According to the scriptures, at the Beginning when God’s relationship with His creation was broken through disobedience/sin, He had to send them out of His presence. However He was already working on the plan of redemption and restoration, which was declared in Genesis, the book of Beginnings.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Berashit bara Elohim ET את Ha Shamayim V’ET ואת Ha Aretz.

When Jesus/Yeshua said “I am the Alpha and the Omega” Greek (Alef Tav את in Hebrew/Aramaic) (Rev.22:13), He was possibly meaning much more than just that.

Was He saying He was there in the beginning?

(This can be said to be true, if we believe that He said, If you have seen Me you have seen the Father and I and My Father are One.)

to see more on this click link below

NAIL I AM

Continued from Part 1:

Before The Lord/Adonai could fulfill the promise of a Redeemer, He made various covenants with people of faith including Noah, Abraham and Moses. Each time His people chose to worship/serve other gods and betrayed their relationship with Him.

Often described in scripture terms as equal to adultery committed in a marriage covenant relationship.

Each time it did not end well and their enemies conquered them, exile and captivity ensued. After the years of bondage and slavery in Egypt He answered their cry and prepared Moses to lead them to freedom where He wanted to bring them into a stronger covenant relationship; which was the equivalent, in mutual commitment, to a covenant of marriage.

This was completed at Sinai.

This legal agreement enabled Adonai to instruct the building of the Ark for His presence to dwell with them and fulfill His part of the covenant in many ways.

After generations of living in the promised land, Israel was again unfaithful to their commitment and again enemies conquered and led them captive. Adonai was waiting to fulfill the promise of a re-new-ed covenant; a better one that would not require continual animal sacrifices of blood to atone for sin. It could be said in other words that He wanted a fresh start and to re-marry Israel.

However from the original decrees, the only way for an individual to remarry was if a spouse died. So to betroth Himself once again to His people, the redemptive plan was that He came and died and then made the new covenant in His own blood, so that once and for all time it would pay the required price for sin. According to scripture, we are part of His espoused bride-to-be; we are in covenant with Him and engaged to Him, waiting on the return of our bridegroom, to complete His purpose and reunite us with Him.

Shavuot 2 x 3000 = A Marriage made in Heaven – Our God is a consuming fire. Conclusion and connections:

We too have been set free and received salvation to serve Him, to follow Him to embrace His Word, His Will, His Way and in our submission to His will, we become part of His purposes and plans. To receive His salvation and then continue to live our own lives, our way, is tantamount to a child receiving a gift in return for the promise of doing a task; who then takes the gift but never fulfills the promise of the commitment they made in agreeing to do their part.

The Hebrew understanding of Believe is that of change. Although repentance basically means to change your mind; it means to turn around and head the opposite direction. We are to be not only hearers but doers also.

The fire of God brings cleansing. Malachi tells us it’s a spirit of burning. Why do we need it? Because in Jeremiah 17:9 the word says

I the LORD search the heart, I test the mind, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.

This fire of judgment in the re-new-ed covenant is to burn away all that will stand between us and His continuing Presence.

 

Those who have walked through the fire leave sparks of light everywhere they go.

The Holy Spirit creates the passion of God in our hearts. After the two traveling disciples talk with the resurrected Jesus, they describe their hearts as “burning within us” (Luke 24:32).

After the disciples receive the Ruach/Spirit at Shavuot/Pentecost, they have a passion that lasts a lifetime and compels them to speak the word of God boldly (Acts 4:31). Even unto death, as all except John were killed.

As we invite Him, to sit with us, (spiritually speaking), and open the scriptures to us. As we read His word, our hearts will burn within us. 

The prophet Malachi 3:1-6 wrote that the Lord would send His messenger of the covenant, and asks who will be able to stand, to endure in that day, … He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

For He is like a refiner’s fire and … by the ministry of His Word and the convictions of His Spirit/Ruach..

