers and theologians have concluded that the order to the letters, and their contents, is a prophetic picture of 2,000 years of Church history that would follow, which I personally subscribe to. But I don't propose to analyse that today. Suffice to say the fact there are 'seven' illustrative congregations points to a complete period of time, like the seven-day week of creation corresponding to a seven-thousand year period of history from Adam to the end of the Millennium. We're being told that even though real historical events are happening in the first century to seven congregations, with immediate counsel for flesh-and-blood people who have long since passed on, it's also a revelation for us so that we can see how Yahweh is in control of a 2,000 year span of history.

As we will see in a moment, the story of Christianity is very messy, and chapters 2 and 3 of the Book of Revelation are telling us not to be surprised but to be aware of how Yahweh directs human mess in the direction He wants history to go. Now, the story of Nineveh, by contrast, is neat and orderly. The whole city converted, which could either mean the ruler converted and forced his citizens to imitate him and his reforms, as the princes of the German states did in the Reformation in Europe (so that when the King of Saxony converted, his whole kingdom became officially Lutheran) or it could mean the hearts of every individual were turned by the spirit-filled preaching of Noah. Yah'shua's (Jesus') remark about Jonah suggests the second explanation is the correct one (Lk.11:32).

There's something else very interesting about the Jonah story. Does anyone remember how many souls were converted? Yes, 120,000. It's one of those neat, round, prophetic numbers, isn't it? 120,000 - 12 multiplied by 10,000. 12 is the symbol of governmental perfection or rule signifying Yahweh's rule over Nineveh following their repentance. The numbers 10,000 and 100,000 are the two most common largest single numbers you'll find in Scripture, so 120,000 denotes prophetically Yahweh's eventual rule over the complete number or full compliment of mankind of which Nineveh is a type. This is to be contrasted with the 144,000, which is 12 by 12 by 1,000, which represent Yahweh's élite corps of leaders or rulers (and their families), the cream of the whole of humanity represented by the 120,000, who assume global authority during the Millennium.

Whatever we may say or conclude about Jonah - and he had glaring personal spiritual issues for sure, as we have seen - he did at least eventually relent do his job. Nineveh repented! Nineveh converted! And, we can safely assume, the attacks against Israel ceased, at least for a generation. Understand that Yahweh accomplishes His purposes even through very imperfect servants like Jonah and, as we shall eventually see, through those very imperfect theological and ecclesiastical systems too that characterised 2,000 years of Christian history with its 32,000+ denominations today. That denominational mess is not, of course, the final plan and we are about to enter a time of great denominational culling.

The Divine Question posed by Yahweh to His navi (prophet) - "Shall not I have pity?" (Jonah 4:11, KJV) - "Should I not be concerned?" (NRSV) - "Shouldn't I feel sorry for such a great city?" (NLT) -is a question which remains unanswered in the text. Its echoes are heard still in every crowded haunt of men. Above the stir and din and wickedness of this world the Infinite Compassion of our Elohim (God) is still brooding, still hovering, still vibrating, a warning to the hell-fire-and-damnation and annihilationist preachers who are all to eager to write off everyone else except themselves as the perceived exclusive recipients of divine salvation. And what is the biggest irony of all? In my view, it is the fact that the folks all to eager to condemn the masses to eternal torture think they know all about grace, twisting its meaning and applying it only to themselves. Yet here is Yahweh applying it to Israel's worst enemies! And as Romans 11 reminds us, "Elohim (God) is both kind and severe. He is severe to those who have fallen, but He is kind to you, provided you continue in His kindness - otherwise you too will be cut off" (Rom.11:22-23, KNT) as a branch is cut or broken (v.17) off from the vine tree. And yet - that cutting off, that breaking off - though severe, is not permanent: "All who call upon the Name of the Master (Lord)", however long it takes, "will be saved" (v.13, KNT). But better to repent than spend an age in the purging fire.

The Books of Jonah and of Acts, as I think should now be fairly obvious, are closely connected. They are two parallel prophetic streams, different yet similar stories. We are also apt to forget that the Book of Revelation was specially written for the seven congregations of Asia Minor. It is to them that John's Apocalypse is addressed particularly. It's an account of "the events that will happen soon" (Rev.1:1, NLT), "what must soon happen" (Barclay), "what must soon take place" (NRSV) - that is, "soon" both in terms of local time for the seven congregations and "soon" in Yahweh's prophetic time. So it's a multi-layered message.

