NISAN 10
This year: March 29, 2007
Dear Doves all,
I have such a scattered pile of little notes
about the Passover season, all over the place…..and so, now collecting up
those that have to do with Nissan 10, four days before Passover, to attempt
to make some sense of this particular day, and the possibilities it may
hold for us who are awaiting the coming of our Prince, our Lord and Saviour. PLEASE forgive the length and meandering
of this letter for as usual I just get overly excited, but perhaps you may
benefit from this huge collection of little notes !
This is a very important day
for us to look forward to if this be the year of His coming. This paper
will discuss the two mighty days of our Lord,,,that
is,,,,the Passover, instituted by Moses (Nisan
14), and the entering into the inheritance, the promised land,,,,,(Nisan
10),,,which event was commissioned to Joshua after Moses died. ONE OF THESE
DATES has been fulfilled FOR US,,,by
our Lord and Saviour,,,,as Paul has said “Christ
our Passover, IS sacrificed for us”. But the other date, Nisan 10,,,,glaringly
screams of our inheriting the promise of our Lord, our own crossing of the
Jordan River….foreshadowed by the events in the book of Joshua, and
also foreshadowed by our Lord in His triumphal entrance into Jerusalem on Nisan 10. For the Jews, after Moses dies (their
bondage to the law),,,THEN COMES JOSHUA ! Their “commander in chief”….and for the
Jews this day will commence their 7 years of fighting for their inherited
land….for us, we leave the scene, departing to
our inheritance with our Lord. (?)
God ordered that the Israelites, by Moses,
choose out a lamb four days before the Passover, to inspect it, that it
might be found without blemish.
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Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel,
saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall
take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers,
a lamb for an house: |
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And if the household be too little for the lamb,
let him and his neighbor next unto his house take it according to
the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall
make your count for the lamb. |
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Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of
the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the
goats: |
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And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth
day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation
of Israel shall kill it
in the evening. |
This, then, was established as the pattern
of the Passover season, beginning with the 10th day of Nisan.
It was also stated by God then, that Nisan would be the first of the months
for Israel,,,establishing the beginning of their religious year.
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And the LORD spake
unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt saying, |
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This month shall be
unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of
the year to you. |
This year, there is a partial solar eclipse
the day before Nisan 1, March 20. There is also a total lunar eclipse on
March 3, which is Adar 13,,,the day that Haman
was “revealed” after Esther’s dinner (it was night therefore)…..13 is the
number of revealing for Haman, (in the 12th month) and for the son of
perdition on Nisan 13. Both at “night”. We are told that the sun will be darkened,
and the moon also darkened “before” the coming day of the Lord. Both eclipses,
solar and lunar, occur in March, just before Nisan
10.
The great day of Passover, with the parting
of the Red Sea,
is the picture of SALVATION; that is, salvation from Egypt, the world, from our bondage to sin. The slaying of
the lamb, and the passing over of the angel of death, for those who believed,
and put the blood of the lamb on their door posts and lintels, together
with the passing through the Red Sea by God’s hand of power. Here is seen
the suffering of the lamb, the humility of our Lord; We, as Christians,
have likewise been saved by the blood of the Lamb of God, and given the
“power” from on high (the Holy Spirit) and continue in our walk through
the wilderness as foreigners and strangers, awaiting our entrance into the
promised land, to be with our Lord and Saviour.
We await our own great day of entrance into our promised inheritance, when
we shall be given our resurrection bodies,,,,,fully redeemed to our
Lord. For this we were sealed by the giving by God of the His Holy Spirit,
“unto the day of redemption”.
First, God’s time clock:
In the prophecies of the book of Daniel,
he was told the exact day, and year, when Israel’s PRINCE would be fully manifested to them.
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Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people
and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make
an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to
bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and
prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy. |
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Know therefore and understand, that from the
going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem
unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore
and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even
in troublous times. |
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And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah
be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that
shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end
thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations
are determined. |
Sir Robert Anderson, in his book “The Coming
Prince” gives this exact countdown, which was to end on April 6, 32 AD,,,that
is, the 10th of Nisan in that year in which our Lord suffered
and died. This was the day of which Daniel was told by the angel,
would be the arrival of Israel’s King.
Quoting from Sir Robert Anderson’s book,
“The Coming Prince”
“No student of the Gospel narrative can fail
to see that the Lord's last visit to Jerusalem was not only in fact, but in the purpose of it, the crisis
of His ministry, the goal towards which it had been directed. After the
first tokens had been given that the nation would reject His Messianic claims,
He had shunned all public recognition of them. But now the twofold testimony
of His words and His works had been fully rendered, and His entry into the
Holy City was to proclaim His Messiahship
and to receive His doom. Again and again His apostles even had been charged
that they should not make Him known. But now He accepted the acclamations
of "the whole multitude of the disciples," and silenced the remonstrance
of the Pharisees with the indignant rebuke, "I tell you if these should
hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out." (Luke 19:39,
40)
The full significance of the words which follow in the Gospel
of St. Luke is concealed by a slight interpolation in the text. As the shouts broke forth from His disciples, "Hosanna to the
Son of David! blessed is the king of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord!" He looked off
toward the Holy City and exclaimed , " If thou also hadst known,
even on this day , the things which belong to thy peace; but now they are
hid from thine eyes! "[4] The time of Jerusalem's visitation had come, and she knew it not. Long ere then
the nation had rejected Him, but this was the predestined day when their
choice must be irrevocable, – the day so distinctly signalized in Scripture
as the fulfillment of Zechariah's prophecy, "Rejoice greatly, O daughter
of Zion! shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! behold thy King cometh unto thee!"