For He will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap. … It says in Malachi 4:5, … “If by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body you will live.”

Like a refiner’s fire, which separates the precious metal from the refuse.

So according to Malachi, God will begin refining us with fire, … the Spirit of God is in us, refining us, this is what the fire of Pentecost is and does for us. Many refer to it as baptism in the Holy Spirit.

There are several main parallels between the 2 events:

One parallel is fire. At both Shavuots, fire was present. At Mt. Sinai, we are told that God Himself descended as fire. He was the fire that engulfed the mountain. In the Upper Room, He was in ‘tongues of fire’ descending upon the disciples.

We can deduce from the texts that if He descended on the mountain as fire, it’s a safe conclusion that He was also the fire that descended on the disciples in the Upper Room.

A common misconception is that until that day, the Holy Spirit was not present in the world. Yet we read at various places in the Bible where it is clearly stated that the Spirit of God was present before the outpouring at Shavuot.

Some of these instances, include the creation of the world (and specifically the creation of man), the Psalms consistently declaring the praises and wonders of His Spirit, and references in Haggai, Nehemiah, Zechariah, and Isaiah that the Spirit of God taught and directed Israel.

In addition, the Spirit of the Lord filled the people with the knowledge of how to build the Temple and its furnishings. The Spirit instructed Moses how and whom to appoint as the 70 elders. Joseph, Joshua, Saul, David, the Judges of Israel, and the prophets of Adonai are all said to have had the Spirit of God upon them. These are just a few, of the many examples, to show how extensively the Holy Spirit of God was present in the world before the Upper Room.

Fire is also a commonality because it is typically related to cleansing and judgment.

Think of all the times we see fire used as a tool of God.

Is it possible these times were also instances of the Holy Spirit of God? What does it tell us about the connection between judgment, His Spirit, and cleansing/purification?

Another parallel is that, in both cases, after the Spirit of God appeared, He then presents His people with the Torah/Teaching/Instruction/Scripture. Holy Spirit was present at Sinai and Shavuot filling the people with knowledge.

At Mt. Sinai the Torah was given twice on stone tablets through Moses. In the Upper Room, the Torah was written on the hearts of believers directly through His Spirit.

Deuteronomy 31:16-21 

Here these verses indicate that God knew the covenant written on stone tablets would be broken. He knew before they ever sinned against Him that their necks would be stiff and their hearts would be hard.

However, God also foretold of a time when He would renew this covenant with His people and would write His Torah on their hearts.

“See, the days are coming,” declares The Lord, “when I shall make a renewed covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, … I shall put My Torah in their inward parts, and write it on their hearts. And I shall be their Elohim, and they shall be My people. Jeremiah 31:31-34

Adonai says that He is going to make a new – or renewed – covenant with the House of Israel. Notice, however, that the Lord’s new covenant still involves Torah. The new covenant that we as believers are part of still requires us to guard and observe God’s Word/ Torah/Teaching/Instruction/Scripture.

It is common doctrine in today’s churches that Christians no longer have to keep ‘Torah’ as part of the new covenant under grace. But clearly, it seems The Lord never actually said that. He tells us that He intends to release His people from their captivity (of sin) and that He would then write His Torah in our inward parts and on our hearts. Why would He do that if it was no longer pertinent to salvation and relationship with Him?

He is essentially saying that He will make Torah a part of us; that it will be so precious to us and so inseparable from our lives that it actually becomes part of our makeup; and that we can never be separated from His Torah/Teaching/Instruction/Scripture.

Hence the Word was made flesh and lived among us. He is the Living Word the Bread from the Heavens, The Bread of Life. In the beginning was the Word….. John 1:1

Messiah Jesus/Yeshua told us to ‘Eat My Flesh’ meaning to take Him into ourselves. He is our daily Manna. We are to chew, ponder/think on and digest/absorb Him/His Words.

Tradition has it that when the Torah was given on Mt. Sinai, it was given in 70 different languages.

