Tentstake Ministries

“The Lord said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites: ‘On the fifteenth day of the seventh month the LORD’s Festival of Tabernacles begins, and it lasts for seven days.  The first day is a sacred assembly; do no regular work.  For seven days present food offerings to the LORD, and on the eighth day hold a sacred assembly and present a food offering to the LORD. It is the closing special assembly; do no regular work” (Leviticus 23:33-36). 

The Feast of Tabernacles is the last of the seven ‘’appointed time’s’ given to God’s people.  In Hebrew, the Feast of Tabernacles is sukkot meaning ‘shelters or booths.’ Sukkot is the eight-day fall festival of ingathering that follows the solemn days of awe and the Day of Atonement.  It is known as the ‘season of our joy’ when everyone dances with lulavs and builds temporary shelters with roofs made from branches of trees.  Like the other fall festivals, the Feast of Tabernacles has yet to be fulfilled by Messiah.  Its shadow contains the vision of the coming Millennial Kingdom when Yeshua will once again tabernacle with Israel and the nations in Jerusalem.   The culmination of the Feast of Tabernacles will occur in eternity when there is a new heavens, new earth and the New Jerusalem where Yahweh will sit on His throne and dwell with His people.

Hebrew Word Pictures

Booth or Sukkah, the singular of sukkot – סכה

Samech ס – A Prop means ‘to support and protect’

Kaf כ – An Open Palm means ‘to allow, to open’

Hey ה – A Window means ‘to reveal’

The Hebrew word picture for sukkah: A protection allowing revelation.

Abraham’s Faith

“By faith he [Abraham] made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country;  he lived in tents as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with permanent foundations, of which the architect and builder is God” (Hebrews 11:9-10).

Abraham was called a friend of God because he believed God and had faith in God’s promises to make him a great nation through a promised seed.  Though he had to live in a tent in this world, he had the hope of an eternal city built by God, the New Jerusalem.

Jacob’s Sukkah

“Jacob went on to Sukkoth, where he built himself a house and put up shelters for his animals.  This is why the place is called Sukkoth (shelters)” (Genesis 33:17).

When the Israelites left Egypt, their first stop on their way to Mount Sinai was Takut, the Egyptian name for Sukkoth.   Hundreds of years earlier, Jacob, whose name had been changed to Israel,  stopped at this exact place after he reunited with his brother Esau.  He built ‘temporary dwellings’ for his family and livestock and called it Sukkoth.

Sukkot

“You are to live in sukkot for seven days … so that generation after generation of you will know that I made the children of Israel live in sukkot when I brought them out of the land of Egypt; I am the LORD your God” (Leviticus 23:42).

In the LORD’s command for the Feast of Tabernacles, the Israelites  were to live in sukkot as a reminder of the 40 years they traveled in the wilderness and lived in temporary shelters. Throughout their generations, the nation of Israel (specifically the Jewish people) have built  sukkot no matter where they have lived.

A sukkah can be built in a yard or on a porch or balcony.  It generally has three walls with all or part of its roof open to the sky.  Any roof covering is usually branches from trees.  Lights may be hung in the    sukkah along with interior decorations such as pictures, flowers, leaves or fruit.Some families line the interior walls with white in order to remember the ‘clouds of Glory’ that appeared over like a sukkah them as they traveled  in the desert.  For seven days the sukkah, the personal or family dwelling place,is used for eating, sleeping and inviting special guests for the season of joy. 

The Lulav

“On the first day you are to take branches from luxuriant trees—from palms, willows and other leafy trees—and rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days. Celebrate this as a festival to the LORD for seven days each year” (Leviticus 23:40-42). 

On the first day of Sukkot, branches from palms, willows and myrtles along with a large fragrant citrus fruit called the etrog are bound together in what is called the lulav or the Four Species representing the nations of the world.   On each day of the Feast of Tabernacles, the lulav is waved facing north, south, east and west while proclaiming the coming Kingdom of God to the nations.

Several other symbolic meanings developed from the four species creating the lulav. Some believe the four species represent the memorial name of God: Yod Hey Vav Hey which is why they species are bound together as one.   Others believe the fruit and the aroma of the trees relate to different people and how they respond to God’s Torah very similar to the Parable of the Sower and how different people’s hearts respond to the Word of God.  Still others believe that the branches and the fruit represent the parts of our bodies, our temporary dwellings, that we are to offer to God as “instruments of righteousness” (Romans 6:12-13).   

The Tabernacle

“On the first day of the first month of the second year, the tabernacle was set up” (Exodus 40:17). 

The Hebrew word for ‘tabernacle’ is mishkan and this is what the Tabernacle or ‘tent of meeting’ was called in the wilderness.    

Hebrew Word Pictures

Tabernacle or Mishkan – משכן

Mem מ – Water means ‘to come down from, immense’

Shin ש – A Tooth means ‘consumed’ or Shekinah, ‘the Divine Presence of God’

Kaf  כ – A Palm or Wing means ‘to cover or allow’

Nun נ – A Fish means ‘ action and life’

The Hebrew word picture for mishkan: The immense consuming [divine presence of God] cover life.

After the children of Israel were delivered from Egypt, they ended up at Mount Sinai where Moses received God’s instructions for constructing His portable ‘dwelling place’, the mishkan. It took a long time for all of its posts, curtains, and holy articles to be made.  Gold, silver and bronze objects that were taken from Egypt had to be melted down or beaten and formed into shapes.  Acacia wood had to be gathered, cut and built into boxes.  Animals had to be slaughtered for their skins.   Fabric had to be spun from flax and wool.

