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I Have Loved You
I will weave for you a tapestry with a Scarlet Thread to be your covering so you may stand before Me clothed and whole. Do not pull away from Me until you are sure that there is nothing more I can say to convince you that
I have loved you, saith the Lord.
Run your fingers along the threads of the pattern. I have woven shadows there of other things, glimpses of the future when words became reality. I have used similitudes drawn with great care, then laced them all together with the same Scarlet Red Bloodline. From the beginning to the end I have woven the story of your life entwined with Mine. If you listen, you will see that
I have loved you, saith the Lord.
First Born
Like a first-born child, cradled new in nature's arms, I kissed you and gave you life. Animated by love, you began, My child. I created the world for you, and you for My pleasure and it is My pleasure to give. I gave you a paradise to be your home to fellowship with Me. I wanted you, and My need for you was deeper than any sea and had no end like the sky that was the tent above your bed. I need you to know now that
I have loved you, saith the Lord.
Eden
Child, when will it end, this love of Mine? Never. Will you believe? Think back to the time when the earth lay ruined at your feet. Your choice it was, not Mine. And you cried there, weeping for your loss, for the pain you were feeling for the first time. I had warned you, but you refused to listen.
Will you hear Me now?
To remain within the circle of My refuge was your only protection. You gave yourself to another. And what was I to do? Destroy you? Never!
I have loved you, saith the Lord.
Please believe. I spoke to the enemy of your soul and I told him that I would put enmity between you and his evil; Genesis 3:15, a shield that would wound and be wounded for you. Did you think that I would let you go? Never! You are My child. But you couldn't hear Me through the thunder. In the roaring you thought you felt My anger. My child, I was only weeping. You trembled and fled. When I called your name, you wouldn't answer. The pain of your silence pierced Me more than the agony of a thousand thorns pressed to My head.
You tried to cover your nakedness with leaves, a covering that your own hands had made. My child, didn't you know that the leaves would dry up and blow away? I would cover thee.
Then I slew the innocent sacrifice and covered your nakedness there. I sewed its skin around you with the Scarlet Thread; the Thread that would weave His way through the centuries and give back to you a life that would never end. Child, it is no mystery that
I have loved you, saith the Lord.
But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousness are as filthy rags;
and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind have taken us away. Isaiah 64:6
Wilderness
I could hear you when you cried in the night. I was never far away.
You could not see Me. You refused to hear Me,
but I was listening anyway.
Child, remember your first night away from home, feeling the distance between us grow; the warmth was gone, buried in the ruins of your Eden turned wilderness. The road before you would be long and hard. You were angry, yes, and it made you cry. I pretended I didn't hear, when in your rage you looked up and cursed the night sky. I hoped that someday you would look up and know that
I have loved you, saith the Lord.
I Am Spirit
I watched you grow so far from Me. You willingly covered your eyes so you couldn't see.
I am Spirit.
The wind would blow and caress your face. It would touch your tears and try to embrace you on your lonely mountain, but you would only pull away. You turned your back on anything you couldn't touch or see, forgetting the golden days when My Presence made you chime and shimmer and dance in My garden, clothed in My purest light. Now the pain of loneliness becomes tangible for both of us.
I am, I have always been Spirit. My flame could ignite and not destroy, yet fiercely burn in your breast when you had the courage to touch. Touch Me, My child, and know again that
I have loved you, saith the Lord.
I, even I, am He that comforts you. Isaiah 51:12
Take off Your Shoes
Come to Me and take off your shoes, I will have nothing your hands have made come between us. Put away your idols. Drop your beads of clay, and I will fill your hands with diamonds, so that you will know that
I have loved you, saith the Lord.
You demand from Me a perfect world, when I have said I would make a perfect heart. You confuse My purposes with your own desires. My child, My Israel - My love is the only perfection you will ever need.
When you close your eyes to the world you love, then you will see
I have loved you, saith the Lord.
Abraham
Child, could you believe that I would bless you, and choose you to be the one to bless many nations? Yes, even your enemies? Your father, Abraham, believed to see and lay down the life of his life on the altar of sacrifice, believing My promise would live again. My angel staid his hand, for I will provide the sacrifice; behold the Lamb!
Child, the winter wind
is blowing,
your nakedness
is showing
through
the cracks in those
dry and brittle leaves.
