Day 151 - ” The Promise To Ephraim & Manasseh”

  The Promise to Ephraim & Manasseh, a Promise to American & Great Britain

In Genesis chapter 48 we find a great promise or blessing given to both Ephraim and Manasseh by their Grandfather Jacob.

Genesis 48

Jacob Blesses Ephraim and Manasseh

1 After this, Joseph was told, “Behold, your father is ill.” So he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.2 And it was told to Jacob, “Your son Joseph has come to you.” Then Israel summoned his strength and sat up in bed.3 And Jacob said to Joseph, “God Almightyt appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me,4 and said to me, ‘Behold, I will make you fruitful and multiply you, and I will make of you a company of peoples and will give this land to your offspring after you for an everlasting possession.’5 And now your two sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, are mine; Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine, as Reuben and Simeon are.6 And the children that you fathered after them shall be yours. They shall be called by the name of their brothers in their inheritance.7 As for me, when I came from Paddan, to my sorrow Rachel died in the land of Canaan on the way, when there was still some distancet to go to Ephrath, and I buried her there on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem).”

8 When Israel saw Joseph’s sons, he said, “Who are these?”9 Joseph said to his father, “They are my sons, whom God has given me here.” And he said, “Bring them to me, please, that I may bless them.”10 Now the eyes of Israel were dim with age, so that he could not see. So Joseph brought them near him, and he kissed them and embraced them.11 And Israel said to Joseph, “I never expected to see your face; and behold, God has let me see your offspring also.”12 Then Joseph removed them from his knees, and he bowed himself with his face to the earth.13 And Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel’s left hand, and Manasseh in his left hand toward Israel’s right hand, and brought them near him.14 And Israel stretched out his right hand and laid it on the head of Ephraim, who was the younger, and his left hand on the head of Manasseh, crossing his hands (for Manasseh was the firstborn).

15 And he blessed Joseph and said,
“The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked,
the God who has been my shepherd all my life long to this day,
16  the angel who has redeemed me from all evil, bless the boys;
and in them let my name be carried on, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac;
and let them grow into a multitudet in the midst of the earth.”

17 When Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on the head of Ephraim, it displeased him, and he took his father’s hand to move it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head.18 And Joseph said to his father, “Not this way, my father; since this one is the firstborn, put your right hand on his head.”19 But his father refused and said, “I know, my son, I know. He also shall become a people, and he also shall be great. Nevertheless, his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his offspring shall become a multitudet of nations.”

20 So he blessed them that day, saying,
“By you Israel will pronounce blessings, saying,
‘God make you as Ephraim and as Manasseh.’”
Thus he put Ephraim before Manasseh. 21 Then Israel said to Joseph, “Behold, I am about to die, but God will be with you and will bring you again to the land of your fathers.

Some things to notice in Genesis 48.

1. Jacob (Israel) adopts Manasseh & Ephraim and in doing so they now are included and able to receive the birthright of Jacob. - Verse 5 
2. Through the adoption process Manasseh and Ephraim are now known by the name of Israel. - Verse 6
3. The order in which Manasseh and Ephraim received their promise/blessing. - Verse 14.
4. The prophetic vision of Israel to determine the order of the blessing. - Verse 19
5. The significance of the blessing, i.e. the prophetic future of the blessing. - Verse 21

To fully appreciate the significance of the blessing of Ephraim & Manasseh, we need to understand some background with regards to both history and prophecy in relation to Israel.  The promises of the Tribes of Israel were specifically reserved for “the last days” which is found in http://bible.us/Gen49.1.NKJV, it is known as Jacob’s last words to his sons.

 “And Jacob called his sons and said, “Gather together, that I may tell you what shall befall you in the last days”

Jacob again uses prophetic wording to communicate the prophetic vision he has of his sons.  What Jacob is referring to is the rebellion of the 10 Tribes of the North against David’s throne as told in 1 Kings 11:9-13, 29-32.  The 10 Tribes retained the name Israel during the rebellion while the Tribe of Judah gained the support of the Tribe of Benjamin and collectively they became known as Judah. 

Understanding this division is essential in order to apply prophecy. 2 Kings 17 gives a summary of how (because of sin) God took the 10 Tribes of Israel away from the throne of Judah & eventually caused them to go into exile in Assyria in which they did not return.  Both Ezra & Nehemiah record the return of Judah & Benjamin to Judea from Babylonian captivity, http://bible.us/Ezra2.64.ESV & http://bible.us/Neh7.66.ESV. It is from these two tribes that the Jews of Jesus’ day descended.

