Shelach L’chah Send for Yourself
B’midbar (Numbers) 13:1 – 15:41
Yehoshua (Joshua) 2:1-24
Ivriym (Hebrews) 3:7-19
Whose report do we believe today? Do we believe the mainstream media, rebels in town squares, preachers of replacement/dispensational theology, or even the voices of doubt among our mishpocha? Are the alarming reports out there leading us to believe that we’ll never make it out of here to the land that He promised His people? What about the predicament you may be in that seems so insurmountable and never-ending?
Or do we believe faith-building and encouraging reports of sent-ones like Kalev, (Caleb), who with a kol-lev, a whole heart, eagerly are trusting YHWH for taking the Land?
Are we believing reports for something way bigger than us, for more than what we’re capable of doing? Do we believe in a God Who works miracles and does the impossible?
With faith like that of Yehoshua/Joshua (which means YHWH saves) do we believe that Yeshua still saves, heals, and delivers His people? Do we praise Him when it’s hard to?
Good News! The One Who came to seek and to save the lost, going around doing good and healing all oppressed of the devil, is still in the saving business today! The Messiah still seeks to save the lost sheep of the house of Israel through those He sends out.
Yeshua Mashiyach, the same yesterday, today, and forever. Hebrews 13:8
Good Reports From the Land
Now for some good reports from the Land of Israel today – check out Chaim Malespin at aliyahreturncenter.com. He’s my favorite go-to brother for lively reports of faith and courage from the battlegrounds of the Land of Israel. Chaim is a Messianic IDF soldier with great courage, zeal, and faith that he backs up with the Word of Yah. If you ask him, he’ll send you 64 Scriptures that will build your faith for the regathering of the exiles. Chaim is the co-founder/Director of Operation of the Aliyah Return Center. He truly lives up to his Hebrew name ‘Chaim,’ meaning ‘life.’
Chaim is the co-founder/Director of Operation of the Aliyah Return Center. He truly lives up to his Hebrew name ‘Chaim,’ meaning ‘life.’
Other good reports come from the Waller family, who share their own inspiring story of going back to the Promised Land in the award-winning documentary – A Journey Home. The Waller family has a wonderful ministry bringing hundreds of volunteers into the Land from all over the world to help out farmers tending the vineyards. Remember the twelve spies brought back grapes from the land to prove it was good. Check out the ministries of HaYovel at serveisrael.com.
Another great source is our very own website manager, Laura Densmore, with Bridge Connector Ministries. Our sister does a super job with interviewing many folks associated with the people of the Land of Israel. She routinely posts at Israel Connect where believers are supporting and connecting with the people of the Land of Israel.
Joshua was from the tribe of Ephraim and Caleb from the tribe of Judah. These two tribes purposefully represent the two houses of Israel we have today. Today’s good reports were destined to come from a united voice out of both houses of Israel. True to the meanings of the names of Joshua and Caleb, today’s good reports speak to us wholeheartedly by faith that YHWH saves and delivers!
Like the apostles whom Yeshua sent to the lost sheep of Israel, there is a Joshua and Caleb generation of believers who are rising up today who do say: “I can do all things through the Messiah Who strengthens me.” “But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him Who loved us.” (Philippians 4:13; Romans 8:37)
The Mighty Minority Remnant
Yeah, sure these folks seem like such a small minority of the general population in Israel, what kind of influence do they have? But so were the two out of twelve spies when Joshua and Caleb faced rabble-rousers of doubt and unbelief back at the camp of Israel!
So were Gideon and his small band of three hundred (Judges 6). Hear what the angel said to His man Gideon: “YHWH is with you, O valiant warrior.” YHWH was commissioning him to fight the enemy Midian (strife), but Gideon said he was the least – that his “family is least in Manasseh and I am the youngest in my father’s house.”
But YHWH said to him, “Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat Midian as one man.” Judges 6:16 As one new man, not a huge army with great numbers, does YHWH send out His believing remnant to defeat adversaries who cause strife in the land.
