![]() This week in Isaiah Decoded we’ll start our review of chapter 5 – Zion/Jerusalem, God’s Covenant People. We’ll begin our look at chapter 5 by revisiting the covenant Jacob renews and becomes Israel in chapter 4. This covenant forms an important foundation of Yeshua’s(Jesus’) teachings on being Born Again and that process of transformation to become God’s covenant people – Zion/Jerusalem. Renewing the Covenant and Israel’s Sabbaths and Feasts What we should see from the Book of Exodus through to Deuteronomy is God restoring His relationship with His Chosen People. This first restoration forms a pattern of what Israel’s second and final restoration that occurs during the Endtimes will look like – Isaiah uses historical events to predict Endtime events - Isaiah 46:10. At the heart of this restoration pattern, are the sabbaths and feasts that we see setout in the 23rd chapter of Leviticus, and for which Israel is to observe forever – Lev. 23:14,21,31.
Renewing the Covenant and Established Covenants When we drill down into the Torah narrative, we can easily connect four covenants with Israel’s sabbaths and feasts. During the spring feasts when Yehovah initiates a restoration of relationship, we see evidence of the Abrahamic Covenant – Exodus 12:44,48, and the Threshold Covenant – Exodus 12:7,13,22,23. When Israel enters into a full relationship with Yehovah at Shavuot/Pentecost, we see an immersion at the Red Sea – Exodus 14 , an institution of the Levitical Priesthood – Exodus 28 , and the Sinai Covenant – Exodus 20 to Deuteronomy 34. Finally, we see the realization of these covenants by entering into Yehovah’s presence with the High Priest on the Day of Atonement – Lev. 16.
Renewing the Covenant in the Fullness of Messiah When we get to the New Testament and Yeshua declares that He was not abolishing the Law, but to make it full and complete, Matt 5:17 - the proper interpretation of the Greek word for fullfill or “pleroo”, which means to "make full". The messianic covenants that we can integrate in with our sabbaths and feasts include: At Passover - the Messianic Covenant or Yeshua’s redemption from eternal death; At Shavuot – the Doctrine of Messiah (faith, repentance, baptism) and the Melchizedek Priesthood – Exodus 19:6, Hebrews 7, 1 Peter 2:9, the Sinai Covenant applied with pure hearts and clean hands; At Trumpets – Davidic kingship under the Davidic Covenant – the office of High Priest is fused with the Davidic Covenant, the sealing power under the Enochic Covenant – Matt. 16:19, and finally the Fullness of the Abrahamic Covenant. These are the seven covenants of Yehovah, where seven indicates a condition of perfection, fullness and completeness.
Yeshua’s Teaching on Being Born Again Yeshua uses these same covenants but places them in the context of being Born Again or a process of transformation, which we introduced in our review of chapter 4. “When we ascend, we are not as we were. We are still ourselves, but we are remade and transformed. When we ascend …, we no longer think and act exactly as before. In that sense, being “born again” means living a higher reality, functioning on a more elevated plane.” – P. 130 Here is that process of transformation from Israel to Zion/Jerusalem. A New Heart and a New Spirit Both Ezekiel and Jeremiah declared that it would take a change of heart for Israel to keep God's Law. "A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them." - Ezekiel 36:26 "But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people." - Jeremiah 32:33 That process of changing their hearts would be expressed in Yeshua's teachings on being Born Again. Elijah’s Endtime Message We can feel confident that this process to become Zion/Jerusalem is the message we will hear from God’s Endtime Servant! One of the misinterpretations of scripture that we see connected to the Endtime return of Elijah is found in the 4th chapter of Malachi. As a former member of “restored” Christianity, I was taught that Malachi 4:6 referred to genealogy and temple work – turning the hearts of the children to the fathers. This interpretation of Malachi takes verse 6 out of context. Verse 4 gives us the proper context. Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments. So the context that we should see with - turning the hearts of the children to the fathers, is that God’s Endtime Servant will turn the children’s hearts back to their fathers who were given/lived the Law. Moreover, we can connect this concept back to Moses’ prophecy with Israel turning back to the Law in Deu. 30:1-3. And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before thee, and thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations, whither the Lord thy God hath driven thee, And shalt return unto the Lord thy God, and shalt obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thine heart, and with all thy soul; That then the Lord thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations, whither the Lord thy God hath scattered thee.
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