Mark of the Beast or Seal of the Feasts?

Hollisa from Creation Gospel does a good job connecting the prophetic fulfillment of the importance of keeping the Shabbat 

Yah bless you on this glorious Shabbat day!

Linda Rose

Mark of the Beast or Seal of the Feasts: Can We Leave the Gates Open on Shabbat and High Sabbaths?

Do Shabbat and the High Sabbaths of the moedim really provide a seamless connection between the six days of work and the Seven? In a fallen world, the gates must be closed in order to stop the fires of commerce from burning within. Review Nehemiah 10, and the precedent for the thematic sevens of Revelation are presented with the problem of Shabbat commerce.

The mark of the beast in Revelation is one that strikes fear even in the hearts of many believers. They fear that without some visible mark, they will not be able to buy or sell...at all. The precedent, however, is more sensible and based on a moed as old as Genesis One: six days to work and a Shabbat. The key words are "buy" and "sell."

Nehemiah notes and reprimands the Sabbath breaking workers and merchants:

In those days I saw in Judah some who were treading wine presses on the sabbath, and bringing in sacks of grain and loading them on donkeys, as well as wine, grapes, figs and all kinds of loads, and they brought them into Jerusalem on the sabbath day. So I admonished them on the day they sold food. (Nehemiah 13:15)

Then I reprimanded the nobles of Judah and said to them, 'What is this evil thing you are doing, by profaning the sabbath day?' (17)

Nehemiah still has a problem. The Sabbath-breakers simply will not cease from their commerce! Hearts have not changed. His solution:

It came about that just as it grew dark at the gates of Jerusalem before the sabbath, I commanded that the doors should be shut and that they should not open them until after the sabbath. Then I stationed some of my servants at the gates so that no load would enter on the sabbath day. (19)

And I commanded the Levites that they should purify themselves and come as gatekeepers to sanctify the sabbath day. For this also remember me, O my God, and have compassion on me according to the greatness of Your lovingkindness. (22)

In order to stop the unholy mixture of six working days bleeding into Shabbat, the Levites had to become gatekeepers of Jerusalem. The six and the seven are consecutive and have a relationship to one another, but they are not identical. They are knit together, yet separate! Six is the number of preparation, but seven is the number of celebration in completion. The fabric of the week is beautifully seamless, yet set-apart to achieve the holiness in unity.

Nehemiah reiterates the holiness of Shabbat to the Jews, reminding them that it is not a day to buy and sell. John's symbolism of the 6s and 7s in Revelation is a repetition of this warning, and John's woe to the merchants of Babylon is even longer and more detailed!

Shabbat Dweller or Shabbat Rebeller?

Beast worshipers do not observe Shabbat, for rest is what defines the Sabbath.:

And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever; they have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name." (Revelation 14:11)

However, the children of the Woman who keep the commandments of God and the testimony of Yeshua persevere in the holiness of the Word. They rest when the Father teaches them to rest. Mitzvot keepers in Yeshua observe Shabbat:

Here is the perseverance of the saints who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus. And I heard a voice from heaven, saying, "Write, 'Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on!'" "Yes," says the Spirit, "so that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow with them." (Revelation 14:12-13)

Read these three verses carefully, and the importance of Shabbat in Revelation emerges. Shabbat is the preparation of the saints to rest from their labors, for the Shabbat-keeper is followed by his deeds the same way that the week is a preparation for Shabbat, and on Shabbat one enjoys all that has been prepared. It is not a time to create more, but to enjoy and take pleasure in the prepared things.

For the unrepentant Shabbat-rebeller, the deeds never cease, and the torment is no rest day and night. In a thorough search of Scripture, it is plain that the characteristic of the unrestrained nefesh (soul) is desire that is never satisfied, especially after the body of flesh dies. The nefesh continues to have existence, but not life.  Only the satiety of the Ruach brings satisfaction to the nefesh in this world or the next. The deeds in which the wicked put trust become a torment, not a pleasure; however, a saint dedicates his daily deeds toward the observance of Shabbat, a sign of a whole transformation of spirit. The perseverance of the saints is rest from their labors according to the mitzvah.

Nehemiah takes it a step farther and includes the shmittah Sabbaths of the Land:

As for the peoples of the land who bring wares or any grain on the sabbath day to sell, we will not buy from them on the sabbath or a holy day; and we will forego the crops the seventh year and the exaction of every debt. (Nehemiah 10:31)

Although Nehemiah had to resort to the drastic measure of setting the Levites as gatekeepers to shut out the merchants on Shabbats and high Sabbaths, Isaiah prophesies of a time when there has been a significant change in the hearts of those who go to Jerusalem. Any wealth brought in the gates will be directed toward the worship of Adonai and to beautify His Temple. Those who enter the city are sealed with the seal of the four-vav shin on the shel rosh tefillin, which represents the Ruach (Holy Spirit), along with the three-vav shin (666) of the outward deeds on the arm.

