Ervin,
This is really, really good. I had
filed the concept of a 2nd Passover away and forgot about it.
Iyar 14 falls on May 2nd and May 3rd this year is
the National Day of prayer.
May 5th which would be the first
Sabbath after this is 7 years after the alignment of the planets in 2000,
and 2 years after Ascension Day May 5th. Since Jesus went
up 2,000 years before the Church could May 5th 2005 be 2 years
(2,000 years) before the Church goes up?
Only YHWH knows, but I really appreciate
your insights here. It bears watching that the Church would be defiled
touching a dead body and on a journey in a distant land. John Tng
has given us great information on April 5th and if this date
were delayed one month it would be May 5th.
Thanks again – very exciting times!
Blessings,
Tony
From: Ervin Miller
Sent: Thursday, March 29, 2007
5:47 PM
Subject: Esther and Doubling
Passover-Both Joyful
DOUBLING PASSOVER -GARY
NALER
What we find when examining
the gospels is that the first three - Matthew, Mark, and Luke - clearly
state that the meal Yahshua ate with His disciples immediately prior
to His crucifixion was the feast day Passover meal, while in contrast
the gospel of John clearly states that Yahshua was crucified on Passover,
and the preceding meal was nothing more than "supper."
It is profoundly amazing
how Yahweh has used the foolishness of contradictions within His Scriptures
(using that which has the appearance of being errors) to communicate to
us. Paul declared that Yahweh in fact chooses the foolish things for the
purpose that He may "shame the wise" (1 Corinthians 1:27). While
men throughout the centuries have attempted to harmonize these subject verses,
as well as other passages, the fact is they are looking for truth and answers
in the wrong way. The answers are not found in harmonizing, but rather in
discerning the riddles Yahweh is providing in the foolishness of these contradictions.
When one understands this most unique design of Yahweh, then His word unfolds
in a most wonderful and profound way, glorifying Yahweh for the magnificence
of His design!
In the laws of Yahweh,
there are three feasts that the Israelites were commanded to observe - Passover,
Pentecost, and Tabernacles. "Three times a year you shall celebrate
a feast to Me. You shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread (or, Passover);
.... Also you shall observe the Feast of the Harvest (or, Pentecost) ...;
also the Feast of the Ingathering (or, Tabernacles) ..." (Exodus 23:14-17).
These are the feasts in which Yahweh orchestrated the entire journeys of
the Israelites. This is most important to understand, especially when
one sees that these ordained journeyings were a type or picture of what
takes place in the course of the church! Even as the sons of Israel followed a pattern based upon the feasts
in their journeying out of Egypt
and into the promised land, so the church
will follow the identical pattern.
The sons of Israel were led out of their bondage in Egypt immediately following
the first ever Passover. Numbers 33:3 states - "on the next day after
the Passover (i.e., Nisan 15, the first day of Unleavened Bread) the sons
of Israel
started out boldly in the sight of all the Egyptians." Thus Passover initiated their deliverance from bondage.
The next feast ordered
by Yahweh was of course Pentecost. What happened to the children of Israel at the time of that
feast? With the fifty day space required between the Sabbath during Unleavened
Bread and Pentecost, this places Pentecost into the third month of the ceremonial
calendar. We read that this is exactly when the sons of Israel
reached Sinai - "In the third month after the sons of Israel
had gone out of the land of
Egypt, on that very day they came into the wilderness
of Sinai" (Exodus 19:1). Verse three then tells us that Moses made
His first trip up the mountain to converse with Yahweh. It was of course
during this time that the sons of Israel received the Law of
Yahweh - first verbally, spoken directly to all the people by Yahweh (Exodus
20), then later on tablets of stone which Moses brought down off the mountain
(32:15-16). The Jews appropriately celebrate Pentecost as the giving of
the Law, for so it was. The Laws of Yahweh
were given to man during the time of Pentecost.
When Moses returned to
the camp of the Israelites with the written law, 3,000 men were killed with
the sword for their rebellion and sin (32:28). As poignant validation of
this giving of the Law on Pentecost, we significantly find that the identical
number of lives was subsequently added to the kingdom during the church’s
initiating Pentecost (Acts 2:41). On the first Pentecost, 3,000 men were
killed; on the first Pentecost in the kingdom
of God, 3,000 souls were added to the kingdom.
