Transition
By Eric Carlson in 10_2023-1 on September 28, 2023
The Hebrew letter Yud is used numerous times in the Torah to represent “life in the world to come” Ten represents the inheritance of the fullness of the Torah/Word. Ten signifies entirety: Ten generations from Adam to Noah. From Noah’s time to Abraham ten generations expired, ten plaques against Egypt, Ten Commandments. Ten represents divine completeness. Let’s look at a biblical example of transition.
Joshua 1:1-5. After the death of Moshe the servant of ADONAI, ADONAI said to Y’hoshua the son of Nun, Moshe’s assistant, 2 “Moshe my servant is dead. So now, get up and cross over this Yarden, you and all the people, to the land I am giving to them, the people of Isra’el. 3 I am giving you every place you will step on with the sole of your foot, as I said to Moshe. 4 All the land from the desert and the L’vanon to the great river, the Euphrates River – all the land of the Hitti – and on to the Great Sea in the west will be your territory. 5 No one will be able to withstand you as long as you live. Just as I was with Moshe, so I will be with you. I will neither fail you nor abandon you.
I recently heard a great analogy from John Maxwell. Transition means letting go which comes with some fear, even trepidation. It’s like a trapeze artist swinging on the trapeze! To get to the next trapeze you must let go which releases us into the unknown! That’s when we must starve fear and feed our trust!
In this time of GREAT transition, we can learn several important points from Joshua. I’ve been routinely sharing the past several years that we are living in a great period of transition. Adonai designed transitions for a kingdom purpose. In doing so He gave us a pattern for how it works. Transitions aren’t just change but are a series of events designed to move you/us/your business/ministry/Kehillat/Body of Messiah/nation in a divine new direction. Even death itself is just a transition from this world to the next:
John 5:24. Yes, indeed! I tell you that whoever hears what I am saying and trusts the One who sent me has eternal life — that is, he will not come up for judgment but has already crossed over (metabaino {met-ab-ah’-ee-no} pass over from one place to another, cross over, pass from one to another, transition) from death to life!
Our lives in the Kingdom of Adonai are one of transition, the Kingdom is always moving. A journey from this earthly realm to that of the Kingdom until the Kingdom itself transitions back to the earth! It’s never to easy-contemplate death, it’s often a hard violent transition either ageing and long-term decline or sickness, accidents, or some other event that brings about our demise.
Adonai uses periods of transition to birth restoration, revivals, awakenings, to shift history, to establish His will and dominion on earth, to guide, direct, and launch us into our prophetic future and destiny. Adonai’s presence transitioned from The Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve to Mt Sinai! From Mt Sinai to the Tabernacle, from there to the Temple, then through Yeshua from the Temple to within us! We as a people have transitioned from shepherds to slaves in Egypt, redeemed from slavery to wandering in the wilderness for 40 years, then transitioning to the Promise land, then removal and Diaspora then return, then transition back to Diaspora then transition back to the land as a nation in May 1948 and now we’re waiting for the final transition to the Messianic Reign!!
Dark storm clouds have been hanging over us for years now with many people still anxious and fearful. War is on the horizon with Russia/Ukraine, China/Taiwan, and even North Korea! Many people we know, friends, family, and neighbors are still panicking over Covid which means people are fearful! There are two profound points for us to be aware of in seasons of transition that we must understand:
- People are easily entrapped, enslaved in crisis. In times of severe famine, a pandemic, or any crisis. The citizens of Egypt gave Yosef their money, their land, their livestock, and themselves as slaves just to survive and feel safe. People will do just about anything out of fear and panic.
Genesis 47:25. They replied, “You have saved our lives! So if it pleases my lord, we will be Pharaoh’s slaves.”
HaSatan does not want you to boldly trust in Adonai! He doesn’t want you filled with the Ruach, obedient, submitted, tithing, praying, reading your word, and drawing closer to Adonai! HaSatan wants you panicked, frightened, scared, desperate, static and enslaved to this world! He wants you trapped by fear, by panic, into depression, into despair, into Unforgiveness, into bitterness, into disbelief, and divided! HaSatan knows what most believers don’t, a force wins by dividing and conquering the other force! Divide the people and enslave them through fear and panic where they become impotent, apathetic, powerless, and spiritually dead-no longer a threat just like Israel when enslaved in Egypt! Those who can invoke fear control the narrative.
