Israel – Light from the Word

The Everlasting Covenant (part 1)

Covenant, in its secular demand, binds and establishes a relationship between two parties. However, God’s covenant establishes a relationship with men through his obedience. His covenant is not bilateral, but unilateral. For He is the One Who initiated, and He is the One Who determines the principles of it. Men are subjected to His commands in order to be recipients of the blessings He offers through His covenant. When God covenanted with Adam, He instructed him not to eat of the certain fruit from the garden. To maintain the relationship with God Adam had to obey God’s covenant’s instruction. When Adam failed what the covenant demanded, he died spiritually, as God told him he would. However, right then, God’s covenant went as far as to promise a Savior to restore the human race into covenant with Him through His Son. Speaking to Satan, He said, And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her Offspring; He will bruise and tread you under underfoot, and you will lie in wait and bruise His heel (Gen. 3: 15). God’s covenant was never annulled in spite of Adam’s disobedience, for He in His mercy, provided a way for the covenant relationship to exist between Him and men through the death of His Son.

God covenanted with Noah when He told Him to build an ark. He followed God’s orders and God promised him to establish His covenant (promise, pledge) of salvation with him when His wrath would pour over the entire earth. Noah and his family were delivered in the shelter of the ark God told him to make when he entered into the covenant relationship with God in obedience to the demand of the covenant (Gen. 6). God’s covenant with Abraham was a covenant of promise which was to continue through Abraham’s generation, that is, through his son Isaac, the son of the promise. For the covenant of promise to have affected, or to have bound to him, Abraham was to act in faith and in obedience. Abraham showed faithfulness to God’s covenant, when he satisfied the demand of the covenant in the sacrifice of his son, as he was told, believing that God would raise him from the dead, to fulfill His covenantal promise. Abraham found favor with God and the confirmation of the promise was then literate in God’s own words, I have sworn by Myself, that since you have done this and have not withheld or begrudged your son, your only son, in blessing I will bless you and in multiplying, I will multiply your descendants like the stars of the heavens and like the sand on the seashore. And your Seed YAHSHUA will possess the gate of His enemies. And in your Seed (YAHSHUA) shall all the nations of the earth be blessed and [by Him] bless themselves, because you have heard and obeyed My voice (Gen. 22). We are recipients of this blessing because Abraham obeyed the demands of God’s covenant. Abraham’s blessings have a prophetic perspective, embracing the entire world.

In Exodus 19 we see God covenanting with Israel, a nation which He created to covenant with Him and thus bless it. When Israel arrived at the wilderness of Sinai, God appeared to them. Moses, as their mediator, received the instructions before they were to appear before God. God, then covenanted with Israel by saying, You have seen what I did to the Egyptians and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself. Now, therefore, if you will obey My voice in truth and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own peculiar possession and treasure from among the above all peoples; for all the earth is Mine. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests, a holy nation. These are the words you shall speak to the Israelites. And all the people answered together, and said, All that the Lord has spoken we will do. And Moses reported the words of the people to the Lord (vs. 3-8). There, the Lord gave the nation of Israel the Ten Commandments- the written covenant. Israel came to a mountain that was ablaze with fire and to gloom and darkness and a raging storm, with a blast of a trumpet and a voice whose words make the listeners beg that nothing more be said to them for they could not bear the command that was given; if even a wild animal touches the mountain it shall be stoned to death. In fact, so awful and terrifying was the sight that Moses s aid, I am terrified (Heb. 12:19-21). That was Israel’s experience when God covenanted with them.

