Category: Torah Class – Hollisa Alewine

The Treehouse:
Sketches of the Millennial Kingdom

If this is your first newsletter, you’ve jumped into the last of a four-part series that began with The Gift Horse, Watch the Smoke, and Wetter than Water. Click on the links to start at the beginning.

In last week’s teaching, we concluded with these mysterious statements concerning the striking of the Rock Messiah in the wilderness:

·     “Tell Aaron and his sons to be careful with the holy gifts of the sons of Israel, which they dedicate to Me, so as not to profane My holy name; I am the LORD.” (Le 22:2)

·     “’…for in the wilderness of Zin, during the strife of the congregation, you rebelled against My command to treat Me as holy before their eyes at the water.’ These are the waters of Meribah of Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin.” (Nu 27:14)

The water, the text says, “came forth abundantly, and the congregation and their beasts drank.” (Nu 20:11) The English translation of “abundantly” is from the Hebrew rav [rabim H7227] which has several meanings. Among its first uses in Scripture, we have context of a quarrel, which emphasizes that it was not only the people who were quarreling, but the water, too. Messiah had a beef with the situation, and he demonstrated it with how he yielded the waters:

·     Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. (Ge 6:5)

·     In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on the same day all the fountains of the great deep burst open, and the floodgates of the sky were opened. (Ge 7:11)

·     And the land could not sustain them while dwelling together, for their possessions were so great that they were not able to remain together. (Ge 13:6)

The first two examples above are of The Holy One’s quarrel with mankind, and the third is of the quarrel between the shepherds of Avraham and Lot. If Messiah’s reaction to being struck by Moses and Aaron was quarrelsome water, it sounds as if it wasn’t a gently flowing stream! It was a real gusher.

From the sentence imposed on Moses and Aaron, the implication is that the quarrel was with their actions in striking instead of speaking. Striking instead of teaching holiness.

But what was the reason Messiah withheld water after Miriam’s death? Was he, too, joining with them in mourning? Was he giving the royal priesthood an opportunity to rise to a more intimate level with him? For them to understand that the Word in their mouths also had power to restore the plants, heal, and sanctify in the Bridegroom’s Name?

Perhaps Messiah wanted the Israelites to speak to him about restoring their holy gifts by the stream, yet they were conditioned to look to their leadership.

The text says only that “the people drank.” That wasn’t their first concern, remember? It was the miraculous plants and the purifying stream of water for a royal priesthood. They mentioned drinking water for themselves and their beasts only last. The natural earthly realm was literally the least of their worries. Let’s tie this in with the River of Life in the millennium:

·     “In that day the Branch of the LORD will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth will be the pride and the adornment of the survivors of Israel.” (Is 4:5)

The Branch of YHVH is Messiah Yeshua, the Rock in the wilderness. Because of the Branch and miraculous water, miraculous Edenic plants grew on the banks of the stream: orchards, spices, and vineyards on a heavenly timetable, not earthly. If not overnight, then within a month of the camp’s settlement.

Israel is prophetic of the world to come. She is uniting realms that have been disconnected since the fall from the Garden. In the wilderness, they came very close to Eden as demonstrated by the manna, ever-wear garments and sandals, and healing (their feet did not swell; all were healed at Mt. Sinai, for everyone stood, saw, heard, and said).

Israel is very close to the Garden kingdom, but they still don’t touch, for the Bride is being adorned, preparing for spiritual Jerusalem above to marry earthly Jerusalem below. A royal priesthood is learning how to manage living successfully-which would mean in holy obedience-in both realms. She’s being adorned for her husband so that these realms may finally touch, a marriage consummated by dwelling continuously in the holy Presence. The adornment of this Bride, Isaiah prophesied, will be the “fruit of the earth.” Let’s explore that.

This camp in the wilderness with miraculous vegetation growing beside the streams is prophetic of the millennium. A miraculous, healing stream will emerge from the Temple grounds, and it will be a healing River of Life that waters the land of the South. In fact, it will water the land all the way back to Miriam’s burial place in the Arava desert.