- We must fight against fear, panic, tyranny, lies, and oppression! We must fight for our freedom because those in power will not willingly release you (like Pharoah when we were enslaved in Egypt)! The word speaks to this:
II Timothy 1:7. (NLV) For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.
We’re warned not to let our freedom become the cause of our return to slavery in Galatians 5. King David gave us a profound revelation and understanding of kingdom transition. A Young David was anointed by Samuel to be King of Israel but not until Adonai dealt with Saul and removed him from the throne. This took some 15-17 years.
We are at a similar paradigm shift; a similar transition is occurring in both America and the greater Kingdom today. The presence of God is/has departed from a majority of mainstream religion. Apostasy, estrangement, rebellion, and general rejection of God has caused His presence to depart from many houses of worship today! This transition is marked by confusion, violence, and tribulation.
The world’s power base is ending while a new king is coming! Those who are attuned, those who hear the voice of Adonai are flocking to the new kingdom base, the Messianic base in preparation for the coming King, Yeshua who will reign in the Messianic age and Kingdom. In Joshua chapter one we observe another profound transition where Adonai commands Yoshua the same he did David: (chazaq {khaw-zak’}: to strengthen, prevail, harden, be strong, become strong, be courageous, be firm, grow firm, be resolute).
Joshua 1:6-9. “Be strong (amats), be bold (Chazak); for you will cause this people to inherit the land I swore to their fathers I would give them. 7 Only be strong and very bold in taking care to follow all the Torah which Moshe my servant ordered you to follow; do not turn from it either to the right or to the left; then you will succeed wherever you go. 8 Yes, keep this book of the Torah on your lips, and meditate on it day and night, so that you will take care to act according to everything written in it. Then your undertakings will prosper, and you will succeed. 9 Haven’t I ordered you, ‘Be strong, be bold’? So don’t be afraid or downhearted, because ADONAI your God is with you wherever you go.”
God’s call to Israel, “chazak ve’ematz” (be strong and courageous-bold) in taking the Promise Land is directly connected to chazak ve’ematz” (be strong and courageous) in following Torah, God’s word, to keep Torah on your lips, and to meditate upon it day and night! Then you will prosper and succeed, having all the character and behavior traits David possessed. Adonai doesn’t want mediocre worship, mediocre praise, mediocre obedience, or mediocre followers! David followed Adonai with everything he had!!!
Adonai’s word, His instructions are for times of transitions: Chazak, be bold. Adonai mentions this three times to convey courage, strength, firmness, and trust upon Adonai’s covenant promises. Transitions are a universal fact of life, transitions are constant. If you woke up this morning, you are in transition. Let’s look at three foundational revelations of transitions that we must receive and walk out in our lives:
- Transition builds and shapes our character.
If you want to know the true character of a man or woman, watch that person during transition. During the time of persecution from Sha’ul, then the loss of his wives, children, and flocks at Ziklag, David showed great resolve, patience, and character! David didn’t panic, freak out, or crumble in the face of adversity!
I Samuel 30:6. David was in serious trouble: the people were talking about stoning him to death, because all the people were in such deep grief, each man over his sons and daughters. But David strengthened himself in ADONAI his God.
- We must posture ourselves in times of transitions to be active not passive, to engage ourselves in the narrative.
The time of transition allowed David to Build, prepare, and get ready to rule all Israel though he wasn’t even king of Judah yet! He didn’t waste his God given time. Thousands of men, warriors, flocked to David aware of the transition! As I mentioned in the beginning some 340,822 soldiers from all twelve tribes sought out David who said in:
I Chronicles 12:17,39. When David went out to meet them, he said, “If you are coming to me in peace to help me, my heart will be bonded to yours. But if you are coming to betray me to my enemies, then, since I have done nothing wrong, may the God of our fathers see it and judge.”
