News Letter 5850-040
4th day of the 10th month 5850 years after the creation of Adam
The 10th Month in the Fifth year of the Third Sabbatical Cycle
The Third Sabbatical Cycle of the 119th Jubilee Cycle
The Sabbatical Cycle of Earthquakes, Famines and Pestilence

December 27, 2014,

Shabbat Shalom Royal Family of Yehovah,

On Tuesday evening the new moon was seen in Israel, making this the 10th month of the biblical calendar. We have just three months now until Passover again. In just over 3 months we will have our third Blood Moon over North America and a dark moon over Israel. You can now watch or purchase our DVD teaching on this subject, and you can now download and print the e-book which shows you each of the blood moons and dark moons from the death of Adam up until the end of this current age.

I urge you all to get this book, along with the video, and arm yourself so that you may speak knowledgeably with those who will be all excited and hyped up about this subject. You will have the facts to prove John Hagee and Mark Biltz’s teaching on this to be in error. We show you how the blood moons preceded the death of Adam and the Great Flood. Why do Mark Biltz and John Hagee not show you this? We explain this to you in the book.

There are going to be two dark moons in 2016. They are going to occur while the rest of the world keeps the Hebrew calendar at the wrong time of the year and will not be noticed by many.

Leviticus 26 warns us of coming famine and war in the 4th and 5th Sabbatical cycles. The Blood Moons and Dark Moons also warn us of the very same thing. It is time for you to learn this and return to Yehovah. Get the e-book and the DVD as soon as the Sabbath is over. We ship them around the world.

From the mail bag

Shalom, Joe

Something pretty cool happened here yesterday.  When driving, I sometimes listen to WMCA New York Christian and talk radio, but more than not soon change the station because I get so angry about the incorrect doctrine these radio preachers are teaching their callers and listeners.  I have actually been so mad about these wrong teachings that I’ve tried to call in to the station to be on the radio to tell the truth of scripture, but the lines were always so busy with other callers that I never got through.

Well, yesterday I tuned in to WMCA and the topic was celebrating xmas.  A woman caller from Brooklyn was on the air saying that we should not be celebrating this pagan holiday not found in scripture and she gave Leviticus and some other scripture verses.  The preacher did not know how to respond.  Some dead air on the NY radio!  lol

I had to call in.  I dialed the station number as soon as he gave it.  A woman answered and asked me ‘Are you calling about xmas’?  I told her I was, she asked my name and borough I was calling from and said “Hold on, please”.  Just like that?  Was I going on air?  Yessir! 10 seconds later I hear on the phone, Hello, Laura from Long Island.  Should we be celebrating xmas?

I was so happy.  I could not believe it.  I spoke uninterrupted – there was such silence behind me on the line – and told the truth about the pagan roots of the holiday, Jeremiah 10:1-4, of the true birth of Yahushua, the feasts given to us in Leviticus 23 – I spoke everything I knew to teach the listeners the truth.  It is a New York City radio station with many, many listeners.  You know there are so many people out there questioning and coming into the truth. I pray that some may have been reached. I am no preacher, not even a good speaker – I am a writer.  But I believe YAH put His words in my mouth yesterday, and kept that radio preacher quiet and uninterrupted.  He was probably busy thinking how he had to hire a new caller screening person….lol. Two witnesses in a row with the same message.

Anyway, thought you might like that story.  Praise YAH in all His goodness and mercy.

Shalom,

Laura

Each of you has opportunity to speak up. The question is will you when the opportunity presents itself? Soon we will not be able to say anything, but that time is not now, so speak out every chance you get and let them know our King is coming, and it is not going to go well for those who will not obey His commandments.

My Rant – Buying and Selling

It has become an ongoing problem with people demanding me to send them books and DVD’s for free. Yes, they are demanding it and calling me all sorts of things because I am selling the information I sell.

Let me take a moment and address this.

Pro 23:23 Buy the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.

The word “BUY” is the word which most people omit when they quote this scripture. It is the word;

H7069     ???     qa?na?h     kaw-naw’
A primitive root; to erect, that is, create; by extension to procure, especially by purchase (causatively sell); by implication to own: – attain, buy (-er), teach to keep cattle, get, provoke to jealousy, possess (-or), purchase, recover, redeem, X surely, X verily.

The word “sell” is not to surrender or sell into slavery.

H4376     ???     ma?kar     maw-kar’
A primitive root; to sell, literally (as merchandise, a daughter in marriage, into slavery), or figuratively (to surrender): – X at all, sell (away, -er, self).

In other words get the truth zealously. And do not use it to enslave others. Do not use the word to make yourself a religion in which you can yoke people to your church.

The 5 wise virgins bought the oil they needed to keep their lamps lit. The 5 foolish did not. Oil is symbolic of the Holy Spirit. How do you buy the Holy Spirit? You spend your time and energy searching out the truth. Time and energy are how you make a living which is then converted into money. The 5 wise virgins bought the oil needed to keep their lamps lit. Hmmm.

Another man found a great treasure in the field and sold all he had to buy it. What was that treasure? It was the word and truth of Yehovah. He bought it.

Do people consider that the Levites ate and took part in those things donated to Yehovah for the Temple? People paid tithes to the Temple in order to be taught those things Yehovah had shown the Priestly teachers of the Torah.

In the past I have given the books and DVD’s to those who asked for them. Later on I would ask them how they liked the book or DVD only to find out they had not opened them and yet a year had gone by. They had not valued what was given to them. They had not considered the hours and hours of research I had to do in order to gain the expertise to write that book and then pay the thousands of dollars to have it published and make it available for them to read, which they never did. They did not and do not consider the hours and hours of work I had to do in researching the vast amount of material and read the endless amount of books to prepare the Power Point slides. Nor do they consider the time spent in arranging a venue to video the teachings, and to hire a professional videographer to record the teachings and then edit them so that these teachings would be available for others to have and learn from.

These people who demand I give them the hard work I have prepared, have also neglected the cost it takes on a monthly basis to maintain the high standards that the web site has in order to be accessible to everyone from around the world upon which I have all this information for them to look up if they would take the time to do so.

Those same selfish people also presume that if I should send them the complete set of DVDs or books that the post office is going to ship them for free. These also cost me between $20 and $100 for shipping fees, not to mention the cost of the DVD’s themselves or the cases they come in nor the space they take up in my basement. But there is never an appreciation of these things expressed by those who demand to be given these truths for free. And after checking up with them months later we find out they have not even bothered to read or watch them.

“Buy the truth and do not sell it.”

Does this mean it is wrong to sell books containing truth?

No. If that is what the verse meant, then it would mean that only sinners sell the truth, and therefore the only way we could buy the truth is to purchase it from sinners—and by our purchase, we would be involved in their sin! This is not the meaning.

This verse is a proverb, explaining a principle in figurative language. We could paraphrase it in this way: Value truth highly, and never let it go. Today’s English Version says, “Truth, wisdom, learning, and good sense—these are worth paying for, but too valuable for you to sell.” The Bible in Basic English says, “Get for yourself that which is true, and do not let it go for money.”

Yehshua said, “Freely you have received, freely give”  (Matthew 10:8).

Is it wrong to sell books, tapes and other products?

No. We must understand this saying in its context. In Matthew 10, Yehshua sent his disciples out on their first mission. He told them to heal the sick, drive out demons and preach that the kingdom of Yehovah was near. He also told them that they did not need to take any supplies with them, not even a money bag. And they were not to accept payment for their services: “Freely you have received, freely give” (verses 5-10).

The disciples on those early missions were not to carry money or accept money. However, they could accept room and board,

Luk 10:5  And into whatever house you enter, first say, Peace to this house. 6  And if a son of peace is there, your peace shall rest on it. If not, it shall return to you, 7  And remain in the same house, eating and drinking the things shared by them; for the laborer is worthy of his hire. Do not move from house to house. 8  And into whatever city you enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you. 9  And heal the sick that are in it, and say to them, The kingdom of God has come near you! 10  And into whatever city you enter, and they do not receive you, going out into the streets say, 11  Even the dust of your city which clings to us, we wipe off against you. Yet be sure of this, that the kingdom of God has come near you.

Wherever they went, they were to look for hospitable persons and stay with them as long as they preached in that area. The disciples were able to preach, heal and cast out demons, and the people gave them what they needed.

Now read what Yehshua tells the disciples before he was killed.

Luk 22:35  And He said to them, When I sent you without purse and wallet and sandals, did you lack anything? And they said, Nothing.

The experience had been a practical lesson for the disciples’ faith.