Here are hints to this new state of healing and resurrection in the millennium:

The wilderness and the desert will be glad,

And the Arabah will rejoice and blossom;

Like the crocus. It will blossom profusely

And rejoice with rejoicing and shout of joy…

Then the eyes of the blind will be opened

And the ears of the deaf will be unstopped.

Then the lame will leap like a deer,

And the tongue of the mute will shout for joy.

For waters will break forth in the wilderness

And streams in the Arabah. (Is 35:1-6)

Let’s read Ezekiel 47, taking time to explain his millennial vision:

·     Then he brought me back to the door of the house; and behold, water was flowing from under the threshold of the house toward the east, for the house faced east. And the water was flowing down from under, from the right side of the house, from south of the altar. 2 He brought me out by way of the north gate and led me around on the outside to the outer gate by way of the gate that faces east. And behold, water was trickling from the south side.

If you stand on the Mount of Olives looking out over the Kidron Valley, you see the Lion’s Gate, aka the Eastern gate, The Golden Gate. That gate went out to the east. Water will flow down from under from the right side of the House, from the south of the altar. So water will flow toward the east, going out in that Kidron valley, which might explain what are they going to do with all those graves.

It sounds like the old graveyard might be underwater after the earthquake. The watercourse will go east, then south. Typically, pilgrims would ascend from the south side. That’s where the Huldah Gates are, and there was a pathway up to them and steps. If you went back down the path toward the south, you would end up in the city of David.

·     3 When the man went out toward the east with a line in his hand, he measured a thousand cubits, and he led me through the water, water reaching the ankles. 4 Again he measured a thousand and led me through the water, water reaching the knees. Again he measured a thousand and led me through the water, water reaching the loins. 5 Again he measured a thousand; and it was a river that I could not ford, for the water had risen, enough water to swim in, a river that could not be forded. 

The water won’t flow like it did when the Rock was struck. Instead, it gradually increases in depth until it becomes a river that cannot be crossed on foot. This is what the tradition is about the streams that encircled the tribes’ encampments in the wilderness. The water was deep enough to swim in.

·     6 He said to me, “Son of man, have you seen this?” Then he brought me back to the bank of the river. 7 Now when I had returned, behold, on the bank of the river there were very many trees on the one side and on the other. 8 Then he said to me, “These waters go out toward the eastern region and go down into the Arabah; then they go toward the sea, being made to flow into the sea, and the waters of the sea become fresh. 9 It will come about that every living creature which swarms in every place where the river goes, will live. And there will be very many fish, for these waters go there and the others become fresh; so everything will live where the river goes. 

That’s where Miriam’s buried, the Tzin wilderness of the Arava. That watercourse will flow through what is called the Dead Sea or the Salt Sea. It will no longer be dead, but hold waters of life and healing. There will be many fish, which Yeshua promised his disciples would catch in their nets. Fish are people, the nations.

·     10 And it will come about that fishermen will stand beside it; from Engedi to Eneglaim there will be a place for the spreading of nets. Their fish will be according to their kinds, like the fish of the Great Sea, very many. 

There will be many kinds of fish, many kinds of people who “swim” to the River of Life for discipleship. They will be discipled by the disciples of Yeshua, his royal priesthood.

·     11 But its swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they will be left for salt. 

Every sacrifice, especially those of thanksgiving and peace, should be offered with salt!

·     12 By the river on its bank, on one side and on the other, will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither and their fruit will not fail. They will bear every month because their water flows from the sanctuary, and their fruit will be for food and their leaves for healing.”

Trees on both sides of the River ring a bell! We’ve read about it in John’s Revelation (Re 22:2). While John describes it as THE Tree of Life, Ezekiel sees it as “all trees.” Which is correct? Yes!

These miraculous, resurrected plants are “shoots” of the Tree of Life, the Living Word, Yeshua. “In that day the Branch of the LORD will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth will be the pride and the adornment of the survivors of Israel.” There is healing in these plants because they are not normal plants. Their fruits and leaves will heal and disciple the nations who travel to the Holy City by this southern route in the River of Life.

