When Will We Return to Messiah?

What is "The Way" to Messiah?

Many know of a man called John the baptizer. He was like Elijah when he implored people to repent and prepare the way. Few seem to know he was a Levite.

At the Jordan River, he shouted:

"Make ready the Way of The LORD, make his path's straight." Luke 3:4

Paul taught the same straight path but few see that in his letters, so we'll explore one of them, his letter to the Galatians in a future post. For now, let's read this:

"According to the way which they call a sect I do serve the God of our fathers, believing everything that is in accordance with the Torah and that is written in the Prophets." Acts 24:14

Yeshua walked in “the way” yet many that say they walk with Him do not know that way or the meaning of this: 

"I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me." John 14:6

In my Scripture studies, I have often wondered was the way, truth and life finished in the first trip? 

I've found that "the way" is based on the fact that our souls were created for relationship in God's image, not an exile away from the straight path declared by God's Torah.

Many Christians follow a church tradition and say the Torah is an old way done away with at the cross, but was it? Not if you believe Acts 24.

Think about this from the Sermon on the Mount: 

"Do not think that I have come to abolish the Torah or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them." Matthew 5:17

Did you know Adam lived some 900 years after his exile from the garden? All that time he was in exile, knowing what he had done and the relationship he had in Eden was in the garden past. We can only imagine that Adam and Eve longed for their daily morning walk in the garden with The Creator. 

Adam lost his son of God image. He lost his daily walk in relationship with Almighty God, the Father. 

He also lost his high priest and kingship assignment over planet earth. He gave it away and death took over life.

Much like Adam, there is a still a longing in all our hearts for a place in relationship with our Creator God. We all want to see Him, hear Him , it's an innate desire of every child. As adults, we can't quite put our finger on it, but we know we long for more. 

We thirst for the flowing water in Eden's rivers we never tasted and the good fruit we've never eaten. 

That's because we all seek the presence of our The Father, our Creator.

That's why as very young children we all wake up one day and ask: where did I come from, why am I here? No matter the culture or location, young children everywhere draw their first picture as a home, a home with a family. 

Do you long for relationship in Almighty God's household? 

The Bible books we call Chronicles unveil a part of God's good news plan to restore the House of God:

So David gave orders to gather the foreigners in the land of Israel, from whom he appointed stonecutters to prepare finished stones for building the House of God. 1 Chronicles 22:2

Have you ever considered that a building was David's idea? 

Think about it... God instructed Moses with minute details about a moveable tent, a Tabernacle of skin, not a fixed in building, that was David's idea.

King David commanded, and they quarried great stones, costly stones, to lay the foundation of the house with cut stones. 

David was not allowed to carry out his quarry project, so his son Solomon’s put 3,300 chief officers in charge of the work and hired Hiram’s builders and the Gebalites to cut the stones and prepare the timbers to build the house.

Solomon did this because his father felt that God deserved a house that was finer than his own (see 2 Samuel 7:2 and 1 Kings 5:17-18).

Did you know a gentile named Hiram had always been a friend of David. (1 Kings 5:1)

He was a gentile, a Phoenician and the king of Tyre. 

So there you have it, the house of God was built hand in hand by the Jew (Solomon) and the gentile (Hiram). Together they made a covenant (see 1Kings 5:12).

Hiran's workers included Gebalite stone cutters. They were the men that cut the huge foundation stones that are still there under the Temple Mount today. Those massive stones can be found below the Western Wall built by another gentile named Herod. 

One Gebalite stone placement is perhaps the largest known building block in the world and it weighs in at just over 1,000,000 pounds.

It's amazing, but God's goal is to tabernacle among men is bigger. 

At Mount Sinai, Almighty God showed Moses a design. It was the movable tent of meeting that the Levites were to carry with them wherever the pillar of fire went (see Exodus 26:30; Exodus 34:14; Exodus 40:36; Numbers 1:50-51 and Numbers 4:31). 

A Jewish rabbi named Paul came to understand the bigger picture, so he wrote a letter and asked the Corinthians: 

Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? (1 Corinthians 6:19)

Think about it, in a way he was asking, do you know the way?

