2024 Commentary on the Prophets, Psalms and Proverbs

Isaiah 1, Isaiah 2, Isaiah 3, Isaiah 4

While Isaiah echoes Truth into the future with his work, meaning that we can see iterations of judgement and repentance throughout the ages that Isaiah's words foretell; this prophet, who was sawn in two literally by King Manasseh and mentioned in Hebrews 11 as one of the giants of the faith, has written specifically about the Last Days. In the fulness of meaning, the Last Days began at the time of Yeshua's first coming, and they will culminate at the time when Yeshua will return and set up His Millennial reign, when the Heavens and the Earth will be burned up with fire, as related in 2 Peter 3, and when the New Heaven and the New Earth will come into being forever more, replacing this fallen world. This is a coherent message that can be plainly seen when held up to the Whole Counsel of God, and I will attempt to explain a few things along the way. Importantly, these prophesies can be and have been grossly misinterpreted—specifically when parts of it are taken out of context and are used to advance incorrect, anti-Biblical, anti-semitic doctrine. The primary hermeneutic of interpreting Scripture is that it must align with the preponderance of God's Word or it must be thrown out as false prophesy. See Deuteronomy 13. Isaiah aligns.

In Chapter 1, Isaiah sets the stage for judgment; both the near-term judgment of the Babylonian captivity as well as the judgment that will come in the great Tribulation at the end of the age, and several tribulations in between. He likens the most holy Jerusalem to Sodom and Gomorrah, which is quite an indictment considering that he taught during the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah. What this tells us is that the Judean culture was declining even in the days of the good king Hezekiah, and Manasseh's rise to power was simply a culmination of this degradation reaching the top. Josiah's later recovery was a miracle, if not a mercy of God, perhaps to save some of the righteous who remained. But even righteous ones were later carried off to Babylon, and as I noted as we studied Kings, the Beast will indeed be given authority to overcome the saints in the very last days, and many will be enslaved and beheaded, dying in the faith, or they will become apostate to save their own skin and will face the final condemnation from our God. We are in testing grounds, and in all things we must realize that the LORD desires to test us, to see if we will keep His commandments or not, because this is how He knows that we love Him.

Let's start with a mischaracterization. Many think that God is dismissing the holy days, the sabbaths and the new moons, when the prophet relays the Word: "YOUR New Moons, and YOUR appointed feasts My soul hates; they are a trouble to Me." But to believe the LORD suddenly wants His people to stop keeping HIS appointed feasts we would also have to acknowledge that the prophet is denouncing prayer and worship, when God says: "When you spread out your hands, I will hide My eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not hear." Additionally, in Isaiah 56 and 58, among other places—but these are key—the same prophet writes noting that even the foreigner who joins himself to the LORD (Gentiles who believe in Jesus) ought to keep His Sabbaths. It's either inconsistent, or the people who use Isaiah 1 to deny the Sabbath and Festivals are doing so disingenuously, and clearly I believe the latter. The LORD says, "I cannot bear iniquity and the SACRED meeting" and He also says "Your hands are full of blood." Thus, God's point given to the prophet is that we cannot go to His feasts, His Sabbaths and nor can we pray to Him or worship Him before we confess our sins and repent. But once we do, we ought to do all of these things.

Furthermore, as Chapter 1 continues, we can see the prophesy of the LORD's grace, and it is wonderful to see His Word who became flesh when we read: "'Come now, and let us reason together,' says the LORD. 'Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow....'" Even here, we see the free-will choice we MUST make to be saved; namely, per Romans 10:9, we must confess that Yeshua is Yahweh and believe in our hearts that He is risen, and while God's Holy Spirit comes to help us make this confession and establish this faith, it is still up to us to make that conscious choice. We must reason with the LORD. But as the text continues, we also see that grace is not the end of our faith, but the beginning. He continues: "If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword." He concludes: "I will rid Myself of My adversaries, and take vengeance on My enemies. I will turn My hand against you and throughly purge away your dross."

The lawless ones who deny God's commandments will not make it, for "the destruction of transgressors and of sinners shall be together, and those who forsake the LORD shall be consumed." However, the LORD will restore judges and counselors who restore the righteousness of God's law of liberty, and Zion will be filled with those who are penitent and righteous.

In the New Heaven and New Earth, after the tribulation of those days, the Mountain of the LORD shall be established on the Earth, and all nations will flow toward it. Indeed, everyone who calls upon the name of the LORD and shows their love for Him by keeping His commandments will worship Him before His holy mountain. From His mountain, His Torah will go forth and instruct all who live. We will live by it forever and ever, and it will be a delight. No longer will any rebel against it. We will be there, "if we delight in the light of the LORD and the glory of His majesty," when we humble ourselves and repent, when we understand that salvation does not come from Man but comes alone from the LORD.

Chapter 3 continues to discuss the judgments that will come upon a rebellious people, while salvation will come for the humble and contrite. Chapter 4 begins with a beautiful metaphor that is fully explained in Revelation 2 and 3. You see, "seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, "We will eat our own food and wear our own apparel, only let us be called by your name to take away our reproach." These seven women are the complete body of Messiah, the seven congregations that make up the whole, and the one man is Yeshua Himself. Consider Paul's writing in 1 Timothy 6:6-8: "But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that." Yes, indeed, the one who follows Messiah is content with food to eat and clothing to wear, with godliness and contentment, we need nothing else in this life. This is the same Word from Proverbs 30:7-9: We request for falsehood and lies to be taken away from us, and neither poverty nor riches, for we must walk the narrow path of obedience in God's law and faith in the grace we have through Messiah. God desires obedience, not sacrifice, and He provides all that we need.

Isaiah 5, Isaiah 6, Isaiah 7, Isaiah 8

5: The LORD of Hosts is exalted through justice! God the Holy One is consecrated through righteousness, but woe to those who call evil good and good evil. Woe to those who begin by pulling at transgression as they are pulling on the thread of a garment, and in so doing so they drag sin along as if with a cart rope—the entire garment of righteousness is unraveled by those who refuse to obey God. How do people multiply sin, despite the grace that God gives them? God explains: "They say, 'We want God to speed up His work, to hurry it along, so we can see it! We want the Holy One of Israel's plan to come true right now, so we can be sure of it!'" Did not Peter say in 2 Peter 3 that scoffers would come in the Last Days, saying, "where is the sign of His coming?" Are these not the same ones who say, "Show us a sign"? They don't ask for a sign to heal the brokenhearted or open the eyes of the blind, but they seek a sign as a wicked generation caught up in willing sin because they are not strong enough to turn away from it by faith. God desires our faith first, and then our faithfulness. We praise His name and honor Him with our love through our willing acts of righteousness according to the law. We do this on account of His gift to us, because we desire to please Him, and when we do this He will give His Spirit to help us do His work.

6: Isaiah's vision of the throne is magnificent, for He saw the One who is Most Holy—More holy than the holiest holiness—and the whole Earth is full of His glory. He was undone. He spoke as Peter did when Yeshua filled His boat with fish, saying "Lord away from me, I am a sinful man." Here we read, "Woe to me! I am undone. I am a man of unclean lips living among people with unclean lips. Only the LORD can choose to cleanse us, but He will exalt those who humble themselves, and humble those who are exalted. Once we are cleansed by the blood of the Lamb, by the coal from the altar of God's great throne, we can say, "here I am, send me." It is when we humble ourselves with confession and contrition that the LORD can use us. He calls us to explain to the masses: "You hear, but you don't understand! You see, but you don't get the point!" We have to seek the LORD while He can be found and forsake our former ways, lest He grow angry before we do.

To ask for a sign is to test the LORD, Isaiah explains in Chapter 7. We ought not test the LORD, but rather remain faithful to the One who is faithful to us. He did indeed send His Son through a virgin; yes, God came to dwell with us.

Those who stand against Israel will be destroyed, ultimately, even if God uses them to judge His people. This is something we must remember. Isaiah explained:  :Listen, all of you from distant lands: arm yourselves, but you will be shattered; yes, arm yourselves, but you will be shattered; devise a plan, but it will come to nothing; say anything you like, but it won’t happen; because God is with us." We must stand with God's people, lest we ourselves fall. Isaiah continues, "Don’t fear what they fear or be awestruck by it; but Adonai-Tzva’ot — consecrate him! Let him be the object of your fear and awe! He is there to be a sanctuary." Yeshua said in Matthew 10:28, "And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." Yes, consecrate the Most High with obedience, and seek the LORD while He can be found, our living God who is risen from the dead. As if Isaiah saw what would come of the Church, he warned: “Shouldn’t a people seek their God? Must the living ask the dead for teaching and instruction?” For they will indeed give you this unenlightened suggestion.” We must seek Yeshua first and keep the commandments of God, calling evil, evil, and good, good, lest we too fall into judgment. We cannot mix the holy with the profane.

Isaiah 9, Isaiah 10, Isaiah 11, Isaiah 12

Isaiah 9 foretells the first coming of Yeshua, where He would dwell in Galilee of the Goyim (the nations), in the land of Zebulun and Neftali. In Capernaum and the surrounding area, Yeshua changed the world forever; those who dwelt in darkness saw a great light. No longer would the people be under the yoke of the Rabbinical order or the yoke of the Levitical priesthood, nor would they take on a new yoke under a Pharisaical Christianity, perhaps best summarized by the Catechism, but now true believers would worship God who came in the flesh in Spirit and in Truth, for He is the Everlasting Father and Prince of Peace, the High Priest after the order of Melchizedek, and we who love Him will obey Him because of the perfect Way that He represents.

After the Son of God rose from the dead, the cities of Israel and Judah would fall a second time, Isaiah prophesied, but these unbelieving children said in their arrogance they would rebuild. They failed. The false messiah Bar Kopkha's revolt in AD 132 against Rome only lasted three years, and though they tried to rebuild the third temple, Jerusalem was annihilated, just as Yeshua prophesied in Matthew 24. It wasn't until these Last Days we're living in that Israel was reestablished in a day, just as God had said. Our Messiah builds the third temple each day when another soul calls upon His name, and in humility we can come before our God.

Indeed, the LORD has said: “Woe to those who enact unjust decrees and draft oppressive legislation to deprive the impoverished of justice and rob my people’s poor of their rights, looting widows and preying on orphans!" He speaks about the yoke of the religious leaders. To whom will these religious leaders flee for help when the LORD arrives the second time? When the Church or the Synagogue heap up these extra burdens that the LORD has not commanded, the LORD says WOE, Woe to them! Yeshua taught in Matthew 15: Obey the commandments of God, not the commandments of men. He said that those teaching man's law must repent, while those upholding God's law ought to endure until the End. Peter said: We must obey God and not man. What will happen to the men who uphold the commandments of men while rejecting God's; to those who hold up idols for worship instead of lead the people to worship the LORD alone? "So few forest trees will remain that a child could list them," the LORD said. "Destruction is decreed, overflowing with justice," He said. The remnant will not come from among the religious but from the faithful who rely on the LORD, the Holy One of Israel.  See Matthew 7:14; the way is narrow and difficult to life and few will find it.

The branch from the root of Jesse will judge by the Word of the LORD when He returns; the Torah will come out of His mouth to separate the wheat from the chaff, and the sheep from the goats. We see that Justice will be on His waist and faithfulness on His hips. Yes, and He even gave us His Spirit so we too can put on the full armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-18), for with this armor we too will stand against the darkness and bear the light of the LORD. All of the peoples of the Earth will come together to lie down in His pastures like clean animals, whether Jews or Greeks. And then our God will raise His hand a second time and He will reclaim all of His people from wherever they are in the whole Earth, alive or dead. He will hoist a banner for the Nations/Goyim, assemble the dispersed of Israel, gather the scattered of Judah from all over the Earth, and anyone who opposes Yeshua or His people will be cut off. In fact, Israel and Judah will be reunited as one on that day, and the Nations will be brought into Israel, pillaging the whole world of its treasures, and there will be a new  Exodus of God's people from out of the world into the Promised Land.

On this day, but not before, we will say "thank you LORD, because although you were angry at me, your anger is now turned away, and you are comforting me." Yes, God is our SALVATION—יְשׁוּעָתִ֛י—our Yeshua! When He brings us into His kingdom, there will be no more trial or tribulation, and we can be confident and unafraid, for the LORD will become our salvation. Recall that Paul said we are "being saved" (1 Corinth. 1:18) by the power of God, which is the message of the cross. While He conquered sin and death on the cross, He is still working "to put all enemies under His feet" (1 Corinthians 15:25). And so on that Last Day sin and death will come to an end, and the temptation to sin will be no more. His deeds will be known and exalted among ALL of the people; not just some. This prophesy is not yet fulfilled, for it will only come about when God raises His arm a second time. Yes, we are freed by His name to walk in the newness of life, but we have only received a downpayment of His Spirit. Paul explains in 2 Corinth. 1:22: "He has placed His seal on us, and put His Spirit in our hearts as a pledge of what is to come." Isaiah 12 explains what is to come, when sin will not be a possibility any longer, when we can rest forever with Him.

Isaiah 13, Isaiah 14, Isaiah 15, Isaiah 16

Isaiah's prophesies are not chronological in order, and nor are they chronological in the events they prophesy. With Isaiah 12 ending with a prophesy of the New Heaven and New Earth, Isaiah 13 turns back, but with a twist. The prophesy is near-term about Babylon's coming conquest of Judah, but it is also a prophetic nod to the Last Battle that the enemy will bring against God's Faithful. What's most interesting is how God uses an evil nation to destroy His own Nation Judah, because though God had made them clean by His grace, they fell into sin and lost their covering. As the prophet already noted, the remnant from among them that trusts in the LORD would be preserved through tribulation. Because the attacking Nation is so vile, so evil, and so full of idolatry, and because they didn't consider the consequences of attacking God's Holy Nation, of which He said, "those who bless you shall be blessed, and those who curse you shall be cursed," Babylon would also be destroyed completely. There will be no salvation for the nations that go against God's people. This is also true of the Whole World that goes up against God's people in the End. Following the wrath of Man, the wrath of God will destroy all who opposed God and His people.

Don't doubt this Truth, for the very first line of Isaiah 14 explains: “For the LORD will have compassion on Jacob—he will once again choose Isra’el and resettle them in their own land, where foreigners will join them, attaching themselves to the house of Jacob.” This is only accomplished through faith in Messiah Yeshua. The captors will become the captives, we read. Now, this can have both physical and spiritual meaning. You see, the leaders of Babylon, which was taken over by Media-Persia, eventually turned toward faith in the LORD (see the story of Esther, for example). There is also a spiritual captivity, wherein the evil spirits that drive people to sin are bound and not allowed to act when the Spirit of God is dwelling in His people, and through faith in Messiah Yeshua we can loose one person at a time from the slavery of sin and death that Satan binds them with. God desires all His people to be humble and contrite, to stand before Him in awe with praise and thanksgiving, obeying His commands, for this is what it means to love God, the greatest command. If we are not humble and contrite, He will see to it that life events lead us to that end, or to destruction, and the choice is up to us.

Next, the spiritual author of pride, sin and death needed to be brought low, but no redemption was offered to him. This interpretation is supported by this Word: “How did you come to fall from the heavens, morning star, son of the dawn? How did you come to be cut to the ground, conqueror of nations? You thought to yourself, ‘I will scale the heavens, I will raise my throne above God’s stars. I will sit on the Mount of Assembly far away in the north. I will rise past the tops of the clouds, I will make myself like the Most High.’ “Instead you are brought down to Sh’ol, to the uttermost depths of the pit. Those who see you will stare at you, reflecting on what has become of you: ‘Is this the man who shook the earth, who made kingdoms tremble...?" Satan desires to be worshipped, and when men turn their backs on God, he receives it. But God will not allow this condition to stand, for God is worthy of worship and praise. Yeshua saw Satan fall like lightning from Heaven upon His ascent to the throne, and from there the Devil was cast out to die like men—not to rise again. Though God's people would be humbled, Yeshua who rose would give them power to throw off Satan's bondage through faith so they could be raised also on the Last Day.

In Isaiah 15 and 16, the prophet turns to Moab as the grandnephew of Abraham, for this nation turned to foreign gods also and turned their hearts away from Yahweh. For this God would bring judgment upon them also, and not many will escape it. But lambs will enter the land, for Yeshua would come and give the Moabites counsel. The people who plead: "Don't betray our fugitives! Let our outcasts live with you!" Yes, these will stand before the throne of grace where the honest judge will sit seeking justice and pursuing righteousness in the hearts of all men. Those who are proud will be cut down low, they will grow weary of worshipping demons and their worship will amount to nothing. but those few and feeble who survive in humility will stand before King Yeshua. To stand before Yeshua is only something the humble and contrite can do; those who are righteous in heart and saved by His blood.

Isaiah 17, Isaiah 18, Isaiah 19, Isaiah 20, Isaiah 21

The LORD gave prophesies about the sundry nations around Israel. There is upheaval in the lands, as Assyria is waning and Babylon is ready to grow into a superpower that will overcome the whole region. The LORD is keeping Isaiah, His prophet, abreast of all these changes. Ultimately, the LORD shows that He will save a remnant among the nations, even Egypt, which is representative of the world. The LORD will save a people for Himself from all the world.

Isaiah 22, Isaiah 23, Isaiah 24, Isaiah 25

Today's reading can be summed up like this: The proud will be humbled and the humbled will be exalted. The LORD's judgement comes upon the whole Earth when there is iniquity; when God's commandments are ignored, or worse: when people rebel against them openly. What will we be doing when this judgment comes?

In Isaiah 22, the people are celebrating, killing oxen, slaughtering sheep, eating meat, drinking wine, saying: "Let's eat and drink now, because tomorrow we'll be dead." The LORD replied, "You will not atone for this iniquity until you die." This has multiple meanings: 1) We must live with humble and contrite hearts, knowing that we ought to die in our sins, but also knowing that the grace of Messiah Yeshua has saved us. In this we are debtors and must remain humble, not thinking we have earned our own atonement. 2) We ought to remember the God who created all things, and mourn when we see sin around us, teaching what is True without reservation; which is that we ought to confess our sins and repent, which means to turn toward the LORD and HIs way.

In Isaiah 23, we see: "The LORD of Hosts planned [the destruction of the coastlands] to break the pride of all the arrogant, to humiliate all those who are honored anywhere on the Earth." We can't be like the people of Tarshish, as we are in America, living in boisterous cities, with merchants who live like princes and traders honored throughout the earth.

When judgment comes, all will succumb to it, as we read in Isaiah 24: "Look! The LORD is stripping and destroying the land, turning it upside down and scattering its inhabitants—priest and commoner, slave and master, maid and mistress, buyer and seller, lender and borrower, creditor and debtor. The land will be completely stripped, completely plundered, for the LORD has spoken this word." Yes, believers and unbelievers alike will all fall into the judgment of God when the whole land is full of sin, but they won't all fall under His wrath. Even the "new wine fails" during this time, for when iniquity reigns, grace cannot save. But for those who sing out from the midst of tribulation, "Glory to the righteous One!," even though it will be as when beating an olive tree, or gleaning the grapes at the end of a harvest, they will be gathered together with Him, for His glory will be manifest to the rulers of His people! The LORD will punish the spiritual hosts that led the people astray, He will destroy the kings of the earth, and will assemble them like prisoners of a dungeon.

"Yahweh, Yeshua, You are my God. I exalt you! I praise your name!" He accomplishes marvels for us, ancient plans faithfully and truly. He is a refuge to the poor, to the needy, a shelter in the storm and shade from the heat. Yes, when the wrath of God falls upon the whole earth, we who trust in Him and obey His commands will be "hidden away in the secret place," as David wrote in Psalm 27. The feasting we should forsake in a time of mourning will be given to us, for the humble will be exalted. He will swallow up death. He will wipe every tear from our eyes. And we will finally say, "See! This is our God! We waited for Him to save us. This is Yeshua! We have put our hope in Him. We are full of joy, so glad He saved us!" And on the Mountain of God the hand of the LORD will rest, Yeshua the Messiah is His name. But those who rebelled and practiced sin or unbelief will be trampled into nothing.

"Therefore a curse consumes the earth;
    its people must bear their guilt.
Therefore earth’s inhabitants are burned up,
    and very few are left."  Isaiah 24:6

"These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands standing before the God of the earth. And if anyone wants to harm them, fire proceeds from their mouth and devours their enemies. And if anyone wants to harm them, he must be killed in this manner." (Revelation 2:4-5)

Remember, the two witnesses are the law and the prophets, and the fire proceeds from the mouth of God as He speaks His Word. In John 12, Yeshua said He did not come to judge but to save, but when He comes again, He said, to the ones who reject Him and don't receive His WORDS, these are the ones who have that which judges him— "the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day." (John 12:48). And so, it is the Law and the Prophets, as lived out and taught by Yeshua, that will burn up the adversaries (Psalm 97:3), for our God is a consuming fire (Hebrews 12:29).

The fire of God is His Word that will judge all who forsake it—all who turn their backs on it, and very few will be left. Who are they? "The saints endure by keeping the commandments of God and the faith in Yeshua." (Revelation 14:12)

Isaiah 26, Isaiah 27, Isaiah 28, Isaiah 29

“Trust in Adonai forever, because in Yah Adonai, is a Rock of Ages.” The way of the righteous is level; Righteous One, you smooth the path for the righteous. Following the way of your judgments, we put our hope in you. The desire of all our soul is to remember you and your name. My soul desires you at night, my spirit in me seeks you at dawn; for when your judgments are here on earth, the people in the world learn what righteousness is.”
Isaiah 26:4, 7-9 CJB

This passage is the Gospel. We ought to Trust in the LORD, for He is the rock, the foundation on which we build a stable life. Because we do this, we decide walk the narrow path of following His way on level ground, and Yeshua is the one with His Spirit who helps to make our path smooth. Despite tribulation, we can have peace and joy in Him. Because of this, we remember Yeshua—what He did for us—and we praise His name, and we seek a relationship with Him all the days of our lives. In this relationship, we grow in sanctification, learning further righteousness and doing it.

“The time is coming when Ya‘akov will take root; Isra’el will bud and flower, and fill the whole world with a harvest. [Adonai] will not strike Isra’el, as he did others who struck Isra’el; he will not kill them, as he did the others. ... On that day Adonai will beat out the grain between the Euphrates River and the Vadi of Egypt; and you will be gathered, one by one, people of Isra’el! On that day a great shofar will sound. Those lost in the land of Ashur will come, also those scattered through the land of Egypt; and they will worship Adonai on the holy mountain in Yerushalayim.”
Isaiah 27:6-8, 12-13 CJB

The children of Israel will be gathered together on the Last Day, on the day of the great Trumpet blast, when the dead will be raised incorruptible, and those alive will be caught up together with them, and we will all be with the LORD. Whether we are in Ashur of Israel or Egypt of the Gentiles, we will be gathered to worship the LORD on Mt. Zion when we trust in Him regardless of how difficult the tribulation is preceding this final day. The grain will be beaten out and then gathered for glory.

In Is. 28, the LORD rebukes the teachers who mix inebriation with their work, to cover their ignorance. They foolishly say: "precept by precept, line by line, a little here a little there." This is not wisdom, but death, for the LORD reveals Truth to those who trust in Him and follow His ways. He wants our whole heart, not some methodical half-heartedness that never arrives in true self-sacrifice. Life comes from the cornerstone in Zion, the LORD Yeshua, who makes justice and righteousness our standard. He cancels any agreements we have with death, and rather shows us the right way to live. Here, in parable form, our role as disciples who teach is not to keep tilling the same ground, looking through the Word to find unconnected mysteries, but to put the Word into practice. After the ground is prepared (meaning: the Word is read and understood), we have to plant it in the hearts of men, putting different seeds where they belong, for it takes discernment to know which Word to share with whom—and the Holy Spirit will guide. We then must harvest each fruit appropriately and prepare it for use, and each fruit must then be replanted so the ministry can multiply. We become disciple-making disciples, putting the Word of God into practice.

“Then Adonai said: “Because these people approach me with empty words, and the honor they bestow on me is mere lip-service; while in fact they have distanced their hearts from me, and their ‘fear of me’ is just a mitzvah of human origin—therefore, I will have to keep shocking these people with astounding and amazing things, until the ‘wisdom’ of their ‘wise ones’ vanishes, and the ‘discernment’ of their ‘discerning ones’ is hidden away.”
Isaiah 29:13-16 CJB

As this passage continues, the LORD rebukes those who try to hide their wicked ways from Him, for the LORD searches our hearts and knows all there is to know. So how then do so many think they can invent new commandments to follow while rejecting the commandments of God? How then do people say "Jesus, Jesus," but ignore what Jesus taught us and how He lived? Their words are empty, and they do injustice to their own souls. The LORD quoted this verse in Matthew 15 and Mark 7, and the message is clear: We ought to keep God's commandments and forsake the commandments of men. Even Peter said in Acts, "We ought to obey God rather than men."

Isaiah 30, Isaiah 31, Isaiah 32, Isaiah 33

How do so many go about not consulting our Creator who has made Himself available to us through His Spirit because of the blood He shed for us? How does one fall into rebellion? They refuse to hear the Torah and they tell those who teach it to stop, for they would rather live in the illusions of the world; that they can ignore and depart from God and still live. They don't want to hear from His Word. But in the midst of this insanity, God still cries out, "return!" He desires us to return to His ways and rest in Him, for we will be filled up if we simply wait on Him and His promises. His grace abounds for those who simply turn toward Him, listening for His Word that says, "This is the way, stay on it," and one day we will see our Teacher with our very own eyes.

Why would we return to men to help us or to the riches of this world to get us through our troubles when the LORD provides us with everything we need when we simply trust in Him? We ought to consult Him who Created us, for those of the world will stumble together, but the ones who return to Yeshua will rise up with Him.

He is the King who will reigned justly, now reigns justly and will forever reign justly. He provided living water, healed the blind, brought hearing to the deaf, brought understanding to the humble, but a stumbling block to the proud, and He raised up teachers of Truth from those who were not originally called to teach. All sin will be called out, and all of the righteous who follow Him will prosper. When He returns the deserts will be watered, for peace will flow like a river and the Jews and the Gentiles will be free to worship the LORD together.

Yes, Jerusalem will be a secure abode, and the LORD will dwell with us as our judge, lawgiver, king and savior, and in His righteousness we will have peace.

Isaiah 34, Isaiah 35, Isaiah 36, Isaiah 37

The LORD turned His back on the Nations at the Tower of Bavel and called out a special people to Himself; and He confirmed this very thing in Deuteronomy 32:8-9, but now in Isaiah 34 He explains how He is angry at every nation, including His people that He called out. All who rebel against the LORD and go after the world and what it produces will be judged and destroyed.

But to the fainthearted (the humble, the contrite in heart), the LORD said in Isaiah 35, "Be strong and unafraid." When Yeshua came He "did not come to bring unity but a dividing sword," (Mt. 10:34) to separate the sheep from the goats. He will save those who trust in Him. The blind saw, the deaf heard, the lame walked, the mute sang, springs burst forth in the desert, and the Way of Holiness emerged, which is this: Those saints who endure in keeping the commands of God and faith in Yeshua will be risen up on the last day; they will be "ransomed by the LORD," and upon His return, they "will come with singing to Zion, and on their heads will be everlasting joy."  

Isaiah 36 and 37 retells the story of 2 Kings 18. We know that Satan comes to tempt us like Rav-Shakeh, blaspheming God and telling us lies about Him, explaining the destruction we will experience if we don't surrender to him. God on the other hand offers us a covenant of reconciliation and peace if we simply believe and trust in Him and His wonderful ways, doing the things He has said are for our own good. In the face of the enemy, we must speak the Truth of God's Word to Him, as Isaiah instructed Hezekiah to do, and believe it. The LORD will vanquish His enemies, and those who trust in Him will be lifted up.

Isaiah 38, Isaiah 39, Isaiah 40, Isaiah 41

The interlude in Isaiah 36-39 detailing 2 Kings 18-19 is notable. The king was good, we've read; he trusted the LORD to defeat his enemies. His faith was fruitful. Yet, when God confronted Hezekiah with the prospect of an early death, the king clung to his worldly life. The LORD granted his desire, but I wonder why the king lacked faith enough to understand the resurrection? There's not even a hint of it in his prayer. He was bitter with the LORD for his prognosis, even expressing doubt that he would see the LORD in the land of the living (the Kingdom of God). He asked for the LORD to guarantee his life. Here we might wonder which life he referred to, but as his prayer continued it would seem he meant this one. He indicates: "the living, the living—they can thank you, as I do today." He wrote his intent to share his faith with his children, but his son Manasseh became the most wicked of any of Judah's kings. Was his testimony good? He showed off Judah's treasures to a pagan king, and the LORD proclaimed destruction on Judah as a result. Instead of mourn and repent, he thought this a good thing because he would experience 15 more years of peace. What is 15 years compared to eternity? I see faith lacking in the heart of this king.