Luk 22:36  And He said to them, But now, he who has a purse, let him take it, and likewise his wallet. And he who has no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one.

Yehshua told them to change the way that they went on missionary journeys. They were to carry a purse. They would need money, presumably because there would be no hospitable persons in some areas. The money would come from those who accepted the message.

Many years later, the apostle Paul wrote that those who preach the gospel have a right to be supported by it.

1Co 9:1  Am I not an apostle? Am I not free? Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord? 2  If I am not an apostle to others, yet doubtless I am to you, for you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord. 3  My answer to those who examine me is this: 4  Do we not have authority to eat and to drink? 5  Do we not have authority to lead about a sister, a wife, as well as other apostles, and as the brothers of the Lord do, and Cephas? 6  Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no authority whether not to work? 7  Who serves as a soldier at his own wages at any time? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat of its fruit? Or who feeds a flock and does not partake of the milk of the flock? 8  Do I say these things according to man? Or does not the Law say the same also? 9  For it is written in the Law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle an ox threshing grain.” Does God take care for oxen? 10  Or does He say it altogether for our sakes? It was written for us, so that he who plows should plow in hope, and so that he who threshes in hope should be partaker of his hope. 11  If we have sown to you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things?12  If others have a share of this authority over you, rather should not we? But we have not used this authority, but we endured all things lest we should hinder the gospel of Christ. 13  Do  you not know that those who minister about holy things live of the things of the temple? And those attending the altar are partakers with the altar. 14  Even so, the Lord ordained those announcing the gospel to live from the gospel.

Although he did not use that right with the church at Corinth, it was nevertheless a right. Traveling preachers could ask one area to subsidize a missionary journey into another area. Paul commended the church at Philippi for giving him financial support even when he was preaching in another city.

This principle may be applied to ministry today: We may ask believers to pay the expenses of preaching the gospel.

All our information is free on the web site, even the videos. The books and DVD’s cost money, so we pass on those expenses and at the same time make a small profit to finance other works. I do not draw any wages here; I have a full time job I use to pay for my personal expenses. I am not growing rich, as some assume. I have spent more of my own money than what most could understand.

Deu 24:14  You shall not oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy, of your brothers, or of your strangers that are in your land within your gates. 15 At his day you shall give him his hire, neither shall the sun go down on it. For he is poor and sets his heart on it; lest he cry against you to Jehovah, and it shall be sin to you.

You will pay for a magazine, or you will pay for a tutor or lesson, you will buy some book on how to grow your finances, yet you do not consider the hours I have put into this worthy of a wage. Some of you assume it should all be for free. Consider what you have learned at sightedmoon.com and consider the value of those truths you have gained. And then consider those teachers who force you to subscribe to their teachings on a monthly basis.

If you want everything to be free, then you all need to pay a weekly tithe, which we do not encourage.

We had asked you for donations so that we could host a booth at the NRB (National Religious Broadcasters) convention in Tennessee in February. We raise about $5,000 of which we spent $3,000 on an advertising campaign that went from December to March 2015. That campaign is now working. Our request for a booth was denied with no explanation. We then had the team we were sending to the convention write an appeal letter to the Executive committee in the hopes of changing their minds. In the past they have never changed their decisions once they were made. It now seems that this door has been closed to us at this time.

At Sukkot in 2014 we did attend the ICEJ convention in Jerusalem and we consider that one to have been a great success. We have been in contact with some of the leading brethren in various countries around the world who met us at this convention. They took our books and DVDs and have now had the time to watch them and are getting excited about what they are learning.

We also have a couple of leading teachers in African countries and Pakistan now learning about the Sabbatical and Jubilee years. And these men are teaching this to others in their countries.

Each and every one of you who have donated a little or a lot, whether financially or in service or in prayers, have made each of these things possible and helped to share this message around the world and continue to do so to this day. And on their behalf I thank each one of you.

Sukkot The Wedding

For the last two months all we have been talking about is the 8th Day of Sukkot and showing you just how tied in to all the other aspects of the bible this one special day is. Let me rephrase that: how everything points towards this very special 8th Day Feast.

Just take a look at this chart that I have taken from a teaching by Tom Stapleton. The bible is just full of patterns of 7 events followed by the 8th.

This week we are going to look at Sukkot which is then followed by the Eighth Day Feast. But because many do not understand they miss the meaning and the purpose. It was at Sukkot that Yehshua claimed to be the Light of the world, not at Chanukah.

Sukkot is the 7 day celebration in the fall. It is also known as The Feast of Tabernacles.

Lev 23:39  Also in the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the fruit of the land, you shall keep a feast to Jehovah seven days. On the first day shall be a sabbath, and on the eighth day shall be a sabbath. 40  And you shall take the fruit of majestic trees for yourselves on the first day, branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and willows of the valley. And you shall rejoice before Jehovah your God seven days. 41And you shall keep it a feast to Jehovah seven days in the year. It shall be a statute forever in your generations. You shall keep it in the seventh month.

You are commanded right here in the command to keep this feast, to REJOICE.

The word rejoice is;

H8055      ????     s?a?mach     saw-makh’

A primitive root; probably to brighten up, that is, (figuratively) be (causatively make) blithe or gleesome: – cheer up, be (make) glad, (have make) joy (-ful), be (make) merry, (cause to, make to) rejoice, X very.

It is the same three letters in Hebrew and the base for our word that we greet each other with at the festival times. Hag Sameach

H8056    ????     s?a?me?ach     saw-may’-akh

From H8055; blithe or gleeful: – (be) glad, joyful, (making) merry ([-hearted]), rejoice (-ing).

Deu 16:13You shall keep the Feast of Tabernacles seven days after you have gathered in your grain floor and your wine press. 14  And you shall rejoice in your feast, you, and your son, and your daughter, and your male slave, and your slave-girl, and the Levite, the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow inside your gates. 15 Seven days you shall keep a solemn feast to Jehovah your God in the place which Jehovah shall choose. Because Jehovah your God shall bless you in all your increase, and in all the works of your hands, therefore you shall surely rejoice.

Now while we are here looking at this meaning of this word Rejoice, there are many who call the 8th Day Feast Simcha Torah. Now look at the H8057 word

H8057     ?????     s?imcha?h    sim-khaw’

From H8056; blithesomeness or glee, (religious or festival): –  X exceeding (-ly), gladness, joy (-fulness), mirth, pleasure, rejoice (-ing).

What is it about this Feast, actually both these two – Feasts of Tabernacles and the Eighth Day – that is to be so joyful?

In the past 7 studies we have shown you many things that are taking place to help you understand this Eighth Day Feast. Review them.

We have also shown you who that Mashiach is, that is going to rule over the earth during that 7th Millennium. And it is not Yehshua or Jesus! If this is troubling to you then you really do need to go and watch our video on The 70 Shabua of Daniel where we explain to you from your own bible that it is King David that is going to be raised up and reign over us during those 1,000 years. It was King David who came to be anointed three times in that 7th Shabua or 7th Jubilee cycle from the going forth of the command to go and get my people. We are told that David will come back in the 70th Shabua which is the same at the 120th Jubilee Cycle, the very one we are living in right now. This 120th Jubilee cycle and this 70th Jubilee Cycle of Daniel 9 began in 1996 and ends in 2045. Again, go and watch this video and learn these truths.

Read in Ezekiel about the two sticks coming back together. Many of you quote this verse all the time but you do not know what it is saying. Read it again.

Eze 37:20  And the sticks on which you write shall be in your hand before their eyes. 21  And say to them, So says the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I will take the sons of Israel from among the nations where they have gone, and will gather them on every side, and will 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 to them all. And they shall not still be two nations, nor shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all. 23  Nor shall they be defiled with their idols, even with their filthy idols, nor with all of their transgressions. But I will save them out of all their dwelling places, in them where they sinned, and will cleanse them. And they shall be to Me for a people, and I will be to them for God.

Eze 37:24  And David My servant shall be King over them.

And there shall be one Shepherd to all of them. And they shall walk in My judgments, and obey My Laws, and do them. 25  And they shall dwell in the land that I have given to Jacob My servant, the land in which your fathers have lived. And they shall dwell in it, even they and their sons, and the sons of their sons for ever.

And My servant David shall be their ruler forever.

Eze 37:26  And I will cut a covenant of peace with them. It shall be an everlasting covenant with them. And I will place them, and multiply them, and will set My sanctuary in their midst forever.

Eze 34:23  And I will set up one Shepherd over them, and He shall feed them, My servant David. He shall feed them, and He shall be their Shepherd. 24And I Jehovah will be their God, and My servant David a ruler among them. I Jehovah have spoken.

