Israel’s 7 Apocalyptic Days A Darkened Sun, A Blood Red Moon

Israel’s 7 Apocalyptic Days A Darkened Sun, A Blood Red Moon

Chapter 1, Part 1 Preview: The envoys (apostles) never said that the seven Biblical Feast and Festival Days were dusty archives of events long forgotten! They said they are prophetic signs of “things to come”! The modern Israelite nations have almost entirely lost the knowledge of not only their Scriptural heritage, but also the truth that we were to have an “everlasting covenant” with Elohim (God). This chapter explains, via the Biblical Feast Days, why it is that only the Israelite nations will suffer the prophesied “Great Tribulation”. The penalty for not keeping our covenant will be inflicted on all 12 tribes (nations) of modern Israel by the hands “of the peoples” who we were supposed to set an example for! (Deuteronomy 4:5-10). The other nations suffer afterward: INDEX “A Shadow Of Things To Come” (Colossians 2:16) Matthew 24:29 IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE TRIBULATION, the sun will be darkened and the moon won’t shed her light and shooting stars will fall from the sky, and the inherent power of the skies will be shaken. —The Gabriel Bible Elohim never explained to ancient Israel what the seven annual “Feast” Days (both moed & chag) represented. Can you imagine being instructed to celebrate special days without knowing what made them special? Actually, Elohim still requires His people to celebrate these days, and He has provided us with numerous indications as to what they have always signified. There has never been a time when these special days have been more relevant! To my astonishment, as I began to study the seven annual Feast Days, I learned that they portray seven phases of the apocryphal events soon to occur! Just as astonishing is the amazing accumulation of historical evidence demonstrating that the 12 tribes of Israel are the forbearers of the modern, primarily “former” Christian nations of Israel. These nations are the entire focus of all the Biblical prophecy. The other nations are only mentioned as they interact with the Israelite nations. For the most part, this website considers the modern Israelite identities to be recognized basic knowledge, but overwhelming evidence is available from the Brit-Am website. Here are a few significant clues to the concept. The information contained in these pages might well create the desire within you to search out these truths if you have not already done so! I’ll begin with three Biblical references to the fact that Israel is not simply a footnote in history: Genesis 17:5-7 You’ll no longer be called Abram, but your name will be Abraham, because I’ve made you the father of very many nations. 6 I’ll make you exceedingly fruitful. Your descendants will establish many nations. Kings will be descended from you. 7 I’ll establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you, thruout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be your Elohim and the Elohim of your descendants after you. By the time of Paul, Israel was already a “multitude of nations” or a commonwealth in the historic sense of the word, as Webster defines commonwealth: “a group of sovereign states and their dependencies linked by common objectives and formally associated by compact”. The British Commonwealth was a high point in Israelite history. There is much historical documentation concerning this amazing, but little known, story. Ephestians 2:12 At that time you were separated from the Messiah and excluded from the regulations [or commonwealth] of Israel, and aliens to the promised covenant, you had no hope and you were essentially the atheists [Gr. a’-theos] of the world. Ephraim, whose descendants settled in the British Isles, “mixes himself with other nations” (as has the U.S. as in Exodus 12:37-38), but the British have already lost Super Power status. (Incidentally, the word Brit-ish in Hebrew can be translated as “covenant man”. Phonetically it is ber-eeth’ & eesh). Hosea 7:8-9Ephraim mixes himself with other nations. Ephraim is a pancake not flipped over. 9 Foreigners have devoured his strength, and he doesn’t even know it. His hair is sprinkled with gray, and he doesn’t realize it. The United States, originating largely from the Israelite tribe of Manasseh, continues to be a blessing to the world. Genesis 18:18 since Abraham will certainly become an important and populous nation, and every nation on earth will be blessed thru him? But the blessings are only getting started! A whole new age of never ending prosperity and blessings is about to begin, but there will be a complicated labor preceding the birth of the “age to come” (Mark 10:30). It isn’t the purpose of this chapter to prove that Believers should celebrate the seven annual Biblical Feast and Festivals today. However, by understanding their prophetic significance, I hope to create within you an appreciation of their value to your relationship with Elohim. I am only building on the foundational premises of those who recognize who Israel is in prophecy and the importance of celebrating the Biblical Feast Days. For those who understand that the seven annual Feast Days are for us now, devotion should urge us to determine the true significance of these memorials in our lives, without “memorializing” imaginary events. This chapter endeavors to explain that the symbolic meanings of these Kadosh (holy) Convocations has been misrepresented. Many articles, particularly concerning the unwarranted changes made by the Pharisees in the fourth century AD, as to when the Biblical Feast Days should be celebrated, are also available on this website. Both the timing AND the relevance of the Biblical Feast Days has been skewed! (Here