“It would become fruitful, more fruitful than other ground?”
“Yes,” said the teacher. “And this is the law of the fallow ground, a law that contains one of the most important secrets of living a fruitful life. What is the fallow ground? It’s the ground that hasn’t been touched, worked, or cultivated. And what is the fallow ground in God? It’s the ground that hasn’t been touched by God. It’s every life, every heart, and every soul, that hasn’t allowed God to touch it, that hasn’t allowed God’s life to enter in. It is, therefore, crucial that you sow the Word and love of God to the fallow, to the lost, the unsaved, the unknowing, to the farthest and the most ungodly—to the fallow ground. And if they receive, they will bear much fruit.”
“Does the law of the fallow ground also apply to those who know God?”
“So much so,” he said, “that applying it can transform your life. Even for those who know and love the Lord there is fallow ground. Whatever part of your life has not been touched by God’s love and truth—that is your fallow ground. Whatever area of your life remains unchanged, unredeemed, ungodly, and dark, whether of actions, thoughts, habits, emotions, or ways—that is your fallow ground. And the law of the fallow ground says that it is that very thing, that very soil, that very area you haven’t allowed God to touch and change—that will bear the most fruit. It is that part you must plow, and sow, and water. For it is that ground that is waiting to bear a harvest. As it is written in the Prophets, ‘Break up your fallow ground; for it is time to seek the Lord.’”
The Mission: Identify the fallow ground in your life. Open it up to this day, to the touch of God, His Word, and His will. Let it bear its harvest.
Hosea 10:12; Matthew 13:23
Neru Lachem
DAY 95
THE LAMBS OF NISAN
HE TOOK ME back to the Chamber of Scrolls, removed the scroll from the ark, laid it on the table, unrolled it to the passage he was looking for, then began reading or translating it aloud.
“‘On the tenth day of this month, each one shall take for himself a lamb . . . a lamb for a house.’ It is one of the most important biblical holy days,” he said, “and yet most people have never heard of it.”
“What holy day?”
“The tenth day of the Hebrew month of Nisan. The day of the Passover took place on the fifteenth day of Nisan; the Tenth of Nisan was the day that the lamb was chosen and taken to the house that would, on Passover, offer it up.”
He lifted his eyes from the scroll and turned to me.
“So the Tenth of Nisan is the Day of the Lamb,” he said, “the day of its choosing, of its being taken, and of its being identified with the house that would sacrifice it. You know of Palm Sunday?” he asked.
“Of course. It’s the day Messiah was led on a donkey into the streets of Jerusalem . . . greeted by the people with celebration and palm branches.”
“Yes, but it’s also a day of mystery. If Messiah is the Passover Lamb, then He must also be linked to the Tenth of Nisan.”
“So the mystery is . . . ”
“What we call Palm Sunday is, in reality, the Tenth of Nisan, the Day of the Lamb. As the people of Jerusalem were leading the Passover lambs to their homes, Messiah was being led from the Mount of Olives into the city gates. The bringing in of Messiah to the city with palms and hosannas was actually the fulfillment of what had been commanded from ancient times, the bringing in of the lamb. So on the day when the Passover lamb was to be brought to the house, God brought the Lamb of God to His house, to Jerusalem, and to the Temple. And just as the lambs of the Tenth of Nisan had to be sacrificed on Passover by those who dwelt in the house, so too the Lamb of God would be sacrificed on Passover by those who dwelt in Jerusalem. The Lamb of God had to come to the House of God that the blessings of salvation could come. So, it is only when you bring the Lamb home, when you bring Him into the place where you actually live your life, when you bring Him into every room, every closet, and crevice, only then can the fullness of the blessings of salvation begin.”
The Mission: Bring home the Lamb to the place you really live your life, and let Him come into every room, closet, dark space, and crevice in your life.
Exodus 12:3; Matthew 21:1–11
The Nisan Lamb
DAY 96
THE CAPERNAUM MYSTERY
DO YOU KNOW where Messiah lived?” asked the teacher.
