Tag: Charity
Dr Hollisa Alewine – Footsteps of Messiah Part 170 (The Second Story and the Third Heaven Part B)
Continuation from “The Second Story and the Third Heaven Part A”
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Dr Hollisa Alewine – Footsteps of Messiah Part 169 (The Second Story and the Third Heaven Part A)
The Second Story and the Third Heaven
This week I’d like to visit the architecture of resurrection. Yes, such a thing is possible! Scripture gives us several examples from literal buildings. Last week’s newsletter gave a hint with the resurrection patterns in the homes of the women who extended hospitality to Elijah and Elisha. There are even more examples than that.
Just to review, the last several newsletters have investigated the Torah’s ancient call to hospitality, not just a a nice thing to do, but as a vital preparation to inherit the Kingdom. Our hospitality study trail through the Torah, Prophets, Writings, and New Covenant started with Song of Songs 5:1, a restoration of the Bride and Bridegroom to the Garden of Eden:
• “I have come into my garden, my sister, my bride; I have gathered my myrrh along with my balsam.I have eaten my honeycomb and my honey; I have drunk my wine and my milk. Eat, friends; drink and imbibe deeply, O lovers.”
Elijah in 1 Kings 17:9 protected the widow and her son during the famine. Because she used the last of her flour and oil to feed the prophet of YHVH, she never lacked during the tribulation. She also hospitably gave him an upper room in which to dwell during the famine. In return, her son was resurrected from the dead in that upper room. Because she ministered to the man of God during an apocalyptic famine, she received multiplied miracles of nourishment and resurrection.
And in Elisha’s “double portion” fashion, he performs two resurrections for the hospitality of the upper room. First, the barren Shunnemite woman is rewarded with a son, and then later the son is resurrected from the dead:
• “Now there came a day when Elisha passed over to Shunem, where there was a prominent woman, and she persuaded him to eat food. And so it was, as often as he passed by, he turned in there to eat food. She said to her husband, “Behold now, I perceive that this is a holy man of God passing by us continually. Please, let us make a little walled upper chamber and let us set a bed for him there, and a table and a chair and a lampstand; and it shall be, when he comes to us, that he can turn in there.” (2 Ki 4:8-10)
The Shunemmite furnished her upper room with the furniture of the Mishkan. She made a little House for the Presence to dwell over the daily activities of her lower rooms. Elisha, a righteous visitor, was the stand-in for the very resurrecting Presence of Adonai.
The upper room is the highest room of our home, a set apart place, yet attached to the rest of the home. What we furnish in the upper room blesses the rest of the home…or not. It can be where heaven meets earth…or not. When the Shunnemite woman constructed an upper room, imagine it as a third story built atop their own living quarters in the second story. Not a brand-new building, but one atop the existing one.
Although now more symbolic because its examples are drawn from building construction in ancient times, today we still have upper rooms, those spaces we make to host the righteous believers who will accept our invitations. The visitor becomes the presence of Yeshua in our homes, especially during Shabbat.
During the Iron Age (1000–586 BCE; the First Temple Period), the “four-room house” dominated Israelite architecture. The four-room house with pillars was widespread already, but it often had more or less than four rooms. The majority of houses only had three rooms, but could also five or more. The house had long rooms and a transverse broad room in the back, which could be partitioned by walls or columns.
The ground level housed valuable livestock and had a working area for storage, weaving, food preparation, or other working tasks. The second level had the living quarters. A rooftop had an area for drying certain products, such as flax or fruits, and it was used as sleeping quarters in the intense heat of the summer for the cool breeze.
Below are photos of the four-room house located at the Tamar Fortress. Its size suggests it belonged to a prominent administrator, and it is incredible that its stones were not repurposed for construction under the rule of other empires such as Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome, or even the Byzantine. It is a very clean view into the early Israelite construction, characterized by undressed stones. Undressed stones are fitted into the wall or building in their natural shape, while later dressed stones are hewn into uniform blocks.
The Upper Room pattern continues into the Newer Covenant. Yeshua affirms this by directing his disciples to follow a man with a water pitcher to an upper room where the host will have prepared a place for them to eat the Passover together. The experience is profound for the disciples, especially the foot-washing. He re-establishes the heavenly “Upper Room” hospitality pattern for their future Kingdom work:
• “When they had entered the city, they went up to the upper room where they were staying; that is, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas the son of James. These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer, along with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.” (Ac 1:13-14)
And it leads to the selection of another disciple (Ps 109:8) to take Judas’ place, for he had been one to receive his “portion,” or blessing from Yeshua’s ministry, like an inheritance for his position:
• “For he was counted among us and received his share in this ministry…” (v 17) …Therefore, it is necessary that of the men who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us— beginning with the baptism of John until the day that He was taken up from us—one of these must become a witness with us of His resurrection.” (Ac 1:21-22)
The Land of Israel is something inherited at the resurrection. It is more than just a physical piece of property! It is set apart from the inheritance of the nations.
