Edition 222. August 27^th 2014

Open your eyes and your heart:

Open your eyes and your heart:

Introduction:

We are on the verge of great things. The prophetic pieces of the giant jigsaw puzzle are falling into place rapidly. As we approach the final act of the greatest drama of all time, we will see an escalation in prophetic fulfilment.

Unfortunately only those with spiritual eyes to see will see it. Many others will only see these things as we move into them and many others still – those with hard hearts, will see nothing at all from God’s prophetic word.

The greatest prophetic event is and will be the salvation of the Jews in large numbers. This will intensify and reach its climax in the seven-year tribulation period, but we are now in the “forerunner” stage.

The salvation of the Jews:

We are now on the verge of this great move of God. But there are many problems and objections which the Jews hold onto. They still largely reject Yeshua as the Messiah. There are many reasons for this, but let’s have a look at a few of the main ones.

The Roman Catholic church has been very successful in keeping the Jews out of the church, by re-characterising the church and making it foreign and hostile to them. The traditions and convocations originated by the Catholics and perpetuated by them and the reformers are very real reasons why many Jews want nothing to do with the church or the Santa Claus Messiah. The Jews have been in Babylonian captivity before and are very suspicious of all the Babylonian trappings brought into the church by the Catholics.

Here’s just one little example. Have you ever wondered why Passover and Easter never fall on the same day although they are just a few days apart? Over a thousand years ago the Catholics invented a “movable” system in which Easter would simply be shifted so that it doesn’t ever fall on the same day as Passover. And what was the reason for this? It is to keep the convocations of the church separate and foreign to the Jews, so that they would stay out of the church! (If you don’t believe me look it up.)

Jewish objections to Yeshua as the Messiah:

●They believe the Messiah would have set up the kingdom of God on earth and Yeshua didn’t. ●They believe the Messiah will destroy all evil and Yeshua didn’t. ●They believe the Messiah will usher in world peace and Yeshua didn’t. ●They believe that Messiah will end all war and Yeshusa didn’t do this. ●They believe that Messiah will return to the Mount of Olives and enter Jerusalem through the Golden Gate and Yeshua didn’t.  ●They believe that there will be no Second Coming, because that would mean that the first was a failure. And many more, but you get the picture.

So, what about these objections? What happened and are they right? They couldn’t be more wrong!

Let’s break it down and see what the truth is.

●Yeshua did set up the kingdom, but it is an internal kingdom in the hearts of those who accept and believe in Him.

●Yeshua did destroy evil, by removing the power of sin in our hearts, delivering us into holiness in spirit, which we then work to the outside.

●Yeshua did usher in a world of peace, but it is internal peace with God in our hearts through the work of the cross. Peace is a fruit of reconciliation with God.

●Yeshua did deliver us from war. His kingdom is one of peace, but it is internal, of the heart.

●The First Coming was no failed mission. The death, burial and resurrection of our Lord was the greatest victory of all time over all the forces of darkness, and delivering salvation to those who believe and accept it as a free gift. Accepting free redemption is a great stumbling block to many.

Our Lord will fulfil all the Biblical expectations of the Jews at the Second Coming, but how much better to understand the Suffering, Servant- Messiah now – Yeshua the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Messiah ben Yoseph is the suffering Messiah who came as redeemer and died; Messiah ben David is still to come – exalted as King eternal.

There are many more objections, but all have a similar response. The Jews can’t see their Messiah because they are looking in the wrong place. They can’t see that the major work of their Messiah was internal in our hearts and the external work is still to come.

The title of this edition, “Open your eyes and open your hearts” is very powerful and far reaching. If you don’t have an open, soft, broken, repentant heart before our Lord and His word, you will not see the Messiah. In fact you will never understand the Bible.

►Here are some powerful verses of scripture relating to these things:

2 Corinthians 3:14-16 “Their minds were hardened. For until this day the same veil remains un-lifted in the reading of the Old Covenant, because the veil is only taken away in Messiah. Even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.”

What an incredible verse this is! Do you want to really know and understand the deep things of God? Good – then come to Him in surrender! But now let’s look at a few equally powerful verses relating to God’s dealing with Israel:

►Here comes the light! God brought the children of Israel back into their land in spiritual darkness and once this is complete they are brought into spiritual light by their repentance.

Isaiah 42:16 “I will bring the blind by a way they did not know; I will lead them in paths they have not known. I will make darkness light before them.”