“Tell me,” I replied.
“In Capernaum. Capernaum was the place Messiah dwelt and ministered from. It was to Capernaum that people came from all over Galilee, the sick, the crippled, the blind, the lame, the paralyzed, the fallen, the unholy, the condemned, and the outcast. And it was in Capernaum that He received them and showed them mercy and forgiveness. It was there that He showed them compassion and restored their lives. Capernaum was the center of His ministry. Do you know why it’s called Capernaum?”
“No.”
“Capernaum was a translation of its real name. The first part, Caper, stands for the Hebrew kaphar and can be translated as village. The second part, naum, stands for the Hebrew name Nachum, the same name as the prophet Nahum. So Capernaum could be called ‘the village of Nahum.’”
“Why would Messiah choose ‘the village of Nahum’ as the center of His ministry?”
“It’s a mystery. There’s no record of any connection between Capernaum and the prophet Nahum. And if there was another Nahum, we have no record of his existence. But there are no accidents. If we go deeper, we find something beautiful. Nachum is not just a name; it’s a Hebrew word filled with meaning. It means to comfort, to console, and to repent. So Capernaum could be translated as ‘the village of comfort,’ ‘the village of repentance,’ and ‘the village of consolation.’ So the center of Messiah’s ministry was ‘the village of comfort.’ That’s where the sick were healed, where the sinful were forgiven, where the broken were made whole, and where the outcasts were received.”
“And it’s where they turned to God,” I said. “Capernaum is also the village of repentance.”
“Yes,” he said. “And it is as we turn to God that we become whole and are comforted. And that’s where you will always find Him still.”
“In Capernaum?”
“In the village of mercy, repentance, comfort, healing, restoration, and tender love . . . in Kaphar Nachum.”
The Mission: Come to Kaphar Nachum today. Repent of anything not in His will. Then dwell in the comfort of His presence where your miracle awaits.
Isaiah 61:1–3; Matthew 4:13–16, 24
The Hands of Messiah
DAY 97
WHERE YOU GO
WE STOOD IN front of a sandy plain.
“You may not thank me for this,” said the teacher.
“For what?” I asked.
“For what you’re about to do . . . which is to walk across this plain . . . backward.”
I complied. Trying my best not to fall, I began walking backward across the plain. But it wasn’t long into it that I found myself lying on my back, having tripped over one of the many small bushes that dotted the landscape. After several such falls, the teacher came over to me to help me up.
“OK,” he said. “I think it will be enough. Now why did I make you do that?”
“You have the same question as I do.”
“We were all created with eyes to face the direction in which we walk. So we walk in the direction in which we look. And where we look, we walk.”
“I could have told you that and saved us both the trouble.”
“The reason I asked you to do this was not so you would learn that fact, but that you would never forget this truth. The principle is so basic we never think about it. But where you look is where you go. Go against that principle, and it will never end up well. But apply that principle on a larger scale, on the scale of life, and it can change your life . . . Your life is a journey. Throughout that journey it’s critical that you look in the direction that you’re going and that you don’t look in the direction
you’re not going. If you focus on that which is ungodly, impure, negative, evil, dark, sinful . . . you’ll end up going there, away from God . . . to a dark place. In the end, you won’t go where you say you’ll go. You’ll go where you looked. That which you dwell on, you will end up dwelling in. It is written that Messiah fixed His eyes on Jerusalem. That was His goal. So that’s where He looked, long before He ended up there. Focus on those things that are consistent with your calling. You have a heavenly calling and a heavenly destination. Therefore, look to that which is heavenly. Dwell on what is pure, high, and of God. Focus on what is good. Stop dwelling on what is not . . . and on that which has nothing to do with your heavenly calling. You’ll end up where you are to go, when you look . . . where you’re going.”
The Mission: What is the direction of the calling of your life? Today, dwell only on that which leads to that destination, and on nothing that doesn’t.
