The Passover 2014

Today it's Pesach, the time when Yahshua's suffering is remembered.

Even to this very day I often find myself sometimes wondering: was it really necessary for Yahshua to suffer in this most horrible and painful way?

The Romans were brilliant in devising ways to make an execution as painful as possible.

Why did YHWH allow the horrible torture and humiliation they subjected His Son to?

Then I remember YHWH's nature, and I know that if there had been any other way, He would have chosen for that other way rather than having to endure the hour of Darkness and watch how Evil Shadows abused and tortured His own Son.

I guess at the time when this happened our Heavenly Father must have been in great pain because of His Son.

And yet, He knew He had to endure it if He wanted to accomplish the goal of liberating our Souls from the stronghold of Death.

Yahshua did not want to go through His ordeal, and He asked His Father if He would let that cup of torment pass Him by, IF possible.

Yet He also added that His Father's will be done, showing how much He loved and trusted His Father.

His Father did not force Yahshua to suffer 'for the sake of humanity'.

No, our Heavenly Father revealed to Yahshua that if He wanted to lead ALL the lost Souls back to Heaven that they might live eternally there was only one way ot make it possible.

Our Father gave Yahshua the choice to endure this suffering and humiliation, or to reject it.

Yahshua accepted it, even though His Soul was burdened greatly, and this is a great testimony of the kind and loving character of our King, and of His Father, our Father.

Sometimes from our perspective we fail to see the deeper reasons for the suffering and pain of the moment.

Yet I also know that issues which I failed to understand in the past began to look very different once YHWH showed me a new perspective of a deeper understanding.

I learned that although something might be difficult to accept and understand, with our Heavenly Father you can be sure that there are deeper reasons we fail to discern, and once we know those reasons and how everything fits together, suddenly that which perplexed us begins to make sense.

And I learned from this process where my Heavenly Father was instructing me that it is really all about trusting and loving Him.

Yahshua knew infinitely more than I do, and He fully trusted His Father, not wavering for so much as a second, although His Soul was vexed.

And I understand, even though Life may seem Dark at times, if we truly love our Father, then we trust Him completely, and like our King Yahshua we follow in His footsteps of love and trust, in spite of the Darkness pressing like a heavy weight upon our Soul.

And so our Heavenly Father had to let the hour of Darkness have its way with His Son, so that He might triumph and YHWH in Him.

I owe so much to that Man, because thanks to His willingness to endure and suffer I have found my freedom in Him, my way back to my Heavenly Father in spite of my Sins.

The Passover meal is always difficult for me, because I remember, and I suffer with Yahshua for what He had to endure.

Yet He willingly endured, for the sake of Israel.

Because of what He has done for me I am His forever, that is the choice I made, and that is the choice I work out in my life to the best of my ability.

Yet, Yahshua did not come to set the world free, He came to set Israel free.

Yahshua did not pray for this world, but He prayed for His own.

As I have written before, Israel is more than just a geographic tribe or collection of tribes sharing a common ancestor and cultural traditions.

Israel is the chamber YHWH created on the stage of Life where He isolates His own from the Shadow world around them.

Israel does not consist of just the circumcised sons of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Did not YHWH destroy both kingdoms of Israel due to their Sins, in spite of their heritage and their circumcision?

Their circumcision became uncircumcision due to their hardened hearts and their indifference and even hatred for YHWH, and their genetic heritage was deemed irrelevant when their hearts were darkened and began to hate the Light.

And in reverse, did not a non-Israelite, a Moabite, become the great-grandmother of king David because she loved and accepted YHWH?

Israel is YHWH's chamber for His own, and it consists of those who are descendents from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the Flesh as well as anyone who chooses for Him, because it is not the outward coat of Flesh which determines whether or not you are part of Israel, but what you are in your Soul and Spirit.

YHWH has connected His Name with Israel, and that is why the Adversary hates Israel and seeks to blot it out from the face of the Earth, both the nation and the people.

At the end of the age Yahshua will gather Israel from the ends of the Earth.

Many of them will be descendents from the tribes of Israel who have come to love Yahshua in their hearts, some of them are gathered because they love Yahshua and thus have become part of Israel.

Whether genetically a descendent or not, it does not make any difference, because the genetic descendents of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob have squandered their heritage and consequently have been banned from the land which YHWH promised to Abraham.