This identical number and the same timing confirm that the giving of the
Law was at Pentecost.
What feast was next? Third
and final - Tabernacles. Since the sons of Israel
departed Egypt via Passover
and received the Law during Pentecost, would it not be expected that the
next important event involving Moses and the sons of Israel would be on Tabernacles? And this is precisely
what we find. Passover is on the fourteenth and runs through the twenty-first
of the first month. Pentecost is day-specific (Sunday) versus being date-specific,
as are all the rest of the feasts. Pentecost is fifty days after the Sabbath
that occurs during Passover or Unleavened Bread, causing it to always fall
on the first day of the week (Sunday) on any given date during the third
month of Sivan. Finally, Tabernacles is equally date-specific, and is celebrated
on the fifteenth through the twenty-second in the seventh month of Tishri.
What happened on Tabernacles?
The
first Tabernacles that the sons of Israel would have experienced would have occurred
during the period of the construction of the tabernacle, its furniture,
and all the associated utensils.
All three feasts are actually
timed with specific harvests. The first harvest to come in was the barley.
The barley harvest was specifically at Passover. What was the harvest some
fifty days after the barley harvest? It was the wheat harvest. We find then
that Pentecost was during the wheat harvest.Likewise, Tabernacles was called
"the Feast of the Ingathering." So what was being gathered in?
The grains were already in, so this feast had to be associated with yet
another very important crop, and that was the grapes.
When,
we must ask, did the sons of Israel
reject entering into the promised land?
First, and very importantly,
we see that the spies returned with a most important sampling from the promised
land - a cluster of grapes.Another important
testimony that the sons of Israel rejected entering into the promised land
during Tabernacles, is from the mere fact that everything
that Yahweh had taken the sons of Israel through up to this point was based
precisely on the timing of the feasts. As we have said, they departed Egypt
via Passover, they received the Law during Pentecost, now we see that they
came up to the land of promise on Tabernacles. This would complete the divine
cycle of the Feasts of Yahweh - Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles.
When did the sons of Israel finally enter into
the promised land? This question needs no extrapolation to answer. We are
specifically told in Joshua 4:19 that, "the people came up from the
Jordan (crossing the
Jordan River into the promised land) on the tenth of the first month."
What is significant about that specific date? In Exodus 12:3 we read that
this was precisely the date in which the Passover lamb was to be selected
in preparation for Passover. Next we read that on the fourteenth, Passover
was celebrated by the children of Israel (Joshua 5:10). So, clearly we see that
having failed to enter into the promised
land the previous time at Tabernacles, following another thirty-eight years
of wandering in the wilderness, they finally did enter in at Passover.
This Passover entrance is one more firm evidence that their first opportunity
was equally at a feast, which had to have been Tabernacles.
The church, though delivered
out of "Egypt"(earthly
system) by the power of a Passover (Good Friday), Pentecost (receiving an
earnest of the Spirit) fails to be sufficient to bring them (the early church)
forthright into the promised land (Kingdom
of Heaven) at Tabernacles (the theme of Esther).
The children of Israel had had their Pentecost, but one and one-half
years later, when coming to the place to receive their promise, their Pentecost
experience was insufficient to carry them into their inheritance. Instead,
they had to return to the wilderness until they all died off. This
is EXACTLY what we have seen in the church!
After Yahshua died as
our Passover lamb, bringing forgiveness of sins and restoring the kingdom of God as a Nazirite, the disciples and converts received the Pentecost
outpouring of the Holy Spirit fifty days latter, with the evidence of 3,000
souls being added to the kingdom. But, was this Pentecost experience sufficient
to bring man into the "promised land"? No more than Pentecost
almost 1,500 years earlier was sufficient to bring the preluding "church
in the wilderness" into their promised land!
Let us carefully consider
the beginning church history. Following Pentecost the church grew rapidly.