are some links to free web books concerning America, Britain & Israel in Prophecy: In Genesis 17, Elohim promised that Abraham would be “a father of many nations”, promising “an everlasting possession” by “an everlasting covenant”. In Genesis 49, Abraham prophesied concerning all twelve of his sons “what will happen to you in the last days”. The chronicle even extends to New Jerusalem, where the very gates (Revelation 21:12) mention “the 12 tribes of the children of Israel”. This astonishing compilation of books explains Elohim’s view of this enigmatic topic in a way certain to change your world view forever. Find America, Britain and the rest of the “Lost 10 Tribes” in the pages of your own Bible!) The fact that the modern Israelite nations have almost entirely lost the knowledge that they were to have an “everlasting covenant” with Elohim is the very reason that only the Israelite nations will suffer the prophesied “Great Tribulation”—and the penalty for not living by that covenant will be inflicted on Israel by the very people who they were to lead into righteousness! (As explained in The Time After Jacob’s Trouble.) 1 Chronicles 16:15-19 Remember His covenant forever, the words that He commanded to a THOUSAND GENERATIONS, 16 the covenant that He made with Abraham, His oath to Isaac. 17 He confirmed it with Jacob as a statute, and to Israel as a never ending covenant, 18 saying, “I’ll give you the land of Canaan, the territory of your inheritance.” 19 When you were few in number, very few, and foreigners in ‘the land’, The nations of the world were to see blessings heaped on Israel and ask: Deuteronomy 4:7-9 What great nation is there, that has their elohim as near to it as Yehovah [Jehovah] our Elohim is to us, whenever we call on Him? 8 And what great nation is there, that has statutes and ordinances as righteous as this whole Torah, that I’m setting before you today? 9 But you should be careful, and watch yourselves closely, so that you don’t forget the things that you saw with your own eyes. Don’t let these memories escape from your mind as long as you live, but pass them on to your children and grandchildren. The Feast and Festival Days were designed to have different symbolisms for different eras. For example the Passover used to only signify the Exodus, but today Passover represents Yeshua’s (Jesus’) death in our place: 1 Corinthians 5:7-8 Clean out your old leaven so that you can be a new batch of dough, as you are unleavened. The Messiah, our Passover, was offered in our place. 8 So let’s celebrate the Feast, not with the old leaven or with the leaven of wickedness and bitterness, but with the unleavened bread of purity and dedication. Yet in the near future, Passover will call to mind a living “righteous Branch” (Yeshua) and another Exodus, not from Egypt but from “the North Country”: Jeremiah 23:5-8 The days are coming,” Yehovah says, “when I’ll raise up for David a righteous Branch. He will be a King who rules wisely, and do what is fair and right thruout the land! 6 In his lifetime, Judah will be delivered, and Israel will live in safely. This is the name that He will be given, ‘Yehovah Our Righteousness!’ 7 “That’s why the time is coming,” Yehovah says, “When people will no longer say ‘As Yehovah lives, who brought the Israelites out of the land of Egypt.’ 8 Instead, they’ll say, ‘As surely as Yehovah lives, who brought about the 'EXODUS' of the descendants of the House of Israel from the North Country, and from all the countries where He had banished them.’ Then they’ll live in their own land. With this premise, here are thumbnail comments of what the Biblical Feast Days represent at the end of this age, particularly regarding the Jubilee year that ends the first 6,000 years since Adam (the 120th Jubilee year). Comments here are borrowed from the more detailed text to follow: Passover, as we’ll read about below, is about to have additional meaning. Yeshua prophesied about the New Covenant: Matthew 26:28-29 This is My blood of the New Covenant that is poured out on behalf of many to release them from the bondage of sins. 29 I’m telling you that I’ll no longer drink any of the fruit of the vine until the day when I drink a new kind with you in the Kingdom of Yehovah. (The New Covenant has not been enacted yet, but it soon will be!) The Days of Unleavened Bread are about the captivity of the modern nations of Israel, eating the unleavened “bread of affliction” (Deuteronomy 16:3), right up until their eventual Exodus toward the New Israel. (Most of the information on this site about the Passover & Unleavened bread is for here and right now. As that time of year approaches, I hope that you will consider: Chapter 2: Did Yeshua’s Supper Replace the Passover? and Chapter 3: “Messiah (Christ) Our Passover”?) Leviticus 23:8 ...“On the seventh day hold a kadosh public assembly. Don’t do any regular work.” The Second Exodus happens over perhaps several weeks. Maybe that accounts for the span of seven days instead of a singular day. Could Daniel 12 explain the significance of the Seventh Day of Unleavened Bread? There we have a 1260 day period (the Great Tribulation), a 1290 day period (calling attention to the 30 days following), and a 1335 day period (indicating another 45 more days). Verse 12 says, “Blessed are those who wait for and attain the 1,335 days.” Perhaps the 144,000 will be involved in gathering up the lost sheep of Israel. Since they are all flesh and blood survivors, what other purpose might they serve? They likely live on as heroes in civilian life. Pentecost: I believe that the twelve modern nations of Israel’s reoccupation of their ancient homeland, following their captivity, will begin to take place on Pentecost (as it was meant to