The leaves of those righteous trees growing by the River of Life from the Holy House will not wither, and their fruit will not fail. That’s miraculous. It’s the kiss of Heaven on earth. This is the fulfillment of the prophecy of the Rock in the wilderness. When the streams from the well of Miriam went out, it turned everything fresh.

The trees would grow with incredible speed. Within a month’s time, they bloom and fruit because their water flows from the sanctuary of the House, from the Rock of Ages.

The royal priesthood is going to be able to snag these fish. As it said, they’re going to be able to throw their nets up on the banks where the fruit and leaves are growing. This is a good kind of fishing, because you want the multitude of peoples to return in obedience.

These trees become the holistic doctors in the millennium. Each tribe represented a month out of the year, so these tribes, these miraculous trees, will be able to minister to the nations, feeding them with the miraculous food of the Word, and their shoots, even their leaves, will be for healing.

The nations will be healed from their stupidity concerning Who created them and what pleases Him. The fishermen and trees make ignorant people wise and understanding in the ways of the Creator.

These trees are not like natural trees that take months to produce mature fruit after the leaves appear. It doesn’t sound like they were subject to the Three/Four-Year plan of the natural tree. A natural fruit tree planted in the Land is counted as uncircumcised for three years, and the fourth year it’s holy to Adonai. In the fifth year, you can eat of its fruit. (Le 19:23-25)

Because these are miraculous trees, their fruit can be eaten within a month after they bear. Why? These are established trees! They’re not new trees. They didn’t just spring up after the resurrection. These were planted before the resurrection of the dead. They’re matured spiritual, earthly trees, and they’re prepared to go to work in the millennium, benefiting those who eat from their teaching.

Immediately they can heal with the power of Yeshua, the Living Word.

Immediately they can teach those fish on the banks of the River.

With the help of these fishermen, these trees of righteousness, the nations can prepare themselves to ascend to Jerusalem, the Holy City, to worship the Holy One of Israel. This is the calling of the Royal Priesthood and the Bride of Messiah Yeshua.

Then the eyes of the blind will be opened

And the ears of the deaf will be unstopped.

Then the lame will leap like a deer,

And the tongue of the mute will shout for joy.

For waters will break forth in the wilderness

And streams in the Arabah.

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Wetter than Water

This is a long teaching, but I think it’s worth it for the destination. It might be worth printing out and reading when you have some quiet time. Next week, we’ll see where this wilderness trail is taking us…the River of Life in the millennium.

The section of the Song of Songs we’ve been working with is

Your shoots

are an orchard of pomegranates

with choice fruits,

henna with nard plants. (So 4:13)

This orchard of pomegranates is linked to the Torah that Moses instructed the Israelites in the wilderness. The pips of the pomegranates represent the individual commandments, or mitzvot. The Torah was given to Israel as an eternal covenant to be maintained generation after generation.

The orchard of pomegranates is also tied to the miraculous well in the wilderness, which traditional is referred to as the well of Miriam. The well is associated with her leadership because when she died in the Tzin wilderness, the Rock quit yielding water. The rock was Yeshua, a gift from the heavenlies. Why was Yeshua so sensitive to her death that he stopped the flow of Heavenly water to Israel?

Remember our principle that we’ve been learning: when we respond in the natural realm to the Bridegroom, and we give Him gifts in the natural realm, He responds and gives the Bride a similar gift, but sourced from the spiritual realm. It’s something miraculous.

What we offer is not miraculous unless maybe it’s a miracle we would give it because of the transformation that he’s done in us. That would make us generous people, like Abraham and Sarah, who “made souls.” They were not stingy and contributed to the building of a congregation.

In order for light to increase in the earth, assemblies need to grow to be that light, to build the congregation. This is how we make the Bridegroom’s Name famous, and he in turn promises to make His bride famous with His splendor:

“’Then your fame went forth among the nations on account of your beauty, for it was perfect because of My splendor which I bestowed on you,’ declares the Lord GOD.” (Ezekiel 16:14)

In this gift transaction, we wonder why the Bride was gifted with the Well of Miriam? The manna (Torah) was in the merit of Moses, the covering cloud in the merit of Aaron’s grace, for he ran to offer the healing incense during the plague.

