Redemption Plan of YHVH

Posted by Navah on May 31, 2016

From the Book Reckoning of Time

So far, we studied from the Creation of the world to the coming of the Messiah or 3,996 years of human history. We counted the numbers of years from the first day of Creation, as the events had been recorded in the Scripture, with which we are coming to the most important part of this study, per the opinion of the present author, the Redemption Plan of YHVH.

There are strong considerations, that the Creator’s 6,000 year countdown might have not started from Day One of Creation but from the year when YHVH’s redemption plan commenced, namely, when Adam fell from grace seven years after he was created (read Jubilees 3:17-32). Adam was created on the sixth day, on the eve of the first Sabbath, and the Creator declared that everything was good. Adam was blessed with everything paradise can provide. The creation of Elohim was perfect as it was made and Adam was sinless and created to live forever, thus there was no reason for existing of a reckoning of time and much less time itself. Time as we know it today was not in existence, because there was no need for it.

The need for time came when Adam became mortal after he sinned before the Creator and thus the need for time came into being. Therefore, the Creator started reckoning of time since that point only for the sake of man. This reckoning was also for the sake of the redemption of the sinful man. The hypothesis of this author is that the Redemption of YHVH’s creation might have begun from year eight from the creation and it will be proven to be true. But first, let us start again from the year of the fall. After the adversary deceived the woman, Elohim made this prophetic statement that commenced the Redemption Plan in year eight of the Creation:

And I put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed. He shall crush your head, and you shall crush His heel. (Gen 3:15)

This declaration of Elohim was not addressed to Adam and Havah but to satan that Elohim would do away with sin in a very particular way. At that moment by His omniscience, the Creator of the universe already devised the plan for the redemption of His creation. Until that moment satan did not know anything about the Redemption Plan of YHVH. But satan being highly intelligent creature sensed that that declaration was made for reason and went immediately to do his work: (1) to try to nullify what Elohim had just said. And his first step in his counter plan was to eliminate Hevel, and later Mosheh, and Yeshua, in order to break the line of the righteous ones because he did not know who the Seed of the woman would be (2) and to counterfeit the real things with false ones:

and it speaks words against the Most High, and it wears out the set-apart ones of the Most High, and it intends to change appointed times and law, and they are given into its hand for a time and times and half a time. (Dan 7:25)

However, the adversary did not noticed a prophetic sign given in the Torah (Genesis 5), that of the names of the first ten ancestors of the lineage of Noach. When the names of the righteous men after Adam are read with their meanings in Hebrew, a prophetic picture of the Redemption Plan of YHVH and that of the Messiah comes into light:

Adam Human

Sheth Appointed/Substituted

Enosh Mortal man

Qeynan Possession

Mahalalel Praise of Elohim

Yered Shall Descend

Hanok Dedicated

Methushelah His Death Sends

Lemek Powerful

Noach Rest

Or, after the decoding of this hidden message we read:

A Man appointed/substituted for a mortal man, a praise of Elohim, shall descend dedicated and His death shall send a powerful rest.

The adversary did not notice another prophetic picture encoded in the names of the children of Ya’akov (read in chronological order) born to him through his four wives with the corresponding meanings of their names (Appendix M: The Twelve Tribes):

Sons of Leah:

Re’uven Behold a son

Shimon Heard

Levi United to

Yehudah YHVH praised

Sons of Bilhah (Rachel’s servant):

Dan Judge

Naphtali My wrestling/struggle

Sons of Zilpah (Leah’s servant):

Gad Fortune

Asher Happy

Sons of Leah:

Issachar He will bring a reward

Zevulun Habitation

Dina Judgment

Sons of Rachel:

Yoseph YHVH has added

Binyamin Son of the right hand

Or, we read:

Behold a son, Heard, United [with the Father]. YHVH praised, [He is a] Judge, My struggle, Fortune, Happy. He will bring a reward, Habitation, Judgment. YHVH has added, Son of the right hand.

However, if we rearrange the names of Ya’akov’s sons as they appear in Rev 7:4-8 with the full description of their meanings given by their mothers, before us is revealed another prophetic picture of the Messiah. We read:

Gen_29:35 Yehudah, Yehovah praised, “Now I praise YHVH.”

Gen_29:32 Re’uvein, Behold a son; “For YHVH has looked on my affliction.”

Gen_30:11 Gad, Fortune; “With Fortune

Gen_30:13 Asher, Happy; I am blessed.”

Gen_30:8 Naphtali, My Wrestling, “With great wrestlings I have wrestled and I have overcome.”

Gen_41:51 Menashsheh, Causing to overlook “For Elohim has made me forget all my toil

Gen_29:33 Shimon, Heard, Because YHVH has heard that I am unloved, He gave me this son too.”

Gen_29:34 Leivi, Joined, “Now this time my husband will be joined to me,

Gen_30:18 Issaschar, He will bring a reward, “Elohim has given me my wage,

Gen_30:20 Zevulun, Habitation , “Elohim has presented me with a good gift. Now my husband will dwell with me.”

Gen_30:24 Yoseph, YHVH has added, “YHVH will add to me another son:

Gen_35:18 Binyamin, Son of the right hand, Son of my sorrow (Ben-Oni) and Son of my right hand (Binyamin)” [the suffering Messiah and the conquering Messiah]

Who could that son called a praise of Elohim be, but Yeshua the Messiah? Later in this study, we will see that the adversary was not able to decipher these prophecies of the Redemption Plan of YHVH and went straight forward to crucify the Messiah without suspecting who He was and what His mission was. Had he known, he would have thought twice. Apostle Shaul correctly understood the adversary’s failure and wrote:

But we speak the wisdom of Elohim, which was hidden in a secret, and which Elohim ordained before the ages for our esteem, which no one of the rulers of this age knew, for if they had known, they would not have impaled the Master of glory. (1Co 2:7-8)

Because of the sin Adam committed, the Creator stripped him of all the blessings in the Garden of Eden including the blessing of everlasting life. The first man died at the age of 930. There was a specific reason why the mortal Adam died at the age of 930 years, and did not reach an age higher than 1,000 years. Let us go back to the Creation narrative. In Gen_2:17, the Creator told him,

But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it; for in the day that you eat from it you die you are dying.

This translation is faithful to the concept that if Adam had not eaten from it he would have lived forever (he was created to live forever) but because on the day he ate from it he became mortal, or the idea behind it is that he began to die from that moment on, and eventually Adam died at the age of 930 years.

See also Zec 11:9 where the Hebrew text uses the same phrase: תמות ^{you are dying} המתה ^{you who are dying}

Or, the same verbal form as Gen 2:17 found also in Eze 33:8, Eze 3:18, Eze 33:14.

And since a day represented a 1,000 years to the Creator, Adam had to die before the end of that day, i.e. before he could reach the age of 1,000 years. This understanding of Gen 2:17 is supported by Josephus in Antiquities of the Jews, Book 1, Chapter 1:4,

God therefore commanded that Adam and his wife should eat of all the rest of the plants, but to abstain from the tree of knowledge; and foretold to them, that if they touched it, it would prove their destruction.

And from The Book of Jubilee, Chapter 4:30 we read:

And he lacked seventy years of one thousand years; for one thousand years are as one day in the testimony of the heavens and therefore was it written concerning the tree of knowledge: ‘On the day that ye eat thereof ye shall die.’ For this reason he did not complete the years of this day; for he died during it.