happen after the exodus of 1446 BC). Israel, as a warrior bride will reconquer their land. The resettlement will be finished during the very next Jubilee year. Most of the reoccupation will occur between Pentecost and the Day of Atonements (yes, it’s plural). This Jubilee period is when “Each of you can return to your own property, and each of you can return to your own clan” (Leviticus 25:10). The Firstfruits in question are the first whole generation of Israelites to return to Yehovah since the destruction of ancient Israel. Interestingly, some of Judah, one of the 12 tribes, officially regained part of the ancient homeland on Pentecost of 1948, but that is not the everlasting reoccupation described in Isaiah 65 & and 66. But the “Year of Redemption” will soon arrive (Isaiah 63:4). The 1948 resettlement will fail (Isaiah 63, particularly verse 18, and Isaiah chapters 3 & 10!) The Day of Trumpets represents the triumphant return of both Yehovah and His Messiah (“The Lord and His Christ”) to reclaim Their earth. This day commemorates the Day of Yehovah (the “Lord”) (Isaiah 34:8), that overlaps the 120th Jubilee year. The trumpets are the trumpet plagues of Revelation, they declare war! It is referred to in nearly thirty prophecies as “The Day of Yehovah”. At the very same time that Israel is coming out of the Great Tribulation (Isaiah 27:13) the rest of the world is entering the Day of Yehovah! It is the final year of the sixth millennia—the Jubilee year, better known as “Judgment Day”! By the way, Trumpets also marks the First Resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:51-53). The Day of Atonements is the day when Yeshua chose to begin His ministry! In Luke 4:18-19 Yeshua announced “the Acceptable Year of YHVH” as per the instruction of Leviticus 25:8-12. Who knew that both Protestant commentaries and Catholic sources acknowledge that “the Acceptable Year” He chose was a reference to the Day of Atonements and the Jubilee Year? Do you remember how His audience responded to His inaugural statements? They tried to throw Him over a cliff (Luke 4:29) outside of the city—exactly what the Jews were (wrongly, keyword: cliff) doing every year to the Azazel goat that symbolized the One who makes atonement for their sins that very day (Leviticus 16:10)! This is all in the context of His being led into the wilderness (as the Greek implies “like an animal”) for the 40 day fast that immediately preceeded His ministry—another clue that He was the Azazel! Then the Book of Joel, just 3 chapters long, is all about the latter day fulfillment of the Day of Atonements during the dreadful Day of Yehovah (i.e. Joel 1:14-15). Furthermore, the Day of Atonements portrays the prophetic shotgun wedding, of sorts, of Yeshua’s Bride, as clearly explained in Hosea 3 and Ezekiel 20:30-42! The Feast of Tabernacles, 7 days in length, is an overview of the saga of Israel covering the entire 7 year journey mentioned in Daniel 9:27 (covered in Daniel’s Mysterious Seventy “Weeks” and Jubilee 2028 AD.) Deuteronomy 31:10-11 directly associates Tabernacles with 7 years (a Sabbatical cycle). This period is a trail of tears. Yet this rocky trail leads to the Wedding Supper of the Lamb in the Promised Land! The traditional Jewish Seven day wedding ceremony will begin to have real meaning when this particular wedding begins to be commemorated every year! Humanity is about to enter into what Yeshua referred to as the “world to come”. However that momentous event won’t be realized until there is a New Heaven and a New Earth punctuating this very Jubilee period! (There is no 1,000 year wait: Isaiah 65 & 66.) All of Elohim’s people live in temporary shelters—tabernacles. We await our permanent home in New Jerusalem. If we aren’t ‘tabernacleing’ in sukkahs (temporary dwellings) once a year now, we’ll have to later—under much harsher conditions! (Zechariah 12:7-9) The First Day of Tabernacles: The Temple is an integral part of Elohim’s future plans. The nine chapters of Ezekiel (40-48) that deal with it are quite detailed. The restoration of temple services on the first day of this seven year long period, after having ceased to exist for so many centuries is quite significant in Elohim’s eyes. If for no other reason, we should anxiously anticipate this event, because we will be able to determine without any doubt when the Everlasting Kingdom will arrive by the dates given to us in the book of Daniel. The modern nation of Israel will have signed a contract with the beast. Animal zebak (sacrifices) will be begun again but cease after exactly 1,260 days (Daniel 9:27, 11:31, 12:11), marking day one of the Great Tribulation. Toward the end of the Tribulation period, the first wave of the Second Exodus will enter the land of Israel. [Footnote 1-20-18: If Jonathan Cahn is right about King Jehu being prototypical of Donald Trump, as explained in his new book “The Paradigm”, then we need to look and see what happens by the end of his presidency in January of 2021 (assuming it to be one term). And if the Jubilee really is in 2028 AD (as I contend, not Jonathan), ushering in the long awaited Messianic Age, then 2021 would be the first year of the final seven year long Shmita cycle (and the seven year long Great Tribulation period) beginning a new presidency that would quickly see America losing ground—literally: 2 Kings 10:31-33 But Jehu was not careful to 'follow' the Torah of Yehovah, the Elohim of Israel, with 'true resolve'. He didn’t turn from the sins of Jeroboam, who made Israel sin. 32 “So in those days Yehovah began to cut off portions of Israel. Hazael defeated the Israelites thruout the territory of Israel 33 from the Jordan River eastward, the entire land of Gilead, the Gadites, the Reubenites and