Jer 30:7  Alas! For that day is great, so that none is like it; it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it. 8  For it shall be in that day, says Jehovah of Hosts, I will break his yoke from your neck and will burst your bonds. And strangers shall no longer enslave him, 9  but they shall serve Jehovah their God,

and David their king, whom I will raise up to them.

Hos 3:4  For the sons of Israel shall live many days with no king, and no ruler, and with no sacrifice, and no pillars, and no ephod, or teraphim. 5  Afterward the sons of Israel shall return and seek Jehovah their God and David their king. And they shall fear Jehovah and His goodness in the ends of the days.

Isa 55:3  Bow down your ear, and come to Me; hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. 4  Behold, I have given Him for a witness to the people, a Leader and Commander of peoples.

The 7th Millennium is represented each week in the 7th Day of rest, the weekly Sabbath. The 7th Millennium begins at the end of this current 120th Jubilee cycle and by the time it starts King David will be raised from the dead and made alive once again and those of us who have survived the coming wars, captivities, enslavement, famines, and Great Tribulation, will be united with Judah under the rulership of King David. Both Houses of Israel and Judah will be ruled over by King David during the coming 7th Millennium.

But where is Jesus or Yehshua in all of this?

We have shared these verses with you before and we will repeat them now again. Most of you will say yes, we know this but….There is no but, it is just as it is written and you have been told something that is not true and believed it your whole life. So now let me quote from two articles I have recently posted. Do not stop reading this because it does not go with your theology. I am going to quote to you scriptures and I have to do this in order for you to understand the Feast of Sukkot and the Eighth Day.

From our article titled; I am YEHOVAH; and beside me there is no SAVIOR This is your Wake Up Call

Who is it that is going to come down from Heaven on Trumpet? Paul is telling you it is Yehovah Himself. Do you comprehend this?

Yehshua said;

Joh 14:8 Philip said to Him, Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us. 9 Jesus said to him, Have I been with you such a long time and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father. And how do you say, Show us the Father? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in Me? The Words that I speak to you I do not speak of Myself, but the Father who dwells in Me, He does the works.

Yehshua is telling Philip that He, Yehshua was also the Father. They are the same, not two and not three. But one and the same person.

“Behold, this is our God; We have waited for Him, and He will save us. This is Yehovah; We have waited for Him; We will be glad and rejoice in His salvation.” – Isaiah 25:9

The word for Salvation is;

H3444     ???????     yesh-oo’-aw
Feminine passive participle of H3467; something saved, that is, (abstractly) deliverance; hence aid, victory, prosperity: – deliverance, health, help (-ing), salvation, save, saving (health), welfare.

For I am Yehovah your God, The Holy One of Israel, your Savior… – Isaiah 43:3

“You are My witnesses,” says Yehovah, “And My servant whom I have chosen, That you may know and believe Me, And understand that I am He. Before Me there was no God formed, Nor shall there be after Me. I, even I, am Yehovah, And besides Me there is no Savior. – Isaiah 43:10-11

The word Savior here is

H3467     ????     yaw-shah’
A primitive root; properly to be open, wide or free, that is, (by implication) to be safe; causatively to free or succor: – X at all, avenging, defend, deliver (-er), help, preserve, rescue, be safe, bring (having) salvation, save (-iour), get victory.

Read these verses again. Besides Yehovah THERE IS NO SAVIOR. So who is Yehshua?

Thus says Yehovah: “…They will plead with you, saying: ‘Surely God is in you, and there is no other, no god besides Him.’” Truly, you are a God who hides Himself, O God of Israel, the Savior. All of them are put to shame and confounded; the makers of idols go in confusion together. But Israel is saved by Yehovah with everlasting salvation; you shall not be put to shame or confounded to all eternity. For thus says Yehovah, who created the heavens (he is God!), who formed the earth and made it (he established it; He did not create it empty, He formed it to be inhabited!): “I am Yehovah, and there is no other. I did not speak in secret, in a land of darkness; I did not say to the offspring of Jacob, ‘Seek me in vain.’ I Yehovah speak the truth; I declare what is right. “Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, you survivors of the nations! They have no knowledge who carry about their wooden idols, and keep on praying to a god that cannot save. Declare and present your case; let them take counsel together! Who told this long ago? Who declared it of old? Was it not I, Yehovah? And there is no other god besides Me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none besides Me. “Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other. By Myself I have sworn; from My mouth has gone out in righteousness a word that shall not return: ‘To Me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear allegiance.’ – Isaiah 45:14-23

“Yet I am Yehovah your God ever since the land of Egypt, And you shall know no God but Me; For there is no Savior besides Me.” – Hosea 13:4

To whom will you liken Me and make Me equal, and compare Me, that we may be alike? …for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me, …I bring near My righteousness; it is not far off, and My salvation will not delay; I will put salvation in Zion, for Israel My glory.” – Isaiah 46:5,9,13

For My own sake, for My own sake, I do it, for how should My Name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another. “Listen to Me, O Jacob, and Israel, whom I called! I am He; I am the first, and I am the last. – Isaiah 48:11-12

Rev 1:10 I came to be in the Spirit in the Lord’s day and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, 11 saying, I am the Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last. Also, What you see, write in a book and send it to the seven churches which are in Asia: to Ephesus, and to Smyrna, and to Pergamos, and to Thyatira, and to Sardis, and to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea. 12 And I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. 13 And having turned, I saw seven golden lampstands. And in the midst of the seven lampstands I saw One like the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the feet, and tied around the breast with a golden band. 14 His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow. And His eyes were like a flame of fire. 15 And His feet were like burnished brass having been fired in a furnace. And His voice was like the sound of many waters. 16 And He had seven stars in His right hand, and out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword. And His face was like the sun shining in its strength. 17 And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. And He laid His right hand upon me, saying to me, Do not fear, I am the First and the Last, 18 and the Living One, and I became dead, and behold, I am alive for ever and ever, Amen. And I have the keys of hell and of death.

It is Yehovah who is the FIRST AND THE LAST. Yehovah.

Rev 22:12 And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to each according as his work is. 13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the Ending, the First and the Last. 14 Blessed are they who do His commandments, that their authority will be over the Tree of Life, and they may enter in by the gates into the city.

Deu 6:4 Hear, O, Israel. Jehovah our God is one Jehovah.

People quote this and say this out loud and then in the same breath go on to say that Yehovah is a plurality of two or three gods or more. But this is not what scripture says. He is not two gods or a trinity. Yehovah is One and He is the one that we nailed to the tree because of our sins.

Joh 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through Him, and without Him not even one thing came into being that has come into being. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overtake it.

Joh 1:9 He was the true Light; He enlightens every man coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world came into being through Him, and the world did not know Him. 11 He came to His own, and His own received Him not. 12 But as many as received Him, He gave to them authority to become the children of God, to those who believe on His name, 13 who were born, not of bloods, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but were born of God. 14 And the Word became flesh, and tabernacled among us. And we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and of truth.

It was Yehovah who was that Word, He was that Torah and it was Yehovah who is the one and only God and it was Yehovah who became flesh.

It is Yehovah who is going to come on Trumpets.

Isa 12:2 Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; He also has become my salvation.

Yehovah my Salvation is Yehovah my Yehshua.

Yehshua means Yehovah is Salvation.

Mat 24:29 And immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun shall be darkened and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from the heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. 30 And then the sign of the Son of Man shall appear in the heavens. And then all the tribes of the earth shall mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of the heaven with power and great glory. 31 And He shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather His elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.

I am telling you that on this Feast of Trumpets in 2024 it is going to be Yehovah that is coming to shake the heavens.

We have a prophecy from Isaiah about this.

Isa 7:10 And Jehovah spoke again to Ahaz, saying, 11 Ask a sign of Jehovah your God; ask it either in the depth, or in the height above. 12 But Ahaz said, I will not ask, nor will I tempt Jehovah. 13 And He said, Hear now, O house of David; is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will you weary my God also? 14 So, the Lord Himself shall give you a sign. Behold, the virgin will conceive and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call His name Immanuel.

Mat 1:22 And all this hath come to pass, that it may be fulfilled that was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, 23 `Lo, the virgin shall conceive, and she shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel,’ which is, being interpreted `With us he is God.’

From our article just a few weeks:

• Newsletter 5850-033    The Meaning of The Eighth Day Feast-Part One-Wisdom & Righteousness,

ago I wrote the following.

Look again at what is going on here.

It is the last Great Day of Sukkot, the 7th day of the Feast, and Yehshua cries out;

let him come to Me and drink. 38  He who believes on Me, as the Scripture has said, “Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.