(Zechariah 9:9) Of all the days of the ministry of Christ on earth, no other
will satisfy so well the angel's words, unto Messiah the Prince."
And, Sir Robert Anderson wrote:
"The Julian date of that 10th Nisan was Sunday
the 6th April, A.D. 32. What then was the length of the period intervening between the
issuing of the decree to rebuild Jerusalem and the public advent of 'Messiah the Prince,' -- between the 14th
March, B.C. 445, and the 6th April, A.D. 32? THE INTERVAL CONTAINED EXACTLY AND TO
THE VERY DAY 173,880 DAYS, OR SEVEN TIMES SIXTY-NINE PROPHETIC YEARS OF
360 DAYS, the first sixty-nine weeks of Gabriel's prophecy."
Above, this day, according to Zechariah,
was to be the day when the King of Israel would be openly manifested, riding
upon a colt,,,lowly:
Putting these things together, the religious
leaders of Israel had no excuse for not recognizing this day, from their
own scriptures. THIS WAS THEIR DAY,,,THE DAY OF THEIR KING,,,THE DAY OF THEIR PEACE. Thirty-three years prior
to this date, old Anna and Simeon, awaited his birth, for they “awaited
the consolation of Israel”…..these common folk knew by these calculations
that their King would present on this very day,,,so
they counted backward some 30-plus years to look for the One who would be
born in Bethlehem according to another prophecy. Perhaps they patterned
their counting after King David, who was 30 years old when he became king
after King Saul died, or some other obscure way they had of knowing how
old the Lord would be when He was to be “cut off”, according to Daniel.
They knew their “seasons”,,,as
we should also know our times and seasons, according to the apostle Paul.
The wise men of the east, the maji, also knew Daniel’s countdown, having studied under him
in Babylon,,,and then for further confirmation, they saw “His star”,
and they even called Him “the One who is born KING of Israel”.
THIS WAS THE DAY WHICH WAS TO COMPLETE THE END OF DANIEL’S
69TH WEEK!!! the 10th of Nisan, April 6, 32 AD.
And, in Daniel 9:26, he is told that AFTER this 7 weeks plus
62 weeks, the Messiah would be “cut off”, which He was, 4 days later. But
the Nisan 10 presentation of Israel’s King is the day when the 69th week ended.
It was on this day that Israel COULD HAVE accepted their KING, and have
had His Kingdom set up, right then and there. This was refused.
Now, the time was determined for Daniel’s
people, and the city (Jerusalem), so on this day, as He was riding into
Jerusalem, was the day that Jesus wept over Jerusalem (the city), and said,
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And when he was come near, he beheld the city,
and wept over it, |
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Saying, If thou hadst
known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto
thy peace! but now they are hid from
thine eyes. |
“If thou hadst
KNOWN, AT LEAST IN THIS THY DAY….”
This was truly the DAY for Israel’s “Prince”, spoken of by Daniel…..
THIS WAS THEIR BLESSED DAY,,,,AND THEY DIDN’T KNOW!
And now,,,He gives
them over to having their eyes darkened, blinded, to the things which could
have been theirs….And this is the blindness of Israel, of
which the apostle Paul speaks:
Romans 11:25 |
For I would not, brethren, that ye should be
ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in
your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel,
until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. |
Just prior to this Paul had been teaching
that God had not spared the natural branches of the olive tree, and that
we wild olive branches (gentiles) had been grafted in, so we make up that
great company of gentiles being called out in His Name, until the fullness
be come in……Paul says this is a “mystery”,,,that we should not be ignorant of…….these natural branches
will take quite quickly into their own stock. If blindness was given to
Israel on Nisan 10,,,,as declared
by our Lord….will they be grafted back in on the same day? Will God’s
time clock start back up on the same day that it was stopped,
(Nisan 10) in order to graft in the gentile branches…
Israel’s eyes were stopped by the Lord on
Nisan 10,,,,,and Paul says that this is a “mystery”,,,,,,,that
the time of Israel’s returning to “spiritual sight”,,,would
be when the fullness of the gentiles would be come in.. that
is,,,when the Lord had called in the full number
of gentiles for His Name…
so,,,,,,,could this “sight” be restored to Israel on the same day that Jesus our Lord gave them over to
blindness? Nisan 10?
God is very exacting in keeping His appointments.
If Daniel’s 69 weeks was finished on Nisan 10 in 32 AD, then since there
are 70 weeks total to the prophecy, wouldn’t His clock start right where
it stopped? If we pull the plug on an electric clock,,,and then two weeks later,
plug it back in,,,it starts ticking right where
it was stopped. Wouldn’t God’s clock work in the same way? Israel, right after crossing the Jordan, began their battles for the land,,,,,Joshua sent in two spies to the city of Jericho……paralleling the sending forth of 2 witnesses, for the
Jews. And so starts the tribulation years, for the Jews, after we are taken
out, crossed our own Jordan on dry ground, being blessed by the giving to us of
our own inheritance.
What else did the Lord say to Israel
at that time?
First of all, notice what the joyful deciples
were shouting:
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And when he was come nigh, even now at the descent
of the mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began
to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works
that they had seen; |
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Saying, Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord: peace in heaven,
and glory in the highest. |
I particularly like the saying above that
He was come nigh, even now at the descent of the
Mount of Olives. (rapture?)
