Adam and Havvah (Eve) fell from Yahweh’s favor for failing to obey His voice. After this, Yahweh set in motion a multi-step plan of redemption involving all of Avraham’s descendants.
As we saw earlier, Yahweh made a special covenant with Avraham because he obeyed Yahweh’s voice.
B’reisheet (Genesis) 22:15-18
15 Then the messenger of Yahweh called to Avraham a second time out of heaven,
16 and said: “By Myself I have sworn, says Yahweh, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son —
17 blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies.
18 In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”
While the covenant would come down through Israel (whose descendants included Ephraim and Judah), there was also a blessing given to Avraham’s other son, Ishmael.
B’reisheet (Genesis) 17:19-20
19 Then Elohim said: “No, Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Yitzhak; I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his descendants after him.
20 And as for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly. He shall beget twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation [religious group].”
As we saw earlier, in Scripture, one’s nationality is one’s religion—so when Yahweh said He would make Ishmael a great “nation,” He meant He would give him a great religion (Islam). While Islam is not “great” in terms of Scriptural accuracy, Islam is great in terms of sheer numbers—and in its end time role.
Yahweh does not care about our flesh, and so in the end, ethnicity means nothing to Him. However, at the same time, Yahweh has historically used certain ethnic groups to fulfill certain tasks for Him. For example, Yahweh used Judah to bring forth the Messiah, and He used the Ephraimites to spread the worship of a Jewish Messiah around the globe. At the same time, He is also using Ishmael to maintain the Semitic ideals of theocracy and corporate discipline (which are all but lost in Ephraimite and Jewish culture today).
There is a special relationship between Ishmael and his cousin Esau. In Revelation and the End Times we see that Esau represents not only the Roman Catholic Church, but also so-called secular humanism (which is really more of a religion which exalts the worship of man and his opinions), including its political expressions, democracy, socialism, and communism. And there is also a hidden relationship to certain (but not all) ethnic Arabs, in that Esau is also identified as Edom.
B’reisheet (Genesis) 36:8
8 So Esau dwelt in Mount Seir. Esau is Edom.
Further, there is also a tie-in with the Arab and Muslim world, in that Esau intermarried with the daughters of Ishmael. For example, Genesis 28:8-9 tells us Esau married Ishmael’s daughter Mahalath.
B’reisheet (Genesis) 28:8-9
8 Also Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan did not please his father Yitzhak.
9 So Esau went to Ishmael and took Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Avraham’s son, the sister of Nebajoth, to be his wife in addition to the wives he had.
Genesis 36:3 tells us that Esau also married Ishmael’s daughter Basemath.
B’reisheet (Genesis) 36:1-3
1 Now this is the genealogy of Esau, who is Edom.
2 Esau took his wives from the daughters of Canaan: Adah the daughter of Elon the Hittite; Aholibamah the daughter of Anah, the daughter of Zibeon the Hivite;
3 and Basemath, Ishmael’s daughter, sister of Nebajoth.
After a few generations, Ishmael’s and Esau’s genetics became so intermixed that some people (incorrectly) consider Arab and Muslim to be synonyms.
We see hidden tie-ins between Esau, Edom, the Arab world, and Ishmael in places such as Genesis 27:39, where we are told that Esau would receive a blessing of the shemen (שמן) of the earth. This term is often translated as fatness, but it also translates as oil. This blessing explains why the Edomite Arabic nations have such abundant petroleum resources.
B’reisheet (Genesis) 27:39-40
39 Then Yitzhak his father answered and said to him [Esau]: “Behold, your dwelling shall be of the fatness [oil] of the earth [מִשְׁמַנֵּי הָאָרֶץ], And of the dew of heaven from above.
40 By your sword you shall live, And you shall serve your brother; And it shall come to pass, when you become restless, That you shall break his yoke from your neck.”
Verse 40 explains how both Ephraimites and Jews have historically dominated Esau-Edom, but how Esau-Edom will arise, and break the yokes from their necks. Some see this as taking place now, with the 2012 Arab Spring, and the continuing spread of Islam throughout Europe and the rest of the world.
We also need to know that there is a hidden relationship between torahless Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, in that all three are part of Mystery Babylon. In Scripture, religious spirits are described as women, and Yeshua tells us that the kingdom of heaven is like leaven (i.e., sin), which a woman (Mystery Babylon) took and hid in three measures of meal until it was all leavened.
Mattityahu (Matthew) 13:33
33 Another parable He spoke to them: “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened.”
Meal refers to ground (i.e., denatured) seed, and these three measures of meal are the three main Babylonian variation of Avraham’s faith: Orthodox Judaism (Judah), Babylonian Christianity (Joseph-Ephraim), and Ishmael (Islam).
Leaven symbolizes sin, and in Matthew 16:5-12, Yeshua tells us that leaven symbolizes the sin of false doctrine.