Paul was commenting in part on this Torah portion when he wrote: What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? Romans 8:31
Only two of the spies from the twelve tribes fulfilled their commission to enter the Promised Land. The other ten blew the call on their lives to the utter demise of the first generation in the wilderness. A democratic, we-the-people government only works if the majority sides with the Creator. But did the purpose of YHWH fail because of the majority’s unbelief?
Faith In The Full Gospel Report:
Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of YHWH been revealed? Isaiah 53:1
But not all obeyed the Good News, for Isaiah says, “YHWH, who has believed our report?” Then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of YHWH. Romans 10:16-17
The Good News, the full Gospel, is not just that Yeshua forgives our sins and teaches us to keep His commandments, but that He promises to deliver His people out of Babylon, a type of Egypt. He is the Good Shepherd, Who will bring the lost sheep of the house of Israel all the way back to the Promised Land. The Almighty God will accomplish what He said He will do. Our Elohim says what He means and means what He says. Let’s take Him at His Word, believe what He’s promised, and expect Him to do what He said He’d do. Faith comes by hearing, believing, and obeying His Word. Shema Yisra’el!
The Messiah has yet to fulfill the mission that He was sent here to accomplish – nothing short of the full restoration of all twelve tribes of Israel back in their Land under one Torah, under one King – YHWH Eloheynu, YHWH Echad.
Do we really know what the full Gospel is and do we really believe it?
Like Joshua and Caleb, today’s believing remnant proclaims a faith-building, triumphant Word – the full Gospel of Messiah Yeshua, the Redeemer of Israel, our Good Shepherd!
And Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, of those who spied out the land, tore their garments.
And they spoke to all the congregation of the sons of Israel, saying, “The land into which we passed, to spy it out, is an exceedingly good land! If YHWH has delighted in us, then He will bring us into this land and will give it to us, a land which is flowing with milk and honey.
Only, do not rebel against YHWH! And you, do not fear the people of the land, for they are our bread; their defense has turned away from them; and YHWH is with us; do not be afraid of them.” Numbers 14:6-9
Sounds like a good news report to me!
The question is: do we believe the full Gospel that includes the return of the exiles of Israel and the Good Shepherd regathering His Sheep?
Do we truly believe that YHWH delights in us and wants His children to come back home?
A Remnant Shall Return
Only the remnant of Israel believes the full Gospel and will return home:
Yet it will come about in that day that the remnant of Israel – those of the house of Jacob who escaped – will never again depend on the one who struck them down but will depend upon YHWH, the Holy One of Israel, in Truth. A remnant will return, even the remnant of Jacob, to the Mighty Elohim. For though your people, O Israel, be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will return. Destruction has been decreed. Justice overflows. Isaiah 10:20-21
With a double emphasis, the Good Shepherd declared that His minority remnant will become a multitude ‘noisy with people’:
“I will surely gather Jacob – all of you! I will surely gather the remnant of Israel. I will put them together like sheep in a pen, like a flock within its pasture. They will be noisy with people.” Micah 2:12
Judgment Begins With the House of God
May faith for the return of the exiles of Israel, as YHWH regathers His people back in the Land, come by hearing the prophet declare, with a stern warning:
Ezekiel 20:33-35: “As I live,” declares Adonai YHWH, “surely with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm and with wrath poured out, I shall be King over you. I will bring you out from the peoples and gather you from the lands where you are scattered, with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm and with wrath poured out; and I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there I will enter into judgment with you face to face.”
When we read prophecies like this, it’s no wonder the second exodus will be greater than the first, but it will also come by judgment to the rebels among the children of Israel.
Ezekiel 20:36-38: “As I entered into judgment with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so I will enter into judgment with you,” declares Adonai YHWH. “I will make you pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant, and I will purge from you the rebels and those who transgress against Me; I will bring them out of the land where they sojourn, but they will not enter the land of Israel. Thus you will know that I Am YHWH.”
Here the prophet connects to our Torah portion when He judged unbelieving Israel for rebelling against the good report of Joshua and Caleb, but who instead went with the evil report. Many will leave Babylon, but they will not allow Babylon to leave their hearts. This purging will happen again. So then, whose report will you believe and submit to?
Greater is He!