(and this is where He will descend to His people Israel, His feet landing upon this mount according to Zechariah.)
But in Matthew, our Lord’s words were somewhat
different, in addressing Jerusalem…and the people of Jerusalem:
Matthew 23:37 |
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest
the prophets, and stonest them which are
sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together,
even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! |
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Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. |
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For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me
henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord.
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Notice is again given here of the desolation
of Jerusalem, whereas in Luke He mentioned the blindness of Israel. But, this is important,,,,He tells them directly
WHEN THEY WILL SEE HIM AGAIN…. It is when THEY will
say exactly what His joyous deciples were shouting
(see above Luke 19:38). There,
the deciples shout:
Saying, Blessed be the King that cometh in the Name of the Lord: peace
in heaven, and glory in the highest.
And, Israel WILL SEE HIM AGAIN,,when
THEY THEMSELVES, will say,
Matthew 23:39 For I say
unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord.
If God’s time clock starts ticking at the
very same time and day, when it stopped, at the end of the 69th
week,,,,then one week
remained (7 years), or the 70th week of Daniel, and Israel’s
blindness were removed, and Israel, being the natural branches grafted back
in, returned to God in humility and acceptance of their true Messiah,,,then
(perhaps?) EXACTLY seven years later, on the same day,,,they, too, would be saying “Blessed is He that cometh
in the Name of the Lord”.
OUR PASSOVER, AND OUR INHERITANCE
1 Corinthians 5:7-8
7 Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For
even Christ
our passover is sacrificed for us: 8 Therefore
let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of
malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
Paul tells us that we are to be unleavened,
and that we will “keep the feast”, (the Passover
feast) as unleavened. Below, you will see that Joshua led the people across
the dry River Jordan,,,and THEN once across the river, they “kept the feast”,,,,,we will keep this feast with our Lord, as He has
stated that it “will be fulfilled in the Kingdom of the Father”,,,,we also will have just crossed our own Jordan?
Moses, the most humble of all of
God’s servants, led the children of Israel out of Egypt by the institution of the first Passover. Our Lord,
in His “humility”, became man, and likewise Himself “became” our
Passover.
Then Moses died before crossing over the
Jordan. The law is typified as “dying”, and then the promised inheritance is
realized. Joshua, was a fighting man,,,a warrior to lead the people in their taking of the
promised land…Likewise,,,when our Lord returns,
it will be “no more Mr. Nice Guy”,,,but He will
come with power and “a sword”.
Later, God visited the Israelites upon Mt. Sinai, and came to actually “live” with the Israelites….likewise,,,,on Pentecost, God sent
His Holy Spirit to “live” within us.
The above, are two great fulfilled types
which our Lord fulfilled for us. After 40 years, the Israelites were allowed
to “enter” into their inheritance, (they then had to fight for 7 years to
claim it),,,,picturing their time of Jacob’s trouble…and
likewise, after forty jubilees, we shall also enter into our inheritance.
From April
6, 32 AD,,,until Nisan 10, March
29, 2007, is 721,347 days, divided by 360 prophetic years is
2003.74 years. So, we are indeed in the morning of our third great day,
also in the “third” year after the 2000-year mark,,,,and
therefore may look for Him at any time now.
So, we have had our Passover, Christ, fulfilled,
and also our Pentecost, fulfilled. But we await the fulfillment of the
promised entrance into our inheritance, for which we were sealed by the
Holy Spirit.
ON TO JOSHUA
I have just been doing a pretty heavy study
of Moses, and Joshua…something I highly recommend to all of you, for there
is much to learn, and many fine details to examine,,,but I shall try to keep it as broad as possible, notwithstanding
all the marvelous little notes I have collected…I shall try to spare you
my tendency to get all tangled up. Perhaps I can fill in later on some
of the details as we approach Nisan 10.
Moses brought the people out of Egypt,,,,(our salvation by the Passover
Lamb,,,from Egypt),,,but it was Joshua, the successor to Moses, who led
the people into their inheritance forty years later. (And so it
will be with the current generation of Jews) Remember, Moses, was humble,
and not a man of war,,,,but
during the fighting with the Amalekites, held
his hands up in prayer, interceding with God, for the victory. Likewise,,,Christ has been in heaven, interceding on our behalf,
as our High Priest and advocate with the Father. Joshua, however, was
“commander in chief”,,,,a
man who was to lead the actual wars of the taking of the inheritance in
the promised land….a man of war. Likewise, when our Lord comes to take
us to His promised inheritance, He will be as “the Lion of the Tribe of
Judah”…a Lord of judgment, and war, coming in the Glory of His Father, rather
than the sacrificial Lamb, humble. So,,,,here,,,,are
the two facets of our Lord in types…Moses, the meek, the bringing in of
Passover, by the way who was denied entrance into the promised land (as
Christ was denied the opportunity to take His people to their inheritance
on Nisan 10, 32 AD, awaiting His coming as “Joshua”).
And, 40 years (jubilees for us) later,,,Joshua,,,,the one to whom
God said “be STRONG” in His commission to him to lead the people into their
inheritance….., the opposite of the meekness of Moses. This then, is the
type of our Lord when He returns to lead us, and His people Israel, into their promised inheritances,,,,and He will come in STRENGTH AND POWER,,,as
Josuah was commissioned to be to the people.
In the book of Revelation, John sees
the Lamb, “as it had been slain”, (is this because John had arrived in heaven
at the time of Passover?) as worthy to take the scroll and open it,,,,and behold, the Lamb also is
seen as the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, at that point, worthy to open the
scroll of our great inheritance. Moses, becomes Joshua, here, the types fulfilled. Thus, our
Lord is seen as the author and finisher of our faith,,,as
the Lamb,,,and as the Lion of the tribe of Judah.