Eventually the articles became a the Altar of Sacrifice, a hammered golden Menorah, an Altar of Incense, a Table of Presence and the Ark of the Testimony.  Mirrors were collected from the women to cover the large basin for priestly washing and purification.  Tabernacle coverings were stitched together and mounted on the posts.   Curtains from finely twisted linen with blue, purple and scarlet yarn were hung in the Holy Place.  By the time of their two-year anniversary of leaving Egypt, the Mishkan was set up and the glory of the LORD filled it with a cloud.  Yahweh had His ‘temporary dwelling’ that could be transported when He moved His people. 

“Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.  Moses was unable to enter the tent of meeting, because the cloud remained on it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.  Whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the people of Israel continued with all their travels.  But if the cloud was not taken up, they did not travel onward until the day with it was taken up.  For the cloud of the LORD was above the tabernacle during the day, and the fire was (in the cloud) at night, so that all the house of Israel could see it throughout all their travels” (Exodus 40:34-38).

The Living Tabernacle

Yeshua is the living tabernacle of God’s divine presence on earth.   According to the details given in the first two chapters of Luke, it can be determined that Yeshua was born on the first day of the Feast of Tabernacles.  In a ‘temporary dwelling’ outside the town of Bethlehem, the Word became flesh and was placed in a sukkah.  His heavenly Father, the angels in heaven, the shepherds watching their flocks, his mother Miriam and his earthly father celebrated in the birth of the Son of God.  While all Israel commemorated the festival of ingathering, Yeshua became the reason for the season of great joy!

“The Word became flesh and tabernacled with us, we saw his glory, the glory of the Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth … for it pleased God to have his full being live in His Son…” (John 1:14, Colossians 1:19).

Yeshua celebrates Feast of Tabernacles in John chapter 7, though he didn’t go to Jerusalem until the festival was half over.   When he arrived and began to teach in the Temple, the people were astonished and wondered how he knew so much.  He gave credit to his Father who had sent him to find the lost sheep of Israel and told them to search the Scriptures to know if his teachings were from God or himself.

“So Yeshua gave them an answer: ‘My teaching is not my own, it comes from the one who sent me.  If anyone wants to do his will, he will know whether my teaching is from God or I speak on my own.  A person who speaks on his own is trying to win praise for himself; but a person who tries to win praise for the one who sent him is honest, there is nothing false about him” (John 7:16-18). 

Streams of Living Water

The Levitical priesthood officiated the sacrifices in the Temple during the Feasts and led other traditions rooted in celebrating  the ‘’appointed time’s.’   The highlight each day of the Feast of Tabernacles was the Water Pouring Ceremony.  A white-robed priest would lead a joyful procession carrying a golden pitcher.   The people would follow him through the Water Gate to the Pool of Siloam where he filled the pitcher with water.  He  would return to the Temple with the filled pitcher with the worshippers following him singing, waving their lulavs and dancing in the streets.  When the priest arrived at the Altar, he would pour out the water.  As he poured the water from the golden pitcher, he would cry out in a loud voice words from the prophet Isaiah, “Therefore with joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation” (Isaiah 12:3).

The multitude of people who gathered in Jerusalem for this festival  would respond with:

“LORD, save us!  LORD, grant us success! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD.  From the house of the LORD we bless you” (Psalm 118).

The last and greatest day of the Feast of Tabernacles was called Hoshana Rabbah and means ‘The Great Salvation.‘It was the culmination of the week-long celebration of the Feast and was a vision of the restoration of God’s eternal Kingdom when He would Tabernacle with mankind forever.

It was on this day of the Great Salvation that Yeshua responds to his nation’s cry for salvation.  As the Great Salvation, he delivered a message not of judgment, but of freedom and fullness of life in the Spirit.  If they would come to him and put their faith in him, the Spirit of God would be poured out into their hearts and their spiritual thirst would be quenched.  Living waters would flow from within them and they would receive their Great Salvation.

“Now on the last day and greatest day of the festival, Hoshana Rabbah, Yeshua stood and cried out, ‘If a man is thirsty, let him keep coming to me and drink!  Whoever puts his trust in me, as the Scripture says, rivers of living water will flow from his inmost being.’”  (Now he said this about the Spirit, whom those who trusted in him were to receive later.  The Spirit had not yet been given, because Yeshua had not yet been glorified”) (John 7:37-39).

Our Earthly Sukkah

“I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body, because I know that I will soon put it aside, as our Lord Messiah Yeshua has made clear to me” (2 Peter 1:13).

While we live on the earth, we have an earth suit.   Peter and Paul called it our earthly tent.   Our earthly tent is mortal, decaying and dying.  It is only a temporary physical dwelling for our spirits and will one day be destroyed through death.  We will return to the dust of the ground from where we came.   While we live in our mortal sukkot, we know that we are naked and unclothed in the eyes of God.   We cry out in our temporary sufferings and affliction while we wait for the redemption of our bodies and receive our immortal clothes. 

“For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.  Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.  Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come” (2 Corinthians 5:1-5).

