scales

I want to share this discussion as an insert between the part 4 and 5 of the Synchronized Dance of the Issachar Company because the understanding is essential to what is included in part 5. There is a lot of steak here. Cut it into small bites and chew slowly, and may the Lord give understanding and further revelation light!

When David brought the ark back to Jerusalem, for some time it was housed in a tent or tabernacle at the threshing floor of Ornan. During this time, the ark was visible to all who came to worship and there were no veil or walls of separation keeping worshipers out of the presence of God in their midst. Then, when Solomon took the throne, he began to build the temple of the Lord, using all the patterns God had supplied and the materials his father had gathered. In this blueprint, distinct areas of functioning were designated and only the high priest could enter the Holy of Holies once a year, on Yom Kippur, to put the blood on the mercy seat. I want to take this distinction and use it to bring understanding of the spiritual season we are entering.  When King Solomon's temple had been built, everyone gathered together:

 

1Ki 8:2  All the men of Israel assembled themselves before King Solomon at the feast in the seventh month, Ethanim.

 

Ethanim is another name of the month Tishrei and means 'perpetually flowing stream'. Jesus said that when we are filled with the Spirit, rivers of living water would flow from our innermost being – that sounds like perpetually flowing streams to me; not annual rivers that dry up in the dry season, but streams which are fed by a spring which never runs dry. Of course, one needs to be perpetually and constantly filled with the Spirit in order to provide a constant source of life, in season and out of season. In the month of Tishrei, or Ethanim as it is called here, only the perennial streams are still flowing. Every other water source has run dry because the rainy season has not come yet. So one can only access living water in certain places. The only source of living water in Jerusalem is known to be the Gihon Spring, which provided water for the purification rituals and the temple sacrifices.

 

Stay with me here – the fall feasts (Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and Tabernacles) have not yet been prophetically fulfilled in the Church residing on earth yet. They all fall in the month of Tishrei or Ethanim, the 7th month of the year (Aviv or Nisan being the 1st month). When these feasts are fulfilled in the earth, only those vessels who are connected to a perpetually flowing source of living, or running water, will have a supply. All other sources of spiritual water will have dried up. This is a prophetic picture of the prevailing spiritual season in the earth when the Fall Feasts are fulfilled. Jesus, the Word of God made flesh, has been liked to both bread of Heaven and a source of living water. The Word of God says that in the latter days, a famine of the Word is coming. It is a famine or drought of the true revelation of the real Jesus.

 

Oh yes, there are countless streams carrying a mixed message, presenting another Jesus and peddling a worldly pseudo-gospel, and at this time the saints have been running to and fro, during the beginning of the shakings, searching for a drop of living water to quench their thirst. They run from conference to conference, hoping to hear from the throne but the majority of the time, they encounter empty vessels making a lot of noise and putting on a soulish show. Like the prophets of Jezebel and Baal who pranced around for a whole watch of the day, none of the results they profess (baptism of fire falling from heaven) actually manifest. Those who operate in a spirit other than the Holy Spirit have held the attention of the people of God for some time, while the drought in the land prevails. But when the prophetic fulfillment of the Fall Feasts begins, these impure annual streams will have run dry and their sound will be silenced; proved false by the lack of manifestation of their vast claims. And those carrying the Spirit of Elijah will then begin to instruct the people.

 

Amo 8:11  Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord God, when I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but [a famine] for hearing the words of the Lord. Amo 8:12  And [the people] shall wander from sea to sea and from the north even to the east; they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord [inquiring for and requiring it as one requires food], but shall not find it.

 

In other words, during the spiritual Ethanim season, there will be few vessels in the earth who still have genuine living water to quench the spiritual thirst of people. They will be the wise who shine like stars, leading many to righteousness; the golden vessels who still carry within them the bread that came down from Heaven. Many foolish virgin ministries will be discovered to have no oil left when the Bridegroom comes and takes the wise into the safety of the Bridal Chamber for a season. They have been weighed in the balances and found wanting.

 

Ancient Parallels with Pictures

To truly understand the prophetic fulfillment of the Fall Feasts, one has to have an understanding of the ancient Jewish wedding practices. For those who have not heard these facts, I am going to share them, (and for others, it is good to be reminded at this juncture, when we are seeking understanding of the times). The betrothed woman would make herself ready, not knowing when the bridegroom would come to fetch her. Meanwhile he would be building a chamber in his father's house for his bride and himself to reside in after the wedding. When his father determined that the chamber was suitably prepared, he would tell the bridegroom to go and fetch his bride. So the bridegroom and the groomsmen would go through the streets, usually in the night hours round midnight, and blow shofars and shout, "Behold the bridegroom comes!" The bride would awaken if she had dozed off, trim her lamp and place it in the window to show she was ready and she and her bridesmaids would then be whisked off by the bridegroom company to a private night-time banquet in the chamber prepared. Then in the morning watch, she and her bridesmaids would go and complete the bridal mikvah or ceremonial cleansing, before dressing in her bridal gown and going to the public wedding ceremony where the invited guests were present as witnesses.