When the stoning of Stephen occurred, this beginning church at Jerusalem, which had experienced an uninterrupted
dramatic course of unifying events from its first day, immediately disintegrated!
No longer was there the house to house experience they had known, no longer
do we read of their passionate bond of holding all things in common, no
longer was it passionately Jerusalem, but rather soon to be Antioch. What
began in Jerusalem, was nurtured in Jerusalem, experienced and passionately
felt in Jerusalem, came to a tragic end marked by one solitary pivotal event
- the stoning of Stephen!
When
was the church’s own determining Tabernacles? By the pattern of the preluding "church
in the wilderness," (1) we know it should have been one and one-half
years after Pentecost. Equally, (2) as we saw in the wilderness, any rejection
of the promised land should have been marked by a radical change in the
direction of the church. And also, (3) it should have been a test between
good and evil witnesses. This is precisely what happened with the stoning
of Stephen. Once Stephen was stoned, the pure and passionate beginnings
of the Jerusalem-based church were over. The church was soon led by the
man at whose feet the false witnesses laid their robes (Saul-Paul).
And what did the false
witnesses do to the one who bore the good testimony? They did to him what
the people intended to do to Joshua and Caleb - they stoned him. What was
cut short in the wilderness by the glory of Yahweh in the tent of meeting,
was accomplished by the false witness against Stephen - they carried out
the stoning. Stephen saw the promised land, as well as "the glory of
God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God" (Acts 7:55), though
the others failed to see. But on this occasion, the stoning was not to be
halted. True to the original pattern, Stephen, the good witness,
was undoubtedly stoned one and one-half years after Pentecost, once again
specifically at Tabernacles. And equally true to the original
pattern, the stoning of Stephen marked a radical change in the direction
and experience of the church, including persecution and death.
Thus, even as "the
church in the wilderness" was turned back to wander in the wilderness
at Tabernacles, so the church began its period of wilderness wanderings
at the stoning of Stephen at Tabernacles. While
the "church in the wilderness" wandered there for forty years,
the higher fulfillment of the church per se is not forty years but forty
Jubilees, or 40X49 or 1,960 years.
In Exodus 12:40-41 concerning
the Israelite's exodus out of Egypt, we read:
Now
the time that the sons of Israel
lived in Egypt
was four hundred and thirty years. And it came about at the end of four
hundred and thirty years, to the very day, that all the hosts of Yahweh
went out from the land of
Egypt.
What does this mean? It
means that the Israelite's deliverance from Egypt was four hundred and thirty
years PRECISELY TO THE DAY
from when they went into Egypt; and based on this statement, that day was
precisely the day immediately following Passover (even though the Feast
of Passover had not even been set up at the time). In other words, to summarize
this, the Israelites went into Egypt at Passover, and were delivered out
of Egypt at Passover.The church received
the kingdom of God in earthly flesh (bondage and wilderness) at Passover;
and, the church may be delivered out of their bondage and wilderness in
the flesh at Passover. Or perhaps as the aborted first entry into the promised
land which would have been Tabernacles.
Paul aptly declared that
these subject journeys happened as types of the church. In 1 Corinthians
10:6, after Paul referenced Moses and these Israelite journeys, he declared
concerning them - "Now these things were types of us (literal
translation)." And when Stephen gave his account before the Jewish
leaders, noting the previous journeys of Moses and the sons of Israel, he referred to them
as "the church in the wilderness" (lit. of Acts 7:38).
And this is exactly what we have with this whole work of Yahweh to get the
sons of Israel out of
Egypt and into the promised
land. They were a picture, or as Paul called them, a type of the church.
Thus, if one wants to understand the course of the church, then simply look
at this preceding illustrative type.
Now that we hopefully
have a better understanding of the vital importance that Passover holds
for the church, let us proceed with a further examination of Passover, specifically
in regard to its doubling.
Any
doubling of Passover would have to be a unique account because it would
exceed what the original laws of Yahweh required. The laws of Yahweh ordered
that Passover be held in the first month on the fourteenth day, followed
by seven days of Unleavened Bread. However, there was one unique legal
exception to this. In Numbers 9:1-14 we read that if the originally ordered
Passover could not be kept because the person was either "unclean because
of a dead person," or had been "on a distant journey," then
Passover could be held on the following month (the second month) on the
same dates.