My child, clothe
yourself in
My sacrifice
and know that
I have loved you, saith the Lord. -
Jeremiah 31:3
Moses,
The Mediator
When you needed deliverance, I sent you a deliverer. Moses was as a shepherd's rod in My hand. He led you forth to a promised land because you needed him to hear Me. And he stood between us to save you. For without him you would not have survived. It was with the staff of his faith I parted the waters to set you free from Pharaoh's bondage. By the words I put in his mouth, he commanded and I sent you bread to eat in the wilderness. By his obedience he smote the rock and streams flowed in the desert so you would no longer thirst. And when your own rebellion against Me earned you the right to die, even after you had cursed him, and murmured against this Moses, My servant; and I had said I would make of him a great nation instead of you, and smite you - he became your mediator and made atonement for your souls, Exodus 32:30; this tenderhearted, merciful servant whom I chose. And he said to you that there would arise a Prophet like unto him, Deuteronomy 18:1.8. And to Him will you hearken? Will you know that
I have loved you, saith the Lord?
And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, "Behold, the blood of the covenant which the Lord has made with you concerning all these words." Exodus 24:8
Isaiah 53
Who has believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground: He has no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from Him; He was despised, and we esteemed Him not. Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth: He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He opened not His mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare His generation? For He was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of My people was He stricken. And He made His grave with the wicked, and with the rich in His death; because He had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief: when you shall make His soul an offering for sin, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.
He shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied: by His knowledge shall My righteous servant justify many; for He shall bear their iniquities.Therefore will I divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong; because He has poured out His soul unto death: and He was numbered with the transgressors; and He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
Passover
Pass over, My child, and come to Me. For I can still hear you sobbing in the darkness, and your cries cut into your Father’s heart.
Know that I have always loved you, My child. You may still pass over to Me now while there is still time. The Passover Lamb has been slain.
By His blood you are saved. Put His blood upon the doorposts of your heart; and when I see it I will know
that you are really Mine. Don't hesitate, child, for the night ushers in a new age of destruction. Behold, the destroyer will come. Hide yourself behind the shield of My sacrifice. You shall be hidden by a Life that death cannot overcome. Believe that
I have loved you,
saith the Lord.
New Covenant
Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel,
and the house of Judah. Jeremiah 31:31
Moses wept, because he saw the Promised Land and I would not let him lead you in. Joshua I chose instead. Behold, I have done a new thing, yet you may not understand. Remember not the former things, neither consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing, now let it spring forth...Isaiah 43:18,19. I have made a new covenant with thee, a new way to bless thee, Understand, My child, that by the law of Moses you could never have been saved without My tabernacle in the wilderness. For it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul, Leviticus17:11. Sprinkled upon the altar, this I have ordained – a shadow of the future when Joshua again shall lead
You into the Promised Land, to a temple made
without hands. The veil in the sanctuary that separated us has been broken by the earthquake of
My love’s sacrifice. I hold out My arms for thee. I ache to hold thee.
Come child, step through the shadows, take the veil from your eyes and see that
I have loved you,
saith the Lord.
Commandments
I have given commandments to you.
1 Love the Lord, your God - but you cannot love Me until you know that
I have loved you, saith the Lord.
I have placed My love around you as in the days of Eden. Will you again refuse the sanctity of My refuge?
2 Thou shalt not make any graven image. Will you again give yourself to another and worship the works of your own hands? Put away your idols of silver and gold, and know that
I have loved you, saith the Lord.
3 Do not take the name of your Lord God in vain. You cannot pretend to love Me when I behold the mirror of your soul. You reflect your heart's desire, and I cannot see My likeness in your looking glass. Come to Me and
4 rest in your God. Cease from your own labors and let Me carry thee. Don't you desire to lay yourself down upon the bed of My peace? Yet, you resist Me. Your pride will not rest.
5 Honor your father and mother in the Lord. For they are reflections of Me. And if your father and mother forsake thee, I will gather you up and comfort thee. For I have made and I will bear; even I will carry and deliver thee (Isaiah 46:4).
6 You shall not kill, nor murder your brother,
7 or commit adultery with either your hands, or your heart, or your mind.
8 You shall not steal or
9 lie, and yet I have seen you digging graves to hide your sins. You are clothing yourself with leaves again, My child. And you are killing, fornicating, stealing and lying deep within the sterile confines of your pious respectability. Do not pretend I cannot see. For I have said,
10 you shall not covet, and your heart has run rampant. You cradle your lust like a treasure. Child, can't your uncontrolled desire be for Me? Yet despite all these things,
I have loved you, saith the Lord.