 

Rosh Hashanah, 1st/2nd Ethanim/Toshrei, is called the Feast of Trumpets (shofars), the Crowning of the King and other names. When Solomon appeared being carried in his palanquin in Song of Songs 3:11, there was a call to come and behold the crown with which he had been crowned on the day of his gladness of heart. This is a reference to his wedding day and his bride being his crown. Proverbs 12:4 tells us a virtuous woman (Hebrew 'Ishah' i.e. wife) is the crown of her husband. It is my understanding that the prophetic fulfillment of this first of the Fall Feasts, Rosh Hashanah, is the spiritual season when the Bridegroom comes to fetch His holy prepared Bride and her bridesmaids to bring them into the safety of the chamber He has prepared, and they remain dwelling in His presence for the rest of the night. They feast in the Bridegroom's presence during the darkest part of the night, the 3 hours of the 3rd watch of the night when the powers of darkness are operating at a feverish pitch.

 

This watch is a parallel to the 3&1/2 years during which the woman is fed and kept safe during the flood of the dragon in Rev 12. The last 1/2 year/hour occurs in the morning watch during astronomical twilight, which looks just as dark as the deepest night to the untrained eye. Remember also the pattern given in the book of Ruth. During the 3rd watch of the night, Ruth was receiving an outpouring of barley into her mantle and was then instructed to leave the threshing floor before 'one could recognize another', in other words during the early part of the morning watch. The fullness of the wedding ceremony would take place during the daylight hours of the same 24 hour day, when Boaz, the Kinsman Redeemer did the transaction in the gates of the city.

 

One can also see the 3&1/2 year pattern using the watches of the night. There are 4 night watches; 3&1/2 of these contain darkness, before the Sun of Righteousness rises with healing in His wings during the morning watch. Psalm 19 also likens the rising of the sun to a Bridegroom coming out of his chamber to run his course through the heavens. In a natural dawn, there is increasing light in the earth before the sun actually makes its appearance over the horizon. In the same way, the Bridegroom, our Sun of Righteousness will not be seen by all in the earth until the daylight hours of the Day of the Lord arrive.

 

Between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are the Days of Awe. They are believed to be the last 10 days men have to make their lives right with God, to repent and return. The first 30 days for repentance and return fall during the month of Elul, the 6th month of the Hebrew calendar. Those who wholeheartedly realign and make right between God and man are noted and recorded by the heavenly scribes on Rosh Hashanah, which is also called the Day of Judgement or the Day of Remembrance. Those remaining have a last period of grace before Yom Kippur when the final measurements and determinations over each life are recorded.

 

Now we who have accepted the sacrifice of Jesus for our sins and who live lives holy to the Lord, know that any day or hour is the time for repentance and transference from kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of the Son, but God laid out the Feasts of the Lord in order to display the prophetic patterns and timing of Heaven and the Fall Feasts are the ones displaying what unfolds in the endtime tribulation. The Days of Awe are days for the people of God to finally realign and cleanse their compromised lifestyles, because judgement begins with the household of God.

 

Remember in Rev 11:1, John is told to measure the altar and those who worship there. This depicts the first measuring and weighing of lives that takes place at Rosh Hashanah. The ready and watching holy bondservants are marked, sealed and brought to a private banquet with the Bridegroom. Their time here is depicted in psalm 91. Then the time of threshing or trampling is released for those in the outer court and the rest of the city and many saints will come to repentance during this time. This is a time of return of the backslidden from the valley of decision, through the 'shining' of the wise.

 

Joe 3:14  Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. Joe 3:15  The sun and the moon are darkened and the stars withdraw their shining. Joe 3:16  The Lord will thunder and roar from Zion and utter His voice from Jerusalem, and the heavens and the earth shall shake; but the Lord will be a refuge for His people and a stronghold to the children of Israel.

 

Yom Kippur is also known as Face to Face or Day of Atonement and is believed to be the day the judgements over lives are finally sealed. So the ten Days of Awe are a period when there is a possibility of reversing the judgements written through heartfelt repentance. This is why the Jews greet each other on Rosh Hashanah, saying, "May you be inscribed for a good year". Ten is the number of trial and testing, so the Days of Awe parallel the time of trial that comes upon the whole earth when many shall purify themselves and make right with God. It is the time of multitudes being in the valley of decision, the time of tribulation. When this prophetic 'ten days' is unfolding, those who have been taken into the chamber prepared are safe and fed, protected and escaping the things unfolding on the earth. They will also be carrying out missions during which the angels will be guarding their steps. They will tread upon serpents and scorpions and do exploits because they know their God.