So,
This day,,,,the day of the realization of OUR inheritance,,,would also be the very same day,
as God’s time clock, starting up for His people Israel, to complete His work in their redemption also. Modern
Israel, has been wandering in their own
wilderness of forty years since 1967, and God will keep His appointment
with them. For from June 6, 1967 until Nisan 10 this year (March 29), it is 14,541 days,,,,translated into 360-day prophetic
years is 40.39 years,,,so it is just after their
40-year trial, which ends in 2007.
THE RED
SEA, AND THE RIVER JORDAN
A quick look at the difference here, before
proceeding, of the passing through of God’s people through two different
kinds of waters,,,one,
a great sea,,,,another a flooded river.
Moses led the people through the parted
waters of the Red Sea. Finding ourselves on the shore of this place,,,and
the opening of the waters for us,,,follows the
Passover (applying the blood of the Lamb), and enabling us to leave Egypt,
the world and its enticements, which is bondage to sin and the flesh…..destroying
our enemies when the sea returns upon them…..that is, Christ, making a “shew of principalities and powers, triumphing over them”.
Moses cried aloud “STAND STILL,,,and see the salvation of God !” That
is the Red Sea, and we have all passed through in this way, following Him, our Saviour. Moses, in meekness, led the people through this salvation
experience, as our Lord, in meekness and obedience to the Father,,,leads us into and out of
the Red Sea, from death to life. It is our baptism into His
death. Then Pentecost,,,,God coming to “live
with us” by sending His Holy Spirit. We went on to wander in the wilderness,
learning to depend upon our Lord for all our needs, and learning about Him,
receiving the Bread from heaven, the manna of His teachings, and being instructed
in His ways. Our “old man” dying in this wilderness,
because of sin…..so that the younger generation, our “new man”, may enter
into the promised inheritance.
Joshua, on the other hand leads
the people across the Jordan River,,,which during the spring harvest season was a torrent of flooding
over its banks every year at that time. Seemingly insurmountable
problem, to get across that river. Yet, the Lord says:
Joshua
3:8
And thou
shalt command the priests that bear the ark
of the covenant, saying, When ye are come to the brink of the water
of Jordan, ye shall stand
still in Jordan.
When our Lord is about to do a
mighty work,,,He wants us to “stand still” and not panic,,,to be fully confident that He is able to perform the
impossible,,,,in Luke we are told to “look up”,
for our redemption draws nigh…………we are to keep our eyes fixed on our Lord
coming from heaven,,,,like Joshua told the people
to “follow the Ark”, and look at it instead of the raging, heaped up waters
around them….and like Peter, who, when his eyes were fixed upon the Lord,
did not sink in the water, but when he began to fix his eyes on the raging
of the sea around him,,,began to sink.
When Joshua told the people to “follow the
Ark of the Covenant”, he here changes “dispensations”, for them,,,,because prior to this they
had followed the cloud by day, and the column of fire by night. But now,
they are to “follow the Ark”,,,,and the Ark itself, was sent to lead the priests in the battle of
Jericho. Israel, soon, will begin to “follow the Ark of the Covenant”,,,that is,,,,Jesus Christ our Lord….in a new “dispensation” for them.
The name of the River Jordan means
Jor = “spreading”and Dan =
“judgment”,,,,so the River Jordan, a river which floods
(spreads) over each year,,,means judgment for
sin, a flood of judgment. Thus, John the Baptist said, “repent” of sin,
and be baptized, sin judged, in this river. I find it interesting that in
Daniel, the prophet says “and the end shall come WITH A FLOOD”…..(flooding
of judgment),,,,perhaps even a literal flooding of the River Jordan. Daniel
also speaks of the “overspreading” of abominations,,like
a flood,,,,,the judgment of the overspreading
waters of the River Jordan.
Now, God caused this river to heap
its waters up coming from its source, and the lower waters to recede away,,,making the river bed dry, so that the priests could
carry the Ark, first, into its midst. This is a picture of Israel, and
us, following the Ark of the Covenant (our Lord and Saviour)
being able to cross this river of judgment, “dry”, or without sin, for Joshua
had told the people the day before to “sanctify themselves, for tomorrow
God will do a great work for you….” (purify themselves)
and we, as I quoted above, are to “be ready”,,,,and
“unleavened” and “purified virgins” ,,,,as our Lord comes to lead us into
our inheritance, “without sin”, as:
Hebrews
9:28
So Christ
was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him
shall he appear the second time without
sin unto salvation
After crossing this river,,,,,it returned again to its
overflowing character,,,picturing the overspreading
of “judgment”,,,and the “overspreading abominations”,
which would be judged, this inundation as seen in the ensuing day of God’s
wrath.
just another little note, is that when the people passed
over,,they had “removed from their tents”, as:
Joshua
3:14
And it came
to pass, when the people removed from their tents, to pass over Jordan, and
the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before the people; etc.
According to our apostle Paul, we also “groan”
to get out of these “tabernacles”, or tents. Now, it is quite obvious to
any that these people would have had to remove themselves out of their tents
before crossing over the Jordan River,,,,so
the Holy Spirit, has added this little detail for our benefit,,,,,,it
means something, or it wouldn’t be there,,,for
there is no part of the Word of God, that does not have an application to
our Lord, or for our own learning.