Apostle Yochanan brings a new dimension of YHVH’s redemption plan, as it is written in Joh_3:16,

For Elohim so loved the world, that He gave His only brought-forth Son, so that everyone who believes in Him should not perish but possess everlasting life.

The Greek word behind “world” is kosmos, universe, commonly translated from the Hebrew olam where olam is the whole creation of YHVH which includes the mankind, too. And because His creation was corrupted, His redemption will be for the whole creation at the return of the Messiah. In other words, Joh_3:16 can have a new reading which brings the idea that faith in the Messiah reverses the process of corruption of the creation that started short after the Beginning:

For Elohim so loved His creation that He gave His only brought-forth Son, so that those who believes in Him should not perish but possess everlasting life.

Therefore, after the fall of Adam, there was a need for redemption not only for man but also for the creation itself until man will return to what he was before the sin. The fall of Adam occurred in the seventh year after the creation, therefore, the 6,000 years of allotted time for restoration of all things could have commenced then, in the eighth year of the creation.

Jubilee 3:17. And after the completion of the seven years, which he had completed there, seven years exactly, and in the second month, on the seventeenth day (of the month), the serpent came and approached the woman, and the serpent said to the woman, “Hath God commanded you, saying, … 32. And on the new moon of the fourth month, Adam and his wife went forth from the Garden of Eden, and they dwelt in the land of ’Eldâ, in the land of their creation.

So, Adam sinned on the 17th day of the second month of the eighth year from his creation and was expelled from the garden on the first day of fourth month that year.

Moreover, we are not only told the month and the day of his fall but the part of the day, too. In his commentary on Gen_3:8 Rashi gives his literal reading of the passage:

Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made loin coverings for themselves. And they heard the sound of Yehovah Elohim walking about in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of Yehovah Elohim among the trees of the garden. (Gen 3:7-8)

The text literally says, walking himself in the garden for the wind of the day. Rashi interprets this to mean to the direction of the sun and makes this comment: To that direction in which the sun sets, and this is the west, for toward evening, the sun is in the west, and they sinned in the tenth [hour]. — [from Gen. Rabbah 19:8, Sanh. 38b]. It is unknown for us, however, why we are given the exact our of the day (4:00 pm).

From now on, for the purpose of this study, we will use two reckonings of time: (1) one started from Day One of the creation, which we will call “The Labor of Man” reckoning and another one, which started from Year 8 (but being year one in the Creator’s reckoning) since the creation and we will call it “The Redemption Plan.”

Since both reckonings are offset by seven years, only one of them will end up ultimately with the return of the Messiah when all things will be restored by His merits. In other words, the Messiah will return either in the 6,000th year since the creation or in the 6,000th year since the fall of man. This restoration of the original creation would come through the provision of the punishment and resurrection of the righteous Messiah. Thus, he would reconcile man back to his Creator YHVH.

Therefore, “The Labor of Man” plan will elapse 6,007 years and “The Redemption Plan” 6,000 years, if Messiah will return according to the “the Redemption Plan”. Or “The Labor of Man” will elapse 6,000 years and “the Redemption Plan” 5,993 years, if Messiah will return according to the “The Labor of Man” plan (see Jubilees Table for more information).

There is a remarkable passage in a very old book titled Pesikta, cited in the treatise Abkath Rokhel, and reprinted in Hulsii Theologia Judaica, p. 309, in which the Sages express their faith in the redemption work of the Messiah. We read:

When Elohim created the world, He stretched out His hand under the throne of His kavod, and brought forth the being of the Messiah. He said to him: ‘Will you heal and redeem My sons after 6000 years?’ He answered him, ‘I will.’ Then Elohim said to him: ‘Will you then also bear the punishment in order to blot out their sins, as it is written, “But he bore our diseases” (Isa 53:4). And the Messiah answered Him; ‘I will joyfully bear them’ (cf. Zohar, 2:212a).

It appears from this quote from Abkath Rokhel that according to the sages the coming of the Messiah will be after 6,000 years since the sin entered this world in the seventh year of Creation, or after 6,000 years per “The Redemption Plan” reckoning, as it is defined in this study.

Which reckoning, “The Labor of Man” or “The Redemption Plan of YHVH”, the Creator of the universe considers for His Messiah’s return and according to which the Sabbatical and Jubilee years are to be reckoned, the present author does not know. However, we will come to some conclusions at the end of this study as both reckonings will be considered again.

In order to understand the Redemption Plan of YHVH, and more specifically the need for it, we need to go back to the Exodus story and take a clear and deep understanding of it, and more particularly, what happened then in regards to the occupying the land promised to the patriarchs.

The length and time of Israel’s journey from Egypt to Mount Sinai, where YHVH chose to bring them under the Covenant, can be calculated by piecing together various clues given in the Scriptures.

Israel came out of Egypt in the month of the aviv. They were led to the mountain where they entered into a wedding ceremony with YHVH and as a result of which the Torah, the wedding contract, was given to them. A year later, they celebrated Passover in the Wilderness of Sinai. And a month later the children of Israel kept the second Passover, following which they departed from Mount Sinai and took their journey to the Promised Land.

Once again, let us recall what happened after the children of Israel received the Covenant of YHVH. Israel decamped from Mount Sinai on the twentieth of the second month in the second year (Num_10:11), and set forth on a three days’ journey (Num_10:33), following which they ate the quail for thirty days (Num_11:20). That brings us up to the twenty-second of the third month. Then Miriam was secluded outside of the camp for seven days (Num_12:15), following which they began their journey toward the land of Kana’an which Elohim promised to the forefathers.

And something crucial took place there at the threshold of the Promised Land. Mosheh sent twelve spies (Num_13:1-2) to the land. The spies went out on the 29th of the third month and they returned from spying out the land at the end of forty days (Num_13:25). The forth month was a “full” month (of thirty days) that year, meaning that they returned on the eighth of the fifth month.

They all but two, Kalev and Yehoshua, brought an evil report of disbelief that they could not conquer the Land the Almighty had already told them they would inherit, if they would just believe His promise. Thus, by bringing an evil report, they rejected the object of the Covenant the Creator made with their father Avraham, as it is further written, “And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night.”

Rabbah said in the name of Rabbi Yochanan:

That night was the night of the ninth of Av (the fifth month). Said G-d to them: You have wept without cause, therefore I will set aside this day for a weeping throughout the generations to come. (Talmud, Taanit 29b)

On the ninth of the fifth month it was decreed that Israel should not enter the Promised Land because of their distrust. It is worth noticing here that five misfortunes befell the fathers on the ninth of the fifth month: (1) it was decreed that Israel should not enter the Promised Land, (2) the first and (3) second Temple were destroyed (2Ki_25:3-12, Jer_52:6-16), (4) Bethar, the stronghold of Bar Kochba, fell ending the last attempt for independence, (5) and the city of Yerushalayim was destroyed (Ibid., 26b). And per the tradition, Elohim commanded a fast and mourning on this day, the ninth of the fifth month.

