Making Aliyah To Physical Jerusalem, Or to Spiritual Jerusalem
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Making Aliyah To Physical Jerusalem, Or to Spiritual Jerusalem
On a Christian forum someone said: "We had a major breakthrough, and
thank God, the Aliya [immigration to Israel] is set to resume this
summer, and we hope and pray to bring the first batch of 50 families,
or about 250-300 Bnei Menashe immigrants, to Israel by the end of
August,” said Michael Freund, chairman of Shavei Israel, which is
behind the initiative."
After the Cross, after the Day of Pentecost, and following the
transformation of physical Israel into Israel as a spiritual house (I
Peter 2: 5) making Aliya or Aliyah is something spiritual, not a
physical, and literal trip to Jerusalem. Paul in Galatians 4: 25
teaches that the Jerusalem which now is - that physical Jerusalem
over in the nation of Israel - is in bondage with her children.
Christians are therefore to make a spiritual Aliyah to that
"Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all"
(Galatians 4: 26). Jesus Christ is the door into that Jerusalem which
is above, is free, and is the mother of us all. So, we as Christians
make spiritual Aliyah to Christ.
Making a physical journey of Aliyah to the literal Jerusalem in the
Middle East is returning to the shadows which Hebrews 10: 1 and
Colossians 2: 16-17 talk about. For a Christian believer to make a physical Aliyah to the city of Jerusalem to fulfill a part of the Old Covenant ceremonial law is to mingle the two covenants, which is going against the New Testament (Hebrews 10: 9, "He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second") To continue to observe the parts of the ceremonial law of the Old Covenant, physical Israelites, or Jews, also continue to reject the substance that the shadows of the ceremonial law pointed to, and that substance is Jesus Christ.
Hebrews 10: 1 says "For the law having a shadow of good things to
come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those
sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers
thereunto perfect."
Colossians 2: 16- 17 says "Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or
in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the
sabbath days:
17. Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ."
By "but the body is of Christ" means that the substance which was
foretold by the shadows as part of the Old Covenant is Jesus Christ.
In the Old Testament, alah is used in II Chronicals 36: 23, and in
Ezra 1: 3 and 1: 5. Alah is Strong's Exhaustive Concordance number 5927, which is said
to mean "to ascend up," and several other meanings are given. A closely related word, Number 5944, aliyah, is said to mean "something lofty, i.e., a stair-way, ascent, going up, loft..."
II Chronicals 36: 23 says "Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, All the kingdoms of the earth hath the LORD God of heaven given me; and he hath charged me to build him an house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all his people? The LORD his God be with him, and let him go up."
"Go up" is from alah. The other two uses of alah in Ezra 1 are also about going up to Jerusalem to build the house of the Lord.
Rabbi Julian Sinclair says "Aliyah l'regel, literally ascent on foot, was a central practice of Judaism almost from its origins. The Bible declares, "Three times a year shall all of your males appear before the Lord your God". On Pesach, Shavuot and Succot, many thousands of familes (and not just males) would go up to celebrate the holidays in Jerusalem. Arguably, aliyah l'regel was the original, prototypical pilgrimage experience."
Exodus 23: 17 says "Three times in the year all thy males shall appear before the Lord GOD."
Pesach is Passover. Shavuot is the festival of the first fruits of the wheat harvest. Succot is the Feast of Booths, or Feast of Tabernacles, at the time of the fall harvest.
Zechariah 14: 16 says “And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles.”
they say that "Aliyah ( "ascent") is the immigration of Jews to the Land of Israel (Eretz Yisrael). It is one of the most basic tenets of Zionist ideology. "
"Anyone traveling to Eretz Israel from Egypt, Babylonia or the Mediterranean basin, where many Jews lived in early rabbinic times, climbed to a higher altitude. Visiting Jerusalem, situated 2,700 feet above sea level, was also an "ascent."
"Aliyah is an important Jewish cultural concept and a fundamental component of Zionism. It is enshrined in Israel's Law of Return, which accords any Jew (deemed as such by halakha and/or Israeli secular law) and eligible non-Jews (a child and a grandchild of a Jew, the spouse of a Jew, the spouse of a child of a Jew and the spouse of a grandchild of a Jew), the legal right to assisted immigration and settlement in Israel, as well as Israeli citizenship."
