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MESSAGE MENU #2
- OVERLOOKING THE SOURCE OF OUR STRENGTH AND SALVATION
- FALSE PROPHETS OR SERVANTS OF YAHWEH?
- BOOK OF MATTHEW WRITTEN IN HEBREW OR IN GREEK?
- CONCERNING BABYLON AND CURRENT EVENTS
- THE FIRSTFRUITS OF YAHWEH/YAHWSHUA
- WHAT DID YAHWSHUA MEAN WHEN HE SAID "TOUCH ME NOT"?
- WHERE WAS YAHWEH'S SHEKINAH GLORY AT THE TIME OF YAWHSHUA?
- THE WAVE-SHEAF CEREMONY
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MESSAGE MENU #3
- THE FIRST VISIBLE LUNAR CRESCENT
- TITHING CHART BASED ON WEEKLY INCOME
- HOW TO TITHE BASED ON YOUR ANNUAL SALARY
- MAP OF ANCIENT KHAZARIA
- MAP OF EPHRAYIM AND MANNASAH, ACCORDING TO THE ANGLO-SAXONS
- THE NEW COVENANT IS CONDITIONAL
- BARACK OBAMA: A PROPHET OF ISLAM
- TIMELINE CHART OF YAHSHUA'S DEATH AND RESURRECTION
- THE SACRED NAMES IN ANCIENT PALEO-HEBREW
- ZECHARYAH 12:9
- THE 24 ELDERS ARE ALREADY IN THRONES IN HEAVEN
- THE INFAMOUS "AN EYE FOR AN EYE" LAW: ABOLISHED OR IN EFFECT?
- RE LOST TEN TRIBES
From the Series
"Understanding the Wave-Sheaf and the Omer Count til Shavuot"
Message #3
"Understanding the Wave-Sheaf and the Omer Count til Shavuot"
Message #3
WHERE WAS
YAHWEH'S SHEKINAH GLORY
AT THE TIME OF YAHWSHUA?
Dearly beloved, where was YAHWEH's Shekinah Glory when Yahwshua Ha Mashiach resurrected from the dead?
There are those who claim the Messiah told Mary not to touch him because he was to appear before YAHWEH ELOHIM in Heaven at 9:00 a.m. that morning (the very time of the Morning Sacrifice in the Jerusalem Temple), to "wave" the sheaf or omer (representing the first-century ekklesia and all those to follow) before His Father, and to be exalted to the right hand of YAHWEH ELOHIM and take on his NEW spiritual body.
But let me ask this question, my beloved brethren: WHY would the Messiah zoom all the way up to Heaven and then zoom all the way down back to earth, when YAHWEH's Shekinah Glory was resident in the Jerusalem Temple?
Wouldn't this coming from heaven down to earth then be His second coming, and His future arrival at the end of the age His third coming? This presents all kinds of problems!
Yahweh's Glory was present in the Tabernacle and then in the Jerusalem Temples that followed. When Moses and the Israelites finished erecting the Tabernacle, the "Shekinah" of Yahweh Elohim filled it:
"When Moses had finished the work, the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the PRESENCE OF YAHWEH filled the Tabernacle. Moses could not enter the Tent of Meeting, because the cloud had settled upon it and the PRESENCE OF YAHWEH filled the Tabernacle. When the cloud lifted from the Tabernacle, the Israelites would set out, on their various journeys; but if the cloud did not lift, they would not set out until such time as it did lift. For over the Tabernacle a cloud of ELOHIM rested by day, and the fire would appear in it by night, in the view of all the house of Israel throughout their journeys" (Exodus 40:33-38).
Yahweh's actual presence was always accepted by the Israelites as being in the Tabernacle (and later in the Temple), but was not always physically confirmed by the visible "Shekinah."
However, there were occasional renewals of miraculous appearances of Yahweh's "Shekinah" -- such as when the Temple of Solomon was dedicated. There was an initial appearance in a vision when Yahweh promised that He would "shakan" or dwell in the house [Temple] that King Solomon was building. Notice I Kings 6:11-13:
"Then the word of the Yahweh came to Solomon, 'With regard to this House [Temple] you are building -- if you follow My laws and observe My rules and faithfully keep My commandments, I will fulfill for you the promise that I gave to your father David: I will abide ["shakan"] among the children of Israel, and I will never forsake My people Israel.'"