Isaiah 29:18 “In that day the deaf shall hear the words of the book and the eyes of the blind shall see out of the obscurity of darkness.”

Jewish people, if you await your Messiah at our Second Coming and it’s the First Coming for you – it just may be too late!

The Jews also hold to the mistaken belief that salvation is attained by the keeping the works of the law of the Old Covenant. This is a huge error that has to be dealt with. Please see the teaching “Under the law or not.” It is Here.

Psalm 118:19-22 “Open to me the gates of righteousness, I will go through them and praise the Lord. This is the gate of the Lord through which the righteous shall enter. I will praise You for You have answered me and become my salvation.”

The cause of Israel’s blindness:

Once before Israel did not recognise her Messiah! This was because pride had blinded them and caused them to hold to mistaken beliefs that the work of the Messiah would only be external and physical in nature.

Luke 19:42-44 “If you had known (the time of your visitation), especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes... Not one stone will be left standing upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”

Jeremiah 13:15-16 “Hear and give ear; do not be proud, for the Lord has spoken. Give glory to the Lord your God, before He causes darkness, and before your feet stumble on the dark mountains, and while you are looking for the light, He turns it into the shadow of death and makes it dense darkness.”

Luke 13:34-35 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem the one who kills the prophets and stones the ones sent to her. How often I have wanted to gather your children as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing! See your house is left to you desolate; and assuredly I say to you, you shall not see Me until the time comes when you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name (HaShem) of the Lord!’”

The verse above is truly amazing! Do you see what it is saying? Do you see its application to where we are right now? Do you see that it is saying Israel will see who her Messiah is as soon as she turns in repentance?

Israel, do you see that once before, you “killed” the prophetic word spoken to you and your eyes were blinded? Don’t let it happen again. The prophetic word is speaking to you again now!

Dense spiritual darkness is always directly related to a hard proud heart. “God gives grace to the humble and resists the proud.” (James 4:6) And that relates to everyone – Jew and Gentile!

In Israel’s case every time they rebelled against God’s word and ways they fell, went into captivity or ended up spiritually blind.

The cause and timing of Israel’s coming enlightenment:

If pride and rebellion causes blindness then humility and repentance brings spiritual sight.

Joel 2:13 “Rend your hearts and not your garments. Return to your Lord, for He is gracious and compassionate...”

Deuteronomy 4:30-31 “When you are in distress and all these things come upon you in the latter days, when you turn to the Lord your God and obey His voice, He will not forsake you nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers which He swore to them.”

The cause of Israel’s repentance will come about as a result of the great troubles facing Israel from the international community. We are now in the period known as the forerunner to the tribulation. We are seeing only small numbers of Jews coming to salvation now, but once the tribulation begins, the Jews will recognise their Messiah nationally.

Israel’s national repentance will occur when they have been brought back to the land of Israel!

Ezekiel 37:11-14 “He said to me, ‘Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel’. They say, ‘our bones are very dry, our hope is lost and we are cut off!’ Therefore prophecy and say to them, ‘thus says the Lord God: Behold O my people, I will open your graves and bring you into the land of Israel’. Then you shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O My people, and brought you up from your graves. I will put My Spirit in you, and you shall live, and I shall place you in your own land...”

Jeremiah 16:16 “Behold I will send for many fishermen says the Lord, and they shall fish them; and afterward I will send from many hunters and they shall hunt them from every mountain and every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.

A fisherman lures his prey with bait and a hunter drives his prey from behind. The typology here reveals that God had been fishing and luring the Jews back. But if they don’t respond, they will be hunted and driven back into God’s plan. Either way, they will come back! How much better to respond to the fisherman!

The great Second Exodus is on the go now. It is not complete but it is well underway.

We are now very close to the period called “the end of the times of the Gentiles” (Luke 21:24.)This is the period when Gentile rule of Jerusalem comes to an end. The time began in 1967 when Jerusalem was restored to Jewish rule. We must now be at the very end of this period.

Pointing to the time period is the birth of the nation of Israel, the city of Jerusalem falling under Jewish control, the start of the Jewish spiritual enlightenment. We are close to the end of a Biblical generation, whichever numbers are used. We are in the middle of the blood-moon tetrad of lunar eclipses. We are seeing major prophetic developments with wars, conflicts and re-alignment of nations.