And I will cover your nakedness when you take hold of My righteousness. It is a righteousness you can never earn. It is a gift, because
I have loved you, saith the Lord.
Come now and let us reason together, saith the Lord: Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, your transgressions, and as a cloud, your sins: Return to Me; for I have redeemed thee - Isaiah 1:18,44:22
Thorns
If a leper will at least acknowledge that there are lesions on his skin, then his wounds can become the
openings for the Word of God to enter in and heal them.
Child, there are thorns within you growing against the walls of your life. You are pricked by the evil edges of malice, lust and pride. They harm you, as much as they grieve Me. Child, confess that they are there and I shall gather them into My hands. My wounds will heal yours, and Eden shall be restored within.
Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree... Isaiah 55:13
Joseph
Do you remember My servant Joseph? His brothers sold him hoping he would die. But I raised him up in Pharaoh’s courts, in a Gentile kingdom to be a provision to
save his brothers lives.
And when Joseph was reunited with them he said; "Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves that you have sold me here: for God did send me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So it was not you that sent me here, but God...Genesis 45:5,7,8.
I want you to remember My servant, Joseph, and to know that
I have loved you, saith the Lord.
Wilderness Walk
The wilderness where I have led you, is the place where you will learn to trust Me. You will die there, it's true. You will die to yourself, for your old nature cannot inherit the new. You will be strengthened. You will trust Me for your daily manna. And when the serpent bites with his sin, you will live when you look upon the love I have lifted up for you (Numbers 21:7-9).
Smite the Rock and He will bleed living water for you to drink; to quench the thirst your soul feels and satisfy your need to know that
I have loved you, saith the Lord.
Contest
You say you believe in God. I would ask, which one?
The definition of "God" is: An object of worship; that which rules, controls and motivates your life.
Am I your God?
You have made your religion a contest, and you have made Me one of many competing for your soul. You will choose the winner. Child, you will lose if you do not choose Me.
I AM
Child, you worship your own concept of Me, and it is a shallow likeness. Your own illusions cannot save you, neither will the promises of men or their philosophies.
I am waiting for you to want to know Me.
I am omnipresent. Do you know what that means? I can be everywhere at the same time, or in just one place or Three. I Am God. I can be what I want to be.
I AM that I AM, and I confound the wise with My simplicity.
For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways
higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:8,9
So who are you to strive with your Maker, your Father? Child, why do you limit Me? I have watched you, and I've listened to your eloquent tantrums. You were actually screaming at one point. And I remind Myself again that you are yet a youngster; growing a bit too slowly perhaps. I am waiting for your soul's maturity. Blow your nose. Dry your eyes. You are still a child, and
I have loved you, saith the Lord.
Womb
Do not be conceited, My little one, My Israel. You are not an only child. You were chosen to be the first of many. But you were the first to know that I Am Jehovah. I Am Father. Israel, My beloved, you were My emissary. I chose you to tell the nations that there is one God. There has always been one way. For all the gods of the nations are idols: But the Lord made the heavens (Psalm 96:5). The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth and from under the heavens (Jeremiah 10:11). Israel, My blessed, you were the womb I chose to birth deliverance for the entire world. Yes,
I have loved them.
Doubtless Thou art our Father, though Abraham be ignorant of us, and Israel acknowledge us not: Thou, O Lord, art our Father, our Redeemer; Thy name is from everlasting (Isaiah 63:16).
A Tree Grows In Zion
Now that My servant Moses is gone, I wondered that there was no intercessor, Isaiah 59:16, so I planted a tree in Zion.
Behold, My Servant THE BRANCH, Zechariah 3:8.
He is an evergreen bough that cannot be consumed by mortal fire. He strolled through the furnace with three Hebrew sons, and it was said that, "His form was like the Son of God," Daniel 3:25.
Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and you perish from the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him. Psalm 2:12.
Tell Me, My child, if a virgin gave birth to a Son, would that be a sign to you? Isaiah 7:14, or would you argue?
Would you be offended if I called Him Wonderful, Counselor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace? Isaiah 9:6.
And in His name shall the Gentiles trust, Isaiah 42:1.
I ordained His cradle in
Bethlehem, Micah 5:2.
He entered through the gates of Jerusalem on an ass, Zechariah 9:9, because the
greatest kings are servants.
And you will know that I have loved you when you look upon the One who you thrust through and pierced
and mourn as if He was your only Son, Zechariah 12:10
.Rejoice!
He will swallow up death in victory! Isaiah 25:8,
and lead you to the promised land where I shall wipe away your tears and you will no longer remember your suffering.