The covenant God made with King David is a covenant comprised of promises. He covenanted with David by saying, I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, to be prince over My people Israel. I was with you wherever you went, and have cut off all your enemies from before you; and I will make you a great name, like [that] of the great men of the earth. (II Sam. 7: 8-9). David’s subjected himself to the covenant saying, what more can David say to You? For You know Your servant, O Lord God. Because of Your promise and as Your own heart dictates, You have done all these astounding things to make Your servants know and understand. Therefore, You are great, O Lord God; for none is like You, nor is there any God besides You, according to all [You have made] our ears to hear… You have established for Yourself Your people Israel to be Your people forever, and You, Lord, became their God (II Sa. 7: 21-22,24).
Until YAHSHUA’S coming to earth, the nation of Israel was under the covenant of the law. But YAHSHUA came to fulfill it, since there was no one who could perfectly and accordingly to God’s demand, fulfill it. He came while the old covenant was in effect, and not only fulfilled the old covenant, but brought the new covenant with Him. This new covenant was predicted by Moses, Jeremiah, and Ez ekiel. (Deut. 29:4; Jer. 31:33; Ezekiel 36: 26-27). YAHSHUA was the mediator of the new covenant. His death carries the fulfillment and the basis of His promise. Before His death, He established the new covenant with those with Him and with those who would believe in Him: He took the cup after supper saying, This cup is the new testament or covenant [ratified] in My blood, which is shed for you (Luke 22:20). With His death, YAHSHUA made the first covenant obsolete. He did not abolish the law, but he fulfilled the law and taught us to observe the summary of the Law: love God with all our heart, soul and mind and love our neighbor as ourselves. That is the summary of the entire law because where there is love, there is no stealing, adultery, murder, coveting, etc. The old covenant was then replaced by the new: For if that first covenant had been without defect, there would have been no room for another one or an attempt to institute another one (Heb. 8:7).

YAHSHUA established the new covenant while He was shedding His blood when being beaten, when a crown of thorns was put on His head and when on the cross. As a Mediator, He connected us to God in the covenant of blood. His demands in His covenant are that we dwell in Him, bear fruit, abide in His love, keep His commandments, obey His instructions, and His principal commandment: love God, love one another, just as He loved us (John 15). The old covenant was written on a stone, but the new one was written in our hearts with the blood of YAHSHUA. The Prophet Jeremiah prophesized concerning this new covenant many years before the coming of YAHSHUA to establish it. Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. Not according to the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was their Husband, says the Lord. But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel: After those days, says the Lord, I will put My law within them and on their hearts will I write it; and I will be their God and they will be My people (Jer. 31:31-33).

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Opportunity Today, Gone Tomorrow

The uncertainties of life are measured by lost opportunities, in many cases. They come to us in ways we do not realize at first, until it is gone. “I wish I had known it” is the regret of many of us at the perception of the reality. Opportunities, present themselves as chances to perform a task at a good time with possibilities to advance to better things. It is life’s one time, not realized, chance. YAHSHUA, seeing the spiritual condition of Jerusalem wept over it exclaiming, Would that you had known personally, even at least in this your day, the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes, for a time is coming upon you when your enemies will throw up a bank about you and surround you and shut you in on every side, and they will dahs you down to the ground, your [Jerusalem] and your children within you; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not come progressively to recognize and know and understand the time of your visitation [that is, when God was visiting you, the time in which God showed Himself gracious toward you and offered you salvation through Christ] (Luke 19:42-44). Those days were the days when God was showing favor to the nation; they were days when the prophecy of Isaiah 61 was being fulfilled. That was the passage YAHSHUA read in the synagogue, when it was handed to Him the scroll of the book of Isaiah. He read verses 1 and 2: The Spirit of the Lord [is] upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the good news to the poor; He has sent Me to announce release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to send forth as delivered those who are oppressed, to proclaim the accepted and acceptable year of the Lord… And He began to speak to them: Today the Scripture has been fulfilled while you are present and hearing (Luke 4:17-19, 21). So great was the incredulity of the Jewish nation, that at the end of YAHSHUA’S teaching, they tried to kill Him by trying to hurl Him headlong down. Israel rejected YAHSHUA’S messages, they ignored the signs and wonders He performed among them; they handled Him to Rome to be crucified, at their request, even though, the death by crucifixion was not practiced by their Law. Isaiah’s prophecy Who has believed our message? was then fulfilled. At the ultimate opportunity presented to them to repent, they rejected and shouted, Away with Him! Crucify Him! Let His blood be on us and on our children! (Matt. 27:25b). Israel put themselves under condemnation of God’s judgment and suffered the consequences for having rejected His Son and ignored their opportunity to be saved.

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A Tree With Spiritual Meaning

Three important events happened in the life of YAHSHUA before His death: the triumphal entry, the cursing of the fig tree and the cleansing of the temple.