Each of the twelve disciples received his share of the hospitable donations of food, drink, or money while they ministered with Yeshua, and in the Kingdom, they would also receive an eternal inheritance for their work. It was vital that Judas’ replacement was an eyewitness to Yeshua’s resurrection, for resurrection is what anchors our second story to the third story. What happened in the physical ministry on earth was anchored to the Third Heaven, also called Paradise or the Garden of Eden.
Another upper room resurrection:
• “So Peter arose and went with them. When he arrived, they brought him into the upper room; and all the widows stood beside him, weeping and showing all the tunics and garments that Dorcas used to make while she was with them…and he gave her his hand and raised her up; and calling the saints and widows, he presented her alive.” (Ac 9:39;41)
Had Dorcas made these garments to clothe the righteous and widows of her congregation? Surely she didn’t just have a room stuffed full of garments! She was doing acts of hospitality to the needy in the holy community by making garments to give away. Don’t you love the association of women, especially widows, with the resurrection of the Upper Room? Elijah’s widow, the Shunnemite woman, the women disciples and Miriam the mother of Yeshua gathered in Acts 1:14, the disciple Dorcas and widows gathered to mourn her? This “New” Testament has some pretty Old roots, doesn’t it?
“A wise woman builds her house
But the foolish tears it down with her own hands.” (Pr 14:1)
These wise women were building a third story, an upper room in their homes, as a testimony to the resurrection of the dead through Yeshua. They served their household faithfully, and they served the household of faith in their second stories from the resources of the ground floor: feeding, clothing, praying, preparing, lighting, sanctifying, learning, washing, listening…and those second stories became the third stories. They invited the saints to the Upper Room, a sanctuary to remind us of the return to the Garden of Eden, the dwelling and inheritance of the righteous ones.
When Yeshua returns, the righteous who have inherited the Third Heaven will administrate from a purified Jerusalem with him, and they will guide many upward from their First Story, the animal kingdom over which mankind was to rule. The millennial reign will be so awesome that even the earthy First Story will be restored to its creation glory.
So what’s your story? Are we carving time for prayer, study, and hospitality, building the Upper Room, or just spending all day on the ground floor feeding the donkeys and cows? Although it seems strange to build a house on top of a barn, it makes a lot sense, too. The flies would be drawn down instead of up.
Another Upper Room example was in the ministry of Paul, this one associated with Motzei Shabbat (the going out of Shabbat on Saturday night):
• On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul began talking to them, intending to leave the next day, and he prolonged his message until midnight. There were many lamps in the upper room where we were gathered together. And there was a young man named Eutychus sitting on the window sill, sinking into a deep sleep; and as Paul kept on talking, he was overcome by sleep and fell down from the third floor and was picked up dead. But Paul went down and fell upon him, and after embracing him, he said, “Do not be troubled, for his life is in him.” When he had gone back up and had broken the bread and eaten, he talked with them a long while until daybreak, and then left. They took away the boy alive and were greatly comforted. (Ac 20:7-12)
Would you like to know more about Paul’s “first day of the week” resurrection experience in the upper room? It is densely packed with prophetic words and phrases you can put in your study toolkit, so look for the newsletter next week!
Dr Hollisa Alewine – Footsteps of Messiah Part 167 (A Host of Troubles)
A Host of Troubles
Then the LORD sent Nathan to David. And he came to him and said,
“There were two men in one city, the one rich and the other poor.
The rich man had a great many flocks and herds.
But the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb which he bought and nourished; and it grew up together with him and his children. It would eat of his bread and drink of his cup and lie in his bosom, and was like a daughter to him.
Now a traveler came to the rich man, and he was unwilling to take from his own flock or his own herd to prepare for the wayfarer who had come to him; rather he took the poor man’s ewe lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him.”
Then David’s anger burned greatly against the man, and he said to Nathan, “As the LORD lives, surely the man who has done this deserves to die. He must make restitution for the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing and had no compassion.”
Nathan then said to David, “You are the man!
The rich man was quite a host! The hospitality he offered his guest was not real hospitality at all. He faked his compassion for the weary traveler. He was so stingy that he killed another man’s beloved pet and passed it off as his own sacrificial gift for the guest’s benefit.
This would be a prime place for a political commentary on the current state of affairs in the United States’ political situation, but the reader is intelligent enough to understand that facet of the parable. Fake hospitality deceives people into thinking the host really cares and has compassion. What the wicked host offers is nothing more than someone else’s hard work and property.
To review from last week’s text in this heavenly hospitality series, a righteous guest seeks a righteous home for hospitality, and he/she has the authority to bless that home with peace:
“Do not acquire gold, or silver, or copper for your money belts, or a bag for your journey, or even two coats, or sandals, or a staff; for the worker is worthy of his support. And whatever city or village you enter, inquire who is worthy in it, and stay at his house until you leave that city. As you enter the house, give it your greeting. If the house is worthy, give it your blessing of peace. But if it is not worthy, take back your blessing of peace. Whoever does not receive you, nor heed your words, as you go out of that house or that city, shake the dust off your feet. Truly I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city.” (Mt 10:9-15)
Yeshua sent out his disciples as his messengers. They were to practice what they’d seen Yeshua do: teach, preach, immerse, comfort, exhort, rebuke, heal, and so on.
