Dear John and Doves,
 
  Second Passover begins this year on May 4.  I am expectant of important moves of the Holy Spirit at this time.  Following is a short article I have written about this important feast.  Blessings to you all.
 
  Glenn Hall
 
   THE SECOND PASSOVER Second Passover is a little known feast of the Old Testament. It was implemented by Moses at the request of certain obedient Israelites who did not want to miss the important celebration of Passover itself. They had been ceremonially unclean at first Passover and inquired as to whether or not they could still partake of the feast. The Biblical story occurs in Numbers 9:1-14 and should be read now. This passage contains important clues concerning who should partake of Second Passover today, namely those who understand that they live in the perpetual state of being defiled by a dead body, by a carnal nature.

Passover itself is really the preeminent feast of Christianity. The feast prophesied the sacrifice and crucifixion of Jesus whereby His blood redeems mankind from the curse of death, allowing the angel of death to "pass over" us so that we can live in God’s presence. This is why God commanded Israel in the days of Moses to place the blood of a lamb on their door posts and lintels. The Passover lambs were effective for the forgiveness of sins and the passing over of the death angel because their blood represented the blood of the Lamb of God, Jesus Himself.

Yet, there is an important mystery hidden in the Second Passover. That feast relates to prophetic truth beyond our spiritual redemption in Christ Jesus. I can only find one instance other than the one above in Numbers 9 of an observance of Second Passover in all of Scripture. This is the account of Second Passover celebrated by King Hezekiah of Judah in 2 Chronicles 30. I urge you to read that entire chapter now and again when you finish this article because the whole passage deals with Hezekiah’s keeping of the Second Passover and includes many important prophetic truths.

The Biblical account of Hezekiah in 2 Kings, 2 Chronicles, and Isaiah carries an Overcomer, or Sons of God, theme. The best place to gain an understanding of the Overcomers is in the second and third chapters of Revelation in the letters to the seven churches. Clearly Jesus wrote those letters to Christians who were members of those churches. He makes it clear throughout these letters that only a small group of these congregations, a "remnant," would ever qualify as Overcomers and thus partake of the rule and reign of His coming Kingdom. Many of his parables in the Gospels include this theme. The idea of an Overcomer as a specific type of believer is found throughout Scripture, Old and New Testaments. I cannot dwell more upon this idea here.

We see the Overcomer theme in the story of Hezekiah in quite a few verses. First, Hezekiah was an obedient believer according to 2 Kings 18:3-6. Second, when Sennacherib, king of Assyria, threatens to destroy Hezekiah and all of Judah, Hezekiah seeks the Lord and He answers through His prophet Isaiah. Isaiah brings a word to Hezekiah prophesying Sennacherib’s destruction. See Isaiah 37:21-38. Part of this prophecy includes the following sign given to Hezekiah:

(Isa 37:30-32 NKJV) {30} "This shall be a sign to you: You shall eat this year such as grows of itself, And the second year what springs from the same; Also in the third year sow and reap, Plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them. {31} And the remnant who have escaped of the house of Judah Shall again take root downward, And bear fruit upward. {32} For out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant, And those who escape from Mount Zion. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this." By comparing verse 30 above with Leviticus 25:11, we see that God here gives Hezekiah a jubilee sign. Israel was to neither sow nor reap each fiftieth year. The key aspect of the jubilee is found in Leviticus 25:13 where God commands that in the 50^th year "each of you shall return to his possession." In the natural this meant that no man could lose his land, or real estate, forever. Prophetically, it means that mankind’s spiritual possession, his glorified body, will be restored to him on some future jubilee. Also, note the "remnant" theme here in Isaiah 37:31-32.

Now it so happened that Hezekiah almost died of an infectious boil just after this mighty deliverance from the hand of Sennacherib. Isaiah tells the king to prepare his house for he is going to die. Hezekiah prays for his life, however, and God grants him an additional fifteen years. This is interesting for many reasons. One is that it fits in with the sign given above. Up to this time Hezekiah was childless. The line of David would possibly have ended if Hezekiah had died from his boil. The sign above, however, states that in the third year from the time of the prophecy, Hezekiah should sow and reap. Well, he did exactly that. In the third year thereafter his wife, Hephzibah, conceived. Hephzibah is a prophetic name we also find in Isaiah 62:4 and speaks of the Bride of Christ. At the end of this third year, his son, Manasseh, was born. Manasseh, of course, is the name of Joseph’s son who, according to 1 Chronicles 5:1, received "the birthright," i.e. the Kingdom. The birth of Manasseh thus speaks of sonship and the inheritance of the birthright. This relates to ruling and reigning with Christ in His Kingdom. Thus we see that the story of Hezekiah prophetically speaks of the "Sons of God," the Overcomers. It concerns our time today.

Now remember that it is Hezekiah who partakes of the second Passover and that he is the only person ever mentioned by name as having celebrated this feast. This uniquely relates the second Passover to the Overcomers. Also, since Hezekiah deals with a jubilee theme, this means that the second Passover also prophesies the glorification of the Sons of God, that event that we have come to call "the rapture."