the Manassites, from Aroer by the Arnon valley, to Gilead and Bashan. But I believe that after the next Jubilee, history will cease to repeat itself.] The Last Day of Tabernacles: The meaning of the Last (7th) Day of the Feast of Tabernacles could not have been understood until Yeshua explained it on the very occasion of the Last Day of the Feast (John 7:37-40). His discourse on that Feast Day solved the mystery of the significance of the day! This is the announcement of a new beginning. There is some duality here. Yeshua spoke of the kadosh spirit being given, yet is was “not yet given” to His Assembly—in fact none of the Assembly (“the Church”) was redeemed until the Pentecost after He died. In a similar way, when the announcement to the other nations of the world comes that Satan has been removed and that an Everlasting Kingdom has begun, the universal presence of the kadosh spirit will still “not yet” be extant. The survivors of the other nations must still be educated, often under duress: Zechariah 14:16 Then everyone who is left behind [survives] from all the nations that came against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship Yehovah the Commander and celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. The Eighth Day: The grand finale events of Biblical prophecy all occur during this amazing Jubilee year, the year following the seven year long event of Daniel 7:25 and Revelation 11:2-3—year 6000. This is the happily ever after part of the story, the “Year of Redemption”. Israel has finally begun to live Elohim’s way of life in earnest, and just in the nick of time. Now the survivors of “many nations” will want to come to Jerusalem and learn about our awesome Elohim. As this year closes (Hebrew months 8 thru 12 or 13), it brings us to the very threshold of the first millennium of the Everlasting Kingdom. This year is “the Great and Awesome Day of Yehovah”, the year when hundreds of millions of Israel’s enemies are eliminated. The Eighth Day culminates the 120th Jubilee year, ending the sixth millennium. People are unaware that this “awesome” Eighth Day, hidden quite well in the book of Leviticus, brings to a close the year of Judgment! It ends the “Time of Vengeance, a Year of Payback settling the dispute over Zion.” (Isaiah 34:8) Israel’s enemies are vanquished following the seven painful years that precede this time. Elohim’s truth is beginning to flow everywhere like living water following the preparatory events of this year. This is when the survivors of the twelve tribes of Israel will become the Messiah’s Bride. This is when Zion (Jerusalem) is liberated from the grasp of the King of the North, it will become the world’s Capitol city! The survivors of “many nations” will want to come there and learn about our awesome Elohim. In seven months, the world will have been conquered with five or six months left to prepare for the first New Moon of the seventh millennium. This is “The Time When Everything Is Completed”, as Acts 3:21 originally said. Almost every prophecy will be completed by the end of this eight year long period. The Mediator Set This Plan In Action In the course of time, Yeshua came on the scene and became the “Mediator” of the New Covenant. The mediation was accomplished by His death. He is no longer mediating, as many assume; that would require Him to die continually! Hebrews 9:15 This is why He became the Mediator of the New Covenant—so that by His death He could become the ransom payment for those who had sinned under the first covenant, so that those who are called to the eternal inheritance can receive the promise. Following His death, His promise of redemption spread beyond the people of Israel. He was no longer dealing directly with humanity on a national level. Today, and for the last nearly 2,000 years, Elohim has been dealing with humanity on an individual basis. Acts 10:34-37 Then Simon said, “The truth is, I now realize that YHVH doesn’t discriminate between people. 35 He accepts anyone who reverences Him and lives righteously from every nation. 36 This is the truth that He sent to the descendants of Israel, announcing to them peace and rest by Yeshua Messiah. He is everyone’s Master. 37 You are familiar with ‘what happened’ thruout Judea, beginning in Galilee, after the immersion that John heralded, Yet Elohim never abandoned His original intention for the people of Israel. Israel is still destined to be the example for the other nations, but she will have to learn some harsh lessons first—and there will be many “born again” (made into spirit) “teachers” there to sustain the advancement. For these 2,000, much of Elohim’s focus has been with “the Israel of Elohim (God)” (Galatians 6:15-16), which is not an ethnic nation but a spiritual one with many non Israelite members “grafted in” (Romans 11:13-21). However, Yeshua, and we His Disciples will not “taste” the fruition of His Passover commemoration until “that day” when the Kingdom of Elohim is set up “on earth as it is [now] in heaven”. Yet Elohim will greatly honor the New Covenant with survivors of Israel: Jeremiah 31:31-34 The time is coming,’ Yehovah says, “when I’ll make a New marriage Covenant with the House of Israel and the House of Judah. 32 It won’t be like the marriage Covenant that I made with their ancestors during the time when I took them by the hand led them out of the land of Egypt, since they broke My Covenant, tho I was their Husband,” says Yehovah. 33 “In this marriage Covenant that I’ll make with the House of Israe after those days,” Yehovah says, “I’ll put My Torah in the very seat of their thoughts and emotions, and I’ll write it into their minds [hearts]. I’ll be their Elohim, and they’ll be My people. 