By these misfortunes, Elohim was giving a sign to his people that the land would be in rest whenever they would be found in disobedience, as it is written in Lev_26:31-35,

And I shall scatter you among the gentiles and draw out a sword after you. And your land shall be desert and your cities ruins, and the land enjoy its Sabbaths as long as it lies waste and you are in your enemies’ land. Then the land would rest and enjoy its Sabbaths. As long as it lies waste it rests, for the time it did not rest on your Sabbaths when you dwelt in it.

The original plan, according to the Sages, was to go like this: on the fifteenth of the first month, the people of Israel are taken out of Egypt under the leadership of Mosheh. After seven weeks of preparation and self-refinement, they receive the Torah, their mandate from YHVH as His nation of priests and set-apart people. Mosheh builds the Tabernacle to serve as the dwelling place of the Presence in the physical world and Israel implements the blueprint for life contained in the Torah. From Sinai it is an eleven-day journey to the land of Kana’an (Deu_1:1-2)—the land promised to Avraham, Yitzhak and Ya’akov as Israel’s eternal homeland.

That, however, was not what came to pass. Instead, the journey from Sinai to the Land took not eleven days but thirty-eight years of wandering in the Arabian desert, which the present author calls the Arabian exile, shortly after the Egyptian exile. The generation of the Exodus became “the generation of the desert”—only two of the 600,000 adult males who left Egypt lived to enter the land of the promise: Yehoshua and Kalev.

So, what went wrong?

In Num_13:1-3 we are told that YHVH sent the twelve spies to scout the Land of Promise. Later in the Torah we see that it was not YHVH who thought to send the spies but the Israelites, as recorded in Deu_1:20-23. But, were they sent “to spy” the Land? The Hebrew word for the verb “to spy” is leragel, and a spy is a meragel. Interestingly, Mosheh never instructed the spies to “leragel,” rather he told them to “latur,” to “explore.” Throughout the episode we read about their “exploring” the Land. What is the difference between to spy and to explore? Explorers merely “examine for the purpose of discovery,” while spies “observe secretively with hostile intent.” Mosheh never instructed the twelves to spy; all he wanted was a factual report of what they would see. Whether or not the Land was conquerable or not was not an issue, they were not asked to provide an intelligence report regarding the feasibility of that task, but to bring a report to Mosheh of what they would find. For, after all, Elohim had promised them the Land, and would certainly ensure their victory in battle.

Their sin was this little deviation from what they were told to do. What started as a mere subjective assessment of how they would militarily conquer the land, ended up in doubting the ability of the Almighty Himself to bring them in His land, the Kingdom of Elohim, the land of milk and honey. They failed to establish the Kingdom of Israel in the land. Remember that the Covenant which YHVH made with their patriarch Avraham was about giving the Land to him and his offspring. (Ironically, the grand plan, over which Mosheh was to preside, was delayed and still awaits completion even today.) Mosheh’s disciple, Yehoshua, began the conquest of the land thirty-eight years later, but the task was completed five centuries later by King Shlomo when the Kingdom of Israel reached the borders promised to Avraham.

Shlomo built the Temple in Yerushalayim, but this was not the eternal edifice. The Temple was destroyed by the Babylonians, rebuilt by Ezra after the exile, and destroyed once again by the Romans: all of this because of disobedience to YHVH’s Covenant which he made with Israel at Mount Sinai. The people of Israel failed to fully live up to their role as a “light unto the nations,” and were exiled from their land every time they failed to be obedient to YHVH. The perfect and harmonious world which they had to achieve by entering the land of Kana’an still awaits attainment.

The rejection to take the land was not, however, the only sin the children of Israel committed against YHVH. The golden calf sin at Mount Sinai left a big impact on the nation and how they were to serve Elohim. Originally, the priestly service to YHVH was intended to be performed by the first-born of Israel because the first one opening the womb was His (Exo_13:2). Since the first-born of Israel were saved by the blood of the lambs that night in Egypt, YHVH required that the first-born were to be redeemed because they did not die. And He redeemed them by smiting the firstborn of Egypt — [from Mechilta]. The first-born of Israel were to serve to YHVH and be His priests (Exo_19:5-6) forever when He would bring them into the land (Exo_13:11-13). But that was before the golden calf sin.

After the golden calf sin, this privilege and responsibility was taken from the first-born and given to the tribe of Levi, because the Levites did not participate in that sin. Hence, had Israel not sinned, the priesthood would have rightfully belonged to the first-born. But because of Israel’s sin in creating an image of the invisible Elohim, the sacred service was denied to the first-born of Israel, who were originally deemed worthy to receive the priesthood, and was given to the Levites.

Midrash Aggadah teaches that YHVH gave this right to the Levites through the firstborns of Israel, taking the Levites in their place. The Levites, who had not committed idolatry, were chosen in their stead (Num_3:40-41).

Now look, I Myself have taken the Levites from among the children of Israel instead of every first-born who opens the womb among the children of Israel. And the Levites shall be Mine, because all the first-born are Mine. On the day that I struck all the first-born in the land of Egypt, I set apart to Myself all the first-born in Israel, both man and beast. They are Mine, I am Yehovah. (Num 3:12-13)

So, the Levites were chosen to serve in the Tabernacle and later in the Temple (Num_1:50-53), but also they were to serve as a redemption of the first-born of Israel.

This substitution is seen in the counting of the Levites in Numbers 3. We should note that if we add up the totals given for each of the families of the Levites (Num_3:15-34), we arrive at the total number of 22,300. When the first-born among the children of Israel were numbered in order to be redeemed, they were 22,273 (Num_3:42-43). However, when the Torah gives the total count for the exchange of the first-born, we are given a different number (Num_3:39) 22,000 Levites. In other words, the Torah tells us that there were exactly 273 more first-born than Levites (Num_3:43); therefore, they were to be redeemed by paying five shekels per person to Aharon (Num_3:46-48).

Ibn Ezra writes (Ibn Ezra’s Commentary on the Pentateuch: Numbers, translated and annotated by H. Norman Strickman and Arthur M. Silver, Menorah Publishing Company, Pg.23):

Were twenty and two thousand…When you add up the figures you will find that they come to three hundred above the figure given in the Scripture. [Gershonites (v.22) 7,500; Kohathites (v.28) 8,600; Meratites (v.34) 6,200; comes to 22,300.] Some say that Scripture is being brief and mentions only the thousands and neglects the hundreds. However, this cannot be the case. Scripture mentions less than three hundred over and above a round number. [see count for Gad; Num_1:25, 45,650; and firstborn; Num_3:43 22,273] The truth is in accordance with tradition, which states that a firstborn does not free a firstborn. The meaning of our verse thus is, all that were numbered of the Levites with the exception of the firstborn were twenty and two thousand.

And indeed, one cannot use a firstborn lamb to redeem a firstborn man or a beast. The first-born lamb already belongs to YHVH; therefore, another lamb must be used to redeem. The same is true for the Levites. The first-born of the Levites already belong to YHVH, therefore, they cannot be used to redeem the first-born of Israel. Since the purpose of the count is for the redemption of the first-born of Israel, it only makes sense that the number of the firstborn of the Levites is omitted from the total.

Now, YHVH promises the restoration of Israel in the Land in its time, as it is written in Isa_60:21-22,

And your people, all of them righteous, shall inherit the earth forever – a branch of My planting, a work of My hands, to be adorned. The little shall become a thousand, and the small one a strong nation. I, Yehovah, shall hasten it in its time.