Awake and sing you that dwell in dust!
Your dead men shall live, together with My dead body shall they arise, Isaiah 26:19,
for I shall not suffer My Holy One to see corruption, Psalm 16:11.
I will ransom them from the power of the grave, I will redeem them from death:
Oh, death, I will be your plagues; Oh, grave, I will be your destruction, Hosea 13:14.
Awake and sing! My child, why are you not rejoicing? What more can I do to prove that
I have loved you? saith the Lord.
Comfort ye, comfort ye My people, saith the Lord your God. Speak comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned...Isaiah 40:1,2
Israel shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation. You shall not be ashamed nor confounded
world without end. Isaiah 45:17
Be With Me
Be with Me forever. When the earth beneath your feet falls away, and the sky becomes your only highway; I want you to see your way to Me clearly. You cannot see through the darkness until I place My Light within you. Do not be afraid of the Fire. He comes to cleanse, to purify, to renew; to make you righteous before Me. You must be cleansed to stand in My Presence.
Remember in the garden, when your guilt and shame caused you to run and hide? Child, what makes you think it would be any different now?
Face to face with My glory your sin would propel you away from Me into hell's waiting arms. And
you would run there quite willingly, unable to face My holy, piercing eyes; and My child, I cannot look aside.
Can you see why you need the Covering? I have sewn for you the Tapestry. My Scarlet Thread weaves through every scene; around the doorposts, over the altar and hangs upon a tree. When I look through Him to you I see only beauty. And you stand before Me cleansed in His righteousness. How I long to gather you into My arms, but child, I cannot until then.
Eden Again
I cradled you in a paradise, a simpler time. My Holy Arm was never far away; I encircled you as you played. You could hear My voice then clearly, and you were not afraid - or indifferent. Will you let Me carry you now by faith? I have shown you the Way. I long to give you Paradise, simply because
I have loved you, saith the Lord.
Little One, Why are you afraid? I am with you always. I will never fail you, nor forsake you. For the love I have for you will never end. I have purchased eternity for you with the wounds in My hands. I surround you. In Me you live and move and have your being. I am the Life that never ends and I give it to you freely - if you believe. All that I have is yours. Come to Me. I will not reject you. My Holy Arm longs to embrace you. Trust,
He will never let you go. I ache with a Father's heart for you to know that
I have loved you, saith the Lord.
 Isaiah 41:14
Fear not, oh worm Jacob,
hide yourself in Me.
I shall be your cocoon.
And when I set you free, you will fly,
but never far away from Me.
I am with you always.
I am the son on your wings.
Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, and meted out heaven with the span and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance?
Who has ascended up to heaven or descended?
Who has gathered the wind in His fists?
Who has bound the waters in a garment?
Who has established all the ends of the earth?
What is His name, and what is His Son’s name, if you can tell? -
Isaiah 40:12 and Proverbs 30:4
Father’s Sacrifice
How can I slay my Isaac, my own son? Shall I put an end to joy? Shall I kill all laughter? Shall I take the life of my life? I shall.
For it is the command of the Most High God. My Sarah, will you understand?
Shall I tell you this now, or leave you sleeping? And when you arise, my love, your son and I will be gone. Ah, your eyelids have begun to flutter open softly, like butterfly wings upon your cheeks.
(Lord, spare me at least this pain, for I cannot bear to see her eyes filled with sorrow. So I will tell her simply;) “Your son and I are off to the mountain to make our sacrifice to God. I will return…
“Goodbye, my love, my Sarah.”
The morning light is alive upon the mountain, my son. All is of God and by Him forever.
Life and death by His command.
No, I never question. Never.
Try to understand, my son, and we shall both be willing. The end of life is only the beginning -
if we believe.
Now with my own life bound before me, and seeing all your
trust in me disappear; I would rather have your trust be in
God, my son, for I am just a man.
It is God who will provide for man.
Do you see, my son? Over there! It is faith that provides,
for the Angel has staid my hand!
Look there! A ram is tangled in the bushes!
It is God who provides the Lamb!
And now the bound are set free as we travel from this
mountain.
But still the thought lies heavy on my heart;
how would it have felt to leave a son behind to die upon some
lonely mountain?
I will dwell in thanks and praise for the life that walks beside me. For the sacrifice belongs to God, and by His grace we are saved.
Copyright 2004 by H.D. Shively, Art copyright 1984-2005 by J.L. Shively
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A Love Song for Israel