Many of us are intrigued about prophecy in these end times and want to learn more. Many of us have come to understand that the fall festivals of YHWH (Lev 23) are prophetic and they are rehearsals of the Messiah’s second coming.
We have found teachers to say that the festivals in the Law of Moses were done away with but then stumble upon those trying to understand true eschatology. Most of us have stepped over that, discovering amazing revelations by keeping the festivals of YHWH.
However, I hope that you can see that there’s another stumbling block that keeps even Hebrew Roots people from understanding true, Scriptural eschatology. It may be the identity and the role of the tribe of Judah in the end times.
Who Are Those People in the Land and Who Is Bringing Them There?
Who are those people across the pond in the land of Israel? What is their role in the Kingdom of YHWH? Are they fulfilling prophecies of the return of the exiles of Israel, or are they not? Are we seeing Moses’ prophecy of the exiles’ return being fulfilled today?
“So it shall be when all of these things have come upon you, the blessing and the curse which I have set before you, and you call them to mind in all nations where YHWH your God has banished you, and you return to YHWH your God and obey Him with all your heart and soul according to all that I command you today, you and your sons,
then YHWH your God will restore you from captivity, and have compassion on you, and will gather you again from all the peoples where YHWH your God has scattered you.
If your outcasts are at the ends of the earth, from there YHWH your God will gather you, and from there He will bring you back.
YHWH your God will bring you into the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it, and He will prosper you and multiply you more than your fathers.
Moreover, YHWH your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love YHWH your God with all your heart and with all your soul, so that you may live.” Deuteronomy 30:1-6
Who did Moses say changes hearts and is regathering the people who call themselves “Israel” back to the today? Who are the powers that be that bring them there? By what authority do they have to rule from Jerusalem? Do we stand with those people and support them – or do we condemn them and warn others against them?
Are they the rich and powerful men in the world who call themselves “Jews” who are bringing them in? Or is it the Elohim of Israel, the ultimate Authority, Who is orchestrating the regathering of His people back into the land as He promised Israel?
He will set up a banner for the nations And will assemble the outcasts of Israel, And gather together the dispersed of Judah, From the four corners of the earth. Isaiah 11:12 (NKJV)
Moses told the children of Israel that it would be YHWH your God, Who would show mercy on a people who would turn their hearts back to Him and keep His commandments. Abba says what He means and means what He says. His Word will not return to Him void, but it will accomplish that which He pleases, regardless of what men say (Isaiah 55:11).
One may argue that the people who occupy the land now have not turned their hearts to YHWH and do not fulfill this prophecy. They say they are all fake Jews, impostors, and who are evil people deceiving the world. If that’s all that is said about the Jews, it sounds like Lashon Hara to me. Who are we to judge the hearts of those who are in the land?
Do not speak against one another, brethren. He who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks against the law and judges the law; but if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge of it. There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who can save and to destroy; but who are you who judge your neighbor? James 4:11-12
Sure, the synagogue of satan is there. And evil Jews are right here in the good old USA also. Sure, some call themselves Jews, who are not Jews, just as they are right here in America. But to broadbrush all the Jews and say that they are all evil and reject Yeshua as the Messiah ignores the many testimonies and the flourishing Messianic congregations in the land, a small minority though they may be. Not everyone that Joshua brought into the Promised Land turned out to be righteous believers either.
Gideon’s army proves that YHWH does not need the majority to believe and obey Him as the Mighty Authority, YHWH Tsava’ot, the God of the armies of Israel. He has never needed big numbers to perform His will, defeat the enemies of Israel, and take the Land.
The documentary series ‘Against All Odds’ carefully, with validated witnesses, re-enacted the miraculous victories of modern-day Jews in the Land of Israel. Just the born-in-a-day existence and the survival of the tiny nation in the hostile Middle East and the revived Hebrew language prove to me that YHWH Elohim is fulfilling Moses’ prophecy in this Torah portion. Having worked for the Forest Service, I find it fascinating that Israel is the only nation to have gained trees, all other nations are losing them. How can anyone say that YHWH is not regathering and blessing the Jewish people there?
As far as the godless Jews in the land and those yet to return, YHWH will burn them out!
