Going to the Courts of Heaven

(Job 23: 2-7; Esther 5; Zachariah 3)

“Divine justice is available to every believer”

The high priest, Joshua was found before the Lord in the courts of heaven with Satan standing at his right hand to be his adversary and to accuse him. Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, a representation of his sins. Satan well knew about Joshua and readily stood by his side to bring accusation against him. But the Lord rebuked Satan and forgave Joshua’s sins. He said, “Behold, I have caused your iniquity to pass from you, and I will clothe you with rich apparel. If you will walk in My ways and keep My charge, then also you shall rule My house and have charge of My courts and I will give you access [to My presence] and places to walk among these who stand here” (Zachariah 3). Satan had legal issues against the high priest Joshua, due to his life of sin. He never rests until he fulfills his evil desire to kill and destroy God’s people.  YAHSHUA said that the devil had come to kill and destroy, but He had come to give life abundantly. After forgiving Joshua, the Lord dressed Him in the robe of righteousness and warned him to walk in obedience in order to continue in his position of serving Him. The high priest was set free from the devil’s accusations after the Lord forgave him. This experience is not unique only to Joshua; through our life’s journey on earth we too have walked in disobedience to the Lord, causing an open door for Satan to have his way against us. But John, in his first epistle, assured us that if we confess our sins, God is faithful to forgive and purify us. And as He did for Joshua He will do for us too.

The Shekinah Glory

The Shekinah glory was visible in the Old Testament in the forms of light, fire, and cloud, or in a combination of all three. It is the manifestation of the presence of God. In the Garden, Adam and Eve experienced the Shekinah Glory at the time they heard God’s voice, as He walked in the cool of the day (Gen. 3:8a). The Shekinah Glory was visible to Moses in a flame of fire while he was shepherding the flock of his father-in-law. (Exodus 3:1-5). In his journey through the desert to the Promised Land, Moses spent eighty days and nights in the presence of God.  The Shekinah Glory led Israel through the desert to the Promised Land by a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night (Exodus 13:21-22).

The greatest manifestation of the Shekinah Glory was visible in Mount Sinai, when the Lord came down upon it on the third day: The third morning there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast, so that all the people in the camp trembled. When Moses brought the people from the camp to meet God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain, Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke, for the Lord descended upon it in fire; its smoke ascended like that of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly. As the trumpet blast grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and God answered him with a voice. The Lord came down upon Mount Sinai to the top of the mountain, and the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain and Moses went up (Exodus 19: 16-20). That was the time of the giving of the Ten Commandments.

The Coming Great Deception

Deception, according to Webster’s dictionary, is by design or illusion; implies the use of tricks in fraudulently deceiving others; it is deliberate deception in dishonesty, depriving a person of property, rights.

It all began in the Garden of Eden, when Satan deceived Eve. That was the first great deception, one that affected the eternal destiny of men. From the time that Eve believed the serpent and fell for it, the curse fell on all men. Satan gained an entrance to men’s mind and through it he led the human race into the practice of evil. That was the fall that brought endless consequential results. We were all born spiritually dead as a result. The fruit looked good to Eve, because she did not realize that the serpent’s purpose was to damage God’s reputation. It was a matter for Eve to discredit and doubt God’s word. Satan’s words were like slippery ground and Eve fell into it. Deception, deception, a thing that takes us under the wheels of a truck without us knowing it, until too late. It is the way to destruction. Satan, the father of lies and deception, continues pursuing the human race to their destruction. He is a thief, a liar, a deceiver. YAHSHUA said of him, The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (John 10:10). Deception shows one thing, but it is the opposite. The world is turning itself in many directions of deceptions right now. Many have lost their lives, for disapproving truth and embracing deception. Slowly, they slipped into their own destruction. Someone observed the fakeness we live in: “fake people, fake food, fake medicine, fake weather, fake news, fake History, fake pandemics, fake revolution and fake spirituality.” The purpose of the few is to destroy humanity through any means they can put their hands on. They sell a host of goodies under the pretension of a store with good prices, so to satisfy their evil agenda. For more details do a search with these key words Walmart, Evergreen, Getty Museum and FEMA. You will be shocked beyond belief.

