Dear John and all Doves,
      When I wrote my part one I intentionally factored out the night watch from 6-9 under the Romans. Why was it done that way. For me, the Christ/Messiah completed that with the events of His last week on earth. He began to be rejected  by national and tribal Israel when He was rejected by the high priest, priests, and scribes on lamb selection day, which we would call Palm Sunday. He was rejected as Messiah and King on that tragic day. Then came a series of additional rejections until the instant of His death. Every lash of the whip, every nail pounded. every slap to the face, and so on were all forms of tragic rejection from national Israel and the Romans. That phase of the first of the Roman night watches was completed at the instant of His death. It was part of His saying, "It is accomplished."
      Therefore, for us we are in the night watch period from 9 to midnight, in a symbolic sense. Does the bride leave here or later from 12 to 2:59? There was no need for me to write as a historian. For me, the world is in the second part of the night watch. I choose to call where we are in space and time watch 1. I saw a need to elaborate on these issues.
      If you begin to research  you see that the hours are different depending upon interpretation. Some people call the 9-midnight watch the midnight watch. Some call the midnight watch from midnight to three. Some call that the cockcrow watch. The last watch can be called the rooster watch or by other phrases. The breakdown of duration of each watch can vary. Most follow the Roman system of 3 hours each.
      There is a quality of profound mystery to the watches of the night  In a spiritual symbolic sense it seems we are far along in the one from 9 to midnight. Is the world in a sin darkened plain? Are we closer to an hour of benighting and bewitching.? Our Master refers to the second and third watches as those of deep sleep or slumber in Luke 12:38. We are in that time frame now. May the bride soon awaken, transform, and depart. May Abba's Kingdom Come..

With Love and Shalom,
Jean Stepnoski