The seven Asia Minor assemblies (churches) had each undergone great trials, the purity of their congregations had been sullied by teaching which condoned immoral behaviour, heathen practices and worldliness (Rev.3:2,17ff.). They had experienced persecution both from the religious hatred of the Judahites or Jews (Rev.2:9; 3:9) and from the Roman government. And those who know their history well - and I don't mean the 'official' version you are fed at school or university - understand me when I tell them that believers for the last 2,000 years have more or less faced exactly the same adversary groups. Today we still face the political might of the 'New Rome' seeking global empire and we still face the same Sabbatean, Anti-Yah'shua (Jesus), Synagogue of Satan seeking to destroy Christianity/Messianism and set up its own world government (Rev.2:9; 3:9) by means of its own counterfeit. Spiritually and politically, nothing much has really changed.

Under the Roman government two millennia ago, religion had become largely identified with Imperialism, just as it has been in Europe, America and elsewhere in the last millennium. Temples had been dedicated in various places, to Rome, to the emperor, and the emperor had been called 'Lord and God', just as kings and emperors have in the past centuries, even though they have cloaked their demand to be recognised as virtual deity with different terminology like the 'divine right of kings' or various forms of 'statism' in our own time where government demands absolute, unquestioning obedience, demanding its citizens to bow before it own ever changing gods, be they of humanism, communism, political correctness, or whatever. The government still wants us to worship it and its self-appointed leaders, just as the Romans did. We are spiritually-speaking still under the same system, even though for centuries it pretended to be 'Christian' but was in reality something else. To the first believers, worship such as this was regarded as idolatry and blasphemy (Rev.13:1,12,14ff.), and rather than join it, many were martyred, often in the arena to entertain the blood-thirsty heathen populace (Rev.2:13; 6:9; 13:15; 17:6; 18:20).

And just as the times were dark and threatening for the Messianic Community (Church) when the Book of Revelation was written by John on the Greek island of Patmos, believers were not only shut out from all the splendour and glory of civilian life, from the honours and ambitions, from the riches and festivals which they saw daily in surrounding heathen society, but they were in any case forbidden by the Ruach (Spirit) and the Davar (Word) to even taste it. That divine mitzvah or commandment has never been amended or abrogated, and yet it has been almost universally disobeyed by the Church for two millennia. All those who profess to be Christians or Messianics are under no less an obligation of obedience and faithfulness to Yahweh today in which the Remnant must set an uncompromising example in both word and deed. For 2,000 years believers have compromised with Rome, or Babylon, or Egypt, whatever you want to call it, but now they are being spat out unless they are willing to apostacise and become fully absorbed in the devil's blood-thirsty totalitarian Order. That which was nominally Christian in the centuries beforehand is now openly seen to be pagan and satanic.

Increasingly, then as today, the first believers were not even allowed to live their simple lives in their own way. Look what's been going on in Nigeria at the hands of Boko Haran, or in Kenya at the hands of Somali terrorists - we hear of new attrocities every day now. Then, as increasingly so now, all the power of the empire was being directed upon believers in inflexible hostility. The true Besorah (Gospel) is not only being legislated out of existence in former bastions of Christianity (like California or the European Union) but is being stamped out in many other nations. It's completely illegal in countries like Saudi Arabia and is persecuted again in Russia, as Yahweh prophesied it would in 1988 (OB 55:12-16) and 1989 (OB 158). And just as those early believers were told that if they would not yield to the imperial state power they would be crushed, so true, Remnant believers under exactly the same threat today. And though Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ) had promised the first talmidim (disciples) His perpetual Presence, they felt no lifting of the Roman hand. The story will be both similar but also different different this final time round because the Remnant this time has a different destiny. Messiah had promised to come again, and they yearned for His coming that He might deliver them, but it seemed to our forefathers as if they yearned in vain. And in this strain and stress came the seducing advice of Jezebels (Rev.2:20), who counselled them to save their lives and win security by outward conformity to heathen requirements and heathen ways. Exactly the same pressures are upon the Body of Messiah today. All you have to do to know who is not Remnant material and who is, is by observing the extent to which believers are succumbing to the pressures of the world system - to the 'New Romes' in Washington/London/Vatican City and Moscow/Beijing. Are you imitating the world or separating yourself from it?

