Have you ever read Genesis 1 and gotten confused about what the firmament is?  This idea plagued me my whole life, but it wasn’t until recent years that I slowed down and studied it, and more importantly, prayed about it.
Let’s take a look at what this bizarre ‘firmament’ might be…

Genesis 1:6-8
Then God said, “Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.” ⁷ Thus God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so. ⁸ And God called the firmament Heaven. So the evening and the morning were the second day.

~ These verses regarding the firmament always confused me.  I would stop and ponder these verses, trying to fit “what I already knew” into the words on the page.  I never could do it successfully, so I would just continue reading without coming to an understanding of these verses.  I just assumed the ‘firmament’ was referring to dry land.

There are several major problems with this assumption.
1.  Dry land is not created until the Third Day in verses 9-10.
Genesis 1:9-10
Then God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so. 10 And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas. And God saw that it was good.

2. Verse 7 tells us there is water above the firmament and water below the firmament.  This is not referring to dry land.

3. The firmament is again referred to in Genesis 1:14-19
¹⁴ Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years; ¹⁵ and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so. ¹⁶ Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also. ¹⁷ God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth, ¹⁸ and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. ¹⁹ So the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

These verses clearly tell us that YHVH made various types of lights (sun, moon, stars) and placed them in the firmament.  We’ll touch more on the types of lights and their stated purposes later, but for this current topic, it is clear that the “firmament” is not dry land, since the sun, moon, and stars are not placed in the dry land.

Another possible assumption is that the firmament is just a word used to describe our atmosphere, our skies, our heavens.
Let’s dig into the original text to see if the ancient Hebrew considered the skies to be the firmament…

“Firmament” is Strongs H7549 and is transliterated as “raqiya.”
Blue Letter Bible definition based upon the outline of biblical usage:
Extended surface (solid), expanse, firmament
– expanse (flat as base, support)
– firmament (of vault of heaven supporting waters above)
– considered by Hebrews as solid and supporting ‘waters’ above

Strong’s definition:
râqîyaʻ, raw-kee’-ah; from H7554; properly, an expanse, i.e. the firmament or (apparently) visible arch of the sky:—firmament.

Simply referring to Strongs, we see that the original Hebrew outlook is that the firmament is a firm/solid structure arching across the sky, and supported the waters above. The solid structure of the firmament above is confirmed in Job:
Job 37:14-18
“Listen to this, O Job;
Stand still and consider the wondrous works of God.
¹⁵ Do you know when God dispatches them,
And causes the light of His cloud to shine?
¹⁶ Do you know how the clouds are balanced,
Those wondrous works of Him who is perfect in knowledge?
¹⁷ Why are your garments hot,
When He quiets the earth by the south wind?
¹⁸ With Him, have you spread out the skies,
Strong as a cast metal mirror?

I’d also like to point out that this scripture in Job is rebuking man for thinking he knows more than YHVH.  Man (Job) is questioned about many things, asking if he were there when YHVH created His wonderful and complex world.  Man is rebuked for thinking we know how it all works. We are given a similar rebuking/warning in 1Corinthians:
1Cor 3:18-20
¹⁸ Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you seems to be wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. ¹⁹ For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their own craftiness”; ²⁰ and again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.”

Are these “waters above” mentioned again in scripture?
Check out Genesis 7:11-12 where the beginning of the Flood is described:
“¹¹ In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. ¹² And the rain was on the earth forty days and forty nights.”

In order to accumulate enough water to flood the whole earth, it did not merely rain, as we know rain today.
The water was obtained via the fountains of the great deep, and from “the waters above the firmament” (mentioned in Genesis 1:7) by opening the windows of heaven.

In Genesis 8:2, we see the end of the waters:
² The fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven were also stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained.

Some might say that the term “windows of heaven” is just a poetic phrase used to describe rain.
Let’s look at this in Strong’s #H699, transliterated as arubbah.

Blue Letter Bible definition based upon the outline of biblical usage:
1. lattice, window, sluice
2. Chimney (lattice opening where smoke escapes)

Strong’s definition:
אֲרֻבָּה ʼărubbâh, ar-oob-baw’; feminine participle passive of H693 (as if for lurking); a lattice; (by implication) a window, dovecot (because of the pigeon-holes), chimney (with its apertures for smoke), sluice (with openings for water):—chimney, window.

