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Archive for the tag “Day of Atonement”

21 Sep 2017

Five More Minutes

A couple of weeks ago, I ran across a woman’s testimony on YouTube. She spoke of a message the Lord had given her about the time we’re in. She said she saw a clock with the hands set at five minutes before twelve. For the next few days/weeks, that time would come up over and over. Someone would ask her the time, and it would be five minutes before twelve. She said it happened more than once.

I think most of us agree that the last days are upon us, but are we in agreement we’re in the last hour? How about the last five minutes? We see severe events happening now with great frequency. I mean these are not just 100 year events, but 500 and 1,000 year events. Earthquakes have been happening throughout history, but not to the scale we are seeing them today. Flooding, yes these too have been happening throughout history. But the scale of things today is truly biblical. This should not surprise us though. Jesus told us these things would happen in greater intensity and greater frequency in the last days like birth pains (Matthew 24:8; Mark 13:8).

Unfortunately, things are going to get worse. I have not made up my mind about the timing of the rapture. I see there could be evidence of a pre-tribulation rapture because we aren’t children of wrath, but I also see that God has never taken Israel out early from their tribulation. Israel has had to endure everything to the bitter end before God rescued them. Usually it was because of their disobedience – they brought it upon themselves. Are we any better at this obedience to God thing? Is the church ready to meet Jesus?

I don’t know how long five minutes is to God. Scripture tells us a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years is like a day to God. Time is irrelevant in God’s view. His timepiece is totally different from ours. But if He showed this woman we are close to the end, then maybe we need to pay attention. Maybe it’s time for our hearts to be aligned with God and get on His timetable and His plan.

Last night began Rosh Hashanah, the Hebrew civil New Year. It is first day of the month of Tishrei and also the start of the Feast of Trumpets which is for approximately two days. The Feast of Trumpets is the first of the fall feasts that are considered one of the seven in which the people were to go to the temple to offer sacrifices to God. Jesus Christ has fulfilled the first four spring feasts – his death, burial, resurrection and sending the Holy Spirit all occurred on Jewish feast days. The last three are said to be fulfilled with His second coming and the rapture of the church. The Day of Atonement could be when Jesus sets up the 1,000 year reign on earth and the Feast of Tabernacles could be when we all dwell with Him for eternity.

The Feast of Trumpets could be the day of the rapture. Tradition says that the trumpet or shofar is blowing 99 times and then one long blast at the end. We are told the church would be taken when the last trumpet is blown (1 Corinthians 15:52). Sounds like a possibility. Rosh Hashanah also begins the “Days of Awe” which lead to the most holy day of Yom Kippur (The Day of Atonement).

From Jonathan Cahn’s book The Book of Mysteries, the days of awe are days of repentance. The “trumpet signals only ten days remain until Yom Kippur. Yom Kippur is linked to the sealing of one’s eternal destiny, as on the Day of Judgment. All ten days are considered holy. Observant Jews do everything they can to get right before God, to make things right with others, to forgive and be forgiven, to repent, to seal up loose ends and to right what was wrong.” All this has to be done before the eve of Yom Kippur (September 30th this year).

So what’s the takeaway for us in this time? We need to be ready. We don’t know the time or the hour of Jesus’ return – when that last trumpet will blast. There is an appointed time for the end. Until then, we’re going to have to go through some stuff. The ride is going to get rougher. Do not be afraid in this last hour. God takes care of His people no matter what. Trust the Lord knows what’s best. Keep looking up. Keep the heart open and receptive to the Lord. Be obedient to what you hear from the Lord. Love others even when they aren’t very loving toward you. They have a mess too and most of them don’t have the Lord to help them through it.

We have been warned time and again by signs and wonders. Everything in the Bible yet to be fulfilled will be fulfilled. Buckle up! It’s really going to happen just as the Bible said it would. Trust God to fulfill His plan in His way and let Him use you in the process. God can and will use you in these last five minutes.

But let me reveal to you a wonderful secret. We will not all die, but we will all be transformed! It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be transformed. For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies. 1 Corinthians 15:51-53 (NLT)

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24 Aug 2017
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Season of Preparation

For the last two years, I have been working with a natural, functional practitioner. She began her practice as a chiropractor, but her practice has evolved over the years. I am just fascinated at all she has learned over the years, and I am so encouraged by the way she helps others to better health. For the last thirteen year, I also have benefited from her practice. She is the one who diagnosed me with an autoimmune disease, and the one who pointed me to a healthier lifestyle that I still practice today. She has been instrumental in my healing journey.

Over the weekend, my sister asked me what I plan to do with the knowledge that I am learning from the doctor. I really don’t know what I am going to do with all that I learn. I just know this is preparation for something to come. It has to be since I want to benefit others by what I know. My doctor gave me a seed of knowledge that has grown into a full passion for the health and well-being of building up the body of Christ. I want the body of Christ to be healthy and whole. I can’t say that we are right now, but I hope that one day we will be a picture of true health. I want to be a part of that journey.

So the eclipse happened on Monday. I saw glimpses of the path of totality but my location only gave 93% totality. I started noticing the change in light about 1:45 pm. I noticed an eerie light and had to see what was going on. My colleague had a pair of glasses so I was able to actually see the moon crossing the sun. However, the 93% still gave enough light to drive out the darkness. Isn’t that amazing?

As the body of Christ, we can bring just a sliver of light to drive out the darkness around us. We’re actually supposed to be more than a sliver, but it really doesn’t take much to make a difference. Monday evening was also the beginning of the Jewish month of Elul. I don’t know much about the festivals of the Jewish calendar, but I have learned a few things over the last few years. The month of Elul is the last month of the Jewish year. This is considered the month of preparation before the Day of Atonement which happens forty days later.