Once we are born again into God’s Kingdom, our earth tents become the dwelling place for God’s Spirit.  He seals us with His Spirit as a guarantee  that we will be released from our mortal tents and given heavenly bodies.   When we receive our glorified bodies, they will never decay or die because they are eternal.  Until that day arrives, we live in our bodies by faith just as our father Abraham who looked forward to what is to come.

“Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;  you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies” (1 Corinthians 16:19-20).

Feast of Ingathering

“Celebrate the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather in your crops from the field” (Exodus 23:16).

The Feast of Tabernacles is also called the Feast of Ingathering.  It is celebrated after the harvest of grain and grapes while the olive harvest is still in process. 

This ‘’appointed time’’ foreshadows when the House of Judah and the House of Israel are gathered from the nations back to the Promised Land.   This ingathering of God’s chosen people will be so divinely inspired that it will be celebrated as a ‘greater exodus’ than when the Israelites left Egypt.   The Ingathering has only just begun with a modern-day movement of Jewish people returning to Israel from all the nations of the world.  It is called aliyah and means ‘going up.’   

“‘Therefore,’ says The LORD, ‘the day will come when people will not longer swear, “As The LORD lives, who brought the nation of Israel out of the land of Egypt,” but, ‘As The LORD lives, who brought the people of Israel out of the land to the north and all the countries where he drove them,’ for I will bring them back to their own land which I gave their ancestors’” (Jeremiah 16:14-15).

“They found written in the Law, which the Lord had commanded through Moses, that the Israelites were to live in temporary shelters during the festival of the seventh month  and that they should proclaim this word and spread it throughout their towns and in Jerusalem: “Go out into the hill country and bring back branches from olive and wild olive trees, and from myrtles, palms and shade trees, to make temporary shelters”—as it is written” (Nehemiah 8:14-15).

When Israel returned from captivity in the days of Nehemiah, they found the book of Torah that commanded collecting branches to make their sukkot.  In addition to branches from palms, willows, and myrtles, they also collected branches from olive and wild olive trees (Nehemiah 8:14-15).  Because the Feast of Ingathering is a shadow of the coming Kingdom of God, the  olive and wild olive tree branches are significant to its fulfillment.

The first mention of the olive tree is in Genesis after the flood when Noah sends out a dove and it brings back a leaf, a symbol of new life.   In Exodus Moses is given pure olive oil as one of the ingredients for the anointing oil, a symbol of the Spirit.   In Deuteronomy, the land flowing with milk and honey also flowed with olive oil indicating the abundance of provision in the Promised Land.  The doors of Solomon’s Temple were made from olive wood on which were carved the cherubim that guarded the entrance to the Garden of Eden (1 Kings 6:32). In the Psalms, children are like olive shoots around a blessed man’s table. Jeremiah and Hosea call Israel ‘a thriving olive tree with great splendor.’

When Paul discusses the olive tree in Romans 11,  he sees natural olive branches and wild olive branches attached to the same tree.   He tells the gentiles, those of the nations, that they are the wild olive branches which have been grafted into the olive tree along with the natural branches of Israel.

When a branch is grafted into a tree, it gets its nourishment from the roots and sap of the tree.  It will still bear fruit, wild olives, but only through its dependence on the natural tree.   If the grafting doesn’t take and the branch doesn’t get its nourishment,  it will die and fall off the tree.

Paul reminds the gentiles that as wild olive branches they can be cut off the olive tree if they become arrogant over the natural branches.    They are to remember that the living water of the Spirit that comes from Messiah, the root of David,  and the nourishing sap of the  Hebrew Scriptures supports them both by faith.    Though some of the natural branches may have been broken off due to a lack of faith, they are easily grafted back into their own olive tree  (Romans 11:13-24).    

The addition of olive and wild olive branches to the sukkah in Nehemiah’s time suggests that the Ingathering will not only include the natural olive branches of Israel,  but also the wild olive branches  of nations who have joined the covenant that God made with Israel.  When both branches of olives live by faith in Yeshua trusting in him as the root of the tree, living water will bring nourishing sap to both branches.  They will finally thrive with splendor as God intended for  the Olive Tree of Israel.

The Millennial Kingdom

“In the last days the mountain of the LORD’s temple will be established as the highest of the mountains; it will be exalted above the hills, and peoples will stream to it. …Everyone will sit under their own vine and under their own fig tree, and no one will make them afraid, for the LORD Almighty has spoken” (Micah 4:1, 3).

Yeshua’s teachings centered around the Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of Heaven.  Though it was near, it had not yet fully arrived and will not arrive until he had been glorified and crowned King.  During a one thousand year ‘season of our joy,’  the nations of the world will come to the mountain of the LORD in Jerusalem.  Yeshua will sit on his throne in the Temple and rule the nations from Israel.  His reign will join the present world and mortal men with immortal men in a unique time in history.  With an iron scepter, he will rule the earth and prepare its people for his Father’s eternal kingdom.

“After six days Yeshua took Peter, James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain privately.  As they watched, he began to change form – his face shone like the sun, and his clothing became as white as light.  Then they looked and saw Moses and Elijah speaking with him.   Peter said to Yeshua, ‘It’s good that we’re here, Lord.  I’ll put up three sukkot [temporary dwellings]  if you want – one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.’  While he was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them; and a voice from the cloud said, ‘This is my Son, whom I love, with whom I am well pleased. Listen to him’! (Matthew 17:1-5).

