The Footsteps of Messiah are echoing through the earth. Yeshua is returning for the righteous, to gather them. He is coming to judge the wicked as well. But what about the "in-betweens"? From the beginning until today, there are "believers" who don't believe so much that it changes their lives significantly. What should they know about these Footsteps?
The model is found within the feasts of Israel, which culminate in the final feast, the Feast of the Nations, Sukkot (Tabernacles). Three of the seven feasts are the chagim, or "foot festivals" in which Israel was commanded to go up to Jerusalem to celebrate: Passover, Shavuot, Sukkot. Those who are expecting the Footsteps of Messiah Yeshua might also check where their own feet have trod in expectation. Have they proclaimed the Good News of Messiah and the commandments of Elohim?
There are three seasonal firstfruits contained within the foot festivals: barley (Pesach), wheat (Shavuot), and everything else (Sukkot).
At barley, Yeshua resurrected. In Egypt, the Israelites were delivered from sin and death at Pesach. There was little “Torah” to obey, they simply trusted in the lamb’s blood and followed the cloud in faith.
At the wheat harvest of Shavuot, the Israelites made a commitment to the full Torah based on their deliverance by and in the cloud so far, which was in faith. They were in the wilderness. Not yet resurrected in body, but not dead in Egypt, either.
At Sukkot of the nations, a cloud of greater resurrection would occur, one that included the nations. It is then that the Torah cycle concludes, rolling up the commandments. The Torah scrolls are re-rolled at this foot festival, and the reading begins again in Genesis 1:1. Sukkot leads to Pesach, a new beginning.
Let's return to Shavuot, which comemmorates the giving of the Torah at Sinai. Every year, Israel accepts the yoke of the Torah anew at Shavuot, firstfruits of the wheat, echoing the commitment, "We will do, and we will hear."
Oddly, the day is never celebrated as one of repentance from sin. Tradition sees the intervening weeks between Pesach and Shavuot as time to do work removing the “encrustations” of sin left over from Egypt, yet Shavuot itself has no repentance themes. In fact, the mussaf sin offering, an extra offering required on feast days, does not apply to Shavuot. It is as if the Israelites are considered sin-free when they received the Torah.
Why?
Our Footsteps text is the Song of Songs. From there, we read:
“Your lips are like a scarlet thread, and your mouth is beautiful. Your temples are like a slice of a pomegranate behind your veil.” (So 4:3)
The symbolism of the pomegranate is thus: the pips represent the individual commandments, because the number of pomegranate pips is approximately 613, the number of the commandments. The high priest wore a garment hemmed with bells and pomegranates, and these made a musical noise as he walked, creating a pleasant atmosphere. Walking in the Word should be both musical and pleasant!
Another symbol of the commandments is jewelry. When Israel sinned with the golden calf, Moses made them remove their jewelry, the ornaments of a Bride. When people removed their gold rings to make the golden calf, they already exchanged the righteousness of Adonai for an idol, and stripping them of the rest of their jewelry pointed out that if they could not remain faithful for 40 days, then they were not ready to enter the Land of Israel.
If the ornaments represent commandments, then it is easy to see that they were adorned with "commandments" on credit to await Moses' return from the mountain with the rest of the Torah. As we've established in the last few newletters, this was the righteousness of Yeshua, the Living Word, credited into their accounts before they had a chance to walk in...