Perhaps this is also a foreshadowing of the division at Tower of Babel into 70 languages and of the captivity in many nations which Israel would find herself in generations later? Is it because of this captivity foretold by The Lord that it became necessary for the disciples to speak in many languages? Jesus/Yeshua had to send the disciples out to the nations because that is where the captives of Israel were! This is why it so important to believe that we are part of Israel…just as Ruth did.

Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures… just as He did in Emmaus. Saying that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His Name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And you are witnesses of these matters. And see, I am sending the Promise of My Father upon you, but you are to remain in the city of Jerusalem until you are clothed with power from on high. Luke 24:44-49

See post https://www.minimannamoments.com/seeing-jesus-on-the-way/

Malachi called prophetically for the WAY to be Prepared

One more connection that now makes sense, is with John who in his call to repentance, makes us aware of our need for a Savior. Scripture refers to this again when it states that Mark says that “John came, baptizing in the desert region and preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” Mark goes on to say that “this was his message: ‘After me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.’” (Mark 1:4,7,8)

Usually when we think of the call for us to repent, we think that it means that we are to be sorry for our sins. But this is not repentance. It is choosing to turn away from our sinful ways and head in a different direction. And this is precisely what John the Baptist called for the people of his day, and also calls for us, to do.

The Israelites passing through the Reed/Red sea was the prophetic shadow of being immersed by water baptism.

John is telling us of the need we have. He is reminding us that we like to head off in wicked, (out of harmony with God’s), directions and down other trails, like Emmaus roads and the one back to Egypt. He is sharing with us our need to repent. He is preparing us and our hearts for Messiah Jesus by reminding us of our spiritual situation.

John isn’t giving us the answer to the problem, he is just reminding us of the problem. He is reminding us that we are sinful beings, in need of a Savior. John’s message prepares us for Messiah Jesus’ message, then He enters the scene and meets the needs that John has reminded us we have.

Messiah Jesus/Yeshua, through His incarnation, through His life and teaching, through His death and resurrection, offers us the path to true repentance. Messiah’s death and resurrection doesn’t make sense if you don’t understand our need for it as John shares it. John’s call to repentance is impossible to truly follow if we don’t have Messiah Jesus to live that out for us and sacrifice Himself for us.

Acts 2: 1-8, 12-21, 37-41

And when the Day of the Festival or Feast of Weeks, [Shavuot], Pentecost had come, they were all with one mind in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from the heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.

And there appeared to them divided*tongues, as of fire, and settled on each one of them.

And they were all filled with the Set-apart Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them to speak.

Now in Jerusalem there were dwelling Jews, dedicated men from every nation under the heaven. And when this sound came to be, the crowd came together, and were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own language. And they were all amazed and marveled, saying to each other, “Look, are not all these who speak Galileans? And how do we hear, each one in our own language in which we were born?”

*(Divided tongues was with reference to clean /unclean animals so more than likely this was a sign to confirm to them that it was a kosher spirit of holiness.)

And Peter said to them, “Repent, and let each one of you be immersed in the Name of Yeshua Messiah for the forgiveness of sins. And you shall receive the gift of the Set-apart Spirit. (The Ecclesia the called out ones the congregation of believers in Jesus, Messiah Yeshua.) For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are far off, as many as The Lord God our Elohim shall call.” And with many other words he earnestly witnessed and urged them, saying, “Be saved from this crooked generation.” Then those, indeed, who gladly received his word, were immersed. And on that day about 3000 beings were added to them.

Back to Malachi 3 again.  It begins by talking about a messenger who will prepare the way but then it tells us that, “suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come.” This is a different messenger.

This messenger of the covenant is Messiah Himself. And His coming isn’t necessarily going to be the wonderful thing that we all look forward to. Let us continue in Malachi, “who can endure the day of His coming? Who can stand when He appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.”