We can see this is not symbolic in nature, but is describing an actual physical opening in a structure.

We see in 2 Kings 7 that the people had knowledge of these physical openings:
2Kings 7:1-2
Then Elisha said, “Hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord: ‘Tomorrow about this time a seah of fine flour shall be sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel, at the gate of Samaria.’”
² So an officer on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God and said, “Look, if the Lord would make windows in heaven (Strong’s #H699), could this thing be?”
And he said, “In fact, you shall see it with your eyes, but you shall not eat of it.”

The same reference is made again in 2 Kings 7:19. They are declaring that something is absolutely true, based on the confirmation (and common knowledge at that time) that YHVH made “windows in heaven”.

These windows are again mentioned in Isaiah:
Isaiah 24:18
And it shall be
That he who flees from the noise of the fear
Shall fall into the pit,
And he who comes up from the midst of the pit
Shall be caught in the snare;
For the windows from on high (Strong’s #H699) are open,
And the foundations of the earth are shaken.

And yet again, these windows are mentioned in Malachi:
Malachi 3:10
Bring all the tithes into the storehouse,
That there may be food in My house,
And try Me now in this,”
Says the Lord of hosts,
“If I will not open for you the windows of heaven (Strong’s #H699)
And pour out for you such blessing
That there will not be room enough to receive it.

I propose that all truth begins and ends with scripture.
According to scripture, we do not have an atmosphere above our land, that slowly fades into the vacuum of an infinite outer space. (By the way, anyone who has even a simple understanding of the behavior of gases/physics knows that a pressurized gas cannot exist adjacent to an infinite vacuum and remain unaffected).
According to scripture, we have a solid firmament above us, separating us from the waters above.

What does this mean?
It means you have to make a decision.
If you believe that scripture is the Word of YHVH (God) and if you believe that scripture is true, then it means you need to reconsider the structure of our home.
Will you believe the Word of YHVH, or will you believe the ideas presented to us by the same people who claim that the lie of evolution is absolute truth?
This topic and this idea is challenging.  To take scripture at face value and believe it means denying what science has taught us.
Will you deny science, or will you deny the Word of YHVH, our Creator?

Exodus 20:8-11
⁸ “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. ⁹ Six days you shall labor and do all your work, ¹⁰ but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. ¹¹ For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.

Exodus 31:12-18
The Sabbath Law
¹² And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹³ “Speak also to the children of Israel, saying: ‘Surely My Sabbaths you shall keep, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the Lord who sanctifies you. ¹⁴ You shall keep the Sabbath, therefore, for it is holy to you. Everyone who profanes it shall surely be put to death; for whoever does any work on it, that person shall be cut off from among his people. ¹⁵ Work shall be done for six days, but the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. ¹⁶ Therefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant. ¹⁷ It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.’”
¹⁸ And when He had made an end of speaking with him on Mount Sinai, He gave Moses two tablets of the Testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God.

YHVH commands us to honor the Sabbath and to keep it holy.
If YHVH says the Sabbath is a sign between Him and His people, do you want to have that sign?
Do you want to be recognized?
What if you don’t have that sign?

Matthew 7:21-23 (The words of our Messiah)
²¹ “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. ²² Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ ²³ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’

“I never knew you.”
The scariest four words in the whole bible.

I rarely have time to work in Photoshop, just for fun, but it is something I love.
I’ve been setting aside about 15 minutes each day to make a graphic.
Here’s what I’ve done this week:

Two criteria are listed.
Not one.
Do you have both in your life?

119 Ministries has a gift for creating simple memes with profound meaning…

Here is a link to their Youtube teachings:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzO-bdQuBawrkSyjrdD07Bg

Here are a few of their memes:

It is no secret that I no longer believe the doctrine that is taught in our seminaries, and therefore, in our churches. Reading a bible for yourself seems to have such an effect…

When YHVH called us to truth, Tracy and I recognized that we needed to leave the church.

Revelation 18:4
Then I heard another voice from heaven saying,
“Come out of her, my people, lest you participate in her sins and receive her plagues!”