It is clear that to identify with Israel in both history & prophecy we have to distinguish Israel from Jews.  It’s the old saying that “All Hebrews are Jews but not all Jews are Hebrews.”  And there is truth to this saying for it was prophesied that Israel would lose their identity, God referring to them as “not my people”, in other words the people would not be identified as such. 

http://bible.us/Hos1.10.ESV & http://bible.us/Hos2.23.ESV

So who can identify with this “lost tribe”, this tribe that was sent into exile and has yet to return, the tribe that that is known as “not my people” yet they are known “as children of God”?   Is it possible that we can identify with this set of people?

We may be able to identify with Israel by the destiny they were to fulfill. 1 Chronicles 5:1 tells us the the “birthright” was given unto the sons of Joseph (Manasseh & Ephraim).  This means that through the descendants of the sons of Joseph, God would fulfill the great promise of Israel’s greatness as promised through Jacob at the time of Manasseh & Ephraim’s blessing. This greatness was included the promise given to Jacob in Genesis 35:11.

http://bible.us/Gen35.11.ESV

  And God said to him, “I am God Almighty: t be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come from your own body 

 Clearly Israel (the Tribe) was to be a nation with a monarchy which would expand to become a “company of nations”.

Now back to the account of the blessing of Manasseh & Ephraim.  The blessing recorded in Genesis 48 along with the prophetic vision of the blessing and the prophetic wording of Genesis 49 leads us to identify Israel as a people not recognized (“not my people”) as Israel but has the hallmarks of Israel’s identity (“children of God”).  When we begin to look at Genesis 48:19 we see the use of words & word phrases like “a people” & “great”, we conclude then that Manasseh will be “a people” that is great while Ephraim will be a a “great nation” with a company of nations. 

In terms of the word great, the only nation associated with the term great is Great Britain with it’s common wealth of nations.  When we think of the word phrase “a people” we can only think of one place that declares itself a single nation known as “we the people”, it is the United States of America.  The United States of America is known as a great nation of peoples. 

Is it possible then that we can conclude that the lost Tribes of Israel known Ephraim and Manasseh became Great Britain and America and this is why Israel has not returned from exile?  Could it be that the Christians in Great Britain and the USA who are known as “children of God” but because we are not Jews would fall under “not my people” could be the lost Tribes of Israel?  Maybe it is us, that is being prophesied about in Ezekiel 36 and 37, and Zechariah 12?

Let me share with you some Prophetic Time Calculation that I had studied.

• Ephraim exiled to Assyria 720BC, calculating “7 times” from that date we arrive at 1802 AD the very year that Great Britain became The United Kingdom with a common wealth of nations.
• Manasseh exiled to Assyria 745BC, calculate this from the prophesied chastisement of 2,520 years (“7 times” or “7 fold” found in Leviticus 26:24,28) and we arrive at 1775-76 precisely when the 13 states signed the Declaration of Independence from our brothers Great Britain.  This is when we became known as a “nation of peoples”.

How about the meaning of the name Manasseh?

It is said that America was named after Americo Vespucci (I learned that from my wife’s 5th grade class, no kidding).  Americo Vespucci was referred to in Hebrew manuscripts by the name ‘HaMachir’ which is where the name Americo was derived from. ‘HaMachir’ which literally means “from Machir” or “the Sons of Machir” (numbers 26:29).  Machir was the first born of Manasseh (Genesis 50:23). The Hebrew meaning of the word Machir means “selling” or even simply the principle of capitalism.  The principle of capitalism and free enterprise is America’s character and what we were founded upon as a nation.

How bout this for name meanings…

The very name Manasseh, in Hebrew (according to Rabi Shimshon Raphael Hirsch) can mean delegated responsible representation and this is a fundamental aspect of America.  our nation was born because our forefathers declared “no taxation without representation” and we fought to free ourselves from our brothers in England for our Independence. 

Does then the name America then identifies the offspring of Manasseh?

Blessings,

Michael

Day 117 - “No One Knows”

“No One Knows”

http://bible.us/Matt24.36.ESV

36 “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.

Has it really been 31 days since my last blog?  Wow, how easy it is to lose track of time. 