The Seven Spirits of Adonai go throughout the earth with the four horseman to separate those who are "stagnant in Spirit" (Zechariah) from those who keep the mitzvot in Ruach AND in deed.  A mere 666 is only the letter of the Torah.  It is the number of both man and beast who are created on the Sixth Day.  Man, however, is made in the image of Elohim, not the Beast, and he worships in the Spirit, not merely the appetites that feed the self.  A man was created to be more than 666, for because The Holy One ceased from Creation on the Seventh Day, man, too, transforms from six to Seven in order to prepare for the Eighth Day beyond the Seventh Millennium, a time of perfection beyond the veil of flesh. The Ruach sets the man apart from the beast.  The nefesh of one who worships Elohim longs for the desire of the Ruach, not the desire of earthly flesh.

In a city filled with the Light of the Torah, a city where the Lamp is the Lamb, no gatekeepers are needed:

Your gates will be open continually;

They will not be closed day or night,

So that men may bring to you the wealth of the nations,

With their kings led in procession. (Isaiah 60:11)

No longer will those who build Jerusalem's walls have to build and fight their enemies simultaneously, for:

Foreigners will build up your walls, and their kings will minister to you; (10)

John again teaches thematically with Nehemiah and Isaiah:

The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. In the daytime (for there will be no night there) its gates will never be closed; and they will bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it; and nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life. (Revelation 21:24-27)

Wow! What a city! Those who live and enter there will need no gatekeepers, for they have conspired with The Holy One to guard and remember His Sabbaths and moedim. They have power of the Ruach HaKodesh invigorating their physical strength and directing their nafshim to keep the mitzvoth. They are the clean seed of the Woman, and they don't rely or wait on a feeling of obedience; instead they got tefillin. Leave the gates open forever, for their hearts are transformed.

No wonder those merchants are weeping over Mystery Babylon, for she has been purged and the City of Good Gold restored to her place in the Garden. She won't buy any more stories from a beast of the field.

Seeing that we have so great a resurrection of ruach, nefesh, and guf (body) in our Messiah Yeshua, let us strive to give the Light of Shabbat to the world. Invite someone in to taste and see that El Shaddai is Good, and instead of buying and selling, feeding appetites of desire that will never be satisfied apart from the Ruach, "sell" the gospel. If it is a joy to you, it is a Light to others!

Ki Teitze (When you go)

From Creation Gospel Workbook Five Volume 5 Ki Teitze

Plainly, our own emotional equilibrium, our shalom, our wellness, according to this Torah portion, does not lie in how we tend to our own stresses, hurts, and humiliation. Our own emotional health depends upon how we respond to those around us: friends, brothers, family, strangers, sinners, adversaries in disputes, beasts. The secret of our wellness is found in how we treat those over whom we have control. If you ever question your own emotional, and even physical health, answers are right here in the Ki Teitze portion.

Ki Teitze means "when you go out." Many opportunities are given to us each day as we go out in the world of Creation, the world of work, the world of family and friends. Many of the examples given in Ki Teitze are examples of situations when it is within our power to influence a situation.

Count how many times the word "hand" appears in this portion. Biblically, what is within your hand is what is under your power or control. This does not mean you always operate in the Ruach HaKodesh. How you play that hand reveals whether you are operating in the Ruach or in wickedness. Unfortunately, in this portion, there is little gray area. It's holiness or wickedness. Chiastically speaking, the hand that sheds innocent blood is the stem-mate of feet that run quickly to evil on the Wicked Lamp of abominations.

Look at the Wicked Lamp of your Workbook One pamphlet chiastically, and you'll see that both the evil hand and evil foot derive from a wicked heart. What is in the heart will "Teitze" through the visible actions of an individual.

When the seals of Revelation open, these abominations of the Wicked Lamp will be uprooted from the earth starting in the holy sanctuary, according to Ezekiel. Those who weep for the abominations (especially their own), are sealed with a tav. Those who are unsealed are marked. Just as the first Pesach, it is the absence of the seal of the Lamb's blood that marks a house for destruction, both man and beast, 666, for both were created on Day Six.

