PASSOVER/PESACH & THE NEW VERSION OF THE EXODUS
PASSOVER/PESACH & THE NEW VERSION OF THE EXODUS
For some years now, Grace and I have been excited by Jeremiah's words in chapter 16:“However, the days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when it will no longer be said, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, who brought the Israelites up out of Egypt,’ 15 but it will be said, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, who brought the Israelites up out of the land of the north and out of all the countries where he had banished them.’ For I will restore them to the land I gave their ancestors."
Passover is all about remembering how the LORD brought the "Israelites up out of Egypt".
That celebration is still as important as it always has been, both for Jews and for us, followers of Yeshua, because it is the Divine Demonstration that the LORD ALMIGHTY, the God of Abraham, Isaac, (not Ishmael) and Jacob (not Esau), the God of Israel is, in fact, the Sovereign Creator and King of the Universe who will move His Plan of Redemption forward and no Pharaoh will hinder Him. Because He has demonstrated that so clearly, we can believe that He does what He says He will do; a rather dramatic Faith builder. He is Faithful and Trustworthy!
Yet Jeremiah's words suggest that in "the days [that] are coming" some new move of God will take precedence over that original Exodus. It will also be an EXODUS, but from "all the countries where he had banished them", not just from one country, Egypt.
Several of my earlier blogs explored the Ezekiel 36-37 prophecies in which the Sovereign LORD addresses the "Mountains of Israel" to tell them to prepare themselves to receive the LORD's people, the people of Israel, who were about to return to their home.
“Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’ 12 Therefore prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. 13 Then you, my people, will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. 14 I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the Lord have spoken, and I have done it, declares the Lord.’”
Since the mid-19th Century, His people have been returning to this land. The LORD says in the quoted Jeremiah passage, "I will restore them to the land I gave their ancestors"; this is their PROMISED LAND.
Our friend Rabbi Tuly Weisz just published an exploration of this text in ISRAEL365, which you can read here: http://israel365.com/2015/03/biblical-passover-miracles-thats-nothing-compared-to-what-god-has-in-store-for-israel-in-the-end-times/?utm_source=Jerusalem365&utm_campaign=59d7f5c1fe-Jerusalem365+Email&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_966f66c607-59d7f5c1fe-19563093&mc_cid=59d7f5c1fe&mc_eid=ccae9e0435
In Isaiah 49, the Prophet records these words:
"This is what the Lord says:
“In the time of my favor I will answer you,
and in the day of salvation I will help you;
I will keep you and will make you
to be a covenant for the people,
to restore the land
and to reassign its desolate inheritances,
9 to say to the captives, ‘Come out,’
and to those in darkness, ‘Be free!’"
We have already seen a similar Restoration word in Ezekiel; a prophecy that has been fulfilling since the mid-19th Century. What Isaiah adds in this next announcement about the "nations", which some translate "Gentiles", is that the fulfillment will involve the cooperation of the Gentiles; we get to participate in this restoration by being "carriers".
"This is what the Sovereign Lord says:
“See, I will beckon to the nations,
I will lift up my banner to the peoples;
they will bring your sons in their arms
and carry your daughters on their hips.
23 Kings will be your foster fathers,
and their queens your nursing mothers."
That is how Grace and I saw our volunteer work in Karmiel in 2012, but it is also how we see all of our advocacy work in Israel and right here in Winnipeg.
Being followers of Yeshua, that is "in Christ", we participate in the same Redemption Plan of which Yeshua, His death and Resurrection, is the central element. He is Torah/Word in our inner being.
The Ezekiel text says, " I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the Lord have spoken, and I have done it, declares the Lord." and continues with, "This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will take the Israelites out of the nations where they have gone. I will gather them from all around and bring them back into their own land. 22 I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. There will be one king over all of them and they will never again be two nations or be divided into two kingdoms. 23 They will no longer defile themselves with their idols and vile images or with any of their offenses, for I will save them from all their sinful backsliding,[b] and I will cleanse them. They will be my people, and I will be their God.
24 “‘My servant David will be king over them, and they will all have one shepherd. They will follow my laws and be careful to keep my decrees. 25 They will live in the land I gave to my servant Jacob, the land where your ancestors lived. They and their children and their children’s children will live there forever, and David my servant will be their prince forever. 26 I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be an everlasting covenant. I will establish them and increase their numbers, and I will put my sanctuary among them forever. 27 My dwelling place will be with them; I will be their God, and they will be my people. 28 Then the nations will know that I the Lord make Israel holy, when my sanctuary is among them forever.’”
Verses 24-28 describe where this whole Restoration is going: I understand "My servant David" to be the promised Messiah, and many of the people we know in Israel also see this Restoration Process culminating in Messiah coming; which we believe is "coming again". We will certainly know when He comes, as some of our Israeli friends say, "we'll ask Him if He has been here before". In the mean-time, together, we work at Tikkun Olam, we work together to repair the world.
I will conclude with this invitation to tune in to a "voice of Israel" interview with David Nekrutman and Rabbi Tuly Weisz:
http://www.voiceofisrael.com/the-difference-between-prayer-and-praise/?auto=1
HALLELUJUAH!