They, in their turn, then have the responsibility of gathering in the remanant flock - the true believers - and preparing them by taking them through their desert wandering:
The Plucked Twig
"Thus says Yahweh-Elohim: I Myself will take a twig from the lofty top of the cedar, and will set it out; I will crop off from the topmost of its young twigs a tender one and will plant it upon a mountain high and exalted (Is.11.1,10; Jer.23:5; Zech.3:8; Is.52:2). On the mountain height of Israel I will plant it; that it may bring forth boughs and bear fruit, and be a noble cedar; and under it shall dwell birds of every feather; in the shade of its branches they shall nestle and find rest. And all the trees of the field shall know - understand and realise - that I, Yahweh, have brought low the high tree, have exalted the low tree, have dried up the green tree, and have made the dry tree flourish. I, Yahweh, have spoken, and I will do it" (Ezek.17:22-24, Amp.V).
Notice that it is Yahweh who does the 'doing', not us. We 'simply' have to present ourselves as vessels to Him. Our spiritual diet, though, is matzah, not lushious white leavened bread. And Yahweh has commanded us to eat this unleavened bread for eight days - during Passover and during Chag haMatzah.
Labour of the First Generation
It takes the first generation of a new work in Yahweh 40 years to get out of the Egyptian mindframe and lifestyle. Do you resent that this is the generation that must do it? Tough. This is the generation that must do it. And we who must lead this work will likely not see the 'Promised land' of its complete fruition, just as Moses didn't. But then that's our calling.
All for the Last generation
If Yahweh had wanted us to be born in the next and last generation, then He would have caused us to be born then, wouldn't He? But you young ones - you are called to be as Joshua and Caleb - you are our pride and joy. You are whom we labour for. Do not despair when you see so many falling by the wayside. Grieve for them, pray for them daily, intercede when you can, but move on. Yahweh did not wait for stragglers in Egypt and neither can we. They must catch up themselves when they wake up and repent for dallying.
Two out of Millions
For of all those millions who left Egypt, only two made it. And you older ones, remember, that your children need you - you are doing for them what Moses did for the second generation of those who were born in the wilderness. Joshua the Ephraimite and Caleb the Judahite, the the second generation, were his pride and joy.
A Lonely But Worthwhile Walk
Yes, brethren and sisters, this is a lonely walk, but it is 100% worth it, because the One we serve is 100% faithful. I have such high hopes for the next generation - I see in them possibilities we of the older one never had nor ever could have. They need us as much as we need them. They need us so that they can 'get in' and take the land and not go through the ruthless 40 year purging we did, and we need them to validate what we are doing. That is why Satan has targeted them and that is why we must guard them as passionately as we guard the Torah and our testimony of Messiah. That is why we must warn the rebels not to go back to Egypt, but to repent:
"For Egypt's help is worthless and of no purpose; therefore I have called her Rahab 12 who sits still" (Is.30:7, Amp.V).
Hiding in Egypt Still
As I speak to you, there are people who ought to be engaged in the work who are hiding in Egypt, hoping that Yahweh will not find them. But that is impossible. Even now He is reaching into their hiding places and shining the light of truth into their darkness. Even now He is saying:
"Go ahead and be stupid! Go ahead and be blind! Get drunk without any wine! Stagger without drinking a drop! Yahweh has made you drowsy, ready to fall into deep sleep ... Yahweh said: 'These people claim to worship Me, but their words are meaningless, and their hearts are somewhere else. Their religion is nothing but human rules and traditions, which they have simply memorised. So I will startle them with one unexpected blow after another. Those who are wise will turn out to be fools, and all their cleverness will be useless'" (Is.29:910a,13-14, TEV).
"For this is a rebellious people, faithless and lying sons, children who will not hear the Torah and instruction of Yahweh; who virtually say to the seers [by their conduct], 'See not'; and to the prophets, 'Prophesy not to us what is right; speak to us smooth things, prophesy deceitful illusions, get out of the true way, turn aside out of the path, cease holding up before us the Holy One of Israel'" (Is.20:9-11, Amp.V).
Do Not Follow Them
Remember that Yahweh is here talking about believers! Now, are we going to do what these nominal believers - who are in fact unbelievers - want us to do? Shall we stop being vessels for visions, prophecies and true doctrine? Never! Rather, we shall hold them all up before the Holy One of Israel because we are swayed by love and not their threats, which threats not only threaten us but their own welfare.