Just days before, Yeshua told the disciples that some of them would not die until they saw the Son of Man coming in his kingdom (Matthew 16:28).  They were waiting for this kingdom to arrive with great expectation.  Six days later Yeshua took Peter, James and John up a mountain.

The three disciples watched as Yeshua changed into glory in front of them. They saw him speaking with Moses and Elijah establishing a witness of three to the transfiguration.  They didn’t realize that were receiving only a glimpse at the coming Kingdom, but believed that Yeshua was establishing his Kingdom rule on earth at that ‘’appointed time’.‘   They believed that Yeshua was going to take up his throne in Jerusalem and reign as King of Kings.  They weren’t being stupid as often taught,  they knew the prophecies.  Peter responded with his great faith in Yeshua’s words about the Kingdom of God when he offered to build these three glorified men, Moses, Elijah and Yeshua shelters or sukkot.

The Eternal Tabernacle

“And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place (the Mishkan) is now among the people, and he will dwell (tabernacle) with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God” (Revelation 21:3 NIV and Orthodox Jewish Bible).

At the end of Yeshua’s Millennial reign, a new heaven and a new earth will appear.  Everything from the old heaven and earth will pass away.  The New Jerusalem will come down out of the restored heavens and descend to the renewed earth.  There won’t be a Temple in the New Jerusalem because God will be the Temple.  There will be no sun or moon to shine on it because the glory of God gives it its light.  It’s lamp will be Yeshua.

The river of the water of life will flow from the throne of God producing fruit for each month and healing leaves for the nations.  The servants of God will worship Him as His throne will be in the city.   The eternally redeemed will see His face and His name will be written on their foreheads.  They will reign as kings forever and ever.  When the New Jerusalem descends from heaven, Yahweh, the Father, the Creator,  the great I AM will eternally Tabernacle with His people.

“All of these people kept on trusting until they died, without receiving what had been promised.  They had only seen it and welcomed it from a distance, while acknowledging that they were aliens and temporary residents on the earth.  …As it is, they aspire to a better homeland, a heavenly one.  This is why God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city”  (Hebrews 11:13-15).

Our father Abraham lived in a tent. As Abraham’s children by faith and heirs to the same promises, we also live in earth tents like he did.  Until the day of our redemption, we will live as strangers and foreigners on this earth.  We can celebrate Sukkot with the hope of our future glory by building a sukkah.  As we feast in our ‘temporary dwelling’, we can identify with the children of Israel who lived in tents with the Mishkan of Yahweh in their midst.

Yeshua took on the tent of a human body to live with us. As the Messiah of Israel, he will soon return to Jerusalem as King to prepare the nations for the eternal Kingdom of Heaven.  When we  keep our eyes on the promises of God and the New Jerusalem we will truly understand the ‘season of our joy’ and the Feast of Tabernacles.

“Celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles for seven days after you have gathered the produce of your threshing floor and your winepress.  Be joyful at your festival—you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levites, the foreigners, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns. For seven days celebrate the festival to the Lord your God at the place the Lord will choose. For the Lord your God will bless you in all your harvest and in all the work of your hands, and your joy will be complete” (Deuteronomy 16:13-15).

©2011 Tentstake Ministries Publishing, all rights reserved.  No copying or reproducing of this article without crediting the author or Tentstake Ministries Publishing. For a hard copy of this article,  please purchase Journey with Jeremiah: Nourishment for the Wild Olive.  To learn more about the Feasts of the LORD, purchase Yeshua in His Father’s Feasts study guide and/or leader’s guide for group learning.

Fearing human beings is a snare; but he who trusts in Adonai will be raised high [above danger]” (Proverbs 29:25).

Working as a camp host in the summer in Alaska, I meet people from all walks of life from all over the world. In this year of 2021, discussions arise about the shot, the jab, the experiment, the ‘vaccine.’ Many people have taken the jab, others reject being a guinea pig and part of a human experiment messing with the mRNA of the immune system. Sadly, it is also interesting the number of people who reject the whole idea of the shot, but took it because of this, that or the other thing. In other words, though they believe one thing, they don’t act accordingly.

New York City now requires vaccine passports to do anything public, the first of its kind in the United States, truly the beginning of a great demise of our country and the value of human life in this country. The one unelected official directing the path of humanity in the United States now says that loss of liberty is worth the health of many even though statistics don’t support his version of ‘the truth.’ Citizens in nations like France, Germany and Italy are protesting en masse, burning their vaccine passports because they know firsthand the direction such ‘violation of liberties’ go – into totalitarian government control leading to the mass murder of all those who don’t fit into the coming world order via substances poked into their arms. .

This virus came from Wuhan. Period. It was created by man. Period. So, why do people look to man to solve a biological warfare issue? Do they really believe those who are part of the great web who created this virus really want to fix the problem? Those who believe these people have good intentions really don’t understand the sinful heart of power-hungry men, money-hungry men!

The agnostic ignorant believe that more people have been killed by religious wars than atheist leaders like Napoleon of France (6 million dead), Kim Jon of North Korea (4 million Koreans), Mussolini of Italy (1 million dead from poisoned gas, concentration camps), Mao Zedong of China (murdered 50-67 million), Pol Pot of Cambodia (murdered 2 million), Joseph Stalin of Russia (murdered 60 million), Hitler of Germany (12 million). In the past 200 years alone, atheist leaders have murdered 151 million people, more than all religious wars combined. And now in the United States we have a godless, atheist administration forcing experimental serum on its people through bribery (money) and loss of even more liberties such as buying, selling, and entertainment.