This is a season of repentance every year as a rehearsal for the final judgments of Rosh HaShanah (Feast of Trumpets) and Yom HaKippurim as described in Revelation. This is not a time to ask the Father to GIVE, but to FORgive. May we weep first for our own abominations so that we may render the fruits worthy of the tav. Father, forgive us, for we have erred. Pardon us, our King, for we have willfully sinned. Please grant us:

A humble look, A kind and truthful tongue, Hands that build the House of the Father, A heart that devises plans for good, Feet that avoid evil, And to be a faithful witness Who reunites brothers and sisters within the Body of Messiah. Amen.

Does it Smell Like Mercy?

This portion teaches us the finest of points in the Torah. Our spirits have to be operating at a high level of holiness and submission to the will of God. Those who can follow the statutes of this portion are indeed clothed in the righteousness of Yeshua and holy to the Father. He insists on such a high level of obedience because He desires so much for us to be healthy and joyful.

As an example, Adonai says that because the Moabites did not show the kindness of bread and water to Israel in her journey, then they should not receive peace or prosperity. Because of Adonai's creative design, we can only achieve rest and peace in healthy relationships with others when we take the active initiative to be merciful and kind to others. There is no place for being comfortable in your nest and ignoring the needs of those around you. It is sin. Adam, the human prototype, was only at rest when he found a partner with whom to serve Adonai.

Here is one of the main premises of Ki Teitze: You need the creatures and people of the Creation to challenge you each day to choose the way of mercy, justice and holiness. Yeshua identified these as the weightier matters of the Torah. A person who refuses to deal with those challenges by habitually separating himself from conflict never bears fruit. It interferes with the resurrection process of life.

Additionally, a person who often chooses incorrectly in these challenges interferes with the resurrection process of life and produces little fruit. He or she chooses the wrong battles and tries to render the letter of the Torah devoid of mercy and justice.

If the one constant in all your dysfunctional relationships is you, then it makes sense not to blame others, but to reach inside yourself to rise to the challenge. Seek the place where you can serve with healthy conflict that produces life, not conflict that destroys the Ruach of the Torah statutes.

Let me repeat that since this is a season of repentance. If the one constant in all my troubles is me...if my name keeps coming up...then I may be the problem.

Father, forgive us, for we have erred. Pardon us, our King, for we have willfully sinned.

All the Pretty Flowers

The key to these commandments is in the hand, which is where we normally hold a key, right?

Hands =10 fingers. There is a minimum of ten people (minyan) to withhold judgment upon a group of people. Ten is the number of a congregation. There is power in a congregation to manipulate the circumstances of a LARGE number of people for good or for bad, for success or for punishment, just as the ten spies, the Wicked Congregation, brought punishment upon Israel, and ten righteous men could have saved Sodom.

However, the Scripture states control as what is "within your hand." Singular. How many fingers are on one hand? Five is represented by the Hebrew letter heh, which makes a Hebrew word feminine and it is the definite article, "the." In the English language, the most used word is "the." It is definite because it points a particular object from just any object. The book instead of a book. The car instead of a car.

In our Torah portion, your Father asks you to see yourself not just as a member of a congregation (10), or as a man or a woman, but as THE man or THE woman...You are the one ultimately responsible for your choices each time you "go out." You have control over yourself. You are not at the mercy of emotion, a slave, but the one who can set emotions free to serve Adonai only.

The heh H represents the attribute of mercy and repentance because it has a small opening at its roof for water to pour in the container. When we think of the five books of the Torah, we should always think of it as teaching whose essence is mercy. This Torah portion, not coincidentally, stresses mercy and kindness as the necessary ingredient of justice. If we repent and seek mercy on the Fifth Feast, Yom Teruah, then Adonai blesses us with resurrection so that we may stand in white on the Sixth Feast of Judgment, Yom HaKippurim, and be covered and clothed in His tender mercies. The key to those clothes, however, is how we extend mercy to others.

Mercy must be administered by one who has power over another! Think of mercy as a beautiful flower. A flower, in Hebrew, is parach, which means to burst forth. Mercy is a garment more beautiful than any robe King Solomon ever wore. During the course of your day, when you go out, you will have many opportunities to extend mercy to people and creatures around you. And you are the man or the woman.

It may be rescuing a stray animal in the road or offering a co-worker a caring ear or word. It may be calling someone who has dropped from sight. It may be seeking out a shy or awkward person who needs friendship. It may be simply talking to a disobedient child who is truly repentant rather than punishing him. Oh, how many opportunities we have to live out Ki Teitze each day! How many pretty flowers can burst forth and fill our days with fragrant bouquets and many-colored garments of praise to Adonai!