I looked for this scripture Yehshua is quoting but could only find these comments written by John Gills Exposition.

out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water,
though rather they belong to what follows; and do not design any particular place of Scripture; for no such one is to be found, where the following passage is expressed in so many words; but all those Scriptures which speak of grace, under the metaphors of water, and abundance of water, as rivers and floods of water, and of the effusion of the Holy Spirit, under such figurative expressions, such as (Isaiah 41:17 Isaiah 41:18 ) ( 43:20 ) ( 44:3 ) ( 58:11 ) ( Joel 2:28 ) . Hence the Syriac version reads in the plural number, “as the Scriptures hath said”; referring to more than one: “out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water”; the grace of the Spirit of God is signified by water, because it is of a cleansing and purifying nature, as faith and hope are, having to do with the blood of Christ, which cleanses from all sin; and because it fructifies and causes the saints, as trees of righteousness, to grow, and bring forth fruit;

Go back to the Isaiah scripture quoted above and read it again.

Isa 12:3  And with joy you shall draw water out of the wells of salvation.

That word Salvation is;

H3444     ???????     y^eshu??a?h     yesh-oo’-aw

Feminine passive participle of H3467; something saved, that is, (abstractly) deliverance; hence aid, victory, prosperity: – deliverance, health, help (-ing), salvation, save, saving (health), welfare.

H3467     ????     ya?sha?     yaw-shah’

A primitive root; properly to be open, wide or free, that is, (by implication) to be safe; causatively to free or succor: – X at all, avenging, defend, deliver (-er), help, preserve, rescue, be safe, bring (having) salvation, save (-iour), get victory.

Yehshua said to come to HIm to draw waters of salvation, to draw waters of Yehshua. This is so amazing but Isaiah is not yet done because in the previous verse he tells you or Yehovah tells you something else.

Isa 12:2  Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; He also has become my salvation.

Yehovah is Salvation and Yehovah is Yehshua.

Yehovah has become Salvation

Yehovah has become Yehshua

Yehovah became Yehshua and it was Yehovah who we killed on the tree that Passover day.

THE TEMPLE LIGHTING CEREMONY 

On the evening of the second day of the feast was the Temple Lighting Ceremony. This was a celebration known as Simchat Bet Hasho’ayva (“The rejoicing of the House of Water Drawing”). The people would crowd into the Court of Women; a barrier separating men from women being raised. In the center of the Court of Women stood four huge menorahs to light the courtyard. The wicks for these menorahs were old priest garments.

Members of the Sanhedrin performed torch dances while people watched and walked with their oil lamps.

Later in the evening the Levitical choir would assemble in the Court of Israelites and proceed through the Nicanor Gate. At the top of the stairs they would begin to sing the Psalms 120 to 134, one Psalm for each of the 15 stairs. The sound of music would then proceed from the trumpets, string instruments, harps and flutes as the Levites sang.

This celebration was repeated each night for the next six nights. This was done as a prelude to the Water Libation ceremony in the morning. The Talmud comments on the joy of this event by saying; “He that hath not beheld the joy of the drawing of the water [the Simchat Bet Hasho’ayva celebration] hath never seen joy in his life”. (Sukkah 5:1)

The lighting of the Temple reminded people of the day the “Glory of the Lord” entered the Temple and filled it with His glory.  This is the great meaning of the Eighth Day Feast. The fulfillment of this event will come to pass in the 8th Millennium. Read what Ezekiel has to day about this awesome event which this Eighth Day and its symbols leading up to it all represent.

Our next section is from;

Isaiah 44:6 “Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel, And his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts: ‘I am the First and I am the Last; Besides Me there is no God. (The Lord Yeshua is the Aleph and Tav ?? found within the Torah. It is His signature we know as “the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” Revelation 1:8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,” says the Lord, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

For example, the very first verse in the Bible in Genesis 1:1 this is mostly translated as:

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

בְּרֵאשִׁ֖ית בָּרָ֣א אֱלֹהִ֑ים אֵ֥ת הַשָּׁמַ֖יִם וְאֵ֥ת הָאָֽרֶץ׃ Genesis 1:1

Highlighted in the middle; when God was referred to, Elohim et, aleph tav (??)  was followed behind, and was untranslated. It cannot be easily translated because it is like having the letters A and Z combined in the middle of the sentence.

Lord Yeshua proclaimed in

Revelation 1:8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,” says the Lord, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” (The Aleph and Tav<אֵ֥ת)

Revelation 1:11 saying, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last,” and, “What you see, write in a book and send it to the seven churches which are in Asia: to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamos, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.” (The Aleph and Tav אֵ֥ת)

Revelation 21:6 He said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. (The Aleph and Tav??)

Revelation 22:13″I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.” (The Aleph and Tav ??)

Adonai Yeshua is the Aleph and Tav אֵ֥ת found within the Torah. By seeing the Aleph and the Tav we know that these are Yeshua words. Yeshua said in John 5:46 “For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me.(We see the Aleph and Tav אֵ֥ת also validating this as Yeshua’s words found within Torah)

Here is a very telling of the use of the Aleph and the Tav found in Deuteronomy 6:5. The Aleph and the Tav אֵ֥ת are pointing to YHWH Yahweh

???????????, ??? ?????? ?????????, ??????-???????? ???????-?????????, ???????-????????

Deuteronomy 6:5 And thou shalt love (??à) the LORD (YHWH)  thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might

Now here is the use of the Aleph and Tav אֵ֥ת that will blow you away from Zechariah 12:10

Zechariah 12:10 “And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon (אֵ֥תà) me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.”   Masoretic text Zechariah 12:10

י  וְשָׁפַכְתִּי עַל-בֵּית דָּוִיד וְעַל יוֹשֵׁב יְרוּשָׁלִַם, רוּחַ חֵן וְתַחֲנוּנִים, וְהִבִּיטוּ אֵלַי, אֵת אֲשֶׁר-דָּקָרוּ; וְסָפְדוּ עָלָיו, כְּמִסְפֵּד עַל-הַיָּחִיד, וְהָמֵר עָלָיו, כְּהָמֵר עַל-הַבְּכוֹר.

“and they shall look upon (see what the Aleph and Tav is pointing at אֵ֥תà) me whom they have pierced”

This is a picture of the Messiah of Israel who is pierced for our transgressions, the Aleph and the Tav points אֵ֥תà to the Messiah of Israel, Adonai Yeshua.

In Revelation we read Yeshua is calling Himself,

“the pierced one” and also the aleph and the tav. the alpha and omega.

Revelation 1:7 Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen.

Yeshua is the only prophet of God who claimed to be the Aleph and the Tav, the beginning and the end, the alpha and the omega.

Let’s now get back to the explanation of Sukkot and the 8th Day Feast.

Mat 25:5  While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. 6 And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom comes! Go out to meet him. 7 Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps.

The Royal Announcement that He has come comes in the Eighth Day Feast. The 8th millennium. The 10 Virgins had been at the wedding waiting for the Groom to come. They were all wearing the white Robes, but, but…… As we said at the beginning of this article, the 5 wise ones bought more oil for their lamps so theirs they would not go out. So that they would be ready no matter how long the Groom tarried.

Isa 54:5  For your Maker is your husband; Jehovah of Hosts is His name; and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel; the God of the whole earth shall He be called.

Yehovah is our husband. We agreed to the vows at Mount Sinai. Yehovah is also the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Now stop and ponder this. The Feast of Sukkot is also known as the Feast of Booths, because we are to dwell in temporary booths for 7 days. A “hoopa”, the white cover on the four poles also looks similar to the booths that are erected at this same time. That white cover is representative of the Shekinah that covered Israel in the wilderness and is also known today as our “tallet” under which men pray. And women.

Rev 21:9  And one of the seven angels who had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues came to me and talked with me, saying, Come here, I will show you the bride, the Lamb’s wife.

And I just got to share the rest of this chapter with you.

Rev 21:10  And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of Heaven from God, 11  having the glory of God. And its light was like a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal. 12  And it had a great and high wall, with twelve gates. And on the gates were twelve angels, and having names inscribed, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel: 13  From the east three gates, from the north three gates, from the south three gates, and from the west three gates. 14  And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. 15  And he who talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city and its gates and its wall. 16  And the city lies four-square, and the length is as large as the breadth. And he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand stadia. The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal. 17  And he measured its wall, a hundred and forty-four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of an angel. 18  And the foundation of its wall was jasper; and the city was pure gold, like clear glass. 19  And the foundations of the wall of the city had been adorned with every precious stone. The first foundation, jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, chalcedony; the fourth, emerald; 20  the fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, topaz; the tenth, chrysoprasus; the eleventh, hyacinth; the twelfth, amethyst. 21  And the twelve gates were twelve pearls. Respectively, each one of the gates was one pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold, as transparent glass. 22  And I saw no temple in it,

for the Lord God Almighty is its temple, even the Lamb.