It doesn’t sound like the most comfortable process! And yet this is what we are told that Jesus is and does for us. Again, this only becomes the good thing that it is when we accept John the Baptist’s message that tells us of our need to repent. Moreover when we do repent, when we do turn ourselves over to Jesus, we discover that He is a launderer’s soap, that He is a refiner’s fire. And for a brief time this whole Discipleship life doesn’t seem like the most wonderful thing we imagine. However without our enduring some heat how could there be refining fires? Many do not make it…

Some people are lost in the flames of the fire and some are built from it.

This refiner’s fire: Not only is Jesus the refiner’s fire, He went through it Himself. The refiner’s fire that Jesus puts us through; He went through it and suffered and died for our sake so that we would not have to deal with the flames. In becoming the type of the sacrificial red heifer that was burned, Jesus took that fire upon Himself, though He did not have to, and Jesus offers us salvation from our sins because of what He did.

He then tells us that if we truly want to follow Him, we are going to have to go where He leads? Jesus doesn’t promise us complete prosperity and ease of life. What Jesus does promise, is a life that will have suffering in it, a life that will have difficulty, a life of pain and trouble, but a life that is good. He offers us a chance to follow Him, but He tells us that this will be like sending us through a refining fire, like brushing us with a hard soap.

We need to realize that the difficulty, the fire, the soap will not be there to destroy us or to hurt us. It will be there to make us stronger, to help us grow closer to Him. If we pay attention to the message of John the Baptist, we realize our need for Jesus. If we accept John’s words we acknowledge our need for refining. And when Jesus comes and offers us a life of following Him we discover that though this life may be hard, it is the most wonderful thing we can do to follow Him.

By the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning.–The word for “spirit” Ruach, is better understood in its more literal meaning, as breath or blast, as in Isaiah 30:27-28; Isaiah 40:7.

The word for wind, breath or blast (same as, breath of life God breathed into Adam.)

(Psalm 18:15 Then the channels of waters were seen, and the foundations of the … by the breath of his nostrils. Exodus 15:8,10 And with the blast of your nostrils the waters were gathered together. Ex 14:21 And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided.

God opens the sea with a blast of His nostrils!

‘There went up a smoke out of His nostrils, and fire out of His mouth devoured: coals were kindled by it.’

2 Sam 22:14-16 The Lord thundered from heaven, and the Most High uttered His voice. 15 He sent out arrows and scattered them; lightning confused and troubled them. 16 The channels of the sea were visible, the foundations of the world were uncovered at the rebuke of the Lord, at the blast of the breath of His nostrils.

Fire and Wind together.

Ruach has another meaning it also means the Spirit. In Hebrew Holy Spirit is the Holy Wind/Holy Breath. And just like trying to press against the wind, it gets harder, for it creates drag and we get tired when we walk against the spirit. He creates a drag on our lives.

Because the Spirit of God is Holy, it blows in the direction of the Holy and against the direction of the unholy. Consequently, when you turn around and walk back the same way you came, you are walking in the direction the wind is blowing, so the wind actually helped you walk. Similarly, if we turn around, change our course, if we repent, the drag will disappear. Then the spirit will empower us and we will move forward much easier, as the Holy Spirit of God will always be at our backs. The wind is always at our back. He is our rearguard.

A big measure of Holy fire comes in the baptism.

Matthew 3:11-12  …He [Jesus] will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire … gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.

 Matthew 3:11 also indicates that the baptism with the Spirit will have the effect of burning out the chaff. So again, this Holy Spirit fire also has a beneficial cleansing effect in our lives.

The more the wind of the spirit blows, the hotter the fire burns.

The Holy Ghost baptism is an impartation of Spirit-fire! When the 120 were baptized in the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, the tongues of fire that appeared upon them was further evidence of this being an impartation of Holy Ghost fire.

The purpose of this Holy fire, of this Godly passion, is expression.

But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. Acts 1:8

It must not, it “cannot”, be held in.