39 All these soldiers who were experienced in war came to Hevron wholeheartedly to make David king over all Isra’el, and all the rest from Isra’el were single-hearted in wanting to make David king.
Adonai gave them a spirit of unity, to be echad, of single mind and purpose for the fulfilment of His prophetic word! We too as a congregation are posturing ourselves to do the same! Gathering those who are like “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.”I Chronicles 12:32.
- Our foundation and guide for Kingdom transition must be Adonai’s infallible Word.
The key to this in transition is recorded in:
Joshua 1:7-8. Only be strong and very bold in taking care to follow all the Torah which Moshe my servant ordered you to follow; do not turn from it either to the right or to the left; then you will succeed wherever you go. 8 Yes, keep this book of the Torah on your lips, and meditate on it day and night, so that you will take care to act according to everything written in it. Then your undertakings will prosper, and you will succeed.
If we strengthen ourselves, if we are strong and bold to keep Torah on our lips, to meditate on it 24/7, and take care to do everything it says to do, everything written in it we will prosper and succeed. What a profound, supernatural divine covenant promise! If we depart, stray, apostatize from Adonai’s word in times of transition, we become susceptible to the traps, snare, and strategies of HaSatan that are designed to make us fail.
Trust, Vision, obedience, and execution equals results! Google the number of business and enterprises that started in the middle of the great depression, a season of transition that some were aware of and used to their advantage: Ada Feed & Seed, Publix Super Markets, Hy-Vee, Ocean Spray Cranberries, Pendleton Grain Growers, Texas Instrument’s, even the well-known Yellow Book USA! I want to share 3 points necessary to succeed in this time of transition:
- Hearing the voice of the Lord.Joshua assumed his new role as leader of Israel from Moses but this role requires him to hear the voice of the Lord which gave him and verification of the promises God made to Israel.
- Obedience. A point to remember that in the instructions God just gave to Joshua “get up and cross over this Yarden”, there’s no “How too’s” given by God, Joshua had to rely on instructions straight from God to perform his duties.
- Accountability. God provided three things for Israel to get into the Promise Land.
- Plans – God gives specific guidelines and blueprints to get things done.
- Word – God gave specific words to the work He is calling Joshua to do.
- Anointing – God gives the anointing for the ministry to bear the fruit it’s been called to do.
If any of these three are manipulated (often done by man), it thwarts the will of God. Adonai is free too, and often does call forth other works with different blueprints and different anointing but man CANNOT FORCE GOD’S ANOINTING FOR A SPECIFIC CALLING into a plan created by man!
This happens all the time. A congregation or people call out for and cry to God for His presence and when He answers they don’t like His design, His blueprint so they attempt to force the Anointing of God into a manmade plan that fits their own desires and when it fails, they blame God when in fact, it was their own fault. There must be accountability regarding the mission, the plans, and the anointing received from Adonai!
As a Congregation we’ve had many roadblocks attempting to thwart our mission or worse, to divide us but we’ve overcome everyone one of them and have maintained our goals and directives that Adonai assigned to us, and we will continue to do so in the future! The three key points must be done with great boldness and obedience to the word:
Joshua 1:6-9. “Be strong, be bold; for you will cause this people to inherit the land I swore to their fathers I would give them. 7 Only be strong and very bold in taking care to follow all the Torah which Moshe my servant ordered you to follow; do not turn from it either to the right or to the left; then you will succeed wherever you go. 8 Yes, keep this book of the Torah on your lips, and meditate on it day and night, so that you will take care to act according to everything written in it. Then your undertakings will prosper, and you will succeed. 9 Haven’t I ordered you, ‘Be strong, be bold’? So don’t be afraid or downhearted, because ADONAI your God is with you wherever you go.”
This is the same 3 points given to Jehu who destroyed Jezebel, God follows His own pattern! We see a strikingly similar scenario.
I Kings 19:16-17. Also anoint Yehu the son of Nimshi to be king over Isra’el, and anoint Elisha the son of Shafat of Avel-M’cholah to be prophet after you. 17 Yehu will kill whoever escapes the sword of Haza’el, and Elisha will kill whoever escapes the sword of Yehu.
