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March 16 Bible Reading:
Leviticus 20-21
Psalm 76
Luke 10
**Click to read Christine Miller’s Bible study for today.
Boker tov! Good morning! I am going to focus on Luke 10 today, because wow, it all stuck out to me in this time of Coronavirus. Having said that, I am super busy and don’t have time to do justice to this post right now. I have so many more thoughts rumbling around in my head than I can get down in a short timespan, so if you’re interested, grab your Bible and use my post as a jumping-off point.
However, I want to say that I really DO agree with Christine’s book, Revelation Revealed. (Haven’t read it? Order it tonight. You can even get an e-book if you’d like to start reading immediately.) I’ve been studying this since 2007, and I came to the same conclusions before I officially met Christine in 2013. I have seen proofs for the Torah-based historicist view of Revelation from one end of Scripture to the other, and I know I can back it up. Don’t know what I’m talking about? Read the book! 🙂
Before this virus started, I would have said we were at Revelation 16:12-16 right now, which is why I wrote all the frog posts recently. Everything before Revelation 16:12 is history now.
Having said that, I have to wonder if this Coronavirus “plague” is likely the start of the fulfillment of Revelation 16:17-21 and Revelation 18.
I could be wrong. But because this is our belief, here is what we are acting upon in our house. We are NOT focusing on the disease other than to stay clean (in a Torah-observant way) and to stay home as much as possible, other than groceries and absolutely necessary appointments and work (which could be canceled soon also).
I firmly believe in a coming Second Exodus, and I think now is the time to look at any passages about it and to compare them to the First Exodus (Exodus 12-13), all the way through the jobs Israel was given while “in hiding,” both in their homes the night of Passover, and later in the wilderness, preparing to enter the Promised Land. Our Torah portion this coming Sabbath (see Exodus 35-40) talks a lot about their duties in the wilderness, and you can find what they did on Passover night in Exodus 12:1-13,31-36.
Grab your Bible and read these out. Make a list. What parallels can you draw between the first and second exoduses?
Read Revelation 16:17-21 and Revelation 18. (Revelation 17 defines who the main characters are, as well as Revelation 18:2-3.)
- In Revelation 18, note the references to a plague, which means exactly that in Greek. The correlating Hebrew word is Strong’s #5061, first used in Exodus 11:1 for “epidemic disease causing high mortality. An epidemic or other sore or illness as a touch from God.”
- Notice that it lasts for an hour, which is 15 days in Biblical prophecy.
- Please note what is judged, the reactions of the people, the ships, the end result.
Now read Isaiah 26:20-27:13.
- Notice who is judged.
- Notice what we are to do.
- Notice what comes after.
What I think comes next, after the plague and fall of the City in Revelation 18. Go look these up. Notice that Yeshua comes in Revelation 19. We need our Messiah to return before we can leave Egypt! It is all in His power. He is the one “gathering the elect from the four winds.” I am not advocating that we try to “exodus Egypt” or Babylon without His powerful presence and assistance.
- Revelation 19
- Isaiah 11:10-16
- Jeremiah 16:14-15
- Jeremiah 23:5-8
- Ezekiel 20:33-44
These things have to be fulfilled sometime, and because of all the similarities between what is happening now and Revelation 18, my hunch is that it could be starting now. Could I be wrong? Yes, but someday, what happens will be very similar to now, and it’s possible this is actually the time. Someday it will happen, right? I told my kids to be ready.
So how are we to be ready?
1. Don’t fear. It’s a sin anyway. I keep thinking about Luke 10:38-42, which I accidentally read ahead of schedule on Sabbath instead of today when it was actually scheduled. We need to sit at the feet of Yeshua. This is the “better” thing.
2. We need to be Torah clean. In other words, this virus came from unclean things. We are not to touch it. Since we can’t help it, we wash our hands, we take daily baths, we wash our clothes a LOT, we wash every surface, we act as if we are all unclean and we stay away from others, we use great care in the kitchen, etc. This is loving our neighbor as ourselves.
3. We hide in our chambers until the storm passes over. Scripture says it will be about an hour, or 15 days. If it goes longer, we know we will be cared for as the Israelites in the wilderness or Elijah who was fed with ravens. We do not fear!
4. We check on our loved ones and help them hide in their chambers. We don’t ignore the hurting or suffering. This is also in today’s reading in Luke, with the parable of the good Samaritan. This is also loving our neighbor.
5. We should obey the governing authorities. No, I don’t think Trump is Messiah or anywhere near it, but according to Romans 13 and 1 Timothy 2, we gotta obey him and the governor, and local officials, and we have to pray for them. This extends up to things that obey God; I’m not talking about any decree against Torah, such as va©©ines, for we ought to obey God rather than man.
