Every time each new month of Abib arrives it marks the beginning of a new year for the children of Israel that have been dispersed to these regions of the world.
With the turning of the year on the Gregorian calendar, people often speak of making “New Year’s Resolutions.” Surely in this difficult time of military and spiritual wars each of us would all do well to make a few new year’s resolutions of our own, come the month of Abib in Yhwh's sacred calendar, of course.
Time is getting short dear brethren, and if we want to be delivered from the perilous situation we now find ourselves in, we would also do well to analize a few Scriptural principles, such as why are we in this dispersion.
We are in a place of dispersion because of our sins (Leviticus 26 & 28).
Our acentor's separation from the Father’s Holy Land and ours from the Millenial Kingdom is a form of punishment. Or better stated, it is a form of temporary deprivation for those willing to repent and turn to Abba Yhwh, or perpetual deprivation for those who refuse.
Just as the people of Yahudah have suffered a disapora and presecution, so Ephraim too has horribly suffered, and to this day still suffers, from life in a diaspora and detachment from the Almighty Father. We are in general forced to live a life in all respecta far away from the Father’s chosen city, Jerusalem, to be without the fullness of His blessed presence because of our iniquities. Those who live there have to do so among enemies and deprived of the peace of Yhwh. Thus it is time for a Kodesh new year’s resolution.
It is now time for us to truly repent of our many and varied iniquities. Yahwshua’s Kingdom is not of this world. It is a Heavenly, spiritual Kingdom.
Yahwshua said to the Pharisees of His day, “The kingdom of Yhwh will be taken away from you and given to a people, producing the fruit of it.”
He also said to some who opposed His reign, "You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world."
Yahwshua defined His kingdom saying, "My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm.”
It is now time for us to eagerly seek, to even long for the coming kingdom of our Mashiach.
We need to cry out for the glorious kingdom that is yet to come to this world. We need to want it, to pray for it to come to this world (Matthew 21:43-44; John 8:23;18:36; see Matthew 6:10; Acts 1:1-11). The Father will deliver us when He hears our cry for deliverance.
We need to truly and anxiously desire deliverance from our present situation.
We need to beseech our Father Yhwh in prayer about our pathetic present state. We live stained with profanity that we must whiten.
“Now it came about in the course of those many days that the king of Egypt died. And the sons of Israel sighed because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry for help because of their bondage rose up to Yhwh. So Yhwh heard their groaning; and Yhwh remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Yhwh saw the sons of Israel, and Yhwh took notice of them” (Exodus 2:23-25).
If we will cry out, deliverance will come. Our Father promises it. Deliverance will come if and when we beseech and cry with broken hearts. But not before then.
If we cry out from the depth of our being, He will come to us (Deuteronomy 4:29).
The sons of Israel are the scattered seed of Abraham, and seed in sown, first in its natural state only to come forth in a more beautiful, or “spiritual” form.
We are first sown as a perishable body, then raised as an imperishable body.
We are sown in weakness only to be raised in power.
The spiritual is not first, but the natural; then the spiritual.
The first man is from the earth, earthy; the second man is from heaven.
As is the earthy, so also are those who are earthy.
As is the heavenly, so also are those who are heavenly.
Just as we have borne the image of the earthy, we will also bear the image of the heavenly (1 Corinthians 15:42-50).
We must realize that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.
The perishable will not inherit the imperishable.
“Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment.... For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, "Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to Yhwh, who gives us the victory through our Master Yahwshua Ha Mashiach." (1 Corinthians 15:51-58).
We need to set our sights on high.
We want to defend the earthly restoration of Israel and at the same time remember that her capital city is destined to be the “City of the Great King,” Yahwshua (Psalms 48:2; Matthew 5:35; Zechariah 9:9; Matthew 21:5).
We also want to remember that Our Abba Yhwh has set a high standard for citizenship in His eternal kingdom. "The remnant of Israel will do no wrong and tell no lies, nor will a deceitful tongue be found in their mouths; for they will feed and lie down with no one to make them tremble" (Zephaniah 3:13).
During the invasion of Iraq, an Iraqi propaganda Official stated, “The Americans are not within a hundred miles of Bagdad.” But the truth was that the American forces had not only entered into Bagdad proper but had begun to control the city’s International airport!
There are some in this world who do not honor truth. The same is true for some who say they belong to Yahwshua’s kingdom. They plot, lie, and scheme like Jezebel of old. They do not walk in righteousness. But the kodeshim of Yahwshua are described as "not having been found lie in them" in the book of Revelation.
Exactly like our military forces in the Middle East cannot trust everyone who supposedly comes to them in the name of peace, neither we can trust everyone who comes to us and claims to hold on to Torah and belong to Yahwshua the Prince of Peace.
Even as our soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq need to be wary, so the army of the Holy One needs to be wary. "For false Messiahs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect” (Matthew 24:24).
Beware the wicked shepherds who come to divide the flock (Ezekiel 34).
These false teachers and the brethren who worship them do not seem to be aware that such wickedness will not be allowed in Yahwshua’s coming kingdom...for their own perdition. He warned, “Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the immoral persons and the murderers and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices deception” (Revelation 22:15).
Abib, as we saw recently, begins the month of Pesach, a time of repentance, of preparation to leave sin and detoxify to become pure (kodesh), a time of getting the spiritual leaven completely out of our lives. Leaven represents sin, and even “a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough." (1 Corinthians 5:6: Galatians 5:9).
Let us begin to prepare our spirits at any time of the year for the next Passover season. There is a lot of preparation to be done.
Let us prepare to enter into the Holy City, for "Thus says Yhwh, 'I will return to Zion and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. Then Jerusalem will be called the City of Truth, and the mountain of Yhwh of hosts will be called the Holy Mountain...” (Zechariah 8:3).
Beloved brethren, we have entered into a most serious time in the annals of human history, a time which will never be repeated ever again.
We encourage all who feel so led to enter into a time of fasting, a time of praying like Nehemiah and Daniel (see Nehemiah 1:1-11and Daniel 9).
We encourage all to begin to seriously pray for wisdom and discernment.
May the Holy One Yhwh order all my and your steps in this endeavor.