B'ha'alot'cha - When you set up

Numbers 9:15-18. On the day the tabernacle was put up, the cloud covered the tabernacle, that is, the tent of the testimony; and in the evening, over the tabernacle was what appeared to be fire, which remained until morning. 16 So the cloud always covered it, and it looked like fire at night. 17 Whenever the cloud was taken up from above the tent, the people of Isra'el continued their travels; and they camped wherever the cloud stopped. 18 At the order of ADONAI, the people of Isra'el traveled; at the order of ADONAI, they camped; and as long as the cloud stayed over the tabernacle, they stayed in camp.

This passage is placed before the next to show how Israel was guided by God Himself, by His Glory.  The cloud looked like fire but it was not.  The Fire and cloud are God’s presence, His Glory which is Hebrew is Kavod, God’s manifest presence or Glory which is represented by the fiery aura of the Lord.  This same word is also used in
 
II Chronicles 7:1-3.  When Shlomo had finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of ADONAI filled the house, 2 so that the cohanim could not enter the house of ADONAI; because the glory of ADONAI filled ADONAI's house. 3 All the people of Isra'el saw when the fire came down, and the glory of ADONAI was on the house; they bowed down with their faces to the ground on the flooring; prostrating themselves, they gave thanks to ADONAI, "for he is good, for his grace continues forever."
 
The whole purpose and reason for these portals between heaven and earth coupled with the existence of Israel, His chosen people, was to be a priestly people who reveals God to the world! Too call all humanity to live in God's presence.
 
Psalms 56:13. For you rescued me from death, you kept my feet from stumbling, so that I can walk in God's presence, in the light of life.
 
Living in God's presence is also a prophetic vision of the future:
 
Isaiah 66:22-23.  "For just as the new heavens and the new earth that I am making will continue in my presence," says ADONAI, "so will your descendants and your name continue. 23 "Every month on Rosh-Hodesh and every week on Shabbat, everyone living will come to worship in my presence," says ADONAI.
 
What's the common denominator in the previous examples?  Unity among believers centered around and upon God's word.  I've not experienced in my 25 plus years of ministry the swirl and influx of deception, lies, and apostasy that is occurring today.  The problem with this mess and it's associated moral depravation, and corruption is that it offends God's Glory, the Shekinah which causes the Kavod to depart.  What's that?
 
Ezekiel 1:28.  This brilliance around him looked like a rainbow in a cloud on a rainy day. This was how the appearance of the glory of ADONAI looked. When I saw it, I fell on my face, and I heard the voice of someone speaking.
 
Kavod is the heaviness that surrounds the presence of God.  God’s kavod is a spiritual and physical entity that can sometimes be seen and often felt which at first seems rather surprising given God’s transcendent nature as described throughout the Bible.  In an attempt to place into words, the experience of standing or being in the presence of God, Biblical writers use the phrase kavod Adonai, to describe and capture the energy and power of the exact moment of the God encounter.  Kavod Adonai, “God’s glory,” is oft[EC1] en described as a “heaviness,” a type of atmospheric energy that is “heavy” to the extent that one can separate out the kavod from areas and situations that does not have the Kavod.  Kavod Adonai can be seen, heard, and sometimes even smelled.  Kavod Adonai encounters, touches, and interacts with your physical senses.  
 
We are made in His image, in the likeness of God, not the body but the Spirit aspect which is why we have an Aura (an energy field that is held to emanate from a living being), similar to the Kavod! This is so because we are a reflection of our creator-a holy vessel filled with His Kavod. The results of being in His presence.
 
Exodus 19:6. and you will be a kingdom of cohanim for me, a nation set apart. 'These are the words you are to speak to the people of Isra'el. "
 
This establishes the model, the standard which we are to live by based on and led by the word of God which is life and still remains the status quo for us today:
 
Psalms 119:11. I treasure your word in my heart, so that I won't sin against you.
 