“It will come about in all the land,” Declares YHWH, “That two parts in it will be cut off and perish, but the third will be left in it. And I will bring the third part through the fire, refine them as silver is refined, and test them as gold is tested. They will call on My Name, and I will answer them; I will say, ‘They are My people,’ and they will say, ‘YHWH is my God.'” Zechariah 13:8-9
Let’s not fret over the evil people in the Land. Adonai YHWH will take care of that problem. They’re there only for a short time. Let’s focus on the righteous in the Land.
The Greater Exodus
To understand eschatology, we must understand a major theme throughout the Torah and the prophets – the regathering of the exiles of Israel.
The end-times exodus will be a greater one than the first exodus from Egypt:
Therefore, behold, the days are coming,” says YHWH, “that they shall no longer say, ‘As YHVH lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt,’ but, ‘As YHWH lives who brought up and led the descendants of the house of Israel from the north country and from all the countries where I had driven them.’ And they shall dwell in their own land.”
Jeremiah 23:7-8
Now who would return to the Land promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, if they believed only the evil reports and the lashon hara about the Jews across the pond that circulate these days? If they are all fake Jews and not of the tribe of Judah, would you do aliyah and return to the Promised Land in the greater exodus?
Today’s evil reports from the Land are that we should all fear the Jewish people as if they are the giants who trample down the inhabitants. But it’s the nations around them that want to trample all Jews under their feet and annihilate them – from the River to the Sea. Who are those giants up against the sons of David?
Babylon is going to fall, and the mother of harlots will be devoured by the Beast (Rev. 18). Her candle will be snuffed – the lights are going out. What will we all do on that day? Stay in a chaotic, lawless land of darkness and destruction? Or will we return to the Land of Israel, where a remnant of Jewish brethren are already there?
To avoid the restraints of the inevitable is to ignore the prophecies which give us a vision for escape – a way out of the coming judgments.
Without a prophetic vision, the people throw off all restraint; but he who keeps the Torah is happy. Proverbs 29:18
Nothing new under the sun, the greater exodus will be like the first. Severe judgments fell on Egypt, which persuaded and gave the children of Israel no choice but to leave. It will be like Egypt being utterly destroyed when the sons of Israel were liberated and left.
This Torah portion teaches us to choose life, not death. To stay in the womb of the western world of Egypt will become a tomb, where the people will perish.
The manchild must be born and issued out as prophesied in Revelation 12. We saw the great sign in the heavens 7 years ago on September 23, 2017. Jupiter had been in retrograde motion in the womb of the constellation Virgo for 9 months and was leaving the womb. Virgo had 3 planets adding to 9 stars in her crown making 12 stars. Hadn’t happened since the days of Adam and Eve. It was a prophetic sign of what was to come.
We were nurtured and grew here in the Western world for a while in our Goshen, but the day is coming when Yah will issue the decree for the exiles to return to the land of our inheritance.
Who Will Lead Us Back?
Who did the prophets say would lead the way back? That would be the same tribe that camped on the eastern side of the Tabernacle and led the tribes through the wilderness. They pulled stakes and led out first. It will be the same tribe that is listed first among the 144,000 that the Lamb will put the Name of His Father at Mount Zion (Rev 14:1).
Remember Judah approached (Vayigash) Joseph first in Egypt (Gen 44:17). He was the first to take a step towards reconciliation. If Judah, who is facing famine and death in the Land, draws near to us, will we reject him and send him away? Will he even want to come to us, if we speak nothing but dark and negative narratives against him?
But if Judah knows we love and accept him, we will eat with him at the table of grace. Brother Judah will again draw near to Brother Joseph for reconciliation as the Scriptures foretold. Will you and I embrace him with tears of joy and acceptance?
One may ask, but who do those people think they are, if there is ‘neither Jew nor Greek’?
For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord is Lord of all – richly generous to all who call on Him. For ‘Everyone who calls upon the Name of YHWH shall be saved.’ Romans 10:13
What is the context of this statement ‘no distinction between Jew and Greek’? Anyone identified by any race, ethnicity, culture, religion, or nationality can call on Adonai YHWH and be saved. He does not favor the Jews above the Greeks. He mercifully gives salvation freely to whosoever would call upon Him. That’s good news for all people!
But Paul was not teaching Romans that being born again erases the identity of a Jew. (For more of an exposition on this subject, see my blog titled ‘Our Transcendent Identity’)
Paul Found Not Guilty by the Jews in Rome
This week I found it fascinating that in Rome, Paul was tried before a Council of Jews on this very topic (Acts 28). Jewish authorities misunderstood his words and/or they twisted them around to trump up charges against him to execute him. However, Paul was found not guilty of doing anything against the Jews, or their traditions and customs.