Later, my brethren, when the construction of the Temple was finished and the day of dedication was at hand, the holy "Shekinah" manifested itself in a very physical way:
"When the priests came out of the sanctuary -- for the cloud ['Shekinah'] had filled the House of Yahweh and the priests were not able to remain and perform the services be cause of the cloud ['Shekinah'], for the Presence of Yahweh filled the House of Yahweh -- then Solomon declared: "YAHWEH has chosen to abide ['shaken'] in a thick cloud: I have now built for you a stately House, a place where You may dwell ['shakan'] forever" (I Kings 8:10-13).
When Yahweh said He would dwell ("shakan") in the Temple "forever," obviously there were conditions to this promise. Therefore, at the destruction of the First Temple, He did not allow His "Shekinah" presence to stay in the Holy of Holies (inner sanctuary of the Temple) after a certain level of corruption had taken place. What is surprising is that He stayed in the Temple for so long!
Evidently, His love for His people is such that He endures far more than any human judge would deem possible. Even with all the corruption that occurred during the last days of Jehoiakim and Jehoiachin (and most of the reign of Zedekiah)! Ezekiel's vision of the DEPARTURE OF YAHWEH'S "SHEKINAH" from the Temple and city, did not occur until after the beginning of the final siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar and his army!
Beloved brethren, YAHWEH ELOHIM made preparations to REMOVE the "Shekinah" from the Temple and then from the very city of Jerusalem itself:
"And the cherubim lifted up their wings, and mounted up from the earth in my sight; when they went out, the wheels also were beside them, and every one stood at the door of the EAST GATE of YAHWEH'S house; and the glory of the Elohim of Israel was over them above" (Ezekiel 10:19).
The building was still standing but no longer had YAHWEH's Glory before it was destroyed!
Then, in Ezekiel 11:23, we read of the actual DEPARTURE of YAHWEH's "Shekinah" from the Mount of Olives:
"And the glory of Yahweh ['Cavod YHVH'] went up from the midst of the city, and stood on the mountain which is on the east side of the city [Mount of Olives]."
From the Mount of Olives the "Shekinah" departed from this earth to later return to the Temple that was rebuilt under Zerubbabel, but before the arrival of Ezra and Nehemiah. The "Shekinah" remained in the Temple from this time through the enlarging of the Temple complex by Herod, and his subsequent improvements. This is borne out by a little known but awe-inspiring incident that occurred when Herod tried to tap into the tremendous wealth of King David's tomb in order to finance his grandiose plans to rebuild the Temple.
Writes historian Gary Arvidson: "So, how was Herod able to finance this and other projects? Toward the beginning of his great work 'all their sacred treasures were exhausted.' We are told in this same context that people around the world sent an abundance of money for the Temple project. But there were other funds to be raised. And Herod found ANOTHER SOURCE!" (In Search of King David's Tomb, part 1, p. 27).
Arvidson goes on to say: "What we are going to find is that Herod tapped David's sepulcher as a major resource for his great works...and as a consequence gained access to David's sepulcher to finance and decorate his empire. What had been amassed for the First Temple and laid aside by Solomon, was finally used for the Second Temple period" (ibid.).
The first-century A.D. Jewish historian and priest Josephus, records that "at this time he [Herod] opened the sepulcher by night, and went into it, and endeavored that it should not be known in the city, but took only his faithful friends with him" (Antiquities 14.7.1).
Then begins the most unusual account of all. Herod was determined to explore the multi-room structure of David's tomb to the limits. Suddenly, a great miracle occurred:
"However, he [Herod] had a great desire to make a more diligent search, and to go further in, even as far as the very bodies of David and Solomon; WHERE TWO OF HIS GUARDS WERE SLAIN BY A FLAME that burst out upon those that went in, as the report was. So he was terribly affrightened, and went out, and built a propitiatory monument of that fright he had been in; and this of white stone, at the mouth of the sepulcher..." (Antiquities of the Jews 14.7.1).
The physical "Shekinah" put the fear of YAHWEH ELOHIM in Herod and his surviving men and, frankly, "scared the heck" out of them!
