A Joyous Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles)

I am posting an update from HaYovel, a ministry of believers in Yeshua that goes to Israel on a regular basis to help with the pruning, and then in the Fall, the harvest of some of the vineyards there.



Shalom, and Happy Feast of Tabernacles!  You may want to pour a cup of tea and settle in, or gather the family around for a read-aloud, because our Heavenly Father has been moving, and teaching us, and I'm excited to tell you all about it!

UPDATE
Right now, the Waller family and the HaYovel harvest team are IN God's chosen land, WITH His covenant people, AT one of His appointed times, and they are blessed to be witnesses to His glory, as they watch His faithful hand of blessing at work! Here's a picture of the current crowd as they are rejoicing before the Lord in keeping the Feast of Tabernacles ("Sukkot," in Hebrew):



"These are the feasts of YHWH, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons."  (Leviticus 23:4)

All throughout scripture, we find the theme of holiness. We often think of holiness as something "above" us, but what it really means is "set apart" for God's purpose. He has chosen a holy place - Israel; a holy people - the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and holy times - His appointed feasts, through which to reveal Himself to mankind. And as one of the harvesters said recently, "When something's holy, it's holy forever!"

We only have to look at the story of Isaac and Jacob in Genesis 27 to find a vivid example of the irrevocable nature of a blessing. When Isaac realized that Jacob had "stolen" his blessing, he "trembled very exceedingly" (v. 33), but even he who had pronounced the blessing could not change it or take it back! How much more will our faithful God, who promised and delivered the Messiah to the world keep His Word regarding His covenant people and the land he set apart for them as their inheritance "forever" (Genesis 13:15)? 

Immediately after Abraham was promised this land, he "came and dwelt in the plain of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and built there an altar unto YHWH" (Genesis 13:18). Our harvesters have had the enormous privilege this week of Sukkot, of taking part in a festival in this same city of Hebron!

A few weeks ago, the group went on a tour of Hebron with a local guide, David Wilder. They were greatly impressed by the stories of the Jewish residents of the city, and by the evidence of the unmistakable hand of God guiding their lives, strengthening their resolve, and granting them grace to face much hardship, as they are surrounded by an enemy who regularly seeks their defeat and death. The atmosphere in Hebron was significantly lighter this week as around 30,000 Jewish Israelis flooded into the city to celebrate the Festival of Sukkot with music, dancing and camping!

The group highlight on the initial tour was standing in the very gates of ancient Hebron, mentioned in Genesis 23, where Abraham bargained for the cave at Machpelah, in which to bury Sarah. For some, even that was topped by the opportunity this week to spend the night near the cave itself, with a few of the men being invited to sleep in the sukkah built adjoining the cave, where lie the bones of Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebekah, Jacob, and Leah themselves!! (that's worth a few more exclamation points, isn't it?) !!!!

Here's a picture of the campout under the stars in Hebron, where God poured out His perfect love that casts out all fear, and 100 volunteers enjoyed a peaceful night's rest:



Oh, and if you are wondering about the harvest, it is proceeding along, amid the celebrations. The morning after the campout, the teams of vinedressers were expected at three separate vineyards to continue bringing in the grapes. The work is much faster these days, with so many hands available to help!

PRUNING TRIP
And speaking of hands to help, the dates have been set for the Spring pruning trip (which is much easier to predict than the harvest! ;-) If you are interested in getting in on the sort of excitement we've been describing, please make a note on your calendar that the pruning trip is scheduled for February 1 through March 15. You will want to start thinking about passports and tickets soon. (Unfortunately, ladies, this trip opportunity is just for the men, due to housing and other concerns, so you just get that much longer to save up your pennies for next year's harvest!)

SHOP ADDITION
I also want to let you know about an addition to the HaYovel Shop, at www.HaYovel.com. We have added a book you will all want to read, called "The Mountains of Israel," by Norma Parrish Archbold. It is a quick read, and does an excellent job of explaining the history and extreme importance of Judea and Samaria, in relation to the Bible and God's covenant with this Land. If you already have understanding in this area, let me recommend this book as a great resource for you to lend or pass on to someone who wants to know more. This information is vital to HaYovel's message and work, and we love it so much we are offering it for sale at a 20% discount off the cover price! It is only $8 for a copy, so please buy one if you can, and pass it around!

There's so much more to tell, I could go on and on - about the favor the teams have found in the eyes of the vineyard owners and their communities; about one owner who entertained the children with balloon animals, about making flutes in Shiloh, and worshiping at the Tabernacle site on Yom Kippur, the "Day of Atonement!"

I'll leave you for now with a final vision of a grateful recipient of help from HaYovel - Nir, the owner of the Har Bracha vineyard, saying "thank you!":





And thank YOU again for your prayers and support!

Be blessed in the Name of Yeshua,

Amy Mucklestone
HaYovel

Ronen Shalom

As America Does to Israel...

This post from John McTernan is just one of many posts he has written in order to show the correlation between when America pressures Israel to divide their covenant land, and many "disasters" that come our way, neck and neck, or on the heals of said pressure. I think it's worth the read, and worth really considering.

Death, Resurrection, Repentance, and Remission of Sins - In the "O.T."

Luke 24:45-49 -

"Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures, and said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And ye are witnesses of these things. And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high."






These words of Yeshua were spoken by Him to His disciples when He finally made an appearance to them all at once. Previously, He had been seen by a few of the woman that had followed Him, including His Mother, as well as some of His disciples. Now He is showing Himself to the group as a whole, as He is preparing to depart from their sight into the heavens, which, as Peter put it in Acts 3 "...must receive [Him] until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began."