Do We Need a Spanking?

We build a house with Understanding (binah). It separates justice from wickedness. In making these choices of mercy, we must have the Spirit of Binah to differentiate between justice and excessive humiliation. With counsel, etzah, we administrate that justice with lovingkindness in spiritual and physical balance. This is our challenge, not to hang one another too long on the tree. When we are wicked, that is, when we oppress people to shame and humiliation, figuratively leaving them hanging overnight, then we crucify Yeshua afresh.

It is a humiliation to Messiah when we try to control others or abuse our power (that which is within our hand). This is why a woman may not grab a man's genitals as he fights with her husband. It is literally "his shame" in Hebrew. Justice is never attained from human hands by humiliating and shaming another human being whether that person is conscious of it or not. Leave that to a man's Creator.

We can play a very bad hand from the Wicked Lamp. Proverbs 6:17, places two evil spirits in places relevant to our Torah Portion. The proud eyes are followed by a lying tongue, which corresponds to the Spirit of Understanding, or Binah, that build up a house. A lying tongue does not have to be simply a tongue that tells lies. A lying tongue is one that contradicts the Torah, correct? What if the Torah says we are not to humiliate a brother or jump into a fight not our own and grab a man's privates, his ability to reproduce and build the House? Is it okay to do those things anyway, or is it a lie?

The next spirit is a hand that sheds innocent blood. This corresponds to the Spirit of Counsel (Etzah). With Holy Counsel, the innocent must be judged innocent, and the guilty, guilty. But this Torah portion carries justice of counsel one step farther. Yeshua says that we must not add to punishment by humiliating the brother beyond the limits of His Word. Excessive punishment destroys what good may have been done with good counsel because it destroys hope that the guilty one will ever be seen quite the same by his community, family, or congregation. Humiliating a brother in Messiah is the same as shedding innocent blood. It is often done with the mouth, but it is always done with the HAND.

How? What is in our hand is the ability to humiliate, which makes healing and fruit-bearing difficult. What is in our hand is our influence, whether of tongue, a look, or the literal hand. It matters not in the eyes of the Father if a brother is guilty if we add one drop more punishment than His Word calls for. When we add one lash more, one second more of shame, then we have become the sinner. We have shed blood that was not deserving of that one extra blow. Do you know when to stop spanking your children? Do you know how long they can take in time out or in being grounded? How many of us know when to stop spanking one other? We are quick to put a guardrail of mercy around our own loved ones, but too often we harshly give others a nudge over the unprotected edge of the roof.

Understanding how we have power over others is critical to making the right choice in how we use power in a situation to make it holy. The decisions we make are determined by the way that we walk, the path of the Holy Spirit laid on the first day of Creation, the seven spirits of Adonai. Even in the example of happening upon a bird with her chick along the way reminds us that it is decisions we make on the move that determine our own spiritual and emotional wellness. It determines whether the Spirit of Counsel will flower in our lives or whether we will constantly quench the Spirit of Understanding and Counsel.

The Least of the Commandments or the Most "Powerful"?

When we build on our own desires, improper understanding (binah) is the result, and we can't render good counsel, which brings forth the young (from parach, a flower) on the Third Day of Resurrection. The Third Day is when the first flowers and fruit trees appeared in the Earth. Only when we walk with the balance the fine line between justice and humiliation will we truly be filled with the Holy Spirit of resurrection, or Counsel. Acts Chapter Four describes the necessity of the tree of resurrection as a test for the faithful.

You see, a dead man does not know he's humiliated. Perhaps in another realm he can see the humiliation or mutilation of his body, but in a strictly physical sense, there is no consciousness humiliation beyond death. What does it matter if a wicked dead man hangs on a tree even a few more seconds than the Torah says?

Because we humiliate ourselves when we deviate from the straight, level path of the Torah. We damage ourselves spiritually and emotionally when we fail to discern between consequential justice and humiliation. It brings shame upon the dead man's Creator to abuse the body even of the guilty. If we see this practice of mutilating corpses in the name of a god, then we know it is not the Elohim of the Universe being served. It is the wrath of the Beast who has no regard for his slaughter as a creation of YHVH.

The Torah makes it clear that we have to walk in the Spirit to reject such thoughts as "that's what they deserve," or that we are somehow superior ("I may have done so-and-so, but I've NEVER done THAT"), or that it's just the natural order of things to conquer and control: "I'm in charge and I'm entitled to make the rules. I don't have to worry about healing what is or what could be broken in this creature if I take the wrong action or attitude." How many of us would really care if the mother bird saw us capture her eggs or chicks? After all, that's the natural order of creation. We were created to rule.

