Tish
B’Av - Destruction and Renewal (Revival?)
9
July to 30 July (three weeks - 21 days) - Destruction
31
July to 17 September (seven weeks - 49 days) - Consolation
18
September - 20 September - Rosh Hashanah (a whole new year!!)
What
lies just ahead? July 2009 and the
lead-in to Rosh Hashanah may well be one of the most pivotal
periods in human history. I know that most doves
are looking for an imminent Rapture - I long for this too, and my
belief in the Rapture before Daniel’s seventieth week is as Solid
as a Rock! But Joel’s prophecy was (only) partially
fulfilled on the Day of Pentecost and I believe that the outpouring
of the Holy Spirit upon all flesh (an astonishing prophecy!)
is about to be fulfilled and this will transform the church into a
bride ready to be taken home. The next
Jewish year (2009-10) could well be the last for the church!
For
those doves who are anticipating a revival, there is really
now very little time
- even for a quick work upon the face of the Earth (Romans
9:28)! So
we should
perhaps be looking closely at Tish B’Av, and the possibility that this
may be a time of judgments on nations, as a prelude to
revival. I
believe that Isaiah 13 is about to be fulfilled. Many of us
are aware
of David Wilkerson’s warning about New York, and
other prophetic warnings. Isaiah 13:6-8 mirrors the thrust of
these
prophetic warnings - events that will shake the world are
imminent!
The
Three Weeks - Overview
For
eight hundred and thirty years there stood an edifice upon a Jerusalem
hilltop which served as the point of contact between heaven and earth.
Its destruction is regarded as the
greatest tragedy of our history, and its rebuilding
will mark the ultimate redemption - the restoration of harmony within
G-d's creation and between G-d and His creation. A
full three weeks of our year-the three weeks "between the strictures"
of Tammuz 17 and Av 9-are designated as a time of mourning
over the destruction of the Holy Temple and the resultant
galut - physical exile and spiritual displacement - in which we still
find ourselves.
On Tammuz 17 of the year 3829 from creation (69
CE), the
walls of Jerusalem were breached by the armies of Rome; three weeks
later, on the 9th of Av, the Holy Temple was set aflame.
Av 9 is also the date of the First Temple's destruction by
the Babylonians
in 3339 (423 BCE), after the Temple service was disrupted on Tammuz
17. But there is more to the Three Weeks than fasting and
lamentation. The Ninth of Av, say our sages, is not
only the day of the Temple's destruction-it is also the
birthday of Moshiach. The "Three (weeks) of Rebuke"
are thus followed by "Seven (weeks) of Consolation"-
seven weekly readings describing the future redemption and the
rebuilding of the marriage of G-d and Israel.