Most significantly, this
is the only feast that has this provision for being observed at a delayed
time. We would be wise to note that if Yahweh made this provision for a
delayed Passover, He very much intends to fulfill it on the higher spiritual
realm in His kingdom.
In 2 Chronicles 30:1 we
read the account where King Hezekiah sent out letters to all Israel and Judah,
"that they should come to the house of Yahweh at Jerusalem,
to celebrate the Passover to Yahweh God of Israel." However, there was one point that
made this request most unusual. This Passover was not going to be observed
in the first month, but rather in the second month; as they were obviously
operating under the law of the delayed Passover. While it says that most of Israel "laughed them
(the couriers) to scorn, and mocked them" (30:10), there
were a great number who did attend the delayed Passover. Furthermore, the delayed Passover was so wonderful,
"the whole assembly decided to celebrate the feast another seven
days, so they celebrated the seven days with joy" (30:23). While
delaying the feast was entirely legal, doubling the feast was and
otherwise remains unheard of. But, this delayed Passover was in fact doubled.
"So there was great joy in Jerusalem, because there was nothing
like this in Jerusalem since the days of Solomon the son of David, king
of Israel" (30:26).
Thus we find this most
unique account of a doubled delayed Passover in the time of King Hezekiah.
Granted, this is not a Nisan fourteen and fifteen doubling; but, in its
full measure as the Passover feast, it is most certainly a testimony to
the doubling of Passover. And may we point out here, the uniqueness of this
occurrence lies in that, outside of
Purim which we have already noted, there is not another doubling
of any other feast in the entire Bible. And
may it be noted again that Yahweh, having doubled this feast via Hezekiah
and his reforms, tells us quite plainly that by doing so He will fulfill
this double delayed Passover on the more perfect and higher realm of the
kingdom of God.
"That which has been is that which will be, and that which has been
done is that which will be done."
The first testimony we
will examine is, like the contradictions, a bit hidden; but the similarities
are too close to not consider their importance. In the book of Esther
we find what turns out to be a unique preluding testimony to Passover.
The book of Esther is the account of events from which the Feast of Purim
was established. Purim is different from
the other three feasts in that it is "added;" it is not one of
the original three feasts ordered by Yahweh. Purim is adjunct (along with
the Feast of Dedication or Lights). What makes Purim so interesting in this
study is its similarity to Passover, specifically a doubled Passover.
Let us look at this.
Of
course Passover per se was to be observed on the fourteenth of the first
month. The next seven days
were more specifically called Unleavened Bread. Passover literally was a
one day event. Strikingly similar to Passover, Purim was to be held in its
original design on the fourteenth, but in the twelfth month. These two feasts
are the only feasts held on the fourteenth. Pentecost is not held on a date,
but on a day - Sunday. Trumpets is on the first day of the seventh month.
Atonement and Jubilee are on the tenth day of the seventh month. Tabernacles
begins on the fifteenth of the seventh month, and runs through the twenty-second.
And the added feast of Dedication begins on the twenty-fifth of the ninth
month, and like Tabernacles runs for eight days. So, as we see, Passover and Purim are the only feasts falling on the fourteenth.
Another
interesting point concerning Purim and Passover is that Purim occurs at
the opposite end of the months - the twelfth month. Of course when one repeats the month cycle, one
could also say that Purim is in the month immediately before Passover. This
offers a unique relationship between the two feasts.
If you know the account
concerning Purim, you know
that it was a feast that found its place on this date as a celebration that
Haman’s original plan to annihilate in one day all the Jews on the thirteenth of the twelfth month, was entirely and wonderfully
turned around to provide great victory over the enemies of the Jews. Thus, the following day of the fourteenth was to be
a day of celebration.