Joshua 4:19 And the people came
up out of Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and encamped in Gilgal, in the east
border of Jericho.
Above,,,This
is the exciting part. Notice the day upon which the Israelites “crossed over Jordan” to receive their inheritance.
This, also, in the law of Moses, was the
day of the selection of the lamb for the Passover feast,,,,these people crossed over Jordan,,,and
“kept the feast” on the day of Passover, on the 14th Nisan, as
the apostle Paul (and our Lord) say that we will keep the feast, fulfilled,
in the Kingdom of the Father. Christ fulfilled this lamb-selection day
when He rode into Jerusalem,,,,rejected
as King,,,,but selected as the Lamb of God. Next
time He comes, it will be as our King, and our Prince, our Wonderful One,
and also the beginning of Israel’s
return to their God and Saviour, and King. Israel,
in the day in which Christ rode into Jerusalem, failed to see that their
“deliverance” was shown clearly to them in the events with Joshua,,,,,that
their inheritance could be had then,,,,,and as
Jesus said,,,,they “could have known the day of their PEACE”…..(arrival
of the Kingdom,,,and millennium of peace) But
their failure is our treasure, as we gentiles were afar off from the family
of our Father and His Son. We have benefited by their blindness,,,,,we all have much gratitude
to the Jewish people, in many different ways, and a great sorrow for their
sacrifices on our behalf.
First, as soon as they were crossed over,,the Lord commanded them to be circumcised “again”…this
shows the soon-coming re-circumcism of Israel,
who will come back into a state of circumcism
of the heart, having neglected their closeness and trusting in God over
the last forty years. Likewise, Moses was not allowed to attend to God’s
mighty work in Egypt,
until he had circumcised his sons, on the way to Egypt.
God must see His people meeting their obligation
in this, before He does mighty works for them, and blesses them.
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And the children of
Israel encamped in Gilgal, and kept the
passover on the fourteenth day of the
month at even in the plains of Jericho. |
After this, and the manna had ceased,,,Joshua is confronted with
the Lord Himself in battle array:
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And it came to pass,
when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, behold, there
stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand:
and Joshua went unto him, and said unto him, Art thou for us, or
for our adversaries? |
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And he said, Nay; but
as captain of the host of the LORD am I now come. And Joshua fell
on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto him, What
saith my Lord unto his servant? |
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And the captain of the
LORD's host said unto Joshua, Loose thy
shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest
is holy. And Joshua did so. |
The above pictures the Lord arriving to help
in the battles for Israel, after the rapture of the church, the manna ceasing,
as the removal of the Holy Spirit, the restrainer, with the church.
KEEPING THE FEAST
The River Jordan
was crossed during the day time. We are children of the day. The “night”,
that is, when the son of perdition is revealed is the 13th of
Nisan (that is, the transition from the 13th – 14th
Nisan, evening and night) as Judas was revealed
on that night. and as Haman
was also revealed on the 13th of the month of Adar, the night
of Esther’s second dinner. (13th – 14th Adar) And
Jesus said to the people who came to arrest Him,,,”are
you come to take me as a THIEF?”,,,,and so, He
will come as a thief in the night to the “world”. The events of that dark
evening, the 13th Nisan, foreshadowed the turning point, when
the son of perdition would be given “his time”, and our Lord has “nothing”
with him….
John 14:28 Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come
again unto you. If ye
loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father:
for my Father is greater than I. 29 And now Ihave
told you before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye might
believe. 30 Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world
cometh, and hath nothing in me.
31 But that the world may know that I love the Father; and as
the Father gave me commandment, even so I do. Arise, let us go hence.
This is an event of “the night”. And Judas
went out,,,and it was
“night”. Perhaps the arrival of the son of perdition, and his false prophet
(Elijah to the Jews)…..but, again, we are children of the day. And we should
see that day coming according to Paul. We are seeing more than a smattering
of Christianity being blasphemed by such books as the Da Vinci Code, and this new book announcing the discovery
of the graves of our Lord and His mother, etc. Our own abominations of
desolations stare us in the face each and every day.
Paul said that the Restrainer would be taken
out (the rapture), and THEN that wicked one would be REVEALED.
Perhaps on Nisan 10, we will be taken across the River Jordan, to our own
inheritance,,,the restrainer going with us…. after
which the “manna ceased”,,,,or, the ministry of
the Holy Spirit, who gives us to remember His Words,,,or His manna from heaven.
THEN,,,a
few days later that wicked one is “revealed”,,,as
was Judas, on the night of Nisan 13. The “hour” of darkness, of which our
Lord spoke on that night: Judas “went before” the crowd that arrested Jesus…
Luke 22: 52 Then Jesus said unto the chief priests, and captains of
the temple, and the elders, which were come to him, Be ye come out, as against
a thief, with swords and staves? 53 When I was daily with you in
the temple, ye stretched forth no hands against me: but this is your hour, and
the power of darkness
Now, on the evening/night of the 13th
/ 14th Nisan, Jesus held a Passover / communion dinner with His
deciples,,,, He said to His deciples on that night,
Luke 22:13 And they went,
and found as he had said unto them: and they made ready the passover. 14 And when the hour was come, he sat down,
and the twelve apostles with him. 15 And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this passover
with you before I suffer: 16 For
I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God.
Above, He says He desires
greatly to eat the Passover with His deciples
“before” He suffers,,,in
other words, He could not keep it the next night. But take note that he
says He will not partake of the Passover meal again until “IT BE
FULFILLED IN THE KINGDOM
OF HIS FATHER”.