The well, however, was in the merit of Miriam. You can figure this one out!

Miriam guarded Moses’ journey in the Nile, risked her life in approaching Pharaoh’s daughter at the river, and led the Israelite women in praise after the miraculous sea crossing, singing the Song of the Sea. She celebrated the overthrowing of the “horse and his rider,” not only the death of Pharaoh and his charioteers, but the death “rider” that John describes in Revelation. Yeshua prevails over death by providing a way of salvation through the sea. Women are often associated with wells of water, and therefore, Miriam is associated with that miraculous well streaming water from the Rock Messiah.

It was thought that Messiah would come with the miracles of Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. Yeshua identified himself as the bread of heaven, the manna, and then he miraculously multiplied bread. This recalled the miracles of Moses, the faithful shepherd. Moses led the people out like a shepherd to feed them. He was the natural shepherd. Then Heaven responded and fed the sheep with spiritual food, manna.

Aaron ran to make intercession with natural incense and stood between the people and the plague with the cloud of smoke to heal the plague. So this cloud of protection was a spiritual gift for Israel. This cloud continued with them in the wilderness as a kind of a memorial to that heart Aaron had. The spiritual gift perfecting the earthly gift. Yeshua in turn came healing and was acknowledged by the cloud on multiple occasions as recorded in the Gospels.

But how did Yeshua come with the sign of Miriam, the first woman to praise and worship when Israel came through the sea? He came from the Galilee! Jewish tradition says that before he died, Moses sank the miraculous Rock in the bottom of the Galilee. Although many were puzzled by a teacher from the Galilee, he was born in Beit-Lechem, the House of Bread. His teaching was also water, the Rock from the wilderness journey. Three leaders, three signs, one Messiah!

The Rock would flow with pure water once the Israelites encamped. It would form multiple routes with its stream so that it routed by the Levitical camp for the preparation of sacrifices and the purifications, and then it routed around each tribe’s territorial encampment, encircling it so they didn’t have to travel potentially miles to obtain their water each day for cooking, washing, and drinking.

It is said the water was deep enough to swim across. This water started flowing in their new encampments quickly and miraculously, not over a long period of time. Likewise, Jonah’s gourd vine grew up over his sukkah overnight. Aaron’s rod budded overnight. Adonai caused them to grow. Likewise, it’s thought that vegetation would spring up on the banks of these streams in the wilderness.

Overnight, trees would grow orchards and there would be the spices for the Mishkan services, even vineyards to supply the wine libations in the Mishkan.

In that sense, the Bridegroom shows us we shouldn’t begrudge what we give to the assembly like it’s coming out of our pocket. Consider it a miracle in your wilderness. He put it there.

The Israelites didn’t have to plant vineyards or trade with outside nations for wine and grain for libations and offerings. The Bridegroom supplied his own sacrifices to the Bride, so to speak. He supplied the spices for the incense service and trees for the anointing oil.

The Bridegroom supplied them with orchards of fruits, if not overnight, then likely no more than a month for the fruit to mature. John prophesied of this with a wilderness insight that the Jewish people would understand based on how they saw the encampment in the wilderness and how they saw this Rock Messiah that followed the Israelites in the wilderness. (Next week’s teaching)

The Bridegroom gave His gift back to the people from Miriam’s sacrificed faithfulness to Moses and praise for the miracle of the water; He perpetuated the miracle of the parting salvation seawater with even more miraculous water activity, the Rock that purified a royal priesthood for holy service.

“Then the sons of Israel, the whole congregation, came to the wilderness of Zin in the first month; and the people stayed at Kadesh. Now Miriam died there and was buried there. There was no water for the congregation, and they assembled themselves against Moses and Aaron.” (Nu 20:1)

When the Jewish mind reads, “Now Miriam died there and was buried there. There was no water for the congregation,” they see two connected thoughts.

When Miriam died, the water stopped. They assembled themselves against Moses and Aaron because the water stopped because Miriam died.