Throughout history Jewry has eagerly awaited the ultimate redemption through the Messiah. The sages (Sanhedrin 98a) have identified two times for His coming. One is — the preordained time by the Creator at the beginning of creation, and the second is — a hastened revelation before the destined time. The Rabbinical authority interprets in its time I will hasten it thus: If they are worthy, YHVH will hasten it; if they are not worthy, it will be in its due time, meaning that YHVH will either “hasten” the restoration of the Kingdom of Israel (Isa_60:1-20) or let it come “in its due time”, all depending on the Covenant requirement of repentance renewed at plains of Mo’av, as it is written in Deu_30:1-6,

And it shall be, when all these words come upon you, the blessing and the curse which I have set before you, and you shall bring them back to your heart among all the gentiles where Yehovah your Elohim drives you, and shall turn back to Yehovah your Elohim and obey His voice, according to all that I command you today, with all your heart and with all your being, you and your children, then Yehovah your Elohim shall turn back your captivity, and shall have compassion on you, and He shall turn back and gather you from all the peoples where Yehovah your Elohim has scattered you. If any of you are driven out to the farthest parts under the heavens, from there Yehovah your Elohim does gather you, and from there He does take you. And Yehovah your Elohim shall bring you to the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it. And He shall do good to you, and increase you more than your fathers. And Yehovah your Elohim shall circumcise your heart and the heart of your seed, to love Yehovah your Elohim with all your heart and with all your being, so that you might live,

It will happen in its time predetermined from the beginning of creation. In the beginning of this study we came to the understanding that the predetermined time has been set for 6,000 years. This ultimate time for the end is unconditional: it does not depend on Israel’s merit, as it is said, “For My own sake, for My own sake, I will do it…” (Isa_48:11). However, in the phrase in its time I will hasten it, the words in its time means a pre-set date and I will hasten it means that it may occur earlier, before its predetermined time. This seeming contradiction may be resolved as follows: “If Israel is worthy, I will hasten it, if not: it will come in its time.” And again this appointed time for His arrival will not be late,

The vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak and not lie. Though it tarry wait for it, for it will surely come, it will not be late! (Hab_2:3).

Yet, there is an explicit verse in Mal_3:1 that says,

The lord whom you seek (the king Messiah) will suddenly come to his palace, and the messenger of the covenant whom you desire, behold he comes…

With all this being said, we may ponder which of the two reckonings as defined in this chapter is “in its time” and which is “in the hastened time.” May we say that the 6,000th year per The Redemption Plan is “in its time” and the 6,000th year of The Labor of Man Plan is “in the hastened time?”

Let us recall that according to Abkath Rokhel, the sages understood that the coming of the Messiah would be 6,000 years after the sin entered the world (counted from the eighth of creation), or after 6,000 years per “The Redemption Plan of YHVH” reckoning. This is also the understanding of the present author that the 6,000 years per “The Redemption Plan of YHVH” reckoning is the predetermined time for the final redemption of man. And if this is correct to assume, then “the hastened time” would be a time set to come before that, that is, 6,000 years per The Labor of Man Plan counted from Day 1 of the creation (see again Jubilees Table).

And indeed, if the sages are correct and if Israel labor is found worthy, Israel’s Messiah may hasten it and come seven years earlier in the 6,000th year from the Creation. The present author tends to believe that this is exactly the case, because, surely, the Messiah said to Israel referring to the last days:

Therefore bear fruit worthy of repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Avraham as our father.’ (Luk 3:8)

For it shall come as a snare on all those dwelling on the face of all the earth. Watch then at all times, and pray that you be counted worthy to escape all this about to take place, and to stand before the Son of man. (Luk 21:35-36)

From these verses we may conclude that “worthy of repentance” is the prerequisite for the earlier coming of the Messiah. For more on the Messiah’s coming see Part II, Chapter Signs of The Messiah.

Bear also in mind, when reading the promise of Elohim in Isa_60:21-22 to bring His children from captivity, that only a small remnant of all Israel lived in the land in Isaiah’s time and again a small remnant will inherit it:

And your people, all of them righteous, shall inherit the earth forever – a branch of My planting, a work of My hands, to be adorned. The little shall become a thousand, and the small one a strong nation.

As we see from the above passage in Deuteronomy, the returning to the Land of Promise is always conditional and connected with repentance.

And indeed, the offer for repentance was resumed in the days of Yochanan the immerser. Yochanan had been announcing the Good News as soon as his work began to call the whole nation for repentance, as it is written in Mat_3:2,

… saying, “Repent, for the reign of the heavens has come near!

And the Messiah repeated this call for repentance in Mat_4:17, as it is written,

From that time Yeshua began to proclaim and to say, Repent, for the reign of the heavens has drawn near.

As we see, the repentance of the nation was necessary for the coming kingdom of heaven. Bear also in mind that the Covenant which YHVH made with Avraham was about giving the Land to Israel and establishing the Kingdom of heavens here on earth. Apostle Shaul clearly understood it and called it “the Good News” in his letter to the Galatians (Gal 3:8-9),

And the Scripture, having foreseen that Elohim would declare right the nations by faith, announced the Good News to Avraham beforehand, saying, “All the nations shall be blessed in you,” so that those who are of faith are blessed with Avraham, the believer.

Here, Shaul is quoting the Covenant YHVH made with Avraham to give him and his seed the Land of Promise:

And I shall make you a great nation, and bless you and make your name great, and you shall be a blessing! And I shall bless those who bless you, and curse him who curses you. And in you all the clans of the earth shall be blessed. (Gen 12:2-3)

The Hebrew word for “bless”, barak, means to bend the knee to kneel in respect and honor, hence the extended idea of presenting or giving honor to another. In Hebrew language some words can be pronounced using different vowels, as it is the case in Gen 12:2-3. Per the sages the word “bless”, barak, in Gen_12:2-3 has a different root origin and means to intermingle, to graft in. Grafting is done by cutting the branches under an angle so when they are connected the engrafted branch looks like a knee, hence the connection with kneeling and honoring. With this new understanding, we may see an alternative translation of the above verse:

… And in you all the clans of the mankind shall be grafted.

And indeed, what would be a better blessing for the seed of Avraham (Israel) and the faithful nations than to inherit the Land of Promise. And the apostle continues in his letter to the Hebrews,

Therefore, since a promise remains of entering into His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. For indeed the Good News was brought to us as well as to them, but the word which they heard did not profit them, not having been mixed with belief in those who heard it. (Heb 4:1-2)

What is the “therefore” there for? It is to link this statement with Chapter 3 which speaks of the failure of Israel to enter the Promised Land and inherit the land when the ten spies brought the evil report. Shaul alludes to the entering into YHVH’s rest as an inheriting the land. And again as in the letter to the Galatians, he uses the term “the Good News” as a type of “the Kingdom of Elohim: “But the word of the Kingdom of Elohim did not profit them because of the disbelief thus having failed to fulfill the promise given to them to enter the Promised Land.” We may also see the phrase entering into His rest as a reference to the Sabbath and the seventh millennium when Israel will enter into her final rest: the Millennial Kingdom.