Returning to prophesy in Isaiah 40, we see comfort in the Word of the LORD, which proclaims peace to those who trust in the LORD and keep His commandments. The arm of the LORD, Messiah Yeshua, will rule for Him. He will gently lead His sheep. But he reduces the proud to nothing, even princes of the earth who think they mean something more than others, he annihilates. The nations he casts down, even the mountains, and all who rebel against Him. Our God doesn't grow tired or weary, He consults no one for knowledge, but He also give strength to the weary and eternal insight to those who seek Him. This becomes an ever-increasing joy, for His understanding cannot be fathomed. He lifts up His people on eagle's wings, for He is our God. He elevates Israel His people, and brings them to Him from every hidden place in the Earth. Though we are but a worm to Him in comparison, He will help us when we trust in Him, and so we ought not fear death nor anything on Earth that might harm us, fro He will help us; He will redeem us.

Isaiah 42, Isaiah 43, Isaiah 44

There are several examples of Yahweh explaining today that He alone is God, and this must be present to verify that Yeshua is Yahweh, which is what we must confess to be saved, according to Romans 10:9:
- Isaiah: “I am the first, and I am the last; besides me there is no God. Who is like me? Let him speak out!" In Revelation 22:13, Yeshua said, "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.”
- Isaiah: " I foretold it, and you are my witnesses. Is there any God besides me? There is no other Rock — I know of none.” Matthew 16:16-18: "Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Yeshua answered and said to him, 'Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.... and on this ROCK I will build My church, and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it.'"
- Isaiah: "Here is what Yahweh says, your Redeemer, he who formed you in the womb: 'I am Yahweh, who makes all things, who stretched out the heavens all alone, who spread out the earth all by myself." In Matthew 20:28, Yeshua said He was our redeemer, something Paul also confirmed: "Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a RANSOM for many.” John 1:3 explains about the Word who became flesh: "All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made."

Yahweh explains: "Here is my servant, whom I support, my chosen one, in whom I take pleasure. I have put my Spirit on him; he will bring justice to the Goyim (Gentiles). ... He will bring forth justice according to truth; he will not weaken or be crushed until he has established justice on the earth, and the coastlands wait for his Torah.”

Yeshua became a light to the Gentiles, and in the desert where unclean animals gather, they now praise the LORD on account of Him. Though He died on the cross, death could not hold Him because He is the Almighty and nothing can quench the Light that predates creation; no act can possibly snuff out the life of Life itself. He came to teach Torah, how to live it out perfectly, and He asked us to follow Him in all of His ways. If we love Him, we ought to do this. He has come to save both Jews and Gentiles, for "all who call upon His name will be saved." Let those who know Him follow Him and never look back or to the left or the right. He is the Way, the Truth and the Life, and no one gets to the Father except through Him.

Isaiah 45, Isaiah 46, Isaiah 47

Isaiah 45-47 includes three points worth highlighting:
God called Cyrus, a Gentile king, to turn his heart to the LORD fully and embrace the God of Israel for the benefit of the Jews in exile, but also for Media-Persia. He did this many years before Cyrus was even born. He was called for this purpose, and those who bless Israel will be blessed. Cyrus did do great things for Israel and contributed to Jerusalem's reconstruction as well as the second temple's rebuilding. He did great things for Judah, but he refused to give up his idols. He would not walk away from them. He worshiped Yahweh, but then he also worshipped demon gods, and we cannot worship at God's table and also share our heart with demons. Cyrus lost an eternal opportunity to become a great king who worshipped God alone.

God identified Himself as unparalleled and unique; there is no other God before Him. He is the Most High. We see here text that confronts all people when paired with the words of Messiah Yeshua and His apostles that must be addressed. He said, "For I am God; there is no other. In the name of myself I have sworn, from my mouth has rightly gone out, a word that will not return — that to me every knee will bow and every tongue will swear about me that only in Adonai are justice and strength.” Paul writes in Philippians 2:10-11: "at the name of Yeshua every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Messiah Yeshua is Yahweh, to the glory of Elohim the Father." If every knee in Heaven is bowing to Yeshua, then He is God and there is no other. In John 8:18, Yeshua said, "I am One who bears witness of Myself, and the Father who sent Me bears witness of Me.” In His own name He has sworn, and His Word did not return to Him void. "He is God, an there is no other; He is God, and there is none like Him." His plan will hold and He will accomplish everything He has said, for form ancient times He has declared it.

Babylon, the worldly system, trusts in witchcraft, wealth and wickedness, which is disobedience to the law of God.. Those who have taken this mark of the Beast count themselves wise, but indeed they are fools. The puff themselves up with pride, and for this they will be brought low. The fire will consume all who pervert themselves with worldly knowledge and no one will save them. See 1 Corinthians 1:20-21: "Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe." Those who trust in the LORD Yeshua and keep the commandments of God will be saved; these are those who take on the mark of God, the seal of perfection.

Isaiah 48, Isaiah 49, Isaiah 50

The LORD announced future events long ago so that when we see them happen we will know His Word is true, and He says new things to us also through the prophets, through Yeshua, through the Apostles, so that we will look away from the idols of the world or any other hope, but instead rely upon Him alone. Yahweh teaches us His law for our own good and He guides us on the only narrow path we ought to take, and when we follow it we will have complete peace (shalom). There will be no peace for those who rebel against the LORD.

When we use our own strength to do anything, we toil in vain. When we live for God our whole lives, for His glory, we will simply sing, we will rejoice, we will be comforted, we will have our fill. Though mothers abort their own children in this evil world, God will never forget His children. He is our savior, our redeemer, the Mighty one of Israel.

We ought to note Torah when the LORD speaks of a divorce decree. It is unlawful for a husband to take back a wife he has divorced who has been with another man. But death of the husband is what frees the wife to remarry. Our husband died on the cross, and so we are free to remarry. And through HIs death, He offers Himself up as our bridegroom. Let us present ourselves as cleansed by our redeemer, wearing the white garments for the marriage supper of the Lamb.

When the LORD helps us, whom shall we fear. Even in the midst of the darkest of nights, the light of the LORD will help us. We ought not trust in our own lamps, but only in the light of God's glory.

Isaiah 51, Isaiah 52, Isaiah 53

Those who pursue justice and righteousness will be gathered together in Eden before Mr. Zion, and Torah will be the light that guides us all. We will experience everlasting joy! Yeshua will rule, and He will save those whose hearts are to obey His law. The world that we see before us will be burned up and the skies will roll up like a scroll, revealing the King on His throne. And those who cling to this life will die like flies along with the lord of flies. Salvation in Yeshua is available to all who call upon His name and repent, walking in His righteousness from that point forward. The LORD comforts us, just as He did in the flesh: Those who pursue justice and righteousness will be gathered together in Eden before Mr. Zion, and Torah will be the light that guides us all. We will experience everlasting joy! Yeshua will rule, and He will save those whose hearts are to obey His law. The world that we see before us will be burned up and the skies will roll up like a scroll, revealing the King on His throne. And those who cling to this life will die like flies along with the lord of flies. Salvation in Yeshua is available to all who call upon His name and repent, walking in His righteousness from that point forward. The LORD comforts us, just as He did in the flesh: “Listen to me, you who know justice, you people who have my Torah in your heart: don’t be afraid of people’s taunts, don’t be upset by their insults. For the moth will eat them up like clothing, the worm will eat them like wool; but my justice will be forever, and my salvation for all generations.” He will comfort His people.He will comfort His people.

No longer will those who refuse to follow Yeshua live—those uncircumcised in heart, unwilling to walk with clean hands and pure hearts, failing to keep their temple clean for the Holy Spirit to dwell within. These will be removed from the land of the living. Those who know the Name of the LORD, who call on Yeshua, will know the LORD intimately, and will dwell in peace on His Holy Mountain. The joy will be uncontainable when Yeshua brings us home to the place He has prepared for us. He will be King—our God will be King—no longer must we suffer under the corruption of men. All the Earth will witness God’s Arm, Yeshua, rescue His people. We must live in Him, and not in the world. We must flee from any evil or anything that defiles. All will witness the one they have pierced in His glory, and those who did not follow Him will be ashamed.

Who believes the report? The one who was despised and rejected will rule forever over eternity. He will be elevated above all heights. He bore our sins and cleansed us of all iniquity, and so we ought to turn our hearts to follow Him. He will save those who do, but by no means will He save the guilty. Knowing what He has done for us ought to leave us humble and contrite, fully dependent upon Him!

No longer will those who refuse to follow Yeshua live—those uncircumcised in heart, unwilling to walk with clean hands and pure hearts, failing to keep their temple clean for the Holy Spirit to dwell within. These will be removed from the land of the living. Those who know the Name of the LORD, who call on Yeshua, will know the LORD intimately, and will dwell in peace on His Holy Mountain. The joy will be uncontainable when Yeshua brings us home to the place He has prepared for us. He will be King—our God will be King—no longer must we suffer under the corruption of men. All the Earth will witness God’s Arm, Yeshua, rescue His people. We must live in Him, and not in the world. We must flee from any evil or anything that defiles. All will witness the one they have pierced in His glory, and those who did not follow Him will be ashamed.

Who believes the report? The one who was despised and rejected will rule forever over eternity. He will be elevated above all heights. He bore our sins and cleansed us of all iniquity, and so we ought to turn our hearts to follow Him. He will save those who do, but by no means will He save the guilty. Knowing what He has done for us ought to leave us humble and contrite, fully dependent upon Him!

Isaiah 54, Isaiah 55, Isaiah 56, Isaiah 57, Isaiah 58

The barren woman was Sarah, the mother of God's chosen people, who at the last bore Isaac, a prophetic template for Yeshua. Though she suffered for most of her life in a state of shame, at the very last she rejoiced so handily in the LORD's promise that she didn't even remember the former days. The barren woman also represents the church that does not produce fruit, those people who are called but have not yet answered. The LORD is angry for a moment with those who fail to trust and obey in Him, for those who don't produce the fruit of the Spirit, but in the end He will provide everlasting grace and compassion on His servants, those who abide in righteousness through the teachings of Yeshua, who is the Word of God, who became flesh.

His gift of salvation is free, but why then do so many seek the world and the false offerings it provides. So much effort for an end apart from God? If we listen carefully to God—if we hear and obey His Word—we will eat well and enjoy the fat of the land, it will cost us nothing! The same grace assured to David is the everlasting covenant assured to those who listen to the witness, leader and lawgiver named Yeshua. Even the nations who didn't know the LORD will know Him on account of Him, and He will glorify all those who run to Him. We're warned to seek Him while He can be found, to call on Him while He is near. This means that the wicked, sinful ones stuck on following their own hearts must abandon their own way and thoughts and return to the LORD, for the LORD is merciful and will forgive all who do things His way. Do we not understand this? He told us we wouldn't. But to obey is better than sacrifice, and the LORD desires to be merciful and He desires that we too show mercy. Yes, His ways are higher than our ways, but His Word will not return void. It will accomplish its purpose. If the simple do not praise His name Yeshua, even the rocks will cry out, for the Spirit of God can make a living being out of the dust of the Earth.

When Yeshua was about to come—the salvation of God, His righteousness that would be revealed—the LORD warned: "Do not let the son of the foreigner say 'the LORD will separate me from His people." Jews and Gentiles would be united in Messiah Yeshua as one flock, one body, with one Shepherd, one Head, and "what God has joined together let no man separate"!!! The sons of the foreigners who love the LORD by keeping His Sabbaths will be brought to His Holy Mountain, and their praises and prayers will be accepted. The LORD knew that Gentiles would explain away His law and discard His Sabbaths, because His enemy the devil would never change. He would always tempt man, saying, "Did God really say?" Yes, God really said to keep His Sabbath Day Holy and to Honor it, and both Isaiah 56 and 58 make it clear that all who call on the name of Yeshua/Jesus ought to stop doing things our own way, and we ought to keep God's Sabbath the way He told us to, calling it a delight. When we do this from pure desire, because it is a delight to us, we will ride on the heights of the Heavens with He who comes on the clouds when He comes. This is something we need to get right.

We wonder: Why do bad things happen to good people? God answers: "Godly men are taken away, and no one understands that the righteous person is taken away from the evil yet to come." When we live uprightly, with justice and righteousness in Messiah Yeshua, we will have peace and joy! Bad things happen to good people on account of witches and their children, adulterers and whores. All of the abominations that evil people do are seen by God, and He will not ignore these things, especially when they forget God. Because of God's mercy and grace, the wicked do not fear God and live how they want, turning the grace of God into lewdness. The wind will carry away every worldly hope, and every idea about God that does not come from His Word. But those who seem to be downtrodden in the earth; those who obey God and are thus pummeled by the haughty; when these take refuge in the LORD they will surely be rewarded with an inheritance on God's Holy Mountain. The LORD will help them build His Kingdom. The LORD says, “I live in the high and holy place but also with the broken and humble, in order to revive the spirit of the humble and revive the hearts of the broken ones." We must endure until the end, and He will save us.

When we fast—if we fast—do we do so to make a show, to get something from God? Does God delight in sacrifice, or is it obedience, instead? Yeshua said we would fast after He left, and so we ought to fast indeed, but in Isaiah 58 the LORD explained the do's and don'ts of fasting, starting with the don'ts: We ought not allow our flesh to get the better of us, to grow bitter toward others in our nutritional weakness, and to lash out at others in hangry carelessness to somehow convince ourselves we are pious for avoiding food and drink. Instead, we ought to hone in to the WORD of the LORD when we fast, loosing those who are bound to sin, removing the yokes that come from the commandments of men, freeing people to pursue the commandments of God. Any who are oppressed by evil spirits, we ought to pray for God to release them. And for those seeking to be nourished by God's Word, we ought to feed them from it, even bringing those in to our congregations who may seem unseemly on the surface because they so long to hear God's Truth. We ought to share the Gospel with sinners, clothing them, and teach the Truth to them, and this fulfills our duty to love our neighbor as Yeshua loved us. If we do this, we will know the LORD.

Isaiah 59, Isaiah 60, Isaiah 61, Isaiah 62, Isaiah 63

Yeshua, who is the Arm of the LORD, is able to save, but for those whose feet run to evil, to shed innocent blood, who think wicked things and don't take their thoughts captive—Isaiah 59 describes a litany of sin, doubt and evil that those who are passing away exhibit; those who simply do not produce the fruit of the Spirit, but rather the fruit of the flesh, of the world, and of the dying age that we live in—the LORD brings utter and total destruction upon them. And yet He calls even these to repent, to turn from their wicked ways and live. Will they do it? The choice is up to them. He will repay according to our deeds. But our Redeemer lives, and He will come again. His Spirit will rest within and His Words will be upon those whose hearts trust and obey the LORD.

I love the phrase, "arise and shine," and here the LORD speaks to the dead, to those who have been asleep in the grave, awaiting the Last Day. The LORD's glory will shine and will call His people to Him in the air, and Jerusalem will shine like a jewel as it descends from the clouds to its final place of rest on the Earth. All who dwell on the Earth will come to Jerusalem to worship the LORD and give Him the praises that are due to Him. Any nation or people choosing not to serve the LORD will be destroyed, but the LORD, our Savior, our Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob, Yeshua the Messiah, will reign, and His light will shine and light up the whole Earth. We will not need sun or moon. John explains this prophesy in even more detail in Revelation 21 and 22. The LORD will bring about this righteousness and peace at His appointed time. He commanded us to watch.

I spoke about Isaiah 61 at length last Shabbat toward the end of my sermon on the Jubilee, called "Shadows of Eternity." Enjoy: https://tinyurl.com/yzhjm662.

The LORD will vindicate His people; those who keep His commandments and trust in Yeshua. He will come as a Bridegroom to collect His bride. We will be married to God, and our relationship with Him will only get better day-by-day into eternity. He will rejoice over us as we rejoice in Him. The Redeemed of the LORD are sought after by the LORD. He will gather us. We will never be abandoned again.

At the last, the LORD Himself will be full of blood up to His horses bridle (Revelation 14:20), not from His crucifixion, but from the blood of the enemies He destroys on the Last Day. His people will be safe in His Holy Habitation when He brings His vengeance on those who rejected Him or rebelled against Him. While we pray for the LORD to sunder the heavens and open the veil so we can see Him sitting on His throne (Revelation 6—the sixth seal), and we desire the justice and righteousness He will bring, He has called us to be His people who will preach His Gospel, baptize new disciples, and teach them the commandments of God. He is longsuffering. One day His patience will end, and He will separate the sheep from the goats, the wheat from the chaff, but today He has called us to bring in the harvest, as many as we can reach with His Truth and His love, for time is growing short.

Dad said:
Arise, shine, for your light has come,
    and the glory of the Lord rises upon you.
See, darkness covers the earth
    and thick darkness is over the peoples,
but the Lord rises upon you
    and his glory appears over you.
Nations will come to your light,
    and kings to the brightness of your dawn.  Isaiah 60:1-3

At some point in our lives, we’ve all been awakened by the acclamation to “rise and shine” and here we see its origin.
Taken in context, Isaiah has been telling us that Jesus is coming.
The Redeemer will come at the end of our age and the whole world  will see a new day.

Isaiah saw this day when Jerusalem will shine with a light that doesn’t come from the sun.  The glory of The Lord, Jesus Himself, will be The Light. The presence of God will pierce through the spiritual and physical darkness covering the earth  and just as the queen of Sheba was drawn to the splendor and wisdom of Solomon, this light will be a beacon to all the nations.

The more we read scripture, the more we get a glimpse into the complexity of God’s plan, its effect on nations as well as on ourselves.  Its completion in history and its promise for our future.  Isaiah says 'your light has come.’  The Lord, Jesus Christ is our light. He has already accomplished His great work.  Our sin has been paid for and by following Him in all His ways, we are promised eternal life.  

Although we may not escape tribulations, we know how they will end.  We are on the winning side.  The light of Christ dwells within true believers and when we arise in the morning, we have every reason to shine, become a beacon for others leading into the light of His Wonderful Grace and unfathomable Mercy and Love.

Isaiah 64, Isaiah 65, Isaiah 66

As Isaiah comes to a close in 64-66, we ought to recognize that all of these images are about the final moments on the Earth before the LORD comes back and it's aftermath. It's intense and complicated imagery, but we can understand it within the context of the book and even more so when compared to the words of Yeshua, Revelation, Paul, Peter, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and so on. Let Scripture interpret Scripture, for nowhere does it contradict. Isaiah, like so much Jewish writing, is layered. It's not chronological. It's like an accordion, having aligned bellows that make the same melody. It's like an onion, each layer covering others that have the same appearance, but deeper and deeper meaning about the same substance. Isaiah 40:28 explains, "The everlasting God, the LORD, The Creator of the ends of the earth, Neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable." This is good news, for eternity will be everlasting discovery of the one we love! And, the LORD has said in Jeremiah 29:13, "And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart." We will never know all, but we surely will discover the mysteries God reveals to us by His Spirit, and this is the loving heart the LORD desires in His servants.

Isaiah 64, then, is yet another microcosm of the repeated message from God recorded by the prophet, and yet so many choose to grasp onto singular verses here for isolational analysis that contradicts the Word of God. We must read the whole chapter to understand that our righteousness is like menstrual rags to the LORD WHEN our heart is full of sin—when we fail to confess iniquity and repent. He says this: "our iniquities, like the wind, take us away." But Isaiah also writes: "You meet him who joyfully works righteousness, those who remember You in Your ways." And so this simply explains the heart of a servant of Yeshua/Jesus, because our LORD said, "IF you love Me, keep my commandments." Is our heart's desire to serve the LORD, do we confess our sins and repent by following after Yeshua in all of His ways? Then our righteousness will be the very reason the LORD comes to meet with us, because it will be a reflection of our love for Him. It is because of Yeshua that we can be washed clean, but this is by no means a license to sin, and "sin is lawlessness." Rather, because of our salvation, the LORD takes us out of His judgment and redeems us by His blood so that we can walk in all of His ways, which are defined by His commandments.

Isaiah 65 shows: "I made myself accessible to those who didn't ask for me." He came in the flesh and died for the sins of all who call upon His name from that point forward. The pagans didn't ask for Him to do this. They didn't even know a thing about God, for the principalities God had allowed to rule over them had confounded their understanding. But He did it, and He made pagan Gentiles adopted children equal in every way to the children of Israel, if they call upon His name, if they do the things that He taught. He did this because he spread out his hands all the day to a rebellious people who rebelled against Him, who followed their own inclinations rather than His commandments. These sacrificed in gardens, burned incense to demons, and age pigs flesh, among other disgusting things, all the while believing they were clean and holy. The LORD compares such false worship to smoke irritating His nostrils, and as men whose "fathers" were pagans we ought to give this great consideration. Paul explained in Acts 17:30: "The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent,..." There will be judgment against those who fail to follow Yeshua in all of His ways.

And yet the LORD will search through the people for good grapes that have juice, even though most of the bunch has begun to rot. He will not destroy all of physical Israel, but will bring a remnant of them forth into His kingdom, those who confess Yeshua is Yahweh. Through Yeshua, many Gentiles from the nations will also be grafted-in to become a part of Israel so they too can follow Him and keep His commandments. Whoever abandons the LORD and follows after false gods or pagan practices will be destroyed—there will be no exception. "Because when I called, you did not answer; when I spoke, you did not hear, but did what was evil from my point of view and chose what did not please me," the LORD said. Yeshua said: "Many are called, but few are chosen." God choses us as Saints when we act on the faith in Yeshua that we say we have. God says, "My servants will eat, while [the disobedient] go hungry [and thirsty]." His servants will be joyful, but the rebellious will howl with anguish. God's servants will be blessed by His name, Yeshua, and these will inhabit the New Heaven and New Earth, where past things will not be remembered. Its description is akin to what we find all over Scripture, and this is what awaits those who love the LORD.

Isaiah 66 includes the famous words: "Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool." When the heavens rend asunder we will see God sitting on His throne above the Earth and Yeshua will come on the clouds to bring His chosen to Him at that time. Who are those people? The LORD explains:  “The kind of person on whom I look with favor is one with a poor and humble spirit, who trembles at my Word." We must ask ourselves: Do we tremble when we read the Word of God? Do we fear Him, as Yeshua said, who can throw our body and our soul into the fire of eternal damnation? When we reverence God's good commandments for us and keep them, because we know that God has designed them for our good, and because we love the God who created us and gave us this wisdom, and when we recognize that we cannot make it on our own, but we need His grace to cover us, and to help us confess and repent, then we walk according to the Way of Messiah Yeshua and we are on that narrow path toward the narrow gate.

We see analogously to Isaiah 64 that those who sacrifice to the LORD, and yet sin, will not be saved. Their grain offerings will be like pig's blood and even a sacrifice of an ox will be as if they sacrifice a dog with a broken neck. Their righteousness is like filthy rags WHEN they worship aimlessly without turning their hearts to the LORD with confession and repentance. We can't continue to live like we used to when we come to know Jesus. We need to be born again! We must become like Yeshua! The LORD will make fools of those who think they please Him by calling on His name while doing abominations. "It will be known that the hand of Adonai is with his servants; but with his enemies, his fury." When the LORD comes with fire at the Last Day, He will render His anger to those who think they purify themselves doing profane things. The people of God do not eat unclean food, worship using pagan practices, assign holy meaning to unholy pagan festivals, and they neither add to the Word nor take away from it. The LORD looks on His people who tremble at His Word by doing what is right according to His Word. God's people keep His feasts, eat the foods He says are clean, and practice the justice, righteousness and love that He explained.

The LORD speaks here in Isaiah 66 to His Saints, "Hear the word of Adonai, you who tremble at his word: “Your brothers, who hate you and reject you because of my name, have said: ‘Let Adonai be glorified, so we can see your joy.’ But they will be put to shame.” This says it all. We cannot worship God according to the traditions of men, but we must worship God according to His Word and the ways that He has explained. No man can change the Word of God, and any man who does is a false prophet, according to Deuteronomy 13. We ought to reject them fully and everything they say and do. The LORD calls us to be set apart to Him, to do things His way, and to reject the flesh and the world and all the things in it, the lust of the heart, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. He desires us to serve Him by doing His Truth and teaching His Truth, and this is the very definition of LOVE. See 2 John 1:4-6:  "I rejoiced greatly to find some of your children walking in the Truth, just as we were commanded by the Father. And now I ask you, dear lady—not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but the one we have had from the beginning—that we love one another. And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, so that you should walk in it."

At the end of days, at the very last, after the New Heaven and New Earth have come, we will celebrate every New Month and every Sabbath by worshipping the LORD. We will come before the LORD's holy mountain. His feast days will be kept as a memorial of praise to the LORD for what He has accomplished for us. Should we not today remember the LORD in the way He has asked us, recognizing His accomplishments as well as His promises? These promises at the end of Isaiah are profound, both to the Saints who will inherit eternity with our God and to the rebels who will inherit eternal destruction. Will we stare down at some chasm where the souls of the disobedient writhe while leaving our weekly and monthly worship? It's possible the LORD will set up some memorial to sin and death, so that we will forever remember that we all deserve death on account of the sins we committed, and it is His grace alone that saved us. It's possible this reminder will also help us not make the mistake of Adam and Eve, now with the knowledge of the consequence. We will have the knowledge of good and evil, but we will forever choose good, for there could be nothing greater than the pleasure of seeking our God and His unsearchable understanding forever and ever.

And so, as we finish Isaiah today, God willing not for the last time, we ought to note that Isaiah was sawn in two (See Hebrews 11:37 and "Ascension of Isaiah") by King Manasseh for His faith in the LORD, His clarion call for obedience to God out of a desire for Him, and His prophesy of Messiah Yeshua, who would provide the Way into Heaven for those who choose to obey God and trust in what He has done for us and what He has promised to do. He knew the LORD intimately, and saw Yeshua's day and longed for it (Matthew 13:17), and yet he did not see it—yet. We too have been warned: "In this world you will have tribulation, but take courage, for I have overcome the world" (John 16:33). We may face persecution or even death, but those who give up their lives for Yeshua will gain eternal life, but those who compromise to save their lives or livelihoods will lose their eternal lives (Matthew 16:25). Thus, like Isaiah, we must be prepared to give up our lives and speak the Truth in love anyway, and we also must live out the Truth, so we are not hypocrites. This is the Christian life we have all been called to.

Like all of the faithful who came before Messiah, Isaiah will be raised up on the Last Day with the rest of the dead at the very same time (Hebrews 11:39-40), and with the other faithful He will enter life. When Thomas professed faith in Yeshua, identifying the Messiah as "my LORD and my God," our LORD and our God replied, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (John 20:28-29). Isaiah was one of those who did not see, and yet believed. So too, God willing, are you and me. Because of that faith, we are called by the prophet (and by the LORD Himself) to leave everything behind and follow Him, to think as He thought, to speak as He spoke, and to do as He did, because we love Him. God comes first before our neighbor. We must be obedient to Him first, and this informs how we ought to treat our neighbor. If we are obedient to Him, we will show our neighbor love, and speak nothing but Truth to them. This is the very purpose of the Great Commission, a commission the prophet Isaiah exercised fully. See 1 Corinth 15:52: "... For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed." Life awaits those who love and obey the LORD.

Dad said:
Heaven is my throne,
    and the earth is my footstool.
Where is the house you will build for me?
    Where will my resting place be?

Has not my hand made all these things,
    and so they came into being?”   Isaiah 66:1-3

This one statement puts everything into proper perspective but
what can we possibly give Him that He doesn’t already have?
What can we do to show Him that we love Him and appreciate all the benefits he so lovingly gives us?  We can continually offer God our praise and Thanks—‘the fruit of lips that openly profess his name” (Hebrews 13:15) giving all glory, honor and praise to Him, openly.   We can show Him, and others,  how much we love Him by helping those in spiritual or material need and we can give Him the gift He most loves; the sublime sacrifice of obedience.

Jeremiah 1, Jeremiah 2

Jeremiah the Prophet came after Isaiah. He was a contemporary of Josiah, Jehoiakim and Zedekiah and even lived to be taken into captivity by Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. Josiah was a good king, who repented and turned to the LORD with all his heart, soul, mind and strength, but for some reason the king's total repentance was not enough to teach his children or the rest of Judah. The LORD will judge the father and the son separately, for every soul belongs to the LORD and the soul who sins shall die. This is the backdrop of the most serious, righteous rebuke of the nation of Judah that could possibly ever been written. This is LOVE toward the Jews in the style of Leviticus 19:17-18, as we read: "‘You shall not hate your brother in your heart. You shall surely rebuke your neighbor, and not bear sin because of him. You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord." This Levitical commandment to love one another is Jeremiah's calling, and it is the calling of each of us in Matthew 28:18-20: preach the Gospel; make disciples of Yeshua; baptize them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; and teach them the commandments of God. To love one another, we are called to preach the Word of God in season and out of season (2 Timothy 4:2). Presently, it is out of season.