Psalms 119:25. I lie prostrate in the dust; revive me, in keeping with your word.

Psalms 119:28. I am melting away from anxiety and grief; renew my strength, in keeping with your word.
 
Psalms 18:31-32. "As for God, his way is perfect, the word of ADONAI has been tested by fire; he shields all who take refuge in him. " For who is God but ADONAI?  Who is a Rock but our God?

This is but a snippet of truth from God's instructions of how the word interacts with us and in us.  There are more examples, but you get the point of what God wants.  This is directly tied to us as Messianic Believers because that word is Yeshua.
 
John 1:1. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

We are to live our lives in  such a manner as to combine the richness and fullness of God's word with the power of the Ruach:

Acts 1:8. But you will receive power when the Ruach HaKodesh comes upon you; you will be my witnesses both in Yerushalayim and in all Y'hudah and Shomron, indeed to the ends of the earth! "

God's word combined with the power of the Ruach gives us the ministry recipe for success in advancing and growing the kingdom of God.  It's what happened last Shabbat, there were no encumbrances, no hindrances, no offense to God's Glory and Kavod-He was here and we were in His presence.  That's what it is all about!  Ministry is about people, not about ministry. People are losing focus, direction, and purpose because of apostasy from God's word and the denial of His power.  
 
II Timothy 3:5. as they retain the outer form of religion but deny its power. Stay away from these people!
 
It's about soul's, it's about being reconciled back unto God, all humanity.  
 
Proverbs 11:30. The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he who is wise wins souls.
 
II Corinthians 5:18-20.  And it is all from God, who through the Messiah has reconciled us to himself and has given us the work of that reconciliation, 19 which is that God in the Messiah was reconciling mankind to himself, not counting their sins against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore we are ambassadors of the Messiah; in effect, God is making his appeal through us. What we do is appeal on behalf of the Messiah, "Be reconciled to God!
 
The greater body has strayed from the message of reconciliation, in fact, few are ambassadors anymore.   The pattern is wrong and God's Glory or Kavod is diminishing or even worse has departed.  I've recently dealt with some issues regarding the truth of God's word! God’s word in conjunction with the Ruach gives us the ability to rightly divide the word:
 
II Timothy 2:15. Do all you can to present yourself to God as someone worthy of his approval, as a worker with no need to be ashamed, because he deals straightforwardly with the Word of the Truth.

Now read this same passage from the Message translation:

II Timothy 2:15. Concentrate on doing your best for God, work you won't be ashamed of, laying out the truth plain and simple.
 
We have a sacred, supernatural calling from heaven upon us to proclaim that truth, that's what Cohanim do!:
 
Exodus 19:6.  and you will be a kingdom of cohanim for me, a nation set apart. 'These are the words you are to speak to the people of Isra'el. "
 
We are called to a holy light unto the nations by obeying God's Torah and remembering the God who redeemed us from Egypt.  We are instructed to trust and worship Him alone according to His pattern and instructions.  We are commanded to magnify His name- not political leaders, Hollywood stars, or even political correctness.  
 
As Messianic Ambassadors, a Kingdom of Priests, we are to enter into His rest, we are to honor and protect life which is a Gift from God.  We are to espouse and cherish sexual purity, to preserve and operate in the sanctity of covenant marriage between one man and one women.  We are to live honest, righteousness lives with integrity.  We are to daily be in awe, wonder, and thankful of God's blessings.  We are to love our neighbors, even foreigners as ourselves and above all to love the Lord thy God.
 
Submission and obedience to God will bring untold blessings, honor and favor with God.  

Dissobedience and rebellion will bring calamity, natural disasters, famine, pestilence, enemy conquest, and ultimatly, removal from the promise land.  
 