After three days Paul called together those who were the leading men of the Jews, and when they came together, he began saying to them, “Brethren, though I had done nothing against our people or the customs of our fathers, yet I was delivered as a prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans. And when they had examined me, they were willing to release me because there was no ground for putting me to death. Acts 28:17-18
Have we done “nothing against our people or the customs of our fathers?”
Well, some say, Paul was so afraid of the Jews, that he didn’t dare say anything against them lest they murder him. If Paul wasn’t afraid of preaching the Gospel after numerous attempts at killing him, would he be afraid to speak against the Jews and their customs, if that’s what YHWH Elohim wanted him to do? Does Abba want you or me to do that?
When we read Paul’s writings, do we find him teaching doctrines against the Jewish people and their customs? Sure, he countered their false doctrines against the Gospel message, but he wasn’t coming against them as a people, nor against their customs. Like Adonai Yeshua, Paul still loved his brethren and wanted them saved, even though they had rejected him and tried killing him numerous times (Romans chap 10; 2 Cor 11).
‘Customs of our fathers’ means that the customs he was talking about were not created by a new Christian religion. Customs tracing back generations could also be understood as traditions of the Jews. If they could have found any evidence of Paul coming against the Jewish people and their customs, the Jewish authorities would have had him put to death. But Paul was found not guilty of the false accusations.
What are we doing to stop accusations and the lashon hara being spoken continually against the Jews and their customs in our communities? Or do we stand idly by and let anti-Jewish rhetoric burn like wildfire in our midst destroying any connections we may have with them? What is it doing to our prophetic vision of returning to the Land of Israel?
Because many Jews have not yet reached the goal of the Torah – the Messiah (Romans 10:4), should we be okay with talk that condemns the Jews and their customs? Paul was tried and proven not guilty on this account. When you and I stand before Adonai Yeshua on judgment day, I hope that we will be found upholding and loving our brother Judah.
The statement ‘no distinction between Jew and Greek’ was not part of anti-Jewish rhetoric. Paul wanted all his Jewish brethren to be saved. May we all adopt a compassionate heart for the Jews and all children of Israel scattered around the world.
Brethren, my heart’s desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation. Romans 10:1
Why do so many Jews not receive the Gospel message and the doctrines of believers in Jesus? Could it be that the Jews believe that we do things against their people and the customs of their fathers, as they thought Paul had done against them? Do non-Jewish believers expect them to be non-Jewish and to adopt customs not of their fathers?
Roman Iron and Jewish Steel Cannot Survive Together
This morning Abba revealed to me why Jews will not accept another identity and other customs. My truck’s distributor is not receiving power to distribute to the spark plugs. The engine is not the original. So I had to research exactly what new distributor I needed to purchase. I found out the gear on the distributor comes either as cast iron or steel. If I got the wrong gear, it would eat up the dissimilar material. Cast iron and steel do not survive together and will eventually destroy the engine. I found out from my engine’s identifying markings that it has steel cam rollers, requiring a steel drive gear on the distributor. So I purchased a drive gear made of the same metal as my engine’s cam.
The revelation is that to put in a cast iron drive gear is like the iron of Roman Christianity engaging the smooth steel cam rollers of the Jewish engine. Greco-Roman identity and customs would destroy the engine that drives the Jewish people to do what they are called to in their role in the Kingdom of YHWH Elohim.
For the most part, Messianic Jews kept their identity, the sayings of Elohim (Rom 3:2), and the customs of their fathers, were not in contradiction to the Word.
My prayer is that we all understand the lesson of Paul in Rome as recounted for us in Acts chapter 28. May we not try to distribute the fire of the Holy Spirit to Jewish pistons by changing their smooth drive gear with the cast iron of Rome. It would destroy them and they know it! Engage with the Jews as Jews, like we do the Joes as Joes. After all, Judah is the lead driver in the race back to the Land!
The Holy Spirit had fired up Paul’s knowledge and understanding of the Torah and the Messiah to turn the Western world upside down! Adonai Yeshua is converting more Jewish Sauls, to distribute His power again in the Land and throughout the world! All honor and glory be to Adonai Yeshua!
BaShem Melek Yeshua, In the Name of King Yeshua,
David Klug