Going back to the book of
Joshua, after the Israelites passed over the River Jordan, they were then
able to keep the Passover Feast, in their new land, and after that
they were able to eat of the “fruit of that land”, for the manna had ceased,
and the old corn, unleavened, had been eaten. Likewise, when we enter into
our promised inheritance, the manna which has been our daily bread,
will cease, the old corn eaten,,,and we will be able to KEEP THE FEAST with our Lord,
FULFILLED in the Kingdom of His Father…..for He Himself said that
the next time He would keep the feast would be at the fulfillment of it
in HIS FATHER’S KINGDOM…., with us.
| |
And the manna ceased
on the morrow after they had eaten of the old corn of the land;
neither had the children of Israel manna any more; but they did eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year. |
Paul tells the Corinthians
to “keep the feast” after purging out the old leaven,
1 Corinthians 5:7-8
7 Purge out therefore the old leaven,
that ye may be a new lump, as ye
are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: 8 Therefore
let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice
and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
Until that day, Paul tells
us we are to remember His death, til He come:
1st Corinthians
11:26 For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup,
ye do shew the Lord's death till he come.
Now, we are “unleavened”,,,,and
also Paul tells us we are a “kind of firstfruits”….To
me that rather puts our own entering into our inheritance in the spring,
the season of unleavened bread, but before the “night” of Passover,,,,and
also, we are a “type” of firstfruits. Our Lord
was the first of the firstfruits of the resurrection. We are in Him,
we are part of His Body. Go back to the book of Genesis, and it shows
that each creature and “plant” has its own seed within itself….If our Lord
was barley, and the firstfruits of the barley,,,then
are we not barley also? When we read of the field of the wheat and the
tares, we are told that the field is “the world”, not the church,,,,and
that the “harvest” of that field is the end of the age. There are children
of the devil and children of the “Kingdom” in that field, and it is wheat,
of which there will be an abundant harvest….this harvest,,,I
think,,,will be the harvest of those people who will suffer
the first half of the tribulation years…the hot summer of wheat as it matures.
I think the barley harvest, still, has to do with Him, His body, His flesh
and His bones, as He showed to doubting Thomas. How can we be wheat, when
our Lord and Saviour is barley? And Jesus, and
John, tell us that the “seed” is planted in our hearts,,,and
that seed is the Word of God, our Lord Himself. So if we are a “type”
of firstfruits,,then I think that means we are “like”, or a “type”
of, our Lord Himself,,,,who was “the” first of
the firstfruits. The Jordan
River overflowed its banks every year during the
barley harvest.
We shall be able to “keep
the feast”, as the Israelites did, in their land of promise, JUST AFTER
CROSSING THE JORDAN.
We shall be able to keep the feast, with our Lord, FULFILLED in the Kingdom
of His Father,
JUST AFTER THE RAPTURE.
1260 DAYS
I find it intriguing, that
exactly 1260 days from Nisan 10 this year (March 29) until Rosh Hashanah
in the year 2010, is EXACTLY 1260 days, from the calculator:
From and including: Thursday,
March 29, 2007
To, but not including : Thursday,
September 9, 2010
It is 1260 days from the start date to the end
date, but not including the end date
This would represent, then,
if this be our blessed year…and the tribulation started on Nisan 10 this
year (March 29) ,,,exactly at mid-tribulation,
on the feast of trumpets. At that time the two witnesses would be raised
from being dead,,,and
they went up with “clouds”, so that it may represent the final gathering
in of the wheat field, just prior to the wrath of God commencing upon an
un-believing world. The trumpets of this feast, announce the coming of
the king, warnings of war, and judgment, and the commencement of the “days
of awe”, (ten days) which precede Yom Kippur, followed by the feast of tabernacles,
five days later. So, here, judgment is surely announced. During this
time period the Jews will see the abomination of desolation,,,they
will be on rooftops (says Jesus to them, to come down from the rooftops)
when this time comes (feast of tabernacles?), because they put their tents
on rooftops during that feast….they are to flee Jerusalem, hopefully at
a time that is “not winter”,,,and this would be
the autumn. The un-numberable crowd seen in heaven
coming out of great tribulation,,,could be the
wheat harvest,,,for they have “hungered, thirsted,
the sun beating upon them, and much heat”…that sounds like the wheat enduring
the long hot summer,,,,finally taken up as a great
harvest to the Lord. They have indeed endured famine, hunger, thirst, during
the first 3 ½ years of the tribulation…and now the Lord can put in His harvesting
tools, to deal with the “fruits”, or late harvest,,the
grapes of wrath, while He shelters the fleeing Jews as He did when they
were in the wilderness, and cares for them at the place where they flee.
The total number of days
for the whole seven years from Nisan 10 in 2007 to Nisan 10 in 2014 is 2570
days. May 5 of the year 2014 is the Israeli state independence
day, (Iyar 5th), the memorial of their independence on
May 15, 1948.
Yom HaAtzma'ut
Thus on May 14, 1948 at 4:00 p.m., Hay Iyar, the 5th of Iyar, Israel declared itself a state.
After 2,000 years, the land of Israel was once more in the
hands of the Jews. David Ben Gurion read the Declaration
of Independence over the radio.