Proverbs 4:25–27; Philippians 3:13–14; 4:8; Ephesians 4:1
The Look Where You’re Going Principle
DAY 98
THE FOOD OF THE PRIESTS
WHAT IF THERE existed a food with special powers?” asked the teacher. “And whoever ate of this food became holy and was given the ability to perform works for God they could never have done before?”
“It would save a lot of time and effort,” I replied.
“The priests of Israel didn’t just offer up the sacrifices,” he said. “They partook of them. The priests lived on the sacrifices. It was their food and sustenance. A holy priesthood had to partake of a holy food. And what is food? It’s that which you live on and that which becomes you.”
“You are what you eat,” I said.
“Yes. And you do what you eat,” he said. “It is food that gives you the energy to move, to work, to act, to do, and to accomplish. So it is with spiritual food.”
“What is spiritual food?”
“It’s that which you live on, what you partake of in your heart and spirit. And what you partake of in the spiritual realm is what you will become in the spiritual realm. If you partake in that which is spiritually unclean, if you eat the food of bitterness, of impurity, of lust, of gossip, of darkness, then you will become unclean, impure, and of darkness. But if you partake of that which is spiritually pure and holy, then you will become spiritually pure and holy. And physical food gives you physical energy; spiritual food gives you spiritual energy. So if you partake of spiritual food that is holy and of God, it will give you spiritual power and energy to do what is holy and good and to accomplish the works of God. So what exactly was the food of the priests?”
“The sacrifice.”
“And what is the sacrifice? Messiah. And the Scriptures say that if you’re born again, you are now part of a holy priesthood. So if you’re a priest, you must now live on the food of the priests, the sacrifice. In other words, you must make Messiah the food you live on, every day. His love, His goodness, His mercy, His presence must become your daily sustenance. And if you partake of Messiah, then His nature will become your nature, and His essence your essence. His energy, His spirit, and His power will be given you that you might accomplish the works of God and do what you never could have done before. So from now on live on the food of the priests. Partake of the holy. For you are what you eat, and that which you partake of becomes you.”
The Mission: Partake today only of what is good and holy, the food of the priests. Dwell on the good and nothing else. And you will become so.
Leviticus 6:29; Psalm 34:8; John 6:51
Food of the Priests
DAY 99
SONG OF THE STONE
WE SAT ON the floor of a dark room, illuminated only by the light of a solitary oil lamp. In the teacher’s hand was a small parchment.
“In the New Covenant Scriptures it’s recorded that at the end of the Passover Seder, the Last Supper, Messiah and His disciples sang a song. What song would they have sung?”
“How could we possibly know?”
“The word used to describe the song is the Greek humnos. Humnos was used to speak of the Psalms of Israel. And from ancient times it was ordained that the Passover Seder would always end with the singing of songs, specifically, the Psalms, and a specific set of Psalms called the Hallels. The Passover would end with the singing of the last of these, Psalm 118.”
“And is Psalm 118 significant?”
“Extremely so,” said the teacher as he opened up the scroll to read. “It is Psalm 118 that contains the words, ‘The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.’ The Hebrew word for rejected means as well despised and abhorred. Who is the rejected stone?”
“Messiah,” I answered, “‘He was despised and rejected of men . . . ’”
“Two thousand years ago that song was sung all over Jerusalem, the song of the rejected stone. And it would be fulfilled on that very Passover. It was right after Messiah and His disciples finished singing the song that they went to the Mount of Olives where He would be arrested, despised, and abhorred—and finally cast away at the crucifixion, the epitome of rejection. But what also does it say? ‘The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.’ So the despised and rejected man on the cross would end up becoming the cornerstone of faith, of civilization, of history, and of the world. Think about it . . . kings and queens, general and emperors, bow down to a man nailed to a cross. The most pivotal, world-changing life on this planet is that of a crucified Jewish Rabbi . . . the stone of rejection. And that crucified Rabbi becomes the cornerstone of history. In God, the object of man’s hatred becomes the center of His love, and the object of man’s despising becomes the vessel of His glory. How amazing is that? And it was all there, that night, at the Seder . . . in the song of the stone.”