Mainstream teachings are not compatible with the WHOLE truth of the WHOLE bible.
However, I saw the church as a stepping stone to get where I was. I walked that path for many years.
I saw the church as a good and decent body, if not a bit confused.

As I dug into scripture and studied many details, I quickly came to realize how vastly different common accepted teachings are from what scripture actually says.
After a number of conversations, it began to really bother me that pastors and church leaders are aware of truth in scripture, but choose to teach denominational doctrine instead (their jobs depend on it, literally!!).

Galatians 1:8-10
⁸ But even if we (or an angel from heaven) should announce any “good news” to you other than what we have proclaimed to you, let that person be cursed! ⁹ As we have said before, so I now repeat: if anyone proclaims to you “good news” other than what you received, let that person be under a curse! ¹⁰ Am I now trying to win people’s approval, or YHVH’s (God’s)? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Messiah.

My attitude changed from “healthy respect for the church, but I can’t be a part of that” to “why are these organizations leading people astray?”

I have a great deal of love for the people of the church, but I’ve reached a point of having little patience for false teachings…  Love the people — disdain for the organizations.
And while we are at it, could someone please show me in scripture where it says to file a 501C3 agreement with the government, and take up collections in order to purchase billions upon billions of dollars worth of commercial real estate?
I’ll wait…
Go for it. Show me.

Anyway, I had a thought today.  I’ve learned in studying scripture, and in learning a smidgen of Hebrew, that words matter.  They matter a great deal.
So I looked up the etymology (the study of the origin of words and the way in which their meanings have changed throughout history) of the word SEMINARY.
What did I find?

Seminary:
“plot where plants are raised from seeds,” from Latin seminarium “plant nursery, seed plot,” figuratively, “breeding ground,” from seminarius “of seed,” from semen (genitive seminis) “seed” (see semen). 

Why does this matter?
Oh, I don’t know…
How about Genesis 3:15??

I will put animosity
    between you and the woman—
        between your seed and her seed.
    He will crush your head,
        and you will crush his heel.

No, this is not earth-shattering. It is just a simple observation that I thought was interesting…
We’ve seen the Genesis 3:15 curse play out through all of history, and will continue to see it until the end.  I found it startling to see that the very name of our “religious misinformation institutions” is derived from the word “seed,” which happens to be cursed since nearly the beginning of time…

Luke 15 gives us a couple of interesting parables to consider.  On the surface, these are simple life lessons to be learned, and anyone can benefit from this wisdom.
But is there more meaning??

The Parable of the Lost Coin
⁸ “Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? ⁹ And when she has found it, she calls her friends and neighbors together, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece which I lost!’ ¹⁰ Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

In this parable, the simple lesson is that we should be diligent about searching for that which was lost, and we should rejoice should it be found.
With verse 10 taken into account, we could simply say that we are to seek out and share with the spiritually lost, and rejoice when one comes to repentance. Yes, this is truth, and a good lesson.

But is there more?
Ask just about anyone in our mainstream churches, and the majority will say that 9 of the 10 commandments are good for today.  Which one is no longer beneficial for our lives in this day and age?  That would be #4 which states:

Exodus 20:8-11
 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. ⁹ Six days you shall labor and do all your work, ¹⁰ but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. ¹¹ For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.

Let’s consider this parable as it relates to the Ten Commandments!!
The church generally agrees that nine of the ten commandments are good and useful, but keeping the Sabbath holy is lost in our current church culture. Most will freely admit they do not observe the Sabbath as scripture dictates, and will say we are not supposed to.
However, YHVH is restoring His lost knowledge.
Many have found the ‘lost coin of the Sabbath’ and are returning to the practice of remembering and keeping the Sabbath holy, just as we are instructed. Are you on board yet?
Do you think we should follow the Ten Commandments, or just nine of them?