34 People will no longer teach their neighbors or their relatives, by asking, ‘Do you know Yehovah’ [the Lord], because they’ll all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” says Yehovah. “I’ll forgive their wickedness, and I’ll never again remember their sins.”. “Born again” “teachers” will keep Israel, and soon afterward the rest of the world, on track: Isaiah 30:19-21 The people of Zion, living in Jerusalem will no longer cry. He’ll surely be merciful to you at the sound of your cry. When He hears you, He’ll answer you. 20 Yehovah may give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction. But your teachers [yes, it’s plural] won’t be hidden any longer. You’ll see your teachers with your own eyes. 21 When you turn to the right or turn to the left, you’ll hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the direction. Walk this way.” A major assumption among every church (most of them are “exclusivist churches”) that I am aware of, that celebrates the seven annual Feast Days, is that they accept the idea that the Orthodox Jewish calendar should be used for determining when the Biblical Feast and Festival Days are to be observed. [2009 Note: It’s better now in the Pacific NW.] Totally ignored is the fact that these same Jews freely acknowledge that their ancestors greatly altered their method of determining when the Biblical Feast Days are to occur—under pressure from the Roman Government in the fourth century. (There is a small stir underway to reverse this within Israel’s Hebrew University.) This can be easily researched within the many volume Encyclopedia Judaica. Abandoned were the Scriptural standards of observing actual new moons to determine the first day of the month, and beginning new years in association with the barley harvests to avoid “calendar drift”. In addition to the in depth information on the Biblical Feast Days on this site, I believe that there is a hidden Festival message in the book of Hebrews explained in The Biblical Feast Days of Hebrews 6! I will only raise one point in this regard: the word translated as “seasons” in Genesis 1, of the more popular Bible translations, is quite misleading—and deliberately, I believe. That Hebrew word is “moed” which is used to signify a Feast Day. It literally means an “appointed place, appointed time or meeting”. Genesis 1:14 Elohim said, “There should be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, they should be for signs [of things to come], and Appointed Festivals [not seasons], days and years, Below the KJV got it wrong with both applications of “moed”. Leviticus 23:4 These are the feasts [Appointed times] of the LORD, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons [Appointed times]. “Feast” and “Festival” are not synonymous. There are seven annual Biblical appointed Days in a year, three of them are Feasts. The next verse actually uses the Hebrew term for “feast”. Exodus 23:14 Three times a year you will celebrate a Feast to honor Me. The Biblical Feast Days are a part of Elohim’s ancient plan. They didn’t just show up haphazardly at the time of the Exodus any more than Elohim’s other instructions: Genesis 26:5 because Abraham obeyed My voice, and obeyed My requirements, My Commandments, and My statutes, and My Torah instructions. When I learned that the Scriptural parameters are not remotely considered in the “new and improved” Jewish calendar, and that most of the Jewish and Christian sects do not even care—only offering lame excuses—I made the personal changes necessary to please Elohim. I had only assumed that the days that I was celebrating were acceptable with Elohim. This chapter examines a second assumption about Elohim’s Biblical Feast and Festival Days: Are the symbolic meanings of these days centered on the church)? All of the Christian annual Sabbath observing groups that I am aware of assume that the Feast and Festival Day symbolism is centered on “the church”. The more exclusivist groups naturally assume that these days solely concern their corporate bodies. In essence, the Biblical Feast Days have been both counterfeited and mystified! Even some of those still making a showing are “full of blood.” Isaiah 1:9, 14-15 Unless Yehovah the Commander had left us a few survivors, we would have become like Sodom, we would have been like Gomorrah. ... 14 My Word* hates YOUR New Moons and YOUR appointed feasts. They’ve become a burden to Me. I’m tired of enduring them. 15 When you spread out your hands in prayer, I’ll hide My eyes from you. Even if you offer many prayers, I won’t listen because your hands are covered with blood. Abraham’s Family Tree The Bible is a book about the family of Abraham. Genesis 49 is a prophecy describing the end time state of affairs of his family, as are the 144,000 of Revelation 7 & 14! Genesis 35:11 Elohim also told him, “I’m the Mighty Conqueror. Be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a ‘commonwealth’ of nations will come from you. Kings will be among your ‘descendants’! Genesis 49:1-4 Jacob called for his sons, and said, “Gather around so that I can tell you what you [your descendants] will encounter in the days to come. 2 Gather around and listen, sons of Jacob, listen to your father Israel. 3 Reuben, you are my firstborn, my strength, and the very first of my virility, preeminent in dignity and preeminent in power. 