We are all longing for a relationship with our Creator.  It is called "The Way." 
One key to understanding "The Way" of God is to understand He gives us His teaching and instruction for living life His way because He loves us. Our walk in "the way" shows The Father our love and how we are to love others. God teaches us His constitutional guidelines about how we are to live and act in the Kingdom of God. 

That's why God gave Moses the writing assignment. Moses gave it to Israel and the sojourners with them after everyone said, all that The LORD says we will do. 

The written Torah of God connects the way of heaven to planet earth.

After all, the Torah is the written record of the voice of the Sovereign Creator of the Universe for His Kingdom constitution. Becoming a citizen of the Kingdom of God makes us responsible and liable to the King, to live in His image as it was intended from the beginning. 

A Kingdom of God walk is not a vaccine, it does not make a person immune to sin; on the contrary, it makes a person responsible to the Holy King of the Universe.

Yeshua lived the Torah and taught it, but many think He tossed t aside and started a new religion with a steeple and a house of stone, but the truth is it's time to put Jesus back in the synagogue.

In the end, there is a way past the flaming sword between the Cherubim. 

The ark of the covenant is a picture of that journey. In Genesis 3:24, Scripture uses this phrase: "So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life."

My question today is does that punctuation belong? After all there are no punctuations in Hebrew. 

What might this say?

"So he drove out the man and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims and a flaming sword which turned every way to keep the way of the tree of life."

The two Cherubim over the Mercy Seat were embroidered within the Tabernacle curtains, that points toward Genesis 3. They stand as sentry sign before the Holy of Holies, just as the Cherubim in Eden. 

The flaming sword is a picture of the Word of God which turns every way to keep the way of the tree of life.  

If you are a Christian, do you want to keep the unchanging way to the Tree of Life? 

If you do, remember the way to the tree of life means passing between the flaming sword. 

Yet, who can go there? 

They are in the most holy place above the Torah beside the ark and the Ten Commandment covenant.

That's the flaming sword Christianity unwittingly contends with. You may ask, what do you mean by that?

If we are to be restored back to "the way" we should choose to keep the way of the tree of life that Yeshua kept.  

To do that, we can return to Messiah and follow the only one that walked in "the way." Yet we often say, the front of the Bible that established the way is long gone.

To start our journey to return to Messiah and the Promised Land, we must begin by restoring the truth in our repentance. That's the sermon Jesus preached at the Sermon on the Mount. 

Part of that repentance is friendship, a proper relationship between two witnesses, Christian and Jew. 

After all, Yeshua is the Jewish Messiah.

He is the cornerstone of God's household, He can bring us together. Understanding that is a key part of the gospel message of loving and doing according to God's word, according to all of His teaching and instruction, all of His Torah that Jesus the Jew lived out.

Do you want to follow Him, if so when will we return to Messiah?

To begin on the way, we must leave Egypt, leave Babylon and her ways of worship which are not "the way" of Almighty God. Our problem is we fall for the deception, did God really say? We fall for the lies of men who listen to a deceiver without knowing it.

Some of us declare faith in Jesus of Nazareth as Messiah, but have turned our back in anti-repentance to the commandments of God and the Jewish people. 

Some of us declare support for the Jewish people and Israel, and seek a blessing. 

Still others who say they love Israel, still believe the Jewish people will be plunged into tribulation until they convert, while they plan to be rescued and hiding out on a rapture cloud.

That's not the opinion of everyone, but it prevalent view under the steeple.

Praise God, a remnant are now awakening and learning the gospel of God way includes the instruction of His Torah. 

Repentance is how we begin our journey of restoration with God and our Jewish brothers, just as the sojourners walked side by side with Jacob's family as a mixed multitude.  

Those that consider themselves part of a replacement "church" must repent and commit to restoring proper relationship between Christian, Jew, God and Messiah.

Praise God this is happening!

On example was seen when The International Council of Christians and Jews was established by William Temple, the Archbishop of Canterbury following World War II. 

