One Torah For All

One Torah shall be to him that is home-born, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among you.
Exodus 12:49

Is the Return of Mashiach Imminent?
Some things to prayerfully consider

Matithyah (Matthew) 16:2-3
2 But He answered and said unto them, “When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather: for the heaven is red.’
3 And in the morning, ‘It will be foul weather today, for the heaven is red and lowering.’ You know how to discern the face of the heavens; but you cannot discern the signs of the times.”

The short answer to the question posed in the title of this study is: No! No; His return is not imminent! Just because one sees prophecy being fulfilled does not make His return imminent. What does it mean for His return to be imminent? Simply put, for His return to be imminent means that He may return at any moment of any day. This is simply not true! This does not mean He can’t require someone’s life of them at any moment, for He taught us this truth Himself.

Luqa (Luke) 12:16-20
16 And He spoke a parable unto them, saying, “The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully,
17 and he reasoned within himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, because I have nowhere to store my fruits?’
18 And he said, ‘This will I do, I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I store all my grain and my goods.
19 And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease, eat, drink, be merry.”’
20 But Elohim said unto him, ‘You foolish one, this night is your soul required of you; and the things which you have prepared, whose shall they be?’”

This one parable teaches us to live circumspectly before YHWH and all men at all times! No one ever knows when YHWH shall call him to give an account of his life. But this truth does not make the apocalyptic return and general revelation of Mashiach Yeshua imminent. Therefore, keeping in mind that YHWH may call any person at any time to give an account of his life, let us proceed to look at a few passages of Scripture which teach us that His return cannot be imminent. It is not imminent now, nor has it ever been imminent. It shall be, one day, and upon the day that His return becomes imminent, He shall return.

Luqa (Luke) 13:35
“Behold, your house is left unto you desolate; and I say unto you, you shall not see Me, until you shall say, ‘Blessed is He that comes in the name of YHWH.’”

The context of this passage is Yeshua speaking to the Pharisees directly and to Herod [the king of the southern kingdom of Yehudah (Judah)] indirectly. Yeshua is basically saying to them that, until such a time as the house of Yehudah acknowledges that Yeshua is blessed and came in the name of His Father YHWH, He shall not return. Has the house of Yehudah confessed that Yeshua is the Mashiach? No, they have not. Yes, a few have. However, they have not as a house. One day they shall confess Yeshua as Mashiach, but until such time, it is not possible for Yeshua to return. This is one of those prophecies (of which there are many), which must be fulfilled before Yeshua can return. Otherwise He becomes a liar, and He is not a liar!

Zekaryah (Zechariah) 12:10
“And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplication; and they shall look unto Me whom they have pierced; and they shall mourn for Him, as one mourns for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his first-born.”

One day, according to the words from YHWH through the prophet Zekaryah, all of the house of Yehudah shall truly understand that they crucified and put to death YHWH in the flesh. Then it will be a great bitterness in them all and there shall be a great morning for Him. This must happen before He can return.

Zekaryah (Zechariah) 14:2-4
2 “For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
3 Then shall YHWH go forth, and fight against those nations, as when He fought in the day of battle.
4 And His feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east; and the mount of Olives shall be cleft in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.”

YHWH states clearly that before Mashiach can return, all the nations round about Jerusalem shall be gathered against her and make war against her, and Jerusalem shall fall. The city shall be captured and many of the people shall go into captivity. Only then can Mashiach return and win the victory. Until this happens, His return cannot be imminent! He cannot come back today or tomorrow because this has not happened. Until this happens, along with all other prophecies which must be fulfilled before He returns, His return cannot be imminent.

Yochanan (John) 15:20
“Remember the word that I said unto you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also.”

The followers of Mashiach Yeshua have always had to endure ill treatment! And they shall do so until such time as He returns. It is quite natural for one to wish His return near. Many people throughout the generations have thought His return near. But alas, it was not so. Many today are preaching and teaching that the present generation shall see the return of Mashiach Yeshua. Is this true? We dare not say! We do know from our own studies of Scripture that there are many prophecies yet to be fulfilled before He can return. Many of these are going to take quite a few years to accomplish. His return is not nearly as near as many would like to think it is. We, as His people, have to set our hearts and minds to the reality that we must endure many hardships before we shall see His return.

It seems clear at this time that the present generation shall see the rebirth of the northern kingdom of Israel, also known as Ephrayim. What the world is presently experiencing are the birth pangs of that nation being born. This too is one of those prophecies which must come to pass before Mashiach returns.

Yechezqel (Ezekiel) 37:21-22
21 “And say unto them, ‘Thus says Adonai YHWH, “Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the nations, wherever they have gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land;
22 and I will make them one nation in the land, upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all; and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all;”’”

Please note that these two kingdoms/nations shall be joined and made into one kingdom/nation. In order for that to happen, the stick of Yoseph which is in the hand of Ephrayim, must be formed into a stick, that is, formed into a nation once again. At present, Ephrayim, that is, the descendants of the northern kingdom of Israel, are not a nation, but are presently scattered abroad in all the nations of the world. Ephrayim has to be regathered and made into a nation before there can be two nations present in the land of our fathers, ready to be joined into one nation. This must happen before Mashiach returns.

Sadly, there are many ministers (priests?) going about in this present world gathering His people unto themselves, building their own little empires. They have their reward in full. We need to see and support those who are true builders of His kingdom and the nation of Ephrayim.

It is interesting to note that YHWH commanded Yechezqel to do this. Yechezqel is a priest. We point this out because many teach and believe that Yeshua comes back and puts Ephrayim back together as a nation. Yet, nowhere in Scripture do we find this. The kingdom of Ephrayim must come back into existence before Mashiach can return. YHWH will put Ephrayim back together as a nation, but He will do it through the agency of man.

Please prayerfully consider the parting of the Red Sea.

Shemot (Exodus) 14:16
“And you lift up your rod, and stretch out your hand over the sea, and divide it; and the children of Israel shall go into the midst of the sea on dry ground.”

In one place Scripture indicates that it was Moshe who divided the sea. Yet in another place it says YHWH divided the sea.

Shemot (Exodus) 14:21
And Moshe stretched out his hand over the sea; and YHWH caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all the night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided.

So, who divided the sea? YHWH divided the sea through His servant Moshe. This is the standard mode of operation for YHWH; He works through His people to accomplish His will. When we find words from YHWH commanding the priest Yechezqel, to take two sticks and write upon them and then join them as one in his own hand, we can know that YHWH shall use His divinely appointed priests to accomplish this very thing. Furthermore, He must accomplish this through His servants before He can return.

There are other passages of Scripture as well which must be fulfilled before Mashiach Yeshua can return, but these are presented to show the student of Scripture that His return is not imminent.

Shabbat Shalom
Zerubbabel ben Emunah
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