Tuesday, March 22, 2011

A Sure and Promised Message of Hope

A SURE AND PROMISED MESSAGE OF HOPE

Yirmeyahu/Jeremiah 30
Shalom to you all in the name of Yahushua Messiah, our Beloved Saviour and King, our Blessed Hope, aměn!  Many ‘promises’ that are so easily given today are often very hard to trust, I mean how many of you have been so easily taken for a ride where that which was promised was not delivered? We live in a time where it becomes very difficult to be totally sure of loose promises of many, yet what we are to be reminded of is the fact that we do have promises that we can rely on – those promises we have that are yes and aměn in Messiah!
Qorintiyim Bět/2 Corinthians 1:20 “For as many promises as are of Elohim, in Him they are Yea, and in Him Aměn, to the esteem of Elohim through us.
As many promises as are of Elohim!!! The Scriptures are filled with His Promises for us His Bride, and tonight I want us to look briefly at the promises we have in store for us in the coming days with a message tonight called, “A sure and promised message of hope!”
In times where many have actually lost all hope, may we be strengthened and encouraged to hold on to the hope we do have in our Elohim and Saviour Yahushua Messiah as we look at a passage of hope given through Yirmeyahu the prophet. Please turn with me to Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah) 30 (Read).
 As we know and have heard earlier, Sha’ul tells us that the Promises of Elohim are sure, and here in Yirmeyahu we find from chapters 30-33 an amplification of the wonderful promises of YHWH as given to Yirmeyahu in a dream. Chapter 30-33 actually make up one of the most critical prophetic section that we have in the Tanaḵ (‘Old’ Testament). These various visions were given during the last 18 months of the siege of Yerushalayim. And it is here through Yirmeyahu that YHWH reveals His plans for His people’s future, declaring a sure message and promise of hope in bringing His elect, chosen and royal Bride back, and showing that how after a time of trouble Yisra’ĕl will be freed from every oppressor and will be ruled by the Messiah! What is interesting about this chapter is that it similarly mirrors the message of Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 40, as similar to what we see preceding Yeshayahu 40’s words of comfort and hope are strong words of judgement; and so too here it is the same pattern – prior to chapter 30 of Yirmeyahu the recurring theme running throughout is primarily judgement and here from this chapter through to 33 we see a clear message of hope and restoration. These 4 chapters (30-33) have been called by many scholars as ‘The Book of Consolation’, revealing the comfort call of the Creator to His people.
Yirmeyahu was told that he would be set over the nations to root out, pull down, destroy and overthrow, but also to build and plant. Many of the words he had to deliver did not go down too well and here in this passage we see both words of destruction and restoration and with it the assured hope of a secure end to the sojourning we find ourselves on at this present time!
This chapter is a chapter of redemption, a new beginning for Yaʽaqoḇ and this redemption of His called out ones is pictured in a number of ways which i would like us to briefly look at:
The message begins with the great assurance and promise – Yirmeyahu was to write down all that YHWH had spoken – just as He told Mosheh to do at Mount Sinai!!! Now that YHWH has spoken it and it is written – so shall it be, aměn!
YHWH gives the assurance of what lies ahead – the days are coming – yes they are coming soon – when He will turn back the captivity of Yisra’ĕl and Yehuḏah, and He will bring them back to the Promised Land. This is the Promise of the restoration of the two Houses – that which is still to come. This chapter collectively spoke of a dawning of a new day for the exiles that were in Babylon at the time as well as for us who are in a sense been in exile in the latter days. YHWH was revealing to Yirmeyahu His immediate as well as His distant plan. This celebration of redemption is pictured as a broken yoke, a healed wound and a rebuilt city. Let us look at each of these:
1 – A BROKEN YOKE (4-11)
The return of the two houses will preceded by a time of distress – cries of fear and terror will be heard instead of cries of peace and Yirmeyahu describes this by comparing it with the anguish of men clutching themselves in fear to a women in labour, and so this coming calamity will not be nice, in fact there is none like it in comparison. So how is this uplifting you may ask? Yet all is not lost because YHWH Himself guarantees that even through this time, of what is described as Yaʽaqoḇ’s distress, Yaʽaqoḇ will be saved out of it. “In that day” – speaking of the coming time of Tribulation – a future appointed time when YHWH will pour out His wrath upon the nations – will He also restore His people! It is in that day that YHWH will break the yoke off of Yaʽaqoḇ’s neck, tear off the bonds and no more will Yaʽaqoḇ be enslaved by foreigners but will as we see Promised in verse 9 be under the reign of Messiah Yahushua – here speaking of the coming Millennial reign after the Tribulation. It is here that we are to take great comfort and courage from – for it is Yahushua who saves and releases us from captivity. When Yahushua came the first time as a suffering Lamb, His own rejected Him and did not want Him to reign over them:
Luqas/Luke 19:14 “But his subjects were hating him, and sent a delegation after him, to say, ‘We do not wish this one to reign over us.’
But in that Day when He comes again they will recognise Him – the One they pierced and they will welcome Him as described in Zeḵaryah (Zechariah) 12-14. But before this yoke is broken there will be a time of distress as has never been seen before – but what is this yoke? It is the world system and the bonds that are torn are those very things that have been holding many back from fully serving and worshipping the King. There are days ahead where the world system will place heavy yokes upon the necks of man, where persecution will come for keeping the Shabbat and calling on the name of YHWH. But it is at this point where we are told to not fear, for He will break that yoke; that very man-made false religious system designed to lead many astray – and as it says in Ḥazon/Revelation – this calls for faithful endurance on the part of the set-apart ones. Look this is not a popular message, but it is the Truth and what is encouraging for us is that we have the sure and promised message of hope in Messiah – for us who hold fast to His teachings and walk in His ways. Verse 11 explains to us the reality that some faithful will die for though he makes a complete end of the nations to where Yaʽaqoḇ was scattered, He will not make a complete end of Yaʽaqoḇ! YHWH disciplines those He loves – He disciplines and does not destroy those whom He loves. Some will face death by beheading, as it says in