“Let love of the brethren continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it.” (He 13:1-2)
These are not random strangers who visit, but “brothers” in the faith. No doubt the rich man had some level of acquaintance with the poor man he robbed. He knew where and when to steal the poor man’s lamb, perhaps while the poor man was working or gone to the market. A lamb who was raised like his own daughter would not have been left unguarded very often. The rich man’s act was premeditated, cunning, a masquerade of righteousness over a filthy act of cruel robbery.
Strangely, Scripture links two concepts in the same neighborhood, called smikhut (placement). Those two concepts are lack of hospitality and fornication/adultery.
In David’s case, he was the adulterer “rich man” who slaughtered the poor man’s lamb to prepare for the guest. This was also in the neighborhood of hospitality to strangers and “angels” in Hebrews Thirteen. Just skip one verse down:
“Marriage is to be held in honor among all, and the marriage bed is to be undefiled; for fornicators and adulterers God will judge.” (He 13:4)
A wicked person may seem to offer hospitality, but the real motive is self-serving. They are not really serving the traveler or needy person; they are enhancing their own appearance of kindness. The hospitality is not for the benefit of the guest, but for himself. In the following account, the Messiah calls out fake hospitality.
While the host had the means to extend genuine hospitality toward Yeshua, he’d only invited him out of curiosity to hear a new word, listen for something with which to entrap his guest, or to look hospitable to the rest of the townspeople. Instead, an unwelcome visitor extends hospitality that Simon did not:
“Turning toward the woman, He said to Simon, ‘Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has wet My feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair…’ “You did not anoint My head with oil, but she anointed My feet with perfume. For this reason I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little.” (Lk 7:44-47)
The sinful woman understood the principle of hospitality better than the man who simply was curious to hear an insightful word from the teacher. Like many interactions in the Body of Messiah today, it would feed the host’s pride or critical skepticism, both of which fuel false feelings of self-worth. The repentant woman’s hospitality was of the kind that welcomed the Bridegroom to the Garden with incense of sacrifice.
Simon was thinking Yeshua didn’t know what kind of woman anointed his feet. What Simon didn’t acknowledge was it was the woman she used to be. She was repenting, bringing a sacrifice of her own, perhaps all she could afford, not someone else’s hard work of repentance. If she had been a loose woman, this was not the generous, hospitable woman who washed Yeshua’s feet intimately with her hair. She wanted a new relationship with Heaven through the Sent One, not a fake one. She wasn’t faking her interest in Yeshua. She wanted to change. She had more than a little love.
One way we signal this desire to truly repent is with generosity, especially to the needy and poor righteous. This is one of the “Big Three”: prayer, repentance, charity leading up to Yom HaKippurim.
Real charity.
Love much, be forgiven much. Real charity doesn’t care about who is in the room judging what kindnesses we give to a brother or sister. It wants a genuine relationship with Heaven. It doesn’t offer someone else’s work as their own. It does not seek its own reward for that gift. Any human being on earth can do an act of kindness that connects himself only to the recipient. One who desires to restores hospitality with the Presence of Elohim will see the face of the recipient as the face of Yeshua even if it is one of the “least of these.”
One who does not attribute his or her act of kindness to Heaven is usurping the very source of kindness inside every human being. This compassion is the stamp of the Creator! Even wolves will raise orphan pups and feed the wounded in their pack; how much more should human beings acknowledge that our Creator Elohim created us with a desire to help one another?
If that’s not plain enough, then consider this: A person who takes credit for being compassionate and charitable is offering someone else’s gift as his own. Compassion was something planted in us by our Creator. Gifted. We are all re-gifting generosity to bring Heaven down among us.
Sodom and her four satellite cities were known for lewd behavior. In rebuking Israel, Ezekiel points out another symptom of their wickedness:
“Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had arrogance, abundant food and careless ease, but she did not help the poor and needy.” (Ezek 16:49)
Likewise, the Tribe of Benjamin was nearly wiped out for rapacious inhospitality.
Likening Israel to Sodom recalls Sodom’s lack of hospitality to visitors. They were beyond inhospitable and stingy, they were lewd and murderous. They moved the Presence of Adonai farther away from the cities, not closer to it. Ever wonder why one of the “angels” didn’t continue on to Sodom with the other two (Ge 19:1)? Perhaps the one Avraham called YHVH wouldn’t set foot in it.
And like Yeshua told Simon, gratefulness to Heaven for our own undeserved gifts should affect how we receive and love guests.
Avraham had already rescued the Sodomite cities in order to recover his nephew Lot when they were carried away as spoils of war. Were they grateful and generous to others in need after their rescue? No, they did not become grateful hosts to righteous guests. They became worse. And dared anyone to judge them for it.
Yet, the Day of Judgment arrived for Sodom and for King David’s adultery and manslaughter of another for his own sin. Later, David repents and writes,
“Against You, You only, I have sinned and done what is evil in Your sight, so that You are justified when You speak and blameless when You judge.” (Ps 51:4)
May we repent before Yom HaKippurim if we have mistreated brothers who are the face of Yeshua at our table. (Mt 25:45)
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