After His triumphal entry to Jerusalem, He and His disciples, on the following day, when they had come out of Bethany, He was hungry. And seeing in the distance a fig tree with leaves, He went to see if He could find any [fruit] on it [for in the fig tree the fruit appears at the same time as the leaves]. But when He came up to it, He found nothing but leaves, for the fig season had not yet come. He said to it, No one ever again shall eat fruit from you. When evening came on, He and His disciples, as accustomed, went out of the city. In the morning, when they were passing along, they noticed that the fig tree was withered away to its roots (Mark 11:12-14,19-20).

The fig tree is mentioned first in Genesis, when Adam and Eve used its leaves to cover their nakedness after they transgressed against God’s command. “They sewed fig leaves together and made themselves apron like girdles” (Gen. 3:7). The fig tree in this instance served as a temporary covering for our parents in the garden, until God provided them with long coats of skins and clothed them (Gen. 3:21). Fig trees were prominent in Palestine, where Israel was heading in their journey of forty years. Moses told them that the Lord God was bringing them into a good land…a land of wheat, barley, and vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive tree and honey (Deut. 8:7-8). Fig trees were a symbol of blessing. In the days of King Hezekiah when he rebelled against the King of Assyria, he responded to Hezekiah by trying to sway his army by offering vine and fig tree. The fig tree constitutes a symbol of peace. In Proverbs 27:18 Solomon compares the tending of a fig tree to looking after one’s master. In the Song of Solomon chapter 2:13 the fig tree is a sign of the times. The prophet Micah mentions the fig tree in the latter days as a symbol of peace and security. “But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree, and none shall make them afraid, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken” (Micah 4:4). In Jeremiah’s vision of baskets of figs- one good and the other very bad figs, the message here was of redemption and of judgment. Like these good figs so will I regard the captives of Judah whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans for their good, (says the Lord) For I will set My eyes upon them for good, and I will bring them again to this land; and I will build them up and not pull them down, and I will plant them and not pluck them up, and I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the Lord; and they will be My people, and I will be their God, for they will return to Me with their whole heart. And as for the bad figs… I will even give them up to be a dismay and a horror and to be tossed to and from among all the kingdoms of the earth for evil, to be a reproach, a byword or proverb, a taunt, and a curse in all places where I will drive them. And I will send the sword, famine and pestilence among them until they are consumed from off the land that I gave to them and to their fathers (Jer. 24:1-10). In the book of Joel, the fig tree is a sign of Israel’s restoration. The prophet encourages all to rejoice. He said, Be not afraid, you wild beasts of the field, for the pastures of the wilderness have sprung up and are green; the tree bears its fruit, and the fig tree and the vine yield their strength (Joel 2:21-15).

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All Is Well, There is Peace and Safety

(I Thessalonians 5)

Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians is one of the earliest of his writings. In this letter, Paul offers comfort in the midst of their persecution, by teaching concerning the return of Christ. The subject of the second coming of Christ permeates the letter, which brought encouragement for them all. Verse ten, we read, And look forward to and await the coming of His Son from heaven, Whom He raised from the dead- YAHSHUA, Who personally rescues and delivers us out of and from the wrath which is coming and draws us to Himself. The coming wrath of God, long time been taught, is certain as is the deliverance of His people from it. The world today, has turned toward its destruction in an unprecedented way and so fast, everyone is in awe! Peace, is the cry. The more it cries for peace, the more chaos is created, as to shape the world into one order, under the power of a few, and ultimately, one leader. The world’s government’s sovereignty is now challenged, and pressured into doing what has been dictated. The news sounds the same everywhere. The world, as it is today, dresses alike, eats the same foods, and now it is working on one religion system. Unity, as in one order of government, and one religion, applied to the entire world, is their way to bring about “peace” through one man, the antichrist. That’s what they think and are working hard toward that goal to make it happen on their watch. The Bible says, When people are saying, all is well and secure and, There is peace and safety, then in a moment unforeseen destruction will come upon them as suddenly as labor pains come upon a woman with child; and they shall by no means escape, for there will be no escape (vs.3). In the words of YAHSHUA, But take heed to yourselves and be on your guard, lest your hearts be overburdened and depressed with the giddiness and headache and nausea of self-indulgence, drunkenness, and worldly worries and cares pertaining to this life and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap or a noose; for it will come upon all who live upon the face of the entire earth. Keep awake then and watch at all times, praying that you may have the full strength and ability and be accounted worthy to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand in the presence of the Son of Man (Luke 21:34-36).