As the world around us increases in “birth pains” with the rumors of wars due to nation rising against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, as well as the ever increasing thoughts of famines due to the increase in the corn corp harvest for alternative fuel (Listen to Glen Beck for more on this insight) and the earthquakes that seem to be happening various places… 

I want to write about one of the most mis-understood scriptures in the bible when it comes to “end times” and the return of Jesus for His bride.  Now this is not a blog on Pre-trib, Mid-Trib or Post-Trib.  It’s about understanding the Jewishness of the scripture coming from the teachings of a Jewish Rabbi and the Jewish Messiah.

To understand this scripture you would have to understand it in the context of a first century Jewish idiom.  Followers of Jesus knew exactly what Jesus was saying and what He meant when He said “no one knows the hour”.  Jesus even says that He doesn’t know the day or the hour, only God does. interesting that not even Jesus knew when this day would take place which I believe has everything to do with Him being our High Priest (http://bible.us/Heb4.14.ESV).

So what is this day that Jesus speaks of?

The “day” Jesus is speaking of…

http://bible.us/Matt24.30.ESV

30 Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.31 And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call [blowing of the shofar], and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

Again, you can argue this scripture as being the rapture of the church or the return of Jesus to earth but that is not the focus of this blog.  The focus of this blog is to talk about the wording no one knows the day or the hour.

To understand this wording we must look at the Hebrew calender which is established from http://bible.us/Gen1.14.ESV

“And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years”

The Hebrew calender is based on the lunar cycle with 12 months and 30 days in the month.  The official start of the month begins with the sighting of the first little sliver of the new moon. Jewish holidays (which the Feast of Unleavened Bread was just completed) fall on the full moon of the month.  There is only one holiday that does not occur on the full moon of the month.  Rosh Hashanah (Hebrew: ראש השנה‎), the Feast of Trumpets is the only Jewish holiday that happens on the first of the month, which is determined by the new moon.  Rosh Hashanah is the “Head of the Year” and kicks off the month of Tishri, which coincides with September/October on the Gregorian calendar.

Now go back to our Genesis 1:14 scripture, before there were set calendars based on the solar system, the Jews had a two day window for the sighting of the new moon. The new month could not officially begin until two witnesses could see the sliver of the new moon and report it to the High Priest that they had seen the new moon.  Once the sightings were confirmed, the High Priest would sound the shofar (trumpet blast) to declare the start of Rosh HaShanah.

Where the wording “no one knows…” comes in is that until the 2 witnesses came forth to report the sighting on the new moon, the High Priest would always respond to the question of when is the start of the feast of trumpets with “no one knows the day or the hour” of the start of Rosh HaShanah and to keep looking for the sliver of the new moon. So now the words of Jesus have a significant meaning, one in which those who were hearing Him say those words would understand the meaning.

What Jesus was saying here in Matthew 24:36 is that “no one knows the day or the hour” in which He will return for His bride at Rosh HaShanah (Feast of Trumpets) but to watch for the sign, the sliver of the new moon that would signify His return.  When the sliver of the new moon appeared, the blast of the trumpet sounded and there was no return of the groom; first century Jews would have remembered Jesus’ teaching on the 10 virgins and the grooms ‘delayed return’. Those hearing Jesus understood what He was saying when He said “no one knows the day or the hour” but as we move further and further away from the first century understanding of the Jewishness of scripture, we begin to take the words of Jesus and the scripture out of context and thus we misunderstand what Jesus is saying.

Misunderstanding the scripture: We read this scripture and think that this means that we can’t know the day or the hour of Jesus’ return for His bride, that it can happen at any minute on any given day, at any time. But the wording and teaching of Jesus is that while we don’t know the day or hour, we do know the season in which He returns for His bride.

Recap: Jesus teaches  His followers that His return for His bride will be on Rosh HaShanah, and his followers would not know which two days to be looking for the sliver of the new moon to mark the start of Rosh HaShanah. Based on Genesis 1:14 God has given us signs to look for and so we know the times & seasons in which these events will take place.

http://bible.us/Matt25.6.ESV

6 But at midnight there was a cry, ‘Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’

http://bible.us/Matt25.13.ESV

13 Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.

