Do people share their most intimate thoughts and plans with anyone who asks? No; we prefer to share such things only with close companions who have proven themselves worthy of our trust. Why, then, should we expect our Creator to do differently? Perhaps, instead of asking God what will happen in the future, we should ask Him how we can be worthy of His confidence.
Isaiah 39:1-8; Jeremiah 29:10-14; Danial 5:31-6:12, 9:1-27; Matthew 24:15-22
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How do we evaluate dreams and visions? Like everything else, we test them to Scripture.
There is no question that God sends these Divine communications to people. There is also no question that there are alternative sources of dreams: satanic influences, mind-altering drugs, wild imaginations, or even the aftermath of a wrestling match with disagreeable food. That is why we evaluate everything according to the standard of Scripture to see if it is consistent with the Word of God. Not everything will stand up to that standard, which is why we must be careful to sift the legitimate messages from the deceptive, the irrelevant, and the just plain loony. This is important because we now live in the time when the words of the prophet Joel are coming to pass:
It will come about after this that I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind; and your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on the male and female servants I will pour out My Spirit in those days. (Joel 2:28-28, NASB)
It has been nearly two thousand years since the Apostle Peter verified that humanity had entered the era when Joel’s prophecy was coming into fulfillment (Acts 2:14-21). Where are we now on the timeline of fulfillment of all prophecy – especially the ultimate redemption of Israel, YHVH’s covenant nation? That is something addressed in this vision related by my friend Jesse Jury (Jesse ben Yosef).
I first heard Jesse’s account of this vision while recording an interview of him and his wife, Amy, for the B’ney Yosef North America radio program, Reunion Roadmap. The podcast of that interview is available at this link:
https://bneyyosefna.com/2017/08/14/byna-radio-reunion-roadmap-august-12-2017/
It is worth hearing, not only for Jesse’s vision, but for the insights he and Amy share on a life of walking in Torah with Yeshua, and for the other enjoyable elements of the show. What you will read below is Jesse’s full account of the vision which he posted recently on his blog, Torah Driven Life. You will see that he has attempted to evaluate the vision according to Scripture in the interest of finding an interpretation, and understanding its validity. Maybe you will be able to find more meaning as you do your own testing of this word by the Word of God.
Jesse ben Yosef
Originally posted on Torah Driven Life, August 9, 2017
As Shabbat started on Av 13, in the Gregorian year 2017, the Ruach HaKodesh came over me, and I began sobbing uncontrollably with joy over the restoration of the sons of Joseph. What I am about to share was so overwhelmingly “real” to me that I cried not only in the evening, but in the early morning of Shabbat as well. It was as if the Father cracked the door, ever so slightly, to share with me a portion of His grief, as well as His excitement, over the separation of Ephraim from the flock of Israel, as well as our coming restoration. One thing in particular that stood out from this prophetic “download” was an emphasis on “looking like Joseph,” which I will explain as follows.
It began with a vision of the heavenly throne room, in which the angels had assembled themselves before the Father. He commanded them, “Go, and bring Me My firstborn son Ephraim, for I long to see his face yet again.”
And the angels left, and searched over the face of the whole earth, and returned back to the throne room, empty handed. They said to the Father, “We cannot find Your son.”
But He would not accept it, and He sent them out many more times, saying to them each time, “Go, and find My son, and bring him back to Me, that I may look upon his face yet again.” But each time, they came back more confused than they were the time before.
“We cannot find Your son.” they said to the Father yet again. “We have searched over the top of the highest mountain, and in the depths of the deepest valleys, and Your son is nowhere to be found.”
“Of course you can’t yet find him,” the Father said, “Because he no longer looks like Joseph. When the time comes when he looks like Joseph, then you will be able to find him.”
The final word that I received from the Father was that the time of the ingathering would be very soon.
After the vision had ended, the first Scripture which came to mind was Matthew 24:30-34, “And then will be seen the signal of the Son of Man in heaven: and then will all the tribes of the earth mourn, when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. And He will send His angels with a great trumpet and they will collect together His elect from the four winds, from one extremity of heaven to the other. Now learn an illustration from the fig tree. As soon as its branches become tender and its leaves shoot forth, you know that summer is coming on. So also, when you perceive all these things, you know that He is near, even at the door. Truly, I say to you, that this generation shall not pass away, until all these things shall come to pass.”
First, we see that it is not Yeshua directly who gathers in His lost sheep, but that the Father sends forth His angels to do the ingathering in the last days. This is literally what I saw in my vision, with the angles assembled, looking for Ephraim, but unable to see him, because he did not yet look like Joseph.