The LORD knew Jeremiah BEFORE He formed him in the womb. He created Him for the purpose of being separate for God; to be a prophet to the NATIONS. It is in rebuking Judah for sin that the LORD called the Gentiles to turn toward Him and live through Messiah. And it is in the jealousy this move of the Holy Spirit ought to create among the Jews, specifically from the Gentiles being obedient to the Torah and the Prophets through the teachings of Messiah Yeshua and the Apostles, that the Jews would ultimately desire to come back to God. This is the Yeshua Isaiah prophesied, and so too the Yeshua we will see Jeremiah prophesy. And while this Word applies to Jeremiah, it doesn't apply only to Him. The LORD knew each of us BEFORE He formed us in the womb. He created each of us for a purpose to serve Him in a specific manner. And He does not predestine any for destruction. Peter writes in 2 Peter 3:9: "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance." Not all will make the choice to follow Yeshua, but God still calls to each of us to do so, even before we are born! We are each a part of His Master plan!

When the LORD calls us to our purpose, it is up to each of us to answer or not. There are consequences when we don't, but the LORD stands at the door and knocks until we open up to Him and dine with Him forever or die in rebellion against Him outside. We've read about the consequences of both choices in Isaiah, and Jeremiah will continue to write about this. In reading such prophesies, it's important to understand a principle of Hebraic thought. Maimonides, a Rabbinical Jew from the middle ages, presented this Scriptural Truth worth consideration: In reference to Genesis 12:6, the sage explained the Torah's seemingly trivial details in this way: “I will tell you a rule; go understand it. In all of the following portions about Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov, and this is a significant topic, our Rabbis mentioned briefly and they said, ‘Whatever happened to the fathers is a siman(sign or signal) for the sons.'" Again, this is a true principle, and I believe it applies as much to Torah as it does to the Prophets and any other Scripture up to Revelation. There may be a near-term fulfillment of some prophesy, but it often has multiple fulfillments, and then an ultimate fulfillment. Keep this in mind as we continue in Jeremiah.

The LORD is calling and confirming judgment against Judah in Jeremiah's work, and in much of what we read, we will find that his words can apply to a judgment against America today, and maybe even the whole world. The boiling point is approaching. While the whole world will be used to judge those caught up in lawlessness, the LORD will not allow His people to die the second death. We will be preserved, whether in life of in the physical death. Thus, our hearts, our minds, our words and our actions ought to be devoted toward doing what God has called us to do. For me, He has called me to preach the Word of God in a similar fashion to Jeremiah. I personally cannot fathom how people forget to call on the God who created the Heavens and the Earth, the one who Redeemed us by His body and blood, and the one who rose to Eternity to make the Way possible for all who follow Him.

And yet, to most of Christendom today, the same judgment of God against Judah can be applied: “For my people have committed two evils: they have abandoned me, the fountain of living water, and dug themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water!" It is time for all who call upon the name of Yeshua; to look to Him alone for the living water and live as He taught so we do not find water leaking out of the devices of our own imagination. The many metaphors of Jeremiah 2 create so many illustrations that align with what we can observe in society today, but let's finish with this one today, when the LORD says, "you cheapen yourself when you change course so often." In Ephesians 4:14-15, Paul wrote: "we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Messiah—..." Rather than fall into the deceptive grasp of so many centuries of false teachings, we ought to look to the Word of God alone through the Holy Spirit to define our thoughts, words and actions, and in this way we will follow Yeshua to that place He has prepared.

Dad said:
Consider then and realize
    how evil and bitter it is for you
when you forsake the Lord your God
    and have no awe of me,”
declares the Lord, the Lord Almighty.  Jeremiah 2:19

There are people who live their lives and never know God.  They go about their days in self service, showing kindness to others only as a construct of common society.  They don’t know The Lord and the Lord (in a sense) doesn’t know them.

Those that have knowledge of God are set apart.  The Lord expects obedience from them. He doesn’t want to lose anybody to sin but when they forget God, that is when corrective measures can be expected. These might be bitter lessons which cause hardship but they will be corrective and will lead to understanding and repentance.

This is how God acted with the nation of Israel when they turned to stone or wood images to quell their fears instead of relying on The Saving Power of Almighty God and this is how He deals with us, as individuals.  

Those that have faith in The Lord will never have a fear they can’t  face.  They live and act in accordance with the understanding that The Lord is Near to them.  They become the confident children of God.  Scriptural references to this effect are ubiquitous.  Conversely, those that have debilitating fears that cripple the quality of their lives are those that have forgotten and do not know God.  These become the customers of psychiatrists.

Jeremiah 3, Jeremiah 4,

In Deuteronomy 24:1-4, the LORD makes it clear that it is an abomination for a husband to take back his wife whom he divorced and who married another, and God is using this law to accuse both Israel and Judah of adultery against Him, their husband.  Israel flirted with so many pagan religious traditions that it sickens the mind to think about. Consider a wife who would sleep around in this way behind her husband's back. Would any husband even want her back? Think about this: The LORD came in the flesh and died on the cross so that this particular law was undone and in His resurrected state He was free to marry Israel and Judah again. This is the deeper meaning of Paul's statement in 1 Corinthians 7:39, "A wife is bound by law as long as her husband lives; but if her husband dies, she is at liberty to be married to whom she wishes, only in the Lord." Indeed, because the Husband died on the cross, Israel is free to remarry. May the people of Israel, rather native-born or grafted-in, choose to remarry the risen Messiah, for He is merciful and gracious, loving and long-suffering, kind and full of faithfulness. The Bridegroom is coming soon.

The LORD states, "If you will return, O Israel,” declares the Lord, “Then you should return to Me. And if you will put away your detested things from My presence, and will not waver, and you will swear, 'As the LORD lives,' in Truth, in justice and in righteousness, then the nations will bless themselves in Him, and in Him they will glory." Yes indeed, the LORD is calling all people, Jews and Gentiles, to come to Him. He desires His people to break up their fallow ground and plant in good soil so we can bear fruit; He desires us to circumcise the foreskin of our hearts through repentance so we can stand righteous before Him. The LORD's wrath will burn against those who do not return when given so great an opportunity. Why, oh why, do so many turn away from the LORD, when all He desires is our good. He has given us His commandments for our good, and when we follow them they bring blessing. What foolish child of God would not want His eternal blessings?

Jeremiah 5, Jeremiah 6

In the same way that Abraham pleaded with God to roam through Sodom and find even 10 righteous men so as not to annihilate the city, so too does Jeremiah do the same with Jerusalem in Jeremiah 5 & 6. His finding is terrifying, for it is identical to what I see in America's Christian churches today. "Although they say, 'As the LORD lives,' surely they swear falsely." They are using the LORD's name in vain, saying "Praise Jesus," but they don't do what He taught, and in fact, they celebrate sin in His name. I can also ask, "Oh LORD, do not Your eyes look for Truth?" Yes, America's church is clearly under the LORD's judgment. Just look around, the patterns are all present, but Christians today are just as Jeremiah observed: "You have smitten them, but they did not weaken. You have consumed them, but they refused to take correction. They have made their faces harder than rock; they have refused to repent." Will America be taken over by a foreign land whose language we do not know. Will it be worse for us than it was for Judah? These questions I daily ponder, while praying for the grace of the LORD and His hand in bringing His message of Truth to those with ears to hear and eyes to see. Yes, this message applies directly to you and me.

The LORD has called me to speak His Word in Truth, and though I did not find myself worthy, how could I say no to the LORD? The WORD of the LORD is a consuming fire. It will either refine those who hear it into the men and women the LORD calls them to be, or it will burn them up entirely at the end. We ought to tremble at the Word of God, which does not mean to cower in fear and run the other way from it, but to look at it with awe and wonder and the deepest desire to internalize and become more like it, both out of love and desire to please our Creator and Redeemer, but also out of a desire not to disappoint Him. Just as a good child seeks to please his father and bring him joy, so too should we strive for this very end with God Most High through the teachings and practice of our LORD Messiah Yeshua, who fully upheld the law and the prophets. Let us not be stubborn and rebellious, but humble, repentant and obedient to our good, good Father.

How has the American church fallen to such a degree—perhaps even the church of the West? "Wicked men are found among My people," the LORD said. "They watch like fowlers lying in wait; they set a trap, they catch men. Like a cage full of birds, so their houses are full of deceit. Therefore, they have become great and rich." How wealthy are the many ornate church buildings and their fat, fully paid pastors or priests who teach falsehood? The LORD continues: "An appalling and horrible thing has happened in the land: The prophets prophesy falsely, And the priests rule on their own authority; And My people love it so! But what will you do at the end of it?” It is the doctrine of grace that justifies sin rather than the sinner, as Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote in response to the fall of Germany's evangelical churches to Hitler's regime of evil.

Bonhoeffer, who stood up against the churches that affirmed and enabled Hitler's takeover, wrote: "Is the price that we are paying today with the collapse of the organized churches anything else but an inevitable consequence of grace acquired too cheaply." He continued, "Cheap grace is preaching forgiveness without repentance.... Cheap grace surely has also been unmerciful with most of us personally. It did not open the way to Christ for us, but rather closed it. It did not call us into discipleship, but hardened us in disobedience." Finally, he also wrote, "All you have to do is get in a closer walk with God and you'll find out your enemies are in your own church." This was Jeremiah, and it is what I have also done. I pray the same for any who read this. Ask this: If you are not being persecuted for teaching Biblical truth, are you really fulfilling the Great Commission of Jesus? I think all pastors need to ask this question. If we are agreeable, how can we possibly be correct? If we are spreading Truth, how can we possibly be agreeable with the world? James 4:4 says, "friendship with the world is enmity with God." We cannot be adulterers and adulteresses, as Jeremiah has described, but we must repent and walk as Yeshua walked.

Is the LORD a reproach to our countrymen and our churchgoers. Is His law too harsh for your pastor? FLEE from them, people of God, if they will not change, and sow Truth with vigor as you do. We must find delight in God's Word and in applying every bit of it to our lives, or we are simply not doing it right. When you hear Christians preaching "Peace, peace," when there is no peace, this is a great warning for you that they are false Christians and false teachers. They are not ashamed of sin or the abominations around them. Read Paul's writing in Romans 1, where he echoes Jeremiah in saying "knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things [sins that he describes from Torah] are deserving of death, not only do [they do] the same but also approve of those who practice them."

As Jeremiah writes, "from the prophet even to the priest, everyone deals falsely." The time for tolerating evil in our churches is over. Sin cannot rest within the camp. It must be rooted out through the preaching of Truth, confession and repentance—exile for those who fail to change. Maybe if they are out in the world, with Satan as Paul explained in 1 Corinthians 5, they might burn for the love of God and change before it is too late. Thus says the Lord, “Stand by the ways and see and ask for the ancient paths, Where the good way is, and walk in it; And you will find rest for your souls." This is the only message that we ought to find preached. What is the ancient Way? It is the Way of Yeshua, the Way of the LORD that He gave to Moses and all of his prophets. It is the law of God, the only way we ought to live in every conceivable matter, as interpreted by the prophets and the apostles. The LORD will bring disaster on anyone who does not listen to His Word, and who rejects His law. Suddenly the destroyer will come upon us. Therefore watch, and do what the LORD commands, for those who love Him will keep His commandments, and those who keep His commandments and the faith in Yeshua are Saints, who will inherit eternal life.

Jeremiah 7, Jeremiah 8

Dad wrote: There is wisdom to be found for every age in God’s Word.  This is why it is as relevant today as it was when God first imparted it.  Every generation from the past, through the present and into the future can find great value in these writings.  They endure forever.

The area of Gilead that Jeremiah speaks about was indeed famous for its healing balms but here, he was not speaking about healing the body or anointing the dead.  He was asking Almighty God for help.

Is there no balm in Gilead?
    Is there no physician there?
Why then is there no healing
    for the wound of my people? Jeremiah 8: 22

The people were in such a sorry state.  Their spiritual sickness seemed intractable and a cure was desperately needed.  Where was the physician to administer a curative balm?    

There would be only one able to restore health to the people. One that could administer the balm of sacrificial love, sacrificial death and resurrection. Who but The Lord could do  this?  Who but The Lord can give sight to the blind, bring light into the dark and morning to the night?  Who but The Lord can cleanse our soul of sin?  None, but The Lord.

--

There is salvation in Yeshua from depravity and lawlessness, but not without repentance, and Jeremiah makes this clear in chapters 7-8. The LORD said, "Improve your ways and actions, and I will let you stay in this place...administer justice...stop oppressing foreigners, orphans and widows...stop shedding innocent blood... stop following other gods." We cannot maintain salvation in Yeshua and do evil. Yeshua died to free us from condemnation upon repentance! Jeremiah identified the misunderstanding: "You are relying on deceitful words that can't do you any good." They are listening to false teachers who explain that God's grace can save even when we continue in sin. This isn't grace that justifies the sinner, but grace that justifies sin, and that type of grace is from the devil. God's explanation is simple: "You steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, offer to Ba'al and go after other gods...then you come and stand before me in this house that bears my name and say, 'We are saved'—so that you can go on doing these abominations!" NO! That's not how it works. We are NOT saved when we practice lawlessness. We are sanctified by doing the will of God. "Pay attention to what I say," the LORD said, "then I will be your God, and you will be my people. In everything, live according to the way that I order you, so that things will go well for you!"

Those who continuously rebel and will not repent will be strewn upon the earth like refuse for the demons to devour, especially those who say they know the Truth of God's Word in Christ but they turn the Truth of God into a lie—"the lying pen of the scribes has turned [Torah] to falsehood." These are those who say the law has been done away with, nailed to the cross, or completed in Christ, and they add, "there is perfect peace," especially as disobedient children come in and demand Christians affirm and welcome their sins. The reality is that Messiah Yeshua told us to pick up our own cross and follow Him and to obey His commandments to show we love Him, while John wrote to "walk the way He walked" and Paul said, "God will not be mocked" and "You will reap what you sow." The LORD Yeshua brought healing balm to all who call upon His name to be saved, but then we must "go and sin no more" because of the salvation He brought to us.

Jeremiah 9, Jeremiah 10

As Jeremiah 9 rebukes the inhabitants of Judah, so too do I look around at so many of my countrymen today: "'They have taught their tongue to speak lies. They weary themselves committing iniquity. ... Through deceit they refuse to know Me,' declares the LORD." It takes a lot of effort to sin, and even more effort to justify sin with lies. Just think of all the effort it takes. Seriously, think about it. Why would anyone consider it worth all of the pain, the suffering, the anxiety, the fear, and the bondage to labor over iniquity? We must call on our brothers and sisters to turn from sin and live, to boast not in the wisdom of the world, victory in battle, or prosperity in business, but instead in the wisdom of the LORD, that we understand and know Him. And when we boast in our wisdom of God, we ought to boast that He is righteous and just and loving, and He delights in these things. No longer ought we be uncircumcised, but pray for the Holy Spirit to circumcise our hearts according to God's Word, to cut the flesh away from our new life in Yeshua.

Jeremiah 10 makes it clear that we ought not bring a tree into our homes, stand it up, and decorate it with idols of silver and gold. Artificial trees are not an exception. God knew what would come of His church, and remember that Jeremiah 1:5 explains that God appointed the prophet for the nations. He's preaching to those who would later accept Messiah Yeshua among the Gentiles. When Jeremiah writes that we ought not "fear" idols, but we ought to "fear" God, He means that we ought not worship idols, or honor our Messiah using them, but we ought to worship God alone the way He has explained to us. All of the craftsmen who fashion idols of any kind, but especially those who mix the holy with the profane, will be put to shame. As Jeremiah prayed, so do I: "Correct me O LORD [and correct your people who call out to you by the name of Jesus], but with justice, not with Your anger, or You will bring me [and all of my brethren] to nothing." This is the same prayer as Psalm 139:23-24, which we ought to pray daily: "Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." The LORD's wrath will fall on those who reject Him, so let each of us repent.

Jeremiah 11, Jeremiah 12

The LORD instituted a covenant that Israel broke, and we can see God's mournful Voice condemning Israel according to His own Word, but He had to do it, for the Word of the LORD is just and true. He said: Judah, like Israel, would be taken over by foreign adversaries, but then they would return for another chance. This is when He would come Himself to present salvation to all who call upon His name. Those who reject Him would not have another chance at the end. The New Covenant we enjoy is a better covenant, in that we do not sacrifice bulls and goats, but we look to the sacrifice of Yeshua, we do not have a temple in Jerusalem, but a temple in our own bodies and among the Body of believers, we have Yeshua as our Mediator and High Priest, and the law is written on our hearts by the Holy Spirit. But "how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?" (Heb. 10:29). It is in this truth that we know we must choose to follow Yeshua. Let us plead to the LORD to transform and preserve us, to change the hearts of our enemies, and to judge justly according to His Truth.

Jeremiah 13, Jeremiah 14, Jeremiah 15

The LORD cannot work with people who rebel against Him, but He so desires to use us for such glorious ends; for us to share together, and so He asks us to repent and return to Him so He can bless us. If we refuse, there are judgments that follow, and these are meant to chasten us to instruct us in righteousness so that we might return. The LORD is long-suffering, not willing that any should perish, but He desires that all should repent and inherit eternal life. He gave His Son Yeshua specifically because we cannot do good on our own when accustomed to doing evil. He came to help us, and He does help us by exposing us for who we are without Him.

Shame is part of repentance, for if we do not confess our sins and say "I did it," how can we ever hope to sin no more and walk with God? We backslide, we wander and think there is joy in it, but we find only sorrow and trouble, and judgment follows—one of four types: the pestilence, war, famine or oppression. As we read in Hebrews 12, these judgments are meant to bring us back. We pray to the LORD to heal us; plead with Him to hear our prayers, but until we decide to turn toward Him, how can He?

"Have mercy upon me, a sinner," I pray, and so should we all. We pray, as Jeremiah, "Because you are patient, don't banish me; know that for your sake I suffer insults. When I found your words, I devoured them; your words make me glad, they gave me joy; because LORD of Hosts, you had me bear your name." He answers: "If you return—If I bring you back—you will stand before me. If you separate the precious from the base—the holy from the profane—you will be my spokesmen." Yeshua asked us to go out and make disciples, to baptize them according to God's nature as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and to teach all He commanded. The fields are ripe for harvest, but the workers are few. Will we become His spokesmen in this fallen world that is ready to further fall? If we do His will in this way, He will free us from the grasp of the wicked and redeem us from death.

Dad wrote:
"If you repent, I will restore you
    that you may serve me;
if you utter worthy, not worthless, words,
    you will be my spokesman. Jeremiah 15:19

This is a great promise from the Lord.  If only the people would understand and act.  The first step is to know one’s own weaknesses and shortcomings and to come to a point of contrition and condemnation of these things.

Focussing on the ways we may fall short in our own lives leads to the forgiveness of others for theirs.  We need to let go of those harms that were inflicted by others to expect to be forgiven of ours.

Equally important is sincere prayer which comes from the heart.  This can help to move us away from the destructive thoughts that cause worry and give way to mundane desires.  Ask The Lord to guide and lead us in ways that can develop and foster an  attitude of love and gratitude.

There are many opportunities to show compassion and generosity to others.  We need to come to love others as we love ourselves."

Dan wrote:
"The Lord delivers those who seek after him, and not after others, out of the calamity of those that turn their backs on him. This is relevant to us, in a nation once devoted to God, that has turned its collective back on him: sacrificing it's children; celebrating abomination; and making merchandise of the poor.  Without a revival,  bringing us as a society back to 1745, we have no hope of escaping judgement.  But God delivers the faithful out of his wrath."

Jeremiah 16, Jeremiah 17, Jeremiah 18

What a horrible realization when the LORD says no new promise exists for future generations of people, but the culture is so corrupted that new generations cannot change from the wicked ways of their parents. Children may even walk away from their parents' depravity, and I have seen some do this, but they don't know where to turn and so they "live according to the stubbornness of their own evil heart," and they don't listen to the Word of the LORD. But the LORD would act, first to restore the people to Israel and Judah following their captivity in Assyria and Babylon respectively, and then He would send His Son Yeshua to redeem all people, Jews and Gentiles alike, for their sin. Following this pivot point in history, Yeshua would send out fishermen and hunters to find every soul all around the whole world who would listen to Him and follow Him into eternity. The age of the Gentiles would come, when they would be grafted-in to Israel, and say, "Our fathers inherited nothing but lies, futile idols, completely useless" and instead embrace the God who created the Heavens and the Earth and everything in it. Gentiles would know Yeshua; His power and His might, and they would be used to bring the Jews to jealousy—when they obey God.

Here is the Truth of God's Word: "Blessed is the man who trusts in Adonai; Adonai will be his security. He will be like a tree planted near water; it spreads out its roots by the river; it does not notice when heat comes; and its foliage is luxuriant; it is not anxious in a year of drought but keeps on yielding fruit" AND "Cursed is the man who trusts in man, who relies on merely human strength, whose heart turns away from Adonai.” We have to rely on the LORD fully in every arena of our life, and He will help us endure until the end. The moment we compromise and turn to our own strength or the ideas offered by the world, that is when we will fall. It may not happen immediately, but it will happen. There is a critical follow up point from the LORD: “The heart is more deceitful than anything else and mortally sick. Who can fathom it? I, the LORD, search the heart; I test inner motivations; in order to give to everyone what his actions and conduct deserve.” We cannot trust our own heart when deciding to follow the LORD, for we will deceive ourselves. We must trust in His Word, because that is the only sure rock we have to stand on. His Word became flesh and rose from death so His Holy Spirit could dwell in us and help us, but even when Heaven and Earth pass away, the Word will endure. We must trust in and align with the Word of God. It is imperative to our eternal success.

Toward the end of Jeremiah 17, we can see the value the LORD places on the Sabbath. He does not want us doing any work, or carrying in good for buying or selling. This is important to the LORD. He really, truly cares about this, which is why He commanded it. The Jews took this Word from Jeremiah to an extreme and interpreted the bed a cripple man had lied on as "a burden," and when Yeshua told Him to pick it up and carry it, the LORD was labeled a heretic. This is legalism. From the context of the Scripture passage, a burden means something brought into the city gates to sell. We ought not engage in commerce on God's Holy Sabbath Day, for this day ought to be "holy and not for doing work." The LORD will bless us when we obey Him in this in greater measure than you can imagine until you start doing it with all of your heart. I promise! When we don't do it, it is difficult to come to a place of true Shalom in our relationship with Yeshua. I know this from experience. The LORD says: "make Shabbat a holy day." He says this repeatedly about the Seventh Day, which is Saturday. He means it.

Why would we the clay question the one who formed us into a pot for His use? How could we say we have a better way than He? What arrogance! The LORD has formed many men out of clay, and He breaks those down into dust who do not love Him, but uses those that love Him and keep His commandments. He continues and will continue to mold and remold His people until He has build a whole nation that desires to obey Him and recognizes His grace through Yeshua, and these will inherit the Kingdom. As we go out to do what the LORD taught us, to carry out the Great Commission, we ought to recognize that the LORD has instructed us that we will be persecuted, as He Himself was persecuted, and even crucified. And yet, if we trust Him and obey Him throughout this effort, the LORD will hear our prayers and rescue us from the second death—He will raise us up on the Last Day. Blessed be the name of the LORD, the one Name that endures all others: Yeshua!

Jeremiah 19, Jeremiah 20, Jeremiah 21, Jeremiah 22

It is a terrible burden to preach judgement and disaster against one's native land, and at some point speaking the Word of God will come with a cost. The cost of preaching the Gospel of repentance for Jeremiah was the stocks and flogging, and this would not be his last punishment. Yeshua told us that those of us accepting Him ought to count the cost. We may need to give up family, fortune, perhaps even our own lives to follow Him, but we will inherit eternal life if we're willing to put him first in this. Though the tribulation and persecution is unpleasant for a moment, we ought to rejoice in it knowing that the LORD rescues His people from the clutches of evildoers. How is it so difficult to obey the LORD when all He asks for is love from us? He says: “Do what is right and just; rescue the wronged from their oppressors; do nothing wrong or violent to the stranger, orphan or widow; don’t shed innocent blood in this place." Is that so hard? To truly follow Yeshua, this is the message of reconciliation we ought to be preaching, no matter what comes of it for us. The LORD will ultimately judge those who refuse to do these things, and save those who do and teach them.

Jeremiah 23, Jeremiah 24, Jeremiah 25

Jeremiah 23 speaks to the problem of teachers and prophets who preach falsely and the consequential ruin that will come upon the people the LORD had previously blessed because of this false teaching. The teachers will be destroyed—judged with a double portion of judgment, according to James 3:1—but the people they have led astray will also suffer on account of accepting the false teaching of men instead of the true Word of God found in Torah.

Nevertheless, the LORD will gather what remains of His flock from all of the countries where they were driven, and they will be fruitful and increase. This remnant are the believers who keep the commandments of God and faith in Yeshua, per Revelation 14:12. These will be gathered back to the Promised Land at the end, and the LORD will be known by His second act more than His first. Instead of the deliverer who took His people from the bondage of Egypt, or the deliverer who died on the cross, He will be known as the Redeemer who gathered His saved people who followed Him together into one place forever and ever to live in joy and peace.

Jeremiah is so frustrated and troubled by the false prophets, that he said he shakes like a drunk. Men (and sometimes women) purporting to preach the Word of God are actually godless. Look at many priests and pastors today who literally preach against the Word of God and say it has been changed. By whom? Who changed it? If it was men who claim to change the Word of God, these are false prophets; the blind leading the blind. Cheap grace has led so many astray; it is a slippery way, which leads so many to darkness and death. This is what leads me to identify the idea that we are "once saved, always saved" as "greasy grace." It is false teaching from Satan that leads those astray who were once saved to be sanctified and molded into the image of Christ, but who then fell into lawlessness and lost their salvation. These, even these, can still repent and be brought back to a path of humility and contrition that sanctifies God's people into the righteous model of Messiah Yeshua.

When pastors, preachers or prophets speak against the Word of the LORD, the LORD says this about them: “Don’t listen to the words of the prophets who are prophesying to you. They are making you act foolishly, telling you visions from their own minds and not from the mouth of Adonai. They keep reassuring those who despise me, ‘Adonai says you will be safe and secure,’ and saying to all living by their own stubborn hearts, ‘Nothing bad will happen to you.’ But which of them has been present at the council of Adonai to see and hear his word? Who has paid attention to his word enough to hear it?” Any pastor, preacher or prophet who says you are fine the way you are is a false teacher. You are not fine the way you are. You are deprived, wicked and doomed to destruction the way you are. This is why Yeshua's death and resurrection are so important. When we confess our sins, and change our lives to become like Yeshua, the Holy Spirit comes to mold us into His image, and we take on His righteousness, which is defined by His Torah. This isn't an automatic process that happens without our consent or without our action, but this is a process that requires our heartfelt consent and enduring obedience all the days of our lives. The LORD has promised never to leave us or forsake us, but we must be certain not to leave or forsake Him. Those who endure until the end will be saved.

In the end, and only in the end, we will fully understand which prophets spoke Truth and which did not, but we know them today by their fruit. Which preachers, prophets and teachers instructed you to turn away from wickedness and embrace God's Word? Which claim to hear from God but preach against His Word? Which say there will be peace when there is no peace? Which say there is security, when the world is crumbling? There will be no peace nor security until the whole world is refreshed and all people who remain are fully embracing the Word of God! How many follow the authentic Yeshua/Jesus who taught the Truth of God's Word, and how many worship another Jesus who teaches greasy grace; that you can live however you want, eat whatever you'd like to eat, and worship however you would like to worship? Wheat and chaff have a lot in common, and are actually completely mistakable for one another until the harvest, but then one nourishes and the other destroys. The Word of God is like fire that burns up all that is false but purifies that which is true. It is like a hammer that shapes hardened rocks into the image God desires it to be. God's law is not a burden; it is a delight that brings liberty! The law of men is a burden, and it is hard to bear. Don't ever say the law of God is a burden! It frees us to pursue eternal peace and love of God and one another. The Word of God is just, it is good, and it endures forever.

As we move into Jeremiah 24-25, Jeremiah speaks about the exile of Judah into Babylon and its aftermath. He also speaks about the Last Day when the LORD will gather His people together into His kingdom. The vision of good figs and bad figs is simple: Those who are captured, persecuted, and even tortured or killed for the sake of God's Word will be purified into God's children who will inherit His kingdom. Those Jews taken into captivity are made righteous through their difficulties; they will return to the LORD with all their heart, which is what He desires. This we ought to remember and think about as judgment comes upon this world today. Those left behind to try and make it on their own are the ones who will be fully disgraced; those who think they do a good thing by taking up arms against the enemy that God has sent to destroy the nation. Ha! These will be destroyed utterly and fully, and they will not be justified in their actions that seek their own way.

The LORD's Word has not changed, and He repeatedly sends teachers, preachers and prophets to explain the Truth of it to all people. He did this before Christ, and He does it today now that Christ reigns forever. Most people don't listen to the Truth; nor do they heed the call to follow it. Jeremiah writes: "The message was always: ‘Every one of you, turn back from his evil way, from the evil of your actions. Then you will live in the land Adonai gave you and your ancestors forever and ever. Don’t follow other gods by serving and worshipping them. Don’t provoke my anger with things your own hands have made; then I will do you no harm." This message has not changed. But those who don't listen will eventually be destroyed by their failure to do so, and those who listen will be preserved through such calamity. People will be buying and selling, marrying and given in marriage up until the Last Day, but on that Day total destruction will come, and only those devoted fully to the LORD will be preserved.