4 Unstable as water, you won’t remain preeminent... The chapter goes on to describe identifying characteristics of all twelve of his son’s tribes (now nations). Revelation 7:2-4 2 Then I saw another messenger coming up from the direction of the rising sun. He had the seal of the living Aloha, and he called out loudly to the four messengers who were allowed to harm the land and the sea, 3 He said, “Don’t harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we have sealed the foreheads of the servants of YHVH.” 4 Then I heard the number of those who were sealed: 144,000, sealed from every tribe of Israel: It’s the Twelve tribes of Israel! Virtually every prophecy between this first book of the Bible, and the last one, centers on the physical descendants of Israel. “The church” plays a much smaller part in Bible prophecy than it would have you imagine! Upon closer examination of the prophecies, it should be readily apparent that the prophecies have always centered on Israel, yet virtually every “authority” tries to force “the church” onto center stage, and thwart Elohim’s entire prophetic message! This is comparable to Jacob (who became Israel) stealing the birthright from his brother Esau, except that in this situation Israel is truly the firstborn, and Elohim won’t permit “the church” to take that role away from him! Hosea 9:10 “I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness. When I saw your ancestors, it was like seeing the first figs of the season. But they came to Baal Peor, and dedicated themselves to shamefulness. They became as detestable as their dearly loved idol. Firstfruits, like firstborn, simply signifies the first offspring of a living thing. Symbolically, it is usually Israel—not really “the church”. Exodus 4:22 Then you can tell Pharaoh, “This is what Yehovah said, Israel is My firstborn son, Jeremiah 31:9 They’ll come with tears of joy, praying as I bring them back. I’ll lead them beside streams of water in a straight path so they won’t stumble, because I’m a Father to Israel, and Ephraim is My firstborn. Note who is “firstborn” now! Even the firstborn status, in reference to national privileges, was prophesied to change over time! The illustrative or symbolic meanings of the Biblical Feast Days are transitional! This is a key point to understanding the prophetic significance of the events that they portray. They really are “a shadow of things to come”! A shadow is inherently connected to something very real. This figurative shadow of things to come is an outline or sketch of the fulfillment of Elohim’s purpose: “... and you will be My Kingdom of priests, and a kadosh nation’. These are the words that you will say to the descendants of Israel”. (Exodus 19:6) This shadow, to Paul, meant that the primary focal point of the Biblical Feast Days still pictured future events, rather than pointing backward to things about ancient Israel or even things concerning the Assemblies, that were relevant as he spoke! It NEVER says “only the FALL feast days are shadows of things to come”. Revelation 5:9-10 They sang a new hymn: “You deserve to take the small book and to open its seals, because You were slain and have purchased us for YHVH with Your own blood, out of every tribe and language and people and nation, 10 and You’ve made them kings and priests for YHVH, and they’ll rule as kings on the earth”. Certainly spiritual Israelites are enjoying Elohim’s blessings, at this very moment, as Paul was explaining to non Israelites in Romans 11, yet even as he was explaining that Israel had blown a great opportunity, he explained that there would be a spectacular recovery. Romans 11:25-27 Friends, so that you won’t be presumptuous, I want you to know of this hidden mystery—that a degree of spiritual blindness has overtaken Israel until the full complement of the nations comes in, 26 and then all Israel will be Rescued. ‘As the Scriptures declare’, “A deliverer will come from Zion and turn Jacob from sinfulness. 27 And THEN they will have My [NEW] COVENANT, after I have forgiven their sins.” Paul went on to explain, in the next verse, that Israel was presently an enemy of the Good News, but that these elect were destined to become “beloved”! Romans 11:28 Now in regard to the Good News, they are enemies as far ‘as you are concerned’, but in regard to selection for favor, they are loved for the sake of their ancestors. It is time to consider, in context, the “shadow verse”, because some shadowy commentary often accompanies this verse, perpetuated by enemies of the Good News. This verse, emphasizing the merit of the Biblical Feast Days, is usually twisted beyond recognition to conceal a very astonishing truth. Green’s Literal Version correctly uses the word “body” instead of the erroneous word “substance”. And while still adding the word “is”, supposedly for clarity, the parentheses he used do indicate that it is an added word. Colossians 2:16-19 So don’t allow anyone to pronounce judgments against you about eating and drinking, or about various aspects of the Feast days, new moons and Sabbaths 17 that foreshadow things in the future, except for the body of the Messiah. [6] 18 Don’t let anyone’s desire to degrade your mind subject you to bondage, so that you subject yourselves to the religious practices of “angels”, while they elaborate about gods that they haven’t really seen, being arrogantly inflated in their carnal thoughts, 19 rather than holding onto the Head, the One who frames and constructs the whole body with joints and ligaments, and grows as YHVH causes it to grow. [6] Virtually every version tampers with the simple text here that explains that only the true “body of the Messiah” has any business counseling you in regard to these Torah issues! Check an interlinear for the uncorrupted truth. The term “body”, in verse 17 above, is tampered with in many translations. Actually, the word often mistranslated, as “substance” in verse 17 is the same word as “body” in verse 19. Also, the word “is” is almost always wrongfully inserted. The meaning, so apt to be lost with this slight of hand, is that you should not let anyone judge you regarding the celebration of Elohim’s Biblical Feast Days except for your spiritual family—literally, “the Body of the Messiah”! Listen to their input. You may learn even more, but never accept mans opinions when they conflict with Elohim’s Word. Here is a perfect illustration of the fact that the Biblical Feast Days will represent different things to different people at different times. Even children will want to understand why they commemorate a “memorial” occasion. Here is a simple explanation that Elohim told Israel to tell their descendants before the first Passover commemoration even happened—it was meant to be a prophecy for their immediate future! Exodus 12:25-27 Then when you’ve come to the land that Yehovah gives you, just as He has promised, you’ll commemorate this service. 