23  And the city had no need of the sun, nor of the moon, that they might shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it, and its lamp is the Lamb. 24  And the nations of those who are saved will walk in the light of it; and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it. 25  And its gates may not be shut at all by day, for there shall be no night there. 26  And they shall bring the glory and honor of the nations into it. 27  And there shall in no way enter into it anything that defiles, or any making an abomination or a lie; but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.

The Bride is Israel and she has adorned herself splendidly for the wedding.

Rev 19:6  And I heard as the sound of a great multitude, and as the sound of many waters, and as the sound of strong thunders, saying, Hallelujah! For the Lord God omnipotent reigns! 7  Let us be glad and rejoice and we will give glory to Him. For the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has prepared herself. 8  And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white. For the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints. 9  And he said to me, Write, Blessed are those who have been called to the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he said to me, These are the true sayings of God.

Mat 22:10  So the servants went out into the highways and gathered together as many as they found, both bad and good. And the wedding was filled with reclining guests. 11 And the king coming in to look over the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment. 12 And he said to him, Friend, how did you come in here without having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. 13 Then the king said to the servants, Bind him hand and foot and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 14 For many are called, but few chosen.

You must put on the white robes of righteousness which are the commandments in order to be at this wedding.

Sukkot is a wedding preparation week. We are commanded to be Joyful. Remember that command we read at the beginning. This is why you are year rehearsing for the wedding at Sukkot each year and it is a great time of celebration.

Psa 5:11  But let all who put their trust in You rejoice; let them always shout for joy, because You defend them. And let those who love Your name be joyful in You. 12  For You; O Jehovah, will bless the righteous; with favor You will surround him as with a shield.

Psa 146:5  Blessed is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, whose help is in Jehovah his God,

Psa 144:15  Blessed are the peoples who are so; blessed are the peoples to whom Jehovah is their God.

The word blessed here is “Happy”. You are at a wedding and everyone is joyful.

BUT…. Sukkot is not the wedding. Well okay, towards the end of Sukkot it could be considered the wedding, but not quite. The actual wedding according to the plan of Yehovah is on the Eighth Day. The Eighth Day when Yehovah came down and dwelt in the Temple that Solomon built. The Eighth Day Feast which is the one Yehshua was keeping in John 10:22. The one He is the Light of, the one from whom the waters of Salvation flow from. Yehovah the Aleph and the Tav.

We have shown you repeatedly that Yehovah was Yehshua who was pierced for our sins. Yehovah is Salvation (Ye-Shua) and Yehovah is the Lamb. We showed you in our previous studies how Yehovah came into the Temple on the Feast of Dedication when Solomon dedicated the Temple at the end of Sukkot on the Eighth Day.

That signifies the Millennium that Yehovah is going to come for His Bride Israel. That is the 8th Millennium. Sukkot represents the first 7 millennium and we are about to begin the 7th one after 2045. After 3025 C.E. then the wedding can take place. That is when Yehovah comes and we have this 7th millennium to get ready with King David as our ruler during this time.

The Aleph Tav, Yehovah is going to come on the Eighth Day, the Eighth Millennium, it is at this time that the wedding takes place. Not during the 7 Days of Sukkot or the 7 Millennium leading up to the Eighth Day. Those 7 Days of Sukkot we are celebrating and partying because we are at the wedding and we are to be joyful. But the wedding takes place on the Eighth Day Feast.

As we go into next week’s study which will be our final study of the Eighth Day Feast, consider this fact. Yehovah had 5 wise virgins ready for the wedding and 5 that were not ready. Why is it not just one virgin?

3 1/2 Year Torah Reading

We continue this weekend with our regular Triennial Torah reading

Ex 22   Isaiah 28-29    Ps 136-138   John 10

Judgments Concerning Property and Immorality (Exodus 22)

In reading God’s righteous judgments, we can conclude that these are not old, worn-out, outdated directives that do not pertain to us today. Rather, these are laws that wisely regulate a civil nation, and we should be able to understand the common sense of their application. Some modern nations, to their credit, have followed many of the principles and guidelines of these judgments. These underlying principles-often referred to as Judeo-Christian ethics or morals-formed the basis of much of British and American common law over the last few centuries. Regrettably, however, most nations today are drifting away from this standard..

We see this in the casual attitude towards and practice of premarital sex, extra-marital sex and homosexuality, as well as other vile sexual practices-so much is “legal” that would have merited a death sentence under the administration God gave. In ancient Israel, witchcraft was also a capital crime. Yet today, Ouija boards, seances and delving into the occult are popular pastimes. Television is filled with infomercials inviting people to call and find out about their future from psychics, astrologers or Tarot card readers.

Prisons today are overcrowded and, far too often, only teach criminals to be more violent or how to more finely hone their skills. Yet if nations were to follow the laws of restitution, while there might still be a need for temporary incarceration-i.e., jail until trial if the offender might pose a threat to others-prison overcrowding and violence would not exist since there would be no prisons.

God’s people were to be a holy people. They were to represent God in their appearance and dress, in their speech and conduct, and even in the way that they killed, prepared and ate animals. God has not done away with these principles. Read these judgments carefully! Various prophecies we will cover later show that God’s holy and righteous laws will once again be in force after Yeshua returns and establishes His kingdom on earth. Then, all people will be given the opportunity to know, understand and live by those just and equitable laws.

Here a Little and There a Little; Covenant With Death (Isaiah 28) 

In the previous two chapters of Isaiah, he had focused on the wonderful future that awaits Israel and Judah. But now he returns to his dire theme of warning. In this chapter we have first a condemnation of Ephraim followed by one addressed to the “scornful men…in Jerusalem” (verse 14).

While this prophecy could have been given earlier, its position in the text would seem to date it to shortly before Sennacherib’s invasion of 701 B.C.—two decades after the deportation of Ephraim. So the warning to Ephraim, the chief of the northern ten tribes, was very likely a message intended for Israel of the last days. Indeed, the wording of verses 5-6 and particularly verse 22—”destruction determined even upon the whole earth”—makes that rather clear.

Verses 1-8 show that the people of Israel have become drunk. While this could denote a problem with actual alcoholic drunkenness, it is more likely meant to signify spiritual drunkenness, as in other scriptural passages. The people become practically intoxicated through false ideologies and their own stubbornness. In this state, they are incapable of understanding what God has to say to them—and thus are blind to His truth.

Verses 9-10 explain the way God reveals knowledge—and it is a major key to understanding the Bible. It is not merely as a babe drinking milk (compare Hebrews 5:13). Rather, we must work at studying the Bible. It is somewhat like assembling a jigsaw puzzle, with the message of truth scattered throughout its pages. We must search out all that the Bible has to say about a particular subject—bringing scattered information together—to understand God’s truth about that matter: “For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little and there a little” (Isaiah 28:10).

Some reject this concept by pointing to the context of the people’s blindness and drunkenness and the repetition of the above phrase in verse 13, where it is added, “…that they might go and fall backward, and be broken and snared and caught.” But that is actually consistent with interpreting verses 9-10 as relating the proper way to understand. In fact, it should help us to better grasp the point God is making. God has revealed His truth here a little and there a little for this very purpose—so that when those in the world, whose minds are willingly closed to His truth, attempt to comprehend it, they are unable. To them it seems one great mass of confusion—indeed it seems drunkenness when they themselves are the ones who are spiritually drunk. And they fall backwards over it, tripping and stumbling. But to those God has called to understand His purpose, it all comes together—and it all makes sense. For the same reason Yeshua spoke in parables—so the multitudes would not understand but His true followers would (Luke 8:10).

The context, then, is this. God has arranged His Word so that spiritually drunk people are unable to comprehend it. They trip and stumble over it as drunkards trip and stumble in general. They refuse to hear (Isaiah 28:12)—indeed, they refuse to hear and heed the way to understand given in verses 9-10—so they remain drunk. That was true in Isaiah’s time—and, sadly, it remains true today.