What is intriguing is how He rebuked them, in a sense, for not believing that He should have died and rose again from the grave, because, as He said, these things were spoken of by Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms. In other words, the picture was painted in the scriptures, so why were they so unbelieving when reports of His resurrection came in?

It is also interesting to note that "Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms" are what make up what is today referred to by Jews as the "Tenakh" (an acronym for "Torah", "Nevi'im", and "Kethuvim" - ie, the Law [Moses], the Prophets, and the Writings [Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Ruth, etc.]).

Many Christians will point out this verse and share while witnessing that Yeshua's death, burial, and resurrection are described in the (what they call) the Old Testament, and will often point to Isaiah 53, and Psalm 22 as the main texts to speak of these things. And in this, they are correct. Furthermore, modern Judaism rejects these passages as speaking of the Messiah (probably because Christianity points to them as being fulfilled by 'Jesus', whom Judaism for the most part rejects as being the Messiah), but the ancients definitely point to these passages as speaking of the Messiah (cf. the Targums, the Midrash Rabbah, the Dead Sea scrolls, et al, for example). In fact, the Talmud states that "All the prophets prophesied not but of the days of the Messiah" - (Sanhedrin 99a). If "all the prophets" spoke of "nothing" but of the "days of Messiah", then that would include Isaiah, who was a prophet, and of whom Is. 53 was written, and it would include David, who made many prophetic utterances in the Psalms that he wrote.

While Isaiah 53, and Psalm 22 certainly have been pointed to by both Christians, and more anciently, Jews as speaking of the Messiah, Yeshua said that Moses also spoke of "these things." Furthermore, Yeshua said that not only was His death and resurrection spoken of by Moses and the prophets, and the writings, but that the message of repentance, and the remission of sins were also spoken of by Moses and the prophets, and the writings. But that's not all. Look at Luke 24:49 - apparently there was/is a "promise of [His] Father, that, in the context of verses 45-49, are also spoken of in the Tenakh! And what was/is that promise? It is the promise of the outpouring of His Spirit upon His people!

Now, here is the million dollar question: Where, in Moses (the Torah, or, "Law") specifically, but also in the prophets and the writings is it spoken of that the Messiah would die, then resurrect; that repentance and remission of sins would be preached unto the Gentiles (Nations), and that the Father would pour out His Spirit upon His people? (BTW, if you are wondering why I am saying that the "promise of [His] Father" is the pouring out of His Spirit, it is because Yeshua told His disciples to wait in Jerusalem until the promise was given. The book of Acts, which was written by Luke as well, picks up where he left off in His gospel narration - and in Acts chapter two, the disciples were waiting in Jerusalem, specifically in the Temple, at the festival of Shavuot, or "Pentacost", when the Holy Spirit was poured out upon them in power. Peter then told the crowds that what they were witnessing was a fulfillment of that promise).

I have made the study and understanding of these things a big priority in my life, and have learned many wonderful things that I never learned, saw, nor understood before. I hope to provoke you to seek out these things as well. The purpose of this blog in the beginning was to provoke God's people to "prove ('test') all things", and to "hold fast that which is good." It is to sound a wake up call to His people, and to the world to WAKE UP, open up their (our) eyes, and repent (return to the LORD).

Study the word of God, for there are many wonderful truths within it, truths which we have not known. Isaiah 53, and Psalm 22 are not the ONLY places where Yeshua is "spoken" of. And there are MANY, things spoken about concerning the place of the Gentiles within God's work with and among Israel. If you are  Gentile who believes in the Messiah of Israel, you may want to search and see what Moses, the Prophets, and the Writings have to say about you!

Be blessed in Yeshua the Messiah.

Don Ross and Andy McKee

Not an extremely spiritual post this time - I hope to have a REAL post soon (been very, very busy these last 6 months) - but I thought I would share a couple of YouTubes that I enjoy very much.


 

Victoria Jackson: "There's A Communist Living in the White House!!"

Victoria's video can be seen here.

Tribute To My Dad

I wanted to take a few moments to offer a small tribute to my Dad.

My Dad was a crew chief on a helicopter in the Vietnam war. He fought for his country, and whether the war was "right" or not, he did his part because he felt that it was the right thing for him to do. When many others were protesting, or running and hiding in school, or in another country, he went straight to the recruiters office so that he could serve his country.

I am proud of my Dad.

In 1979, my Dad became a follower of Jesus. I was 6 years old. Before that, we had no religious upbringing at all. We were a secular family. But through a series of people witnessing to him, and situations, he came to put his trust in Jesus as Savior and Lord. Over the next 9-12 months, my Mom came to believe along with him, and so our family came to know the Lord. And since then, many of our extended family have become believers in Jesus - all beginning with my Dad. He led his immediate, and then extended family to the Lord, and many of us have obtained eternal life because of it.

I am Thankful for my Dad.

Through the years my Dad has faced many obstacles (too many to enumerate now), and has been loyal to my Mom, my brother, myself, my two sisters, all of his grandchildren, his extended family and friends through it all. He has always been there for us, and has been an example of loyalty, honor, respect, leadership, devotion, and self sacrifice. he has shown himself to be the kind of man that I would like to be.

I love my Dad.

Happy Fathers day Dad.

May you have many more days before you, and may they be blessed and honored.

Love, 
.j.