You should remember the time after the war, it's when the nation of Israel was born in a day. 

Not long ago, ICCJ issued another clarion call in 2009 to both Christian and Jewish communities around the world commemorating the anniversary of the Seelisberg Gathering in 1947 that has first examined how Christian theology had allowed the Holocaust Shoah to occur in the first place. 

Check it out:

"In the summer of 1947, sixty-five Jews and Christians from nineteen countries gathered in Seelisberg, Switzerland. 

They came together to express their profound grief over the Holocaust, their determination to combat antisemitism, and their desire to foster stronger relationships between Jews and Christians. 

They denounced antisemitism both as a sin against God and humanity and as a danger to modern civilization. 

And to address these vital concerns, they issued a call in the form of 10 points to Christian churches to reform and renew their understandings of Judaism and the relationships between Judaism and Christianity."

Think about that Holocaust. 

Think about what William Temple examined. 

Think about the fact God's eye are still on Jerusalem just like He said. 

What does it all mean?

Repentance requires that each Christian understand one of the meanings of the rending of the Temple curtain before Yeshua was carried to the grave for three days and nights. By His First Fruits resurrection, He passed between the Cherubim. Indeed, as the Temple curtain was torn, "the way" was made for eternal life and the Royal Priesthood God seeks.

The cross was not the end.

If we think the Torah was hung on the cross, we miss the big message in Leviticus. 

There we learn that sacrifice is not death. The real sacrifice is the blood offering before the presence of The LORD, the death is before the offering of atonement.

By the quickening miracle life giving power of our Creator God, Yeshua lives in resurrection power and He has overcome the death of Adam and lives interceding as King and High Priest in the Order of Melchizedek just as the book of Hebrews describes. 

He kept and is keeping the Torah of God, in the High Priestly duty and privilege to enter the Holy of Holies of Heaven to expiate sins of the people of Israel wearing only white linen garments, forgoing the the elaborate priestly vestments just as Stephen saw him as Kohen Gadol in the Holy of Holies in the Sanctuary on High standing before the very Divine Throne of Glory:

"But being full of the Holy Spirit, he gazed intently into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God; and he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” Acts 7:55-56

Nothing in His life was or is Torah-less. 

His death by Rome's guard occurred just outside the walls of Old Jerusalem, but the enemy's death plot failed in God's perfect plan carried out in the First Fruits' power of resurrection to eternal life given to Messiah Yeshua by Almighty God on the 3rd day. 

On the 40th day of the Omer count He ascended to the Heavenly throne room of the most Holy of Holies as High Priest King in the order of Melchizedek and he will return just as David declared in Psalm 110 as King and High Priest in the Order of Melchizedek. 

Many in the family of God have missed this, likely because Christians tired away to the lies of replacement theology ignoring God said there's one Torah for the native born and the sojourner with them.

If your faithfully Jewish, yet deny that Yeshua is your Jewish Messiah, the Davidic King and a prince, it's time to relearn Hosea's lesson, not a church sermon saying the Torah was tossed:

For the sons of Israel will remain for many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar and without ephod or household idols. Afterward the sons of Israel will return and seek the LORD their God and David their king; and they will come trembling to the LORD and to His goodness in the last days. Hosea 3:4-5

Not only was Jesus Jewish, He still is. First Fruits resurrection is real.

The disciples doubted too, then they believed and were all Jewish too. 

Those yeshiva time disciples lived in and around Jerusalem and they lived in Judea and Samaria and the Galilee too. The "lost sheep" that Jesus sent those Jewish disciples out to find were all Jewish because like Jesus said to the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well:

“Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 

But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” John 4:21-24

She believed.

You too can believe the Jewish disciples had Jewish faith and they knew the Jewish Messiah. 

The reason: they understood Yeshua the Messiah walked in "the way" of righteousness, He taught what is declared in the written Torah. 

They understood His leadership of love and mitsvah deeds for everyone.

It's true, Almighty God wants to save us all Jew and non-Jew. That is a part of the gospel of God good news covenant with Abraham and its with what Psalms 118 tells us. 