Taking the total number of
days from this year’s Nisan 10 (March 29) to the 2014 celebration of independence
is 2595 days, including thedateMay 5, 2014. Using
the 360-day prophetic numbering of days, this gives us 2595 days, or 75
days over and above the 2520 days which are to fulfill the seven years
of tribulation. I wonder,,,,if this is the
75 days of which Daniel spoke of, saying “blessed are they who come to the
1335 days” of the second half of the tribulation, for there are 75 days
beyond the mid-tribulation number of 1260 days to account for. Surely
those Jews who made it to this memorial celebration
of their independence, would be “blessed”. May 5 of 2014 would be 24 days
after Nisan 10 of that year.
2000 CUBITS
| |
Joshua
Chapter 3 |
1 |
And Joshua rose early
in the morning; and they removed from Shittim,
and came to Jordan, he and all the children of Israel, and lodged there before they passed over. |
2 |
And it came to pass
after three days, that the officers went through the host; |
3 |
And they commanded the
people, saying, When ye see the ark of the covenant of the LORD
your God, and the priests the Levites bearing it, then ye shall
remove from your place, and go after it. |
4 |
Yet there shall be
a space between you and it, about two
thousand cubits by measure: come not
near unto it, that ye may know the way
by which ye must go: for ye have not passed this way heretofore. |
5 |
And Joshua said unto
the people, Sanctify yourselves: for to morrow the LORD will do
wonders among you. |
Above, we learn that there
will be a space of about 2000 cubits, from when the Ark of the Covenant
passed into the dry river. This pictures the 2000 + years which have passed
since our Lord passed before us, our own Ark
of His Covenant of grace with us. And the people are told that they have
“not passed this way before”…what that actually means in other translations
is that they had not passed over before in “this manner” instead of “way”……..as
in a totally different experience from any that they had had in the wilderness.
Joshua told the people the day before to sanctify themselves….for TOMORROW
would be the day God would show His wonders. I wonder if we will also be
told by our Lord in some manner, the day before the rapture.
JOSHUA’S STONES
When our Lord came upon the
colt Nisan 10, all His deciples praised God with
a loud voice, and rejoiced for “all His mighty works”. They cry out “peace
in heaven, and glory to the highest”…as I am sure will be our joy and shouts
of praise when He comes for us…during this pageant, the Pharisees came to
Him to state their displeasure at the spectacle they were making…..Jesus
then said something rather odd: that if He were to silence these rejoicing
deciples, that the stones would immediately cry
out in rejoicing….what? What stones?
Luke 19:36 And as he went, they spread their
clothes in the way. 37 And when he was come nigh, even now at
the descent of the mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples
began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works
that they had seen; 38 Saying, Blessed be the King that cometh
in the name of the Lord: peace in heaven, and glory in the highest. 39 And
some of the Pharisees from among the multitude said unto him, Master, rebuke
thy disciples. 40 And he answered and said unto them, I tell you that,
if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately
cry out.
It is well documented that the Jews require
a “sign”. And during the tribulation years God will again show them many
signs and wonders. During this age of grace, we love Him, though not having
seen Him, or having any “signs”. Blessed are they who believe, without
“seeing”.
John the Baptist, at the River Jordan, while
baptizing, also rebuked the Pharisees with a similar message about “these
stones”:
Matthew 3:9
And think
not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto
you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.
He probably pointed right to that pile of
12 stones,,,because John
1:28 says that he baptized in “Bethabara,
beyond Jordan”…..”Bethabara” means “the house of passage”,,,,,,,,that is,,,the place where
Israel passed over the river. These, then,
must be the stones to which Jesus likewise referred in a similar way…
Back to the stones.
Notice the careful instructions which God
gave to Joshua, about arranging a pile of 12 stones:
Joshua
Chapter 4 |
1 |
And it came to pass,
when all the people were clean passed over Jordan, that the LORD spake unto Joshua,
saying, |
2 |
Take you twelve men
out of the people, out of every tribe a man, |
3 |
And command ye them,
saying, Take you hence out of the midst of Jordan, out of the place
where the priests' feet stood firm, twelve stones, and ye shall
carry them over with you, and leave them in the lodging place, where
ye shall lodge this night. |
4 |
Then Joshua called the
twelve men, whom he had prepared of the children of Israel, out of every tribe a man: |
5 |
And Joshua said unto
them, Pass over before the ark of the LORD your God into the midst
of Jordan, and take you up every man of you a stone upon his shoulder,
according unto the number of the tribes of the children of Israel: |
6 |
That
this may be a sign
among you, that when your children ask their fathers in time to
come, saying, What mean ye by these stones? |
| |
Then ye shall answer
them, That the waters of Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD;
when it passed over Jordan, the waters of Jordan were cut off: and these stones shall be for a memorial
unto the children of Israel
for ever. |
| |
And the children of
Israel did so as Joshua commanded, and took up twelve stones out
of the midst of Jordan, as the LORD spake unto Joshua, according to
the number of the tribes of the children of Israel, and carried them over with them unto the place where they
lodged, and laid them down there. |
9 |
And Joshua set up twelve
stones in the midst of Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests which bare the
ark of the covenant stood: and they are there unto this day. |
Now,,,were
these the “stones”, which our Lord was bringing to the Pharisees’ attention,
these very stones, which were to be a “sign” to the people of Israel,,,these
stones which would “speak” and “cry out”, to them?
If some huge event were to
happen on the 10th of Nisan, it would not take the Jews very
long to figure out that Joshua’s stones had something to say to them.
This, indeed, would be their first “sign” of the start of the tribulation,,,and of their entering into their promised land, to
fight the wars which confront them, for their land, with Joshua (Jesus)
as their commander in chief. Surely, then, Jewish children would ask their
fathers “what mean these stones?”