Judah's captivity would be exactly 70 years in Babylon, and God said directly that He will use Babylon to judge Judah. However, don't think for a moment that His prophesy of old has been changed. He said, "I will bless those who bless Israel and curse those who curse Israel." Because Babylon thought they were something for conquering Judah, and they boast in their victory, they too would be destroyed. Anyone who comes against Israel will be destroyed. Look at Rome and tell me how glorious she is today! She too was destroyed for cursing Israel. Anyone who curses Israel will fall. God may judge His people and preserve those in the midst of the judgement who return to Him, but He will utterly destroy those who were used to bring His judgment and who did not in the midst of this judgement turn themselves toward the living God. "I will pay them back according to their deeds and the work of their own hands," God said. The LORD comes as one ready to tread grapes; the grapes of wrath come in their due time and the blood rises up to the top of the horses bridles. This is the blood that will cover the LAMB, also, when He returns to bring His wrath on those who willfully disobeyed His Word. "Adonai is indicting the nations, about to pass judgment on all humankind; the wicked he has handed over to the sword..." The Sword is the Word of God.

Dad said:
"I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek thy servant; for I do not forget thy commandments.  Psalm 119:176

At some point we have all been lost sheep because others have led us away from God’s Truth.

“The shepherds will have nowhere to flee,
    the leaders of the flock no place to escape.
Hear the cry of the shepherds,
    the wailing of the leaders of the flock,
    for the Lord is destroying their pasture”.  Jeremiah 25:35-36

Now that we have His Word written on our hearts, we must be on guard that our own authority is tied only to what can be taught from that very same Word of God, and nothing more.  The sins of the wayward soul will never surpass those who led them into the darkness."
 
Jeremiah 26, Jeremiah 27, Jeremiah 28

Jeremiah 26 shows the LORD's heart is to turn away from His wrath and to restore His people in their land, but when they ignore Him and walk away from Him despite His warnings, He must follow through on judgment—judgment, however much it takes, is what restores the remnant to follow God. Most people don't want to hear the Truth of God's Word, because it means they will have to change their lives. Most often, people simply distance themselves from Truth-tellers and continue living in their depravity, but when they have power and influence, they threaten death to the one who speaks the Truth of God's Word. How many prophets of God were persecuted and killed? What happened to God Himself when He came in the flesh? And what did Yeshua say to those of us who follow Him in all of His ways? We can expect persecution, tribulation and death, and we must face it in order to truly be His disciples. Those who hear the Word of God and repent are those who will live in God's Kingdom, and what a blessing it will be to be fellow workers with Messiah Yeshua bringing in the harvest. The fields are white for harvesting, but the workers are few. Let us be among them, no matter the cost.

In Jeremiah 27 and 28, the prophet engaged in some theatrical prophesy, sending yokes to various kings to showcase the coming bondage they would be subject to under King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. This was the LORD's doing. Nebuchadnezzar was called a "servant of God" Most High in bringing this judgment upon Judah and all the other nations. There were many prophets who did not want this to happen and they prophesied peace would come to Judah and the stolen temple articles would be restored, but Jeremiah did not allow these false prophesies of peace to distract him from what God told him was true. One example is Hananiah in Jeremiah 28, who broke the yoke that Jeremiah theatrically wore around his neck as he gave his prophesy to the Jewish leaders. Jeremiah himself desired the prophesy of Hananiah to be true, as do I personally pray for America's revival and recovery under God. However, Jeremiah knew it won't happen, and thus the false prophet Hananiah was judged on account of it. How much more today? The LORD said He would bring iron yokes to replace the wooden yokes that were broken, fully establishing Judah's end. And Hananiah for prophesying peace when there was no peace would lose his life. Seven months later, he was dead.

Dad said:
“The Lord has not sent you, yet you have persuaded this nation to trust in lies. 16 Therefore this is what the Lord says: ‘I am about to remove you from the face of the earth”.  Jeremiah 28:15-16

How many people can we identify in the history of the world, up to this present day that have persuaded the nations of the world to believe complete and total lies?  The list will be long and it’s still growing.  It is easy for people to be deceived when they are not rooted in The Truth.

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”  Ephesians 6:12

The Lord reminds us that we live in a spiritual battlefield.  The progenitor of evil is not in any man, but in the  sphere of demons.
We have the power to fight back through prayer, joined with firm reliance on the Word and The Awesome, Saving Power of God.

Dan said:
Today's readings discussed the false prophets of Jeremiah's time, and the peace of God in times of trouble.
We have people proclaiming political solutions to our spiritual problems.  This is why the revival of the 1970s was short lived, a decade long revival became a political movement, and left true course. It is why the Tea Party was so short lived, it never even realized it's spiritual moorings; they were there, but ignored.  Men's lust for power, and the contemporary perspective that we must do God's work for him, blind us to letting Him be King and determining the course of our actions.
We cannot be author of our actions and achieve sustained success.  Rather let us say, God tell me what to do, and I will do it.  My greatest political successes were when I did not, and did not try to, see the end from the beginning.
Even today, I am not doing things in the role that I enjoy, but in the role that God has given me, teaching others how to be what I ache to be.

Jeremiah 29, Jeremiah 30, Jeremiah 31

Like He said to the children of Israel through Jeremiah, the LORD Yeshua said, "In this world, you will have tribulation, but be at ease, for I have overcome the world." The LORD would reward those who embraced persecution, tribulation, and captivity with joyful hearts willing to serve Him and bring the message of the Gospel even to the prison guards so they too could repent. Those who refuse the LORD's discipline, who try to avoid His chastening, who remain in their entitlement and pride, these would be ultimately destroyed. The LORD will gather His people at the appointed time, His Messiah would come, He would send us out like sheep among wolves, and yet He expected His people to withstand the many tests and grow in our desire to serve Him.

Jeremiah also looks to a distant future, when the LORD would fully implement His new covenant, when the full measure of His Holy Spirit would fall upon all flesh and not a single soul would be able to turn away from Him. Every knee would bow and every tongue would confess that Yeshua is LORD to the glory of God the Father. The time had not yet come, and we still await it. But if the people who are called by His name humble themselves and seek His face, He will return and heal our land and bring us into His kingdom forever and ever, for He has freed us to follow Him because of the grace He offers.

Jeremiah 32, Jeremiah 33, Jeremiah 34

Who are the sons of Abraham? According to Yeshua, they are those who do the deeds of Abraham. Jeremiah was one such man. He obeyed the LORD and spoke His Word to those who wanted to rebel against it, even though it landed him in the stocks and then in prison. Sinners hate the Word of the LORD, and they hate its messengers, but those who are humble and repent cannot get enough of it. Despite his time in prison, God worked out a deal to give Jeremiah an inheritance in the land. It would not be an inheritance for now, because Babylon would crush Judah and Jerusalem and take the people captive for 70 years. Would it be an inheritance in his lifetime? Perhaps, but more importantly, Jeremiah, like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Moses sought an inheritance in God's Heavenly Kingdom go come, and through faith and obedience they will receive it. His inheritance rests in a clay jar so it can be preserved for a long time, and one day he will receive it. For those with singleness of heart and purpose, those who fear God forever, the Promised Land awaits for our good; it is an everlasting covenant with Yeshua, the seed of David, that ensures this.

The Land itself will also be preserved and restored, and one day it will be inhabited by God's Holy People right here on Earth. While Jerusalem was demolished multiple times and laid desolate for hundreds of years, it will be inhabited forever and filled with thanksgiving and praise of God Most High by the mighty and most powerful name of Yeshua, the LORD of hosts, for God is good, and His grace endures forever. The righteous Branch of David will bring salvation to Judah, Jerusalem will be a land of peace, and He will reign forever. It is Yeshua who frees the captives and brings them to the place He has prepared for them in the New Jerusalem.

Yeshua told the story of the two brothers; one who said he would obey but didn't, and the other who said he wouldn't obey, but obeyed in the end. In this same way the LORD will restore His people who follow Him before He calls them home, but He will cast away those who refuse to heed His call, despite their earlier efforts. We cannot start off running the race and then peter off to some spot along the path, but we must run the race to win it, and endure until the end, for in the end we will be saved if we do.

Jeremiah 35, Jeremiah 36, Jeremiah 37

This sermon by Pastor Daniel speaks to the history of the Rechabites remarkably: https://youtu.be/mYOngt5kRHM?si=OqnY5AS6oILTVkdu. It's an amazing story about the sons of Jethro who came up with Moses and all of Israel into the Promised Land. Their father Yonadav the son of Rekhav commanded them not to drink wine and to dwell in tents, spiritually signifying that they were not to dwell in this world but look forward to the next, when Yeshua would rule forever. This is the same thing Hebrews 11 speaks about concerning Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. These Rechabites, Midianite Gentiles, are the spiritual children of Abraham with a heart that seeks after God. They obeyed this command of their father, and thus their Heavenly Father proclaimed they would always have a man to stand before Him—in other words, those who obeyed would inherit eternal life. God held up these obedient, Gentile men as a model for what He is looking for in us, and contrasted that with the men of Judah who had disobeyed their Creator and Redeemer at every opportunity. This story shows us clearly that God does not look to our physical heritage relative to whom He will redeem, but rather He looks to the condition of our hearts toward Him.

The story of Barukh the son of Neriyah, who brought the scroll of Jeremiah (Yirmeyahu) before King Jehoiakim (Y'hoyakim) shows us the contrasting heart of a rebellious man. He may listen to the word of the LORD, but he won't regard it for a moment and it won't have any affect on him or change his life. How many Bibles today collect dust on bookshelves? My friends often find perfectly new Bibles at the dump when they take their garbage there. The hearts of the people who sent the Bibles to the dump are like this king who burned up the words of Jeremiah, and the same thing will happen to them. Jeremiah wrote the scroll again. There are so many Bibles throughout the earth that they will never be discarded. The Word of the LORD endures forever. But there is at the same time a famine of the Word of God when no one will read it and apply it to their lives; it's worse when no one will teach it properly, and worse still when pastors teach it improperly, leading so many people astray. These are the things that bring about judgment, and those who reject the Word of the LORD will be rejected by the LORD.

Chapter 37 looks back to earlier days when Jeremiah was still regarded by King Zedekiah (Tzidkiyahu), but cast off by the Temple priests. For speaking Truth and calling Judah to repent, Jeremiah was thrown into a pit and left for dead. The king, not strong enough in faith to release the prophet and stand with Him, calling his people to repent, at least brought the prophet out of the pit and put him in the guard's house and fed him bread. This reminds me of what happened to the Apostle Paul, who was about to be murdered by the Jews in Jerusalem for speaking the truth about Yeshua, but who was then sent to live in the guard houses of the Roman governors. The Roman appointed King Agrippa even said to Paul in Acts 26:28, “You almost persuade me to become a Christian.” The key word is "almost," and such was the case for Zedekiah as well. These men did not develop a transformational faith. However, the mercy of God through Agrippa and Festus gave the Apostle an opportunity to preach the Word, which has endured to this day. Jeremiah also used the opportunity of God's mercy through Zedekiah to preach the Word, which has endured to this day. Will this Word cause our own hearts to turn toward God? That question remains for all who read it.

Jeremiah 38, Jeremiah 39, Jeremiah 40

The day of reckoning had come for Judah, and Jeremiah was vindicated. In the eternal order, this was a good thing. Jeremiah prophesied what was right and True even though it cost him his freedom and persecution. He will inherit a place in God's Kingdom through his faith and obedience. Zedekiah, for not leading his people according to the Word of God, saw horror before his eyes were permanently taken. If only he had listened to Jeremiah and surrendered to God's will. Sometimes, we must accept judgment, even though it costs us, in order to bring the will of the LORD about. I know a lot of people who are talking about taking up arms to defend America when it is ultimately invaded. Why? What virtue is there left to defend? The LORD has called for judgement, and we are past the point of no return. Our role is to arm as many as we can reach with the Gospel so they can live for Christ and thus live forever, and let God take care of the details pertaining to the governments. That is His job—it always has been and it always will be. I can't wait to live under His rule alone, without any government of men, but as for me, I will obey the LORD, preach His Gospel and teach His commands, for this is the only right thing to do, especially now.

Jeremiah 41, Jeremiah 42, Jeremiah 43

When men do what they believe is best in their own heart, rather than listen to the Word of the LORD, disaster comes. Why do men resist so stalwartly what the LORD has said? He created everything in Heaven and Earth and set up His order for our freedom and joy. If men would only follow His Way, all would be well. But men resist, and then ask Him for His Word, and when He gives it to them, they call Him a liar and do the opposite of what He has said. It's no wonder the world is so full of suffering. If only we would obey the LORD, there would be peace and joy.

Jeremiah 43 and 43 were unveiled to me in early 2017 when I was deciding whether to move out of Derry or remain here. I had placed an offer on a house in Litchfield, but when the LORD miraculously revealed Jeremiah 42 in my daily reading, then in a radio sermon, and then Jeremiah 43 the next day, I discerned God wanted us to stay in Derry. We withdrew our offer on the home and decided to stay. We stopped looking for a house. Two weeks later we were negotiating a deal for our current house off market, and we bought it without a real estate agent well under its market value. The LORD is good, and He blesses us when we obey Him.

Jeremiah 44, Jeremiah 45, Jeremiah 46

The boldness of atheists, witches and the defiant is sickening to me today, and it was surely sickening for Jeremiah to watch these defiant children go to Egypt against the Word of the LORD. The LORD would have the last Word. He would do what He promised, He would judge Egypt along with the Jews who sought safety there, and only a remnant would survive from there. The LORD would always preserve a remnant of His people, those who trust in Him, but that does not mean those who were destroyed in their defiance would have another chance. Their deaths brought about their end forever. Egypt would be inherited again, because the world had not yet come to an end and Egypt represents the world. Jacob would be inherited again, because God's holy people would endure forever, and Israel represents God's children. A remnant would exist in every generation. Yeshua would come to offer salvation to all who believe in Him and follow Him in His ways, but He would utterly destroy those in rebellion. One day, the LORD will judge the sheep and the goats and separate them forever, the goats to everlasting destruction and the sheep to everlasting life. Until then, both would live together and each man would have to choose which way he would go.

Jeremiah 47, Jeremiah 48

Babylon was used for God's judgment on the whole Middle East, and perhaps farther than that, on account of their sin against God Most High. One large, godless nation, used by God to judge the "world." Consider this to be a picture of the End Times also, when one godless nation will judge the world and subject all people in bondage. You won't be able to buy or sell without her mark, and those who don't bear the mark will be slain for Messiah Yeshua; they will live even after they die.

In the chapter on the Philistines, we discover their origin: The CJB says "Adonai is destroying the P’lishtim, the remnant from the island of Kaftor." Look at the NASB (1995) or the NKJV and it's the "coastlands" of Caphtor or the "country" of "Caphtor." This is a city on the island of Crete. Now we know where the Philistines came from.

Moav/Moab were the children of Lot, but like their counsin once removed Jacob, they have gone astray from the God of their Father Abraham. Who are the children of Abraham? They are those who do the works of Abraham, according to Yeshua. Let us be among them.

Jeremiah 49, Jeremiah 50

The people of Amon were the sons of Lot, just like Moav/Moab yesterday, and both will be judged by God using Babylon's forces. Edom, the children of Esau, wouldn't be spared, and all the other nations of the Middle East that are focused on worldly things. Israel and Judah would be completely overtaken by this foreign superpower. But not long after this, Babylon itself would be destroyed from the North, for God would bless those who bless Israel and curse those who curse Israel. Because Babylon destroyed Judah and exalted in victory, Babylon would be destroyed: "Repay her for her deeds; as she has done, do to her. For she insulted Adonai, the Holy One of Isra’el," the LORD said. A remnant from Israel, on the other hand, would be restored. At the end of the age, a remnant would be made clean by God Himself, who came in the flesh and died for the sins of many, and then He rose up making a way back home for all who follow Him. The lost sheep would be brought home, their guilt would be sought, but not found, for God would pardon the remnant who trust in Him.

Jeremiah 51, Jeremiah 52

The LORD used Babylon to judge Judah, and now He pronounced judgment against Babylon because the nation did not turn to the LORD with the remnant of Judah living within its borders, and it had torn Jerusalem asunder. We read: “'I will intoxicate her leaders and sages, her governors, deputies and warriors. They will sleep forever and never wake up,' says the king, whose name is Adonai-Tzva’ot." The LORD of hosts would cause all in the world, whether they were leaders or wise men, enforcers or conquerers, to die, not just in this life, but in the next. They would sleep forever and never wake up. This is the second death. Those who reject God and curse the people of God without repentance will have no place in the Kingdom of God to come. As it was for the unrepentant Babylonians, there is nothing for any rebels against God's law or Messiah Yeshua to expect but death. But Babylon's judgment wouldn't happen until after Judah was judged first and lived in captivity for 70 years, just like God promised. The worldly system that Babylon represents will not be judged until the Last Day, after all of God's people are judged and separated, the sheep from the goats.

Ezekiel 1, Ezekiel 2, Ezekiel 3, Ezekiel 4

Isaiah prophesied many years before the Babylon captivity and, while he prophesied about the captivity, he taught largely concerning the end times that would come well after this period, starting with the advent of God in the flesh and ending with His second coming. Jeremiah was a cross-captivity prophet, beginning his prophesy just prior to the captivity and ending it in the midst of that captivity. He also spoke about the immediate future for Judah, but also concerning far-off times that apply to you and me as well. Ezekiel prophesies in the midst of the captivity. He began his book 30 years following Judah’s initial captivity into Babylon. God appeared to Him literally by the rivers of Babylon, and this image of God was very similar to the glory that had left the temple of God in Jerusalem. God would still interact with His people Israel; He would still reach out through His prophets to bring His Truth. In the midst of captivity, the LORD would never leave nor forsake His people.

Ezekiel’s vision of God is worth studying. It ought to be used to interpret the armies of Israel in the wilderness, for the formation is very similar if not identical to what we read in the first few chapters of Numbers. Israel was fashioned to create a model of the Heavenly places in the wilderness, and now we see the Heavenly places appear before Ezekiel in the wilderness of Babylon. We know God is awesome, and Ezekiel’s vision only begins to explore how awesome He is.

Ezekiel fell on his face when God appeared to Him, but the messengers of God then sent him out to do the work of the LORD. This also ought to be our attitude. We ought to fall on our faces before God, particularly in our heart, humbled before our Creator, Redeemer and Deliverer, and allow Him to lift us up, for the exalted shall be humbled and the humbled shall be exalted. God would use Ezekiel to speak to the children of Israel. Despite being surrounded by briars and thorns (thorns and thistles), which are demons and false prophets, Ezekiel was commanded to eat and deliver God’s Word to God’s people. Even if none of them heard the Word of God, Ezekiel would be obeying the LORD and fulfilling His command, saving His own life. But some would hear His Word, and some would be saved among the remnant. As God said to Ezekiel, He says to us: “Don’t be afraid of them or their words … You are to speak My Words to them, whether they listen or not … hear what I am telling you; don’t you be rebellious like that rebellious house.” We ought to obey God and not man, to proclaim, “this is the Word of God,” and we had better speak and do the Word of God! We ought to fear God and not man. This is our all, to love God and keep His commandments.

As a man or woman of God, it is our duty to speak God’s Word and do it. In His “Great Commission,” Yeshua commands us to spread the Gospel, to baptize in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and to teach the commandments of God (Matthew 28:18-20). Here He tells Ezekiel the same thing: If we don’t warn the wicked about their wickedness, we will die with them in their wickedness. If we warn them and they don’t listen, the wicked will still die, but we will live. If we warn them and they do listen and repent, then we will have saved both their lives as well as our own, and of course this is the hope and heart of God. He is not willing that any should perish, but is long-suffering so all will come to repentance and inherit eternal life. The LORD will not remember the righteousness of the men or women who turn from righteousness and sin. He will only glorify the righteous who remain in their righteousness and endure until the end.

As we move from the late third and into the fourth chapter, we can see that the LORD begins to use Ezekiel as a living, theatrical prophesy. In an interesting note, compare how the LORD spoke in parables in the flesh, He used physical Israel as a historical, living parable, and here He is using Ezekiel Himself as a historical, living parable. The LORD is the same yesterday, today and forever, and He uses parables like this, according to Matthew 13, so those with ears to hear can hear and move to walk with God, and those who are stuck in their own way can simply fall from bad to worse. Only when our heart is to follow after God are we meant to understand His Word. There is so much meaning in each one of these. In the first one, God sets up Ezekiel to be His mouth. He will literally be a mute, silent and unable to speak until the LORD puts a Word in His mouth to say. This makes it clear to all who know the man that when He speaks, He speaks for God alone and not himself. Ezekiel would need to be willing to do this, before the LORD could use Him in this way. He said “yes.” He went and fulfilled what the LORD called him to do.

The chapter 4 theatrical parable is intense and it points forward to Peter’s Vision in Acts 10 and 11, particularly when the LORD asked Ezekiel to bake his bread of “wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet and buckwheat” on human dung. This was a test to see if Ezekiel would defile himself with unclean foods as the other Jews were doing in Babylon.  Upon this Word of the LORD, Ezekiel objected, saying: “No, Adonai Elohim! I have never defiled myself—from my youth until now I have never eaten anything that died by itself or was killed by wild animals; no such disgusting food has ever entered my mouth.” When Peter was confronted with all sorts of unclean animals to eat from a tablecloth lowered from Heavens, and the LORD said to Him, “Rise Peter, kill and eat,” Peter said the same thing as Ezekiel: “Not so, Lord! For I have never eaten anything common or unclean.” In neither case did the LORD desire or require the prophet to defile himself. The LORD answered Ezekiel: “All right, I will give you cow dung to use instead of human dung, and you can prepare your bread on it.” Ezekiel passed the test. Peter passed also, for he declared the meaning of his vision here: “You know how unlawful it is for a Jewish man to keep company with or go to one of another nation. But God has shown me that I should not call any man common or unclean. Therefore I came without objection…” In Peter’s case, the law he referred to was that law commanded by men, and not God, and so God was correcting him to obey the law of God. The same principle was meant by Ezekiel’s vision. His theatrics were meant to restore Judah to the law of God.

Ezekiel 5, Ezekiel 6, Ezekiel 7, Ezekiel 8

Judah was committing idolatry, worshipping the sun, worshipping creeping things, setting up idols in the Temple of God, and they thought God wouldn't notice or care. Maybe they even thought that by invoking the name of the LORD while doing these things, God would overlook their pagan hearts. Not so, God would spread them out into distant lands by chasing them with the sword, He would kill some with the fire of pestilence, He would starve others in the sieges of famine, and yet others would be left to be taken into captivity. Even among those captives, some would die by the sword or be further scattered, some would fall to disease and others would die from hunger as God judged the nations where they were taken. Only a small remnant that remained faithful to the LORD would endure through this time of judgment, and among this remnant is where we must aspire to be.

Ezekiel 9, Ezekiel 10, Ezekiel 11

There was a period of time between the initial captivity and the destruction of the temple and ultimate captivity of Judah, and Ezekiel is writing about this time. He witnessed the glory of God leave the Temple, this same glory that appeared to him in Babylon. The LORD literally put a mark on the head of those who were sighing and crying over the sins they witnessed around them. This is the mark of God, and it is the same thing as the seal we read about in Revelation. God's people, though they will suffer through tribulation, will be marked to be spared from the destroying angel. Meanwhile, those who disregard God, whether young or old, male or female, will be utterly cut off and destroyed. This is a prophesy of Judah, but also a look to the end of the age. God will have no mercy on those who turned their back on Him, and so we must be all the more emphatic in bringing as many as we can into the faith. The seal of the Holy Spirit through faith in Messiah Yeshua is the only hope for anyone during the Last Days. The LORD will gather together His people no matter where they are in the Earth, and He will give them a heart of flesh and a new spirit, so they can live. We are His people, and He is our God. Those who have hearts to go after loathsome things and disgusting practices will suffer the consequences of their own actions. There remains no mercy for the lawless ones.

Ezekiel 12, Ezekiel 13, Ezekiel 14

Ezekiel 12-13 is about false prophets, who dwell among a rebellious people, telling them lies to make them feel better about their sin. These prophesy "peace, when there is no peace." They speak about God's grace, when people are caught up in lawlessness. The time had come, and has come again, for preachers to speak of repentance, for men must turn from their wicked ways and go and sin no more to enjoy the grace that God offers through Yeshua. Ezekiel's prophesy of judgment will come upon Judah quickly, it is not for a time far off. It did quickly come to pass. At the same time, his prophesy was also for the end, and it has the same purpose. Even Peter explained in 2 Peter 3 that sinners will proclaim, "Where is the sign of his coming..." "since ancient times, things continue as they have always been." The LORD is long-suffering toward us, not willing that any of us should perish, but there comes a point when His judgment comes and there is no more mercy. In Ezekiel's day, that day was upon Judah. In our day, that day is coming quickly.

As preachers and teachers, we cannot prophesy our own thoughts, but must look to the Word of God to discern God's thoughts and desires for His people. God says "WOE" to those prophets who speak about good things while God's people turn their backs on Him. Their visions are futile and their divinations are false. God has not sent them, and nor has He called them, and they will suffer the second death for taking the LORD's name in vain. You cannot whitewash death, as Yeshua pointed out to the Scribes and Pharisees of His day. Today, many pastors are in the same camp, whitewashing sin, inventing their own commandments when God has been quite clear all along that only His commandments ought to matter to His people. Do some know the truth but fail to preach it because they fear losing their "handfuls of barley and crumbs of bread"? They kill those who are innocent and preserve those who ought to die. They go out to make Christian converts and make them twice the sons of hell as they are. They dishearten the righteous with their lies and encouraged the wicked to keep on sinning, the LORD will destroy them, and He will rescue His people, those who endure through faith in Yeshua and obedience to God's commands.

We must be like Daniel, Noah and Job to endure God's judgment of famine, pestilence, war or tyrannical government oppression (wild beasts of the earth). Daniel lived in the midst of tyranny, but worked to love His enemy while not defiling Himself at the same time. He kept God's commandments in the midst of a pagan culture. Noah put His head down and obeyed God completely despite the fact that no one else in the whole world was doing this during his life. They thought he was crazy to build an ark—to put his trust in Christ alone—but that ark saved him from the destruction of the world as Christ will save His obedient out of the flood of fire that is coming to both destroy and refresh the Earth. Job lost everything he cared about in this life, even his own health, but he never gave up his faith in God. Yeshua told us that we must be willing to give up everything, even our very own lives, to be His disciples. These three are the example we must follow in these End Days. They are an excellent prophetic picture of what Yeshua taught.

Ezekiel 15, Ezekiel 16, Ezekiel 17

Ezekiel 15: All wood is useless when burned, but when it is alive on a vine or tree it is used to hold up a plant that produces fruit, and even when cut down, it's wood can be useful. We must turn to the LORD and produce fruit for His kingdom while we are alive or we will be burned like any other useless wood.

Read Ezekiel 16 carefully. It explains that only a post-pubescent adult female is fit for marriage. This is a very key surface level understanding for God's people, for even the religious Jews don't recognize this truth, and Muslims practice pedophilia. God's law does not allow it, and Ezekiel makes that clear. Outside this surface level truth, we see that God's mercy for his wife Israel will win out in the end, but first the husband had to die on the cross so Israel could remarry Him. Before that, both husband and wife would suffer on account of the wife's grievous sin. She committed more evil than her sister pagan nations around her. What a disgrace! Thanks be to God for His mercy in Messiah Yeshua!

A great concluding metaphor to this section of reading comes in Ezekiel 17: “Then all the trees of the field will know that I, Adonai, bring down the tall tree and raise up the low tree, wither the green tree and make the withered tree bear fruit. I, Adonai, have spoken; and I will do it.’" Let us be the low tree and the withered tree that depends on the source of light and water and fertilizer (food), for even the low tree will grow tall and produce fruit, and the withered tree will prosper when it clings to the source of all life.

Ezekiel 18, Ezekiel 19

Ezekiel 18 is the message of Yeshua. He came out preaching from His very first day, "Repent, and hear the Good News." The good news is this: The LORD says, "I take no pleasure in the death of anyone who die ... so turn yourselves around, and live!” He desires so much that we repent He came in the flesh to show us righteousness and then He died sinless on the cross so our sins could be forgiven. He rose so we could follow Him into His Kingdom, by trusting in Him and all His ways. Just as we read in Matthew 7—He will say "depart from me" to those who "practice lawlessness"—here in Ezekiel 18 He explains that any righteous man—even cleansed by the blood of the Lamb—who turns to practice lawlessness, will die in sin. Only those who repent—who turn from their lawlessness to practice righteousness—can say they are walking in the way Yeshua walked. These are truly following after the LORD. Yeshua deeply cares about this; not just what we do outwardly, but also the inward condition of our heart, which He both searches out and knows. Praise be to the LORD!