Take a look at verse 14 in Hebrew:

עָזִּי וְזִמְרָת יָהּ; וַיְהִי-לִי לִישׁוּעָה

This verse is generally translated as: "The LORD is my strength and song; and He is become my salvation." The word "Lord" here is Yah, and the Hebrew words actually tell us:

"Yah is my strength and song; and He is become my salvation."

The beauty of the verse is that word salvation. 

It happens to be the name Yeshua ישׁוּעָה seen again in verse 21:

אוֹדְךָ כִּי עֲנִיתָנִי; וַתְּהִי-לִי לִישׁוּעָה

"I will give thanks to you because you have answered me and are becoming my salvation."

We must remember that Yeshua ישׁוּעָה made it very clear that His gospel preaching started with the fact we must repent and return to Torah. 

The gospel may not be what you thought it was. That word repent means "return" in Hebrew, but never simply take my word for that. Instead, get a second witness from the Scriptures. 

Open and study God's word and let it be your witness to the truth.

If we do not repent we will "miss the mark." In Hebrew, missing the mark is sin, it's the definition of the Hebrew word. We can see that when we break the language barrier! Yes forgiveness tells us Yeshua's blood can cover our sin and serves as our atonement, but we must repent and return to Messiah. (See Hebrews 9:12)

The calling on our lives by God's own voice is to be a holy united people (See Hebrews 13:12; 1 Peter 2:9 and 3:11). Our walk in "The Way" must match our confession and our faith.

If we commit to living our lives daily for God but are against our brother in some way, that prevents us from returning to Messiah's way. So as believers, while we may believe in His salvation grace, we must also learn to share that grace in faith by doing.

This is not good advise from the Old Testament:

A walk of repentance is the fruit of salvation, it puts oil in our lamps and makes the linen white. (Read Matthew 25:1-13 and Revelation 19:8)

A lack of repentance will lead to sickness and poverty, both spiritually and physically.

We must know The God of Israel is a Holy God and will not mix unholiness with what is holy. Bitterness or any other sin will affect our relationship with God and others in every area of our lives.

We must remember that is how many Israelites lost their lives in the wilderness, they were bitter, their hearts were hard as they turned from God's instruction, His Torah.

James admonishes us today from his words that were written almost 2,000 years ago about the definition of "faith." According to James, it is not just believing or praying a prayer:

"Do not merely listen to the Word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says." James 1: 22

Repentance is doing the word. It is a pivot point in our walk, it is a part of how we all are to return to God through Messiah to be a treasured possession. (See Exodus 19:5-6)

We can pray about all areas of our lives that we need health, a breakthrough or restoration, but if we don't repent, we can pray all we want. We must repent to see the blessing of our prayers.

What does this all mean? 

It's time for you to repent and return to God's voice, return to hear and do His word and walk in the faith of His Kingdom path so that you can ready your lamp for your coming assignment. 

It means we need to know "Who is the One Called Jesus.

Consider a prayer: Please, God guide me by your Spirit as to what I should hear and do.

It's time to repent and return to God's voice, return to hear and do His words and walk in the faith of His Kingdom path so that you can ready your lamp for your assignment. 

Stretch out your hand, and take from the tree of life, and live forever.

Open a Bible, read it, listen to God's voice and do Yeshua's teaching about the forever jots and tittles. 

You can learn how the things which are written in the Torah, the Prophets, and the Psalms are concerning Messiah and you can teach others to live life like Jesus, it's love in God's way:

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 

For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved." John 3:16-17

Today is the time, open your eyes if you're dead in your own valley of dry bones.

Look up and you'll recognize Messiah from Abraham's promise passed on to Isaac and Jacob as written by Moses in the Torah. You can see Him too in the Prophets and the Writings.

Repent and walk your Emmaus Road with Messiah. Study the Scriptures He taught every Sabbath that are filled with doing life God's way in the Kingdom, and tell others about Him. Be a gatekeeper until the house is complete.

Shalom.