“The people thus contended with Moses, and spoke, saying, If only we had perished when our brothers perished before the Lord. why, then, have you brought the Lord’s assembly into this wilderness for us and our beasts to die here? Why have you made us come up from Egypt to bring us to this wretched place? It is not a place of grain, or figs, or vines, or pomegranates, nor is there water to drink.” (Nu 20:2-5)

At this point in their journey, what sticks out like a sore thumb is the complaint. “It is not a place of grain, or figs, or vines, or pomegranates…”  

We understand that they’re complaining about water, but why in the same breath…FIRST…are they complaining about lack of grain, figs, vines, and pomegranates?  Many Israelites are young enough that they never farmed natural land. They never sowed barley or wheat. They never picked a natural fig, or a natural grape, or a natural pomegranate. They’ve been out of Egypt that long. So why, all of a sudden, are they complaining about the lack of grain, the figs, the vines, and the pomegranates?

Miriam dies.

The miraculous water dries up.

Now the grain for sacrifices would wither; the figs and the pomegranate trees for first fruits would die, and so would the vines for libations.

In this particular part of the wilderness, the Arava, and specifically the Tzin wilderness, it is a seabed. It’s been undersea twice in the world’s history. In a seabed, there’s salt. The sand is salty. In fact, if you go down to Miriam’s Spring today, you will see this crusted salt over the place where there has been moisture. What was left was the crystallized salt sitting on top of the sand. You can literally pick it up. It’s like sun-baked sugar.

When you plant a tree there, you must irrigate it unless it’s a natural tree of the Arava, like the acacia or the salt bush. Even for the date tree to grow, there must be some source of fresh water close to the surface to push the salt away from the roots. Fresh water has to keep flowing. If it doesn’t, the salt from the sand will encroach into the roots of the plant and kill it.

So it takes a continuous spring, a continuous source of fresh water to drive that salt content away from the root system of the plant. So if Miriam dies and the water dries up, this is exactly what’s going to happen in the Tzin wilderness.

These plants were semi-heaven, semi-earth, and they’re no longer receiving the miraculous water which grew them speedily with miraculous qualities.  

So below is a picture of Miriam’s Spring in the Tzin wilderness. This would not have been Miriam’s Well, but to this day there is a fresh water spring that flows through the location, perhaps to mark the place as a memorial in the wilderness. You can see, yes, there’s greenery growing around this natural stream because it’s fresh water year round, but if you venture away only a few feet, you may as well be standing on the surface of the moon. This gives you an idea, at least, of how that miraculous water would have flowed out of the rock. The salty earth even supplied the salt for those sacrifices, especially the grain offering!

“You shall salt your every meal-offering with salt; you may not discontinue the salt of your God’s covenant from upon your meal-offering-on all your offerings shall you offer salt.” (Le 2:13)

We know that the plants were not the same when they grew up around the streams from Miriam’s Well, and Paul even talks about it in 1st Corinthians. He wrote that it was important for them to know. Corinthians had no background in this story, but Paul wanted them to. This was a Jewish understanding of Torah they needed to be aware of:

“For I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea; and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea; and all ate the same spiritual food; and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ.” (1 Co 10:1-4)

According to Isaiah’s prophecy, the covering cloud in the millennium, that eternal gift to the Bride, will have the same qualities as did the pillar of cloud in the wilderness:

In that day the Branch of the LORD will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth will be the pride and the adornment of the survivors of Israel. It will come about that he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy—everyone who is recorded for life in Jerusalem. When the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and purged the bloodshed of Jerusalem from her midst, by the spirit of judgment and the spirit of burning, then the LORD will create over the whole area of Mount Zion and over her assemblies a cloud by day, even smoke, and the brightness of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory will be a canopy. There will be a shelter to give shade from the heat by day, and refuge and protection from the storm and the rain. (Is 4:5-6)

Remember, the Israelites, a royal priesthood, were camped at “Kadesh” (one of at least three locations by the same name), a proto-prophecy of what was to come when “he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy-everyone who is recorded for life in Jerusalem.” The royal priesthood was rehearsing for this prophetic role that ultimately would be fulfilled in Jerusalem.