Also, we ourselves are called
by Paul “lively stones”, which make up the Temple
of His Body.
And the first work after crossing over the Jordan, was for Joshua and the people to set up
these stones, as a memorial, forever.
| |
And the people came
up out of Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and encamped in Gilgal, in the east border of Jericho. |
| |
And those twelve stones,
which they took out of Jordan, did Joshua pitch in Gilgal. |
| |
And he spake
unto the children of Israel, saying, When your children shall ask their fathers in time
to come, saying, What mean these stones? |
| |
Then ye shall let your
children know, saying, Israel came over this Jordan on dry land. |
| |
For the LORD your God
dried up the waters of Jordan from before you, until ye were passed over, as the LORD
your God did to the Red sea, which he dried up from before us, until we were gone over: |
24 |
That all the people
of the earth might know the hand of the LORD, that it is mighty:
that ye might fear the LORD your God for ever. |
The stones would be a memorial
first to Israel,,,and
then “THAT ALL OF THE PEOPLE OF THE EARTH
MIGHT KNOW THE HAND OF THE LORD,,,THAT IT IS MIGHTY:
THAT YE MIGHT FEAR THE LORD YOUR GOD FOREVER”
So, these stones would also
be a “sign” to all the people of the earth.
All the people of the earth
would surely know the mighty power of God, were the rapture to happen on
that day, when the stones were set up. The 10th
of Nisan.
Joshua had also taken 12
other stones and carried them into the dry river bed itself. These
12 stones were covered by the returning torrent of water. It is a picture
of “leaving behind” the twelve old stones, of Israel’s
past wanderings, the waters of judgment covering their old sins,,,,and the setting up of the 12 stones taken from the
river bed, put on dry ground, one stone for each tribe in Israel.
The number 12 here is meant as a message for the whole host of Israel,
the complete 12 tribes.
THE WEDDING AT CANA
It is interesting that the
wedding where Jesus turned the water into wine, was JUST BEFORE
the feast of Passover. read:
| |
John;
Chapter 2 |
1 |
And the third day there
was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there: |
2 |
And both Jesus was called,
and his disciples, to the marriage. |
3 |
And when they wanted
wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine. |
4 |
Jesus saith
unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine
hour is not yet come. |
5 |
His mother saith
unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith
unto you, do it. |
6 |
And there were set there
six waterpots of stone, after the manner
of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece. |
7 |
Jesus saith
unto them, Fill the waterpots with water.
And they filled them up to the brim. |
8 |
And he saith
unto them, Draw out now, and bear unto the governor of the feast.
And they bare it. |
9 |
When the ruler of the
feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not whence
it was: (but the servants which drew the water knew;) the governor
of the feast called the bridegroom, |
10 |
And saith
unto him, Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and
when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but thou hast
kept the good wine until now. |
| |
This beginning of miracles
did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory; and his
disciples believed on him |
12 |
After this he went down
to Capernaum, he, and his mother, and his brethren, and his disciples:
and they continued there not
many days. |
13 |
And
the Jews' passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. |
Above, notice that after
this wedding feast,,,He and His mother and brethren,
went to Capernaum (just before Passover),,and continued there “NOT MANY
DAYS”……this could well have happened on Nisan 10, for it is “not many days”,
unto the feast of the Passover, which was “at hand” at that time. and
notice:
| the governor of the
feast called the bridegroom, |
| And saith
unto him, Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and
when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but thou hast kept the good wine until now. |
Also notice above,,,,,that
at this time “Jesus went up to Jerusalem”…(picturing
His taking us (His mother, brethren, and deciples,,,to
the “New Jerusalem” above?
Jesus Himself, had told His
deciples,,,,,(see above)
that when He drank again of the fruit of the vine,,,it
would be fulfilled IN HIS FATHER’S KINGDOM,,,,,at
the WEDDING FEAST,,,,,,,,,and that, indeed would
be the “good wine”, which is served at the fulfillment of this day……the
wedding at Cana, fore-shadows our joining with
Him, in the coming wedding feast in heaven. And this happened JUST BEFORE
PASSOVER, “not many days hence”… Notice also above,,,that the governor says that “thou hast kept the good
wine”…that is, the BRIDEGROOM Himself, had kept the good wine until
the last. Also, the city of Capernaum
to which they went after the wedding is the place which Jesus chose as “HIS
OWN ABODE”,,,,,,,
CAPERNAUM
A city on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. Jesus chose, as the place
of his abode,
Therefore, Jesus after the
wedding is seen with His mother, and brethren, and deciples in HIS PLACE OF ABODE,,,,,,in heaven, for the “not many days” until that Passover.
We shall also be with Him in His place, His abode, in the few days before
Passover. And, according to Hitchcock’s Bible Dictionary,,,Capernaum
means: “field of repentance,,,and place of comfort”….
OK, Doves,,,,,,this
is enough already…………I pray to the Lord that some of this study brings to
your minds, remembrances, to add and fill in other thoughts ….. that
He forgive my errors, but blesses that which may be helpful. Would you
believe I still have a stack of notes here to add,,,,but
perhaps will put in “Volume II”…
“what was written aforetime, written for our learning and comfort”
(Rom. 15:4)
and,,,,,
“When thou passeth
through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall
not overflow thee….for I am the Lord thy God: the Holy One of Israel,
thy Saviour (Deliverer)…Isaiah 43:2
In praise of His Holy and
Wonderful Name,,,,,
your sister,,,,,,,,,,Arlene