As Rosh HaShanah approaches this September/October, watch for you don’t know the day or the hour of the bridgroom’s return but He has given you the season and the signs to know that His delay will not be long…


Blessings,

Michael

Day 86: “G-d’s Anointing”

At the time of this writing it is day 87 of my journey but I am writing about the experiences of day 86 and what I am titling “G-d’s Anointing” 

My writing is much overdue but nonetheless probably right on time as far as G-d’s timing.  Last night after our worship night and annual business meeting something special took place within a small group of individuals.  It must have started with the hungry hearts of our youth and as the presence of G-d began to circulate in the room, the adults left over from the business meeting began to hear the sound of what would have probably been familiar on the day of Pentecost.  It was a sound, a sound of refreshing as well as a sound of fire that drew the adults in and before you knew it there was a fresh anointing falling on everyone.  Some tried to escape because we haven’t seen anything or experienced anything like this since maybe our time at youth camp as teenagers etc. but it was G-d that would have His way this night.

As I entered back into the sanctuary I heard David’s voice saying “there you are, we’ve been waiting for you.”  My heart gripped with fear of the unknown, I approach in caution as students and adults are laying everywhere in the alter areas.  Many thoughts race through my head, “is this real”, “what if I don’t fall”, “what if I don’t feel anything” and many more.  It’s with these thoughts that I still knew and understood the power of G-d and I’ve experienced it before but it had been a long long time so the questions were many. 

As David, begins to prophesy to me that I was called to the deeper things of G-d. And that I had a deeper understanding of the things of G-d to teach and make G-d’s word known, I began to receive his words and trust G-d.  At one moment I was standing hearing David and then in the next moment I felt a rush of wind and all strength in my legs go.  As I was caught and laid on the floor I remember thinking “what just happened… was I pushed over…  I couldn’t have been pushed, I didn’t feel anyone touch me so why then did I lose strength in my legs and fall?”.  As I ran through those thoughts, I felt the L-rd speaking….  “seek first My Kingdom”.  As I began to yield to that voice and seek him, I had a vision of Samuel anointing David with the horn of oil in http://bible.us/1Sam16.13.ESV.  It was at this time I felt a warm sensation on my head and smelled the most beautiful fragrance…  I could only reason it was the anointing of G-d like I had never experienced it before.  

It was during my time of prayer that I found clarity as G-d showed me the words of Sha’ul (Paul) to the Colossians. http://bible.us/Col1.25.ESV

Verse 25 - 29

“…I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known,the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed…  proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom… present everyone mature in Christ.For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.”

You see, I had asked G-d over and over for several days, “G-d, what have You called me to do?”   This is why I do what I do. This is why I toil and struggle, this is why I get frustrated when it seems those I am teaching are not maturing in the L-rd for it is my calling.

As I wrap up praying I become aware that my head is soaked in the fresh anointing of G-d…

“Blessed are You O’ L-rd our G-d, King of the universe who has called us according to Your purpose.”

Blessings,

Michael

Day 67: “Communion In Depth”

http://bible.us/Luke22.8.ESV - So Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat it.” 

With Passover fast approaching us on April 18-26 (Nissan 15-22 on the Hebrew Calendar), I wanted to blog about a study that I have been doing on Passover, and the The Last Supper, which is where we get our church ordinance Communion.

Passover comes from the word “Pesach” which means to pass through, to pass over, to exempt or to spare. It refers to the fact that God had “passed over” the houses of the Israelites when he was slaying the firstborn of Egypt in the last plagues before the Exodus of the Israelites from Egyptian captivity.  “Pesach” is also the name of the sacrificial offering (a lamb) that was made in the Temple on this holiday.

As you are aware the Passover lamb was to be a male of the first year (first fruit) without blemish or spot and without any broken bones.  The sacrificial blood of The Passover lamb was taken and applied to the door post of the home so that the Angel of death would passover the home.  The Passover Lamb brought deliverance from the wages of sin and death for those within the house (Exodus 12). The lamb died in their place that they might be saved.

In Leviticus 23 the Lord instructed Moses to speak the people of Israel about the appointed feast of the Lord.  One of those feast was the Lord’s Passover to be celebrated on in the first month of the 14th day of the month at twilight.   This is the spring feast known as passover to the Jew and it is to remember their deliverance from sin & death as well as their deliverance from Egyptian bondage.

Now that I have laid the ground work let’s get into the study. 