So there remains a Sabbath-keeping for the people of Elohim. For the one, having entered into His rest, has himself also rested from his works, as Elohim rested from His own. Let us therefore do our utmost to enter into that rest, lest anyone fall after the same example of disobedience. (Heb 4:9-11)

The sad thing is that history repeats itself and those who do not learn from history are destined to repeat it. After the resurrection, Yeshua continued to teach “the Kingdom of Elohim” for forty days until His ascendance to the Father, as it is written in Act_1:1-3,

Yeshua began both to do and to teach, until the day when He was taken up, after giving instructions through the Distinguished Breath to the emissaries whom He had chosen, to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them for forty days, speaking concerning the kingdom of Elohim.

After studying the “Kingdom of Elohim” with the Messiah for forty days (Act_1:3) the emissaries wanted to know whether the Kingdom would be restored to Israel “at this time.” Notice that they wanted to know when the kingdom would be restored to [all] Israel, and not to Yehudah only. Yeshua answered that it was not for them to know the time of his coming, in other words, whether he will come in the pre-set time or in the hastened time (Act_1:6-7),

So when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Master, would You at this time restore the reign to Israel?”And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority.

The truth is that the Kingdom of Elohim is the restored Kingdom of Israel in which all Israelites will be priests and light to the world. The Hebrew text of Mat_3:2 and Mat_4:17 does indicate that the Kingdom was at hand, if they would just repent from sin. Yeshua continued to preach repentance throughout His ministry (Mat_12:28, Luk_11:20; Mar_12:34; Luk_10:9-11) even sending out His emissaries with the same proclamation (Mat_10:7),

And as you go, proclaim, saying, ‘The reign of the heavens has drawn near.’

This is the meaning of the passage, “…if you are willing to receive it [the Kingdom of heaven], Yochanan is Elijah who is to come.” (Mat_11:14-15).

And again, the Sages understood that the coming of the Messiah would depend on two conditions, namely, whether or not they would repent, and they even believed in two comings of the Messiah of Israel.

R. Abba, for instance, said in Sanhedrin 98a:

There can be no more manifest [sign of] redemption than this: viz., what is said, But ye, O mountains of Israel, ye shall shoot forth your branches, and yield your fruit to my people of Israel, for they are at hand to come. (Eze_36:8)

Rashi: “When Palestine becomes so very fertile, Messiah’s advent is near, and there can be no clearer sign than this.”

And R. Alexandri said:

R. Yehoshua b. Levi pointed out a contradiction. it is written, in its time [will the Messiah come], whilst it is also written, I [the Lord] will hasten it!— if they are worthy, I will hasten it: if not, [he will come] at the due time. R. Alexandri said: R. Yehoshua opposed two verses: it is written, And behold, one like the son of man came with the clouds of heaven (Dan_7:13) whilst [elsewhere] it is written, [behold, thy king cometh unto thee … ] lowly, and riding upon an ass! (Zec_9:9)— if they are meritorious, [he will come] with the clouds of heaven; if not, lowly and riding upon an ass. (ibid.)

Midrash Genesis Rabba 98:9 identifies Zec 9:9 as a prophecy about King Messiah. Therefore, we may say: the Yehudim in the first century were not meritorious at the first comming of King Messiah and He was riding on a donkey. At His second coming, however, they will be, because He will come in his glory riding on a horse (Rev 19:11-13). The question again is, “In which year of his Father’s reckoning will he come?”

And indeed, the Yehudim were expecting the Messiah in the time frame when he did come the first ime. The Apostolic writings supply undoubtedly evidence to support this (Mat_17:10-13, Luk_2:27-32, Luk_3:15, Luk_7:16, Luk_19:11, Luk_24:21, Joh_1:21, Joh_1:41, Joh_4:25-26, Joh_6:14-15, Joh_7:26, Joh_10:24-26). For instance, Yeshua was asked by the Pharisees and disciples whether he was the one who was to be expected but he refused to answer directly those questions because that was, what the present author believes, “a covert mission” of His Father designed from the beginning of the world to redeemed the creation and men.

Let us again refer to the curse over satan in Gen 3:15. Apostle Shaul could not have said it more precisely than this speaking of a “hidden secret” ordained before the ages:

But we speak the wisdom of Elohim, which was hidden in a secret, and which Elohim ordained before the ages for our esteem, which no one of the rulers of this age knew, for if they had known, they would not have impaled the Master of esteem. (1Co 2:7-8)

To be obedient to His Father’s plan, Yeshua even forbade His disciples to say to no one what they would hear (Luk 9:21-22):

And strictly warning them, He commanded them to say this to no one, saying, “The Son of man has to suffer much, and to be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and to be killed, and to be raised the third day.”

Therefore, we may say, the hidden secret of the Creator was His Son had to (1) suffer much, and (2) to be rejected, and (3) to be killed, and (4) to be raised the third day. But even then they did not understand Him:

“Lay up in your ears these words, for the Son of man is about to be delivered into the hands of men.” But they did not understand this saying, and it was veiled from them so that they did not perceive it. And they were afraid to ask Him about this saying. (Luk 9:44-45)

It is a common misconception that the adversary knew who the real Yeshua was and that was why he wanted to get Him crucified. But that was not what Shaul comprehended from the events surrounding the crucifixion and said it very clearly in 1Co 2:7-8 that if they had known, they would not have impaled the Master.

And indeed, had the adversary have known the real nature and mission of the Messiah, he would have never ever had the Romans crucified Him. The adversary is a very powerfull and intelligent being. Although he is not omniscient, he can still put two and two together and make his move. But the YHVH’s plan of redemption was so intricately designed that satan was tricked. If satan had known that Yeshua was the Son of Elohim, the very image of the invisible and omnipotent YHVH, do we really think that he would have been so foolish to believe that he could have killed the Anointed one of YHVH?

Yeshua said that no one could take His life. Satan knew that Yeshua was a very special man chosen by Elohim to implement His plan because he was keeping in mind the curse from the very beginning that a seed of the woman should crush his head, and he should crush his heel, but that was all he knew about Yeshua. And he was very quick to self fulfill the prophecy by having crushed Yeshua’s heel in order to prevent the curse on him, and thus having put to an end the Redemption Plan of YHVH once and for all.

But the adversary was not aware of Yeshua’s nature, not until the resurrection. He was aware of His mission only, or at least that was what he thought. Apparently, satan was not aware of the hidden message in the names of the first ten generations after Adam, as we learned previously, that a special man would descend. He tempted Yeshua because that was what he thought Yeshua was: a man who could have been enticed into the temptations. If satan had known, he would not have even tempted Him for a day, much less for forty days; he is not foolish.

He already knew that the mission of the Seed of the woman was to crush his head as stated from the very beginning, so he wanted to crush His heel first in order to change the prophecy of YHVH given when he deceived the first woman. Again, satan kept in his mind that prophecy all those 4,000 years and he believed that that was the time to annul the Omnipotent One’s plan. We can imagine how surprised he was when Yeshua was resurrected and only then he understood the real Yeshua and His real mission.