The greater body today is straying from God. Instead of having God's law as our King, today our king or government has become the law and lawlessness rules the land.  We have been charged to proclaim the Word of God

II Timothy 4:1-5. I solemnly charge you before God and the Messiah Yeshua, who will judge the living and the dead when he appears and establishes his Kingdom: 2 proclaim the Word! Be on hand with it whether the time seems right or not. Convict, censure and exhort with unfailing patience and with teaching. 3 For the time is coming when people will not have patience for sound teaching, but will cater to their passions and gather around themselves teachers who say whatever their ears itch to hear. 4 Yes, they will stop listening to the truth, but will turn aside to follow myths. 5 But you, remain steady in every situation, endure suffering, do the work that a proclaimer of the Good News should, and do everything your service to God requires

This we are to do in the Ruach and Power, not apostasy from the word.
 
John 16:13.  However, when the Spirit of Truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own initiative but will say only what he hears. He will also announce to you the events of the future.

So this combo then gives us prophetic insight of what is to come and what we are to do about it.
 
I Chronicles 12:33.  Of the descendants of Yissakhar, men who understood the times and knew what Isra'el ought to do, there were 200 leaders, and all their kinsmen were under their command.

The #1 item on God's list is the salvation of Israel.
 
Romans 10:1-2.  Brothers, my heart's deepest desire and my prayer to God for Isra'el is for their salvation; 2 for I can testify to their zeal for God. But it is not based on correct understanding;

What is the understanding?

Romans 10:9.  that if you acknowledge publicly with your mouth that Yeshua is Lord and trust in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be delivered.

Think about this, the entire Brit Chadesha, the New Testament revolves around the revival and salvation of Israel and the Jewish people as revealed in:
 
Matthew 10:6. but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Isra'el.

Matthew 15:24. He said, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Isra'el."

Acts 5:31. God has exalted this man at his right hand as Ruler and Savior, in order to enable Isra'el to do t'shuvah and have her sins forgiven.

Romans 1:16. For I am not ashamed of the Good News, since it is God's powerful means of bringing salvation to everyone who keeps on trusting, to the Jew especially, but equally to the Gentile.

Romans 2:9-10. Yes, he will pay back misery and anguish to every human being who does evil, to the Jew first, then to the Gentile; 10 but glory and honor and shalom to everyone who keeps doing what is good, to the Jew first, then to the Gentile.
 
Romans 9:1-5. I am speaking the truth - as one who belongs to the Messiah, I do not lie; and also bearing witness is my conscience, governed by the Ruach HaKodesh: 2 my grief is so great, the pain in my heart so constant, 3 that I could wish myself actually under God's curse and separated from the Messiah, if it would help my brothers, my own flesh and blood, 4 the people of Isra'el! They were made God's children, the Sh'khinah has been with them, the covenants are theirs, likewise the giving of the Torah, the Temple service and the promises; 5 the Patriarchs are theirs; and from them, as far as his physical descent is concerned, came the Messiah, who is over all. Praised be ADONAI for ever! Amen.
 
Romans 11:26. and that it is in this way that all Isra'el will be saved. As the Tanakh says, "Out of Tziyon will come the Redeemer; he will turn away ungodliness from Ya'akov

John 4:22. You people don't know what you are worshipping; we worship what we do know, because salvation comes from the Jews.

John 10:16. Also I have other sheep which are not from this pen; I need to bring them, and they will hear my voice; and there will be one flock, one shepherd.

Israel is mentioned in the entire bible 500 times, 78 times in the Brit Chadesha alone!  

There are over 1,800 biblical prophecies contained in scripture that involves over 8,300 verse.  The whole bible contains just over 31,000 verse so about 27% of scripture, or one third of the bible deals with prophecy (Encyclopedia of Biblical Prophecy).  Of those prophecies, over 95% deal directly with Israel and the Jewish people.  

When the pattern is right the Kavod falls.  The entire body, not just the Messianic Community must align itself with God's word in truth.  "to the Jew first"!!!
 
Blessings and Shalom,

Rabbi Eric S Carlson

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