It is within that very creation order that we find the answer to whether we should distress a mother bird and allow her to suffer the added humiliation of seeing her offspring captured. The young chicks are efroach, whose root is the same as parach, flower. The birds were created on the 5th day of Creation with the Spirit of Power (Gvurah). In this one act, which some commentators have suggested could be the least of the commandments, we find the key to real power. Power is holy only when it is under discipline and control. Holy Power is never used to simply take control or possess things or territory. Holy Power considers the feelings of others and never allows humiliation.

True Holy Power (chiastic to Etzah and resurrection) sets the captive free:

Psalm 124:7 7 Our soul has escaped as a bird out of the snare of the trapper; the snare is broken and we have escaped. Psalm 11:1 In the LORD I take refuge; how can you say to my soul, "Flee as a bird to your mountain;"

In this we see that the soul (nefesh), the seat of our desires and emotions, is set free to live again when the Holy Spirit of Power moves. Giving respect to other creatures brings healing, boldness, and health both to the one who will walk in Holy Spirit Power and the fallen bird of our souls.

It is said that teaching a child not to step on a caterpillar does the child more good than the caterpillar. That is well-said. Ensuring that we do not misuse the power of our mouth, hands, or feet brings the health of the Holy Spirit of Power to our soul and body. We escape the snares of captivity that are set by the serpent, but sprung by our own desires and emotions when we step over the line of justice.

Consider the account in Acts Four of the lame man who was healed. Peter and John were asked by what "power" they had done this. The two disciples pointed the religious heads, or authorities, the powers that were, to the ultimate power, the Name of Yeshua. Remember, a name in Scripture refers to one's deeds.

The passage in Acts refers to what Adonai's "hand and His purpose predestined to do." Adonai gives the authority of His hand to heal in the name of His Servant Yeshua.

These are key words in the passage that are keys to understanding Holy Power:

Healing Purpose predestined (resurrection)

A Disciple's Disciplined Hands

When the disciples in Acts prayed the prayer acknowledging healing, resurrection, and servanthood, the whole place was shaken and the disciples were given supernatural boldness to speak the Word of Adonai: 4:32-33 And the congregation of those who believed were of one heart and soul; and not one of them claimed that anything belonging to him was his own, but all things were common property to them. And with great power the apostles were giving testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and abundant grace was upon them all.

The Holy Spirit of Power heals, just as its counterpart on the menorah, the Spirit of Counsel. Both are resurrection spirits. Both are part of a purpose predestined by Adonai and they seek vessels who are willing to be servants even when it is within their control to deepen and multiply wounds and humiliate. It was within Yeshua's power to overpower the creatures and persons that were under his control. Instead he is The Son of Man who says to the Creation, "Shalom, be still." Consider the beautiful lilies, consider the sparrows for which the Father cares, yet He loves you so much more than they. He does not wish to humiliate His Creation, but nurture it, care for it, and bring total peace, shalom.

Think on the consequences of the disciples' prayer in Acts 4. The congregation became one heart and soul. Nobody wanted to claim any territory or property as his or her own. They began to give the true testimony of resurrection with great power. True power. Holy Power. When we give up control to humiliate one another and own this or that, we nurture true power, which is what our spirits long for. And the result of giving up that desire to control? The result of ensuring a brother's soul-needs are met? Abundant grace upon them all. Why is there so little predisposition of grace among those who claim to follow the Torah? Because they have never completely given up the right to humiliate one another, outdo one another, and own or control this or that.

Why does Adonai keep Messianic fellowships so small? It demonstrates to us that we have not completely surrendered to the Word of this Torah portion as servants of the Most High. It does little good to pray for someone to receive the gift of healing if we cannot as willingly dispense the gift of healing mercy to one another. It does little good to pray for our own emotional healing if we continually pry about under someone's skirt to expose their shame. It does little good to pray for resurrection and healing if we never take the stinking corpse off the tree. We come to enjoy the smell of death, and instead of removing it so resurrection can take place, we say we smell the pretty flowers of the Torah.

No more than 40 stripes. Not one more. Not one minute after sundown. Not one more.

Good hands find the balance of power and kindness. Good hands handle those around them with respect and compassion for their vulnerabilities. Good hands perform the justice of the Torah firmly without being harsh, sarcastic, hateful, or cold. Good hands heal sickness. Good hands are full of life and hope. Good hands make a cherished new bride out of a captive in mourning. The most sensitive good hands have scars. Because of those scars...because of His scars...we are free.

Shabbat Shalom

Holissa