Especially in our day, we need bold and courageous believers to declare faith in YHWH Tsava’ot, Who keeps His promises, overcomes today’s giants and Who is restoring the land to Israel (Isaiah 62:4). Who do we incline our ears to? Whose reports do we hear?
Will we believe that He is greater than the giants and the mighty ones of the people that we face day by day? When fierce persecution comes to our doorstep, will we still believe that greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world? 1 John 4:4
What then shall we say about these things? If Elohim is for us, who can be against us? He Who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how would He not also with Him freely give us all things? Romans 8:31-32
Sha’ul (Paul) declared to the believers in Rome that we are victorious in the Messiah by the power of the greatest thing in all of life – His mighty love:
Who shall separate us from the love of the Messiah? Could oppression, or anguish, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
Even as it is written, “For your sake, we are killed all day long. We were accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”
Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him Who loved us. Romans 8:35-38
What a powerful paradox – slaughtered conquerors! This profound paradox can only be spiritually appraised by the work of the cross, His love, and the resurrection of the Messiah.
The Torah’s Fifth Pillar of Wisdom, taught by the sages to be B’midbar (Numbers) 10:35-36, is a call for the return of the myriads of Israel in resurrection power. Resurrection life is indicated by the bracketed inverted nuns, which in paleo pictures supernatural life.
Praises and Prayers of the Remnant
Praise YHWH Tsava’ot of armies, Who knows no defeat! Praise is the language of faith, so let’s make the most of every opportunity to praise and worship our King!
Praise be to the Almighty, giant-slaying King, the Messiah Son of David, Who fights our battles and scatters our enemies! HalleluYah! The Lion of Judah knows no defeat!
We all need to repent for not believing the report of YHWH, submitting to the negative, evil reports of fearful losers, who talk about giants that seem to them to be so great and invincible. Each one of us, including me, has failed tests of faith, has been cowardly, and has feared man and institutions of men, rather than Elohim. Time for teshuvah!
By faith let us intercede for Jerusalem and pray for her peace. Pray for the cities of our exile, like Salem, or your home city. Pray for all twelve tribes on Messiah’s breastplate.
Let’s pray for a five-fold ministry that YHWH gives to us for the equipping and building up of the remnant of Israel. Pray that the sad divisions and vexations between Judah and Ephraim cease through the preaching and teaching of the full Gospel. Pray Israel’s dry bones come alive! Pray for a one-new-man, Joshua and Caleb company to arise.
From the Heart of the Father
Yesterday, I just ‘happened’ to come across a song that shares Abba’s heart on where our faith is when we face big challenges in our lives. A song by Brandon Lake captures the Father’s heart towards His children who face insurmountable challenges against all odds in life. Although I wouldn’t recommend his other productions, I believe he heard from Abba on this one. I believe He’s heard our Father telling His troubled children “Don’t you give up on Me!“
I believe Abba is saying to His people who are in dire straits today something like this:
“Don’t you ever give up on my faithful, never-ending love for you, for My love never fails!
With all My heart and soul I will regather My people. I will reveal My mighty right arm once again.
I will introduce Myself to those who do not know Me, yes, even to those who refuse to know Who I Am. The rebels won’t last long, I will purge them from your midst. I will make the nations know that I Am YHWH and that there is no other god besides Me.
Be patient, wait on Me, and trust My Word for what your eyes do not yet see. Surely My Word will come to pass. So declare My promises that I will accomplish what I have said and that I will complete My plan for the salvation of all of Israel.
Don’t you ever give up on your faith in Me! Hold on to My Word and be determined to never give up hope no matter how bad it gets in the world.
Get yourself ready, repent, and return to your first love, do your first works again. I’ll be back for you before you know it! Don’t grow weary in well doing, for in due time you will reap in abundance. Look up for your redemption draws near, I Am coming for you soon!
Don’t you ever give up on Me! You can trust Me with everything you have. You can trust Me with your very lives. You can trust me with your past, present, and future!
I do love you, and I delight in you!
Pictured above: A beautiful vineyard in the good Land of Israel
BaShem Yeshua, the Messiah, Savior of the world,
David Klug