Did you notice what just happened? A global event occurred this week of huge prophetic importance.
Unless I'm just goofy, the beginning fulfillment of Matthew 23: 39 came to pass this past Sunday, September 23rd. I almost missed it so I'm wondering if you missed it too.
Look at the verse. Here Yahshua is lamenting the lack of faith He found in the city of Jerusalem.
Matthew 23:39:
For I say to you, In no way shall you see Me from now on, until you say, "Blessed is He who comes in the name of YAHWEH(the Lord)."
You may remember that Yahshua came into Jerusalem originally riding on a donkey. The people were shouting a praise which came from Psalms 118:26.
Matthew 21:9:
And the crowd, the ones going before and the ones following, were crying out, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David! "Blessed is He coming in the name of YAHWEH!" Hosanna in the highest! (Psa. 118:26)
But, this is after that event. Now Yahshua declares they will not see Him again until they proclaim the same greeting once more. In other words, after He ascends, He won't be back until there is a consensus among the people that they want Him.
Think about this for a moment.
For the past 2000 years, how many people do you think have mimicked this verse in their conversation or personal prayers? All true believers probably have said this many times in one form or another, wanting the Messiah to return soon. Yet, He has not yet returned.
So, why did Yahshua quote this verse as a landmark preceding His return? Is there some unique way this praise must be said to cause the fulfillment of His words? After all, we could sing that praise in prayer right now, but do we expect Him to suddenly return if we do?
Well, to help understand this, I believe it's important to note that He was not speak ing to His followers, but to those fellow citizen Jews who rejected Him. He was speaking to Judah.
Jewish follower of Yahshua, commentator, and author of The Complete Jewish Bible, David Stern helps with this explanation of the preceding verse, Matthew 23:38: Behold, "your house is left to you desolate."
Referencing Jeremiah 22:5 and drawing from Jewish insights, Stern teaches that the house Yahshua refers to is not the Temple. Yahshua speaks of the destruction of the Temple a few verses later. Instead, Stern says Yahshua spoke of future generations of Israel who will not receive salvation as long as they seek to achieve it on their own.
Therefore, the unbelieving Jews would not see salvation (their house is desolate) until they jointly proclaim "Blessed is He coming in the name of YAHWEH!"
What makes this even more interesting is the parallel view Judah has regarding Messiah's return.
A famous Great Rabbi Chafetz Chaim cried one day saying, "If only thousands and millions of Jews would show G.od that they desire Mashiach, He would certainly come that moment."
Take a moment as a refresher to put this in the context of Romans chapters 9 - 11. Here Paul, the Pharisee of Pharisees explains:
The promises belong to Israel
They rejected the Gospel
Yet, YHWH has not rejected the Jews. Their rejection of Yahshua is not irreversible.
He will fulfill His promises to them
Israel's stumbling has been the means to bring salvation to the rest of mankind
All Israel (both Gentile and Jew) will be saved
From Paul we expect the day to come when the salvation of the Gentiles will provoke the Jews to envy, and that envy will draw the lost Jews to salvation in the Messiah.
Last Sunday, we may have seen the leading edge of that coming to pass. Here's why I say that.
For many months an organization known as 'All Jews As One' has worked diligently through word of mouth, printed flyers, Facebook, Twitter, email, YouTube, rabbis and synagogues to network an event to pray for the Messiah's return.
At first blush you might be unimpressed. Individuals have prayed for the Messiah's return before. Yet, this time was different. This time the magnitude of the people involved in prayer was off the scale of anything ever conceived before.
This time over 2 million Jews in 120 countries expanding the world coordinated to pray for the Messiah's return! And they all synchronized their times so their prayers would be heard at precisely the same moment everywhere. No matter what they were doing, they stopped their activities to pray at precisely what was 11:00 am Eastern Time here in Florida.
Not only that, but at least a handful of faithful Christians joined them in urging the Messiah's return.
This comes from their YouTube video:
Based on Israel Time 17:00, New York 11:00, Los Angeles 8:00, Paris 17:00, etc
ALL JEWS AS ONE:
This unique event in Jewish history has been impulsed by motivated Jewish people with help and blessings of rabbis around the world of all affiliations (Ashkenazim, Sephardim, Chassidim) (My note here: Just getting these three groups to work together could be considered a small miracle) with a strong desire that all Jews will be united at the same instant, observant or not, whatever beliefs, affiliation, age, nationality to end all suffering and to welcome the revelation of Hashem's (G-d) Name.
Here is what Jews the world over prayed (in English):
"Master of the Universe,
We, the children of Israel,
ask you for Mashiach to redeem us ,
now and with mercy,
from exile and all suffering,
to reveal your Name in the world and to bring peace."
Doesn't that carry the intent and sound a lot like what Yahshua said Judah had to pray before He would return?
I firmly believe what just occurred was a quiet movement of the Spirit in fulfillment of Yahshua's words. It happened in real space and time, yet most of us didn't even notice. Maybe it's time we awoke from our slumber.
Gentile believers unaware of the Hebraic Roots of Christianity should also take note of when this prayer occurred. That's because the Church at large routinely ignores the epic significance of this time of year. This prayer event came during the 10 Days of Awe between the Feast of Trumpets and Yom Kippur, the Day of Judgment. This is a special appointed time set aside by Yahweh Himself (these times are not a 'Jewish' invention) as a time of repentance. On Yahweh's calendar, this is the most set apart, or holiest season of the year.
Yahshua fulfilled the Spring Feasts in His first coming and is expected to return on the Feast of Trumpets - the next Feast in Yahweh's timetable. This means the season the Jewish people have chosen to pray for the Messiah's return is the very same season Yahshua is expected to return.
With certainty we may predict that Judah's prayers will intensify and the number of participants will multiply with each coming year. In any case, this was just the beginning of many signs. The return of Yahshua HaMashiach (Jesus the Messiah) is on the horizon.
Make sure you don't miss it.
Next Year in Jerusalem.
George