The prophet experienced an inner pressure to speak, to declare, to express the name of God and the word of God.  The bottled-up word of God was “like a fire”inside him, and he could not hold it in.

Jeremiah 20:8-9  …if I say, “I will not mention him or speak any more in his name, his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot.”

If you bottle up fire, pretty soon it dies out, no oxygen, no breath of life. So open up!  Speak out His word from within you. Two things will happen: (1) the fire will touch others; and (2) God will feed and increase the fire within you.

Live a life of spiritual readiness.

Tend your inner fire, keep it burning.

Otherwise, it will fade out and end up being only faintly glowing embers.

Treasure the Holy Spirits anointing… stir it up.

Fix your eyes on Jesus. Let Him talk to you and open His Word to you.

Share the fire, express it, give it out, speak up.

Do these things, and God will keep His holy fire burning within you. And you will find yourself continually bearing fruit for Him, both in your own life and in the lives of others.

In the waiting in Jerusalem their strength was to sit still they had to be patient. Patience undergirds faith, for it is the basic building block of faith, an absolute necessity in the foundation and life of every believer in order to really and fully know God.

Here is a reason for the days of the Omer. The disciples were not sitting around doing nothing, they were spending their days immersed in the Word of God/Torah.

Following God’s directions, according to the annual Appointed Times. To be at the right place at the right time at the conclusion of the Omer. The 50 days the time of preparation making ready to receive Holy spirit.

After meeting with Jesus, the two on the Road to Emmaus were turned back to where they had been told to wait. He had said, wait here in Jerusalem, they chose to leave and go another road.

Temptations of the flesh (‘carnal christianity’) Do we do it OUR WAY, when faced with:

Despair – do we just give up?

Precipitancy – Do we do something to stir ourselves – ‘we’ must be doing, ‘we’ must do it?

Presumption – Expect a miracle march into the sea asking God to bless ‘our’ going?

Or Cowardice – the world’s WAY – Retreat – go back to the worlds WAY of action and what we were familiar with.

Or THE WAY/HIS WAY – Wait on the Lord, which is the posture of an upright man/of righteousness. Ex 14:13 Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord.

The fire of God came to them in person and opened their eyes, when He opens your eyes, no man come close them. In which direction are we traveling on the Emmaus Road?

Are we on the Emmaus Road A-WAY from Jerusalem or on THE-WAY to meet with Him and be empowered?

Let’s make sure we are headed for the place He told us to be. The place where He will meet with us and impart to us all that we need, to be His disciple and to fulfill our call.

Another parallel is that, in both cases, after the Spirit of Adonai appeared, there was redemption and restoration; which we learned from the story of Ruth and Boaz. 

And in a final parallel:

it can be seen in both of these examples of Shavuot, that we are the first-fruits being offered to The Lord/Adonai. It is a time of the giving of the harvest. We are the harvest that is being offered. But we cannot bear fruit if we are not first connected to the Vine.

“I am the true vine, and My Father is the gardener. Every branch in Me that bears no fruit He takes away. And every branch that bears fruit He prunes, so that it bears more fruit. You are already clean because of the Word which I have spoken to you. Stay in Me, and I stay in you. As the branch is unable to bear fruit of itself, unless it stays in the vine, so neither you, unless you stay in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who stays in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit. Because without Me you are able to do naught! If you guard My commands, you shall stay in My love, even as I have guarded My Father’s commands and stay in His love.” John 15:1-5, 10

The Holy Spirit /Ruach haKodesh, has always played an important role in Shavuot and, as seen from these examples, Holy Spirit /Ruach haKodesh is an integral part of the covenant between Most High God/El Elyon and Israel.

Once we allow the fire of Adonai to cleanse, judge, and declare us purified, only then are we able to receive the Torah of Adonai that keeps us from sin and allows us to draw near to El Elyon. It is El Elyon’s desire that we love and guard His Torah to such a degree that it becomes inextricable from our very being. 