YAHSHUA warned us in one of His sermons that false messiahs and false prophets will arise and show signs and miracles to deceive and lead astray, if possible, even the elect. But look to yourselves, He said, and be on your guard; I have told you everything beforehand (Mark 13:22-23). Test the spirits, to see whether they are from God, because many prophets have gone out into the world, says the Word of God in I John 4:1: Testing of spirits is by the knowledge of the Word of God. Anything that we hear or read that is not in line with the Word of God, should not be accepted as truth. The way one is guided into deceit is by ignorance of Scriptures. There will be a day when Satan, through the antichrist, will pervert and seduce with flatteries those who do not know the truth. His coming is through the activity and working of Satan and he will be attended by great power and with all sorts of miracles and signs and delusive marvels (II Thess. 2:9). The world will marvel at his deceptions and will fall into his trickeries. There will be many who profess to be Christians who will believe him. There are two kinds of Christians: the born-again Christian, who follows the Bible, and believes in eternal salvation through the sacrifice of YAHSHUA and do not worship idols; the Lord YAHSHUA is their leader; and there are those Christians who are called Catholics who believe salvation is through work; they believe also in the existence of  purgatory, which is the “condition, process, or place of purification or temporary punishment in which, according to medieval Christian and Roman Catholic belief, the souls of those who die in a state of grace are made ready for heaven.” The Pope is the head of the state and the Catholic Church. In fact, lately, in a very important ceremony lead by the Pope, the cantor led the congregation in prayer with words indicating the “imminent emergency of the near event coming to light of the antichrist.” He sang these words: “His flame Lucifer, dawning his own creation: man, I say, O Lucifer, who knows no setting. Christ your son who came back from the dead and shed his peaceful light to the human race, and is alive and reigns forever more.” And everyone said, Amen! This is pure deceit, one that will lead many to believe Satan to be the Messiah. This ceremony the Pope wanted the entire world to see. It was the announcement to the world concerning the son of perdition as the false messiah. It seems that the antichrist will be revealed to the world through the leadership of the Catholic Church. The resurrected son of perdition-Judas, will take his position as the antichrist under the leadership of Satan.

A Manger, a Crown of Thorns and a Cross

(Luke 2:7; Matt 27:29; John 19: 16-18)

But you, Bethlehem Ephratah, you are little to be among the clans of Judah; [yet] of you shall One come forth for Me Who is to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth have been from of old, from ancient days (Micah 5:2).

The Manger

Before his death, Jacob prophesied of the tribe of Judah: The scepter of leadership shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until Shiloh [the Messiah, the Peaceful One] comes to Whom it belongs, and to Him shall be the obedience of the people (Gen. 49:10). This prophecy was fulfilled many years later in the birth of our Savior, YAHSHUA.  In those days it occurred that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that the whole Roman empire should be registered; all the people were going to be registered, each to his own town; Joseph also went up from Galilee from the town of Nazareth to Judea, to the town of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David ( Luke 2:1-3). That happened close to the time for Mary’s delivery. And while they were there, the time came for her delivery, and she gave birth to her Son, her Firstborn; and she wrapped Him in swaddling clothes, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room or place for them in the inn (Luke 2:6-7). Was YAHSHUA laid in a manger where all kinds of animals were feeding as tradition tells us? In Micah 4:8  the idea is refuted, for the prophet gives us the exact location where Messiah was to be born and the type of manger He would be laid on: And you, O Tower of the Flock, the hill and stronghold of the Daughter of Zion, unto you the former dominion shall come, the kingdom of the Daughter of Jerusalem. Messiah was to be born at the “Tower of the Flock”. This was a watch tower used by the shepherds in ancient times for the protection of their flock from enemies and wild beasts. It was also the place where chosen ewes were brought to give birth to their young ones; after their babies were born, they were wrapped in swaddling clothes for their protection. These were special lambs, chosen for temple sacrifices. Only these lambs would be feeding in that place. It is without a doubt that God chose this place many years earlier for His Son to be born; a significant picture of what was to come in the person of His Son, the Lamb of God.

After His birth, the perfect Lamb of God was wrapped in swaddling clothes and was laid in a manger at the “Tower of the Flock.” John the Baptist declared:  There is the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world! (John 1:29).

The Magi, Who Were They?

(Genesis 25; Isaiah 60:6)

Arise and shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you (Isaiah 60:1). These prophetic words are in reference to the first coming of Israel’s Messiah- YAHSHUA. It is a calling to the nation to a bright future, the future when YAHSHUA– the Light of the world will tabernacle with them. “Arise and shine,” two key words that speak life and radiance, for the reason that the Light, Who is their Messiah, Redeemer and King was coming. The radiance of His Light will reflect His glory in His performance of miracles and healings. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great Light; those who dwelt in the land of intense darkness and the shadow of death, upon them has the Light shined (Isaiah 9:2). This prophecy was fulfilled in Matthew 4:15-16, which reads, The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, in the way to the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles the people who sat in darkness have seen a great Light and for those who sat in the land and shadow of death Light has dawned.  John 1:5,14 confirms the fact: And the Light has shined on in the darkness, for the darkness has never overpowered it; and the word became flesh and tabernacled among us; and we saw His glory, such glory as an only begotten son receives from his father, full of grace and truth. Connecting Isaiah’s prophecy to these two passages, we clearly understand that the Prophet Isaiah was referring to Israel’s Messiah YAHSHUA, the Light and the Hope of Israel.  The Prophet Isaiah also prophesied concerning the Magi who were to come to bring YAHSHUA gifts and who they were: A multitude of camels shall cover you [Jerusalem], the young camels of Midian and Ephah; all the men from Sheba shall come, bringing gold and frankincense and proclaiming the praises of the Lord (Isaiah 60:6). They were none other than the descendants from Abraham with Keturah, his other wife, after Sarah died. It reads, Abraham took another wife, and her name was Keturah. And she bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. Jokshan was the father of Sheba and Dedan were Asshurim, Letushim and Leummim. The sons of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Eldaah (Gen. 25:1-4). Three names stand out in Isaiah’s prophecy: Midian, his son Ephah and Sheba the son of Jokshan. Their descendants were those who about seven hundred and thirty years later, came to honor the King, YAHSHUA with very expensive gifts.