Tag: in the wilderness
Dr Hollisa Alewine – Footsteps of Messiah Part 33 – (The Dust of Jacob Pt 2)
We continue this week from where we left off last week in “The Dust of Jacob Pt2” Here we delve into where John writes about how the angels of the four winds held them back until the righteous were sealed. If the righteous are somehow in the Clouds of Glory, even in a preliminary gathering among the nations, their smoke of sacrifice and prayer would go straight up as in the Wilderness, unaffected by the four winds:
“After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth so that no wind would blow on the earth, or on the sea, or on any tree.” (Re 7:1)
The stillness of winds upon the earth reflects what happened within the protection of Sukkot of Glory in the wilderness. The smoke of the altar fire went straight up, unaffected by the winds. The job of the four winds can be to gather, to scatter, vitalize, or simply hold still/stasis. ”Holding back” may be complemented by another angel’s mission of gathering. Typically, angels do one thing at a time, requiring multiple ministers to address multiple steps in a mission.
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Dr Hollisa Alewine – Footsteps of Messiah Part 32 – (Torahfying cont & The Dust of Jacob)
Our Footsteps series has considered the signs of Messiah’s coming within key verses of the Song of Songs. Our most recent text is a prophecy of the final wilderness “of the people” and the Mishkan (Tabernacle) of Israel:
What is this coming up from the wilderness
like columns of smoke
perfumed with myrrh and frankincense
with all the scented powders of the merchant? (So 3:6)
Israel emerges from the wilderness of the peoples in Clouds of Glory. When we look for evidence of how Yeshua is working among us to gather us, the Wilderness Mishkan is a logical place to look. Last week, we took a close look at the “two witnesses” of fire in the wilderness that amazed and terrified the surrounding nations. There was the fire of two altars that never went out, one of sacrifice and one of incense, each with its column of smoke. There was a pillar, or column, of cloud by day and one by night, the night pillar revealing fire in the darkness. And according to the sages, the two tablets in the Ark of the Covenant produced two tongues of fire that cleared the area of the encampment of serpents and scorpions when the cloud and Ark stopped. Sound familiar? Hint: Acts Two.
This description of the “two witnesses” sounds very much like the Midrash’s description of how the Mishkan settled down:
“And if anyone wants to harm them, fire flows out of their mouth and devours their enemies; and so if anyone wants to harm them, he must be killed in this way.” (Re 11:5)
The Midrash Rabbah to Shir 3:5 describes why the nations marveled at the Israelite camp in the wilderness:
“When Israel was roaming from encampment to encampment in the Wilderness, the Pillar of Cloud would sink in the evening and then the Pillar of Fire would spring up, and the smoke of the burning pyre atop the Outer Altar would rise straight up, unaffected by the wind, and two darts of fire would issue from between the two staves of the Ark and incinerate the snakes, fiery serpents, and scorpions before the Israelites. [commentary to Ex 40:38]
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Dr Hollisa Alewine – Footsteps of Messiah Part 31 – (Footsteps are Torahfying)
In last week’s teaching, we examined Isaiah’s prophecy in couplets:
“The pronouncement concerning Edom:
One keeps calling to me from Seir,
‘Watchman, how far gone is the night?
Watchman, how far gone is the night?’
The watchman says, ‘Morning comes but also night.
If you would inquire, inquire;
Come back again.’” (Is 21:11-12)
The third couplet urges the inquirer to ask twice, or “come back again.” Return from the second exile, the long exile of The Red One, Edom of Seir.
In a layer of Jewish understanding about King Messiah’s hiding place, Isaiah implies that not only are those in exile calling, anxious for the night of exile to end, so is Messiah, who has been tying and untying the bandages of the sick outside the gates of Rome, anxiously awaiting the Father’s appointed time for his return, to “come back again.” The midrash is not to be taken literally, but illustratively.
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Dr Hollisa Alewine – Footsteps of Messiah Part 29 – (How Far Gone is the Night?)
In Shelach Lekha, the Israelites find themselves at the second major sin of the wilderness, the evil report of the ten spies. The Golden Calf had already brought a tempest of Divine anger and a significant period of judgment, repentance, forgiveness, and rebuilding. The Mishkan (Tabernacle) provided a constant reminder of the Divine Presence that would remain even when Moses departed. Nevertheless, the ten spies did not grow strong in the wilderness with Caleb and Joshua. Instead, their lack of faith brought about the removal of themselves and nearly a whole generation.
We are now in the “second exile” of Babylon, initiated by the Red Beast of Rome, and now Rome’s daughters hold us within the nations and their beastly systems. In this wilderness of the peoples, Israel is given an opportunity to exit the exile of of night and enter the morning of freedom from the Beast and Babylon the Great, the feet and head of the Beast’s image. In this wilderness of the peoples, we have the opportunity to grow strong and go up.
Grow strong and go up.
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Dr Hollisa Alewine – Footsteps of Messiah Part 28 – (Footsteps, Pawprints, and Times)
This week we’ll address prophetic time as it pertains to the exiles of Judah. The Northern Tribes were scattered by Assyria, yet Assyria is not counted among the Beast kingdoms in Daniel’s vision. Small details like this help us to understand prophetic nuances.
Assyria may have been a singular beast, but it was never counted as part of the image of the Beast. That identity is reserved for those who destroy or defeat Israelite rule in Jerusalem. (Is 37:10) Daniel’s prophecies are bound together by one catalyst: a concern for the welfare of Jerusalem. To trace the Beast kingdoms, one can simply trace Jewish history.
Dr Hollisa Alewine – Footsteps of Messiah Part 27 – (Poisonous Fruit and Wormwood)
Today we cover Torah Portion Nasso, and discuss all the beast systems and how they influence us.
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Dr Hollisa Alewine – Footsteps of Messiah Part 26 – (Bamidbar – “Footsteps Wherever You Go, A Shavuot Review of the Journey”)
We’ve been looking at the significance of the feasts relative to the return of Yeshua and the gathering of the righteous. The following contexts help us to understand the role of the wilderness in Israel’s gathering and return. Once the pieces are put together, it looks as though the final wilderness journey will begin in the nations of Israel’s exile, not the geographic wilderness of the exodus from Egypt.
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Mark Call – Mark Call -Parsha “Bemidbar” (Numbers 1:1-4:20) teaching from Shabbat Shalom Mesa
This week the annual Torah portion cycle begins the fourth Book in the set, Numbers in the...
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Mark Call – Parsha “Bemidbar”– teaching from Shabbat Shalom Mesa
Parsha “Bemidbar” begins the new Book with the same name (“Nunbers” in the...
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