6. We use any extra free time to prepare ourselves. There is coming (under Yeshua as Messiah) a kingdom where we will be the head, not the tail. We will be prosperous. Good times are ahead, even though we must wait for an uncertain amount of time for their fulfillment. I don’t think we have long. But when He is set up as king, He will be looking for wise and prudent servants to fill positions of rulership in His kingdom. I want to be found faithful. Has He called us to write? to minister? to call others to repentance? to help the poor? As far as we can, while still being in a temporary quarantine, we should use our time wisely. It takes about 8 weeks to set up an online business with a website and a product, for instance. We have TIME! We need to be prepared! We need redeem the time we have been given.
Okay, those are my thoughts in a nutshell. Time will tell! 🙂
“Even so, come, Master Yeshua! The grace of our Master Yeshua the Messiah be with you all. Amen” (Revelation 22:20-21).
Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture in this blog post taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
I pray all is well with you and yours. I just wanted to say we should not live in fear and having a holy convocation on the Sabbath is a command in the Torah. (Leviticus 23:3) So meetings should still be taking place on Shabbat regardless of what governing bodies decree. We must trust in Yah to protect us as we do as He instructs us.
Hi, Brittany,
Thank you so much for your prayers and response to my wife’s blog post. 🙂 I have spoken on this exact thing many times including this last Shabbat (3/28) as we looked through the Scriptures at YHVH’s commands about the Shabbat. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVAsGFF8tmo.
It is surprising to me how many Torah people have become bothered or upset by those who are choosing to postpone meeting on the Shabbat during the COVID-19 quarantine. I wonder where these same people have been when so many fight against meeting together and state that we can stay at home with our family and celebrate the Shabbat. As a matter of fact, in the 13+ years that we have been following Torah, I can count one hand the other Torah people who have spoken out about Torah followers and their unwillingness to assemble on the Shabbat. (On the other hand, I have seen many a “Torah teacher” talk about getting out of dodge or practicing “isolation” from others. I have been an ardent speaker for meeting together as commanded in Scripture the whole time I have been Torah observant and even before as a pastor in a Christian church. While so many others were and are “bugging out” and practicing isolationism, I, my wife, and other elders in our congregation have faithfully taught that we were never given a command to remove ourselves from society or meeting together, but quite the opposite. We are to be “IN” the world…just not “OF” it (John 17:14-19).
We started our congregation Solel Sabbath Fellowship over 5 years ago to do just that…to provide a place for us to fulfill the commands of Scripture. Week in and week out, we have met intentionally during that time so that those who choose to follow Yah’s command would know there is a place where they can come to meet together and that the doors would be open.Â
We would completely agree with you about your concern in meeting together if the COVID-19 quarantine were a decree to keep us from meeting in opposition to Yah’s commands. We would be right with you in our willingness to defy the governmental powers in denying us the opportunity to follow our Heavenly Father’s commands. However, due to the nature of the decree from our government being both temporary and dealing with the safety and wellbeing of others, we look to the weightier matters of Torah, that of “loving our neighbor as ourselves.” We liken this to Yeshua’s reference to your enemy’s ox being stuck in a ditch on the Shabbat (Exodus 23:4-5). Would we be sticklers to not working on the Shabbat, or would we think of our neighbor and the ox and work to help get it out of the ditch and to safety? If our Master cares so much for an ox, how much more would he like us to care for our neighbors, communities, brothers and sisters in Messiah and follow our Governments commands to stay home during this quarantine (Romans 13:1-10)? We have cancelled a couple times each year in meeting together since we have started Solel. These usually are for two reasons: 1. weather such as snow storms causing the travel to be dangerous, 2. when a significant amount of our congregation is sick, especially those who are our hosting families. Why do we cancel? Because, we care about and love those in our congregation and don’t want to put them in unnecessary harm. Is it lawful to care for and love others on the Shabbat? All we have to do is look at our Master’s words in Matthew 12:9-13:
“Now when He had departed from there, He went into their synagogue. 10 And behold, there was a man who had a withered hand. And they asked Him, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”—that they might accuse Him. 11 Then He said to them, “What man is there among you who has one sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out? 12 Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep? Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” 13 Then He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and it was restored as whole as the other.”
What a blessing it is that we live in this age of internet and can meet online with our congregation. We have been meeting virtually together and celebrating the Shabbat together from our homes. I have been continuing to teach and we are still able to pray together and share in worship together live. It is a such a tremendous blessing that YHVH has given us a way that we can still meet during this time through the internet as we honor the governmental officials that YHVH has placed over us to honor and respect them (Matthew 22:15-21) and to show love to others. However, we should not abuse this ability by not striving to meet in person once the quarantine is lifted. We should make every effort to again meet with others in person as much as possible, not to make excuses to stay home as so many were doing before the quarantine. Maybe Yah is using this quarantine to make our hearts yearn for the fellowship He commands so that when it is lifted, those who were failing to meet together before the quarantine will finally understand and choose to come together as YHVH so lovingly and wisely commanded His people to do.
Many Blessings and May YHVH’s love reign in our hearts as we seek do to others as we would want them to do to us (Luke 6:27-36). 🙂