The Book of Revelation was given to those early qodeshim (saints, set-apart ones) to brace them to endurance. And in the midst of the tribulation which they faced daily, they acquired a new persepctive of life and of living. The things that once attracted them - the riches, the power, and temporal securities - came to be seen by them as temporary and soon to pass away. As the pressure forced them to turn to the invisible Ruach (Spirit), so they began to earnestly seek those invisible things which are eternal, which abide forever. And that is why the Book of Revelation ends in the way that it does, similar - and yet not similar - to the way the Books of Jonah and Acts end:

"The one who gives this testimony says, 'Yes, I am coming soon!' Amen! Come, Master Yah'shua (Lord Jesus). The grace (undeserved loving kindness. unmerited favour) of the Master Yah'shua (Lord Jesus) be with you all!" (Rev.22:20-21, KNT).

Notice the word "soon" both starts and ends the Book of Revelation but the way you understand the meaning of that word will in large part depend on what spiritual dimension your soul is resting.

And thus the Bible ends for the first qodeshim (saints, set-apart ones) as a new one opens - picking up from the Books of Jonah, Acts and Revelation - a new 'book' for the Last generation to fill in the gaps deliberately left open by the other three. Now this is the message that I have for you, one that I have been gradually unfolding for you for many months now, which if you miss will mean your having to go back and relearn at those critical life junctures where Yahweh was trying to get your attention sufficiently to hear His revelation to you and your families. And hear this, even though you do not in all likelihood want to: the way you did theology, the way you did evangelism, and the way you did 'church' or 'synagogue' in years, generations and centuries past, will not serve you this time. The old anointings will not be of much use to you either. A second Messianic Shavu'ot or 'Pentecost' will not do and any that 'come along' will be counterfeits. This time something completely different is coming, a Sukkot (Tabernacles) Anointing, with no precedents from the past being of any use to you any more. What happened in the 16th century, or the 19th or 20th, or any other time period, will not provide the necessary spiritual foundation for Yahweh's new work. Wittenberg, Geneva, Westminster, New York, Azuza Street or any other location of the past cannot supply what you need now, in today's vastly different situation. Yahweh is doing a new thing and He's not going to put new wine into old wineskins (Lk.5:37-39).

A fresh wind of the Ruach (Spirit) (OB 7) is soon to blow and with it will come with newly set-apart apostles, new nevi'im (prophets), new evangelists, new teachers, new pastors and new elders. Those of the old order will, in some cases, try to imitate the new but they will lack the authority and power, and certainly not understand it or be capable of teaching it. They won't even understand what's going on because they are walking in the flesh and in disobedience. Those who are humbly waiting on Yahweh will, however, recognise it when it comes and it will sweep them off their feet into new heights and depths. No man will confer this new anointing on anyone else and if anyone tries to 'lay hands' on you to 'give' it to you according to the old, fallen ways, flee from them! Don't even let them touch you! Elohim (God) needs no help from man to do His mighty work. Of course, there will be recognisable similarities with the past, particularly with the Melchizedek Order of old, but what's coming is entirely new - - neither of which are in the human experience or domain. And the Enemy will counter it, as best he can, as always.

For all of you, a new vine will suddenly spring up out of nowhere, as one did for Jonah, but this time with no worm, and no proverbial parching 'wind' will be coming from the 'desert' to kill the vine or afflict Yahweh's true Remnant because, unlike Jonah, they will of necessity be both obedient and forgiving and generous of heart. A new teaching, by no means contradicting the old but building upon its sure foundation, will arise, is arising, and has been arising now, quietly and unobtrusively for the last 30 or so years. During this time its nevi'im (prophets) have had their gourds devoured by Yahweh's 'worm' many times and they themselves have been blown on by 'hot desert winds' to burn out their rebelliousness and hard-heartedness. All the Remnant must be prepared in this way, without exception, not just its leaders. There are no short-cuts to preparation for anyone! And when they have learned their lessons, the worm will no longer come, nor the hot desert winds blow.

In the past I have had my supernatural protection eaten by worms to teach me vital lessons. I have had the hot winds of Yahweh's displeasure blow on me for lack of forgiveness. So have you, or you soon will. Maybe it's happening to you right now. Then, when the worm and hot wind no longer come back, you will know that you are ready. No more withering away will take place. No more bitterness will seap through the pores of the soul for lack of humility, surrender or grace. Then the children of the Firstborn will look back and finally understand that their sufferings were both deserved and necessary, and most likely for a set of reasons not previously even contemplated, for like Jonah we were too busy focussing on Yahweh sending worms and hot winds to bring us to our senses instead of acknowledging our failure to forgive our enemies and those who may have done terrible things to us.

Next week we will continue the exciting story and I have absolutely lots more to share with you about what's happened and what's coming. So until then, Yahweh bless your week, your loved ones, and all whom you pray for and seek to minister to. Amen!