The Prairie Messianic Pulpit

06/17/2026

Happy New Month !

06/17/2026

06/16/2026

Golden Gate

Jewish tradition says the Messiah will enter Jerusalem through this gate.

In 1541, the Ottoman sultan sealed it with stone. And placed a Muslim cemetery in front of it. Because Jewish priests cannot pass through a graveyard, even if the gate opened.

The Eastern Gate of Jerusalem, known in Hebrew as Sha'ar Harahamim, the Gate of Mercy, faces directly toward the Mount of Olives across the Kidron Valley. Its current visible structure dates to the Byzantine or early Islamic period, built over much earlier foundations from the Second Temple era.

The prophecy in the book of Ezekiel describes a gate facing east that would be sealed until the appointed ruler enters, and Jewish tradition connects this to the messianic arrival: the Messiah, descendant of David, will enter Jerusalem through this specific gate on this specific side of the city.

The Ottoman sultan Suleiman the Magnificent blocked the gate in 1541, reportedly to prevent the fulfillment of this prophecy. The cemetery placed before the gate addressed a more practical problem: Kohanim, members of the ancient Jewish priestly class, are prohibited by Jewish law from coming into contact with the dead, and a graveyard in front of the gate would theoretically prevent a priestly Messiah from even approaching it to open it. The blocked arches, the cemetery, and the wall standing unchanged for nearly five centuries together constitute one of the most theologically loaded pieces of architecture anywhere in the world.

The gate has been sealed for five hundred years specifically to prevent a prophecy from being fulfilled. What do you think it means that the people who sealed it took the prophecy seriously enough to try?

06/16/2026

The point of learning Torah is not only to know more. The point is that Torah should shape the kind of person you become.

06/14/2026

The goal of the Torah is to humble us, not make us arrogant and proud. We are not any better or more special than anyone else. The revelation we have is a gracious gift from God. Let's study the Torah so that we will learn to fear the Lord. And let's walk out his commandments, not out of a spirit of pride and self-righteousness, but in humility and gratitude. Then maybe those we hope to influence will see the value in what we do because they will see the good fruit it has produced.

06/14/2026

If you do not have already a sincere genuine relationship with Yeshua Messiah - You have a spiritual problem !

And only God can solve it.

God is just at the same time loving and does not want you to perish in your own sin, so he draws you toward His Son Yeshua (Jesus) yours and our Messiah.

https://youtu.be/s3qcMSnfqCs?feature=shared

06/14/2026

Man renovating his house in Jerusalem discovers a 2,000-year-old Hebrew sarcophagus believed to contain the remains of the last Hasmonean king of Judea.

After the 1967 war, a young man named Rafael Delarosa purchased a property in Jerusalem and began renovations.

While digging, the builders noticed an unusual section of ground that seemed hollow beneath the surface. Delarosa investigated further and uncovered the entrance to a 2,000-year-old underground burial cave.

Inside were two burial chambers and an extraordinary stone sarcophagus decorated with carved flowers. It is considered one of the most magnificent sarcophagi ever discovered in Jerusalem.

An inscription found in the tomb reads:

“I am Abba, son of the priest Eleazar, son of Aaron the High Priest. I am Abba, the afflicted and persecuted one, who was born in Jerusalem and went into exile to Babylon. I brought up Mattathias, son of Judah, and buried him in the cave that I purchased by deed.”

The sarcophagus contained the remains of two individuals. Scholars have debated their identities, but the most widely accepted theory is that the Mattathias mentioned in the inscription was Antigonus II Mattathias, the last Hasmonean king of Judea.

Antigonus was defeated by Herod the Great and the Romans. He was taken to Antioch, where he was executed in 37 BC, bringing the Hasmonean dynasty to an end. All of this took place while the Second Temple still stood in Jerusalem, more than a century before its destruction by the Romans.

If this identification is correct, the inscription preserves a remarkable story: a priest named Abba brought the king’s remains back from exile and reburied them in the Land of Israel, in a tomb that he himself had purchased.

The discovery provides a rare firsthand voice from the Second Temple period and reflects themes deeply rooted in Jewish history: Jerusalem, exile, priestly lineage, land ownership, and the desire to be buried in the Land of Israel.

Image credit: Moshe Glantz (CC BY-SA 3.0)

🇮🇱 The Nation of Israel Lives

06/13/2026

Shabbat Shalom Family and Friends!

06/13/2026

Shabbat Shalom LeKulam (all) !

Here is our Torah Reading Portions and References this coming Shabbat June 13, 2026

Torah - Leviticus 14: 1 -57
Haftarah - 2 Kings 7: 1 -20
Apostolic Writings- Luke 17: 11 - 19

For our weekly reading schedule find it our website at : https://www.lechaimbiblefellowship.org/three-year-torah-reading-cycle

For our events calendar click : https://www.lechaimbiblefellowship.org/events

For helpful resources: https://www.lechaimbiblefellowship.org/articles

For livestreaming and recorded teachings: https://www.youtube.com//videos

06/12/2026

This weekend Shabbat (June 13 2026, 2 PM) at L’chaim we will be opening our Bibles for our Torah Encounter Session “What the Torah says about our Spiritual Problem and Condition and the Solution that HaShem Offers.”

Yet though it is given, many reject it and taken it for granted.

We will also explore additional themes from HaYesod at 2 PM.