This is why we must choose whom we shall fear. Though it seems ‘right’ to fear those who will kill from a godless, atheistic, heart, it is only through the God of Israel, Elohim, YodHeyVavHey, Yeshua, the Healer who can intervene and bring salvation from this perceived ‘curse of death.’ I am not afraid of the Communist China Virus. If I die from it, I die. But, I won’t ever ask humanity to stop living because I got sick and died.

Even though I can see where the world is heading with vaccine passports and the separation of the ‘goats’ from the sheep, I don’t fear the leaders of this world. They are part of a plan of destruction; not of restoration. They are part of a plan to take over the world even though I know who will one day sit as King in Jerusalem – Yeshua HaMashiach. I fear Yahweh Elohim. I believe He is the only One who can redeem us from the pit that we have allowed ourselves to be dumped into. I believe He is the only One who can save us from the dark tunnel we are heading down. I believe He is the only One who will judge the men who kill the body and mame the weak with righteous justice.

Am I human? Do I worry about buying and selling? Do I grieve over the prospect of never seeing family again? Yes. Yes. And yes. This is the very reason why I raised my children with faith, faith that would allow them to enter the eternal Kingdom, a Kingdom for which they are a light in this world. By entering into that Kingdom through faith they have hope not fear. Yeshua was very clear when he told us who to fear and who not to fear.

“My friends, I tell you: don’t fear those who kill the body but then have nothing more they can do. I will show you whom to fear: fear him who after killing you has authority to throw you into Gei-Hinnom! Yes, I tell you, this is the one to fear!”

Whom do you fear? God or Man? One offers a scam to change your DNA and immune system created by Elohim; the other offers an eternal way of life free from sickeness, disease, and totalitarian rule. You choose. It’s still a choice each of us have that no man can take away until the day:

“That in honor of the name given Yeshua, every knee will bow — in heaven, on earth and under the earth — and every tongue will acknowledge that Yeshua the Messiah is Adonai — to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:10-11).

©2021 Tentstake Ministries Publishing, all rights reserved.  No copying or reproducing of this article without crediting the author or Tentstake Ministries Publishing.

“Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: sexual immorality, impurity, indecent behavior, idolatry, witchcraft (pharmakia), hostilities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God” (Galatians 5:19-21).

In Greek, pharmakia is the word for ‘sorcery’ and from where we get the word ‘pharmacy.’  Sorcerers used drugs to take people into an altered state of mind.  The modern-day sorcerer is a pharmacist who sells ‘legal drugs.’  These drugs change our body’s chemical imbalances to even worse imbalances which is evidenced in television commercials where the taking of one drug brings on worse side effects than the original physical issue. There is evidence that  more people who take legalized anti-depressants kill themselves than people who do not. Some drugs, like marijuana, once illegal, but have become legal, are now causing serious mental health problems for those that overuse it (due to the lack of THC controls). The increase in sorcery or ‘pharmakia’ is a sign of the end times and last days before the return of King Messiah.

In the book of Leviticus, there is an ordinance regarding sorcerers and ‘spirit-mediums.’ This ordinance speaks about ‘fornicating’ with mediums and sorcerers. ‘Fornicating’ is the sin of spiritual adultery, idolatry with those who are practicing sorcery with legalized drugs.

“The person who turns to spirit-mediums and sorcerers to go fornicating after them – I will set myself against him and cut him off from his people. Therefore consecrate yourselves–you people must be holy, Because I am Adonai your God” (Leviticus 20:6-7).

According to the list of flesh activities in Galatians 5, one who is a sorcerer will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven. This is not a kingdom one goes to when they die, but the Kingdom of the world to come, the Kingdom of King Messiah, the Kingdom of Elohim Himself. For those who understand the serious reprecussions of ‘legal drugs’ and using them to modify the human body, hesitating with anything ‘shot’ into their body should be a no-brainer. Unfortunately, for the ‘shot’ being promoted by not just pharmacies, but the governments around the world, the no-brainers are proving themselves as non-critical thinkers.

“I thank you because I am awesomely made, wonderfully; your works are wonders — I know this very well” (Psalm 139:14).

According to Scripture, each of us are fearfully and wonderfully made. This means that not only are we intricately made with the amazing eye or the ability to reproduce new humans from two tiny cells, but we also have been given an intricate immune system. This immune system has cells that will take any virus, fight it, kill it, remove it, and then remember it EVEN if it mutates! If that isn’t wonderful, what is? Those who truly put their faith in the God of Isra’el understand two things. One, their bodies produce greater immunity to everything thrown at their bodies on a daily basis than any vaccine can or ever will. Why do you think that every year there is another flu vaccine? Because the flu vaccine does not give a continued immunity to the flu! Someone isn’t an anti-vaxxer when they choose to use their own immune system that was given them by the Creator. It has proven itself superior to vaccines since Adam and Eve. Two, everyone dies. EVERYONE. Period. Death is a fact of life and no government leader or vaccine developer can stop death. Anyone can die from a virus as well as from the effects of the supposed ‘cure.’ Everyone dies from something!