The Pesach Presence
We began Pesach two nights ago with a very tangible Presence of the Most High. Some could feel Him. During the night and in the early morning the Ruach haRishom showed me areas in my life still in need of cleansing. Oh how I wish Moses had left a detailed account of his 40 years in Midian! What I wouldn't give to learn of his own strugglings and overcomings.
The Bulging Wall
Nevertheless I preach of what I know and I know what it is to struggle, and to fail, and to struggle again, until the light of truth permeates and the leaven of sin can be exposed and finally cast out. When we refuse to repent, having received the revelation, then the final end is certain:
"Therefore says the Holy One of Israel, 'Because you despise and spurn this My word, and trust in cunning and oppression, in crookedness and perverseness, and rely on them; Therefore this iniquity and guilt shall be to you as a broken section of a high wall, bulging outand ready [at some distant time] to fall, whose crash will then come suddenly and swiftly, in an instant" (Is.30:12-13, Amp.V).
The imagary struck me because I have sections of my garden wall just like that - I know, that in time, that wall will collapse. It may appear firm for days, weeks, months or years but then suddenly, when you least expect it, it will crash down.
The Illusion of Stability in Sin
That is what happens to unrepentant lives. Nothing seems to happen, you seem to be getting away with sin, but the chametz or leaven of sin keeps on spreading and spreading, taking you over - the pressure keeps building up on that wall, the pressure of truth on the lies you have chosen to embrace keeps building up and building up until, CRASH! your life suddenly falls apart. Would it not be better to be struggling and overcoming in the wilderness than to continue year after year in a deep sleep to suddenly wake up, years later, towards the end of your life, when everything comes crashing done and you realise you have WASTED all those precious years!
Release the Captive Children
Therefore I urge you, will all the tender affection I have, to repent before it is too lake, and you wail over the wasted time. Moreover, if you have dragged your children into iniquity with you, and they belong to Yahweh, then they will desert you and despise you too. Then what will your life have been for? So come back!
"For thus said Yahweh-Elohim, the Holy One of Israel, 'In returning to Me and resting in Me you shall be saved; in quietness and in (trusting) confidence shall be your strength. And you would not'" (Is.30:15, Amp.V).
Insanity, but Satan blinds when you reject Yahweh. Always.
Yahweh is Waiting Expectantly for You
"Yahweh (earnestly) waits - expectant, looking and longing - to be gracious to you, and therefore He lifts Himself up that He may have mercy on you and show loving-kindness to you; for Yahweh is an Elohim of justice. Blessed - happy, fortunate and to be envied - are all those who (earnestly) wait for Him, who expect and look and long for Him [for His victory, His favour, His love, His peace, His joy and His matchless unbroken companionship] (Rev.3:5; 1 Cor.12:9; 1 Jn.3:16; Jn.14:3,27; Heb.12:2)" (Is.20:18, Amp.V).
If Your Life Falls Apart...
If your life does fall apart - and the sooner the better from your point-of-view - then rejoice, because it means that if you invite Yah'shua back in, He will come in and turn you around and use you like never before.
What is holding such back? Always it is because some lie or another has been embraced.
Two Examples of Wasted Lives
One of the brethren, who had enormous protential, and whom Yahweh called to great things, became impatient and left, declaring that he could no longer wait because the signs and miracles were not present - because the promises were not apparently being fulfilled. So he headed off to a charismatic church where supposedly miraculous things were happening every day. Well, I shall not comment on charismatic churches as I have spoken and written a great deal about them already other than to say that today, as 20 years years ago when this brother departed, the charismatics are still spouting the same nonsense and still operating under dark spirits. Nothing has changed there. If anything, the delusion has got worse.
Another brother who would not stay, tried to find his mission aiding Jews to return to Israel and has thrown his energy into that. What a bitter irony helping the sons of Japheth, who reject Christ, 'return' to a country their Khazar ancestors never had anything to do with which is run by an antichrist Illuminati élite descended from Esau. Vanity! Today Russian Jews are emmigrating out of the Israeli Republic and back to Russia.
The Two Types of Godly Faith
One of the reasons people get deceived is because they don't know their scriptures or because they try to interpret them through antinomian lenses. They interpret 'faith' to be what is taught in the pulpits instead of letting Yahweh tell them directly. If you turn to the 11th chapter of Hebrews you will discover that there are two types of godly faith, and that one of them is superior to the other because it has within it the power to overcome all things. It's much harder to obtain and few go for it. It lists Yahweh's great men of faith and what they did, like Abraham and Moses. We read of Moses:
"By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden three months by his parents, because they saw he was a beautiful child; and they were not afraid of the king's command. By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of Elohim than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, esteeming the reproach of Messiah greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward. By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible. By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, lest he who destroyed the firstborn should touch them. By faith they passed through the Sea of Reeds (Red Sea) as by dry land, whereas the Egyptians, attempting to do so, were drowned" (Heb 11:23-29, NKJV).