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Purposes of the Tribulation

The purposes for the great tribulation are clearly stated in the book of Daniel chapter nine: to finish transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy place (vv. 24). Summarizing all, it is to make an end of wickedness and wicked ones. When YAHSHUA came in the period of the sixty-ninth weeks of the seventy weeks of years given to the Jewish nation, He took upon Himself the penalty of our sin and iniquity, He suffered the pain of the tribulation and of hell, so to deliver those who would accept Him. Those who believe in Him go through the process of regeneration, and sanctification and ultimately glorification through the new birth. As He told Nicodemus, “I assure you, most solemnly I tell you that unless a person is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God; unless a man is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. What is born of flesh is flesh; and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. God so greatly loved the world that He gave up His only begotten (unique) Son, so that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life; for God did not send the Son into the world in order to judge the world, but that the world might find salvation and be made safe and sound through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; but he who does not believe in Him is judged already, because he has not believed in and trusted in the name of the only begotten Son of God; The [basis of the] judgment lies in this: The Light has come into the world, and people have loved the darkness rather than and more than the Light, for their works were evil” (John 3:16-19).

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The Parable of the Fig Tree

(Matt. 24:32-35; Mark 13: 28-32; Luke 21: 29-33)

From the fig tree learn this lesson: as soon as its young shoots become soft and tender and it puts out its leaves, you know of a surety that summer is near. So also when you see these signs (24:1-31) all taken together coming to pass, you may know of surety that He is near, at the very doors. Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away till all these things taken together take place. Sky and earth will pass away, but My word will not pass away (Matt. 24:32-35).

This parable of the fig tree representing the reestablishment of the state of Israel in 1948 and the space of generation of forty years in its relationship has been miss- interpreted by many, with the belief that in that generation of forty years after the birth of Israel, the Second Coming can happen.

According to the book, In the footsteps of the Messiah by Dr. Arnold Fruchtenbaum, there are two errors in this belief: (1) the Bible does not limit the period of a generation to be forty years, for the term “generation” can be twenty, forty, seventy, eighty and one hundred years. The only place where the term generation is given a specific time is found in Genesis 15:13-16, which is one hundred years. It says: And [God] said to Abram, Know positively that your descendants will be strangers dwelling as temporary residents in a land that is not theirs, and they will be slaves there and will be afflicted and oppressed for 400 years. But I will bring judgment on that nation whom they will serve, and afterward they will come out with great possessions… and in the fourth generation they shall come back here again, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full and complete. “And in the fourth generation” of one hundreds Israel shall come back to their land.

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He Brings Her to the Banquet Table

(Song of Solomon 2)

The Song of Solomon is for most part misunderstood, because of lack of understanding of its meanings. The carnal and human mind in their interpretation misses the point and the context for what it was written. It is impossible to read this book and understand it outside its spiritual sphere. One cannot read it with a carnal mind as one reads any book. The author of the Song of Solomon’s book is the Creator of man and woman, the Designer and the establisher of marriage between the two. Song of Songs is a depiction of marriage as God intended for it to be; it is a love song. It exalts the virtue of love between a man and a woman- husband and his wife. It shows the intimacy between the two, their hard times and the ultimately victory in their union.

Chapter two expresses a beautiful dialog of love and caring between the two. The bridegroom, in his desire to have his bride with Him, invites her to come up. The place He invites her to is close to Him. He says, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away; For behold, the winter is past; the rain is over and gone; the flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing as come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land; the fig tree puts forth and ripens her green figs, and the vines are in blossom and give forth their fragrance. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away (2:10-13). It is the season when life is expressed everywhere in the spring of life. The season to celebrate. The horizon springs up with new colors of life. This is figurative of Christ’s and His bride’s relationship. Winter, a thing of the past in color of lifeless grey is no more. For it symbolizes hardships and trouble.. “Rise up My love” implies the rapture. His invitation comes with eternal blessings in His presence. It is the time for His bride to celebrate her redemption! A time to sing. The intimacy of His words compels His bride to respond in a loving way. “My Beloved is mine and I am His.” YAHSHUA, as the church bridegroom, finally takes complete possession of His bride, whom He has bought with His own blood, by calling her to her new home. As Paul mentioned, “And so always we shall be with the Lord!” In His priestly prayer our Lord YAHSHUA prayed, Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, in order that they may behold My glory, which You have given Me; You loved Me before the foundation of the world (John 17: 24).

