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Several people have mentioned to me recently that they feel an urgent call to teach the Torah to their children as quickly as possible. This desire to teach our children is prophesied in Deuteronomy 30:1-6.

Now it shall come to pass, when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where YHWH your God drives you, and you return to YHWH your God and obey His voice, according to all that I command you today, you and your children, with all your heart and with all your soul, that YHWH your God will bring you back from captivity, and have compassion on you, and gather you again from all the nations where YHWH your God has scattered you. If any of you are driven out to the farthest parts under heaven, from there YHWH your God will gather you, and from there He will bring you. Then YHWH your God will bring you to the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it. He will prosper you and multiply you more than your fathers. And YHWH your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love YHWH your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live (NKJV).

We know that the houses of Israel and Judah were prophesied to be scattered to the four corners of the earth for several thousand years (Leviticus 26, Ezekiel 4:4-5). Horrible curses were placed upon them for their disobedience. However, when all those curses had come upon them, they would call these prophecies to mind wherever they were living, in the nations where YHWH had driven them.

At that time, they would return to YHWH their God and they would obey His voice, according to all that He had commanded.

In addition, their children would also return and obey, with all their hearts and all their souls. YHWH their God would circumcise their hearts and place His Spirit in them to move them to keep His laws (Ezekiel 36:24-32, Romans 2:25-29). It wasn’t just the parents! It was their children, too!

It seems clear to me that we are in this period of history. Over 2730 years ago, YHWH allowed the Assyrian armies to conquer the House of Israel. Later the Babylonians would conquer the House of Judah. Even the very Temple of God was destroyed, with no stone left upon another as Yeshua predicted, at the fall of Jerusalem in 70 A.D.

And now we see people from all over the globe making teshuvah, or turning around in repentance for their sin and the sins of their fathers, and obeying the voice of YHWH as given in His Torah.

One day soon, we know that Yeshua our Messiah will return in the clouds of glory and will take His rightful place as ruler in Jerusalem. Before He comes,

I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn (Zechariah 12:10).

I could go on and on, recounting the prophecies that seem to be unfolding before our eyes. But what should our response as parents be during this time?

Behold, I am coming as a thief. Blessed is he who watches, and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame (Revelation 16:15).

As many have written and shared with me, we feel a sense of urgency that Yeshua’s return is near and that we are to be watching. What does it mean to watch? As I have written in another place,

How do we “watch”? This is super important!

“But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly. For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man” (Luke 21:34-36).

An interesting thing is that watching is very active, the opposite of sleep. (You can see an extensive list of all the instructions that the Apostles have given us in their writings by clicking here.) I think 1 Peter 4 has the best summary.

We noted, however, in all the passages we looked at, we are not to be lazy or wasting our time, twittering it away on useless and excessive amusements. As Luke writes, we are to be watching, lest our hearts be weighed down with carousing, or an excess of anything, or with drunkenness, or even — this is convicting! — with the cares of this life!

Rather, we are to be praying, prophesying, working with our hands, and doing acts of righteousness (which are defined in Torah, of course).

We are also to “keep” our garments. As we already know,

The word “keep” used here means “to guard.” My husband and sons love to study about medieval castles, which often had a “keep” inside the walls, where the soldiers could fall back during a siege. It was a place of refuge, heavily guarded and fortified, and filled with ample provisions. Often this was a strong tower. Sometimes the “keep” was a dungeon, where prisoners would be “kept” and guarded.

When YHWH gives us a body of information, He wants us to guard it carefully. All of Scripture contains information about YHWH, but we should not guard it physically so that no one is able to read it, such as often happened during the Middle Ages as Bibles were chained to tables inside cathedrals, to keep thieves from stealing these rare books. In this case, He’s referring to a mental guarding of this information, where we replay it over and over so that it doesn’t get lost or misplaced among all the other pieces of information that compete.

For instance, the word “keep” is used 22 times in Psalm 119 alone, as we are instructed to “keep” YHWH’s commands and instructions.

In my illustration of learning the constellations, I would “keep” or guard what I had learned by reviewing it, over and over and over again, so that I would not forget it. YHWH uses the method of writing things down so that mankind doesn’t forget it. In addition, He “schedules” times into His calendar so that we remember to review what He has taught us. He has His people “recite” and “repeat” what He has taught them. Finally, He “tests” them on what He has taught, to be sure that they understand and know it well.

In summary, we are to be watching and we are to be keeping. Revelation 19:7-8 says,

Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready. And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.

I believe this is why so many parents are feeling a strong sense of urgency to teach the Torah to their children — and quickly! As we come up to the fall feasts — to the Day of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and the Feast of Tabernacles — we are moved with the pictures of the Lamb’s return. We are moved to return, to keep our garments clean, to be arrayed in fine linen for Him.

One of our members feels an urgency to read through the entire Torah with her children before the fall feasts. Since this is only 9 weeks from now, she came up with this idea:

Instead, of calling it school though I called it CLUB. Every day we will have a time of songs, verse, and Bible. My kids that are home are 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 11, and 12. So, I decided to do CLUB during the 2-year-olds’ naptime. I wasn’t sure, but I had this crazy idea of reading through the Torah to them using coloring sheets and relevant songs. Today we started, and we read five books of Genesis and had so much fun. They are good students. We discussed the word Torah and the names of God focusing on Elohim and YHVH. We talked and colored, and they could have and would have sat for more, but I decided to keep Noah for tomorrow. Our Bible verse for today was Genesis 1:1. Everyone earned a sticker for saying the verse, and a sticker for participation.

She noticed that the Torah has 54 weekly portions, so if a mother wanted to read through the entire Torah in 9 weeks, she would want to read 6 portions each week. That’s one per day, with a day of rest. 🙂

If YHWH is urging you to do something similar in your home, you might consider putting all other schoolwork aside, to focus only on the Torah. You could use the Torah portions here at HomeschoolingTorah. You might want to take advantage of some of the coloring pages listed in each of our Torah portions, as well as the links to study sheets and resources for older children. You might want to do the crafts with your children as well. These things would make for a busy 9 weeks!

As you read and study together, ask the Spirit to circumcise your heart and the hearts of your children. Consider making a list of each thing that you see needs to be repented of and turned away from. How is He calling you to obey? Make yourselves accountable to each other in your family. When He asks you to obey, be sure to do so right away, with a happy heart!

Finally, I urge you to share your practical ideas, plans, links, pictures, and any other helps in the comments below, so that we can encourage one another!

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