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CHESHVAN 1

Great was the Fall

 “And the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell--and great and complete was the fall of it.” (Mat 7:27 AMPC)

Several years ago, my husband and I suffered through a particularly severe storm, which announced itself with loud, howling winds.  One of our older cottonwood trees (it stood by a small creek that runs through the bottom part of our property) was snapped off approximately 6 feet above the ground, just like it was a tooth-pick. What was equally shocking to see was how rotten the inside of this tree was.  Most of the main part of the trunk was hollow with rot, while the upper part of the tree seemed firm and full of life, covered with leaves, and gave the appearance of health.

My husband and I contemplated this tree for about a week, where it had fallen: half on one side of the creek, and the remaining half on the other side of the creek, with many branches trailing in the creek.  We praised Abba Father for the steep sides of the banks at that particular spot, for the downed tree was not causing the creek to dam up, at least not this late in the summer. But we knew that we would have to do something … And all I could hear was the portion of the verse, “great is the fall of it.”

I knew that the cleanup process of this downed tree would be a back-breaking ordeal. Cottonwood absorbs water, and when it is green, it is incredibly heavy.  As a tree, it also has many small branches and twigs; all of these would have to be cut away before my husband could even get to the main branches and eventually, the trunk of the tree, with his chain saw.  At first, I did not comprehend what my Elohim was attempting to teach me through this entire experience; it was as we worked at the cleanup process that the representation began to unfold before me.  There were times when I had to stop, and literally sit down and weep at the lesson being taught – all through this one, half-rotten, half-alive tree.

There are those within the westernized church system who claim to have accepted Yeshua of Nazareth, or their “Jesus”, as their Master and Redeemer, and are adamant about heaven being their final destination.  Yet this elite group of people have little (or no) use for the Torah, seldom turn to any of the pages within the Tanach, or Old Testament, and base their entire relationship with the Father on a supposedly new covenant, completely ignoring any covenant that was previously in existence. 

Consequently, they are like a tree that is hollow in the middle.  There is no depth or foundation to their relationship with our Elohim – (for that is what a “covenant” is: a relationship) - no sustenance to continually feed them, even through the drought and lean years.  By appearance, they seem to be green and flourishing, healthy and strong, but let disaster strike, let a strong wind come howling through, and this is when the rotten core is made visible and naked.  “Great is the fall of it,” and the cleanup process is a long and back-breaking ordeal for all of those involved. 

Before we start mentally thinking of this person that might fit into this picture, or that person that could fit into the frame, our Creator specifically admonishes us to look to ourselves:

“But let every person carefully scrutinize and examine and test his OWN conduct and his OWN work. He can then have the personal satisfaction and joy of doing something commendable [in itself alone] without [resorting to] boastful comparison with his neighbor.”  (Gal 6:4 AMPC, emphasis mine)

What is our foundation?  Are we building our house upon the Rock, who is the Living Torah, the Living Word?  Yeshua is the same Rock in Mat 7: 24-27 as He was for Moses and the children of Israel at the waters of Massah (Exo 17:6).  He is the same Bread of Life in John 6:35 as He was for the children of Israel for 40 years of wandering in the desert (John 6:32; Exo 16:15). 

Our Master Yeshua built His own life from the foundation of the Torah, and applied its principles to everything He said and did.  Necessity dictated that He do so, otherwise He could not have been the perfect, acceptable sacrifice that He was.  And we learn also from the Word that when Messiah Yeshua was tempted by the adversary in Mat 4:1-10, every reply that our Messiah gave to the enemy was taken from the Torah, the basic foundation of the Word of God.

Most carpenters cement contractors, and other building contractors will agree that if we do not have a solid foundation to our house, severe problems will eventually cause the ruin of that house.  It is time, brothers and sisters, to tend to our foundation, before danger sets in, and “great is the fall of it”.   Let us begin today, and learn of our roots, of where it all began, and why.  Let us ask the Ruach Hakodesh, the Spirit of Elohim, to be our teacher and guide, and let us have ears to hear, eyes to see, and a heart eager and willing to understand all that is revealed to us.

“So then you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the set-apart ones and members of the household of Elohim, having been built upon the foundation of the emissaries and prophets, יהושע Messiah Himself being chief corner-stone, in whom all the building, being joined together, grows into a set-apart Dwelling Place in יהוה, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of Elohim in the Spirit.” (Eph 2:19-22 ISR)

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