On the other hand, I see that Josiah, who faithfully kept the first Passover in 2 Chronicles 35:1, represents a faithful, but late-blooming Christian. Notice that he is not even aware of God's Law until the 18th year of his 31 year ministry as king. When he does find the Law he obeys, but by then God says that it is too late to avert His judgment upon his kingdom. I believe the same thing applies to our day. Most Christians have still not found God's Law. They misuse God's grace as a license to sin and call any use of God’s Law "legalism." They write books that undermine God's Law and Christ's words. Christians’ repudiation of the words and law of Christ have led to the current "leavened" state of all the world, leavened by sin and false doctrine. It is too late now to avert God's judgment upon this "Mystery Babylon," mankind's governments and institutions. The time is late. A few Christians, like Josiah did, are beginning to obey Christ's word. They are finding His Law. But, according to Matthew 25 we know that at some point there is no longer time to buy enough oil to qualify as a wise virgin and enter the wedding feast. I think Josiah represents this.

We may already have entered this late time, but only God knows who qualifies as a wise virgin and who does not. Josiah represents Christians who will not be counted as Overcomers, who will not receive their glorified bodies at the first resurrection. Nevertheless, they are faithful Christians and will be allowed to minister God's truth in their natural bodies in the Kingdom Age. They will live longer than usual lives, but they will still die. These are the people Isaiah describes as follows:

(Isa 65:18-25 NKJV) {18} But be glad and rejoice forever in what I create; For behold, I create Jerusalem as a rejoicing, And her people a joy. {19} I will rejoice in Jerusalem, And joy in My people; The voice of weeping shall no longer be heard in her, Nor the voice of crying. {20} "No more shall an infant from there live but a few days, Nor an old man who has not fulfilled his days; For the child shall die one hundred years old, But the sinner being one hundred years old shall be accursed. {21} They shall build houses and inhabit them; They shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. {22} They shall not build and another inhabit; They shall not plant and another eat; For as the days of a tree, so shall be the days of My people, And My elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands. {23} They shall not labor in vain, Nor bring forth children for trouble; For they shall be the descendants of the blessed of the LORD, And their offspring with them. {24} "It shall come to pass That before they call, I will answer; And while they are still speaking, I will hear. {25} The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, The lion shall eat straw like the ox, And dust shall be the serpent's food. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain," Says the LORD. Notice that these people live in a blessed state of affairs, but they do still die. The resurrected and glorified Sons of God, however, do not die after their "rapture." They rule and reign for a thousand years.

Josiah, like all Christians, partook of the first Passover, not the second. This is the only recorded Passover observed by a king of Israel or Judah. The first Passover, of which all believers partake, is the Passover of spiritual death. It represents our spiritual rebirth. The death angel passes over us so that we do not die forever. In the natural, in Exodus, the death angel passed over the first born who partook of the Passover. The Egyptians did not partake of this Passover. Therefore, all of their firstborn died.

The second Passover, however, prophesies a different type of "pass over." It is that represented by Jesus' parable in Matthew 24:37-51. The interpretation of the one taken and the one left really does not matter here. I have heard various speakers refer to one or the other, the one left or the one taken, as referring to the chosen. The point is that at the second Passover, the ones who are not Overcomers shall be passed over, in a seeming reversal of the first Passover. The Overcomers, or first born of the Sons of God will be chosen to rule and reign with Christ. "Many are called, but few are chosen." Thus the remnant, the Overcomers, the Sons of God, the first born, will partake of the second Passover in the sense that they will be chosen as such at the time of the prophetic fulfillment of this feast. I cannot say when the exact time of this fulfillment will occur.

There is one other interesting point related to the second Passover. According to Leviticus 23:10-11 the priest was to wave a sheaf of the firstfruits of harvest of barley unto the Lord. This occurred on the "morrow after the Sabbath" during the "feast of unleavened bread" celebrated for seven days after Passover. 2 Chronicles 30 makes it clear that the feast of unleavened bread is also celebrated at Second Passover. Since the Jews measure time in lunar months, it so happens that every few years a month has to be added to the calendar to keep the months aligned with the seasons. They use the degree of maturity of the barley crop to determine when to add a month. If the barley will not be ripe for the Passover of the first month, then a thirteenth month is added to the year. In essence, this pushes the Passover off to the second month of the new year (although it actually becomes the first month since a thirteenth month was added to the old year). My point is that this practice becomes a type of celebrating the second Passover and the reason for doing so is to ensure that the barley will be ripe for the wave sheaf offering. A careful reading of Scripture shows that barley is often associated with Overcomer themes, thus making barley itself a type of the Overcomer. The prophetic fulfillment of the second Passover, therefore, will occur when the barley is ripe, when the Overcomes will receive their glorified bodies and begin to rule and reign with Jesus.

For more information on these themes you may write me at salemjustice@earthlink.net