But a most unusual set
of events were placed in motion which caused this feast to be extended to
two days, resulting in a net doubling of the feast. When the thirteenth
arrived, the Jews in all the country effected their deliverance by annihilating
their enemies on that one day as provided by the king's edict. Equally,
in the capital of Susa where our
heroine Esther lived, who made this victory possible, five hundred men were
killed, including the ten sons of Haman. But Esther was offered by the king another opportunity(doubling) to
make a request of him, and most uniquely she asked if the
Jews in Susa could be granted another
day according to the original edict in order that the "ten sons (of
Haman) be hanged on the gallows" (Esther 9:13). This was a most unusual
request. We were already told that the ten sons were killed on the thirteenth,
and then they wanted to hang them on the gallows and needed another day
according to the original edict to do so? On the fourteenth, three hundred
additional men were killed in Susa.
Because of this added
day of retribution in Susa, the people of Susa celebrated their deliverance on the fifteenth,
rather than on the fourteenth with everyone else. This presented an interesting
"contradiction," if you would, concerning when the feast was to
be celebrated - the fourteenth or the fifteenth? To solve this problem,
wise Mordecai simply doubled the feast, making it a double fourteenth-fifteenth
feast rather than the original fourteenth only feast. So, Purim is celebrated
on the fourteenth as well as the fifteenth. Sound familiar? Is this not
exactly what we have with the double Passover in the four gospels? What
was originally scheduled as a fourteenth day of the month Passover feast,
was extended by the King to be a doubling two day fourteenth and fifteenth
day Passover feast! (As the Angel of Death passed over the Israelites in
Egypt, It passed over the Jews of Persia)
Will the son of perdition
be revealed is the 13th of Nisan 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.
This account in Esther
is a most revealing testimony regarding this doubling of Passover. It indicates to us why Passover was doubled in the accounts
of the gospels - in order that a greater and more complete victory might
be won. Victory was effected on the scheduled day and celebrated
on the fourteenth; however, a greater victory, as well as testimony (the
hanging of Haman’s ten sons on the gallows), had to be effected in
Susa. The meaning of Susa
is - lily or white. Thus, the doubling of the edict by the king effected
a greater victory and testimony for the sake of lily or white. What could
this mean? We read in Song of Solomon 2:1-2 that the "lily of the valley"
is the bride. Even as testified by Queen Esther, the bride of the king,
this doubling of Passover seems to be for the sake of the bride, more specifically
the bride of Yahshua. But let us note again that the testimony
in this doubled feast on the identical days of the month as a doubled Passover, was for the sake of lily, or the
bride.(via a second request by Queen Esther).
Note that in each of these
cases, they were unique to the normal circumstances. Theologians for years
have tried to harmonize these two Passover days in the gospels. Purim on
the fourteenth as well as the fifteenth was instituted through the unusual
lengthening of the order of the king for the sake of a work in Susa. And King Hezekiah’s double delayed Passover was something
which had never been seen in Jerusalem. What does this reoccurring common testimony of uniqueness
tell us? That when Yahweh fulfills this
double Passover work on His higher level of the kingdom of God, it will equally be an entirely unique work!
Two other testimonies
should be noted here from these cited examples.
First, once again this doubling of Passover is specifically for the cause
of bringing forth the bride of Yahshua. Despite prevailing teachings today,
the bride of Yahshua is yet to be formed. Begun? Yes. But completed? No.
Also,
we should note through this double delayed Passover by Hezekiah, that Yahweh’s
provision of a double Passover to the church will also be delayed. Even
as we find two rains in the Scriptures - the former and the latter - so
there are two(a doubling) outpourings of the Holy Spirit; the second actually
being "delayed" following 2,000 years of Christianity. (This is
also testified to by Passover being in the first month and the double
Passover testimony of Purim being in the twelfth and final month.)
With these observations
concerning what a double Passover will mean for the church, the question
before us then is - What will be the specific fulfillment of this double
Passover ? The answer to this will not fit into standard Christian doctrine,
any more than Christians have discerned either the need for a double Passover
or its testimony; nor will it be welcomed by the masses, any more than King
Hezekiah’s couriers bearing the message of the delayed Passover were
welcomed - "they laughed them to scorn, and mocked them." For
one to accept the message of a doubled Passover, one must be prepared to
look for Yahweh to perform an entirely new and unique work, as new and unique
as each of these testimonies He has provided.