January 24
"To the angel of the church of Ephesus write … "I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars; and you have persevered and have patience, and have labored for My name's sake and have not become weary.
NEVERTHELESS I have this against you, that you have LEFT your FIRST LOVE. Remember therefore FROM WHERE you have fallen; REPENT and DO the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand [the seven-fold Spirit of YHWH] from its place—UNLESS you repent. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God." (Rev 2:1-7) Emphasis mine. [Insert from Isa 11:2 and Rev 5:6)
Ephesus wasn’t only the first of seven churches Yeshua instructed John to warn and bring correction to, but it was also the first church in which the hidden “mystery” of Messiah was revealed: that those who were formally Gentiles should no longer be strangers and foreigners to the saints and members of the household of YHWH [“the children of Israel as written in Psalm 148:14], but that they shall be fellow heirs, of the same body [notice Yeshua DID NOT SAY we are now a NEW body that REPLACES the children of Israel, but the “SAME BODY” as them], and partakers of His Promises [to Abraham as written in Genesis 12:2-3] in Yeshua. (Eph 2:1 - 2:13) Can it be written any more clearly? Christians are “of the same body” as the children of Israel, not the other way around. For through Israel’s Messiah, Yeshua Ha’ Mashiach, our “wild tree” has been grafted into theirs, making us now “partakers” of the same root they grow from. (Rom 11:17)
It’s written our Messiah was born Jewish (Matt 1:1-17); ministered on Earth as a Jewish Rabbi (Mark 9:5); taught in Jewish Synagogues (Matt 13:54; Mark 1:21); kept the Jewish Sabbath “as His custom was” (Luke 4:16; 6:6); died on a cross not just a Jew, but King of the Jews (Matt 27:37); maintains His Jewish heritage still today at Abba-YHWH’s side in heaven as “the Lion of the tribe of Judah”(Rev 5:5); and returns to us again as the Jewish Messiah (Rev 15:3). Furthermore, it is written the first church in Acts was actually a body of believing Jews and converted Gentiles who were “continuing daily with one accord” in the Jewish Temple (Acts 2:40). Therefore, can we not simply conclude, then, that possibly the most probable cause of today’s Church losing the spiritual power evidenced in the first Church is due to Satan’s lie that we REPLACE Israel as the apple of YHWH’s eye, rather than our Father’s own teaching that we’re actually grafted INTO THEIR TREE as “one man” in Messiah now? I believe this is what Yeshua is warning us about here; while we mostly DO obey the teachings of Messiah in today’s Church, many also believe in this false “replacement theology” removing Israel from YHWH’s tree and, thereby, have “left”—and ultimately forgotten—the FIRST Church’s “first love”, which was the knowledge of and love for Israel’s Jewish Messiah.
Today, if any of us have “left” our “first love” as the first Church eventually did, Yeshua strongly warns we are to repent and return not just to that “first love”—that first understanding of Israel’s JEWISH Messiah—but we are also to “DO the first works”, as well, lest He come and remove His Lampstand [or, Menorah, again, representing the seven-fold Spirit of YHWH described in Isa 11:2] from us. However, before we can obey Yeshua and “DO the first works” as He commanded, we must first learn what those works were. There is simply no better way to do so except to grab the sleeve of Jewish man who believes Yeshua is the prophesied Messiah; one who may more fully instruct us in the richness of our King’s Jewish teachings and customs, allowing us to more deeply know Him and love Him through His Word. (Zech 8:23)
O, Father, we repent for allowing ourselves to be deceived by that devil of old in leaving our first love. By the power of Your Set-Apart Spirit, Abba-YHWH, we pray You turn our hearts back to our fathers in the faith and their hearts back to us. And we ask you now, O YHWH our Elohim, to lead us to a Jewish teacher who loves Yeshua that we may learn more and more about who He truly is so we can love Him more and more, doing the same works He did. In the Name and by the Blood of Yeshua Ha’ Mashiach, Messiah Jesus of Nazareth, we pray, amen.
"Remember the Law of Moses [Torah], My servant, which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments. Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD. And he will turn the hearts of the fathers [Jews, fathers of the faith] to the children [including converted Gentile believers], and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse." (Mal 4:4-6 NKJV) [Inserts mine.]
……………………………………………………………………………………….
HIDDEN MANNA: Daily Bites: Turn to Your First Love
HIDDEN MANNA~Word Design: Lion-of-Judah-Menorah
Copyright 2023 by Tracie Justice