Mattityahu (Matthew) 16:5-12
5 Now when His disciples had come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread.
6 Then Yeshua said to them, “Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.”
7 And they reasoned among themselves, saying, “It is because we have taken no bread.”
8 But Yeshua, being aware of it, said to them, “O you of little faith, why do you reason among yourselves because you have brought no bread?
9 Do you not yet understand, or remember the five loaves of the five thousand and how many baskets you took up?
10 Nor the seven loaves of the four thousand and how many large baskets you took up?
11 How is it you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread? — but to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”
12 Then they understood that He did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
If we are willing to receive it, all three of these religions intend to worship the Elohim of Avraham correctly, but all three of them fail, in that they are presently leavened with sin (i.e., false doctrine). Together, they are being used to break down and conquer the whole earth—and then after this is done, the leaven will be burned out by the fires of the tribulation. However, what we need to see here is that while each of these faiths gets many things wrong, they also all get some things right. Each of these three Mystery Babylonian religions embodies an aspect of Yeshua’s true kingdom. For example, Judaism rightly champions the concept of Torah (i.e., law), while Torahless Christianity rightly champions the idea of love and following the Spirit, while Islam champions the ideals of theocracy and corporate discipline.
If we were to depict these three leavened Avrahamic faiths as an archer’s target, they would be clusters of arrows striking around the true center of the target (which manifests all three qualities).
The word torah (תורה) is based on the root word yarah (ירה), which means to point out (as if to instruct). However, it also means to shoot, as if shooting at an archer’s target (i.e., a goal).
OT:3384 yarah (yaw-raw’); or (2 Chronicles 26:15) yara’ (yaw-raw’); a primitive root; properly, to flow as water (i.e. to rain); transitively, to lay or throw (especially an arrow, i.e. to shoot); figuratively, to point out (as if by aiming the finger), to teach:
KJV – (+) archer, cast, direct, inform, instruct, lay, shew, shoot, teach (-ering), through.
The idea of flowing is that of letting the Spirit flow through us without obstruction. That is, our actions should flow from a pure, unquenched spirit, without taking anything in the material world into account (family, money, status, sex, etc.). When we are so in tune with Yahweh that His Spirit flows freely through us, and we obey His voice instinctively, then we are hitting the target (i.e., keeping the Torah). If we do anything other than that, then we are missing the target (i.e., failing to keep the Torah).
The Hebrew word for missing the target is chata (חטא), and this is the word for “sin” (i.e., missing the target). We miss the target whenever we take our focus off Yeshua, quench His Spirit, or fail to obey Elohim’s voice.
OT:2398 chata’ (khaw-taw’); a primitive root; properly, to miss; hence (figuratively and generally) to sin; by inference, to forfeit, lack, expiate, repent, (causatively) lead astray, condemn.
Judaism, Islam, and torahless Christianity all miss the mark in that they all have the wrong idea of who Elohim is, and what He wants. They also misunderstand what it means to obey Yahweh’s voice. Our goal, then, must be always to realize who Elohim truly is, and what He truly wants—and to carefully listen for His voice in all things, and obey it. (Not only is this the best way to become more pleasing to Him, it is also the best way to survive the tribulation, because if we refine ourselves, then He does not need to correct us.)
We know that at some point there will be a great war in the Middle East (possibly Armageddon), and that after this war, many of our Ishmaelite cousins (i.e., those who survive) will convert to the worship of Yahweh.
Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 19:21-25
21 Then Yahweh will be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians will know Yahweh in that day, and will make sacrifice and offering; yes, they will make a vow to Yahweh and perform it.
22 And Yahweh will strike Egypt, He will strike and heal it; they will return to Yahweh, and He will be entreated by them and heal them.
23 In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian will come into Egypt and the Egyptian into Assyria, and the Egyptians will serve with the Assyrians.
24 In that day Israel will be one of three with Egypt and Assyria — a blessing in the midst of the land,
25 whom Yahweh of hosts shall bless, saying, “Blessed is Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel My inheritance.”
We also know that those Philistines (i.e., Palestinians) who remain in the land will convert to the worship of Elohim—and they will be like the leaders of Judah and the Jerusalemites.
Zecharyah (Zechariah) 9:6-7
6 “A mixed race shall settle in Ashdod, And I will cut off the pride of the Philistines.
7 I will take away the blood from his mouth, And the abominations from between his teeth. But he who remains, even he shall be for our Elohim, And shall be like a leader in Judah, And Ekron like a Yebusite [Jerusalemite].”
We give more details in Revelation and the End Times, but in the next chapter we will attempt to summarize the basics of the end time sequence, so you can understand what we as Nazarene Israelites should do, and what we should not do, so we can survive the tribulation that is to come. But in everything, the most important thing we can do is to hear and obey His voice. No matter what is happening around us, remaining in connection with Yeshua, and remaining in obedience to His voice must always be our number one priority.