Secondly, Yeshua then compares the ingathering to branch of the fig tree, which– when it begins to bud and bear fruit– is the sign that the harvest is approaching. The branch is used here as a euphemism for Ephraim, and specifically recalls the stick of Joseph in Ezekiel 37. When the stick of Joseph becomes tangible, visible, and identifiable– when the wheat and the tares are distinctly known from one another– this is when the Messiah returns and sends out the gathering angels.
And lastly, Yeshua says that “this generation shall not pass away until these things shall come to pass.” I believe He is referring to the generation of the fig tree, the budding branch of Ephraim, the stick of Joseph. And I believe that WE are that generation.
When I shared the vision with my wife, she brought to mind the parable of the Wheat and the Tares from Matthew 13:24-30, “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. And while people were asleep, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went away. And when the plant shot up and bore fruits, then the tares also appeared. And the servants of the householder came, and said to him, ‘Our lord, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where did the tares that are in it come from?’ And he said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, ‘Is it your pleasure that we go and gather them out?’ And he said to them, ‘No, lest while you gather out the tares, you also eradicate the wheat with them. Let them both grow together until the harvest; and at the time of harvest, I will say to the reapers, “Gather out the tares first, and bind them in bundles to be burned; but gather the wheat gather into my granary.”’”
In this parable, it is seen that “the wheat” and “the tares” are indistinguishable from one another for a long course of time, where they will “both grow together until the harvest.” And at that time, “the servants of the householder” are commanded to separate the two, and bring the wheat into the granary. Now what makes this parable fascinating is when it is examined from an agricultural perspective. The similarity between these two plants is striking; the tares, called “false wheat” in some regions, resemble the wheat nearly identically throughout its growth cycle, and is only discernible from it at the end, when the wheat bears fruit, but the tares do not. And because of its fruit, the heads of the wheat become heavy, and literally “bow down” due to the weight of the grains, indicating a metaphoric resemblance of humility, as opposed to the tares, which stand proud, bearing no fruit.
As mentioned above, the time of the ingathering would come very soon. He did not give me a tangible date, but the impression I had was that these were events that He was putting into motion in the relatively immediate future. And in the meantime, our calling is to “look like Joseph” with every ounce of our being, by exhibiting good fruit, by showing humility, and by living the fruit of the spirit: “love, joy, peace, endurance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility, and patience,” (Galatians 5:22) not only as individuals, but also in our families, our communities, and our Ephraimite nation. For me, the ultimate picture of Joseph’s character, revealed in the Torah, is his response to his brothers in Genesis 45 for having sold him into slavery. He did not respond with judgment, nor malice, nor a will for vengeance; but rather with forgiveness, with love, with compassion, and with sincere concern for the well being of his family– that same family which had betrayed him twenty-two years prior.
So when the Father tells me that we need to “look like Joseph,” this is what that means to me. I look forward to hearing what this means to you in the comments below.
Source: Looking Like Joseph. If you like what you’ve read, drop by Jesse’s blog and leave a comment.
What do Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and the pre-Tribulation rapture have in common? There is probably a joke in there somewhere, but the punch line escapes me. The answer, though, is that all of them are part of mainstream Christian practice (at least in the West), but none of them have much basis in Scripture. When held up to the light of Scripture, the Jolly Elf, the Whimsical Rabbit, and the Get-Out-of-Persecution-Free Card actually belong more in the realm of legend, myth, and wishful thinking.
There is no need to explain to Christians that Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny do not exist. Everyone knows that – and it would be better if our children understood it from the start rather than having to face their first crisis of faith when their kindergarten friends expose the truth. What everyone does not know, or does not want to admit, is that the doctrine of Jesus coming back to snatch His people away from the earth before the trials of the Last Days is not consistent with Scripture. The problem up to now is that there has been no comprehensive reference book written to examine this question from a critical point of view.
Until now, that is. Author Michael Snyder has at last filled the void with his latest book, The Rapture Verdict. It is 268 pages of systematic investigation of the subject from a man who simply wants to sort out the truth. His stark conclusion is stated in the first chapter:
Unfortunately, there isn’t going to be a pre-Tribulation rapture. In fact, millions of Christians are going to die waiting for a pre-Tribulation rapture that is never going to happen.
Depending on the reader’s disposition, such a statement will make him or her angry, fearful, or vindicated. Those with the latter reaction would be the ones who grew up learning about the rapture in church, but who could never shake the nagging doubt that the few dozen verses pulled out of context to justify the doctrine leave far too many unanswered questions.