In Ezekiel 19, we see metaphors of Israel and Judah's kings, which led their nation astray. We have one King who will lead us in righteousness. Yeshua is the One we should follow.

Ezekiel 20, Ezekiel 21

The LORD does not hear the prayers of His people who practice lawlessness, but rather He helps those who understand the law was given for our good, and when we love the LORD, we will live by them. It's not just that we will live by them through obedience, but that we will live an abundant life of freedom and peace when we live by them, for the LORD has designed them for our good. In Luke 10:28, the LORD Yeshua said that if we love the LORD (by keeping His commandments; see John 14:15) and love one another (by keeping His commandments; see 2 John 1), then if you "do this, you will live.” Paul wrote in Romans 10:8-9 that this same Word ought to be in our mouths and in our hearts so that when we confess Yeshua is God and believe God rose Him from the dead we will be saved to live with Him.

The people have always complained about God speaking in parables, but that is how He speaks to His people, so only those with ears to hear will be blessed by His Word. The rest of humanity will be judged by the sword He wields, which is the Word of God that proceeds from His Mouth, discerning the thoughts and intentions of our hearts. The Word will consume that which is offensive to it, but preserve those who live by it.

Ezekiel 22, Ezekiel 23

The people of God have committed abominations; shed innocent blood; practiced idolatry; defiled themselves with unclean foods; rebelled against mother and father; oppressed the alien, the fatherless, and the widow; disdained God's Holy Days and Sabbaths; slandered; committed sexual immorality; taken bribes, usury, and unjust gain—and in practicing such lawlessness, they have forgotten God. We might believe the LORD spoke only about Israel and Judah here in Ezekiel's rebuke, and He certainly was referring to the children of Jacob, but He also was referring to you and to me. Anyone who practices lawlessness in these ways cannot inherit the Kingdom of God, as Paul wrote, and continued: "and such were some of you" in 1 Corinthians 6:10-11, "But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Yeshua and by the Spirit of our God." We were also scattered to spread this Good News. Can our hearts endure? Can our hands be strong in the days that God will deal with us? He will literally consume our uncleanliness by the fire of His most Holy Word, and any precious righteousness that remains will be set apart from the dross that is melted away.

The LORD said, "I searched for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand in the gap before Me for the land, so that I would not destroy it; but I found no one." There is not one of us without sin; none of us are worthy. And yet the LORD purifies us with tribulation and calls for us to endure in Him; to walk righteously before our God. To teach and live out His righteousness in this life, no matter the consequences. "In this life you will have tribulation," Yeshua said, but He also said, "I have overcome the world."

The example of Israel and Judah and their adultery against God is a warning. Let us not think we can mix the holy with the profane as a nation of kings and priests who call on the name of Yeshua, the High Priest after the order of Melchizedek, and yet escape the wrath of God. We cannot go after the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life and think that our one profession of faith is enough. The very ideas of mixing our faith in Yeshua with anything pagan is worse than a harlot who thinks she can sleep around with thousands of men and remain clean for her husband. We cannot turn the grace of God into lewdness (Jude 1:4), for Messiah Yeshua is not a minister of sin (Galatians 2:17).

Let us follow Messiah and His example of righteousness, because we love Him and trust what He has done and still promises to do.

Ezekiel 24, Ezekiel 25, Ezekiel 26

Ezekiel, from captivity in Babylon, foretold the final sacking of Jerusalem. In a dreadful theatrical parable, the LORD took Ezekiel's wife and told him not to mourn her death. In the same way, Ezekiel warned the Jews in captivity not to mourn the death of Jerusalem, who was the unfaithful bride of the LORD. Next, the LORD would restore Ezekiel's tongue. Up until this point, Ezekiel would only speak the Word of the LORD and he was otherwise mute. Now, he would be able to speak as a normal man. This would be for a sign. I think of David who fasted and mourned while his son born from his adultery with Bathsheba was still alive, but then he rose up, washed and ate, and carried on with his life the moment he learned of his son's death. The destruction brought by the LORD against Jerusalem was just, it was good for the remnant that would survive it, and it was necessary for all to see that the LORD is true to His Word. We should not mourn well-executed justice, and nor should we celebrate it. Justice is simply the result of lawlessness. And in God's subsequent mercy to the remnant He would also give us a picture of the things to come at the End, when Yeshua will also call out His people from among the world that He will destroy.

The people of Amon, Moab/Moav, Edom (Esau), Philistine, and Tyre would be annihilated, no longer to be remembered, because they celebrated the destruction of Jerusalem. When God brings His judgment down on a people or a land, this is not an occasion to celebrate. Neither is it a time to mourn. The judgment of God is simply just, based on His Truth, and we are not to react emotionally to it either way. When people desire judgment to come upon sinners, they are themselves sinning. Yeshua told us to pray for those who hate us, who persecute us, or who spitefully use us. God shines His sun on the righteous and the unrighteous, and He will bring His judgment in due time. Our role is to make disciples of Yeshua by sharing the good news of salvation through His death and resurrection and to teach and do the commandments of God. Our role is to pray. Our role is to praise God. Our role is to give thanksgiving, even in the midst of persecution of any kind or even death, for what the LORD has given us is more than we deserve. To desire evil to come upon our enemies is in itself sin, and it is a death sentence to desire evil to come against God's people Israel. We must watch and guard our hearts so that our love does not grow cold.

Ezekiel 27, Ezekiel 28, Ezekiel 29

The LORD brought down strongholds as He also judged His people. Tyre was an Island city state full of wealthy merchants by the sea off the coast of modern Lebanon. They had supplied cedars to King Solomon to build the Temple of God, but later had turned to worship their own opulence. The Philistines had originally settled there in the nation of Sidon, as they were a Mediterranean people, and they later made their way down the coast. As Tyre focused on wealth and worshipped the work of their own hands, it would appear that the prince of Tyre fell prey to this mindset. I see this description as a prophetic picture of America, also, which will fall in the same manner, I believe. What's fascinating in Ezekiel 28 is how the story shifts from describing Tyre and its king to the story of a prince who was in Eden, a covering Cherub even, who was made perfect from the beginning. Satan was the principality governing Tyre, and the man who ruled there was his servant. The LORD destroyed Tyre, sinking it into the sea; and it is now a submarine ruin. Did this story initiate the legend of Atlantis? As for Satan himself, though he would work to rule the world through servants of wealth and power, he too would be humbled and ultimately destroyed.

Egypt is another stronghold, and Pharaoh also served Satan. The opulence of Egypt was facilitated by the people of Tyre, and many pyramids and idols were built using the materials traded from there. Egypt had reconfigured the Nile to assist with trade routes, and this was one of the reasons that Pharaoh considered himself a god. He could reconfigure rivers, he could build mountains, and he could command the people's worship. But Pharaoh would also be judged for his pride, for only one God created the Heavens and the Earth and everything in it, and He is a jealous God who does not think kindly about the worship of any other. God would use Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon to destroy Tyre and then to destroy Egypt, and never again could the people of Israel look to either place for their protection or their defensive support in war. One of the reasons for the judgment of Israel and Judah was their reliance on men and the demons they worshipped rather than on God Most High who freed them from bondage and gave them the Promised Land. After the Babylonian captivity, Tyre was no more and Egypt would be brought so low that Israel would be embarrassed to consider asking such a powerless nation for help. God would receive the worship He deserves.

Ezekiel 30, Ezekiel 31, Ezekiel 32

The leaders of nations that were ruthless toward others, profiting off of war and division will lie dead in the ground with the uncircumcised of heart. Egypt was such a proud nation, a nation focused on its own wealth and power, and a nation that continued to stymie Israel and Judah well after Exodus. So often the Jews went down to Egypt for refuge, when God was their refuge and strength. The LORD does not look kindly upon those who worship other gods besides Him. Not only will He judge those among His people who mix the Holy with the profane, but He will also make a total mockery of the lands that God's people hold in higher esteem than Him. Egypt is representative of those lands—of the world in general—even the patriotism and nationalism that can lead God's people to idolize their own nation. There are many Christians who worship the idea of America—its Constitution, its flag, and many other things about this country that are no longer real. While the country was great when it had humbled itself before God and put Him first—and the Constitution functioned very well for a godly people—Americans also fell victim to pride and arrogance and focused on the nation's own glory, forgetting God. This will always lead to a fall.

Ezekiel 33, Ezekiel 34, Ezekiel 35

Yeshua told His disciples to “watch,” a direct reference to His return, but also a reference to what His disciples ought to do while they wait; namely, we ought to preach the good news, bring new disciples in, and teach them the commandments of God. As followers of Yeshua, we are called to be watchmen on the wall, who teach what is righteous and true, and preach it to those with ears to hear. We ought not be silent, for overlooking sin is sin in itself. The LORD does not desire the unrighteous to suffer, but to turn towards His way and live. The Lord does not remember righteous deeds when we turn from our righteousness and practice sin, but he does not remember sin, when we return from it and practice righteousness by following Him. His grace covers those who repent and follow Him. To the righteous, he will say, “well done, good and faithful servant.” He will say, “I never knew you” to those who turn the grace of God into lewdness.

Those shepherds who feed themselves with the Truth of God‘s goodness, and do not share it with the LORD’s flocks are due to meet destruction when the LORD returns. A pastor’s role is to feed the‘s LORD’s sheep with Truth. He should show no partiality to one sheep over another, while casting only the wolves out so as to protect the flock. We are not to bring our own private interpretation—rules or traditions of men—to lord over those in our care. Instead, we ought to gently offer truth to strengthen the week, to bandage those broken in spirit with the covering of Yeshua’s goodness, to welcome in those society does not welcome and teach them the truth, and find those who are off following deceptive teachings and bring back these who are lost. Those shepherds who fail in this charge will not be regarded well. James said, let not many of you become teachers because he will receive a harsher judgment. I pray for the LORD’s mercy in helping me to walk the narrow path while leading others along it, pointing only to Yeshua and his Word. To God be the glory.

In another rebuke of a proud nation, the Lord chastises Edom, the children of Esau, who laughed at Judah’s calamity. The Lord will not hold Edom guiltless for this, and ultimately there will be no remnant of this nation that also represents the world.

Ezekiel 36, Ezekiel 37, Ezekiel 38

Ezekiel 36-38 are End Days prophesies. First we see the new heart and new spirit that will cleanse God's people from uncleanliness. This heart of flesh only comes from faith in Yeshua. He will bless those of us who have made our choice to be with Yeshua, and we will know Him and dwell with Him in abundance while those who rejected Him will be destroyed for us to see.

The LORD will raise up our dead bones from the grave and give us new bodies and a new breath from His lungs. Our souls will rise to live again in Yeshua forever in a New Earth that resembles the Garden of Eden. The LORD will dwell there with us.

Gog of the land of Magog is Pergamum, the place where Satan's throne is, which is modern day Turkey. The Antichrist will rise from that area and will attempt to bring the whole world against God's people. God will stand to defend His people, and every eye will see Him. His sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, will go out from His mouth and judge the whole earth. I desire righteousness to reign and pray for those who don't walk in it, for they will be humbled indeed.

Ezekiel 39, Ezekiel 40

The saga continues regarding Gog and Magog in Ezekiel 39. The story appears to explain the last battle when all of Satan's armies will come against Israel to their destruction, but the weapons of warfare appear to be primitive, even able to be burned. When reading such prophesy, we have to be careful not to read it literally, for all these things are symbolic. Ezekiel's next few chapters are very complex and hard to comprehend, but someday the LORD will reveal their fuller meaning and we will know exactly what He meant. Today, Israel has been gathered back into the land, but the tribes of Israel are not completely present, the land itself is not complete and is even threatened by further division, and the people of Israel who live in the land are not all believers. All three of these things need to change prior to this prophesy's fulfillment. The full nation of Israel—with all gentiles grafted-in who will be grafted-in through Messiah Yeshua—will one day dwell in the Promised Land and be at peace with the Spirit fully poured out upon us all.

Ezekiel 40 begins a new prophesy of a vision that took place on the day when the lamb is inspected, the 10th of Aviv/Nisan. This is relevant for it points forward to the inspection of the Lamb of God who is worthy to open the scrolls that will take place at the end of days. The very high mountain that Ezekiel saw was the Kingdom of God, and this is important for interpreting the rest of the chapter. The temple expressed here is ideal and most likely symbolic. The measuring rod, for instance, represents the standard that God will use to determine the length, the depth and the breadth of His people—how they measure up to HIs Word. The New Jerusalem, after all, is the body of believers in Messiah Yeshua, whether Jew or Greek. We are the Temple of God, and thus this Temple must be describing those of us who are being made into a single building for God to dwell in. The measurements are complete, they are thorough, and they have significance, but more study and prayer is needed to better understand.

The messenger explained to Ezekiel: "look with your eyes, hear with your ears, pay attention to the things I am showing you." Do we not seek eagerly to see and hear the Word of God and to apply it to our lives? There is a wall surrounding the house, for only those who keep the commandments of God and the faith in Yeshua will be let in. The guardrooms will ensure this. Just as the cherubim guarded the Tree of Life from those cast out of Eden, so will the guardrooms prevent any unrighteous to enter into God's eternal Kingdom. The gate is narrow and difficult to enter, but when we know Yeshua and follow His Way, we are able through faith to obey Him because we love Him and desire to be with Him! There will be courtyards, ornate and beautiful, and room enough for all who are welcome, with seven steps leading to the inner courtyards, and we know that God's Way, the "upward calling of God," is complete and Holy. God's people will offer Him praise and thanksgiving; burnt offerings that will rise up to Him as a sweet-smelling aroma forever. We will worship, we will sing, and we will celebrate the LORD's victory together. I believe there will be different roles for each of us in God's Kingdom, which has been His pattern from the beginning.

Ezekiel 41, Ezekiel 42, Ezekiel 43

Again, this prophesy is difficult to discern, so these are just ideas: The "tabernacle" is at the center of the Holy place. Was it actually there? The same one Moses built in the wilderness? If this is a prophesy of Heaven, then this is describing the model of God's very dwelling place. There are two doors entering into it. Is this one door for Jews and another for Gentiles? Is it something else? There are NOT two ways to God, but only following Yeshua and the commandments of God, and perhaps this testimony of two is represented by these two doors, both of which we must enter. Perhaps the two doors represents His accessibility to those who come from different locations? It's important to note that one cannot get into this place without passing through the outside gates and the guardhouses, so only those who are accepted may enter this most Holy place.

Standing by the East gate, through which Messiah Yeshua would later enter in the second temple, He measured the whole area of the court, and there the LORD instructed to make a division between what was holy and that which was common. There is a second check even inside the house of God to make sure only that which is holy can enter to be close with God. Perhaps a deceiver could make his way past the guardhouses? Perhaps a wolf in sheep's clothing would make his way into the congregation. It is here within the congregation that the elders would separate out that which is holy from that which is profane, and the profane would be cast out. Per 1 Corinthians 6, we are commanded to sort out those within our churches and call out what is wrong, among ourselves.

The glory of God will enter the Temple through the East gate; this is the gate where Yeshua entered. In Haggai 2:9, we read: "'The glory of this latter temple shall be greater than the former,’ says the LORD of hosts. ‘And in this place I will give peace,’ says the LORD of hosts.'” The second temple had greater glory because Yeshua Himself walked there within it, the very King of kings and Lord of lords Himself. He offered peace to all who believed in Him and followed Him in all of His ways, though He also brought a dividing sword to separate the sheep from the goats by His Word. We can see Yeshua's third temple being described here then, especially since it is built on the top of a mountain, and the whole area will be especially holy. God said: "this is the place for my throne, the place for the soles of my feet, where I will live among the people of Israel forever." This has not happened yet, for it will come with the descent of New Jerusalem, when the new earth and new heaven will be established. Our role, according to Ezekiel, is to "measure accurately" and then we will share in the designs and specifications of God's Kingdom. We must accurately weigh the Word of God and apply it to our lives to share in God's Holy Kingdom.

Ezekiel 44, Ezekiel 45, Ezekiel 46

Ezekiel 44-46 is unclear to me. It seems to revert to a prophesy of the second temple that would be restored following the captivity. What I do know is that the themes here have spiritual significance of the Kingdom to come. Only the Prince will come in through the East Gate. Messiah Yeshua is both the High Priest and the King/Mediator. He will come from the East when He returns. There will be land set aside for the Prince and his children, and he will not take from the people as Ahab did, but will have land set aside for him. The Sabbath and the feasts will endure forever, and they will be special occasions to celebrate all that the LORD has done for us, as they still are today.

Ezekiel 47, Ezekiel 48

At the beginning of Revelation 22, we read, "And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations...." This continues. It's the same image we see in Ezekiel 47. The river flows from the right side of the throne as a trickle, spreads out watering the trees of healing fruit, and runs into the Dead Sea where it transforms the sea and makes it come to life. This is the living water that comes from God and waters the Earth. This Holy Spirit is what provides eternal life to all who depend on it, whether Jew or Greek. All who trust in Yeshua the prince will be there, and all will have a portion of land among the Nation of Israel. We will serve the LORD forever and ever. The land will be abundant, and the LORD will be there with us, sitting on His throne. What a time to look forward to. With eternity to dwell in, we will certainly get enough intimate time with our King, thanks be to God!

Dad wrote:
The foreigner, who is the gentile, will come into his inheritance in the land alongside God’s chosen people.  They will all receive life giving water which finds its origin in the house of God. There was never such a river in Jerusalem but here, Ezekiel saw the water flowing from the right side of the temple located in the center of the land.  Remembering that Christ is seated at the Right Hand of The Father, the river begins from the right side of The Temple with a mere trickle, but increases in volume as it miraculously continues to stream into a mighty river.  It speaks to me of the people who have found Christ.  They walk along and wade into the life giving waters.  The more they understand, the more they drink, the more they give their lives over to Christ and the more they are Blessed.   They will come to reach the station in their spiritual lives that enables them to be  carried along, not by their own physical motions, but by the currents of Grace and Love which flow directly from Christ.

Hosea 1, Hosea 2, Hosea 3, Hosea 4

During the reign of Hezekiah, Israel and Judah's fate seemed to be sealed, and Judah had not even reached the heights of its depravity with King Manasseh at this time. The LORD would have no pity on His people, and for a time He would turn His back on them and allow them to suffer from His judgment. But He would redeem them by His blood (silver, etc.) and restore them, though for a long period after that Israel would not know her Husband. She would be alone, loved but left alone to see how she would live. Would she continue in whoredom, or would she remain pure for her husband? He would return for her and make her His people again and His bride once more. This magnificent day awaits us all, for even the wild animals (Gentiles) will be brought into the glorious kingdom to come when the Husband returns for His wife. We look forward to this day with anticipation and joy!

Dad said:
All who love The Lord do so because He Loved Us First!   His love is constant, faithful and timeless.  At some point, we come to recognize this.  He is devoted to us and  wants us to come back to Him when we go astray.   No matter what we do, he wants us to return.  

All who love The Lord are willing to go the extra mile when we are called to do so. Hosea was asked to do what most would people would find abhorrent, yet he faithfully complied. The Lord used Hosea and his family to teach his people the message of redemption.  No matter the sin, The Lord is not willing to lose any of His own.  No matter where we wander, our Loving Father stands firm, waiting at the gate, calling and yearning for us to come home to Him.

Hosea 5, Hosea 6, Hosea 7, Hosea 8, Hosea 9

In a scathing rebuke of the apostasy of God's children—priest, king and commoner—the LORD promised judgment on Israel because she did not bear witness about God to the nations, and so He will use Israel to bear witness about His promises for judgment on a faithless people. They have a spirit of whoring and they do not "know" the LORD. They won't find Him, either, because the LORD does not bear iniquity in the sacred assembly. He withdraws from those caught up in lawlessness—something that is still true today. The LORD will stay away from sinners "until they admit their guilt and search for [Him], seeing [Him] eagerly in their distress." This is also true for us. When we confess our sins, the LORD is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9). But He turns away from sinners and does not even "know" them (Matthew 7:21-23). Let us be humble and contrite before our God.

True prophets call on God's people to return to Him, so He will return to us. There is no doubt that His love never fails us, and even we let the ones we love go when they are in rebellion. It is more loving to let them follow after their own will than to try and force them into submission. Nonetheless, the LORD always provides the way of return. The LORD would come during the spring rains that water the earth, during the feast of Passover in the spring, to die on the cross for our sins, to rise from the dead and then to pour out His Holy Spirit upon us. "After two days He will revive us; on the third day He will raise us up, and we shall live in His sight." And in these days and those that followed until the end, He would slaughter His enemies with the Word of His mouth, the sword of the Spirit, and He asked His people to be His disciple-making disciples to carry out this work for Him. He desires mercy, not sacrifice, knowledge of Him and His ways than any empty religious expression. This is relationship, as a husband longs for His wife, and in like manner should the wife long for her husband. We must present ourselves as a spotless bride without blemish for our Husband.

There is a type of mourning that wails in circumstances, rather than wailing in Godly sorrow for the One who can heal all wounds. We must cry out to the LORD from our hearts, turn toward Him when we gather for HIs feasts, and pursue that upward calling of God in Messiah Yeshua.

When we sin intentionally against God's Torah and violate His covenant, He will blow the shofar from Heaven—literally announcing the start of war, and like a vulture His angels will swoop down from Heaven to bring judgment against those who turn their backs on God. We must not forget our Maker, but put Him first in our lives, forsaking all besides Him.

It is a curse to return to bondage and eat unclean foods, even while offering sacrifices that do not reach the ears of God. He will not bear iniquity and the sacred assembly, as we read in Isaiah 1. He wails against the false prophets who preach against His prophets who speak the Truth, and this sin will receive the harshest judgment. No earthly pursuit will have any lasting value if we follow after the lie. We will wander amidst the worldly, and those caught up in the flesh, if we do not repent and return to our God.

Hosea 10, Hosea 11, Hosea 12, Hosea 13, Hosea 14

As the LORD gives us abundant blessing for loving and obeying Him, our propensity is to forget He who blessed us and take credit for the work of our own hands. Did not the LORD make our hands and all the materials we use to build with? We cannot have a divided heart, but must devote our heart alone to the LORD. Those who trust in man or in the world will cry out in the Day of the LORD, when He returns to reward the righteous and destroy the lawless, and they will say to the mountains "Cover us!" for the LORD will appear from His throne in Heaven, and the whole sky as we know it will be rolled up like a curtain—a veil—the spiritual will be married to the physical forever. This is why we must go forth and break up the unused ground, planting the seed of the Gospel so it can flourish there, and His righteousness will rain down and bear fruit. Let us not bear thorns and thistles, briars and thorns, but love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control on the branches of an eternal vine that has its roots in Yeshua.

God called His people out of Egypt, He called Yeshua from there, and He calls the faithful to come out of the world, to "come out of her, my people," and pursue Him alone. He is the Holy One, the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, and He desires we tremble before Him knowing that He is calling us to come home to Him.

The LORD will repay those who turn their backs on Him, but He will also call us back.

We cannot practice lawlessness, adding sin to sin, we cannot worship the things of this world or according to the traditions of men. The LORD will recover what is His.

In God alone can we find any mercy at all. He heals us and He will heal us. We will live in the comfort of His provision and flourish on His blessings. And so we must understand: "The ways of Adonai are straight, and the righteous walk in them...." We cannot be among the sinners who stumble.

Joel 1, Joel 2, Joel 3

We read prophesy of the End in Joel. The prophet proclaims: "Tell your children about it, and have them tell it to theirs, and have them tell the next generation." This isn't something that happened, but is something that is yet to come, and so we must teach our children so they are on the right side of Yah's Way. We read: "Proclaim a holy fast, call for a solemn assembly, gather the leaders and all who live in the land to the house of Adonai your God, and cry out to Adonai, “Oh no! The Day! The Day of Adonai is upon us! As destruction from Shaddai it is coming!" The entire Earth—all the land—will be judged. All will pant after the LORD.

It will occur at the last shofar blast, the last trumpet, when the alarm will sound from God's holy mountain in the Heavens. "Let all living in the land tremble, for the Day of Adonai is coming! ... There has never been anything like it, nor will there ever be again," And then we see this important verse: " behind them a flame consumes; ahead the land is like the Garden of Eden," The Kingdom of God, the New Heaven and New Earth, will be like the Garden restored. Joel describes the final battle using locusts as a metaphor: soldiers with faces drained of color, charge and consume; the skies roll up, and terror is on the faces of all. As we prepare, we ought to "tear [our] heart, not [our] garments," which means to confess our sins in humility, and turn toward Adonai, which means to repent. He will bless those, perhaps, who do this. We must rejoice in Yeshua, for He has given us the fall and spring rains—the feast days and all their eschatological significance. There will be no shame for those of us who endure.

After the LORD has reigned victorious, this is when all who live will enjoy the full measure of His Holy Spirit. All who call on the name of Yeshua will be glorified with Him; those who were called by Him and answered by trusting in Yeshua and keeping the commandments of God.

Amos 1, Amos 2, Amos 3, Amos 4, Amos 5

The second commandment of God from Exodus 20:4-6 reads: “You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments."

Note: The iniquity of the father will be visited upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate God. This is why the prophet Amos writes, "for [insert nation]'s three transgressions, no four." Whether, Damascus, Gaza, Tyre, Edom, Ammon, Moab, Judah or Israel, God pronounces and brings judgment on a nation when three to four generations have persisted in sin. Only the people who seek the LORD in the midst of judgment will survive, and this isn't a temporary survival, but an eternal one. You can see the LORD shows mercy to thousands, to those who love Him and keep His commandments.

Remember then that it is a commandment to keep the LORD's holy convocations according to His Word. Why then does the LORD say He hates these things? It is clear. The LORD will not dwell with those who persistently violate His Word. To go through the motions of keeping holy convocation days or to make sacrifices while living in sin or tolerating others sin is meaningless. It is a "filthy rags" type of righteousness. When we do not practice justice toward others and righteousness toward God, keeping His whole Torah, how will charity, fasting or prayer be regarded as any value? The LORD won't even listen to our prayers when our hearts are far from Him. He desires justice and righteousness in our words and deeds and praise to come from our lips, and when our heart is to love Him and love one another, then He desires for us to come before Him and keep His Holy Convocations. Yeshua said, "If you remember that you have something against your brother, leave your gift at the altar and first make things right with your brother, and then come offer your gift. The LORD will only accept our worship, praise or prayers when we come before Him with clean hands and a pure heart.

Amos 6, Amos 7, Amos 8, Amos 9

Amos prophesies the pride that would come from the LORD's blessings. Abundance leads to complacency, and complacency to death. He explains that those who are left will be afraid to call on the Name of the LORD, Yahweh, and this is something we observe in Judaism today.  

At the time of Jeroboam, the LORD set up a plumb line to measure each of His people against His Word, and this is how He will judge each of us. Do we love God and keep His commandments? Do we trust in Yeshua and walk the way He walked? The answer to these questions will determine our ultimate glorification when He returns. Those who turn their backs on the LORD will be judged.

When these men of Israel kept the feasts of God, and the weekly Sabbaths, they were metaphorically looking at their watches, waiting for them to be over so they could return to their lives of sin. Do we know such people today, who can't bear the sacred meeting because it is an incumbrance to their own lifestyle? Because people do not want to enjoy the Sabbath with Yeshua, the LORD of the Sabbath, He will bring a famine of the Word of God on the land. Preachers will preach falsely, prophets will lead people astray, and it will be close to impossible to find a church where the Word  of God is preached. This is happening now. We need to return to God and desire Him and His ways with all of our heart, and then He will come to us and show us His Truth.

The LORD will shake the house of Israel, the house of Judah and even the whole world, and the wheat will be separated from the chaff. Those who belong to the LORD will live with Him again in abundance, and we will not be uprooted again. This day is coming. We must endure in our faith to make it there.

Obadiah 1, Jonah 1, Jonah 2, Jonah 3, Jonah 4

Obadiah explained Esau's heart condition from the beginning; even from his mother's womb where he bitterly fought with his brother Jacob. Esau hated Jacob because Jacob loved God and served God all of his days, and Esau loved the world. Esau's descendants carried forward their father's heart, and they never lost their jealousy and hatred for Israel. As Jacob's sons in Judah were being judged by God for their infidelity, Edom laughed and mocked their kinsmen and helped the oppressors. For this, God pronounced judgment on them. Esau would be completely destroyed, without remnant. This is prophetic for the end of the world when all who hate God will be utterly demolished, while God's people, though they suffer through tribulation, will be restored.

Jonah prophetically points to the time of Yeshua, when our LORD would save us from our sins, whether Jew or Gentile. All are saved who confess sin, repent, turn and walk with God in all of His ways through faith in the risen Son, who was in the belly of the Earth for three days, but then rose into the land of the living. In Hebraic understanding, a full "night and day" is realized during even one moment of a day, and so the prophesy of Jonah aligns with Yeshua's death and resurrection.