A consistent theme in Jewish tradition when it comes to passover is to include four different cups of wine at the passover meal.  For the sake of time…  the third cup in the passover meal is a representative the redeeming blood of the passover lamb.  Key thing to note here, in Jewish thought wine in general has two representations, 1) blood, & 2) joy. 

In the days of Judgment when Moses turned water to blood it was demonstrated that as scripture foretells the Messiah will be like Moses, that He will do something similar to what Moses did.  The sages or rabbis taught based off of this scripture that when the Messiah comes He will be able to turn water into wine because it is no longer a time of judgment (water=blood) but that it will be a time of rejoicing (water=wine).  This was highly significant then that Jesus’ first miracle was to turn the water into wine.  Jesus was making a statement about who He was by fulfilling rabbinic expectations.

Now Jesus being a Jew celebrated passover with His disciples, in fact his last passover meal we know as The Last Supper.  Paul writes in http://bible.us/1Cor11.25.ESV -  “In the same way, after supper he took the cup”. It’s important to notice the wording Paul uses here, the third cup of wine was that which was drank “after the meal” and it is the third cup that ceremonially represents the blood of the lamb that purchased the Israelite’s redemption in Egypt. Jesus said it is “This cup is the new covenant in my blood”.  It wasn’t the first two or even the fourth cup, it was the third cup that Jesus was saying would identify His work.  The Jews at the table would have immediately known what Jesus was referring to.

But, it gets better!  There is another interesting ceremony that is at work here.  For over 2000 years and it’s still practiced today in some Jewish communities, traditionally when a young man decided that he had the young lady picked out that he wanted to marry, after an arrangement had been made by the fathers, the young man would do something that ceremonially to cement the marriage proposal which would form a legal binding contract between him and the girl.  He would take a cup of wine and upon seeing her he would say these words, “The wine in this cup represents my very life blood, if you drink this wine you are agreeing to be my wife and you will be married to me.”  If the girl drank the wine then she was now bound or betrothed in marriage to the young man.  The young man’s profession was that he would shed his blood for her, that he would lay down his very life for her, that he was willing to die for her.

Now let’s go back to The Last Supper.  Jesus was indeed fulfilling the passover traditions of that day but it went deeper than that.  Jesus was overlaying two ceremonies in which the cup of wine was used. Jesus was asking His disciples and all who followed Him to marry Him.  It was His wedding proposal, to become joined with Him, that the blood in that cup was in fact a representation of His blood and that He was willing to lay down his life, shed his blood and die for them (us). Those sitting at that table deep in the culture and traditions would have known what Jesus was proposing.  I’m sure they took a long hard look at it and when the decision was made it was a very reverent moment for the stakes were high, knowing what marriage meant.

It doesn’t end there…  a bride who drinks from the cup, she doesn’t join her groom right away.  The groom goes a way for a period of time. It is Jewish custom for the man to go back to his father’s house and prepare a place for his bride and once the place was completed no matter how long it took he would return for his bride.  At the end of the period of separation and preparation the groom would come to take his bride to live with him.  This process traditionally took place at night so the groom would leave his father’s house and conduct a torch lit procession to the home of the bride.  Although the bride was expecting her groom she did not know the day or the hour in which her groom would appear so she would wait and watch for him.  As a result the groom’s arrival would be preceded by a shout or loud voice to forewarn the bride of his arrival.

Important Note: The one thing that is particular about this ceremonial event of drinking wine is that the groom & bride would not drink of the fruit of the vine again until they were reunited.  The purpose of this is because of the secondary purpose of wine in Jewish thought is it represents Joy.  Joy would never be complete until the groom and bride were together again.  This why Jesus said after His marriage proposal, “I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until I drink it with you in my Father’s kingdom.”

As Passover approaches, consider these ceremonies and the symbolic nature in which we partake of communion together.  Consider with great thought to what you are proclaiming when you drink “that cup” for you are agreeing to marry Jesus.  In the Torah the penalty for adultery is death (Remember Joseph and Mary, the video I posted earlier), I think this is why we receive such a strong warning from Paul in http://bible.us/1Cor11.27.ESV

27 Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. 

 Paul is saying we will be guilty of adultery, (spiritual adultery) and for this reason many of us are spiritually sick and even spiritually dead cause we don’t consider the covenant that we are entering into with Jesus.  If we are going to accept His proposal then we have to live as though we are married.

Blessings,

Michael