The Parable of the Lost Son
¹¹ Then He said: “A certain man had two sons. ¹² And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.’ So he divided to them his livelihood. ¹³ And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living. ¹⁴ But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want. ¹⁵ Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. ¹⁶ And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything.
¹⁷ “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! ¹⁸ I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, ¹⁹ and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.”’
²⁰ “And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. ²¹ And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
²² “But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring^[b] out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. ²³ And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; ²⁴ for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ And they began to be merry.
²⁵ “Now his older son was in the field. And as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. ²⁶ So he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. ²⁷ And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and because he has received him safe and sound, your father has killed the fatted calf.’
²⁸ “But he was angry and would not go in. Therefore his father came out and pleaded with him. ²⁹ So he answered and said to his father, ‘Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends. ³⁰ But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him.’
³¹ “And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours. ³² It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found.’”

Again, there is a surface message here that contains life wisdom, and we can all benefit from this teaching.  But is there more? Is there a deeper meaning?  My wife Tracy thinks so (this teaching is from her ideas and inspiration).
Let’s dig in…

As we know, the Nation of Israel split back in the day, becoming the Southern Kingdom of Judah (comprised of the Tribes of Judah and Benjamin) and the Northern Kingdom of Israel (comprised of the remaining ten tribes).
Both strayed from YHVH’s word and suffered for it, although Judah was partially restored.
Can we see any parallels between these events and this parable of the Prodigal Son?

For review, here is Deuteronomy 28 about blessings and curses for Israel. Pay particular attention to verse 64:

Blessings on Obedience
28 “Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the Lord your God will set you high above all nations of the earth. ² And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the Lord your God:
³ “Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the country.
⁴ “Blessed shall be the fruit of your body, the produce of your ground and the increase of your herds, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks.
⁵ “Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.
⁶ “Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.
⁷ “The Lord will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before your face; they shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways.
⁸ “The Lord will command the blessing on you in your storehouses and in all to which you set your hand, and He will bless you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you.
⁹ “The Lord will establish you as a holy people to Himself, just as He has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in His ways. ¹⁰ Then all peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and they shall be afraid of you. ¹¹ And the Lord will grant you plenty of goods, in the fruit of your body, in the increase of your livestock, and in the produce of your ground, in the land of which the Lord swore to your fathers to give you. ¹² The Lord will open to you His good treasure, the heavens, to give the rain to your land in its season, and to bless all the work of your hand. You shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. ¹³ And the Lord will make you the head and not the tail; you shall be above only, and not be beneath, if you heed the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, and are careful to observe them. ¹⁴ So you shall not turn aside from any of the words which I command you this day, to the right or the left, to go after other gods to serve them.