As I listened to different speakers concerning this eclipse, I learned a couple of interesting facts about the time of Jonah. Before Jonah found his way to Nineveh, they had already experienced several signs of destruction. They had already experienced a couple of plagues and a civil disturbance. But most notably, they had experienced their own total eclipse that was just a couple of months before Jonah showed up preaching repentance.

If you remember the story, Jonah began to tell the people “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned.” The Word says that Nineveh believed God (Jonah 3:4-5). Everyone in that city humbled themselves – from the least to the greatest. The king made a decree for all people to fast and pray urgently for God to relent and have compassion on them. And God did. God saw they had repented and turned from their evil ways. God spared that generation from the destruction that would eventually come.

So this month of Elul, the month of preparation before the Day of Atonement (begins at sundown on September 29), the people of God repent of their sins and do what is necessary to become clean so they will be ready for that Day. It’s a season of calling out to God that He would forgive them and cleanse them. Maybe we as the Body of Christ should do this as well. Maybe we should be on our knees before God asking for forgiveness for ourselves and our nation. Maybe God would hear our prayers and would spare this generation from the destruction that will eventually come. Maybe judgment will be delayed if we humble ourselves before Him.

Maybe it starts with me. And you. We need to come into agreement as all of Nineveh did that we need forgiveness and plead with God to send the Holy Spirit flowing boldly through this land. We need Him desperately. He is the only One who can bring a revival to His Body that would change this nation. But it takes us getting on our knees – humbly – before Him. This is the season of preparation. Are you willing to prepare for that Day?

“This is the crisis we’re in: God-light streamed into the world, but men and women everywhere ran for the darkness. They went for the darkness because they were not really interested in pleasing God. Everyone who makes a practice of doing evil, addicted to denial and illusion, hates God-light and won’t come near it, fearing a painful exposure. But anyone working and living in truth and reality welcomes God-light so the work can be seen for the God-work it is.” John 3:19-21 (MSG)

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23 Sep 2015

The Day

This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. You may be familiar with this verse from Psalm 118. I think I have quoted it a thousand times. However, I never realized the significance of it until Beth Moore taught about the Passover meal one January at the Passion conference. In Matthew 26:30 we are told: When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. Wow! If you read Psalm 118 with the thoughts of Jesus leading His disciples through the last Passover He would observe on earth, it is eye-opening. Jesus fulfilled that Psalm on that Day. It was The Day that God chose for that hour when every sin would be wiped away. On The Day, every knee will bow before Him. Some will rejoice in it; others will mourn for they didn’t recognize Him as the Messiah who came to take away their sins.

God set certain days into His calendar which have great significance. He called every Sabbath holy. He set times of festivals for the coming together as His people to remember all He has done. Three of those festivals are significant and must be honored in Jerusalem. The men were supposed to make the trip to Jerusalem. I must say I know very little about these festivals. I didn’t really know much about these fall festivals until this year when the emphasis was on the Blood Moons falling on the festival days.

One day stands out among these fall festivals. The Day of Atonement. Today is the observance of the Day of Atonement. The significance is found in Leviticus 16. If you are like me, you might have breezed through Leviticus when reading through the Bible. There are just too many rules to follow about cleansing and such; do this not that type of thing in this particular book. However, God put Leviticus in the Bible for all of us to understand the depths of sacrifice which must be made for our relationship with Him. We can’t do it by ourselves. There must be atonement for our sins before we can approach His Holiness.

A sin offering must be made on the Day of Atonement. Aaron had to make himself clean before he went in to present the offerings before the Altar of the Lord. Aaron was to cast lots for two goats – one for the Lord and the other for the scapegoat (Lev 16:8). The Lord’s goat would be sacrificed as a sin offering. The goat chosen as a scapegoat would be brought to Aaron. He would then lay his hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the wickedness and rebellion of the Israelites – all their sins – and put them on the goat’s head. He shall send the goat away into the desert in the care of a man appointed for the task. The goat will carry on itself all their sins to a solitary place; and the man shall release it in the desert (Lev 16:21-22). Does this sound familiar to you?

God told Moses “this is to be a lasting ordinance for you. Because on this day atonement will be made for you, to cleanse you. Then before the Lord, you will be clean from all your sins. It is a Sabbath of rest, and you must deny yourselves; it is a lasting ordinance. (Lev 16:29-31) With Jesus, He fulfilled every detail of this Atonement. We no longer have to have a scapegoat with the sins of the people on its head. Our sins were nailed to the cross once and for all. However, there is significance in the observance of this Holy Day. God said – this is to be a lasting ordinance for you. Deny yourself – a day of rest. Fasting and prayer. A holy day.

There must be significance in this Day. It is God’s holy day. It is the Day the Lord has made; we must rejoice and be glad in it! We celebrate Jesus’ birth and we observe His death at special times, but do we deny ourselves anything on those days? Do we set them aside as holy days? This is the one that God calls us to be set aside; to remember all He has done for us. He has taken away all our sins so that we can have a relationship with Him through Jesus. This is the Day the Lord has made – Rejoice! Be glad for all He has done! Take the time today to remember and honor Him in some way. Fast. Pray. Whatever the Holy Spirit leads you to do today. Do it in the Name of the Lord Jesus – our scapegoat, our perfect Lamb sacrificed for your sins.

The Lord is God, and he has made his light shine upon us. With boughs in hand, join in the festal procession up to the horns of the altar. You are my God, and I will give you thanks; you are my God, and I will exalt you. Give thanks to the Lord, for his is good; his love endures forever. Psalm 118:27-29

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