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The torn veil... (2) and Israel's Wedding! by Gerald Fruhinsholz In His holy presence In the Tabernacle three distinct parts existed, separated by three curtains. The first two curtains or veils, for the Courtyard and the Holy Place, had the name masakh. This word signifies protection. Such is the veil which covers the Ark in the same way as the Cloud (of God's presence) "covers" Israel: "He extended the Cloud to cover them and the fire to be a light at night" (Psalm 105:39). Let us pray that the Lord continues to cover the borders of the Hebrew state at the present time. We read that the third curtain is called parokhet. It leads us into the Holy of Holies, where the Ark of the Covenant and the glorious presence of God are found. This place is that of the unity of God in us. By penetrating the Holy of Holies we are in the presence of the holy God. Like Isaiah, we fall on our knees and cry: "Have mercy, have mercy!". Like Job saving: "My ear has heard of you, but now my eye has seen you", we let go of all our issues and frustrations... and worship. Like Jacob at Yabbok in his struggle with the angel, we abandon ourselves and are then transformed by the Holy Spirit. Can we see a difference from our day-to-day life of faith? Have we acquired the habit of being in the Holy of Holies... and is Christendom in that place? I don't think so, so great are the divisions and doctrinal quarrels preoccupying the believers. Christians need to come face to face with the Lord! In the Holy of Holies, it is not the intellect that prevails, it is the Spirit. There is a cost to passing through the parokhet, it is the price of the blood, that of sacrifice. The apostle Paul in Romans 12 sums it up as the end point of all the faith: "therefore I exhort you, brothers, because of the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service...". Israel, a God-bearing people If numerous Christians have not taken hold of the vision with respect to the subject of Israel in the mind of God for the End Times, it is that they have not passed through the parokhet and have not re-entered the presence of El Shaddai. They are unfamiliar with the mind of God and His eternal plans, they do not have a heart to heart relationship like Abraham, to whom God confided His secrets. In the Holy of Holies a single element of the Tabernacle is in place: the sacred Ark in which were found the flowering staff of Aaron, a pot of manna, and the Tablets of the Law. The Ark of the Covenant symbolises Israel! It is the Ark with the Law right inside it, that the Jewish people carried for 19 centuries into the nations. Israel is the "God-bearing people" – they carry God! The Tabernacle is a whole unit, and several centuries have been needed for the Lord to reveal stage by stage each element. God acts by revelation "for the Lord God does nothing without having revealed his secrets to His servants the prophets" (Amos 3:7). And so in the sixteenth century in Christendom, Luther "discovered" the bronze altar by realising the value of salvation not by works but by faith alone. Later John Wesley showed the value of the bronze bowl by preaching sanctification. At the dawn of the twentieth century, the Menorah symbolised the revelation of the Holy Spirit, and the other elements were discovered: the table of loaves, sign of love and service, and the altar of incense which speaks of praise and worship. There remained the last veil to pass through and the last element to discover: the Ark of the Covenant. Is it not God's timing today for this revelation, since the prophetic creation of the State of Israel? It is the kairos time of God who is speaking to us by revelation, at the chosen time. Today is the time for Israel, revealed with the sacred Ark. Do we need a revelation? What is a revelation? It is an opening, a breach into our intelligence often suffocated by reasoning. Hebrews 4:12 says: "The word of God is living and effective, sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating to the division of soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the feelings and thoughts of the heart". Yes! We need to be "pierced" by the sword of the Spirit! The soul is the Holy Place whereas the Spirit is linked to the Holy of Holies. Often Christians have pleasure in meeting again in the Holy Place, where the Menorah, the table of the loaves and the altar of incense are. The Church likes the praise conventions – it is the soul which rejoices and of course, that is not wrong. But the Lord is waiting for us to enter into His sanctuary, the Holy of Holies. That's the place where He resides principally! That is where we hear His heart beat... and learn how to get to know the divine secrets. In Hebrew, "revelation" is translated by the words "opening" (peta'h) or "vision" ('hazon): "The revelation of your words give light, it gives understanding to the simple" (Psalm 119:130) and "Without revelation the people are without restraint (made naked)" (Proverbs 29:18), in other words: "...my people perish". It is true, the absence of divine revelation for the times that we are living in and the lack of understanding of what God is doing in the End Times, will lead the believer into a dead-end and in the final analysis to death. Knowing the Father The image is that of the Hebrew people in the desert: if they were not following the Cloud – the Revelation – they would have got lost in the desert and would have died of thirst. A Christian who refuses or remains indifferent to Israel, is risking serious danger! It is the Lord Himself who puts us on our guard: "Those who say to Me: Lord, Lord! will not all enter the kingdom of Heaven, but only the one who does the will of My Father who is in Heaven. Several will say to Me on that day: Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name? Did we not cast out demons in Your name? And did we not do many miracles in Your name? Then I will say to them openly: I never knew you, depart from Me, you who work iniquity" (Matthew 7:21-23). Let us pierce the heart, let us pass "through the veil" (Hebrews 10:20). Jesus has opened Heaven and the heart of the Father for us. It is a challenge for the Church, the final stage, that of coming back into intimacy with Him, into His glorious presence. Let us ask forgiveness for our self-sufficiency, our stubbornness, our pride, ask Him simply: "Daddy, help me to take hold of your plans of love. Open my heart to your mercy for my elder brother, the Jewish people, your first-born son. Let me be reach to welcome the Messiah of Israel, the King of kings who is coming to Jerusalem". The wedding of Israel being prepared! The mystery of Israel is great! The God of Jacob is not finished with him! We Christians so easily become proud of our salvation in Jesus, that we keep silent about the divine plan for Israel. It is glorious. The Jewish people have a sure relationship with God. We are, Israel and the Church, on the same way, and if the Wedding of Israel is to come, there is an Engagement... Are we ignorant of the secrets that the engaged couple share intimately with each other? God says to Israel: "I will betroth you forever; and I will betroth you in righteousness, and in judgement, and in goodness, and in mercy; and I will betroth you in truth; and you will know the Lord" (Hosea 2:19). It is the promise of God in favour of Israel, according to the prophet. God speaks to her (Israel's) heart and has already been pronouncing words of love to her, as an engaged man does to his fiancée, for a very long time: "This is why, behold, I will draw her, and I will lead her to the desert, and I will speak to her heart; and from there, I will give her her vineyards, and the valley of Acor for a gateway of hope; and there she will sing as in the days of her youth and as in the day she came up out of the land of Egypt. And it will come to pass, in that day, says the Lord, that you will call Me, My husband, and you will no longer call me My master" (Hosea 2:14-16). Let us rejoice in the wedding of Israel! The veil parokhet has been torn in Heaven, so that we may take part in the pleasure of the Lord, in His heavenly purposes. It is His joy to reveal Himself to His people, like Joseph to His brothers – it is a "gateway of hope" for Israel, and the choupah (canopy traditionally used in Jewish weddings) is in view... |