Without going into details about the shot, it isn’t a vaccine. It should not even be called a ‘vaccine.’ It does nothing to ‘vaccinate’ anyone against the virus. All it does is make the person ‘asymptomatic’ while still passing the virus onto others. According to research done at the University of Florida, there was no ‘asymptomatic’ spread of the virus. None. It was purely a talking point to create fear in the masses (which is another subject). Now, however, there will be asymptomatic spread from those who chose to receive the shot to everyone and anyone. Of course, it be blamed on those who didn’t get the shot, but that is not the reality of this shot.

On a more deeper level, this shot does change the RNA of the human body. This technology has never been tried on humans before so everyone who pulls their sleeve up to receive this RNA-crown of slime becomes a test subject. EVERYONE. Yet, this isn’t the most dangerous part of this shot. The most dangerous part is that it is messing with the way God has created our bodies. It is changing the immune system in our bodies that was never meant to be changed. As biological warfare grows (and yes, this virus came from China), those who make billions from these shots will continue to make them, inject them, and take no responsibility for the side effects. As the human body receives more and more of these RNA deceptors in the body, no one knows exactly what will transpire in the future with the health of those who were injected. Those who do know, those who have studied this technology, world-renowned virologists, have been silenced and censored as conspiracy theorists! For reasons known only to those who buy and sell virus patents, ‘they’ don’t want anyone to know the whole truth AND they want this technology in every human on the planet. That should scare everyone, everywhere.

In every vaccine study, there has to be a control group, a group that is not given the test mixture. It is from this control group that virologists learn about the side effects of the drug or vaccine. Usually this is done for years and years before given to the public, but not this time due to ‘Operation Warp Speed.’

I choose to be part of the control group. I will wait to see what the long term effects will be – and some have not been so long term. There have been blood disorders, brain and heart issues, and death. It is being said that auto-immune diseases will also rise. I also know that being part of the control group will put me in the ‘vulnerable’ category: vulnerable to not being able to fly to visit my children, enter businesses, go to sporting events, and soon probably even to enter a grocery store.

The government’s way of dealing with people like me is a type of passport. Do you have your passport? No, you can’t come in here. No, you can’t eat here. No, you can’t live here. No. No. No. It seems that it’s nearing the time once again to wear an armband with a Yellow Star. Though we have cried out ‘Never Again,’ we are watching the foundation being poured for ‘Not Again.’ And, according to Biblical prophecy, the end times will not be history repeating itself; it will be something that has never come upon the world before.

©2021 Tentstake Ministries Publishing, all rights reserved.  No copying or reproducing of this article without crediting the author or Tentstake Ministries Publishing.

From Burt Yellin, Messianic Rabbi, Roeh Isra’el, Denver.

In an ironic twist, Yerushalayim – the City of Peace – has seen much violence since the time of Melchi-Tzedic (Gn 14). This present violence (hamas in Hebrew) has increased the ocean of blood that has been spilt on that holy ground. My friend Elhanan lives in that Holy City of God, and has written some insightful words for us to ponder.

“WHAT IS ANTISEMITISM? A very ancient phenomenon has been given a new name in the 20th century: Anti-Semitism – hatred of the Jew – which culminated in the atrocities of the Nazi Holocaust. It was that very destruction of millions of Jewish people because the were Jews that led to an international agreement to establish a national home for the Jews on their ancient homeland where they might defend their right to existence. But then with the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, that phenomenon known as Anti-Semitism morphed into a new form: Anti-Israelism.

But what is Anti-Semitism? The word arises from the term Semite, which is actually Shemite, being a descendant of Shem, one of the three sons of Noah- Shem, Ham, and Yafet. The two latter names are Hebrew adjectives- Ham (hot), and Yafet (pretty or beautiful), only the name Shem [is] a noun, meaning ‘Name.’ It is through the line of Shem that would arise Abraham, Izaak and Jacob, and the tribes of Israel and Moses the lawgiver, and through the tribe of Judah would come King David and then his seed, Yeshua of Nazareth, called the Messiah, King of the Jews. The line of Shem (Name) would be those elected to carry and witness to the Name of the one Creator God, YHVH.

Anti-Israelism is alternately called anti-Zionism. ‘Zionism’ derives from the Hebrew word Zion (Tzion- ציון), which essentially means a mark, or a marked place. In the Torah it is written, “then it shall come to pass that to the place which YHVH your God shall choose to cause his name to dwell there,…you shall seek YHVH at the place which YHVH your God will choose from all your tribes, to establish His name there for His dwelling, and there you shall come” (Deuteronomy 12:5,11). That marked place is Mount Zion, Jerusalem of the tribe and land of Judah. Judah, Yehuda in Hebrew-יהודה – is the only word that fully contains God’s name YHVH, plus one letter, ‘d’ (dalet). The term Jew arises from Judah, thus being ‘the people called by my Name,’ and Jesus is from the tribe of Judah, the King of the Jews, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the quintessential Jew who said, “Salvation is of the Jews” [John 4:22].

From its very inception and the creation of the State of Israel, Islam has been its greatest and most consistent opponent, waging numerous unsuccessful wars to annihilate the tiny Jewish nation, Islam being boasted as the final replacement for Judaism and Christianity, being founded much later, in the 7th century AD. To this day such organizations as Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah and the Islamic Republic of Iran vow the destruction of Israel and its Jewish population. ‘Hamas’ (who has fired over 800 missiles into Israel as I write) is the Hebrew word used to describe why God brought the flood in the days of Noah, meaning ‘violence, corruption, deceit.’ Genesis 6:11,13, “The earth is filled with violence (hamas).” The Muslim deity Allah of the Quran is the driving force behind all this (allah in Hebrew is ‘a curse’, as in Isaiah 24:6: “for the curse – allah – has devoured the earth.”