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Israelites Left in the Desert

After the number of days in which you spied out the land, even forty days, for each day a year shall you bear and suffer for your iniquities, even for forty years, and you shall know My displeasure (Numbers 14:34).

When God called Israel out of the Egypt, He gave them instructions and guidance on how to ordain their lives in order to enter the Promised Land successfully. But Israel’s sin of unbelief and idolatry followed by the hardening of their hearts became a stumbling block on their way there. In their stubbornness, Israel closed the eyes of their hearts to the miraculous deeds performed on their behalf, as in the opening of the Red Sea to save them from the Egyptian’s army; how God had satisfied their hunger with heavenly manna; the visible presence of God in their midst in a pillar of fire by night to give them light on their journey and a cloud by day to protect them from the heat of the day. Nothing seemed to matter to them.

After having wandered for three days, they went through the wilderness of Shur, where there was no water. In panic, they murmured, complained and doubted and undermined the faithfulness of God. Yet, lovingly, God blessed them with twelve springs of water, one for each tribe, and seventy palm trees. God used the number seventy to form the nation of Israel; Jacob’s family consisted of seventy people when they left for Egypt. The number seventy is also connected with God’s punishment of Israel; so those seventy palm trees were speaking to them of future seventy years of captivity in Babylon. It is prophesized in the book of Daniel that seventy weeks of years (70×7) have been given to them to finish the transgression, to make an end of sins and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness and to seal up the vision and prophecy and to anoint the most Holy (Daniel 9:24). That was the frame of time that God gave Israel for forgiveness in the number 70×7= 490 years. There is one more week of years left for the completion of God’s plan in the life of Israel.

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When They Got Into the Boat

(Matthew 14)

The death of John the Baptist, lead YAHSHUA to withdraw to a solitary place by Himself. It was a time of reflection; a time alone with the Father, not because He did not know John’s future, but to consider His position in the world without his forerunner, who openly declared that him to be the Messiah. The timing for all to happen was perfect, as His ministry reached out with healings to all who needed them; not only physical healing, but also spiritual. It was a busy time for YAHSHUA and His disciples. The news about Him had reached far into Israel, as well into other countries at the time of John’s death. It was a solemn hour for Him, nevertheless, enough to want to spend a time alone. YAHSHUA must have spent the entire night praying, as it was His custom to do. The crowds came in the morning and stayed with Him all day until the day was over. He satisfied them all with healings and with food in a miraculous way. They counted about 5,000 men without the women and children. That was the perfect timing, indeed for Him to manifest Himself as the Messiah through the supernatural happenings that only He as the Son of God could do. When the crowds heard where He had gone, they followed Him on foot. That in itself confirmed the importance of His ministry. He looked at the crowds with His heart and He was full of compassion. He saw the matter of the hearts of those who were there anxiously waiting for their healing.

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In the Wilderness of Temptation

No nation has ever experienced the physical wilderness as the nation of Israel. Theirs were the trials, the thirst, the hunger for meat, for the onions and other things Egypt offered. To them were given forty years wandering through the desert for the purpose of being formed as a nation under God Himself. Many died; a large number of them; they did not make it through the wilderness to their destination, because they fell to temptation, while their hearts became hardened as they were tested. The signs and wonders they witnessed when God provided for their needs did not serve as a guide to exercise faith in Him. So their journey became a wilderness of temptation in every aspect: physical, emotional and spiritual. That constituted an open door to fail in every time a need arrived. Without waiting for God to provide for their needs, as He promised He was going to, they murmured and complained, even when manna- food from heaven was given them. They longed the world’s food instead. In Psalm 95 the Psalmist remembers those days with a warning: Harden not your hearts as at Meribah and Massah in the day of temptation in the wilderness, when your fathers tried My patience and tested Me proved Me and saw His work. Forty years long was I grieved and was disgusted with that generation, and I said, It is a people that do err in their hearts, and they do not approve, acknowledge or regard My ways. Therefore I swore in My wrath that they would not enter My rest (95: 8-11), and again in Hebrews 3: 7-11.

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