The Miracles of Moses
Moses is very much in our awareness these days of Chag haMatzah as we remember what he did for Yahweh and the children of Israel. Time and time again he demonstrated faith and what happened? Miracles! Miracle after miracle after miracle! Isn't that what you'd like to see? Rods turning into snakes, hands turning leprous and then turning normal again, ten plagues - blood, frogs, lice, wild animals, sick animals, boils, hail, locusts, darkness and death of the firstborn. Whatever Yahweh said, Moses believed, announced it in faith to a Pharaoh who would kill him if he failed, and to an idolatrous people who would lynch him as well. And then parting of the Sea of Reeds, manna in the wilderness, quail for meat, rebels being swallowed up in the earth, dead rods blossoming, water coming out of rocks, a rebellious sister (Miriam) being struck by leprosy for criticising his polygyny and patriarchy and then getting healed, and the list goes on and on. Would you like to experience such miracles in your life? Of course you would! Who wouldn't! And wouldn't this be the greatest kind of faith? Yes? No!
The Unfulfilled Promises
No, brethren and sisters, this is not the greatest type of faith, because that faith was answered in a very short period of time after the prophecy was issued. There is another type of faith, and it is much more demanding - it is altogether far more superior. Who is an example of this faith? And of what does it consist?
"By faith Abel offered to Elohim a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, Elohim testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks. By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, 'and was not found, because Elohim had taken him'; for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased Elohim. But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to Elohim must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.
"By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is Elohim. By faith Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised. Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born as many as the stars of the sky in multitude -- innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore.
"These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland. And truly if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return. But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore Elohim is not ashamed to be called their Elohim, for He has prepared a city for them" (Heb.11:4-16, NKJV).
Who Had the Greater Faith?
Who do you think has the greater faith? The one to whom the promises are fulfilled in his lifetime or the one to whom they are not? What would you say to Yahweh if He were to tell you: "I want you to prepare for the building of a city which you will never see in life." How would you have felt if He had told you to spend your whole life accumulating the trees necessary to build the ark but wanted your son to build it instead? David wanted to build the Temple and collected the money and materials for it, but his son Solomon was told to build it. Would you have given up mid-way? Would you have questioned the Word of Elohim and declared your life's work to be futile? Some plant, some water, some reap (1 Cor.3:6). What, moreover, would you have believed if you had been Sarah and it was your husband's revelation you were required to believe, not your own? But Sarah believed Abraham just as she obeyed Him (Eph.6:22-33).
If you are older than 40 I cannot promise you that you will see the fruit of this work in your life time. I know I won't see it. My job is to pass the torch of truth and revelation on to the next generation who will see this work fully accomplished. They will obtain their own witnesses because they are Joshuas and Calebs. They will seek Yahweh's face and know the truth for themselves. What are you looking for? What evidence do you seek?
"Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom" (1 Cor 1:22, NIV).
Which category do you belong to?
"But we preach Messiah crucified: a stumbling-block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom Elohim has called, both Jews and Greeks, Messiah the power of Elohim and the wisdom of Elohim. For the foolishness of Elohim is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of Elohim is stronger than man's strength" (1 Cor.1:23-25, NIV).
No Safe Distance Callings
There are many who admire Yah'shua at a 'safe' distance but who refuse to take the final step of trusting and get 'stuck in'. Will such be saved? There are many who admire what we stand for - at a safe distance - but, knowing what we have gone through, and will undoubtedly yet go through, refuse to get 'stuck in' because they are expecting a spiritual Walmart full of instant miracles which they believe will be the sign of any end-time work. And they're right - that will be the sign of this work but primarily in the next generation. Sorry, but this is the generation you were birthed into, and you must labour within the limitations placed on us by Yahweh. Abraham did not see what was promised. He experienced miracles but the only memorable one was the birth of his son Isaac in old age when both he and his wife were past it. He had no symphony of miracles as Moses did - and yet even Moses was not permitted to see the Holy Land for which he had worked for 80 long and arduous years.
Why Do You Do It?
People ask me why I do what I do and why I don't give up what with all the losses and suffering we have endured. And the answer is simple: I have seen the promises afar off, Yahweh has assured me of them, I have embraced them and confess that I am a pilgrim and stranger on the earth.