Both those who are genetic descendents from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as those who are not have been grafted in the Branch Yahshua, and it is through Him and Him only that we can belong to Israel.

So now that you are part of Israel, do you ever pray for the restoration of Israel and for YHWH's protection for Israel, both the people of Israel in the land and those in exile?

You realize that you who love Yahshua ARE Israel, and if you live outside of Israel you are an Israelite living outside the land of Israel, an Israelite in exile?

Do you pray for the forgiveness the Sin of rebellion of the people of Israel?

Praying for Israel implies that you actually pray for yourself and your family, praying for the restoration of Israel means you pray for the restoration of ALL things and the end of the oppression of the Shadows, praying for Israel means you pray for the forgiveness of the Sin of rebellion and that YHWH will remember how He has attached His Name to the fate of Israel (which includes you), and if not for our sake that He will act because of His Name.

We ARE Israel if we love our Heavenly Father and His precious Son Yahshua, the suffering Servant Who rules over us because He is our King, the Son of David and David's Master.

Pray that YHWH will act and restore Israel and usher in His Kingdom of Light, the eternal Spring of the Kingdom we eagerly desire to see with our eyes.

I have written on this blog about numbers and what they mean, and the role they play in realizing the concepts they embody.

The numbers which tell of Israel's restoration are also clearly visible in two related stories in the Bible, the stories describing how Yahshua fed the people with only a few loaves of bread and in one case two fish.

The first time (Mark 6.35-44) Yahshua fed 5000 people who were with Him by He breaking five loaves of bread and two fish, and he gave it to the people who were hungry for them.

Afterwards His disciples gathered twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of fish.

The second time (Mark 8.1-10) Yahshua fed 4000 people who were with Him, and He broke seven loaves of bread.

Afterwards His disciples gathered seven baskets full of broken pieces.

5000 = 5 x 10 x 10 x 10.

Five is the number of YHWH's mercy, and the three tens stand for obedience to YHWH and His instructions brought about by YHWH manifesting as our Father, our Savior and our Renewer.

When Yahshua broke the five loaves He distributed YHWH's mercy to those who were hungry for it.

This mercy was given to them by the One whose mission later was symbolized by the sign of the fish.

5000 people and five loaves of bread, plus two fish.

These stand for the two (2) houses of Israel receiving mercy (5) through the Messiah coming to redeem and restore the houses (two fish) of Israel (twelve baskets).

4000 = 4 x 10 x 10 x 10.

Four is the number of destruction, Death, exile, and the three tens in this context stand for the disobedience to YHWH and thus the denial of our Father, our Savior and our Renewer.

There were seven loaves of bread.

The seven stands for the completion of the exile and the broken existence of Israel in a Shadow world, and in the seventh day after the suffering under the rule of Shadows, the pieces (those who are part of Israel) will be gathered in Yahshua's basket.

Seven loaves of bread, later gathered as broken pieces in seven baskets.

Two sevens as a sign of the two houses of Israel, the dualistic division which has come to the end of its cycle.

One thing those pieces in the baskets have in common: before they are gathered, they will be broken.

But once broken they can enter Yahshua's basket and be fed with His kindness, His Goodness and His mercy, which is the kindness, Goodness and mercy of our Father YHWH.

Have a blessed Pesach, and remember what our King has done for us.

One came to steal, kill and destroy, pretending to serve us so that he might rule through deception and reduce us to slaves serving his kingdom, the Other came to give us eternal Life in abundance, becoming a suffering servant willing to endure contempt and humiliation for our sake, even though He really is King over all.

He served even to the point where He sacrificed Himself so that we could shed our shackles and be free.

One came to take, the other came to give, one came to bind, the other came to set free, one came proclaiming the Lie, the other brought us the Truth, one came to bring Darkness, the Other brought us Light.

One came to do Evil and be the embodiment of Evil, the Other came not just to do Good, but to be the ultimate embodiment of Good.

"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.

I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. 

I am the Good Shepherd.

The Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep."

"I am the Good Shepherd. 

I know My own and My own know Me, just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. 

And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. 

I must bring them also, and they will listen to My voice. 

So there will be one flock, one Shepherd. 

For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it up again. 

No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of my own accord.

I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. 

This charge I have received from My Father.”