The worldwide effects of Israel’s repentance:

The gathering of Israel back to her land and her soon-coming salvation is and will be a “banner to the nations.” A banner is a big sign up in your face. How many can see the banner now? Unfortunately most do not have eyes to see it.

Isaiah 11:10-12 “In that day there shall be a root of Jesse, who shall stand as a banner to the people; for the Gentiles shall seek Him and His resting place shall be glorious... He will set up a banner for the nations (Gentiles), and will assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.”

Isaiah 49:6 “I also will give you (Israel) as a light to the Gentles, that you should be My salvation to the ends of the earth.”

Zechariah 8:23 “For thus says the Lord of hosts: “In those days ten men from every language of the nations shall grasp the sleeve of a Jewish man, saying, “Let us go with you for we have heard that God id with you.””

The soon coming tribulation period will have a strongly Jewish flavour to it. The 144,000 male Jews of Revelation 7 will be involved in large scale evangelism with the two witnesses.

In fact God’s initial call upon the Jews was for them to be the deliverers of the good news to the world. They will complete this job as originally called to.

Here is the Jewish Messiah:

Isaiah 53:3-5 “He is despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief and we hid as it were our faces from Him; He was despised and we did not esteem Him. Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.”

Jewish people, this verse speaks of your Messiah. His name is Yeshua. He is not the Gentilised blonde, blue-eyed celebrator of occult, pagan, Babylonian traditions like Christmas and Easter. He is no despiser of the Feasts and Hebraic characteristics of true Biblical Christianity. He is the Jew of all Jews, the lover of your soul. He is the Hebrew Jew identified in the Old Covenant and revealed in the New.

A final word of warning to Israel:

Israel, if you reject the “Suffering Messiah” you are lost. If you reject all that was entailed in the first coming of the Lord, you are lost. There is only salvation in and through the death, burial and resurrection of Yeshua.

The entirety of your Tenach, the Old Covenant, points to the coming Saviour of the New Covenant.

Israel, rend your hearts, repent of your rejection of the Messiah. Israel open your eyes and seek your King, He is very nearby, loves you and wants you to do His will, for which He created you.

Micah 7:8-9 “Do not rejoice over me, my enemy: when I fall I will arise, when I sit in darkness the Lord will be a light to me...He will bring me forth to the light, and I will see His righteousness.”

A final word of warning to the church:

Catholic church, instead of blessing Israel you cursed Israel all your life. You are beyond repentance. To the few within it who may be saved – get out of the whore of Babylon, before you come under her judgement with her.

Many churches have been instrumental in obstructing God and standing in His way relating to Israel. All those who are deeply into replacement theology, unless you repent fast, and change your way, you are lost, even though, in your pride, you think you have God’s favour (Matthew 7:21-23). What you have is the deceptive favour of the devil! While proclaiming belief in the Bible, you have massacred it and blocked God’s work!

Romans 11:25-26 “I do not desire, brethren that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that hardening in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved.”

Job 38:15 “From the wicked their light is withheld...”

Much of the church will stand against Israel and be responsible for half the world becoming enslaved by and to Islam in the very near future.

Finally:

The timing of all of these things is critical. It’s all beginning to unfold now! Israel – now is your time. Your enemy, the mass media, Islam and the apostate part of the church, knows it and they are trying to destroy you through crafty humanism and sheer force.

In fact, Israel, your real big enemy, Satan himself, is the one who using many to try to destroy you.

Israel, know this: There is a growing number of Christians who love you and stand with you. Know that there are many within the true Church who will die for you if called to do so. Know that the pressure on you is about to intensify and many will remain faithful in standing with you and for you.

Israel, you will never be alone.

Israel, repent and open your spiritual eyes now.

Matthew 27:50-52 “Yeshua, when He had cried out again with a loud voice, yielded up His spirit (crucifixion.) And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked and the rocks were split, and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised.”

Zechariah 9:9 “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey.”

Zechariah 12:10 “I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they have pierced, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for an only son and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.”

Israel, you must pray for our great God to open your eyes as He has promised He will. Pray that He lifts the veil of blindness. He has said He will. Pray in broken repentance for your pride and rejection of Yeshua the Messiah.

I took these pictures in the various locations in the deserts and mountains of southern Africa.

Luke 19:40 “I tell you that if they (the multitude of disciples) keep quiet, even the stones will cry out.”

Shalom and grow in grace!