Curses on Disobedience
¹⁵ “But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:
¹⁶ “Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the country.
¹⁷ “Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.
¹⁸ “Cursed shall be the fruit of your body and the produce of your land, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks.
¹⁹ “Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out.
²⁰ “The Lord will send on you cursing, confusion, and rebuke in all that you set your hand to do, until you are destroyed and until you perish quickly, because of the wickedness of your doings in which you have forsaken Me. ²¹ The Lord will make the plague cling to you until He has consumed you from the land which you are going to possess. ²² The Lord will strike you with consumption, with fever, with inflammation, with severe burning fever, with the sword, with scorching, and with mildew; they shall pursue you until you perish. ²³ And your heavens which are over your head shall be bronze, and the earth which is under you shall be iron. ²⁴ The Lord will change the rain of your land to powder and dust; from the heaven it shall come down on you until you are destroyed.
²⁵ “The Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies; you shall go out one way against them and flee seven ways before them; and you shall become troublesome to all the kingdoms of the earth. ²⁶ Your carcasses shall be food for all the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and no one shall frighten them away. ²⁷ The Lord will strike you with the boils of Egypt, with tumors, with the scab, and with the itch, from which you cannot be healed. ²⁸ The Lord will strike you with madness and blindness and confusion of heart. ²⁹ And you shall grope at noonday, as a blind man gropes in darkness; you shall not prosper in your ways; you shall be only oppressed and plundered continually, and no one shall save you.
³⁰ “You shall betroth a wife, but another man shall lie with her; you shall build a house, but you shall not dwell in it; you shall plant a vineyard, but shall not gather its grapes. ³¹ Your ox shall be slaughtered before your eyes, but you shall not eat of it; your donkey shall be violently taken away from before you, and shall not be restored to you; your sheep shall be given to your enemies, and you shall have no one to rescue them. ³² Your sons and your daughters shall be given to another people, and your eyes shall look and fail with longing for them all day long; and there shall be no strength in your hand. ³³ A nation whom you have not known shall eat the fruit of your land and the produce of your labor, and you shall be only oppressed and crushed continually. ³⁴ So you shall be driven mad because of the sight which your eyes see. ³⁵ The Lord will strike you in the knees and on the legs with severe boils which cannot be healed, and from the sole of your foot to the top of your head.
³⁶ “The Lord will bring you and the king whom you set over you to a nation which neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you shall serve other gods—wood and stone. ³⁷ And you shall become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword among all nations where the Lord will drive you.
³⁸ “You shall carry much seed out to the field but gather little in, for the locust shall consume it. ³⁹ You shall plant vineyards and tend them, but you shall neither drink of the wine nor gather the grapes; for the worms shall eat them. ⁴⁰ You shall have olive trees throughout all your territory, but you shall not anoint yourself with the oil; for your olives shall drop off. ⁴¹ You shall beget sons and daughters, but they shall not be yours; for they shall go into captivity. ⁴² Locusts shall consume all your trees and the produce of your land.
⁴³ “The alien who is among you shall rise higher and higher above you, and you shall come down lower and lower. ⁴⁴ He shall lend to you, but you shall not lend to him; he shall be the head, and you shall be the tail.
⁴⁵ “Moreover all these curses shall come upon you and pursue and overtake you, until you are destroyed, because you did not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which He commanded you. ⁴⁶ And they shall be upon you for a sign and a wonder, and on your descendants forever.
⁴⁷ “Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joy and gladness of heart, for the abundance of everything, ⁴⁸ therefore you shall serve your enemies, whom the Lord will send against you, in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and in need of everything; and He will put a yoke of iron on your neck until He has destroyed you. ⁴⁹ The Lord will bring a nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flies, a nation whose language you will not understand, ⁵⁰ a nation of fierce countenance, which does not respect the elderly nor show favor to the young. ⁵¹ And they shall eat the increase of your livestock and the produce of your land, until you are destroyed; they shall not leave you grain or new wine or oil, or the increase of your cattle or the offspring of your flocks, until they have destroyed you.
⁵² “They shall besiege you at all your gates until your high and fortified walls, in which you trust, come down throughout all your land; and they shall besiege you at all your gates throughout all your land which the Lord your God has given you. ⁵³ You shall eat the fruit of your own body, the flesh of your sons and your daughters whom the Lord your God has given you, in the siege and desperate straits in which your enemy shall distress you. ⁵⁴ The sensitive and very refined man among you will be hostile toward his brother, toward the wife of his bosom, and toward the rest of his children whom he leaves behind, ⁵⁵ so that he will not give any of them the flesh of his children whom he will eat, because he has nothing left in the siege and desperate straits in which your enemy shall distress you at all your gates. ⁵⁶ The tender and delicate woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground because of her delicateness and sensitivity, will refuse^[a] to the husband of her bosom, and to her son and her daughter, ⁵⁷ her placenta which comes out from between her feet and her children whom she bears; for she will eat them secretly for lack of everything in the siege and desperate straits in which your enemy shall distress you at all your gates.
⁵⁸ “If you do not carefully observe all the words of this law that are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and awesome name, THE LORD YOUR GOD, ⁵⁹ then the Lord will bring upon you and your descendants extraordinary plagues—great and prolonged plagues—and serious and prolonged sicknesses. ⁶⁰ Moreover He will bring back on you all the diseases of Egypt, of which you were afraid, and they shall cling to you. ⁶¹ Also every sickness and every plague, which is not written in this Book of the Law, will the Lord bring upon you until you are destroyed. ⁶² You shall be left few in number, whereas you were as the stars of heaven in multitude, because you would not obey the voice of the Lord your God. ⁶³ And it shall be, that just as the Lord rejoiced over you to do you good and multiply you, so the Lord will rejoice over you to destroy you and bring you to nothing; and you shall be plucked from off the land which you go to possess.
⁶⁴ “Then the Lord will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other, and there you shall serve other gods, which neither you nor your fathers have known—wood and stone. ⁶⁵ And among those nations you shall find no rest, nor shall the sole of your foot have a resting place; but there the Lord will give you a trembling heart, failing eyes, and anguish of soul. ⁶⁶ Your life shall hang in doubt before you; you shall fear day and night, and have no assurance of life. ⁶⁷ In the morning you shall say, ‘Oh, that it were evening!’ And at evening you shall say, ‘Oh, that it were morning!’ because of the fear which terrifies your heart, and because of the sight which your eyes see.
⁶⁸ “And the Lord will take you back to Egypt in ships, by the way of which I said to you, ‘You shall never see it again.’ And there you shall be offered for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one will buy you.”