Paul says a cloud hovered over them as well as the Mishkan, signifying His Presence. They were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea. He’s connecting those things, for under that cloud, miraculous things happened. Isaiah says miraculous things will happen again under that cloud.

They passed through the sea. Why would Paul mention that? The well was in the merit of Miriam, who broke out in praise and worship at the Song of the Sea. She offered her natural gift of the Song of the Sea. She guarded baby Moses. Then the Bridegroom rewards the people with this miraculous streaming rock, Messiah. He protects them as a Bridegroom covering the Bride under the cloud.

All were immersed into Moses in the cloud and in the sea and all ate the same spiritual food right here.

Paul’s telling us in a simpler way what we already learned about the merit of Moses, Aaron and Miriam. The cloud was in the merit of Aaron. The spiritual food was in the merit of Moses. The miraculous water was in the merit of Miriam. Paul then states, “They all drank the same spiritual drink.” These three miracles were connected.

Because of the Presence of the cloud and the miraculous water of Messiah, the other supernatural food (than the manna), the grain, figs, vines, and pomegranates grew. The miracles were three, but one. Because we drink from this same Rock, eat the same spiritual food, and remain in His Presence, we produce more spiritual fruit! We maintain a state of kadesh in the current wilderness of the peoples, holiness separate from the world.

Speaking of holiness, here’s one more detail: did you notice the order of these challenges to Moses and Aaron?

“Why have you made us come up from Egypt to bring us to this wretched place? It is not a place of grain, or figs, or vines, or pomegranates, nor is there water to drink.”

The FIRST concern of the Bride, a royal priesthood, described by King Solomon in Song of Songs 4 as “an orchard of pomegranates with choice fruits, henna with nard plants,” was the orchards that grew by the stream, not drinking water!

Only with fresh, living water could a royal priesthood maintain their “holies,” the many purifications described in Vayikra (Leviticus).

It was not only the Levitical priesthood called to the holies. The royal priesthood to the nations had to maintain household purities to mark several life events. This was so that they could enter into the more intense dwelling of the Presence in the Mishkan to offer their sacrifices and present their gifts of spices, first fruits, grain offerings, and lighting or anointing oil. They needed living water to immerse themselves, and they needed living water grow their gifts for the Mishkan, the grain, figs, vines, and pomegranates as well as the incense spices.

With these insights, it is easier to understand why the Bridegroom was more upset with Moses and Aaron than the Israelites. Their complaint was at a much higher level than just drinking water. The royal priesthood wanted more than the waters of salvation; they wanted holiness for service. They wanted Mashiach, to soak in his holy gifts, and they wanted him now!

Scripture hints at the problem:

“Tell Aaron and his sons to be careful with the holy gifts of the sons of Israel, which they dedicate to Me, so as not to profane My holy name; I am the LORD.” (Le 22:2)
“…for in the wilderness of Zin, during the strife of the congregation, you rebelled against My command to treat Me as holy before their eyes at the water.” These are the waters of Meribah of Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin. (Nu 27:14)

Next week, we’ll connect these wilderness miracles to Ezekiel and John’s visions of the millennium where they see both fruitful trees and THE Tree of Life flowing down through the Arava. We get a more focused insight as to how the nations of the world will come up to Jerusalem at the feasts, which seems impossible because of the prophesied level of holiness there. 

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THE GIFT HORSE

This week we will do more work with the gift exchange between the bride and bridegroom. These exchanges occur from the time between their betrothal at Mt. Sinai and when the Bride is drawn into the Cloud of His Presence at the resurrection. To review from last week, the Bride sent gifts to the Groom to build a place for His Presence to dwell. In return, the Groom gifted Betzalel and Oholiav with the Divine ruach to transform those gifts into the Mishkan (Tabernacle). The Bride brought the Bridegroom thirteen items as gifts for the building of the Mishkan:

Gold

Silver

Copper

Turquoise wool

Purple wool

Scarlet wool

Linen

Goat hair

Red-dyed ram skins

Tachash skins

Acacia wood

Shoham stones

Stones for the settings

This list does not include items that were depletable, such as olive oil and spices for anointment. Then the Bridegroom gave her similar gifts, each mirroring one of her gifts to Him for the preparation of a Mishkan to make a place for His Presence to dwell with her:

“I also clothed you with embroidered cloth and put sandals of porpoise skin on your feet; and I wrapped you with fine linen and covered you with silk. I adorned you with ornaments, put bracelets on your hands and a necklace around your neck. I also put a ring in your nostril, earrings in your ears and a beautiful crown on your head. Thus you were adorned with gold and silver, and your dress was of fine linen, silk and embroidered cloth. You ate fine flour, honey and oil; so you were exceedingly beautiful and advanced to royalty. Then your fame went forth among the nations on account of your beauty, for it was perfect because of My splendor which I bestowed on you,” declares the Lord GOD. (Ezekiel 16:10-14)

Enumerated for easier reading:

Embroidered cloth

Tachash (porpoise or badger) sandals

Fine linen (priesthood)

Silk (“cloud of glory”)

Ornaments

Bracelets (tablets of Ten Words)

Necklace (words of Torah bound around the neck/heart)

Nose ring (justice)

Earrings (Shma)

Crown of beauty (Divine Presence Is 60:19)

Gold (purity of Torah)

Silver (redemption)

Fame (of the Groom’s Name)

Again, the pattern is that the Bride brings earthly gifts, which the Bridegroom matches with spiritual gifts. The Bride contributes earthly resources, and the Groom mirrors them with Heavenly resources.

If she understands that that are two realms, and she understands He is Creator and she is created, she realizes the gifts weren’t hers at all. It was because of Adonai that the Hebrews plundered the Egyptians. He redesignated the wealth of the Egyptians to the Hebrews. The gifts Israel gave were His. He created them. It’s all His.

Adonai puts wealth in our pockets, so we can’t think when we contribute something to the congregation that it’s coming out of our pockets. It’s coming out of His creation. He even gives the ability to earn that money or that gift. Without His giving the ability to earn, we could bring no gift. Lots of people on this earth do not have the ability to earn anything at all. They have disabilities. Some can only earn a little. Simply to be born with the ability to go out and earn, labor, and collect that paycheck is a gift from Heaven.

We are brought up to believe we earn our paychecks, but they all originate in His Creation, and Elohim chose to make us able-bodied and healthy so we could give back to Him. He lets you put it in your pocket as if it’s yours. But we can’t be too sassy because He created both the Bride and the earth that yields its resources to her. That’s hard to acknowledge when we associate reward with the work that we do.

Yes, you contributed. You contributed your earthly natural resources to that paycheck, and you contributed some of that treasure back to Him. This made it holy. Designated. Just like the Bride. She is holy to the Groom. Designated to Him alone. The Groom rewarded you with the spiritual resources so that its status changed. It’s no longer secular, mundane, but a holy offering or tithe. The earth and its fulness belong to Elohim, yet He wants His unique creation, human beings, to take from that earth and offer a fine gift to Him. By passing the resource through the human being, it is elevated to holy status as the gift completes the circle back to the Creator.

Some believers, for whatever reason, choose not to give gifts to their Creator, or they give only sparingly…even though they have enough to do so, like Kain. Whatever the reason, they are limiting what the Groom will give them. The pattern is that He responds with a similar spiritual gift to the natural gift the Bride sends Him. Worse yet, there are non-workers. They have the ability to earn, they are believers, yet they have a pattern of not working at all or being such a lousy worker that they ensure they cannot hold a job to provide for their families, much less give holy gifts to the Creator. While the stingy believer withholds what he has, the non-worker refuses to even earn anything that could lead to the willing heart decision to give.

The Bridegroom wants us fully involved in the gift transaction, contributing to the welcoming of His presence. When we contribute earthly resources, we draw down His presence. He responds with similar gifts from the spiritual realm.

The future temple is the way that the Bridegroom imagined His creation. Every creation starts with an imagination, and so He imagined a creation that would be a fusion of earth and spirit, a perfect fusion that would be willingly obedient. Not spiritual beings, not more angels, but rather, messengers of obedience that would also respond from the earthly side of them. He would respond again with the spiritual, and it would be a marriage of realms.