Torah becomes who we are; it becomes the very essence of our being.

 Once we hear and receive this message of Torah and redemption in our own language, then we become the ‘redeemed of Israel’ and are restored to our rightful place under the covering of the Most High God –El Elyon! It is only then that we can offer ourselves as first-fruits to Adonai to serve in His Kingdom and to declare the Good News: that the captives of Israel have been freed by the power and blood of Yeshua haMashiach – Yeshua the Messiah!

Offering ourselves to the Lord/Adonai is the ultimate gift of love we can offer Him. “No one has greater love than this: that he would lay down his life for his friends.” By giving Him our lives, our hopes, our fears, and everything that we will ever become, we are saying “I choose you. I choose all that You are and all that You have for me. You will never cease to be more than enough for me; You are all I will ever need or desire. I choose to love You and obey You. I choose to lay down my life for You.”

This “sacrifice” becomes our wedding vow to our King. And that is the real love story of Shavuot.

At the beginning of His ministry He met with John the Baptist and He was baptized even though He had nothing to repent for.

And at the end of His ministry He died the death of a criminal though He had done no criminal act.

This is the real message of Shavuot:

No one has greater love than this — that he should lay down his life for his friend.

It is the love story between The Lord/Adonai and Israel.

In examining the parallels between the first Shavuot that occurred at Mt. Sinai and the Shavuot that took place in Jerusalem in the Upper Room.

Both of these events have to do with a marriage.

The law has to do with Israel being married to the Lord (the Torah functions as a ketubah, a marriage contract between Jehovah and Israel, just as the New Covenant does for the Church, the bride of Christ). 

For this reason,  it is traditional for the book of Ruth to be read in the synagogue every year during this festival. Wouldn’t it be just like the Lord to call His bride home on such a special day as this? If not this year, maybe next…. One thing is certain.. He will fulfill His Word and Keep His Promises.

3000 died and 3000 lived… both were ‘marriage covenants’.

The fulfillment of ours with Him will be in the Heavens/Ha Shamayim.Revelation 19:7,  “Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come and his bride has made herself ready.”

For the spirit and the bride say come! Rev. 22:7

2 x 3000 = a marriage made in the Heavens!

Ruth, Boaz, Moses, Israelites in wilderness, Torah, Spring Feasts, Pentecost, Shavuot, Ketubah, 10 Commandments, Power, Fire, Wind, Reed Sea, Sinai, Malachi, John the Baptist, Cleansing & Purification, Baptisms, Yeshua, Emmaus Road, Disciples, Preaching the Gospel, Covenants, Ruach HaKodesh, Hearts, and Weddings…Genesis to Revelation.. Everything is connected!

Other references…

First Fruits

50 Days Later-An Earthly and Spiritual Harvest: Pentecost-Shavuot

See post https://www.minimannamoments.com/seeing-jesus-on-the-way/

Please don’t leave this page before making certain Jesus/Yeshua is your Redeemer, Savior, Lord and soon returning King and that you have a personal relationship with Him.

You are greatly loved and precious in His sight.

It’s all about Life and Relationship, not Religion.

NOT SURE? YOU CAN BE..

SAY THE FOLLOWING FROM YOUR HEART RIGHT NOW…

Heavenly Father I come to you in the Name of Jesus asking for forgiveness of my sins for which I am truly sorry. I repent of them all and turn away from my past.

I believe with my heart and confess with my mouth that Jesus is your Son and that He died on the cross at calvary to pay the price for my sin, so that I might be forgiven and have eternal life in the kingdom of Heaven. Father I believe that Jesus rose from the dead and I ask you to come into my life right now and be my personal Savior and Lord and I will worship you all the days of my life. Because your word is truth I say that I am now forgiven and born again and by faith I am washed clean with the blood of Jesus. Thank you that you have accepted me into your family in Jesus’ name. Amen.