In Jonah's day, contextually speaking, Nineveh was the capital of Assyria, the enemy of Israel. The people of Assyria were loathed, and yet God called on Jonah to love His enemies and teach them the Truth so they can live and not die. Israel was called to be a light to the nations, and Jonah resisted this calling. He cared more for a plant that shaded him from the sun than 120,000 Assyrians. The LORD desired Jonah's heart to be like His heart, one that seeks all people to create a nation for Himself, but alas, the prophet was stuck in his own pre-conceived notions. Though he knew the nature of God—merciful and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in grace, and that you relent from inflicting punishment—he did not desire God to show His love to these people. He ultimately obeyed God and saved the city for another generation, and so many men worshipped Yahweh on account of this. Even the men on the boat worshipped Yahweh because of Jonah's interaction with them. He was a witness to the nations despite his own shortcomings. The LORD will use us for His purposes no matter what we do. It is best that we trust in His process and surrender to His will, for in doing this He will bless us greatly by showing us His marvelous ways!

Micah 1, Micah 2, Micah 3, Micah 4

In Chapter 1, we read: "LOOK! The Lord is coming out of His place." He has done this, and He will do it again. He will make the lands of the Earth a place to plant vinyards where fruit can come forth, and we know the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. In chapter 3, the LORD said, "shouldn't you know what justice is?" In Matthew 23, He said: "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone." The LORD desires our hearts to turn to Him, to listen to His Word, which teaches us what is good and evil. We ought to hate what is bad and love what is good, not the opposite of this. We should not shout "Peace" but then "prepare war against anyone who fails to put something in their mouths." These are the same prophesy. The teachers were enforcing their own laws, making holy days miserable by passing all manner of rules for what can and can't be done. The LORD simply wants us to obey His law, which is a light and easy yoke.

It's amazing how evil some grow, they "plan wickedness as they lie in bed," and then "when morning comes, they do it." My goodness. We ought to be meditating on the Word of the LORD as we lay down our heads, "when we rise up and when we lie down," the LORD said in Deuteronomy 6. The LORD does not desire destruction, but restoration, but as He says, "My Words do only good to anyone living uprightly." In other words, the Torah and the example of Messiah Yeshua are the words by which we should live.

In the Last Days, the LORD will call Jews and Gentiles alike to His Holy Mountain, and we will dwell with Him forever in peace. The description of how we will live in God's Kingdom in Micah 4 is so important, for this foretells the New Heaven and New Earth, and surely God's people who want to dwell with Him ought to think positively about this today: We read that "Many Gentiles will go and say, 'Come, let’s go up to the mountain of Adonai, to the house of the God of Ya‘akov! He will teach us about his ways, and we will walk in his paths.” Indeed He will, and He has, and He continues to do this for those who call on the name of Yeshua. An explanation ensues, as we read: "For out of Tziyon will go forth Torah, the word of Adonai from Yerushalayim. He will judge between many peoples and arbitrate for many nations far away." The LORD will always rule justly according to His Torah. This is what He did when He came in the flesh, and it is what He will do from His risen state forever and ever. We are blessed to be judged by so just a God who desires for us to inherit good and not evil, blessings and not curses, for He promises life everlasting to those who love Him and keep His commandments. All who know His plans will trust in His ways!

Micah 5, Micah 6, Micah 7

Micah prophesies in chapter 5 that the Messiah will come from Bethlehem and the Antichrist will come from Assyria, which is modern Turkey. He explains the end of the world and the last battle. This chapter ought to be referenced for Messianic and end times teaching.

The LORD becomes frustrated with constant apostasy and pleads with His people to understand: All He desires is for us to walk justly according to His Word, to love the grace He offers through Messiah, and to walk humbly before Him, confessing our sins, and pleading with God to lead us in His everlasting ways. It is wisdom to fear the name of the LORD. We ought to listen to His Word and use it to understand how we ought to live. Anyone who speaks against the Word of the LORD will meet their end.

Man as a whole walks away from God toward their own way and ultimate separation. The world will fall to a point where family members will betray those closest to them who turn to follow after God, because they cannot bear the good ways that God teaches through His people. Despite this, men and women of God must wait on God and His salvation; we must endure in our faith and obedience to God's commandments. Our God pardons sin, overlooks iniquity and delights in grace, and He will have compassion on those who repent and turn to walk toward His face. The LORD fulfills His promises.

Nahum 1, Nahum 2, Nahum 3, Habakuk 1, Habakuk 2, Habakuk 3

Nahum speaks to the fall of Nineveh at the hands of Babylon, just a few generations after Jonah had gone to call them to repent. It doesn’t take long for a nation to switch from evil to good, or good to evil, and judgment will come upon a land that forgets God. Nineveh of Assyria was ruthless against its enemies, and the nation’s rule was without compassion or mercy. Babylon was used by the LORD not just to judge Judah, but also Nineveh and other nations of the world.

We are instructed to look to the cloud rider, the one who comes on the mountains and brings good news proclaiming peace. This is Yeshua, and those who fulfill the vows to the Word of the LORD will dwell with Him, and never again will wickedness dwell within the land. He comes as a destroyer of all wickedness, and the righteous will rejoice in that day.

Habakuk gives an account of our heart from time to time as we observe the world around us. We wonder why there is so much wrongdoing, why so much oppression, why cruelty, why strife and discord? It is because the Torah has been forgotten, and the God who created all is ignored. The wicked fence in the righteous, but those who endure through such tribulation, God will preserve. “My God, my Holy One, we will not die.” The wicked are commissioned to chasten us, but we become who we are designed to be when we endure such chastening with faith.

We are called to stand at the watch post, to wait on the LORD and to answer His correction with humility and repentance. For the End is coming, when those who seek the flesh will fall, and those who caused depravity will be judged. The idols of the wicked will be trampled and God will stand alone upon His throne.

Yeshua is the God of the eternal path to life and He will be our strength even in the midst of all trouble that might befall us. He makes us surefooted as a deer.

Zephaniah 1, Zephaniah 2, Zephaniah 3, Haggai 1, Haggai 2

Zephaniah is a straightforward prophesy, explaining judgment on the wicked and preservation of a remnant of the righteous. But even the righteous will flee from their lands and hide in the ruins of foreign nations, herding their sheep for sustenance. The sheep, in effect, are those who belong to the LORD—they are people. In these times, let us not say that the LORD is not active, for the LORD is always active in the lives of His people who love him and keep His commandments. Ultimately, the LORD will deal with those who have oppressed us; He will eliminate the enemy and will come to dwell with His people in a refreshed land. He will restore our fortunes to abundance, because we have known that true treasure is stored up in Heaven in the presence of our God. And so my solution is to keep my eyes on the LORD, to never turn my head from Him, and to teach this wisdom to everyone with ears to hear and eyes to see.

Amazingly, the wicked in this prophesy sounds an awful lot like America. It was called New Jerusalem by so many authors in the 1800s. Was it true? Not according to my eschatology, but perhaps in a way it has some validity? We were a Judeau-Christian nation, and now we are pagan and have forsaken the King of the Universe. I think the prophesy applies to all lands that once knew the LORD and then forsake Him. To return to Him is our only hope.

If we regard our own lives and care for them first before we do what the LORD has asked us to do, then we will not prosper in our ways. We may not perish, but we will take one step forward only to take two steps back. This prophesy of Haggai is in the time of Darius, when the King of Media-Persia was ready to provision Judah with the means to rebuild the temple, just as prophesied. But the people tarried and built their own homes first. What's amazing is that the people heard the warning of God and acted on it, and they put God's temple first. The LORD blessed them mightily. Whenever we put God's ways before our own, we will receive the same blessing. Governor Zerubbabel was chosen to rebuild this second temple that King Herod later expanded, and he is remembered to this day as the signet ring for the LORD.

The LORD said the glory of the second temple would exceed the first. This is a marvelous thought, for the glory of the LORD literally filled the first temple, as we read in 2 Chronicles 7. There was no such thing that happened in the second temple, but its glory was superior nevertheless. Messiah Yeshua, God in the flesh, walked within the second temple and indeed the glory of the second was greater than the first.

Zechariah 1, Zechariah 2, Zechariah 3, Zechariah 4, Zechariah 5

Another post-exilic prophesy from Zechariah precedes the coming of the second temple period but also looks out to foretell End Times prophesy. Much of John's imagery in His Apocalypse, called Revelation in English, comes from Zechariah's writing and we ought to reference Zechariah's writing to help interpret it.

Importantly, the LORD makes a call out to those with ears to hear who have gone astray: "Return to me ... and I will return to you." This is for anyone at any time who has fallen into sin. His law and Word will judge all people who call upon His name.

The four horsemen from Revelation appear here in Zechariah, and they are wandering throughout the earth. These are the four judgments of God; which are pestilence, war, famine and government oppression.

The LORD was about to unleash His judgment on the nations for their harshness to Israel, and on His people Israel He would bring peace. Jerusalem would always be the place of His heart. The four powers that troubled Israel; Assyria, Egypt, Syria and Babylon, would be judged, while Jerusalem would be elevated again through the rebuilding of God's Holy Temple. The LORD Himself would be the glory within Jerusalem, for He would come in the flesh to walk in the temple He was about to build. He said, “Sing, daughter of Tziyon; rejoice! For, here, I am coming; and I will live among you. ... When that time comes, many nations will join themselves to Adonai. They will be my people, and I will live among you.” He told us He was coming in the flesh; He told us to expect Gentiles to come into the faith through Him so that He could rule over a larger nation. Why are so many blind to this clear prophesy of the coming of Yeshua.

The LORD would reestablish the Aaronic Priesthood one last time before Messiah would come, starting with Joshua, and the sins of his fathers would be wiped clean. The LORD commanded Satan's rebuke, for He is Merciful and Gracious and Satan has no power over those  among His people whom the LORD has determined to bless. The LORD then warned Joshua that the  priests were to keep His commandments in preparation for the coming of His Servant the Branch, who is Yeshua. He is the rock through which the whole law would be on display, and through Him the guilt of the whole world would be taken away in a day. Israel was invited to join with Him and the fruit His Kingdom would produce.  

While the whole congregation of believers would shine forth light, represented by the seven-branch Menorah, only two of them would be anointed to stand with the LORD of all the land. Is this the Congregation at Smyrna and Philadelphia, the two witnesses, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Yeshua, a testimony of two? Study and pray with me to contemplate further.

The flying scroll is God's Word that reaches every corner of the globe, for not one soul will escape the judgment of the law. The curse was laid upon all who were born of man, but it is also lifted in Yeshua for all who trust in Him. The thief, the liars, these would be judged, and their homes would be cursed, without repentance. Evil is in the world, represented by the evil woman in Shinar (Sumar), the land of Babylon, but from there God's people will be lifted away to be sanctified in the Messiah.

Dad said:
"For those who wonder why the Jews are hated and Israel is always under the threat of attack we have the answer here. “for whoever touches you touches the apple of His eye” (Zechariah 2:8). The Lord clearly tells us that Israel is in His line of sight.  He focuses on that nation, watching it closely.  Its very image is central in His eyes. He humbled Himself,  “(rousing) himself from his holy dwelling” (Zechariah 2:13)  and became incarnate to live among His people.  He suffered greatly and laid down His life for them.  What greater love is there than this? Those who love The Lord and keep His commands will also find affinity toward Israel and its people while those who hate God, will do what they can to harm the Nation and those who are grafted to it."

Zechariah 6, Zechariah 7, Zechariah 8, Zechariah 9

The four horsemen of John's Revelation are in fact "the four spirits of heaven." The word in Hebrew is "ruach," which can mean wind, breath or spirit. This is a spiritual message sent to the whole of creation. The BRANCH is coming, the tsemach (צֶ֤מַח); He is a green shoot, a sprout, or a new growth within the faith. He will build the temple, but not the second one. His temple will be made without human hands by the Holy Spirit and it will be built with saints; the apostles its foundation, and the Messiah Himself as the chief cornerstone. This Branch, the Messiah, will be both the High Priest and the King of kings, and there will be no enmity between the two roles. He fulfills these roles today.

The LORD sums up His law as He often does: "Execute true justice, Show mercy and compassion Everyone to his brother. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, The alien or the poor. Let none of you plan evil in his heart Against his brother." This is what it means to love God and love one another. Our plans for all people ought to be to lift them up into relationship with God.

When the LORD returns to Zion and dwells in the midst of Jerusalem, the City will exude Truth and God will reign on His mountain. The LORD will gather up His people from all over the whole Earth and the Kingdom will be established. The LORD commands: Do not fear, let your hands be strong. ... speak truth to your neighbor ... give judgments of truth, justice and peace ... let no one think any evil or say anything false ... let us continue to go and pray to the LORD and seek His face. We will grasp the tassels of a Jewish man, Yeshua the Messiah, and we will say, "let us go with you for we know the LORD is with you." To follow Messiah Yeshua is life and there is no other way besides this.

The LORD brings destruction against His enemies who violate His Torah and salvation to His faithful who trust in Him and keep His Word. He first appeared humble, riding on a donkey, to establish His people as spiritual warriors who would spread His kingdom throughout the world. Later, He will appear in the air like lightening at the trumpet blast that will be heard everywhere. Messiah will defend His people and rescue them from destruction. He will elevate His people into a protected flock, gems in His crown, and provide us with all that we need.

Zechariah 10, Zechariah 11, Zechariah 12, Zechariah 13, Zechariah 14

Rain in the Spring is the blessing that comes from the harvest of the barley and the wheat, both at Passover/Unleavened Bread and Pentecost. The LORD will harvest His people on the Earth, and, as He said, "the fields are white for harvest, but the workers are few." Spiritually, too many still need to learn the Gospel and the commandments of God. More need to rise up to do the work God has commissioned.

How many take advantage of the LORD's blessings for self emolument? How many church or synagogue leaders use their positions to increase their own wealth? These same leaders show no pity on those who truly love the LORD, for they are false and they lead astray. These are the shepherds the LORD will eliminate when He comes to shepherd His flock, for now all will know the LORD and walk according to His way. He spoke when He came, as such: "Woe to the worthless shepherds who abandon the sheep." The blind guides will one day be no more.

Jerusalem has become a measuring cup to identify where we are on the prophetic clock. It has become a heavy stone for the whole world to bear, for everyone will have an opinion, for better or for worse. But God will not allow His city to suffer forever, and all who oppose her will be put to shame. Even the people who stumble in the holy city will be like David the King, and "the house of David will be like God, like the angel of Adonai before them." This is because Yeshua, the son of David, will return to rule with grace and prayer, and all Israel will mourn for the one they pierced. No more will anyone boast in themselves, but in humility we will boast alone in the LORD.

When Yeshua reigns, all sin will be purified from the land. There will be no more idols and no false prophets, for the king Himself will rule from His throne. And yet there will come one more tribulation right at the end, and only one third of the people will be preserved. The others will be destroyed. The third that remains will be tested as gold or silver in a refining fire. This people will call out to Yeshua, and He will answer them with grace; He will come to rescue them.

The city will be divided and chaos will reign right before the final battle, but Yeshua will go out and fight against His enemies. He will remake the Earth and split the Mount of Olives as He comes from the clouds with all of His holy angels, riding victoriously on His white horse. At evening, when things appear darkest, He will bring light, and His new Heaven and new Earth will be established. All who fought against Him will be consumed by the fire of God that comes out of His mouth, which is the Word of God that judges all young and old. It removes all that is impure leaving behind only that which is refined. This is the plague that dissolves man and beast while they stand in place. No iniquity will remain. From that point, all who endure will worship the LORD, we will keep the feasts, the Sabbaths, and the New Moons together with Him to memorialize the LORD's fulfilled promises, and everything we do will be holy to the LORD, to bring Him glory.

Malachi 1, Malachi 2, Malachi 3, Malachi 4

The LORD's heart aches for His chosen people, whom He has blessed for their origin. But who is among the chosen other than those who desire to put God's kingdom first rather than the kingdom of this world. Jacob was loved for his heart for the LORD, while Esau was loved less because he loved the world. The LORD is hurt by those who go through the motions of faith while not truly putting His kingdom first. They must truly disbelieve in God if they think it's OK to offer Him their leftovers. He is a great King, and He deserves our first and our best.

Ultimately, those who disbelieve will be like Esau, and they will suffer a curse just as he and his children did. This is the one to whom the LORD looks: "The true Torah was in his mouth, and no dishonesty was found on his lips; he walked with me in peace and uprightness and turned many away from sin." The LORD won't abide with those who continue in sin and expect salvation. We weary the LORD in this: "By saying that anyone who does wrong is good from Adonai’s perspective, and that He is delighted with them." As Paul wrote in Galatians 2:17, "Yeshua is not a minister of sin."

The LORD would come, and would stand in the Second Temple, and He would offer a refiner's fire to those who follow Him, testing and purifying us by His Holy Spirit. In Him, the offering of a living sacrifice to God is acceptable. But those who won't repent of their sin will not be accepted. His complaint is that all men have sinned, and yet He accepts us back when we return to Him and do His will. He desires our first and our best. When we give this to Him, He will reward us with the abundance of His Kingdom to come. He has recorded our names in His book; those who "fear the LORD and have respect for His name." We will absolutely understand the difference between the holy and the profane.

For a day is coming when the LORD will burn up the entire world, and only those who are pure as gold or silver will remain. The wicked will be ashes on which to tread. We must remember Torah, and keep it, and follow Yeshua all the days of our lives.

Psalm 1, Psalm 2, Psalm 3, Psalm 4, Psalm 5, Psalm 6, Psalm 7, Psalm 8, Psalm 9, Psalm 10, Psalm 11

1: Those who meditate on Torah day and night and do what it teaches will be blessed, while those who reject God's law will be cursed; not just now, but forevermore.

2: How can anyone reject God and His Son, who will inherit all of the nations of the whole world and lead them in His righteousness forever?

3: The ignorant believe the faithful and godly are pitiable, and yet we have the shield and glory of Almighty God, who sustains us forever. In Him, there is nothing to fear.

4: The LORD's Way leads to victory, peace, and freedom. He is merciful and responsive to those who turn toward Him and do His will.

5: The LORD searches the heart and minds of His servants and listens to our prayers, and so we ought to pray without ceasing for God's righteousness, love, and grace with joy and praise in our hearts so He will lead us with His sword into battle and protect us from evil with His shield.

6: The LORD chastens the ones He loves, and though no correction seems pleasant at the time, He is faithful to prepare us to produce the fruit of righteousness. While our enemies might seem to prosper, and we groan when we observe their rebellion, their pride is temporary and will lead to their fall.

7: We ought to love our enemies, for the LORD is our refuge and strength. We ought to examine ourselves for any wrongdoing before we point out any faults in others. If we are humble before the LORD, He will establish us in His Kingdom, but He has prepared weapons of death for the unrepentant.

8: The LORD created all things in heaven and on earth and has given us the privilege to steward what His hands have made, and thus we ought to praise His great and glorious Name.

9: The LORD's wonders, praiseworthyness, and lovingkindness endure forever, but the wicked who reject Him will be blotted out from the Book of Life; they are caught in the net of their own rebellion.

10: It may appear like God stands at a distance when the wicked sin and say "it won't be held against me," but the LORD who has raised up His Messiah from the dead will search out the wicked and eliminate them while also lifting up the humble to encourage them and listen to their prayers for salvation.

11: The LORD tests each of us, and the righteous will endure to see His face, but those who are wicked will be burned up in their own depravity.

Psalm 12, Psalm 13, Psalm 14, Psalm 15, Psalm 16, Psalm 17, Psalm 18, Psalm 19, Psalm 20

12: The wicked flatter one another with lies claiming all they need to do is say a prayer that proclaims faith in Jesus, and they will be saved, but their lives don't change and they continue to live in vile sin. The Word of the LORD changes true believers and purifies those who are completed by it.

13: In the midst of our trials and tribulations, we ought to offer thanksgiving to God, for He gives us everything we need.

14: Those without faith embody corruption and do evil, and most people on Earth are like this, but there is a remnant who do righteous deeds according to the law of God and God is with these and will save them out of the world's depravity.

15: Those who live blamelessly by the Spirit according to the law of God because of their love for the LORD will dwell with Him in His Kingdom.

16: When we understand that there is nothing good outside of the LORD and His will and we therefore give Him everything, especially our heart, we will know the path of life, we will be protected along it, and we will have eternal joy and delight.

17: The wicked look to store up treasures in this life, while the righteous desire to see the Kingdom of God and dwell with the LORD. The grace of the LORD is abundantly poured out on those who seek refuge in the LORD with humble and contrite hearts.  

18: The LORD is our strength, our protection, our foundation, and our salvation when we walk in His ways with righteousness dwelling in our hearts. He delivers us from our enemies and helps us stand victorious in Him when we are merciful, sincere, and pure. He lights up the darkness and overcomes impossible feats and obstacles for His people, so that there is no mistaking His involvment. The LORD lives and gives grace to those who exalt His name.

19: We ought to burn with desire to keep the LORD's instructions contained in His law for wisdom, His precepts for righteousness, His commandments for purification, His rulings for Truth, and fear His judgment, for true love for the LORD will align us with Him forever and bring us peace, joy and abundance of liberty. We ought to pray for the words of our mouth and the meditation of our hearts to be acceptable in the sight of our LORD, who is our foundation and our savior.

20: When we Trust in the LORD and wait on Him for His appointed times according to His way, He comes and grants our heart's desires that align with His Way and brings our plans that are according to His will to success, resulting in joy!

Psalm 21, Psalm 22, Psalm 23, Psalm 24, Psalm 25, Psalm 26, Psalm 27, Psalm 28, Psalm 29

21: The children of the LORD will exalt Him who is risen up, while the children of the devil will be burned up by Him.

22: The LORD inhabits the praises of His people, and so let us praise the one who was cursed, but then rose up in glory, for He will rule over all the earth.

23: The LORD leads us through abundance and want, righteousness and oppression, to the place He has prepared for those of us who love Him, and there we will dwell with Him forever.

24: To approach the throne of grace we must repent; we are saved so that we can walk righteously before our God with clean hands and pure hearts, for He is our King who desires everything we can possibly offer Him.

25: "All Adonai’s paths are grace and truth to those who keep his covenant and instructions." When we fear the LORD, He will teach us the way of righteousness and we will dwell forever in His abundant company.

26: May the LORD search our hearts and minds and find any evil way in us and expose it so we can walk in His grace and redemption on level ground away from all that is wicked..

27: In an End Time prophesy that teaches us how to think and live in these dark days, we must discern how critical it is for us to seek the LORD's face alone. There may be times when it feels like we're abandoned, especially when the enemy rises, but the LORD will care for us even in our darkest hours, and ultimately He will hide us away as He destroys the enemy for good. We must be strong and endure in our faith, for there is nothing to fear when our heart seeks the LORD. Our faith in the promises of God sustain us.

28: In our times of trouble we can cry out to the LORD as David did and plead for God's mercy and grace, and He will deliver us. This faith is our strength and our shield and leads to joy, and the LORD who carries us forever deserves nothing but our thanksgiving and praise.

29: The LORD grants complete peace and wholeness to those who offer Him thanks and praise; who know that His glory endures forever. God's Voice accomplishes all that He desires, and we who know the LORD hear and obey Him.

Psalm 30, Psalm 31, Psalm 32, Psalm 33, Psalm 34, Psalm 35

30: The LORD desires us to live a life in Him, faithfully pursuing Him all of our days, praising Him for His favor, proclaiming His Truth, and He will be our help, our joy, and our peace in good times and bad.

31: The LORD preserves the loyal and courageous who hope and trust in Him. There are many times we call out to Him from the depths of suffering, whether we face those who seek to harm us, those who worship idols, those who scorn us for our faith, those who desire our death as they desired the death of our Savior Yeshua, or the things around us that cause us to sigh with sorrow—how could we not sigh in this world we're now living? We will be lifted up when we remain humble.

32: Grace surrounds those who trust in the LORD, for He forgives our offenses and covers our sin when we turn from our wicked ways and follow Him. When we confess our sin to the LORD, He is righteous and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. We ought to commit our hours to prayer, so He can teach us the Way we should go, and He will observe our response.

33: We ought to enjoy time praising the LORD using musical instruments, for we trust in His Holy name. His Word is true, His work is trustworthy, He is full of righteousness, justice, and grace. All nations who praise Him shall be blessed, and all people who fear Him and wait on His grace will rejoice.

34: When we live righteously, we will suffer from the evil in this world, but we will be rescued and redeemed from out of all trouble, and in our abundant faith our boast will be in the LORD alone. We ought to keep our tongue from evil, to turn from evil and do good, to seek peace, and to call out to the LORD with broken and contrite hearts, and we will lack nothing in the Kingdom of God.

35: When the LORD directs us, we might brandish weapons of war, but in the midst of the battle we must rely on the LORD for our salvation. Those who oppose God's children will be chaff in the wind, and they won't even expect the Day of their doom. When people in our lives repay us evil for the good we offer them, it certainly makes us feel desolate; we mourn, pray and fast, and wait for the LORD while pleading for His intercession so our enemies will not gloat over us. There may be times when this carries on, and we may wonder when the LORD will act to vindicate us. But in that Day, which will arrive, we will delight in the righteousness of God, and so we ought to praise Him forever.

Psalm 36, Psalm 37, Psalm 38, Psalm 39, Psalm 40, Psalm 41, Psalm 42

36: The one who devises trouble while he lies in bed is due to be cast down unable to rise, but the fountain of life and light is available to the upright in heart, who are showered in grace.

37: We have to be careful when things don't go our way or when people seek to disrupt us or our causes with their evil ways, for when we trust in God and feed on His faithfulness, He will deliver us in due time. If we fall into anger, it could lead to evil and the evil ones will be destroyed. The LORD will always provide what we need and in eternity He will give abundance when we count on Him.

38: When we mourn our iniquities and our shortcomings, when our sin becomes too heavy for us, when we mourn on account of our foolishness, when our hearts throb from our wrongdoing, the LORD knows our hearts and restores our hope in Him by His grace. We must acknowledge our guilt and pursue good, and God will save us.

39: We are but travelers; sojourners passing through this world here to learn what really matters, and that is this: the LORD is eternal and those who trust in Him and do what He has commanded will dwell with Him forever. This life is nearly over the moment it begins, and without God's grace we are nothing.

40: Because of our hope in the LORD despite our difficulties, others may come to know the LORD. Let us continue to shout: Here I am, LORD, use me! Doing the will of God ought to bring joy; let His Torah become the core of our being so that we can declare His faithfulness, salvation, grace, mercy, and truth. The LORD is great and glorious, but I am poor and needy, dependent upon Him.

41: The LORD preserves the poor from calamity, protects them from their enemies, and heals them when they are sick. Have mercy on me, a sinner, my LORD! We will know the LORD's favor when our enemies fall before us and we stand forever in the land of the living. Praise be the Name of the LORD!

42: I thirst for the LORD and cry out to Him with a downcast soul, urging myself to hope in God, to praise His name again and again for the salvation that He has given me.

Psalm 43, Psalm 44, Psalm 45, Psalm 46, Psalm 47, Psalm 48, Psalm 49, Psalm 50

43: With a faithless nation surrounding us today, I understand the sentiment of this psalmist. It is through faith and trust in the LORD alone that we can rise up from depression and rest in hope.

44: We have read about the great deeds of God, as well as His promises, and so we pray the LORD brings about His redemption and deliverance to us in these dark days, for our hope is in His grace.

45: The king is referred to as God, and God the Father is One with Him. He is full of splendor and speaks with gracious words; His bride will be led in with gladness and joy!

46: The LORD of Hosts, the God of Jacob, is with those people who trust in Him; He upholds His people and defeats our enemies, and so we are unafraid, for He rules over all the Earth.

47: The rulers of the Earth are subject to God, and all the people praise Him, for He rules over all.

48: The LORD will guide us eternally, and we shall praise Him forever, meditating on His grace. He will vanquish all His enemies.

49: Wealth in this world profits nothing, but those of us who put our hope in the LORD cannot be contained by death, for God will receive us.

50: Yeshua is coming and He will consume the wicked with fire, but the ones who give Him thanksgiving and praise honor Him, and those who walk righteously will be glorified with Him. The LORD desires nothing else from us, for He created all things and has dominion over all.

Psalm 51, Psalm 52, Psalm 53, Psalm 54, Psalm 55, Psalm 56, Psalm 57, Psalm 58, Psalm 59, Psalm 60

51: True sacrifice to God is a broken spirit, and God will not turn away a chastened heart. In our days, we ought to plead with the LORD to make our heart clean and forget our rebellious ways. Only when we have cleansed ourself and taken the beam from our own eye can we point out the speck in the eyes of others, and this is what we are called to do.

52: In the day the LORD plucks up the evil and destroys them we will know yet another time that God fulfills all of His promises. As for us, we must trust in God's grace and the hope of His name.

53: We all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, but only a fool says there is no God. In Yeshua, we are saved out of our wickedness to walk in righteousness forever.

54: God is helping us escape from the devices of the wicked and will rescue us in the end.