The mention of the foundation and cornerstone (verse 16), quoted by the apostles Peter and Paul as referring to Yeshua (Romans 9:33; Ephesians 2:20; 1 Peter 2:6), also reveals this prophecy to have a later application. Paul emphasized that “whoever believes” (Isaiah 28:16; Romans 10:11) was not restricted to the Jews—and explained this as opening the way for the gentiles to come to God. Moreover, Isaiah 28:11-12 is quoted by Paul in discussing the subject of speaking in tongues (1 Corinthians 14:21).

Isaiah mentions Jerusalem’s leaders making a “covenant with death” or “agreement with Sheol [the grave]” (Isaiah 28:14-15, 18). “The phrase simply means that the people of Israel [or Judah] thought they had an agreement worked out by which they could avoid death. But God will soon annul that and strike His people with judgment (28:28)” (Bible Reader’s Companion, note on verse 15). In Isaiah’s day, perhaps this applied to the nation’s agreement with Egypt or Babylon to defend against Assyria. Yet, because some of this passage apparently refers to the end time as we’ve seen, the covenant with death may as well. In that context, it could refer to an Israeli pact or treaty with Europe that may initially preserve the Jewish state—an agreement such as that made with Antiochus Epiphanes in the second century B.C. (see Daniel 11:23) and later with the Romans. None of these agreements has preserved the people of the Holy Land—and neither would any made in the end time.

Isaiah 28 contains some powerful imagery from Israel’s history in verse 21. The mention of God rising up as at Mount Perazim refers back to a battle David fought with the Philistines when they sought to get rid of him soon after he became king of the combined northern and southern tribes (compare 2 Samuel 5:17-20; 1 Chronicles 14:8-11). The “Valley of Gibeon” refers to the famous “Joshua’s long day” battle against the Amorites in defense of Gibeon, when God not only prevented the sun from setting, but also used hailstones to kill even more Amorites than the Israelites killed with the sword (compare Joshua 10:6-14).

What should be disconcerting to the Israelites is that in this prophecy God’s wrath is directed against them rather than against their enemies.

Finally, in the last few verses of Isaiah 28, God uses some harvesting analogies that contain both a warning and some encouragement. The farmer uses his judgment on how much the grain needs to be ground. God, the farmer, will continue to “grind” Israel through trials as long as He determines it is necessary. It’s not up to Israel, “the grain” in the analogies, to say when God should bring their trials to an end. But God adds two encouraging thoughts. He reminds Israel that He is aware of the fact that some types of grain need delicate threshing methods, lest the grain be ruined. To be sure, some of the trials He allows His people to endure are truly “gentle” by comparison to what they could be without His oversight. The other point is that, regardless of how much threshing needs to be done, it’s only part of the process. That is, Israel can count on the fact that at some point, “the grinding”—that is, the trials—will cease, and God will move on to the next part of His plan.

As David wrote in Psalm 103, “For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust” and “the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting” (verses 14, 17).

Message to Ariel (Isaiah 29) 

It is apparent that in spite of Hezekiah’s faithfulness, the nation as a whole has not made the turnaround God requires.

Jerusalem is referred to as “Ariel.” Some translate this name as “Lion of God”—the lion being the emblem of Judah and its kings. Others view the name as meaning “Altar Hearth”—seeing Jerusalem as the place of sacrifice and that Jerusalem I self will be made a sacrifice in its coming destruction. Yet Jerusalem was not destroyed in Isaiah’s day. The Assyrians laid siege to it, as described in verse 3, but they did not enter and destroy the city.

It is not clear whether verses 5-8 are referring to Jerusalem’s destruction by a great multitude of enemies or to the destruction of the enemies themselves. A seemingly parallel passage in Isaiah 17:12-14 would appear to argue for the latter. In the end time, Jerusalem will be initially invaded and trampled down by foreigners (Revelation 11:2). But, leaving the city at the very end to gather at Megiddo (16:16), these forces will return with others at Christ’s return to be wiped out (19:19-21; Joel 3:2, 12-14).

The first part of Isaiah 29:10 is used by Paul to describe how God has temporarily blinded the Israelites (compare Romans 11:8, Deuteronomy 29:4). Part of this blindness is accomplished, as the last part of Isaiah 29:10 explains, through the removal of righteous teachers. All that is left to the people then is God’s Word. And yet people won’t even seriously look at what the Bible has to say even when they are asked to. Isaiah 29:11-12 profoundly summarizes their two main excuses for not reading it. The “literate” (educated religious leaders) claim it is no use to try because parts of the Bible are mysteriously sealed from human understanding, and the “illiterate” (the common people) claim it is no use to try because understanding the Bible requires more education than they have.

Yeshua quoted verse 13 in chastising the Pharisees for their hypocrisy (Matthew 15:8-9; Mark 7:6-7). People’s religion can become hollow—appearing righteous to the outward observer but in reality substituting human tradition and reason for God’s actual instructions. They lack heartfelt desire to really to listen to what God has to say. And again, Paul chose verse 14 of Isaiah 29 to support his discussion about how the wise of this world do not understand the truth of God (1 Corinthians 1:19). It is thus a prophecy of how God would use His servants to demonstrate this fact.

One lesson we should draw from this passage in Isaiah 29—that is, verses 9-14—is the danger in people looking too much to the instruction they receive from their spiritual leaders and not ultimately to God and His Word. People can add their own ideas to God’s Word and His revealed way of worship. Even if a leader is righteous, people must be careful about placing too much trust in him. He is certainly not perfect. And if people are relying too much on human leaders to guide them, then God may see fit to remove that leadership as in verse 10 and leave them with blind guides instead. This is basically the way God worked with His people throughout the time of the judges and the Jewish monarchy. God would provide strong righteous leadership for a time—and then withdraw it—over and over and over again. In so doing, each generation was tested to see who was merely following men and who really followed the true God to the point of continuing to follow Him even when the righteous leadership was withdrawn and wicked influences prevailed.

Thankfully, Israel as a whole will at last come to know God’s truth and live by it. Verses 18 and 24 foretell the time when all people will have their spiritual eyes and ears (their minds) opened to read and understand God’s Word.

Thanks to God for His creation, deliverance and enduring loving mercy (Psalms 136) 

Psalm 136, a song of thanksgiving, is known in some traditions as the Great Hallel (or “Praise”) on its own, while others reckon the psalm as the last of the Great Hallel collection. Though the psalm is unattributed, its opening words and repeated refrain-“Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy [ hesed, loyal love or devotion] endures forever” (verse 1)-are known to have originally come from the song King David composed for the celebration of bringing the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem (see 1 Chronicles 16:34). The same words are also found at the beginning of Psalms 106 and 107 and at the beginning and end of Psalm 118.

The refrain-“For His mercy endures forever”-was sung by the Israelite congregation and the Levitical choir at the dedication of Solomon’s temple (2 Chronicles 7:3, 6) and later by King Jehoshaphat’s singers before Judah’s army (20:21). It seems likely that the accounts of these occasions are abbreviated, so that Psalm 136 may have been sung in these instances, as it appears to be written in the form of an antiphonal exchange-that is, back-and-forth, responsive singing-either between two choirs or between a choir and the congregation or as a litany between a worship leader and a choir or the congregation. In the latter case, the choir or congregation would sing the repeated refrain.

Note again the occurrence of the entire formula-both the call to thanks and the refrain-at the opening and closing of Psalm 118. This song, we may recall, concludes the Egyptian Hallel (113-118), so named for the customary use of this collection of psalms in the observance of Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread, celebrating Israel’s deliverance from Egypt . As it was likely seen as an amplification of Psalm 118’s opening and closing formula, Psalm 136 eventually also became part of the traditional Passover liturgy, being sung after the Egyptian Hallel. Furthermore, as The Nelson Study Bible says, “This psalm, known as the ‘Great Hallel,’ was often recited in the temple as the Passover lambs were being slain” (note on Psalm 136).

The link between Psalms 118 and 136 is paralleled by the link between Psalms 113 and 115 (two other Egyptian Hallel songs) and Psalm 135 (reckoned among the Great Hallel in some traditions). Recall, furthermore, that besides the Passover role, the Egyptian Hallel also played a major role in the liturgy of the Feast of Tabernacles-as did the Great Hallel, especially when reckoned as a collection beginning with the songs of ascents.

Psalm 136 opens with three calls to thanksgiving and closes with another (verses 1-3, 26). We should note that though this song is classed as or among the Great Hallel, the word hallel or “praise” is not found within it. Rather, the giving of thanks to God in song, publicly expressing gratitude to Him for His works, is itself an important form of praise. Note the following parallel. Psalm 136:1 begins, “Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good!” Similarly, the previous psalm states: “Praise the LORD [ Hallelujah ], for the LORD is good” (135:3). To praise is to speak well of, and Psalm 136 has much to say in praise of God-even though the word “praise” is not actually used.