II Kings 9:6-10. Yehu got up and went into the house. Then the prophet poured the oil on his head and said to him, “This is what ADONAI the God of Isra’el says: ‘I have anointed you king over the people of ADONAI, over Isra’el. 7 You will attack the house of Ach’av your master, so that I can avenge the blood of my servants the prophets and of all the servants of ADONAI, blood shed by Izevel. <>strong>8 The entire house of Ach’av will perish; I will cut off from Ach’av every male, whether a slave or free in Isra’el. 9 I will make the house of Ach’av like the house of Yarov’am the son of N’vat and like the house of Ba’sha the son of Achiyah. 10 Moreover, the dogs will eat Izevel in the dumping-ground of Yizre’el, and there will be no one to bury her.'” Then he opened the door and fled.
Jehu received an anointing to do the job, he received the plans for the job, and he was obedient to do everything God told him to do! The topic is immaterial, it’s how we employ the mission that matters. We cannot move forward puffed up in pride, we need to move forward in humble love. As Don Finto stated: “Don’t look down on the person who is where YOU where at 6 months ago, 1 year ago, 5 years ago.” We’ve all been there, don’t antagonize as you influence, bring them along with you. When Joshua moved forward God’s covenant is reestablished.
Joshua 5:2-9. (NKJV) At that time the Lord said to Joshua, “Make flint knives for yourself, and circumcise the sons of Israel again the second time.” 3 So Joshua made flint knives for himself, and circumcised the sons of Israel at the hill of the foreskins. 4 And this is the reason why Joshua circumcised them: All the people who came out of Egypt who were males, all the men of war, had died in the wilderness on the way, after they had come out of Egypt. 5 For all the people who came out had been circumcised, but all the people born in the wilderness, on the way as they came out of Egypt, had not been circumcised. 6 For the children of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness, till all the people who were men of war, who came out of Egypt, were consumed, because they did not obey the voice of the Lord–to whom the Lord swore that He would not show them the land which the Lord had sworn to their fathers that He would give us, “a land flowing with milk and honey.” 7 Then Joshua circumcised their sons whom He raised up in their place; for they were uncircumcised, because they had not been circumcised on the way. 8 So it was, when they had finished circumcising all the people, that they stayed in their places in the camp till they were healed. 9 Then the Lord said to Joshua, “This day I have rolled away the reproach (cherpah {kher-paw’}: reproach, scorn, shame, disgrace, blaspheme) of Egypt from you.” Therefore, the name of the place is Gilgal to this day.
This was not just affirming God’s covenant, it was rolling away the reproach, the shame, the rebuke, the disgrace, the discredit of Egypt from them! God was finishing Israel’s purification. God had taken Israel through the refiner’s fire, refining Egypt out of them! Circumcision was the covenant sign of transition revealing it was time to enter the Promise Land and receive their inheritance! Right after they endure circumcision, they are at the place of entering into the Promise Land at the Festival of Pesach and the new year.
Joshua 5:10-12. Now the children of Israel camped in Gilgal, and kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight on the plains of Jericho. 11 And they ate of the produce of the land on the day after the Passover, unleavened bread and parched grain, on the very same day. 12 Then the manna ceased on the day after they had eaten the produce of the land; and the children of Israel no longer had manna, but they ate the food of the land of Canaan that year.
See the symbolism that God is revealing to Israel? Their obedience has delivered them from 40 years of wandering in the wilderness. Pesach marks the transition from a nomadic lifestyle to that of a Nation with their own land and territory. The day after they celebrated their Pesach Seder Israel began eating the produce of the Land. The first day of unleavened bread marks the day the Manna ceased falling from heaven. The transition also includes God’s promise of inhabiting the land of milk and honey. Pesach, the first Biblical Feast of the new year kicks of the renewed annual Feast Day cycle! Sometimes, God brings times of transition to create transformation.
Blessings,
Rabbi Eric S Carlson