55: There are many days as I ponder the total depravity of the world that I wish I could get picked up and hidden away from it, for I groan at the evil in the world. But I trust in the LORD, and He will help me endure until the end when He has promised to do exactly what I long for now.

56: In God alone I trust, for He is for me, and I praise His Word, for He removes all fear, discouragement, and doubt sown by the enemy, who will be destroyed. I will walk in the light of God's presence and man can do nothing to my eternal soul.

57: Despite any challenge we face in this life, any tribulation, any battle, any struggle, and any suffering—at the hands of men or due to the natural consequences of our fall from Eden—God will send His grace and Truth and I will praise His Name, which is exalted above all!

58: Judgment Day is coming, and the righteous will stand in the blood of the wicked, observing all.

59: LORD, help me to stand for your glory in the midst of my enemies, for you are my strength and my fortress—my deliverer who gives me grace.

60: We will not win every battle here on Earth, but the LORD will not abandon us, and with Him we will continue to stand with hope in His calling.

Psalm 61, Psalm 62, Psalm 63, Psalm 64, Psalm 65, Psalm 67, Psalm 68

61: LORD, help me to answer your upward calling and stand on your firm foundation all the Way.

62: The LORD and His Word ought to be our concentration, for our salvation comes from Him and He also judges our deeds.

63: There will be times when we feel abandoned by the LORD, but when we rejoice in God we will hunger and thirst for Him even more during these times, and that is the purpose of such times.

64: When God moves to help us in our struggles, especially with our enemies, it is evident. Thus, we ought to praise Him and thank Him in our supplications.

65: Our God, to whom we pray, created all things, oversees all things, and has control over all things. He saves those whom He chooses.

66: The LORD flooded the whole Earth by opening the fountains of the deep and drained the waters into their place. He dried up the sea so His people could cross to hear His Word, then tested them to purify their ranks. He dried the raging river so His faithful could enter His Promised Land. He preserves our lives when we pray for His grace to overwhelm our shortcomings.

67: When the LORD blesses us with His grace and comes to dwell with us, we ought to give thanks to Him and praise His name, making His Way known to all.

68: God rose from the dead to the throne of Heaven, the Highest Mountain, and His enemies will not be able to withstand His judgment, and we who offer Him praise with our words and deeds will dwell with Him forever.

Psalm 69, Psalm 70, Psalm 71, Psalm 72, Psalm 73

69: We get that sinking feeling from time to time as evil spirits and the men and women they keep in bondage attempt to destroy the work we're doing for the LORD. I often pray as David prayed: "Let those who put their hope in you, LORD God of Hosts, not be put to shame through me; let those who are seeking you, God of Isra’el, not be disgraced through me." I often pray: Here I am LORD. Let me be used as a vessel for your will to be done, LORD. When I mourn and fast, doubts and discouragements rise to the surface, but I turn to the LORD in prayer. By His grace He directs me to the Truth of His Salvation, which is in His written and living Word. There are no human comforters, but we are raised up by offering praise and gratitude to God, who desires our good in all things.

70: God is great and glorious, but I am poor and needy. Yeshua, You are my help and rescuer!

71: The LORD chastens His people, but also raises us up and gives us comfort and strength, for this is what forms us into the image He has designed us to be, and for this we ought to offer Him thanksgiving and praise and shout for joy. Yeshua will defeat the enemy, and so we trust in Him!

72: The Messiah will rule in fairness of judgment and uphold righteousness, defend the oppressed and crush the oppressor until darkness is overcome by His light and tribulation with peace. All flesh will fall before Him and all nations will serve Him. His name will endure forever, and all who trust in Him will be blessed.

73: When we look at the wicked prosper and curse God we may grow weary. But when we enter the sanctuaries of God's holiness and grasp the destiny of the wicked according to His Word, we know that God is just and we ought not grow weary of doing good. Yahweh guides those who consider Him as their foundation and abundant provider forever. He comes near to bless us and protect us from all that is evil.

Psalm 74, Psalm 75, Psalm 76, Psalm 77, Psalm 79, Psalm 80, Psalm 81, Psalm 82

74: When we feel like the LORD has abandoned us, we ought to pray in a manner that glorifies Him for all of His accomplishments and then ask for His deliverance just as He has promised His people.

75: The LORD instructed us to love our enemies, and the psalmist exhibits this very thing by exhorting the wicked to humble themselves and trust in the strength of the LORD and praise His name so they are not destroyed.

76: The proud will be humbled and the humble will be exalted.

77: When we ponder the law of God and believe it is no more or imagine that God's grace has been forgotten, we ought to understand it is our weakness and sin to believe that our God would ever change. God's ways are eternal and His holiness forever, and when we meditate on what He has done and what He has promised we will praise Him and be redeemed.

79: There will be times when we are oppressed, even as God's people given His holy promise, for the Lord has said He will chasten us, but He will also never leave us nor forsake us. We can rely on Him forever.

80: When Messiah comes to restore Israel, God's people will not turn away from Him and we will all be saved.

81: The LORD mourns for His people who turn their backs on Him, for He truly desires to celebrate His New Moons, His Sabbaths and His Feasts with His righteous people, and one day He will forever.

82: The Messiah stood in the council of the divine beings who rebelled against Him—who tried to usurp His throne—and proclaimed judgment against them. All divine beings who rebelled against God Most High will die like men and Yeshua will judge the earth and possess all of the nations.

Psalm 78, Psalm 83, Psalm 84, Psalm 85

78: The LORD explains through the psalmist that His historical relationship with Israel—from Egypt to the Promised Land, and from the fall to restoration and rule—is a living parable full of mysteries that are meant to be puzzled through and discerned by those seeking relationship with Him forever.

83: In a Last Days foreshadow we learn that God's enemies will seek the Promised Land for themselves, but they will be dispelled in disgrace, and only those who repent and acknowledge the Most High and His plans will dwell with Him.

84: There is nothing better than yearning after the presence of the LORD and seeking a deeper and more meaningful relationship with Him into all eternity.

85: Revive us, LORD, in your grace and salvation; speak peace to those of us who do not fall into relapses of sin. Grace and truth, and justice and peace, are reconciled in worship of the One True God.

Psalm 86, Psalm 87, Psalm 88, Psalm 89, Psalm 90, Psalm 91

86: We plead with the LORD to preserve our life and take pity on us, for He is kind and forgiving and full of grace toward all who call upon Him.

87: Zion, the New Jerusalem, is established as the apple of God's eye.

88: We may wonder how to look through our suffering to the glory of God, but even in death He can raise us up again.

89: The grace of the LORD will not fall away from David, and His dynasty shall last forever through the reign of Messiah Yeshua. Though it looked bleak for David's descendants, a Branch came out from the stump that was cut off and grew into a hardy tree.

90: Teach us to number our days so we can become wise, for we know that from eternity past to eternity future we serve One God who rules over all and we ought to walk according to His ways.

91: The LORD is our refuge, our shield, and our protection, and no fear can overcome our trust in Him.

Psalm 92, Psalm 93, Psalm 94, Psalm 95, Psalm 96, Psalm 97, Psalm 98, Psalm 99, Psalm 100, Psalm 101, Psalm 108

92: The LORD is full of grace and faithful, and on the Sabbath we will sing His praises because He has given us rest to enjoy what He has made for us and consider His Word.

93: The LORD's throne is forever and His instructions are sure.

94: Happy is the man corrected by the LORD, to whom He teaches His Torah!

95: The LORD is our shepherd, and we ought to trust Him as He leads us. Those who challenge the LORD will not enter His rest.

96: The LORD is king and will judge the world with righteousness.

97: The LORD will judge with fire and burn up His enemies all around, but those who hate evil love the LORD and will be kept safe amidst the flames.

98: Shout with joy before the LORD for He will judge His people fairly.

99: The LORD forgives those whose heart is to serve Him and keep His commandments.

100: The LORD is good, His grace and faithfulness continue forever; He deserves thanksgiving and praise.

101: We ought to operate with sincere hearts, protecting the gates of eyes from anything evil, casting away any who are proud, liars, or devise wickedness.

108: Let us offer the LORD thanks and praise with beautiful music, for He is our help and fights valiantly for His people against His enemies.

Psalm 102, Psalm 103, Psalm 104, Psalm 105

102: Death comes upon us all, and we all will experience our days cut short—it comes too quickly. But this life is just the beginning, it is the pruning ground where we grow fruit that will last forever in the Kingdom of our God, who preceded all things and will live forever. The LORD's chosen children will be established in His presence.

103: The LORD has not treated us as we deserve. OH, how I have offended Him and am deserving of death, but because of His unimaginable love He took my place and was tortured for my sins; He removed them from me as far as the east is from the west. He has unimaginable love for we who worship Him—we whom He created from the dust.

104: The LORD created the Heavens, the Earth and everything in them, and what variety there is in His works! In His Wisdom He made all things. May we please the LORD in all that we do as we rejoice in what He has made for us.

105: The LORD orchestrates all things for the good of His people who love Him and keep His commandments, and He brings wrath upon those who oppose His love.

Psalm 106, Psalm 107, Psalm 109

106: In all of Israel's travels, they saw the glory of God work out for their good repeatedly, but they forgot every blessing. We fall victim to this same depravity. Many fall into old worldly patterns, but these lead to judgment. The LORD's love and mercy for us remain forever, so when we return to Him we can offer Him thanks and praise for His eternal glory.

107: The LORD, who redeemed us from the power of sin and death, deserves our thanks and praise, for He is good and His mercy endures forever. In our trouble we call out to the LORD, and He sends His Word to heal us. He calms the storms and waves around us and brings new life where there is only death, even unto abundance. The humble will rejoice, the wise will obey the LORD.

109: The righteous man will be hated for loving and following Yeshua, but those who hate the righteous and betray us will be cut off forever. While we may weaken and even fall victim to the evil in this world, the LORD will raise us up to praise Him among many witnesses and the wicked will be ashamed.

Psalm 110, Psalm 111, Psalm 112, Psalm 113, Psalm 114, Psalm 115, Psalm 116, Psalm 117, Psalm 118, Psalm 120, Psalm 121

110: Yeshua rules today in order to subjugate and root out the enemies of God, and on the Last Day He will lay waste to any who remain. He will offer atonement to those who have followed Him, for He is a priest who rules in righteousness forever.

111: We ought to praise the LORD among those who are upright, for He feeds those who fear Him with the Bread of Life and faithfully keeps His promises.

112: Those of us who truly know Yeshua will not be moved by bad news, fearful or doubtful things, or any attack on our character for doing what the LORD commands, but the wicked will hate us for it.

113: The LORD is higher than all else, but He humbles Himself to even look upon us for a moment, and He lifts up those who fear Him from the lowest depths.

114: The Earth and all that is in it moves on account of the Word of the LORD.

115: We ought to bless the Holy Name of the LORD alone!

116: We must remind ourselves of the LORD's generosity and salvation in times of trouble, even when we are utterly miserable in our condition, for He is worthy of thanks and praise. We ought to serve the LORD forever.

117: Praise God for His grace abounds and His Truth endures.

118: The LORD is good, and His mercy endures forever. When He is with us and we trust Him, there is no need for any other source of help.

120: It's distressing to watch liars lead God's faithful astray from the peace only God can offer.

121: Our help comes from the LORD, who made the heavens and the earth and all that is in them. He is our sword and our shield.

Psalm 119

119: The law of God was made for our good, and it is because of His grace that we ought to follow it. We ought to follow Torah not just out of fear of punishment for disobedience, but because we know that obedience to God's law makes us free, full of joy and peace, and brings us closer in relationship to the one we love, Yeshua the Messiah, who embodied the law entirely. When we follow Him, we keep the law perfectly. Obedience to God ought to be worth more to us than anything else.

Psalm 123, Psalm 124, Psalm 125, Psalm 126, Psalm 127, Psalm 128, Psalm 129, Psalm 130, Psalm 131, Psalm 132, Psalm 133, Psalm 134, Psalm 135, Psalm 136

123: The complacent and arrogant look upon God's people with scorn and contempt. Have mercy on us, your servants, dear LORD.

124: If the LORD was not with us, our enemies would succeed in destroying us, but blessed be the LORD who saves us from the traps of the enemy.

125: When we trust in the LORD, no move of the enemy will affect us.

126: "Those who sow in tears will reap with cries of joy." We will reap what we sow, and so let us sow with full devotion to the will of the LORD.

127: We must rely on the LORD for our every need or anything we do will have no value.

128: The LORD will bless those who fear Him and live according to His Way.

129: The LORD's righteousness keeps us from having to obey worldly rulers.

130: We fear and obey the Word of the LORD because of His grace, for none of us could stand without His forgiveness.

131: We must remain humble and wait on the LORD.

132: The LORD will rest forever in Zion with His people.

133: It is good and pleasant for brothers to live in the unity of God's Holy Word.

134: Bless the LORD, oh my soul, for He blesses from His holy habitation.

135: Praise the LORD for all of His wonderful works for His people.

136: Give thanks to the LORD, for His mercy endures forever.

Psalm 137, Psalm 138, Psalm 139, Psalm 140, Psalm 141, Psalm 142, Psalm 143, Psalm 144, Psalm 145

137: We weep remembering Eden, the way God designed His world in perfection, and Zion, the closest approximation to God's perfect Kingdom the world has ever known, especially during the reigns of David and Solomon. One day God will restore all and exceed our wildest imaginations, and the enemy will have no part in it.

138: The Word of God is even greater than what people remember about God, because the LORD is living and powerful, full of grace and truth to make His people who know Him bold and strong.

139: The LORD knows our hearts every intent and He understands what we will say and do, and yet we can pray that He removes any hurtful way in us so He can lead us along His eternal Way. There is nowhere we can go where He cannot help us, for even from the womb He made us for His purposes.

140: We ask the LORD to protect us from the evil schemes of the wicked and to bring all evil devices on those who contrive plots against us, so we can give thanks forever to the Name of God.

141: We ask the LORD to direct our thoughts and prayers up to Him, so they will rise up like a sweet incense to His nostrils. We celebrate when others correct us in righteousness, for their rebukes are an act of love. May the LORD help us correct them also so we can both grow closer to God.

142: The LORD is our refuge and portion forever; we ask Him to rescue us from our persecutors so that we can give thanks to His name!

143: We long for the LORD's grace and righteousness like living water in a dry and thirsty land, and we reach out our hands in praise and thanksgiving, pleading to hear a Word concerning the LORD's everlasting love so we can learn to do His will.

144: The LORD provides His people with everything they need and trains us to fight alongside Him for what is right and true. To fear God is to align ourselves with Him and all of His ways.

145: God is good to all, for He rains on the righteous and the wicked, and He is full of grace. He fulfills the desires of those who fear Him and saves those who love Him, destroying His adversaries.

Psalm 146, Psalm 147, Psalm 148, Psalm 149, Psalm 150

146: We should not trust in any man on the Earth, but put all of our trust alone in God, who loves the righteous hearted but twists the schemes of the wicked against themselves.

147: The LORD creates, sustains, heals, and restores, and His Word is revealed to those who trust in Him.

148: The LORD deserves all praise and exaltation for His glory creates and sustains all, and He will bring praises upon His faithful to increase His glory.

149: The LORD saves and takes pleasure in His people who humble themselves before Him.

150: It is right to give the LORD thanks and praise with all manner of music and singing.

Proverbs 1, Proverbs 2, Proverbs 3, Proverbs 4

1: Proverbs are meant to fasciliate learning, discernment, understanding, insight, discipline, righteousness, and justice. We should flee from evil, for those who seek wantom pleasure or unjust gain will lose their lives—the LORD will not even listen to them—but those who gain wisdom and the fear of God will live securely.

2: We ought to seek wisdom to gain a fear of God, for in doing this we will come to find joy in the knowledge, discretion and discernment of God and will be saved from evil and deceit. The woman who seduces brings death, but those pure of heart will inherit the land God prepares for His people.

3: Grace and truth ought to be written on our hearts as we humbly trust in God rather than in man or even ourselves, for all wisdom comes from God and His discipline brings understanding to those He loves.

4: We ought to seek wisdom and guard our hearts, seeking God's Way above all else.

Proverbs 5, Proverbs 6, Proverbs 7, Proverbs 8, Proverbs 9

5: A loose woman may seem attractive and her voice may utter sweet nothings, but her way is death. There is nothing better than the wife that God has given and the blessings that come from growing closer to God together with her.

6: Battle laziness and debt with hard work until freedom comes. Do not speak lies or bear false witness. Do not murder. Honor your father and mother. Obey God and live.

7: In the cover of darkness, men are enticed to sin. Those who mix the holy with the profane do not please God; they will be destroyed like anyone who sins without repentance.

8: Yeshua is wisdom personified, and we ought to seek Him more than anything else in this world. "The fear of the LORD is the hatred of evil," and humility, righteousness and truth are the beginning of the path toward life.

9: The two women are the path toward life and the path toward death. When weak-willed or unsure, we ought to turn in to wisdom's house and walk in the understanding of God's Word. We ought to learn from correction and enjoy the teaching of God.

Proverbs 10, Proverbs 11, Proverbs 12, Proverbs 13

10: The wise bring joyful Truth to all who will listen, feeding and uplifting other people and ensuring their own blessing, while the wicked bring deceit, trouble, destruction and death.

11: The wise are truthful and honest in all their dealings, will always have enough, and are delivered by the LORD from trouble, while the wicked face illusory gain and ultimately will destroy themselves and others.

12: The wise love knowledge and correction and obtain the LORD's favor; his righteous plans are just and come to fruition as he diligently seeks the LORD, even if there is trouble along the way; his words heal and stand forever; and eternal life is His reward.

13: A wise man diligently seeks the best in all situations, guards his tongue, shines forth the light of God's Truth, listens to advice, offers healing, walks with wise men, thinks of his children, and is satisfied in all ways.

Proverbs 14, Proverbs 15, Proverbs 16, Proverbs 17

14: To be productive, one has to accept disorder before order comes. Sin and guilt offerings were never meant to be common, but rather to shame those subject to them. A man may believe his own way is good, but only what the Torah commands is good for us and we are wise to obey God.

15: The LORD watches every thought, word and action, and so the wise one thinks, speaks and does what the LORD has commanded. We ought to deliberate with Godly people prior to acting, and cautiously move, considering only what is right. With wealth or poverty, joy comes alone from God.

16: We must be humble before the LORD, trusting Him in making all our plans and looking only to His Word to determine what is right.

17: The LORD tests our hearts, and watches what is spoken, while a wise person guards his tongue and seeks peace.

Proverbs 18, Proverbs 19, Proverbs 20, Proverbs 21, Proverbs 22

18: It is wise to watch our words, to avoid offense, to face up to our issues with grace, trying to understand, to work hard, and to trust in the LORD and His righteousness.

19: We must be truthful and live uprightly, keeping discipline to follow after the LORD with all diligence.

20: Avoid drunkenness, quarreling, laziness, deceit, false dealings, gossip, but instead seek grace and truth and the wisdom from God.

21: Our hearts ought to pursue justice, kindness, and charity. We ought to be good stewards of the resources the LORD has given us and humble toward all whom God brings into our lives.

22: Be pure in heart, gracious in speech, knowledgeable in the Word of God, applying it to every aspect of life. Be true to your Word and keep your anger at bay, so destruction doesn't come.

Proverbs 23, Proverbs 24, Proverbs 25, Proverbs 26

23: Gluttony and drunkenness are foolish, but so is withholding good things from your guests, for hospitality is the fruit of God. Our parents will notice and appreciate our wisdom here.

24: The wise build up their house to produce what is needed in this life, and they seek many wise advisors to make sound decisions.

25: God conceals knowledge, but we are rewarded by seeking it out. Be humble, be kind, be temperate, avoid those who are evil, and rebuke those acting wickedly in prayer, hoping for their repentance.

26: Be discreet in handling God's wisdom, for only those with ears to hear will love you for it. Do not get involved in others' business in word or in deed, and practice speaking and doing only Truth.

Proverbs 27, Proverbs 28, Proverbs 29, Proverbs 30, Proverbs 31

27: It is good to remain humble and to accept the well-intentioned criticism of a friend with grace, for this will bring improvement.

28: The wicked flee and a land of evildoers falls under oppression, but the righteous stand in the light of God and bring freedom. Torah is the standard of Truth for all men, and anyone who rejects God's law will be forgotten.

29: We ought to rejoice in correction, seeking righteousness and stability in the Truth of God, speaking only wisdom from His Word. Our hearts ought to show favor to the poor and broken.

30: The One who has gone up to heaven and come down is Yahweh and His son's name is Yeshua; His Word is pure and He provides refuge for His people.

31: A woman who diligently seeks the LORD and does good for her husband and family is more valuable than any treasure on the Earth.

Job 1, Job 2, Job 3, Job 4, Job 5, Job 6

There are a few things to note about the book of Job. One: God said that Job was blameless, and thus He was without sin, and humble and repentant of any shortcoming in his life, and he remains so throughout the book. His words are Scripture and can be used to help us. When utter calamity struck him, he didn't blame God and he didn't blame himself. He just didn't understand and sought to do so, as any man of God would. He blessed God in the midst of tragedy. We MUST emulate Him. We must be like Job. He is one of three men mentioned in Ezekiel 14 that we MUST be like when judgment comes upon our land and against our nation. Importantly, his three friends may speak half truths, but like the devil their words are sprinkled with lies and misinterpretation of Scripture. We must not accept their words as Truth, even if there is truth in them, for they are full of falsehood. Beware!

Two other things to note: Satan had free rein to enter Heaven and stand before God. As the Adversary, his job is literally to push the buttons and test those who stand with God, even causing us pain and suffering up to the point of death. Paul notes in 1 Corinthians 5 that the man sleeping with his father's wife should be cast out of the church to be dealt with by Satan. Yeshua said to Peter that Satan asked to sift him as wheat, and presumably the answer Yeshua gave Satan was yes. While this adversary no longer has access to Heaven, for Yeshua cast Him out forever when He ascended, he is still being used to test those of us who say we are with God. We have to endure through all hardships. The LORD truly wants to know who are His; who belong to Him. He wants to ensure we are with Him regardless of our circumstances. We should also note, regarding Job's wife, that Satan uses those closest to us to try to throw us off course. We ought to beware of these trappings. Men: You MUST love your wives and direct them according to the Word of God, and wives, you MUST obey your loving husbands and help them serve God. This is God's order of things.

As he begins to speak, Job cursed the day of his birth, even wishing he had never been born into this cursed world, and I know we have all been here in our lives, but never once did Job seek his own life. He cried out to God to help him, to deliver him and to take away his misery. There is no sin in any of this.

Eliphaz speaks in ignorance, looking for a cause of unrighteousness for Job's misery. This is the same as when Yeshua healed the man born blind. He said that the man wasn't blind due to his own sin or the sin of his parents, but so the glory of God could be exhibited. Job's suffering is for the same reason.

There is good advice in Elphaz's words in chapter five. He notes that Job should not seek any of the created divine beings, but to seek only God the Almighty. In his statement, however, he forgets that Job was already doing this.

In Job's response, we see that the best thing we can do for those who are suffering is to silently sit by and comfort them with our presence. To try to rationalize or come up with reasons for suffering adds insult to injury.

Job 7, Job 8, Job 9, Job 10, Job 11

Job mourned the meaninglessness of suffering from a human perspective, and longs for the grave. In wondering why God even considers His creation, testing us to see whether we will sin, He reveals the love God has for His people. God so desires that we dwell with Him that He does indeed know our every thought and intent. He will explain any wicked way in us through His Word. Job sought correction, but wasn't offered any for it was unwarranted.

God didn't reject Job, and Job had not sinned, but Bildad incorrectly makes the case for it.

Job ponders more concerning God's nature: He is the creator and cannot stand up in court to plead His case. Who besides Him would judge? God is simply just; He is right, wise and great, and we are either with Him or against Him. How could we even consider opposing Him?

We can ask God why He is testing us. We can ask God not to condemn us. We can ask God to reveal sin within us. Job says rightly: "If I am wicked, woe to me!—but if righteous, I still don't dare raise my head." The humility of Job is admirable.

Zophar spoke ignorantly just like his friend Bildad, accusing the suffering Job of sin. Job had already asked the LORD to reveal if there was any sin in him. Zophar's words were empty.

Job 12, Job 13, Job 14, Job 15, Job 16

Job's spoke with sarcasm expressing humor similar to Elijah concerning his friends. How proud they were to believe they knew more than Job in his relationship with God. Job's not looking for their advice, for they are whitewashed tombs when they speak lies. Rather Job wants his friends to plead with God for salvation right alongside him; saying even, "Have mercy on me, a sinner." How can we not fear God considering His majesty. We plead with God alongside Job: "Make me know my transgression and sin." Let the LORD hide us all in the grave until His wrath passes by, and then let Him remember us at His appointed time for resurrection, just as Job requested.

Eliphaz responded with additional lies, again accusing Job of sin. He falsely accuses Job of pride for simply humbling himself to be righteous before God. Many Christians accuse the righteous of pride today to their own peril.

In Job's response, he responds as Yeshua did, calling those around him blind guides who give lip service to the LORD; their hearts are far from Him, because they teach as doctrine the commandments of men.  

Job 17, Job 18, Job 19, Job 20, Job 21

Job continued in an obvious prophetic nod to Yeshua on the cross, looking for just one righteous man on all the earth, but not finding one. Only those willing to follow Him into suffering and even death while maintaining faith in God will rise to the land of the living on the Last Day.

Bildad was right to express that the wicked will perish, but he was wrong in context applying this to Job.

Job again nods to Yeshua in his abandonment and suffering, proclaiming the Gospel and speaking of prophesy concerning the Last Days: “But I know that my Redeemer lives, that in the end he will rise on the dust; so that after my skin has been thus destroyed, then even without my flesh, I will see God. I will see him for myself, my eyes, not someone else’s, will behold him. My heart grows weak inside me!”

Zophar rightly explains the fate of the wicked, but falsely applies it to Job, and of special note he says: "My thoughts are pressing me to answer; I feel such an urge to speak." Proverbs 13:3 reads: "He who guards his mouth preserves his life, but he who opens wide his lips shall have destruction."

Job reminds us that God shines his sun and rains his rain on the righteous and the evil just the same, but we must walk away from the wicked.

Job 22, Job 23, Job 24, Job 25, Job 26, Job 27, Job 28

Eliphaz argues that God punishes the wicked and rewards the righteous in this life, but that is false. God's judgment pertains to the life to come. In this life, He pours His goodness and His trials on all, and the righteous turn toward God in faith despite any tribulations they face. The wicked turn their backs on God. Job, as his words bear out, never turned against God.

Job, in his response, explained his prayers for the LORD's mercy. Then he amazingly shareed his heart condition. This is precisely the faith we should share with Job: "[God] knows the way I take; when He has tested me, I will come out like gold. My feet have stayed in His footsteps; I keep to His way without turning aside. I don’t withdraw from His lips’ command; I treasure His words more than my daily food. But He has no equal, so who can change him? What He desires, He does. He will accomplish what is decreed for me, and He has many plans like this. This is why I am terrified of Him; the more I think about it, the more afraid I am—God has undermined my courage; Shaddai frightens me.” We know that "the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom." We ought to treasure Almighty God's words more than our daily food, and we ought to follow Yeshua and His way alone.

In Chapter 24, as he continues, Job correctly attributes suffering to the sins of men rather than anything God has done. God created a perfect world, but allows sin on account of free will. In the end, the wicked will be judged while God will pull the mighty of faith along into His kingdom.

Bildad asks, "How then can humans be righteous with God?"

Job knows the answer: God is all powerful. We must trust in Him and His ways, for those who lash out against Him will be destroyed, even if it looks like they prosper now. But those who grasp onto God's wisdom and delight in Him will live. Fear of God is wisdom, and shunning evil is understanding. There is no greater Truth. The Saints of God keep His commandments and the testimony of Yeshua, and the wicked hate them for it (Revelation 12:17). God will have His way.

Job 29, Job 30, Job 31, Job 32, Job 33

We can think back to the days of our joy, like Job, when our children were younger and we were regarded by the community as righteous men, wondering why our final days are full of much sorrow, but Job understands: we are all appointed to die once, and then the judgment. This life ought to be fulfilled in the same way as Yeshua's, in the same way as Job's, by fearing God and keeping His commandments, which Job so wonderfully articulates in poetic detail here. He even gives us wonderful tips on how we might obey, such as "I made a covenant with my eyes to not let them lust after any girl," knowing that even looking leads to sin in our hearts. He gave us an understanding that our lives deserve retribution and judgment when we sin against God in some graphic detail, and this is what kept him from sin. Scripture testifies that Job will stand on the day of judgment, and Job's faith is so sincere and secure that He also has this understanding.

Elihu the youth so far pushed a bunch of wind from his mouth in meaningless perseveration, not varying much from the statements of Job's three other "friends," but he does say something worth remembering: "I don't know how to flatter; if I did, my maker would soon put an end to me." It is important that we speak the Truth without hesitation when God brings it to our lips, but let us first make sure what we say is from God by comparing it to His Word.