Ḥazon/Revelation 20:4 “And I saw thrones – and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them – and the lives of those who had been beheaded because of the witness they bore to Yahushua and because of the Word of Elohim, and who did not worship the beast, nor his image, and did not receive his mark upon their foreheads or upon their hands. And they lived and reigned with Messiah for a thousand years.
Now I know that this sounds all doom and gloom and in many ways is, yet what YHWH was showing Yirmeyahu here was that despite the trouble that lies ahead – we are to take heart and be of good courage for a new reign is dawning – where we will reign with Messiah in peace! This is a cleansing of YHWH for cleansing precedes restoration and the promised result of this cleansing is unbroken peace!
2 – THE HEALED WOUND (12-17)
Another picture of this coming redemption is through the image of a wound being healed. In Yeshayahu’s day Yehuḏah was a ‘sick’ nation – sick through its adulterous living and as a result of many false prophets that arose in Yirmeyahu’s day, speaking false hope to a sick and wounded nation, this nation got even more sick to the point of being incurable, and those allies and adulterous lovers that the leaders of Yehuḏah had trusted in, had very easily and quickly abandoned Yehuḏah to her fate. YHWH reminded them that their wound was incurable – no medicine was able to cure their sickness and wounds as a result of their sins. YHWH had struck them in discipline as an enemy would strike – with no pity. Yet here YHWH declares that all who had devoured His Bride, He would devour and send them into captivity. YHWH declares that He will heal and restore a sick and wounded Bride – for He alone is the Healer – YHWH Rapha! YHWH had used the other nations to wound them because of their disobedience – Assyria chastised Yisra’ĕl and Babylon – Yehuḏah, and so we see it the same today – how He has again used the pagan nations and pagan system of the world to punish and correct His Bride and prepare Her for the return of the Bridegroom Yahushua Messiah! But now in that day YHWH will heal the wound of captivity and punish the enemies of Yisra’ĕl for the way they have treated her, just as he has done in the past to Assyria and Babylon. Listen the church has wounded many and many became very sick by her sins and oppression, but be reminded and take heart tonight Babylon is coming down, aměn! It is by His wounds that we are healed! No medicine could heal us - only the Blood of Messiah restoring unto us a Marriage Covenant to which He is coming again to receive a pure Bride.
3 – A REBUILT CITY (18-22)
A rebuilt city – another picture of redemption! You have heard I am sure of Tel Aviv – well listen Tel-Yerushalayim is coming! For a city shall be built on its own ‘mound’. The word used here in Hebrew for mound is ‘tel’ and means a ‘mound, heap of ruins, heap of rubble’ etc. What has been destroyed and lies as a heap of rubble will be rebuilt. Over time often the ruins of towns became the foundation for the next level of occupation and therefore over time creating an elevated area which grows higher with each level or period of occupation. Yerushalayim will be that city on a hill!!! You see for this coming reign it is more than just a restoration of a city – all that had been lost will be restored and there would be something new – of greater worth – A Prince would be among them – A Ruler – a King like none before – A King and Priest who is our Mediator – Yahushua will come and reign physically on the earth. This chapter describes a rebuilt city with a King and Priest from above – this chapter helps disarm the notion of the false message that says the church has replaced Yisra’ĕl and that we are in His reign at present as He builds the city or the church which calls itself spiritual Yisra’ĕl. Yirmeyahu could not have been clearer – this is a physical rebuilding of Yerushalayim on a mound of ruins and that Yahushua will physically come and rule and reign with His Covenanted Bride – the two houses of Ephraim and Yehuḏah! The rebuilt city that He will come to build is a clear picture of His redemption of His Bride!
4 – THE CALM AFTER THE STORM (18-24)
Yirmeyahu picks up the image here in the closing verse of this chapter of a storm that is coming – a rage – a whirling storm! Let me tell you this is a STORM! And it will burst on whom? The head of the wrong!!! Evil must be punished and destroyed and His punishment shall not cease until He has done and accomplished the purposes of His heart. Yirmeyahu says that in the latter days we shall understand it and so as it says in:
Ḥazon/Revelation 21:6 “And He said to me, “It is done! I am the ‘Aleph’ and the ‘Taw’, the Beginning and the End. To the one who thirsts I shall give of the fountain of the water of life without payment.
YHWH will break the yoke, heal the wound and bring everlasting peace to the storm.
In summary it is clear that both Yehuḏah and Yerushalayim would both experience terrible trials at the hands of the Babylonians and end up wearing the gentile yoke of oppression bearing the wounds caused by their sins and have to endure the storm of YHWH’s wrath through which YHWH would deliver them, break their oppressive and heavy yoke, heal their wounds and bring His shalom. This is a prophetic foreshadow of what is coming folks as we look forward to His coming reign!
Ok so wow is that what that chapter is about – yes! It speaks of the promises we have in Messiah – those that are Yea and aměn in Him. As we understand that this is speaking of a national redemption of His full Bride, we can take great courage individually from these verses for in it we see the confirmation of what we have in Messiah. For it is by His Blood that we are able to have His easy yoke – that is His Torah to be led by and by walking in Him, see the heavy yoke of slavery broken and shattered in the doing of His instructions daily. It is through His Blood that we are healed, sealed and delivered from the punishment of incurable sin for which he took upon Himself and conquered death, and it is with him that we will reign eternally in peace with no more sin, However the reality is that as we see the Day approaching – that is the Day of YHWH may we realise that there will be a storm before the calm. As you study what Scripture defines the Day of YHWH to be like it speaks of being a Day of anger, wrath, destruction, darkness, trouble, calamity, vengeance, slaughter and
Evil to name but a few brief descriptions for the Day of YHWH or the Day of distress, but the purpose of that Day is to break the yoke off our neck, and to tear off the bonds and destroy the foreign oppressive rulers, and knowing this we have the hope and assurance of sure and promised hope in Yahushua Messiah through His Spoken and Written Word.