Isaiah’s list of spiritual gifts to the Bride is an example of how the bridegroom in this interim sends gifts to the bride. She also sends gifts to him, and it heightens the anticipation. You get to know the other person sometimes by the gift. If somebody gives you a gift who’s never given you a gift before, you might be a little anxious because you don’t really know what kind of gift they’re going to think is a gift compared to what you think a gift is. I knew this sweet little old lady years ago, and she would go to thrift sales and bring me the moldiest smelling used clothes when she cleaned her closet. To her, it was the greatest gift of all, and I had to respond as if it was the greatest gift of all, because I understood the heart that was behind it.

There’s some trepidation when someone we don’t know well says, “I brought you this gift,” and we have no idea what’s going to be in the package when we open it! It will tell you a lot about the person, though. When we open the gifts of the Bridegroom, and when He opens our gifts, it tells us a lot about each other. We’re learning the nature and the character, the likes and the dislikes of one another in this interim period.

There’s times when I love to open these spiritual gifts because they’re awesome. They’re splendorous. They’re wondrous. I wouldn’t have even imagined to ask for the gift because I didn’t even know it existed until He gave it to me.

And then there’s other times the Groom gives a gift, and I have some reservations, because, it’s like a gift horse. If you look that gift horse in the mouth, you know that with this gift is going to come greater responsibility, greater demands, greater tests, greater trials. And you know that’s the reason it’s a gift is because those tests and trials are going to take you to another level of holiness, not because He’s unloaded some worn out old nag on you and called it a gift.

There’s going to be a price to pay for accepting this gift, but who would refuse a spiritual gift? We’re supposed to earnestly covet them. That’s a thing we’re allowed to covet, but they do sometimes come with a price when we open them. The bridegroom’s spiritual gifts are designed to increase our holiness because this fusion of heaven and earth called the New Jerusalem will be a completely holy place. Many people will visit from the nations; they will come up and visit at the feasts, but they go home.

Those who are recorded for life in Jerusalem will be called holy:

In that day the Branch of the LORD will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth will be the pride and the adornment of the survivors of Israel. It will come about that he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy—everyone who is recorded for life in Jerusalem. When the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and purged the bloodshed of Jerusalem from her midst, by the spirit of judgment and the spirit of burning, then the LORD will create over the whole area of Mount Zion and over her assemblies a cloud by day, even smoke, and the brightness of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory will be a canopy. There will be a shelter to give shade from the heat by day, and refuge and protection from the storm and the rain. (Is 4:2-6)

There will be people recorded for life, but life somewhere else.  

The Bride is recorded for life in Jerusalem, because, remember, there’s no rebellion in her. She has completely embraced the pomegranates (mitzvot) of the Bridegroom, the customary gift of the Bridegroom to the Bride while she awaits his coming. She has completely embraced His will, and there is no vestige or shred of rebellion left in her that would cause her to violate His will in this extremely holy place. If you violate His will in this extremely holy place, we have the pattern in Genesis. You get kicked out.

You can be recorded for life somewhere else, but not in the most holy place, where there must be 100% obedience and submission. “We will do, and we will hear” is the agreement of the Bride to the Bridegroom’s conditions of the marriage. Through the power of the Ruach HaKodesh, Yeshua is “grooming” the Bride to conform her will to his and the Father’s will.

This gift horse is no nag, but it can be a challenge to ride because it constantly transforms our earthly gifts into holy gifts of willing obedience. Accepting that gift horse is the only way to complete the circle of personal holiness required for residence in New Jerusalem, a place where natural and spiritual have a perfectly harmonious marriage.

In that day there will be inscribed on the bells of the horses, “HOLY TO THE LORD.” And the cooking pots in the LORD’S house will be like the bowls before the altar. (Zech 14:20)

As she prepares, dedicating her earthly work to Him, allowing Him to turn it into a sacred offering, the Bride transforms more and more into the image of the Creator.

Just as He imagined.

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