What went wrong for satan? At His first coming the Messiah’s mission was not to crush serpent’s head and bring world peace by reconciling men to men, that would be the mission of His second coming at the end of the 6,000 years. But His mission was to pay the penalty for the sin of the world, that is death, and reconcile men to YHVH before the commencement of The Age of the Messiah (refer to Jubilees Table to see that Messiah died and resurrected before The Age of the Messiah). But, because satan confused the mission, he confused the nature of the Seed of the woman in the prophecy. He got Hevel killed thinking that he was the seed of the woman, then he tried to get Mosheh killed, through Haman he wanted to kill the whole nation, and he thought that he would get Yeshua killed as he got these men killed, but he failed. And after he realized he was fooled, he became angry with Israel from whose lineage the Messiah came and the believers in Yeshua in particular.

Despite the fact that the Renewed Covenant was being offered as early as the service of Yochanan the immerser, repentance was required for it to be realized (Mat_4:17). However, since then the Kingdom of Elohim is being rejected. Yeshua compared this rejection to Sodom and Gomorrah in Mat_11:20-25. At “Last Supper” Yeshua holding up the cup of redemption said, as it is written in Mat_26:27-29,

And taking the cup, and giving thanks, He gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. “For this is My blood, that of the renewed covenant, which is shed for many for the forgiveness of sins. But I say to you, I shall certainly not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on till that day when I drink it anew with you in the reign of My Father.”

Here Yeshua tells us that the “cup of redemption” which represented the blood of the Passover lambs which were about to be slaughtered in Yerushalayim at that time, also represented His own blood which would be the ratifying blood of the Renewed Covenant at Mount Nebo, which was the Renewal of the original Covenant that was made at Mount Sinai, as it is written in Exo_24:7-8,

And he took the Book of the Covenant and read in the hearing of the people. And they said, “All that Yehovah has spoken we shall do, and obey.” And Mosheh took the blood and sprinkled it on the people, and said, “See, the blood of the covenant which Yehovah has made with you concerning all these Words.”

Yeshua’s words in Luk_19:40-44 contain definite overtones of Dan_9:26-27, which foretold the destruction of Yerushalayim. Yeshua’s words also show that He foreknew His subsequent rejection by the religious leaders of the nation and the consequent destruction of Yerushalayim, which is also clearly foretold in Daniel’s prophecy.

I say to you that if these shall be silent, the stones would cry out. And as He came near, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, If you only knew even today, the matters for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. Because days shall come upon you when your enemies shall build a rampart around you, and surround you and press you on all sides, and dash you to the ground, and your children within you. And they shall not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation.

Compare Yeshua’s words to Dan 9:26-27:

And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off and have naught. And the people of a coming prince shall destroy the city and the set-apart place. And the end of it is with a flood. And wastes are decreed, and fighting until the end. And he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week. And in the middle of the week he shall put an end to slaughtering and meal offering. And on the wing of abominations he shall lay waste, even until the complete end and that which is decreed is poured out on the one who lays waste.

It seems that the call for repentance was extended even beyond Messiah’s crucifixion. In his discourse at the Temple in Act_3:17-24 Kepha repeated the call for repentance once more:

And now, brothers, I know that you did it in ignorance, as your rulers did too. But this is how Elohim has filled what He had announced beforehand through the mouth of all the prophets, that His Messiah was to suffer. Repent therefore and turn back, for the blotting out of your sins, in order that times of refreshing might come from the presence of the Master, and that He sends Yeshua Messiah, pre-appointed for you, whom heaven needs to receive until the times of restoration of all matters, of which Elohim spoke through the mouth of all His set-apart prophets since of old. For Mosheh truly said to the fathers, ‘Yehovah your Elohim shall raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brothers. Him you shall hear according to all matters, whatever He says to you. ‘And it shall be that every being who does not hear that Prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.’ And likewise, all the prophets who have spoken, from Shmu’el and those following, have also announced these days.

With all that being said, it appears that if the people of Judea at that time had come to repentance, the Messiah would have restored the Kingdom to Israel even at His first coming. Even more, this call for repentance continued until Shaul made known that the Kingdom of Elohim offer had been offered to the nations also, saying in Act_13:46-48 and Act_28:24-28,

It was necessary that the word of Elohim should be spoken to you first, but since you thrust it away, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, see, we turn to the nations. For so the Master has commanded us, ‘I have set you to be a light to the gentiles, that you should be for deliverance to the ends of the earth.’ ” And when those of the nations heard this, they were glad and praised the Word of Yehovah. And as many as had been appointed to everlasting life believed.

And some indeed were persuaded by what was said, but some believed not. And disagreeing with one another, they began to leave, after Sha’ul had spoken one word, “The Distiguished Breath rightly spoke through Yeshayahu the prophet to our fathers, saying, ‘Go to this people and say, “Hearing you shall hear but by no means understand, and seeing you shall see but by no means perceive, for the heart of this people has become thickened, and with their ears they heard heavily, and they have closed their eyes, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and turn back, and I should heal them. Therefore let it be known to you that the deliverance of Elohim has been sent to the nations, and they shall hear!”

Once again a corporate repentance was sought, but did not occur despite the facts that many Yehudim were added to “The Way” (“The Way” was a first century sect of believers of Yeshua). Until the end of Acts 11, we see that the Renewal of the Covenant was offered only to the Yehudim (with the exception of Cornelius and his household, see Act_11:18-19) until Barnabah and Shaul went to Antioch and for an entire year they founded the first assembly of non-Israelites (Act_11:25-26).

When did this take place? The first clue is that this happened during the great scarcity of food over all the Land in the reign of Claudius Caesar (Act_11:28-29). The second one is that it was about at the time when Herodes began to persecute the faithful by having Ya’akov the brother of Yochanan killed and arrested Kepha in the Days of Unleavened Bread that year (Act_12:1-4),

And about that time Herodes the sovereign put forth his hands to do evil to some from the assembly. And he killed Yaʽaqov the brother of Yohanan with the sword. And seeing that it was pleasing to the Yehudim, he proceeded further to arrest Kepha as well – and they were the Days of Unleavened Bread. So when he had seized him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four squads of soldiers to watch over him, intending to bring him before the people after Passover.

A third clue given is that the following year, 4002, was the year of Herodes’ death (Act_12:21-23). According to Encyclopedia Britannica, Herod Agrippa I (original name Marcus Julius Agrippa) was born c. 10 BC and died in 44 AD. He was a king of Yehudah from 41 AD until 44 AD. Further evidence that that was King Herodes is the identification of the ruler in Act_12:1 as “Herodes the king”, since Agrippa is the only Herodes who would have had authority in Yerushalayim at that time.

After the Passover of 4002 (44 AD), Agrippa went to Caesarea, where he had games performed in honor of Claudius Caesar (Act_11:28, Josephus, Antiquities 19.8.2). On the second day of the games he put on a garment made wholly of silver which early in the morning being illuminated by the first reflection of the sun’s rays shined in a marvelous manner. The flatters immediatly cried out that he was a god upon this the king neither rebuked them nor rejected their impious flattery. He was immediately smitten with violent pains and died (Act 12:21-23).

And on an appointed day Herodes, having put on his royal clothes, sat on his throne and gave an address to them. And the people kept shouting, “The voice of a mighty one and not of a man!” And instantly a messenger of Yehovah smote him, because he did not give the esteem to Elohim. And becoming worm-eaten, he died.

If Herodes died after the Passover of 4002 (44 AD) and the first non-Israelite disciples, we are told, were added to the faith a year before that, 4001 (43 AD), which happened to be the first year of The Age of the Messiah then we have to admit that the significance of this cannot be accidental (see Jubilees Table).