Thus the root of the term Anti-Semite is to be against the Name, literally to take a stand against the very Name of the Creator of the universe, and the Creator of Israel, the people He has chosen to bring His Law and His Messiah into the world, and to whom He has apportioned as their inheritance the Land of Israel. Therefore, the support of Zionism and the prophesied return of the Jewish people to the Land of Israel and Jerusalem after 2000 years is the correct and Biblical and Godly thing to do.

What is now termed anti-Semitism goes back long before the Nazis, can be found in the Amalekites and their descendant Haman in the book of Esther, in the invading Babylonians, Assyrians, Greeks and Romans who crucified many Jews, including Jesus. It can also be found in the writings of some of the Christian church fathers, including the German Martin Luther, who wrote “The Jews and Their Lies” which became an inspiration for Hitler’s atrocities, all the way back to Chrysostom and the fathers of the Replacement Theology heresy, and the distancing of the Christian religion from its Jewish roots at the Nicaean Council in 325 AD.

Antisemitism, and racism as well, can be outlawed and discouraged, but that will not make it go away. In America, one may rise to the heights despite that kind of opposition, as did many Jews and Blacks, right up to the top. But few ever speak about the reverse racism of Blacks who despise Whites and especially Jews, Louis Farrakhan and the Black Muslims for example. All this will not end or be resolved until there is a deep and true understanding that we are all created in the image of G-d, and the knowledge of God covers the Earth, and we act thus upon that knowledge.“

Elhanan 5-2021

The Torah

Within the context of Exodus and Moshe’s meetings with Elohim on the mountain are a type and shadow of the unique covenant made with the people of Israel. The first covenant is written stony and is broken by sin while the same covenant on new stones brings forth the glory of Adonai.

When the Israelites were gathered at Mount Sinai, Adonai met with them. He spoke the Ten Words or Ten Commandments found in Exodus 20. With the fire, the smoke and the blowing of the shofar, the people trembled in fear and asked that Moshe become their intercessor between them and yod hey vav hey. They feared for their lives.

In Exodus 24, Elohim invites Moshe, Aharon, Nadav, Avihu and seventy of the elders to come onto the mountain. While everyone bows before yod hey vav hey, Moshe alone is allowed to go higher and approach Elohim.

Before ascending the mountain, he sets up twelve stones to represent the twelve Tribes of Isra’el. He made burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings to El Shadai. Moshe took half of the blood and put it in basins, the other half he sprinkled on the altar. He read the book of the covenant promises and requirements of Adonai and the people responded and accepted the covenant – “Everything that Adonai has spoken we will do and obey.”

“Moshe took the blood, sprinkled it on the people and said, “This is the blood of the covenant which Adonai has made with you in accordance with all these words” (Exodus 24:8).

The Stone Torah

Adonai invites Moshe to come up higher on the mountain. Moshe ascends the mountain and enters the cloud that covered it and remains on the mountain for 40 days. Yod hey vav hey gives him two stone tablets on which are written His Torah, His teachings and instructions for the mixed multitude of Hebrews and Egyptians that He is forming into a nation.

“The glory of Adonai stayed on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days. On the seventh day he called to Moshe out of the cloud” (Exodus 24:16).

Moshe is given instructions for building the Tabernacle, creating garments for the priests and High Priest, consecrating the priesthood, making holy anointing oil, taking a census and keeping the Sabbath. When He is done, Adonai gives Moshe the two stone tablets. On both sides is the writing of yod hey vav hey, His Words engraved by His own Hand.

This first ascent to the mountain for the stone of testimony is symbolic of having a hard, stone heart toward the Torah. While Moshe is receiving the very written Words of yod hey vav hey, the Israelites are busy mixing the holiness of Adonai with the paganness of Egypt. Their ‘high priest’ is deceived into believing they can worship the God of Isra’el in their own way rather than waiting for His ‘intercessor’ and His instructions.

When Moshe comes down from the mountain, he finds the people worshiping a golden calf and indulging in revelry. Symbolic to the sin of breaking Torah, Moshe throws down the tablets and shatters them at the base of the mountain. He melts the golden calf in the fire, grounds it into powder, scatters it on the water, and makes the people drink it. He confronts Aharon who had been left in charge. He makes ridiculous excuses for his own sin which allowed the people to become rebellious.

The Torah is broken. The stony hearts of the people revealed. The desire for their own way of mixed worship brings death to 3000 people.

Moshe and the Rock

Moshe leaves the camp. He pitches his tent far away from the people of Isra’el and he alone has fellowship with yod hey vav hey. The cloud of Adonai’s presence descends and blocks the entrance to the tent. Yod hey vav hey speaks to Moshe ‘face to face’ as a man speaks to his friend.

Because of the intimate relationship Moshe has with Adonai, he requests to see His glory. Yod hey vav hey tells him to stand on ‘the rock.’ When the glory passes by, Adonai Himself puts Moshe in a crevice of ‘the rock’, covers him with His hand until He passes by.

Moshe meets Yeshua ‘the Rock.’ This is the Rock of salvation, the Rock that brings forth living water in the wilderness, the Rock of Isra’el’s defense against the enemies of Adonai, the eternal Rock.