26 Then when your children ask you, “What does this ceremony mean to you?’ 27 then tell them, “It’s the Passover offering to Yehovah, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt, when He struck the Egyptians, and spared our houses.’ Then the people knelt down and worshiped. (Scripturally a “service” is accompanied by animal zebak—so if you have “church services”....) This is what the Passover meant to ancient Israel. It involved leaving the land of slavery and moving to the Promised Land. That’s why Jeremiah mentioned the second Exodus in Jeremiah 23:7-8 This is a “sea change” so to speak. No longer is the Red Sea Exodus a focal point for Israel. From this point onward the Second Exodus is the major benchmark in time. There is a statement that Yeshua is the “beginning and the end”, (Revelation 1:8). Could this be a statement that is portrayed within the Biblical Feast Days? He was killed from the “foundation of the world”; that would certainly be a beginning. There is no end of the Kingdom (Isaiah 9:7), so what “end” is spoken of? Might it refer to the end of this age? Matthew 24:3 As Yeshua sat on the Mount of Olives, His disciples approached, conversing among themselves and asked, “Tell us when will these things happen and what will be the sign of Your coming and of the end of the age [Gr. aion]. This important question prompted a very lengthy response from Yeshua. See The Actual Message of Matthew 24, borrowed from the israelofgod.org website (now sponsored by an agnostic)! wouldn’t the “shadow of things to come” have to refer to things to come before the end of the age? If so, then these things are left for the end time. Of course I think it’s likely that significant events within the coming Kingdom of Elohim will also occur on these memorial dates as well, but we have very few clues about the next age. The Passover was the event that separated ancient Israel from Egypt. Ancient Israel had no concept of a Savior who was to die for us. Once the firstborn of Egypt were slain on the night of the Passover, Pharaoh had finally become convinced that they could not endure another plague from Elohim. This event, which was immediately instituted as a “memorial”, initiates the first of seven Biblical Feast Days that ancient Israel was to celebrate annually, as listed in Leviticus 23. Exodus 12:14 This day will serve as a memorial. You must celebrate it as a Pilgrimage Feast to Yehovah as a Pilgrimage Feast, a perpetual ordinance. “Memorial”, in Hebrew as in English, literally means “a reminder or remembrance”, so to ancient Israel they looked backward to the meaning of this day. Humans memorialize their special occasions only after they have already happened, but Elohim can “remember” things that we have yet to experience. Elohim’s Biblical Feast Days are one of the most important things that He has instituted. Elohim has declared “the end” of this age from “ancient times”, thru many prophecies as well as the Biblical Feast Days that commemorate the high points. Those who commemorate the Biblical Feast Days are far more apt to be aware of Elohim’s ancient plan, that could even save their lives in years to come. Isaiah 46:9-10 Remember the events of antiquity, because I’m Elohim, and there is no other, I’m Elohim, and there’s no one like Me, 10 declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that haven’t been done yet. I say that My purposes will be established, and I’ll do the things I delight in. We know that the Biblical Feast Days have an ancient history; you may also know that they have had a relevance concerning the followers of Yeshua. As Paul said in 1 Corinthians 5:7-8 “keep the feast”. However, they also fulfill the “things to come” part to occur during this very generation. These seven “memorials” will we covered, one by one, shortly. The ancient twelve tribes of Israel perhaps never even considered that the Passover would eventually take on an entirely new meaning having virtually nothing to do with the death of the first born. It is common knowledge among the kadishea (saints) that Passover has dual meanings: separate symbolic significances for separate ages. Little considered tho is that there is still another fulfillment of Passover, as well as all of the other six Biblical Feast Days! The Biblical Feast Days represent things past, present, and future—alpha to omega. Nevertheless, there are events in the end time story of Israel that often represent the primary fulfillment of the days because our generation will witness the culmination of Elohim’s plan that has been in the works for untold millennia. This chapter is a summarized presentation of the “end time”, or “latter day” time line, as I presently understand it—“explained” within the framework of the Biblical Feast Days, that were mandatory for ancient Israel and are a privilege and duty for us today. One thing is certain; I’ll see some things differently in the future, like I did in 2006 when I realized after 24 years of doing