So far, we saw that the Covenant has been re-offered to Israel collectively on three occasions: (1) upon entering the Land (Deut. 29-30); (2) upon returning to the Land after the Babylonian exile (Jer_29:10), (3) and at the first coming of Messiah (Mat_26:27-29) before the Roman exile took place. Sadly to say, Israel have not collectively entered into this covenant, not until Messiah returns.

Again, what went wrong?

By making a close parallelism between “the twelve spies” story and the sending of the twelve disciples, we may come to a conclusive understanding. As we saw, Mosheh sent the twelve representatives of Israel to accept the land (the Kingdom of Elohim) for forty days and return with a good report which was to be presented before all Israel before entering the land. Unfortunately, they rejected the Kingdom by bringing a bad report and, if that was not bad enough, they wanted to return to Egypt, or die in the desert. It happened as they wished. All numbered males twenty years and older died in the desert according to the forty days in which they spied the land, a day for a year (Num_14:34).

About 1,500 years later, Yeshua sent the twelve disciples to bring the Good News to Israelites only with the message that the kingdom of Elohim was at hand (Isa_41:27, Isa_52:7, Isa_61:1-3, Mat_4:23, Mar_1:1-4, Mar_1:14-15, Luk_4:43) but instead of returning with myriads of repented believers, they returned “empty handed” forty days later, because Israel as a whole rejected the Kingdom of Elohim offer once again. And when did Yeshua send His disciples? It was about that time of the ninth of the fifth month (the same date when the twelve spies returned with their bad report). Forty years elapsed from the time when the offer for the Kingdom of Elohim was made with Messiah’s death and resurrection and in the 41st year the Second Temple was destroyed in 69 AD (per some Rabbinical sources) or in 70 AD, and all of this came upon Israel due to disbelief. Again, a day for a year, as it is written in Num_14:34,

According to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, forty days – a day for a year, a day for a year – you are to bear your crookedness forty years, and you shall know My breaking off.

That was a two-fold curse centuries apart. The sad conclusion of the matter, we can make, is that Israel in Yeshua’s time was not ready to receive the kingdom as Israel in Mosheh’s time was not ready either. The entire generations throughout the history of Elohim’s chosen people were deemed unfit to fully inherit the land and thus to accept the Kingdom. That was the fulfillment of what Elohim said to Israel in Lev 26 that He would give them seven times more punishment, if they refuse to repent. Israel never completely repented.

Let us again recall the words of the Tanna debe Eliyahu:

The world is to exist six thousand years. In the first two thousand there was desolation; two thousand years the Torah flourished; and the next two thousand years is the Messianic era, but through our many iniquities all these years have been lost [He should have come at the beginning of the last two thousand years; the delay is due to our sins].

This is not accidental that Israel was forty years in the Arabian exile as Israel has lost forty Jubilees of the Messianic era which era has been lost for Israel due to their sin. Once again, according to the number of the years in which Israel rebelled in the desert, forty years – a day for a year, a year for a jubilee. There is nothing new under the sun and there is no shortcut to the Kingdom of Elohim, either: just a measure for a measure.

However, the concept of the 7,000 year plan is not just a mere wisdom of the sages. The 7,000 year plan of YHVH is hinted in the following cryptic words given to the prophet Yeshayahu from where they have received an insight, Isa_30:26,

Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that Yehovah binds up the breach of his people, and heals the wound of His blows.

Yeshua the Messiah began to proclaim repentance sixteen years before the beginning of The Age of the Messiah. The problem was not that the majority of the Yehudim did not believe that Yeshua was the long anticipated Messiah and that they had the Romans crucified Him. Messiah had to be delivered to the Romans and died; it had been prophesied. The problem was that the people did not believe Him and the words of His disciples afterwards and thus did not believe His message for repentance and that the Kingdom of Elohim had been drawn near.

Many of those who were in the land of Yehudah repented and believed that the Messiah had come; those living in foreign lands did not even know He had come. However, the individual righteousness does not necessarily bring collective one. Therefore, the Kingdom was offered to the non-Israelites, too. That does not mean that it was taken from Israel in order to be given to others (Rom_11:2), but that the non-Israelites were added, or more correctly stated, grafted in Israel, so that they all can bear good fruits and be part of the kingdom (Chapters nine, ten, and specifically eleven of Romans speak of this).

But the nations, in return, soon also defiled the Kingdom of Elohim offer by having allowed paganism in their faith and drifted away from it. Pagan practices and foreign to the Torah concepts entered the faith. Thus, we may say that Rome changed the faith and the faith did not change Rome. Therefore, all came to the same point where Israel was in the very beginning: non-Israelites did not deserve the Kingdom, either. Hence, the need for a renewal of the vows of all was a must.

See, the days are coming, declares Yehovah, when I shall make a renewed covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Yehudah. Not like the covenant I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them,” declares Yehovah. For this is the covenant I shall make with the house of Israel after those days, declares Yehovah: I shall put My Torah in their inward parts, and write it on their hearts. And I shall be their Elohim, and they shall be My people. (Jer 31:31-33)

Rabbi Chaim Vital, a disciple of Rabbi Itzchak Luria, says in Midrash Talpiyot 58a on Moshiach’s new Torah:

Moshiach will rise up to Heaven just as Moses ascended to the firmament, and will thereafter return and be completely revealed, for all to see.

This means: as Mosheh went twice up to the mountain to receive the tablets of the Covenant, so does the Messiah. He came the first time to restore the Covenant between YHVH and His people and bring reconciliation with the Creator through repentance before the beginning of The Age of the Messiah. And He will return before the beginning of the Millennial Kingdom that through Him the Renewal of the Covenant will be completed as foretold in Jer 30:24,

The burning displeasure of Yehovah shall not turn back until He has done and established the purposes of His heart. In the latter days you shall understand it.

Hoshea also alludes to this understanding, but does not mention it explicitly.

I shall go, I shall return to My place, until they confess their guilt and seek My face, in their distress diligently search for Me, and say, Come, and let us turn back to Yehovah. For He has torn but He does heal us, He has stricken but He binds us up. After two days He shall revive us, on the third day He shall raise us up, so that we live before Him. So let us know, let us pursue to know Yehovah. His going forth is as certain as the morning. And He comes to us like the rain, like the latter rain watering the earth. (Hos 5:15, Hos 6:1-3)

Jewish teaching states that it is the Messiah who speaks here. In The Messiah Texts, Jewish author Professor Raphael Patai echoes the understanding that Israel would be abandoned, but not forgotten for 2,000 years (1979: xix):

And when the flames engulfed the Temple, three young priests went up to its roof and threw the keys of the House of Elohim to heaven. A hand reached down and took the key. And the priests said, “How long, O Adonai, how long?” And a heavenly voice issued and said: “Not longer than two days, My children.” Then they knew that the exile of the Sh’khinah and the dispersion of Israel would last two millennia, for it is written, “A thousand years in Thy sight are but as yesterday” (Psalm 90:4). And they said before Him: “Master of the Universe! How can Israel endure two thousand years of suffering?”…

From Hoshea 5:15-6:3 and that a day represents 1,000 years, we know that the time of the redemption of Israel will be preceded by two days, i.e. 2,000 years, of abandonment and punishment, or what we know today as the Roman exile.

