Where are the Feasts of the Lord? (They have been replaced them with two pagan holidays, Ishtar (Easter) and Zeus' birthday we call Christ mass (Christmas)). Where is the power, the healings, the miracles? How about the casting out of demons on a regular basis to set people free from oppression, or even raising people from the dead? Where is the Shabbat as God ordained it as a day of rest with one's family at home? (How would that change our family dynamics if Mom and Dad and the kids spent a whole day together each week?)
There is so much more I could add to this list, but I'll leave it to you to consider as you read through your O.T. -- that would be the Original Testament. You will find, especially in Deuteronomy, that much of what Yeshua had to say came out of that book, so you can read many of His words in context. You will also find that Isaiah will teach you more about Yeshua that you would never have known from the New Testament alone. You may also recognize, for those who are astute to pick it up, that almost every verse in the book of the Revelation has reference to something in the Hebrew Scriptures. That is what validates the Revelation as being from God.
There is much the Lord has been restoring since the Reformation, but that only "reformed" some of the faith, it did not "restore" us to the way of life of the early disciples as described in the Book of Acts. They understood that Yeshua is the light of the world more than just an expression to quote, and that He is the only Truth and the exact manifestation of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob -- as a man, as a Person. I hope we are not so familiar with that 'fact' that we loose the awesome mystery of it.
And then, by His Spirit, Yeshua continued with them, manifesting Himself through them! What He did, they found they could do too! Another astounding fact. As He is the same yesterday, today and forever, we should be walking in that same power and transforming revelation of Him. Increasing numbers of believers are beginning to live that kind of life in Him. The dunamis power of God is in fact being restored to those who look to Him to do so. Yeshua "went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil," and He has equipped us to do the same. It's time to take the equipment ouf of the closet and practice using it till we become experts at blessing others.
I do not expect He will return for a bride who is not "suitable" to Him in every way. Priests were holy unto the Lord.It is for us to dress ourselves in the linen garments, the garments of the priesthood to which we have all been called, to prepare ourselves for Him: "It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints" (Rev. 19:8). Are we holy enough for His return? This, please note, does not mean works to try and be more holy. No, we are only holy as we look to Him entirely to make us holy, to be so absorbed in Him that we flee from anything unholy. And to walk in faith that He is working through us in powerful and prophetic ways that we could never do on our own.
When Yeshua met two of his disciples after He rose from the dead on the road to Emmaus, " beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures" (Luke 24:27). Every manifestation of God throughout the Hebrew Scriptures is about Him. I'm sure you know that there was no New Testament when He said this. So we can assuredly say that according to Peter's Holy Spirit-inspired words, what needs to be restored can be found in Israel's prophets, which Yeshua said were about Him. It would seem then that we should give more heed to Israel's prophets so we might align ourselves with what needs to be restored so that Yeshua can return.
The "restoration" of Hebrew roots to the church as is happening among many believers today is not just a cultural interest to experience what Yeshua did while on earth, but the essential restoring of the foundational revelation of God which He gave to Israel and which Yeshua fully embodied, upon which the early church was built. This restoration of theh proper place of the covenant given to Israel is a work that God is doing. He is bringing in about among His people. That's what needs to be restored, an understanding and adherence to the whole counsel of God, not by the letter of the law, but by the Spirit of Grace.
As we are not the holy world-changing people that the first century believers were (yet), we would each do well to take the Torah and the Prophets of God seriously as the foundation upon which the New Covenant sits and see what God will reveal to you. You too can be part of the Restoration that needs to take place in order that Yeshua can return. Each of us makes a difference, one way or the other, either to bring about His return or to keep Him in heaven for another generation. Which will you be a part of?
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