Parashah Vayechi

Parasha Vayechi

Genesis 47:28-50:26

Yeshua. Dreams. Visions. Blood.

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YESHUA.

Luke 24:13-27

“Then, starting with Moshe and all the prophets, he explained to them the things that can be found throughout the Tanakh concerning himself.”

Yeshua starts with Moshe – but here we are predating Moshe – and we find a clear word of prophesy from Israel about Yeshua.

Genesis 49:8-12

Y’hudah, your brothers will acknowledge you,

your hand will be on the neck of your enemies,

your father’s sons will bow down before you.

Y’hudah is a lion’s cub/

my son, you stand over the prey.

He crouches down and stretches like a lion;

like a lioness, who dares to provoke him?

The scepter will not pass from Y’hudah, 

nor the ruler’s staff from between his legs,

until he comes to whom [obedience] belongs;

and it is he whom the peoples will obey.

Tying his donkey to the vine,

his donkey’s colt to the choice grapevine,

he washes his clothes in wine,

his robes in the blood of grapes.

His eyes will be darker than wine,

his teeth whiter than milk.

So many things point to our Messiah. Our beloved one. So many people work soooo hard to make these things seem ridiculous. There are pages and pages of websites where “scholars” debunk the prophecies of Genesis 49:10-12.

But…

Let’s pray: Holy Spirit of The Living God, come and move our hearts. Bring glory to the Son of Man! We know that you desire to glorify the Messiah! Bring us knowledge and wisdom according to your abundance of wisdom!

Yeshua is… well, He’s all of these things!

He IS the Lion of Judah.

Rev 5:5 – “Don’t cry. Look! The Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has won the right to open the scroll and its seven seals!”

He IS The Ruler who will rule in Justice!

Jeremiah 33:12-17 – “This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘In this place, desolate and without men or animals—in all its towns there will again be pastures for shepherds to rest their flocks. In the towns of the hill country, of the western foothills and of the Negev, in the territory of Benjamin, in the villages around Jerusalem and in the towns of Judah, flocks will again pass under the hand of the one who counts them,’ says the Lord.

“‘The days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when I will fulfill the gracious promise I made to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah.

“‘In those days and at that time

I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David’s line;

he will do what is just and right in the land.

In those days Judah will be saved

and Jerusalem will live in safety.

This is the name by which it will be called:

The Lord Our Righteousness.’

For this is what the Lord says: ‘David will never fail to have a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel, nor will the priests, who are Levites, ever fail to have a man to stand before me continually to offer burnt offerings, to burn grain offerings and to present sacrifices.’”

He IS The One Who Will Wash His Robes in the Blood of Grapes!

Revelation 14 – I looked, and there before me was a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was one “like a son of man”a with a crown of gold on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand. 

Then another angel came out of the temple and called in a loud voice to him who was sitting on the cloud, “Take your sickle and reap, because the time to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is ripe.” So he who was seated on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was harvested.

Another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle. Still another angel, who had charge of the fire, came from the altar and called in a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, “Take your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of grapes from the earth’s vine, because its grapes are ripe.” The angel swung his sickle on the earth, gathered its grapes and threw them into the great winepress of God’s wrath. They were trampled in the winepress outside the city, and blood flowed out of the press, rising as high as the horses’ bridles for a distance of 1,600 stadia.

And in Revelation 19! – I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war. 

His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. “He will rule them with an iron scepter.”a He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written:

KING OF KINGS and LORD OF LORDS!

Wow. Just Wow.

—–

DREAMS. VISIONS.

Jacob has a vision here. He is clearly looking beyond Judah and seeing the future reality of Judah’s descendants.

Do you shy away from dreams and visions?

Stop it. I’m serious. Do you?

Do you assume that dreams and visions are for others?

Acts 2 – Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. These men are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:

“‘In the last days, God says,

I will pour out my Spirit on all people.

Your sons and daughters will prophesy,

your young men will see visions,

your old men will dream dreams.

Even on my servants, both men and women,

I will pour out my Spirit in those days,

and they will prophesy.

I will show wonders in the heaven above

and signs on the earth below,

blood and fire and billows of smoke.

The sun will be turned to darkness

and the moon to blood

before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.

And everyone who calls

on the name of the Lord will be saved.’

When we read this passage it needs to inform how we live our lives. This passage (originally quoted from Joel) moves prophecy, dreams, and visions out of the realm of the freaks of nature and into the realm of … EVERYBODY! YOU! You fit one of these categories. And your dreams and visions have fruit. What fruit? They will lead to other people calling on the name of the Lord to be saved.

Why? Why do we need this?

First of all: We are more than just a brain attached to tissue, sinew, bone and blood. We are spirit. And your spirit desires to be taught, moved, and loved by THE Holy Spirit. You cannot love God with all that is inside of you unless you surrender to The Holy Spirit (Ephesians 4).

Dreams and visions penetrate the heart. They unlock time. They move us toward faith. They make us engage in the pain of trying to see them confirmed. We can no longer stand still. We can no longer stagnate. Breath has come. The Spirit has breathed on us and we must move … or be disobedient.

—–

BLOOD.

Treading the Winepress vs. Handing Out Ferraris and 5 Bedroom Houses

Have you been buying a picture of God that doesn’t exist? Have you purchased the American God who would never be violent? The pacifist who doesn’t demand justice? The God who is so pure in His love that He would never condemn people to a very real and literal Hell?

Read your whole Bible.

God is justice. And His justice is not our egalitarian-take-everyone-down-to-the-same-level nonsense. His justice is people getting what they need and (because we are spirits – with the ability to make our own choices) what they choose.

—–

He will allow people to choose death.

He will allow us to be eternally separated from Him.

He will harvest all those who reject Him.

He will trample them in the winepress of His fury.

The blood will run for over 200 miles.

—–

And we make that passage in Revelation 14 “figurative” at our own peril.

Seriously.

We need to read our Bibles looking at who God describes Himself as. Not looking for a God that is easier to market to our friends.

We are not salesmen and women. We are children of THE MOST HIGH. And THE MOST HIGH will NOT share us… with any other God.

Yeshua returns in a robe stained with blood. Yeshua. The one who told you to turn the other cheek. He is the one who trampled the winepress personally.

Yeshua’s robe is stained with blood.

Blood.

And God doesn’t apologize if this offends our sensibilities. He presents this as the normal course of events.

So don’t go apologizing for God.

He doesn’t need an apologist.

He needs a lover.