Besides God’s goodness, the opening calls to thanks also acknowledge God’s supremacy, with the titles “God of gods” and “Lord of lords” (verses 2-3). The meaning of the latter terminology is easy to ascertain-that is, all who are “lords” (or masters, as this term designates) are ruled over by the supreme Sovereign Lord and Master, God. Yet many argue that the first title here is merely a figurative superlative, as a literal interpretation would seem to admit the existence of other gods (compare also 135:5; 138:1). It could, however, be taken literally to mean that God is the God over all who are called gods-including demons posing as pagan deities (compare Deuteronomy 32:17) and pagan rulers falsely claiming divinity. Moreover, God Himself elsewhere refers to human beings made in His image, who are supposed to rule for Him in the created realm, as gods (Psalm 82:1, 6). And in the eternal realm to come, those who are glorified will share in God’s divinity-yet He will forever still be their God, and above all.

The three opening calls to thanks are all followed by the powerful refrain, which is repeated in every line of the psalm for a total of 26 times-perhaps because 26 is “the numerical value of the divine name Yahweh (when the Hebrew letters were used as numbers)” ( Zondervan NIV Study Bible, note on Psalm 136). As noted above, the word in the refrain translated “mercy” in the KJV and NKJV is the Hebrew hesed, sometimes rendered “loyal love,” “steadfast love,” “covenant faithfulness,” “lovingkindness” or “graciousness.”

Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words has this to say: “The Septuagint [the ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible] nearly always renders hesed with eleos (‘mercy’), and that usage is reflected in the New Testament. Modern translations, in contrast, generally prefer renditions close to the word ‘grace’…. In general, one may identify three basic meanings of the word, which always interact: ‘strength,’ ‘steadfastness,’ and ‘love.’ Any understanding of the word that fails to suggest all three inevitably loses some of its richness. ‘Love’ by itself easily becomes sentimentalized or universalized apart from the covenant. Yet ‘strength’ or ‘steadfastness’ suggests only the fulfillment of a legal or other obligation. The word refers primarily to mutual and reciprocal rights and obligations between the parties of a relationship…. But hesed is not only a matter of obligation; it is also of generosity. It is not only a matter of loyalty, but also of mercy. The weaker party seeks the protection and blessing of the patron and protector, but he may not lay absolute claim to it. The stronger party remains committed to his promise, but retains his freedom, especially with regard to the manner in which he will implement those promises. Hesed implies personal involvement beyond the rule of law. Marital love is often related to hesed. Marriage is certainly a legal matter…. Yet the relationship, if sound, far transcends mere legalities…. Hence, ‘devotion’ is sometimes the single English word best capable of capturing the nuance of the original” (“Loving-kindness,” Old Testament Section).

Hesed is “the most significant term used in the Psalms to describe the character of God” ( Nelson Study Bible, note on verses 1-2). And since God’s character never changes, this awesome attribute of His character is, like Him, eternal-as the refrain repeatedly affirms.

As the refrain is given in response to every act of God recounted in the psalm, we are to understand that all His acts here-the “great wonders” exclusive to Him (verse 4)-are born out of this sublime character trait. God created the universe and the earth (verses 4-9) as a habitation for mankind-out of loving devotion for those He would yet create and bring into a relationship with Him. Out of His loyal love and mercy came His deliverance of His people Israel from Egypt and from enemies on the way to Canaan -so that they would receive the land He promised them as a heritage or inheritance (verses 10-22). And it is due to God’s unfailing love and grace that He continues to deliver-and that He provides sustenance to all (verses 23-25).

The structure of praising God for His works in creation and then for His works in delivering Israel in the Exodus and on the subsequent journey to the Promised Land is also found in the previous psalm (see 135:5-12). In fact, as was noted in the Bible Reading Program comments on that psalm, the wording of the latter aspect is very similar, providing evidence that one of these psalms influenced the composition of the other. “Slew mighty kings” (135:10) occurs in Psalm 136 as “slew famous kings” (verse 18). In both cases this is followed by mention of “Sihon king of the Amorites” and “Og king of Bashan” (135:11; 136:19-20), who were defeated by Israel (see Numbers 21:21-35; Deuteronomy 2:26-3:11) and whose land on the east side of the Jordan was taken over by the Israelite tribes of Reuben, Gad and half of Manasseh (see Numbers 32; Deuteronomy 3:12-22). It is likely that the “famous kings” of Psalm 136:18 is also intended to include the kings of Canaan on the west side of the Jordan (as in 135:11), so that “their lands as a heritage…to Israel” (136:21-22) would include the land of Canaan (compare 135:11-12).

Considering the focus of Psalm 136 on God’s loving acts of salvation, we should recall the psalm’s festival association-for God’s annual festivals outline His plan to redeem and save mankind. God’s deliverance of Israel is a central focus in this plan, for all people must become part of Israel in a spiritual sense to ultimately be saved.

The psalm ends in verse 26 as it began-with another call to thank God and a final resounding affirmation, through the refrain, of His eternal steadfast love.

Remembering Zion in exile (Psalms 137) 

Psalm 137 is a song of Zion expressing desire for God’s holy city while in exile in the land of Babylon . In that sense, it is reminiscent of the opening of the songs of ascents in Psalm 120, where the desire is to be delivered from a hostile foreign environment to travel to Jerusalem, as expressed in other songs of ascents, to be in fellowship with God. “Here [in Psalm 137] speaks the same deep love of Zion as that found in Ps 42-43; 46; 48; 84; 122; 126 [these latter two being songs of ascents]. The editors of the Psalter attached this song to the Great Hallel as a closing expression of supreme devotion to the city at the center of Israel ‘s worship of the Lord” ( Zondervan NIV Study Bible, note on Psalm 137). We earlier read this psalm in conjunction with the biblical narratives of the Babylonian Exile and prophecies delivered at that time. We now read it again in the context of the Psalter’s arrangement. The comments that follow are repeated from the earlier Bible Reading Program comments on this song.

Psalm 137, which is not attributed to a particular author, appears to have been composed during the Babylonian exile. Even if it was written afterward, it nonetheless sums up the feelings of many of the Jews in captivity. It is a deeply mournful song, full of longing for their homeland, where they had some semblance of contact with God through His holy city and temple. Now they are far away, adrift, without mooring. They could no longer sing the joyful songs of past days. They “hung up their harps” on the trees-that is, they put away their musical instruments.

The Babylonians, however, asked for some music. While they may have actually wanted to hear some rousing hymns from the famed Jerusalem temple, it is also possible that this was simply a taunt-as in, “Let’s hear some victory songs now…ha, ha.” Whatever the case, in reflecting on the psalms of past days, recalling the former glory of their nation, all the Jews could do was sit by the great rivers of Babylon and weep. “How shall we sing the LORD’s song in a foreign land?” they groaned (verse 4). How could they sing praises to God for His help and deliverance against enemies when their nation and temple lay in ruins and they themselves were captives? Would not this just be more reason for their captors to mock? And were they, unclean sinners banished from God’s land, even worthy to sing His songs?

In any case, the psalmist, speaking for the nation, resolves to keep Jerusalem in the forefront of his mind-to never forget and to never cease hoping for restoration. Were the harps retrieved from where they were hung to sing at least this particular song? There is, of course, no way to know. But the sentiment was surely widespread.

In thinking of what had befallen their homeland, the utter horror and misery of what had occurred, there was no way to avoid recalling those who had carried out the destruction-the Babylonians. Moreover, they were urged on by the longtime foe of God’s people, Edom. A special plea is made to God in verse 7 to keep in mind Edom’s cruel enmity. And a pronouncement is then made against the Babylonians-that God will bring back on their heads what they have done to the Jews. It may well be that when the Babylonians asked for a song of Zion from the exiles, this very one was composed in response. It would have served as a rather shocking rebuke against any mocking and ridicule.

Today many grimace at the ending of this psalm, wondering how it squares with God’s loving character. This is due to a misunderstanding of the wording here and of God’s plan in general. First of all, the “one” who is “happy” at destroying the Babylonians in verses 8-9 is not specifically declared to be God. It may simply mean the national power that would later overthrow Babylon -the Persian Empire . The verses would then seem to constitute a prophetic declaration rather than an appeal. In fact, it seems likely that there is even a dual prophetic application here-to ancient Babylon as well as its end-time counterpart, the phrase “daughter of Babylon ” perhaps hinting at this. Edom and Babylon will both play similar roles in the overthrow of Israel and Judah in the last days-and they will both suffer subsequent destruction themselves as repayment.