The Mission: Make Him who is the Cornerstone, the cornerstone of all you do today. Build everything else from that foundation.
Psalm 118:22–23; Isaiah 53:3; Hebrews 13:12–13; 1 Peter 2:4–8
The Rosh Pinah
DAY 100
THE MYSTERY OF THE TRIANGLES
WE SAT FACING each other on the desert sand. The teacher was holding a stick, which he would use in the revealing of the mystery. “On the night of Passover,” he said, “the Israelites marked their doorposts with the blood of the lamb. Do you know how they did it?”
“No.”
“They put the blood on three places, on the right beam, on the left beam, and on the top beam.”
Using the stick, he made three dots in the sand: one on the top, and two below it to the right and the left.
“Now let’s connect the dots,” he said as he began drawing a line from dot to dot. “What does it form?”
“A triangle.”
“A triangle pointing upward to heaven. The act was performed by man looking toward God, from earth to heaven, from man to God.”
“In the first Passover the blood of the lamb appeared on the beams of their doorposts. But over a thousand years later, in the Passover of the Messiah, the blood appeared on the beams of the cross. In how many places did that blood appear?”
I thought for a moment before answering. “Three,” I replied.
“Where?”
“At His right hand, at His left hand, and at His feet.”
At that, he put the stick back in the sand and drew three dots, one on the bottom, and two above it. Then he again connected the dots. It formed another triangle alongside the first. But this one pointed down.
“Again, three marks of blood . . . Again it forms a triangle. But this triangle points downward, just as this Passover sacrifice comes not from man to God, but from God to man. And now what happens if we join the two Passover triangles?”
He then drew the two triangles, the one overlapping the other.
“The Star of David!” I said. “It forms the Star of David, the sign of Israel.”
“Two Passovers, two lambs, two triangular patterns of blood, separated by over a thousand years and yet forming the
sign of God’s nation. A sign formed in the blood of the Passover Lamb . . . a sign that the Passover Lamb has come . . . to set free all who take refuge in His blood.”
The Mission: The blood of the Lamb breaks every chain and bondage. Walk today in the power of the Lamb and break free.
Exodus 12:3–7; 1 Corinthians 5:7
The Lamb and the Doorway
DAY 101
THE CHALDEAN MYSTERY
HE WAS TURNING the pages of a large black book filled with old maps and lithographs. “Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Rome . . . Even the greatest of kingdoms,” he said, “cannot escape the laws of history, or the laws of God. And one of those laws is four thousand years old. God speaks to a Middle Eastern man named Abram, from the land of Chaldea, and tells him, ‘I will bless those who bless you. And I will curse those who curse you.’ In other words, those people, nations, and powers that bless the Jewish people, the children of Abraham, will be blessed, and those who curse them will be cursed. Could a four-thousand-year-old promise lie behind world history and the rise and fall of nations? The answer is yes.”
“Can you give an example?” I asked.
“In the second millennium BC, the world’s preeminent empire is Egypt. But Egypt oppresses the children of Abraham. So, according to the ancient mystery somewhere around the time of the Exodus and at the peak of its oppression, the Egyptian Empire suddenly collapses, never to rise again. In the modern age, Great Britain becomes for the Jewish people a refuge from persecution and one in which they would prosper. And so according to the ancient mystery Britain is exalted to the point that its empire becomes the most expansive in world history. But when the British Empire reverses its position and turns against the Jewish refugees fleeing the Holocaust, this greatest of empires suddenly collapses to virtually nothing. Starting in the late nineteenth century and into the twentieth America becomes the greatest refuge and defender of the Jewish people. And thus according to the ancient mystery, in the same period of time, becomes the most blessed, prosperous, and powerful nation on earth. From ancient Egypt to modern America the ancient biblical mystery has determined the rise and fall of kingdoms and empires. What does that tell you?”
The Book of Mysteries Page 15