No Compromise
People ask me why I don't drop this doctrine or practice or that one - that say if I do I will be embraced by all kinds of churches and ministries and will have a great international ministry if I do. I could compromise. But what if I did? Then I would become a liar. I know to what I have been called and I know that the glory of this work will belong to the next generation. But more than that, I know that all the glory is Yahweh's anyway. I am just an instrument. Are you willing to be just an instrument in the walk that He has chosen for you? Are you willing to lose all your glory for His? Because until you have that fixed in your life, nothing else will count. Passsover was Yahweh's glory, His miracles, His wonder, not Moses' or Israel's.
All are Welcome
If would be very, very nice if others, who know the truth of this work, would be willing to sacrifice and join me. I would love their company. But I long ago resolved that even if I had to do this alone, that even if everyone deserted, that I would continue alone. This witness will still get out. I do not intend to leave my children empty-handed.
Sweep Up the Chametz
Now the business of crawling on your knees and locating and sweeping away every bit of chametz or leaven is a long and arduous process. But until you have done that, or are doing it, and intend to do it for the rest of your life, there is no progressing further. There is no Yom haBikkurim, no Shavu'ot, no Yom Teruah, no Yom Kippur, no Sukkot and no Land of Promise without this.
Embrace the Ruach haShanee
Today Yahweh has sent the Ruach haShanee amongst us. Will you embrace Her for the rest of your life and allow Her to reveal your sins to you, or will you settle for the comfort of the Ruach haRishon, staying as a spiritual baby, and never leaving Egypt? Rishon does not, in any case, remain with those who refuse to leave Egypt - She is only there to pass you on to Shanee once you have made your choice to abandon self and Egypt for Yah'shua and the Kingdom.
After A (alef) salvation (Pesach) we have to move on until we get to Z (zayin - Sukkot). We can't stay in Egypt (Heb.6:1). We have to head for the Sea of Reeds or Red Sea even if Pharaoh's army pursues with thunderous, malicious and murderous intent, even if he has our backs up against a watery wall that we cannot escape across without a mighty miracle. Like I said last Sabbath, things get worse before they get better - there is no first triumph, no Song of Miriam, until Yom haBikkurim - until we're across the waters, until we have been baptised into Messiah and given our all. And the Ruach haShleshi will see us through that.
Conclusion
I welcome you back here tomorrow for our celebration of Yom haBikkurim. May you all now, having committed yourself to leave Egypt, not panic when you find yourself up against an apparently insurmountable obstacle with the enemy charging down on you. Stand firm! Have faith! And watch the hand of Yahweh deliver you, is my prayer in Yah'shua's Name, Amen.
Endnotes
1
All of Israel
2
Shirley Kaufman, Late Love Poem
3
Love Poems from Ancient Egypt
4
Michael Wells, Keeping the Focus (Abiding Life Ministries, www.abidinglife.com), CD-ROM set
5
Known in Germany as Gästarbeiter, these were mainly Italians, Greeks and Turks who immigrated in large numbers in the 1960's and 1970's in search of a better standard of living.
6
Also known as Pi-Rameses, Qantir and Avaris
7
See Pharaohs
8
Lew White, Fossilized Customs: The Pagan Sources of pagan Customs (Strawberry Islands Publishers, Louisville, KY) -
9
See Ian McCormack's testimony
10
"Many use Colossians 2:16-17 as a proof text that the seventh-day Sabbath, the Biblical appointments of Vayikra/Leviticus 23, and the dietary laws are no longer important. But is this what Shaul/Paul is really saying? Consider the fact that while he does day 'let no one act as your judge' concerning these things, prior to this in verses 8-9 he emphasizes to the Colossians that they are not to be swayed by vain traditions and philosophies of the world, and they are to firmly know that Yeshua (Yah'shua) is Deity. This indicates that the Colossians were being persuaded toward things of the world and against Messiah's Deity. Regarding the Sabbath, appointed times, and dietary laws, are these things that are of the world, or are they of God? They are obviously of God and the proper interpretation of this Scripture is that we are not to let men judge us for honoring them. The substance and meaning of these things, the souma or 'body', is found in the Messiah" (Messianic Renewed Covenant, Field Edition, TNN Press, Kissimmee, FL: 2003), p.248, footnote h.
11
See, The Final Gathering
12
See Shabbat Shuvah and the Rahab Choice and Chag haMatazah 2007: The Tale of Rahab Do-Nothing
Author: Lev-Tsiyon