Job 34, Job 35, Job 36, Job 37

It's maddening to hear the rambling words of a man who has no wisdom. At least Elihu recognizes the wonderment of God's creation, but He understands very little else.

Job 38, Job 39, Job 40, Job 41, Job 42

There are a few major things to note as the Book of Job concludes:
1) God created all things, the heavens (spiritual realm), the earth (physical realm), and everything in both of them. We ought to marvel at His creation and give glory to His name on account of it. His power is awesome! 2) The brontosaurus and mosasaurus lived during the time of Job and probably much later, even after the flood. God created animals like Ostriches to show us foolishness and animals like Eagles to show us wisdom and victory. He created the Ox to show us strength, the Horse to show us courage. Weather is indeed used to bring about tribulation so we can be tested. The sun and the moon, the oceans and their waves, and all the systems of the Earth illustrate the perfect order that God has set forth for our good.

3) In considering the awesome power of God, Job repented of even wondering about his affliction. He said, "I detest myself and repent in dust and ashes." Yes, compared to God, we must recognize that we are nothing and His grace alone keeps us alive or raises us from the dead into new life. There isn't anything we can do that is of any consequence outside of choose to praise God for who He is and what He has done. We ought to rejoice always in the LORD and pray without ceasing, especially during times of affliction, but even during times of hurry or times of prosperity. 4) God said to Job's three friends: “My anger is blazing against you and your two friends, because, unlike my servant Job, you have not spoken rightly about me." This tells us three things: a) Job did not sin with his words at all. Yet Job still turned to humility and repentance, because compared to God we are not worthy, and this is our model. b) Job's friends were not correct in what they said, and we should not use their words as lessons for our faith. They are lessons on how we ought not to speak. c) Elihu's words might have been added to the story later by another writer and should largely be discarded. They're foolish anyway.

5) God restored all that Job had lost, and yet that does not replace what he had lost. We cannot replace lost children with new children. There was real loss in Job's life. Yes, Job was greatly blessed, but he also greatly suffered, as will we. In a spiritual sense, we ought to understand that in the resurrection those who did not have faith in Yeshua and keep God's commandments will not be there with us. There will be real loss, but God will wipe every tear from our eyes. He will greatly and abundantly bless us. We have to ponder what Yeshua told us in Matthew 10:37-39: "He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it." When his mother and brothers were looking for Him, Yeshua said in Matthew 12:49-50, "Pointing to his disciples, ... 'Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.” We will spend eternity with Yeshua's family, if we put Him first in our lives above all else and remain humble before God, as Job did.

Song of Solomon 1, Song of Solomon 2, Song of Solomon 3, Song of Solomon 4

The Song of Solomon has advice for a man and wife on how to have a good, lasting relationship, and it also points to the relationship the followers of Yeshua ought to relate to the LORD as the Bridegroom. A woman ought to praise her husband and the LORD, she ought to be chaste, to wait in patience and to prepare to comfort him upon his arrival from a long journey with love. A husband ought to provide for and protect his wife, saving her from harm, and Yeshua does this for His people.

The words "my sister, my bride" may be jarring to an unbeliving mind, but a true marriage is equally yoked. My wife is my bride, but she is also my sister in Messiah Yeshua, and together we are pursuing our relationship with Him. Truly she is my sister in Christ, and my bride in life—a true Proverbs 31 woman. Praise be to God for His grace.

Song of Solomon 5, Song of Solomon 6, Song of Solomon 7, Song of Solomon 8

Our wife is our sister, our bride, and our friend. Yeshua is our brother, our husband and our friend. Israel is described, Yeshua is described, a beautiful woman and unparalleled man are described.

The underlying message I saw in today's reading is this: "you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart." (Jeremiah 29:13). ... "“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened." (Matthew 7:7-8)

The LORD has gone away to His garden, but one day we will join Him there and celebrate the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. We wait in anticipation, much like the woman in this parable.

Ruth 1, Ruth 2, Ruth 3, Ruth 4

The people of Israel prayed, "May Adonai make the woman [Ruth] who has come into your house like Rachel and like Leah, who between them built up the house of Israel." A Moabite foreigner was grafted-in to Israel through faith in Yeshua. Unlike her sister-in-law, who also walked with Naomi back toward Israel, Ruth clung to Naomi while Orpah turned back—in fact, Orpah betrayed her mother-in-law with a kiss. She is a picture of believers whose faith is sown on rocky ground, while Ruth is a picture of those sown in good soil. Ruth said to Naomi, "Wherever you go, I will go; and wherever you stay, I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God will be my God." Along with the Word, she stuck by her word, serving Naomi and providing for her in the only way she could, by gleaning the fields of Boaz, Naomi's' kinsman redeemer. Her heart put the Way of God first before anything else. Boaz saw her kindness and desired to redeem her after providing for her. She had to seek after Him and choose Him, as we choose Christ. Yeshua, who would be a descendant in the flesh of Ruth and Boaz, redeems both Jew and Gentile alike, and all who cling to Him and put Him first before their worldly life will be redeemed by Him at the appointed time.

Lamentations 1, Lamentations 2, Lamentations 3, Lamentations 4, Lamentations 5

Lamentations is the mournful prayer of a man—likely Jeremiah—who watched his beloved Israel (Judah/Jerusalem) suffer from all of the curses God warned Israel about in Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28, and He pleaded for the LORD to bring repentance so the blessings could be restored. But this was a time of mourning, not one of pleading. God would not even hear the prayers of those who had been afflicted. His preordained judgment would run its course. What a fall from grace! It can happen to us all, if we fall into persistent lawlessness or do not turn from our wicked ways.

Jeremiah writes some key Truths into his prayer, which remind us there is always hope, even in our depravity: “For rejection by Adonai does not last forever. He may cause grief, but he will take pity, in keeping with the greatness of his grace. For he does not arbitrarily torment or punish human beings. Let us lift up our hearts and our hands to God in heaven and say, “We, for our part, have transgressed and rebelled; you, for your part, have not forgiven. ... there is no respite until Adonai looks down and sees from heaven."

This has happened because “the offense of the daughter of my people is greater than the sin of Sodom, which was overthrown in an instant, without a hand to help her. It happened because of the sins of her prophets and the offenses of her priests, who, within her walls, shed the blood of the righteous." We must be very careful not to associate with "wolves in sheep's clothing," those false prophets and priests who preach "peace" or "grace" when there is none. Yeshua is not the LORD over sin, but He commands that we love Him and follow Him into righteousness.

The only answer is repentance. Jeremiah writes: “Remember, Adonai, what has happened to us; look, and see our disgrace. ... Adonai, turn us back to you; and we will come back; renew our days, as they were in the past. ..." This is my prayer for America today, but even more so the Body of Christ. So many have gone astray; so many reject the Word of God, and they think God loves it so. If the Church does not wake up and return to God, we will face the same fate as Jerusalem at the hand of the Babylonians, but our Babylon will be far more cruel. The remnant, like Jeremiah, who never give up on the Word of the LORD, will be preserved.

Ecclesiastes 1, Ecclesiastes 2, Ecclesiastes 3, Ecclesiastes 4

There are some key things that are eternally true here to consider:
1. "There is nothing new under the sun." Don't think our age has anything new in it. Before the flood, the world was just like ours, I believe, and we are living in the days of Noah. This time, fire will purify the world from all that is evil.
2. Pleasure is fleeting, and both the fool and the wise will rest in their graves. But what will happen in the End? We should not work so hard to lay up treasures on Earth, for who knows who will inherit them?
3. There is a time for all things to happen in this age, and it is good to enjoy the fruits of our labor, for this is a blessing from God, but only what God has done will last forever. This is why we ought to surrender to His will.
4. Two are better than one ... and a three-stranded cord is not easily broken. Let every relationship you have be founded on the love of Yeshua.

Ecclesiastes 5, Ecclesiastes 6, Ecclesiastes 7, Ecclesiastes 8

Our words matter, particularly in our prayers and interactions with God. We ought to fear Him.
Pursuit of wealth is meaningless, and unhealthy appetites can never be satisfied. Rather we ought to pursue meaningful work that serves others. After we are gone, only God remembers our faith.
When we see that all of us are doomed to die, on account of sin, we ought to wonder what purpose we serve here and listen to the correction of wisdom, for the pursuit of God's will in good times and bad ought to be our focus. There is too much to learn and we cannot grasp it all, and so we should be content. There is a time for all things in God's plan, and so we ought to rest in Him, for HIs justice will reign in the end.

Ecclesiastes 9, Ecclesiastes 10, Ecclesiastes 11, Ecclesiastes 12

Whether good or evil, righteous or lawless, wise or foolish, the same things happen to all of us. God sends his rain on the righteous and the wicked, and His Day of Judgment comes upon us all—but we simply don't know when that day will come. We ought to heed the cry of wisdom, regardless of where it comes from, and we ought to pursue righteousness and wisdom, even though it gains us no special favor—it is our obligation to the Most High. Watch your words and exercise temperance. Offer generously the fruit of your labor to those in need. Do not waste time or harm your body with drugs or alcohol, for God will bring all into judgment. And the day comes when we least expect, sooner than we anticipate. Thus we should understand and live with full appreciation for the fact that God has told us the meaning of life in His Word, and it is this: Fear God and  keep His commandments. It is this testimony of two that will bring us into eternal life with Him.

Esther 1, Esther 2, Esther 3, Esther 4, Esther 5

Esther is a beautiful historical parable about redemption and how God calls us to stand strong in Yeshua for the Word of the LORD and the people of God against the powers of darkness, for we were made "for such a time as this." How will you answer the call?

In its historical context, the word “אֲחַשְׁו ֵרוֹשׁ” in Esther 1:1, transliterated “Achashverosh,” is Persian in origin and is a title rather than the name of a Persian king. We see in Ezra 4 the term is used also. Historically speaking, we know that this king is the king over 127 provinces and that he sat in the citadel in Susa during the time of trouble for the Jews. These are facts that could line up with Darius 1, who may have spent colder months in Susa.

I find it remarkable how God used Esther to bring the Media-Persian empire to a place where it honored the Jews, even up to supporting their return to Jerusalem and ultimate rebuilding of the Temple. He said He would do it, and He did  it through His superintendent nature using the marriage of a beautiful Jewish girl to a Persian king.

In the parable, the king represents God, Mordecai represents Yeshua, Haman represents Satan, Esther represents believing Israel, also called the Church, and Vashti represents those people who have chosen the world and the flesh over the goodness of God. These parties represent the celebrations that happen in Heaven, where the angels say Holy, Holy, Holy and Glory to God in the Highest! Consider reading the whole chapter in this context.

When the king rejected Vashti who had rejected Him, He cast her out and sought out a young spotless virgin to make His bride. He selected Esther, who was obedient to her uncle who raised her as well as all the law of God. We too must be a spotless bride for the Bridegroom when He comes for us. Haman had free reign to go before the throne before Mordecai was elevated, and he was given authority to test the Jews.

Historically, Haman was the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite. The Agagites were traditional enemies of Israel from the House of the Amalekites. The story of Israel’s early defeat of the Amalekites, when Moses raised his hands in praise to the Lord in the wilderness, is in Exodus 17:8-16. That story finishes with: “The Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation,” but also, “I will utterly blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under Heaven.” It should be no surprise then that when we find out that Haman is an Agagite that he will be destroyed.

Esther had no food and water as part of a three-day fast leading up to her presentation before the king, something that was illegal. She won the king's favor because she had appealed to God through her fast and had humbled herself before Him. She had faith and loved not her life even unto death.

Meanwhile, Haman was plotting to put Mordecai to death for standing up against his authority and challenging it. Ultimately, this Satan would be destroyed by the very method he though to destroy Mordecai. Likewise, Satan was sentenced to eternal death by Yeshua's death on the cross. In an apparent victory, he was defeated.

Esther 6, Esther 7, Esther 8, Esther 9, Esther 10

The king keeps records in His Book of Life regarding all of the righteous deeds that bear fruit in our lives because of our faithful hearts.
The King will elevate His Son so even His greatest enemies bow down before Him—those in Heaven, on Earth and Under the Earth.
Those who bless the Jews will be blessed, and those who curse the Jews will be cursed..  
The Bride of Messiah will make known the enemy's wickedness and sit on the throne of judgment with her Bridegroom. The enemy will be destroyed in the same way he fashioned for God's people to be destroyed.  
God grants all power and authority to His Son and sends Him out to defend the faithful.
Gentiles will pour in to the House of Israel and practically beg to be counted among the Jews through their faith in the Messiah and what He has accomplished.
The Messiah sits at the right hand of the Father forever, interceding for the welfare of His people.

Daniel 1, Daniel 2, Daniel 3

King Nebuchadnezzar, like most kings who conquer other lands, took the best and the brightest from Jerusalem and made them a part of his court, forcing them to learn his customs and traditions and assimilate them into Babylon. It's important to note that these men were perfectly OK learning all about Babylonian paganism and they even took on pagan names, but they stopped hard and fast at polluting their bodies with unclean food. We cannot willfully pollute the temple of God in any way, and we ought to take heed to Dani'el, Hananyah, Misha'el and Azaryah's example. "Don't you know that you are the temple of God and the Spirit of God dwells in you?" The LORD abundantly blesses His people who are faithful to His commands.

Daniel sought the LORD together with Hananyah, Misha'el and Azaryah to both discern and interpret Nebuchadnedzer s dream, and to save all of their fellow servants of the king from the king's wrath, regardless of whether or not they were Jews. Despite the king fulfilling the role of Satan in this and other accounts that Daniel explains, he allowed Daniel time to seek the LORD. The LORD alone gave Daniel the vision He sought, and Daniel gave credit to the LORD alone, forcing Nebuchadnezzar to worship the LORD. "Every knee will bow ... in heaven ... on earth ... under the earth." The dream foretold the progression of empires from Babylon, to Media-Persia, to the Greco-Roman empire, to the modern day, ground-up, Democratic-Republican political structure that is now crumbling. The Kingdom of God will destroy all man-made governments on a single day and replace them all with a new, everlasting government under the rule and authority of King Yeshua. I can't wait for that day, and may the LORD have mercy on us all through our faith in Messiah Yeshua.

The golden image Nebuchadnezzar set up was an obelisk with the dimensions of 666, and this image is absolutely a prophetic template for the mark of the beast. The king, who represents Satan, forced all peoples of all nations and all tongues to worship the image when music was played for that purpose, and anyone who would not worship the king's image would be executed. Hananyah, Misha'el and Azaryah refused and were brought before the king, and where we learn a valuable lesson that we will also face in our own lives. The king offered the trio one last chance to recant their faith and to worship the image. We will also have moments like these. We must emulate the faithful here, and trust God regardless of what threats we face. Even in the midst of the furnace, Yeshua is there, and His Holy Spirit will minister to us in the midst of persecution, torture and even death. We must hold the line of our faith, for God will be glorified by this and we will be saved. Final tests like this are coming. Be ready.

Daniel 4, Daniel 5, Daniel 6

The exalted will be humbled and the humble exalted. Nebuchadnezzar who had humbled the Jews was himself humbled, and only after he exalted God Most High was he restored to his place. We too must humble ourselves before God, no matter what.

Belshazzar, son of Nebuchadnezzar, did not learn this lesson from his father and thus blasphemed the articles the LORD commanded Solomon to make for the Temple. For this, the LORD did a new thing and wrote on the wall of the castle, causing great fear among the blasphemers, ending the reign of the Chaldeans and bringing in the Medes and Persians. Oh how I pray that we might stand before kings and speak the Truth as boldly as Daniel did.

And no law that any government passes that prohibits faithful worship can ever prevent us from pursuing the commandments of God. God must always come first before man, and when we put Him first, He will protect us from the jaws of the lion. God Most High is exalted in our humble faithfulness to His Word.

Daniel 7, Daniel 8, Daniel 9

Daniel had three visions several years apart about the near term end of the desolation of Jerusalem as well as the aftermath of the Jews return to Judah. Some of his visions have been interpreted to also represent the Last Days at the very End because of John's use of Daniel's imagery in the Book of Revelation, which can be clearly observed. One thing we might learn from observing all three visions is relative to our perception as readers. We might gloss over the fact that Daniel's first two visions were at least two years apart; in the first year and third year of Belshazzar; while his third vision was in the first year of Darius, another several years later. We might read these stories in succession with awe and believe that visions from God came all the time for Daniel, but when you analyze this situation, they came infrequently and the rest of the time he was living normal life. This is a reminder to us that we ought to keep our hearts fully focused on the LORD and obeying His Word even when life seems ordinary, because it is our humble obedience in ordinary times that leads to the LORD trusting us with great Truth to share with others.

Daniel's first and second visions appear to be relative to the near-term future; namely, the end of Judah's captivity and beyond. He saw that Babylon's leader would be restored to the throne, but then Media-Persia would rise up and devour kingdoms around it, but this kingdom would be no match for Greece and Alexander the Great who would come after it. He would utterly destroy all in his path, but then he would die young. Finally, his four generals would rise up and rule the kingdom, and from the general who oversaw Assyria would come Antiochus Epiphanies IV, an antichrist who literally cast truth to the ground by banning Torah, Sabbath and the Feasts and literally burning Bibles in the streets and murdering Jews for not eating pork. The Spirit of Antichrist after him was also like this; changing the feast days and sabbaths and casting the Truth of God's Word to the ground, leading so many of God's people astray. We must hold fast to the Word of Truth.

There would be One like a Son of Man who would come after this, and His Kingdom would overcome the fourth, terrible Kingdom. He would rule over His people forever in a Spiritual Kingdom of God that is now ongoing. Daniel, who humbled Himself before the LORD and asked for the LORD to honor his promise to Jeremiah to restore Judah after 70 years, was told exactly how long until Judah was restored, and until Messiah Yeshua would come to establish His Kingdom. Daniel also foretold ťhat Messiah would die on the cross—He would be cut off—but then He would rise up again. The people of this Prince, Yeshua, would trample over the Holy Land for many years of desolation for Israel, but then our Messiah would return and pour out destruction on the destroyers. He would return to restore Israel. Daniel's prophesies are so accurate that many have said he wrote after the time of Yeshua. This is not possible, because his writing style is from the time of these Babylonian and Persian kings. Daniel was a real Babylonian governor and faithful Jew, elevated for his wisdom, and he was so sure of his prophesies that he left his fortune for many generations until wise men from the East would carry out his will and bring them to honor the prophesied King.

Daniel 10, Daniel 11, Daniel 12

Daniel showed such humility before the LORD by dedicating himself to prayer and fasting for three weeks that the LORD sent a divine messenger away from battle with a demon in Persia to give the prophet a message about the times to come. If we want to hear the voice of the LORD, we must dedicate ourselves to prayer and fasting in humility like Daniel. The divine messenger comforted Daniel and explained that many things would happen—wars and rumors of wars—conquering conquerers and those who would come to conquer them—and the Holy Land being caught up in turmoil amidst these battles.

We learn that Michael the Divine Archangel, called a great prince in Heaven for God's army, is the principality that watches over Israel and fights against Satan directly. It is when Michael stands up—he is likely the restrainer who will be taken out of the way in 2 Thessalonians 2:7—that the enemy will bring distress to God's people like never before. This is the time of the End, and on the Last Day, described by Yeshua (John 6:39) and also described by John in Revelation, everyone whose name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life will be resurrected unto everlasting life, and those not found in the Book will be resurrected to everlasting destruction (Matthew 25:46). For those workers of the Gospel who refine themselves and turn many to righteousness in Messiah Yeshua, they will shine forever like the stars in Heaven—in other words, they will be like the angels, just like Yeshua said (Matthew 22:30).

Daniel would not see the time of the End, but the people who live at the End will understand his words, especially those who can discern the Word of God by the power of His Holy Spirit. Daniel himself was promised many years of rest in the grave and then resurrection to everlasting life on the Last Day. What a wonderful thing to have such assurance in his faith!

As for the abomination of desolation, I think of the Dome of the Rock, which was set up in AD 692 on top of the Temple Mount where the walls literally have an inscription that read, "God has no son." I can't think of anything more blasphemous or desolate than that!!! We will know more about these prophesies as God's plan continues to unfold, but one thing is certain: Those who belong to Messiah Yeshua will be risen up on the Last Day to everlasting life, and we must endure in our faith until that point lest we fall to the way of destruction.

Ezra 1, Ezra 2, Ezra 3

At the appointed time, as He had promised, God put it on Cyrus's heart to send  the Jews back to Jerusalem to build the second temple. They kept excellent records all along, and by this practice we can have assurance that Scripture had been preserved. They built the altar first to sacrifice as Moses had written—further evidence that they maintained the Torah. What amazing worship, praise and honor they would give to God during Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles, with weeping and shouts of joy, because God had returned them home and the restoration would begin. They didn't know this at the time of Ezra's writing, but it would take some time to rebuild the Temple amidst many trials and tribulations. God keeps His promises, but nothing good will come without testing. The LORD wants to make sure we will love Him in both good times and bad. In the good time, we must be careful not to think we had  anything to do with the blessings we have, because all blessings come from God and only He deserves the glory.

Ezra 4, Ezra 5, Ezra 6, Ezra 7

The enemy is going to pretend to be among you at the first, and will come in and ask to participate in what you are doing for the LORD. The efforts may even seem helpful at first, but the goal will be to take over and pervert the way of God. This has happened to a great extent within today's Christian church. The solution is the same: Those would-be leaders who do not abide in the Word of God must be removed so the flock may be spared. The enemy will then turn toward an effort to destroy, and they may even succeed for some time that the LORD allows to test you, to see if you will keep His commandments or not. Ultimately, the LORD will bring His mercy and grace onto the scene when His people have shown their desire and effort to endure in faithfulness, and help will come from an unlikely place. At this point, the people of God must turn toward complete thanksgiving and praise for all that the LORD has accomplished through His sovereign will, and the way to do this is found in His Word according to His Way, which includes His feasts and His Sabbath, rather than our own. The LORD will again provide peace, joy, and provision for this celebration, and it will come in abundance.

Dad said:
“because our ancestors angered the God of heaven, he gave them into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar the Chaldean, king of Babylon, who destroyed this temple and deported the people to Babylon”.  Ezra 5:12

This may seem like such a minor detail but for two generations, all the precious gold and silver artifacts taken from the Temple were well preserved. They weren’t melted down and repurposed, they weren’t sold or destroyed but The Lord saw to it that these were safely held for all these years so that at the proper time, they may be returned for The Glory of God.  It reminds me of the innocence lost and banishment from the Garden of Eden when we first decided to disobey God.   The Lord is holding this immaculate, child-like purity in safe-keeping to be returned to the faithful on the last day.

And also let the golden and silver vessels of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took forth out of the temple which is at Jerusalem, and brought unto Babylon, be restored, and brought again unto the temple which is at Jerusalem, every one to his place, and place them in the house of God.  Ezra 6:5

Ezra 8, Ezra 9, Ezra 10

Ezra taught a valuable lesson: We may become fearful and seek protection from the police, the military or other mighty men of this world, but instead we ought to turn to the LORD, for "The hand of our God is on all who seek Him for good; but His power and fury is against all who abandon Him." We ought fast and pray for the LORD to honor His Word, and He will do so.

Some men of Israel forgot quickly about the mercy the LORD had shown them—restoring them from 70 years of Babylonian exile. These took foreign wives upon their return—but not just foreign wives—; these were wives fully engaged in pagan practices. Did they not learn from the captivity? Did they not learn from Torah, which teaches men of God not to be unequally yoked with unbelievers? Perhaps Ezra took things too far by sending these women away, with their children, but perhaps not? Paul suggested in 1 Corinthians 7 that a believing spouse living out his/her faith would have an impact on the unbelieving spouse. Yet even he made room for a separation on the grounds of the unbelieving spouse leaving on his or her own accord. It all boils down to this: We have to put Yeshua first in our lives, no matter what our spouses say. We can't let their influence hinder our faith.

Nehemiah 1, Nehemiah 2, Nehemiah 3, Nehemiah 4

Prayer is fundamental to all spiritual battles as well as any work for the Kingdom of God. Nehemiah even prayed my favorite type of prayer as he stood before the king, saying, "God please help." These short, meaningful praise gestures acknowledge our humble state before our Creator, noting that it is by His hand that we are saved. We must also go into any battle acknowledging our sins and shortcoming, pleading for the LORD's mercy. Humility is a prerequisite for any work of the LORD, and when He moves in response to this, the LORD is swift and opportunity arises as a gift on a platter, ready to be served. The enemy will come in and first try to disrupt and second to outright battle against our efforts for God, but through prayer and trust in God as well as attention to our roles as protectors and providers, which the LORD has given us, God will rescue us from our enemies. When we work with a will, according to God's will, the LORD will prosper us in all that we do. The men of Jerusalem were successful in rebuilding the city's wall because they trusted in the LORD.

Nehemiah 5, Nehemiah 6, Nehemiah 7

Nehemiah continued to call the returning Jews attention to the Torah and he called on the people to repent and obey the law of God. They were exacting usury from their brethren, and taking their lands to prevent them from having the ability to pay back their debts. This is prohibited by Torah, and so Nehemiah instructed them to return what was taken. I think of Zacchaeus in Luke 19:1-10, the tax collector, and he said in like manner to Yeshua: "“Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.” The heart of repentance is here—the LORD is calling His people back to Him.

The Arab governors surrounding Jerusalem continued to attempt to trap Nehemiah to prevent the work of God through deception and subversion, and this we ought to be mindful of for two reasons: 1) Israel's neighbors still do this to Israel today, and 2) Our enemy uses these tactics against us. Only the LORD, by His Holy Spirit, can reveal this evil so we can withstand it. First, the Arabs attempted to distract Nehemiah from his work for the LORD with needless efforts (to meet with him without a God-focused intention). They did this four times. Second, they sent an envoy with a pack of lies they were intending to deliver to Nehemiah's overseers so that he could not ignore their distraction. They had to be dealt with by using the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of Truth. Lastly, they used a prophet of the LORD who was of the priestly heritage to try and convince Nehemiah to sin so this sin could be used against him. This is what the devil does to us. He will tempt us into sin, and then if we fall into it, he will throw our sin in our face to make us feel like we cannot be used by the LORD. Our response must be endurance in faithfulness, but if we fall short we ought to confess and repent. When we remain humble before the LORD, He will lead us to victory!

Subsequent to our victory in doing the work of the LORD, we need to make sure we guard our gates to prevent the enemy from coming in to our holy habitations.

Nehemiah 8, Nehemiah 9, Nehemiah 10

We grow wise by reading Torah, and through obedience to it, God invites us to celebrate in the presence of God. We ought to keep the Sabbaths and feasts, for they are an invitation from the LORD to join Him in His heavenly banquet. Through faithful obedience to Messiah Yeshua and trust in His accomplishments and promises, we can find rest in Him.
Nehemiah 11, Nehemiah 12

When I travel home to see my parents, who still live in the home I grew up in. It's surreal. It's the same as I remember it, but it's not. There are definitely changes, but it's familiar. I feel at home, but also a guest. Imagine 70 years passing in captivity and then returning to the home that God Himself gave to your Fathers and you. Imagine trying to reinstate the commandments and fulfill them and to go back to the literal homes and lands of your fathers. As these things all fell into place, there was great joy and celebration and thanksgiving in the reunion of God's people, and all of the rejoicing was pointed toward God who made it all possible. They had preserved the musical instruments of David, for instance. Imagine playing those to glorify the name of YHVH! What an amazing experience and blessing from the LORD to return home. We will one day experience this in a fundamentally profound way as we dine with Yeshua at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb! I can't wait. We will belong there, and yet it will be our first time. PURE JOY!

Dad said:
“(They) stood opposite them to give praise and thanksgiving, one section responding to the other, as prescribed by David the man of God”.  Nehemiah 12:24
David invented the antiphonal style of music by assembling choirs opposite one another in a question and answer style or in echo. This musical construct became prominent during the late middle ages and early Renaissance periods in Venice with composers like Monteverdi and Gabrieli.  In due course it became ingrained into the musical composition of Western Civilization and seems to correspond with the way people process information and the brain makes memories through repetition and practice.

Nehemiah 13

This writing is testimony that every faith community needs a good shepherd who will hold the people accountable to the Word of God. While human leaders also need to be kept accountable to the Word, those who are walking faithfully do their job for God by directing the people toward obedience. This is critical. It is the number one job of a pastor. If he isn't doing this, he is failing. Nehemiah is our example.

The Sabbath is critically important for all believing Christians. We should not be interacting with the world on the seventh day. We should not be working or causing others to work. It is a day set aside to the LORD by His fourth commandment, and He desires all followers of Yeshua, Jew or Gentile, to remember it and to keep it. Nehemiah did the right thing by bringing his fellow Jews back into line on this. We ought to also emulate him here.

In all things we are redeemed by the blood of Yeshua, but by no means does this mean we should go on sinning. Rather, we should walk the way He walked and follow Him in all of His ways. A good pastor will steer people in this direction.