“Adonai is alive! Blessed is my Rock! Exalted be the God of my salvation [Yeshua] …” (Psalm 18:46).

“Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock” (Isaiah 26:4).

“Truly my soul silently waits for God; From Him comes my salvation [Yeshua]. He only is my rock and my salvation [Yeshua]; He is my defense; I shall not be greatly moved” (Psalm 62:1-2).

“A Spirit-sent Rock which followed them, and that Rock was the Messiah” (1 Corinthians 10:4).

The Re-newed Torah

Adonai tells Moshe to cut two stone tablets like the first ones so that He can inscribe the Words that were on the first ones. Moshe ascends Mt. Sinai a second time with the two stone tablets in his hands.

Adonai descends in a cloud, stands with Moshe and pronounces His name, yod hey vav hey. He tells Moshe about His character, who He is. Moshe bows and prostrates himself on the ground and asks forgiveness for the sins of Isra’el.

“Merciful and compassionate, slow to anger, rich in grace and truth; showing grace to the thousandth generation, forgiving offenses, crimes and sins; yet not exonerating the guilty, but causing the negative effects of the parents’ offenses to be experienced by their children and grandchildren, and even by the third and fourth generations” (Exodus 34:6-8).

Adonai makes a covenant in front of all the people and says they must obey what He orders them to do. This is a re-newal of the first covenant of Torah on new and different stones.

Adonai explains He is a jealous God and in order to keep His anger from busting out against them, they must destroy all symbols of pagan worship when they enter the Promised Land. He does not want them to be enticed, as they already were, to worship other gods using His name.

Though He reiterates the previous Torah on the new hewn stones, He highlights teachings and instructions that have prophetic vision for a renewed covenant. He reminds them of the importance of His Sabbath which is a vision of eternity. He tells them that the firstborn from the womb is His. He gives instructions about Shavuot or the Feast of Weeks which is a memorial to the giving of the Torah and will have significance in the days after Yeshua’s ascension with the Spirit. He speaks about the Festival of Ingathering which will be at the time of the end with the gathering of the nation of Isra’el back to the Promised Land. He tells them to meet with Him three times a year because He will be expanding their Land. He reminds them not to leave the Pesach sacrifice until morning or offer a blood sacrifice with leavened bread. They are to eat unleavened bread during the days of matzah and bring the best of the firstfruits into His House.

When Moshe came down from the mountain, there is no mention of the people rebelling in sin. They awaited his arrival. They were prepared to hear the Words from Adonai-Yeshua.

Moshe didn’t realize that the skin of his face was sending out rays of light from being in the presence of yod hey vav hey. The glory of Adonai was so bright that Aharon and the people of Isra’el were afraid to approach him. But, Moshe called to them and they came to him. He taught them everything yod hey vav hey had taught him on the mountain.

When he was finished reading the stones of testimony, Moshe put a veil over his face. When he met with yod hey vav hey, he removed the veil, but when he spoke with the Israelites, he covered his face again.

The second visit to the mountain brought a transference of yod hey vav hey’s holiness, His glory onto Moshe. This is like the heart of flesh that is filled with the Spirit of Adonai, the Ruach haKodesh. The presence of Adonai remained with Moshe because he had a circumcised, repentant, humble heart and was filled with the Spirit.

The people did not have this same heart. Throughout their journey through the wilderness, their hearts remained like stone. They needed their stony hearts changed to hearts of flesh. Only Caleb and Joshua had the same heart and Spirit as Moshe.

“Adonai said to Moshe, “Take Y’hoshua the son of Nun, a spiritual man, and lay your hand on him.” (Numbers 27:18).

“But my servant Kalev, because he had a different Spirit with him and has fully followed me — him I will bring into the land he entered, and it will belong to his descendants” (Numbers 14:24).

Forty years after the giving of the Torah, Moshe makes a promise to the children and grandchildren of those who left Egypt. Before they enter the Promised Land, he tells them Adonai will circumcise their hearts so they can obey all of His Torah. This alludes to the promise of the re-newed covenant in Jeremiah 31:31 and Ezekiel 36:24 that was instituted by Yeshua at his Pesach seder in Luke 22.

“Then Adonai your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your children, so that you will love Adonai your God with all your heart and all your being, and thus you will live” (Deuteronomy 30:6).

The fulfillment of the promise of circumcised hearts happened on Shavuot, Feast of Weeks (Pentecost) – the pouring out of the Spirit of Adonai. On that day, 3000 Jewish men had hearts that were stung with the message of Yeshua. They were brought into the Kingdom through the Ruach haKodesh.

Moshe had received the first Torah written on stone. It was broken through faithlessness and sin of the people and brought death. He set himself apart from the nation of Isra’el in order to meet with yod hey vav hey face to face. On the mountain, in the presence of Adonai, Moshe received the Spirit, the renewal of the Torah. This Torah was restored and Moshe’s own countenance revealed the glory of being in the presence of the Writer of the Word. It revealed the power of the Torah to change the heart and face to reflect the glory of Yeshua.

“So all of us, with faces unveiled, see as in a mirror the glory of the Lord; and we are being changed into his very image, from one degree of glory to the next, by Adonai the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:18).

©2021 Tentstake Ministries Publishing, all rights reserved.  No copying or reproducing of this article without crediting the author or Tentstake Ministries Publishing.