We know from scripture that Judah partially turned back to YHVH, and we know them today as the Jews.  They still value Torah, but have rejected Messiah.

As for the House of Israel, the northern 10 Tribes — they were scattered among all the nations, just as Deuteronomy 28:64 warned, and they remain lost in the nations to this day.

We know from scripture, though, that all of Israel will one day be restored. Even Yeshua (Jesus) said so…
Matthew 15:24 (words of Yeshua)
But He answered and said, “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

Check out these tidbits from Jeremiah and Isaiah.  I bet you didn’t know there would be another exodus!!
Jeremiah 16:14-15
¹⁴ “Therefore, the days are quickly coming,” declares Adonai, “when it will no longer be said. ‘As Adonai lives, who brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt.’ ¹⁵ Rather, ‘As Adonai lives, who brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north and from all the lands where He had banished them.’ So I will bring them back into their land that I gave to their fathers.

And Isaiah 43:5-6
Do not fear, for I am with you.
I will bring your offspring from the east
    and gather you from the west.
⁶ I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’
    and to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’
Bring My sons from far
    and My daughters from the ends of the earth.

But enough history…
How does all of this apply to the parable of the prodigal son?
Simply read it again, but consider the son who stayed as the House of Judah, and the son who ran off as the House of Israel.

The prodigal son took his inheritance and rejected all he ever knew. He went to foreign lands and squandered his inheritance, losing everything.
The House of Israel was scattered among all the nations, and have squandered and lost their identity as Israel.

The prodigal son suffered for his poor decisions, and one day decided to return with humility.
We are experiencing the calling of the lost.  Many Gentiles are being called to Torah. Many are gaining an understanding of scripture that varies from what our churches teach.  The lost are being called, and many are returning in humility.

The father sees his prodigal son and runs to him in love.  We will see the same from the Father, as He embraces the returning lost sheep of Israel.

The son who had remained became bitter. Instead of being glad for his brother’s return, he was upset that he received a great welcome instead of rejection and punishment.  This, I believe, is yet to play out.  But the Jews in general have a disregard for Christianity and have rejected the Messiah.  Stay tuned to see how this plays out as the House of Israel returns…

This study could go much deeper, and there are other details to evaluate and tie to scripture. But I think there is enough evidence in scripture to tie the events of Judah and Israel to the parable of the Prodigal Son.
What do you think?
I believe Tracy is correct.

I’m currently doing a study about Heaven and Hell.
We’ve known forever that ‘the saved’ will have eternity in Heaven and ‘the unsaved’ will have eternity in Hell.
Anyone who has ever been to a funeral knows that ALL dead people “are in a better place now” and are “smiling down on us from above.”

There is a great deal of cultural and churchianity knowledge regarding Heaven and Hell.

However, I’m more interested in what scripture says about it than what the church has to say about it.
Can you even believe it?
Accepted mainstream teachings and church culture are vastly different from what scripture says.
Didn’t see that coming, did you?
LOL

It will take a bit of time for me to finish my study and to write a narrative on the topic.  In the meantime, I challenge you to do this:
Look up all the occurrences of the word “Hell” in the bible. Go to Blue Letter Bible and see what the REAL words were.
You’ll find that four different places in scripture are all generically translated as Hell>
1. Hades

2. Sheol

3. Gehenna

4. Tartarus


Each place has its own purpose.  When all four are translated into one generic “Hell,” things get confusing.
Let’s sort it out and set things straight, eh??

Truth coming soon…
Stay tuned.