Of course, it is entirely possible that God is meant as the one repaying Babylon with destruction. If so, His being “happy” at doing so would not mean He sadistically relishes punishing human beings. The terminology in that case would have to be understood as His receiving “satisfaction” in a legal sense-that is, God’s righteous justice being satisfied through just recompense. Babylon’s “little ones” or “children,” who are to be dashed against the rock, would in this case most likely mean Babylon’s citizenry in general (the city or empire being portrayed as a woman, as already noted).

Moreover, being dashed against a rock is likely a figurative, rather than literal, expression denoting destruction. As the book Hard Sayings of the Bible notes on these verses: “One thing Babylon was devoid of was rocks or rocky cliffs against which anything could be dashed. In fact there were not any stones available for building, contrary to the rocky terrain of most of Palestine. All building had to depend on the production of sun-dried mud bricks and the use of bituminous pitch for mortar. Therefore when the psalmist speaks of ‘dashing…against the rocks,’ he is speaking figuratively and metaphorically” (Walter Kaiser Jr., Peter Davids, F.F. Bruce, Manfred Brauch, 1996, pp. 281-282).

Interestingly, “the verb [translated “dashes”] in its Greek form is found only in Psalm 137:9 (in the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew text) and in the lament of our Lord over Jerusalem in Luke 19:44″ (p. 281). In this verse Christ speaks to Jerusalem as if she is a mother, saying, “They [enemies] will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls.” Again, children appear to denote the citizenry in general.

Of course, infants would die too-in both Babylon and Jerusalem . Yet all, children as well as adults, will be raised in the second resurrection to be taught God’s ways and given the opportunity for lasting repentance, as explained in the Bible Reading Program comments on Ezekiel 37. Indeed, repentance and conformity with His will, resulting in great blessing, is what God desires-what makes Him truly happy. He assures us in other scriptures that He takes no pleasure in punishing people for sin, but that they would turn and live. This passage is no exception.

Praise to God for giving strength and revival (Psalms 138) 

Just before the final five praise hymns that close the book of Psalms (146-150), those responsible for its final compilation placed a collection of eight psalms attributed in their titles to King David (138-145). This serves to tie the whole Psalter together, as David composed most of its first two books. The final Davidic collection, as the Zondervan NIV Study Bible comments, “is framed by songs of praise (Ps 138; 145). The first of these extols the greatness of the Lord’s glory as displayed in his answering the prayer (‘call’) of the ‘lowly’ when suffering at the hands of the ‘proud.’ The last, employing a grand and intricately woven alphabetic acrostic design, extols the ‘glorious majesty’ of the Lord as displayed in his benevolent care over all his creatures-especially those who ‘call’ on him (look to him in every need). Within this frame have been placed six prayers-with certain interlocking themes” (note on Psalms 138-145)-the first (139) taking a stand against the wicked and the five others (140-144) seeking deliverance from wicked foes.

In Psalm 138 David wholeheartedly praises God for imbuing him with confidence that God will help him against threatening enemies. Given the prophecy of all kings of the earth coming to praise God (verse 4), the song clearly looks forward to the time of the setting up of God’s Kingdom with the future coming of the Messiah for ultimate fulfillment.

David says in verse 1 that He will sing praises to God “before the gods.” As in Psalm 135:5 and 136:2, the identity of the “gods” here could refer to foreign kings falsely claiming divinity or perhaps to human rulers who, as the offspring of the true God commissioned to represent Him in dominion, can bear this title in a sense (compare 82:1, 6). The reference could also be to demons, the powers behind the thrones of pagan nations who sometimes posed as the false gods these nations worshipped (compare Deuteronomy 32:17). Then again, as this song looks forward to the time of Christ’s reign over all nations, the term “gods” here may designate the resurrected saints of God who will reign with Him and share in His divine glory.

In Psalm 138:2 David says that He will worship toward God’s holy temple. He said the same thing in Psalm 5:7. While the Jerusalem temple was not built until after David’s death, this does not rule out David as the composer of these psalms. Some point out that the word for temple here was a general one that could refer to the tabernacle structure David built for the ark in Jerusalem. Moreover, it is possible that David was referring to God’s temple in heaven. We should also consider that David was looking forward to the time of God’s Kingdom, when a temple will evidently stand in Jerusalem, as seen in the concluding chapters of the book of Ezekiel. Another thought to bear in mind is that David may have composed these songs to be sung in temple worship after his death. Alternatively, it is possible that others edited them to fit later circumstances, though, as we’ve seen, there is no need to assume this.

David says He will praise God “for Your lovingkindness and Your truth” (138:2). The word lovingkindness is translated from the important Hebrew term hesed, which can also mean “mercy,” “grace,” “loyal love” or “devotion.” The word rendered “truth,” emet, besides defining reality as opposed to falsehood, is also understood to refer to the quality of being true to one’s word-faithfulness. These words for mercy and truth are often paired together. The NIV translates them as “love” and “faithfulness.” We also find this terminology in the New Testament as “grace and truth” (John 1:14).

Continuing from this description of God’s character, David further states, “For You have magnified Your word above all Your name” (Psalm 138:2, NKJV). Different versions give an alternate rendering, with translators unable to reconcile how God’s word could be above His name-signifying His identity and reputation. Following the Hebrew arrangement, the actual word order is “For You have magnified above all Your name Your word” (J.P. Green, The Interlinear Bible). The NIV renders it this way: “For you have exalted above all things your name and your word.” However, there is no “and” specified in the Hebrew here, though it could perhaps be interpolated. More importantly, the KJV and NKJV translation does make sense-and conveys a wonderful message. The meaning seems to be that God does not put who He is above what He has said. Rather, what He has said comes first. Consider that the Almighty Sovereign God could go back on every promise He has made and no one could do a thing about it. Yet God of His own will has set His word above all the prerogatives associated with His divine supremacy-that is, He has obligated Himself to abide by everything He has declared. This is truly awesome to ponder. It should lead us all to join with David in wholehearted worship and praise.

In verse 3, David recounts his own experience of God’s faithfulness in having his prayer answered. It is not clear if the day of David crying out refers to a particular instance or if he is describing a regular pattern. Whichever is intended, David is thankful for God intervening and strengthening his resolve and confidence.

As noted above, all kings of the earth coming to praise God and sing of His ways in verses 4-5 is a prophecy of the future messianic era. “David, as a king who believed in God, looked forward to a day when all the kings of the earth would share his experience” (Nelson Study Bible, note on verses 4-6). In the meantime, God, despite His high and lofty station, regards the lowly and humble in spirit-as the mighty of the earth today are typically arrogant and cut off from a relationship with Him (verse 6).

The mighty and proud evidently include David’s wrathful enemies, mentioned in verse 7. David here trusts in God to deliver him from them in terms reminiscent of the words he wrote in Psalm 23:3-4.

In verse 8, David says, “The LORD will perfect that which concerns me” (the italics here and in the following citations signifying interpolated text not in the original Hebrew). Essentially the same thing is written in Psalm 57:2, where David says that God “performs all things for me”-the word translated “performs” being the same Hebrew verb translated “perfect” in 138:8. It can also mean “complete” or “fulfill,” as in the NIV translation: “The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me.” David had faith that God would save him from his enemies in order to fulfill God’s reason for his existence. God would not let anything cut short the work He had begun in him-a tremendous promise that also applies to us (compare Philippians 1:6).

David ends with a declaration similar to the refrain of Psalm 136 and a closing plea, uttered in great confidence as we’ve seen, that God not abandon the work He was doing in him. As a final observation, it may be that the notation at the beginning of the superscription of Psalm 139, “For the Chief Musician,” is actually a postscript for Psalm 138.

John 10

Yeshua teaches a parable: He is the door. Anyone who enters into the sheepfold by any other way than through the door is a thief and a robber. His sheep hear His voice as He alone is the Good Shepherd. Whoever enters the fold/house through Him shall be saved.

In addition to thieves and robbers, there are hirelings who pretend to keep the sheep but do not care for the sheep. The hireling flees and leaves the sheep to the wolves when there is trouble. A Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep – just as Yeshua did. “And other sheep I have which are not of this fold – I have to bring them as well, and they shall hear My voice, and there shall be one flock, one shepherd.” He is speaking of scattered Israelites and their companions.

Our Father gave Yeshua all authority to lay down His own life and then take it up again. These words again caused division amongst the people and the Yehudim pressed Him to tell them plainly whether or not He is the Messiah. Yeshua responds that He has already told them – yet they do not believe. They do not believe because they are not of His sheep.