In The Mean-Time

 

We are all acquainted with what Scripture says about the absence of vision, namely, “where there is no vision, the people are unrestrained [naked or perish], but happy is he who keeps the Torah” (Proverbs 29:18).  In the past number of years many believers all around the world have returned to the Torah, and learned from these scriptures that they themselves are the ones whom the prophets were writing about.  Thus, the great hope and vision before many of the redeemed of Israel, in the nations, has been Yeshua’s return and what has been termed the “Greater Exodus” (and I don’t mean the rapture).

I want to share with you a dream that I had recently:  I was in a body of water that stretched as far as one could see. The water was completely calm, there was not even a slight breeze stirring it.  I was concerned, as without as much as a tiny gust of wind there could not be any movement.  It felt like it was the calm before a storm. Upon waking up, I thought that the waters were the body of humanity and that the winds of the Spirit of YHVH were about to blow upon those waters.  Many times when the wind changes direction, there is a period of calm.  As I have mentioned in past letters, the words of the prophets of old are at the forefront of present day fulfillment, indicating Messiah’s return (see Acts 3:19-21).  Nature teaches us that the ocean waters are subject to a cycle of evaporation, condensation and precipitation, and so it goes with the waters of humanity and the prophetic word. This is why we must pay close attention to the repeated rounds of prophecy:  “Yeshua the Messiah (The Word of Elohim) is the same yesterday, today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). 

As mentioned above, the vision that is before us is the “Greater Exodus” and of course the return of our Messiah, themes which almost every prophet mentions or alludes to.  These events are set to be preceded by a period of great difficulty and turbulence.  I believe we are about to witness the severity of the words of YHVH as recorded in Isaiah 24: “Behold, YHVH lays the earth waste, devastates it, distorts its surface, and scatters its inhabitants. And the people will be like the priest, the servant like his master, the maid like her mistress, the buyer like the seller, the lender like the borrower, the creditor like the debtor. The earth will be completely laid waste and completely despoiled, for YHVH has spoken this word. The earth mourns and withers, the world fades and withers, the exalted of the people of the earth fade away. The earth is also polluted by its inhabitants, for they transgressed laws [Torah], violated statutes, broke the everlasting covenant. Therefore, a curse devours the earth, and those who live in it are held guilty. Therefore, the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men are left…”  Yet the next chapter, 25, opens up with: “O YHVH, You are my Elohim. I will exalt You, I will praise Your name, for You have done wonderful things; Your counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.”  Why the exultation in YHVH and the praise? Let us read on: “For You have made a city a ruin, a fortified city a ruin, a palace of foreigners to be a city no more; It will never be rebuilt. Therefore the strong people will glorify You; The city of the terrible nations will fear You.” How comforting are the next words: “For You have been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shade from the heat; For the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall…”.

Just as the prophet Habakkuk was told, so it holds true for us too:  ^“For the vision is yet for an appointed time; but at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry” (2:3).  Those of us who have been holding on to the vision of the restoration of the whole house of Israel, are in need of much strength of faith and encouragement to not let it go, and to press on during hardships.  It is a time that will weigh heavily on our souls, as we wait for the Spirit to blow from the four winds and gather in YHVH’s harvest of the remnant to the threshing floors of His land.