But you, Beth Lechem Ephrathah, you who are little among the clans of Yehudah, out of you shall come forth to Me the One to become Ruler in Israel. And His comings forth are of old, from everlasting. Therefore He shall give them up, until the time that she who is in labor has given birth, and the remnant of His brothers return to the children of Israel. (Mic 5:2-3)

This is the time when Israel would be given up by the Messiah until the beginning of the birthpains, i.e. the tribulation. But, the Messiah shall not give up His people forever: the promised restoration will come after the punishment as it is promised by His Father in Deu_30:1-10. Yeshua the Messiah could not have foretold this more plainly:

I shall not leave you orphans – I am coming to you. Yet a little while, and the world no longer sees Me, but you shall see Me, because I live, and you shall live. In that day you shall know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. (Joh 14:18-20)

Why would there be a need for a renewal of the Covenant? The Covenant at Mount Sinai was affirmed by the first generation of the Exodus (Exo_19:8), however, YHVH foretold and warned the coming generations that they would violate the Covenant, too (Deu_31:16-17). This violation of the Covenant would set up the need for a renewal and this renewal will not be with new “laws”; rather, the same laws and instructions given at Mount Sinai would be rewritten on the heart of flesh, as written in Eze_36:25-27 and affirmed in the Apostolic writings (Heb_8:8-11).

The terms of the Covenant given to Israel are that they are to be distinguished people of YHVH and to observe the Torah faithfully: blessings for obeying the Torah, and curses for disobeying it (Deu 28). The truth of the matter is that the Torah was meant to be in people’s heart from the very beginning, as it was given at Mount Sinai (Deu_6:5-6, Deu_8:2). But Israel hardened their hearts like flint against hearing it (Zec_7:12). The Renewed Covenant, however, changes this relation between Torah and man, not by changing Torah, but by changing man. And when the fullness of the final redemption to the Kingdom of Elohim is imparted to the righteous with the second coming of the Messiah, the Redemption Plan of YHVH will be fulfilled at the end of the 6,000 years.

The apostle Shaul instructed us that what Israel experienced in the wilderness during the Exodus when YHVH was taking Egypt out Israel, all these came upon them as examples, and they were written as a warning to us, on whom the ends of the ages have come, so that he who thinks he stands, let him take heed lest he fall (1Co_10:11-12). Yeshua Himself warned us also as to whether He would find faith on the earth at His return, Luk_18:7-8, Mat_24:24.

Israel, however, is not to be judged lightly and presumptuously; rather, we are to see that the reason for their failure in the desert was that they were under the pressures of persecution, affliction, and fear which led them to disbelief. We are to examine ourselves carefully whether we will do any better when our time in the wilderness comes. These concerns will be addressed later on in Parts II and III of this study.

In summary, there is a considerable number of prophetic pictures throughout the Scripture which shows that we can expect the return of King Messiah on Yom Teruah, at the end of the 6,000 years whether it will be according to The Labor of Man plan or according to The Redemption Plan of YHVH. However, we are told that no one can know the exact day and hour of His coming as Yeshua Himself says,

Until that day, and concerning that hour, there will be no man that knows:

not even the angels in heaven, but My Father only. (Mat_24:36 HRV)

The reason no one will know the day or the hour of His comming is “hidden” in the very Torah concerning one of the appointed times of YHVH: Yom Teruah, Lev_23:24. Yom Teruah is the only appointed time that falls on the first day of the month when it is a time of dark, when the first sliver of the renewed moon is to be sighted. All other appointed times fall in the middle of the month or close to it during the full moon when it is light. Therefore the uncertainty comes not from the inability to discern the Creator’s reckoning of time, but from the uncertainty of sighting the renewed moon over the Land of Israel the night when Yom Teruah is anticipated. It is a command that we must have the new moon sighted first by two or three witnesses in Israel, not in other parts of the world, in order for this day to be declared. Until we do not sight the new moon, we will not know when the seventh month begins, hence, His return. This is what Yeshua meant when He said that His Father knows only. The Creator of the universe is the sovereign of the moon and the stars and everything visible and invisible in it. He is the only One who knows when the new moon will be visible and therefore when Yom Teruah will come.

However, in the Parable of the Fig Tree, Yeshua seems to tell us that we can know the general season of His return in advance, and be ready for His coming, and yet we cannot know the exact time [in advance]. By the same token, we can know when the Fall Festival Season approaches, but still we must wait for YHVH to show us the first crescent sliver of the new moon; when it is sighted, this will indicate the beginning of Yom Teruah and the seventh month. Therefore, we are to be alert, wait, and watch. We should notice that the appointed times of YHVH listed in Leviticus 23 are also called “rehearsals” for the reason that we are not just to wait for the events to happen but to actively participate in them, to relive them, because if we have been commanded to rehearse them, the real event is coming, and it coming speedily.

However, many today have misinterpreted Mat_24:36 to mean that we cannot know the day of the Messiah’s coming and which is even worse, some teach, we are not to study the end-time prophecy, because that would be a date setting. This, however, is far from the truth. There is a “hidden” message of YHVH in Rev_3:3 that is telling us that we can know the day and even the hour of His coming. We read,

I shall come upon you as a thief, if then you do not wake up, and you shall not know at all what hour I come upon you.

How could this be indicative that we can know the day and the hour of His return? The hidden message can be revealed to us if we turn the negative form into positive and vice versa on both sides of the if-clause sentence and the meaning of the text will be preserved and will not change. And what actually YHVH is telling us is this:

I shall not come upon you as a thief, if then you do wake up,

and you shall know at what hour I come upon you.

This is amazing! And indeed, the seventh messenger will know not only the day but even the hour of Messiah’s return when he will be commanded to blow the seventh trumpet: on Yom Teruah. Still no one will know when that day will come but the Creator only, because this day will not be known until the new moon is sighted on the night sky over the Land of Israel. Also consider what Daniel and the Apostle John made clear to understand: the Messiah would come exactly 1,260 days after the abomination of desolation takes place (Dan_7:25; Dan_12:7; Rev_11:2-3; Rev_12:6; Rev_13:5). When the abomination of desolation prophesied becomes a fact, then His return is exactly 1,260 days away, not a day before or after.

Therefore, the reckoning of time from the Creation to the end is this:

1. It was 1,948 years from Adam to Avraham.

2. It was 75 years from Avraham’s birth to the Covenant.

3. It was 430 years from the Covenant to the Exodus.

4. It was 40 years from the Exodus to the crossing of the Yarden River.

5. It was 7 years from the entry to the conquest of the land.

6. It was 7 years from the conquest of the land to the division of the land.

7. It was 850 years from the division of the land to the construction of the Temple.

8. It was 70 years of Babylonian exile and King’s Koresh’s decree for Yehudah’s return.

9. It was 79 years from the end of the exile to the decree to rebuild Yerushalayim.

10. It was 487 years from the decree to rebuild Yerushalayim to the Messiah’s death.

11. It was 14 years from the Messiah’s death to the beginning of the Age of the Messiah.

12. It will be 2,000 years of the Age of the Messiah.

Total: 6,007 years (per the Labor of Man reckoning).

Therefore, the reckoning of time from Adam’s sin to the end is this:

1. It was 1,941 years from Adam to Avraham.