This is a call for us to be oiled, yes oiled – in line with this week’s Torah portion speaking of the garments that are worn by the priesthood, we see in the first instruction of this week’s reading that we will go through in the morning in Shemoth (Exodus) 27:20 there is a command to bring clear oil of pressed olives for the light to cause the lamp to burn continually.
Our light is to burn continually as a set-apart nation, a chosen people, as a royal priesthood! This continual oil burning the light of the lamp is a picture of us as believers living in these last days, where we are to make sure that there is clear oil to burn continually His light in a dark world and dark times! It makes me think of the parable of the 10 virgins, which I am sure we are all familiar with – 5 had oil and 5 did not. The 5 who had were wise and the 5 who did not were foolish. The Word tells us that anyone who lacks wisdom must ask and the Father will give generously. This speaks of us truly seeking and hungering after Him, crying out for wisdom and understanding as we eat His Word and walk in His ways. The 5 wise can represent to us the very Torah – the first 5 books of Mosheh –for it is in His that we find His instructions for daily living. Yahushua who was crushed or pressed at the Garden of Gethsemane when He sweat blood as the weight of our sins began to press on Him. Gethsemane means ‘olive press’ and was a large heavy stone tool used to crush the olive pulp into secreting the clear oil. Yahushua is our clear oil and when we walk in Him, walking as He did fully in His commands, then our lamps burn bright declaring His Truth to a dark world. The 5 foolish virgins are those who lack oil by not appropriating Yahushua’s Words into their lives through obedient living.
As the day approaches – the Day of Yaʽaqoḇ’s trouble may we be ready and oiled daily shining the Light and knowledge of His Truth, knowing that He breaks the yoke, heals the wounds and builds His city to rule and reign with His oiled and faithful remnant Bride. This is a walking in Spirit and in Truth, walking in the Torah (Instructions of Elohim) being led by the Ruach HaQodesh (Set-Apart Spirit of YHWH).

What we know for sure is that our future in Messiah is secure – a sure promise and message of hope that ought to strengthen us and encourage us to be filled with His oil, ready to stand firm no matter what may come for we know the end from the beginning – because we know the Aleph and the Taw – Yahushua Messiah!
Maybe you have still been found to be under the oppressive yoke of the Babylon system of church today and have allowed foreigners to rule over you, leading you astray – it is time to take the Yoke of Yahushua - and I mean fully take it – for it is light and walk in the perfect Torah of Freedom, no longer enslaved to man-made regulations and religious trickery, but standing firm in the hope we have in our coming King and Redeemer Yahushua Messiah. As YHWH tells us – do not fear, nor be discouraged O Yisra’ĕl!
This, friends is a message of hope and may we once again be reminded that we have a loving Father who cares for us and will remove wickedness from our midst and restore unto us His shalom – what a hope we have – praise His Name – HalleluYah! For we need not fear nor be discouraged but rather strengthened and built up in faith and encouraged by his sure and promised message of hope as we see our Redemption drawing near – halleluYah – may we be continually oiled by the clear pressed oil of Yahushua – His perfect Torah, shalom!

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