Passover wrong, that I also needed to understand what I learned as I researched: Did Yeshua’s Supper Replace the Passover? And “Messiah our Passover”] Passover & Unleavened Bread It goes without saying that the Early Assembly witnessed the staggering events fulfilled in connection with the Yeshua’s Supper and Passover. This makes the previous Passover ceremony of the Exodus serve as a pattern for the next Passover fulfillment. Nevertheless, the event really was a continuation of a plan that will be exactly seven millennia in fulfillment. There is to be another great aspect of the Passover story that will incorporate the physical salvation aspects of the first Passover with the spiritual salvational aspects of Yeshua being our literal Passover Lamb. The next great Passover will involve the living Passover Lamb, our Redeemer, conquering and ruling the world! Revelation 13:8 Everyone who lives on earth, whose names are not [not ‘were not’] not written in the Book of Life of the Lamb who was slain from the foundation of the world will worship Him. Altho Judaism never expected for the “redeemer” to do the things that He did, and rejected Him, they were nevertheless aware that a redeemer would come because of “their” Scriptures: Job 19:25 As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives. And that in the end, He’ll stand on the earth. Psalm 78:35 They remembered that Elohim was their Rock, and that the Highest Elohim was their Redeemer. Isaiah 44:6 This is what Yehovah, the King of Israel [the Father], AND His Redeemer [the Son], Yehovah the Commander, says, “I am the first, and I am the last, and there is no Elohim besides Me. Yeshua, the “I AM”, our Redeemer, will soon give us a Kingdom, compensation to His faithful followers who obey the Commandments. Revelation 22:12-14 I’ll come quickly! My compensation is with Me, to pay everyone according to what they’ve done. 13 I’m the Aleph and the Tau, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. 14 Blessed are those who obey His Commandments, so they’ll have the right to the Tree of Life, and can enter thru the gates into the city. Contrary to popular thought, Passover is not a day; it is an event that precedes the Feast of Unleavened Bread. I refer to these events together, as is done in the following three passages. People often said “Passover” when they meant the Passover event AND the seven days of Unleavened Bread that followed. Mark 14:1 It was two days before the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The high priests and the Torah teachers were bent on finding a stratagem to arrest Him and kill Him. Luke 22:1 The Feast of Unleavened Bread that is called the Passover was approaching. Luke 22:7 The Day of Unleavened Bread arrived when it was necessary to offer the Passover lamb zebak. For anyone wanting to read about the Days of Unleavened Bread, Exodus 12 is the place to begin. The following correlation, unless I’m greatly mistaken, begins a story that is quite fascinating, disturbing and thrilling. This is the very beginning of the story of Israel’s Feasts. Exodus 12:14-17 This day will serve as a memorial. You must celebrate it as a Pilgrimage Feast to Yehovah as a Pilgrimage Feast, a perpetual ordinance. 15 ‘You’ll eat unleavened bread for seven days. On the first day [Preparation day] you’ll remove the leaven from your houses, because anyone who eats anything leavened from the first day until the seventh day will be ‘banished’ from Israel. 16 On the first day you must have a kadosh assembly, and on the seventh day another kadosh assembly. No work will be done on those days, other than making your meals. That’s all you can do. 17 You must celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread, because on this very day I brought you out of the land of Egypt like an army. So you’ll celebrate this day thruout your generations, by an ordinance forever. During the Second Exodus, after the shock and awe when Elohim has Israel in the wilderness, He will plead His case with her again! Ezekiel 20:34-38 I’ll bring you out of the nations and gather you out of the countries where you were scattered, with a mighty hand with an outstretched arm, and with wrath poured out. 35 I’ll bring you into the wilderness of the people [Isaiah 1, Hosea 2:14], and I’ll judge you there face to face, 36 just like when I judged your ancestors in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, that’s how I’ll judge you, declares the Sovereign Yehovah. 37 I’ll make you pass under the shepherd’s rod, and I’ll bind you in a [Kimchi] [New] Covenant, 38 and I’ll purge out the rebels from among you, and those who disobey Me. I’ll bring them out of the land where they were living, but they won’t enter the land of Israel. Then you’ll realize that I am Yehovah. The following reference highlights the fact that a memorial was already planned out in advance of the Exodus—or was the “same day” occurrence only coincidental? Exodus 12:40-42 Now the length of time that the Israelites lived in Egypt was 430 years. 41 Then at the end of the 430 years, to the very day, all of Yehovah’s people marched out of the land of Egypt like an army. 42 On tonight Yehovah kept watch, enabling them to leave the land of Egypt. So this same night is a night of watching to be observed by all of Israel to honor Yehovah, to be an annual vigil by all of Israel for the generations to come. This “night of solemn observance” or “night of watching”, is the Passover! It commemorated the Exodus. But the emphasis is about to change dramatically! So Again, Watch For The Next Exodus! Now for PART 2 Google Search only search Everlasting Kingdom   Minor update January 21, 2014   Lon Martin’s work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.