Aliyah, Go Beyond, Relentless Pursuit
I have been impressed to write a series of articles over the next few weeks that I believe will inspire you to press higher and onward in your spiritual journey with the Lord. I remember how thrilled I was in 1996 when the word “aliyah” was dropped in my spirit. It seemed that at that time Psalms 24, was branded on my heart with the penetrating Fire of God that I received from that mountain place.
Ps. 24:3-10 says:
” Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who may stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to an idol, nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation. This is Jacob, the generation of those who seek Him, who seek Your face. Selah.
Lift up your heads, o you gates! And be lifted up, you everlasting doors! And the King of Glory shall come in.
Who is this King of Glory? The Lord strong and mighty. The Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O you gates! Lift up, you everlasting doors! And the King of Glory shall come in. Who is this king of Glory? The Lord of Hosts (Jehovah Sabaoth), He is the King of Glory!”
According to Strong’s Concordance, the word which means, “to ascend,” in the Hebrew is “alah.” Psalm 24:3: “Who shall ‘ascend’ (#5927) unto the hill of the Lord?” Also in #5944, the Hebrew word “aliyah” from #5927, means “something lofty, a stairway, going up, to ascend“.
Jews who immigrate to Israel from any other country in the world are said to be making “aliyah” to Israel. They are “ascending.” The spiritual understanding of “aliyah” is that you are ascending to a higher place in God — a deeper knowledge and revelation of God — beyond where you were previously. You are growing in the knowledge of God into a progressive walk before God in a step-by-step spiritual journey (lifestyle) with the goal being, to grow in spiritual understanding, revelation knowledge, holy intimacy, and maturity of the things in the Kingdom of God.
I have taught the Song of Solomon for years and fall in love with it more every year. Love is the key word in this Song, for surely it is the “Song of All Songs.” This love represents the passionate desire between the Bridegroom of the Ages and the Shulamite, who represents not only Israel, but also a Remnant Lover Bride which could be you and me. It all depends upon our hunger for Him and devotion to Him. This Song literally serves as an instruction manual of a progressive covenantal love, celebrating the joyous communion of a Holy God with a Bride who has answered the Royal Call of the Voice of the Lord to leave all, and to follow Him into a Kingdom that He desires to share with His Beloved.
It is breath-taking as we realize the depth, width and height of this All-Consuming Love that He has for His Bride. This book portrays the holy pursuit that the Bride holds for “her husband’ and will not let go (Song of Solomon 3:4), no matter what. It is her husband who praises her intense beauty (Song of Solomon 6:4-10) and reveals the perfection of love that He has for her. You can actually experience the “ascension or aliyah” as you read and receive revelation from this beautifully written allegory.
Song of Solomon 2:8 reads,
“The Voice of My Beloved! Behold, He Comes! Leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills. My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag. Behold, he stands behind our wall; He is looking through the windows, gazing through the lattice.
My Beloved spoke, and said to me, ‘Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. For lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the Turtledove is heard in our land. The fig tree puts forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grapes give a good smell.
RISE UP, MY LOVE, MY FAIR ONE, AND COME AWAY!’ O my dove, in the secret places of the rock, in the secret places of the cliff, let me see your face, let me hear your voice; For your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely.”
You will find that Our God is relentless in His pursuit for us. Will you be that relentless as well? The definition for that word is unyielding in severity or strictness; unrelenting; steady and persistent. It takes ‘a made-up mind’ and a totally yielded heart to make aliyah. I have found over the years that I never stop coming up into Him. As an example, the children of Israel did not just wander out of Egypt, but they were ‘borne on eagle’s wings to Himself’ for this journey. Our Bridegroom carries us if our answer is yes.
When we celebrated Passover, we came to the covenant Table of the Lord at Unleavened Bread. We drank from His Cup and said “Yes, I will go with you. I will be yours forever.” We were extended an invitation to come into the wilderness and enter betrothal with Him
Hosea 2:14-23 says: “Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her. And I will give her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope: and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt. And it shall be at that day, says the LORD, that thou shalt call me Ishi (My Husband); and shalt call me no more Ba’ali. For I will take away the names of Ba’alim out of her mouth, and they shall no more be remembered by their name. And in that day will I make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven, and with the creeping things of the ground: and I will break the bow and the sword and the battle out of the earth, and will make them to lie down safely. And I will betroth thee unto me for ever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in loving-kindness, and in mercies, I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness: and thou shalt know the LORD. And it shall come to pass in that day, I will hear, says the LORD, I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth; and the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil; and they shall hear Jezreel. And I will sow her unto me in the earth; and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them which were not my people, Thou art my people and they shall say, Thou art my God.”
It is our choice to make this trek to the Mountain of the Lord. He will never make us go up higher, but He delights when we answer Him and when we let Him know that there is nothing or no one more important than He is.
There is a consummation we are headed for: Revelation 21:9b-10 says “. . . ‘Come, I will show, you the Bride, the Lamb’s Wife’; And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the Great City, The Holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having the Glory of God.”
Written by Billie E. Alexander
Co-Founder, Limitless Realms International Ministries