YAHWEH's "Shekinah" remained in the Temple all through the life and death of the Messiah and up to the year 66 A.D. --- when it was seen leaving the Temple and alighting on the Mount of Olives. Notice this!
"There is also another reason why Christians in the first century were very interested in the Mount of Olives. This is because it was believed that the Shekinah Glory of God which supposedly dwelt inside the Holy of Holies at the Temple left the sanctuary and went to the Mount of Olives and hovered over that spot at the time of the Roman/ Jewish War which ended in A.D. 70. The fact that the Shekinah Glory left the old Temple and migrated to the top of the Mount of Olives was an important event to Eusebius [church historian and scholar A.D. 260?-340?]" (Secrets of Golgotha, by Ernest L. Martin. 1988: ASK Publications, Alhambra, CA. p. 83).
In Eusebius' book Proof of the Gospel we find this passage:
"Believers in Christ congregate from all parts of the world, not as of old time because of the glory of Jerusalem, nor that they may worship in the ancient Temple at Jerusalem, but...that they may worship at the Mount of Olives opposite to the city, where the glory [the Shekinah Glory] of the LORD [YEHOVAH, YHVH] migrated when it left the former city" (Book VI, Chapter 18 (288)).
According to Eusebius the "Shekinah" Glory left the Temple and hovered over the Mount of Olives during "the siege of Jerusalem" (66 A.D. to 70). However, Eusebius was not the only observer who mentioned that the "Shekinah" Glory left the Temple before the destruction of the Temple and hovered over the Mount of Olives. A Jewish rabbi named Jonathan -- who was an eyewitness to the destruction of Jerusalem -- said the "Shekinah" Glory left the Temple and for three and a half years...
"...abode on the MOUNT OF OLIVES hoping that Israel would repent, but they did not; while a Bet Kol [a supernatural voice from heaven] issued forth announcing, Return, O backsliding children [Jer. 3:14]. Return unto Me, and I will return unto you [Mal. 3:7], when they did not repent, it said, I WILL RETURN TO MY PLACE [Hosea 5:15] (Midrash Rabbah, Lamentations 2:11)" (Secrets of Golgotha, by Ernest L. Martin. 84).
There was yet another writer who recorded the fact of the "Shekinah" presence of YAHWEH ELOHIM moving from the Temple in Jerusalem just before the war with the Romans:
Josephus mentioned that in the Spring of 66 A.D. some astonishing events took place within the Temple. He recorded three miracles associated with Yahweh's "Shekinah" and the Temple -- and each one showed clearly that the "Shekinah" was departing from the Holy of Holies. In War VI, 290 he stated "that a GREAT LIGHT shone over the altar for thirty minutes at 3 o'clock in the morning (a week before Passover in A.D. 66) and then it DEPARTED. He said the sacred scribes interpreted this sign as a bad omen for the Temple. It was like the Shekinah Glory moving away from the Tabernacle in the wilderness as a sign to disassemble the Tabernacle and transport it to another location" (ibid.).
Josephus goes on to say that "a few days later (during Passover itself) the enormous brass gates of Nicanor, requiring twenty men to open and close them, opened at midnight of their own accord" (War VI, 293-295). This was also interpreted as showing a desolation coming upon the Temple. And then later, on Pentecost/Shavuot, the final sign was given which definitely showed that the Shekinah Glory was departing the Temple as the other signs indicated (ibid.):
"Moreover, at the festival which is called Pentecost, the priests on entering the inner court of the Temple at nightfall, as their custom was in accomplishment of their ministrations, stated that they first became aware of a commotion and a roar, and after that the voice of a great multitude saying, 'We are departing hence'." (War VI, 299).
When we couple Josephus' information with that of Rabbi Jonathan (also an eyewitness) we can see that the "Shekinah" went directly to the Mount of Olives and remained over the top of the mountain for 3 and 1/2 years -- from late Spring in 66 A.D. to about December of 69 A.D., some eight months before the Temple was destroyed by the Romans! It then went back to heaven and has not returned to earth since!
To continue reading about this theme, go to our previous message titled: "What Did Yahwshua Mean When He Said "Touch Me Not"? http://yahshua-ha-mashiach.weebly.com/what-did-yahwshua-mean-when-he-said-touch-me-not.html
Rafael