 

In a sense, the prophetic timetable between the fulfillment of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur brings about a cleansing and sifting of those who name themselves by the Name of the Lord, so that by the end of Yom Kippur, one will be able to clearly identify the true servants of God – just as in the showdown between the prophets of Baal and Elijah. The false is sifted out and the true remains standing. See the end of Malachi 3 and the whole of Malachi 4. A distinction is made between those who fear the Lord and are displayed as His jewels and the wicked, who are judged by fire and left without root or branch. In other words, those ministries bear no more fruit. Ever. And as Malachi 4:1 says, you will clearly be able to see who really is a servant of God and who was masquerading as one.

 

John the Baptist was Jesus' groomsman and he carried the spirit of Elijah. His ministry was essentially, "Behold, the Bridegroom comes!" When there was no rain for 3&1/2 years, Elijah was sent only to a certain widow and dwelt with her, causing a time of miraculous provision, while elsewhere there was famine and drought. In this woman's house fresh bread was being baked.

 

Luk 4:25  But in truth I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were closed up for three years and six months, so that there came a great famine over all the land;

Luk 4:26  And yet Elijah was not sent to a single one of them, but only to Zarephath in the country of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.

 

Why this widow? Zarephath means 'refinement' and comes from a root word meaning 'to purge, goldsmith, refine'. Sidon means 'to catch fish, figuratively to catch men'. So we see the spirit of Elijah providing a miraculous perennial stream of oil and endless flour for the vessels of gold; the ones who have undergone refinement and are found to be vessels of honor, fit for the Master's use. These ones provide the Bread of Heaven, the revelation of Christ, when all other bakeries are closed. This woman's house could supply nourishment in a time of the famine of the Word.

 

Do you remember I spoke of the trail of manna ending at the veil in the Holy Place, where the altar of incense stood? And I shared that the Lord said that the time of the easy daily gathering of scattered manna would be ending. I also mentioned that out of all the incense crushed for use on the altar of incense, only two handfuls made it into the Holy of Holies where the ark of His presence stood. I spoke of the threshold between the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies and how a sifting amongst the company in the Holy Place was about to take place. Sifting always involves shaking and tossing as does the process of separating the grains of wheat from the chaff. All in all, an uncomfortable time is depicted by the word 'sifting'. Measurement and weighing is also a part of this process as grains of incense which are larger remain in the sieve and the smaller, more finely crushed particles pass through. Separation of grain from grain or judgment between sheep and sheep is also a part of this process. So to sum it up, this threshold season contains shaking, measurement and separation. Sounds to me like the scene described in Revelation 11:1 where the measuring of the altar and those who worship there was carried out and the outer court was separated from the rest of the temple as both it and the holy city had been assigned the season of trampling.

 

The city of Jerusalem represents the Church of God, as does the temple, because we are His city and His temple. Judgement begins at the House of God always and we see this sifting, separation unto protection or judgment also occurring in Ezekiel 9:4-6 – according to the state of the heart. And the destroying angel is told to begin at the sanctuary (the edge of the Holy Place), just as it does in Rev 11:1!

 

Isa 3:10  Say to the righteous that it shall be well with them, for they shall eat the fruit of their deeds. Isa 3:11  Woe to the wicked! It shall be ill with them, for what their hands have done shall be done to them.

 

Ezekiel 8 contains a description of God showing the prophet exactly why the judgement must come. There is vile idolatry and great abominations occurring in the temple. The date when God shows Ezekiel these things is: the sixth year, in the sixth month, on the 5th day. So 6/6/5... In other words, just before 6/6/6, God reveals why the events of the next day (666) are allowed. Remember the 6th month is the month of repentance and return, before the 7th month when the Fall Feasts occur. This is the month the measuring of lives begins. I believe the message here is that the reason the man of sin, the number of whose name is described as 666, is allowed to have a measured time of  trampling the saints is that a cleansing judgement is appointed. During the slaughter of Ezekiel 9, the prophet cries out and asks if God is going to destroy the remnant too. The remnant are those who have seen sealed because they have been distraught at the abominations conducted in the holy city. They feel the way God feels. They are the same ones mentioned in the Book of Revelation who are described as bondservants sealed before judgements are unleashed (Rev 7:3, 9:4). The locusts from the pit are forbidden to harm them.

 

Separating Between Priest and Priest

The measurement, sorting, separating unto the judgement written occurs both for the holy city and in the holy temple. We see the measuring and separation occurring in Ezekiel 44 when God speaks His judgments as He separates the priests that have been unfaithful from the faithful Zadok priesthood. While other priests went into idolatry and brought the unclean and foreigners into the Holy Place, the Zadok priests remained faithful to God. The unfaithful priests are then relegated work in the outer court of the temple which God showed Ezekiel, but those found faithful would be allowed to come near to God and minister to Him. They would also be given the responsibility of judging matters and teaching the people the difference between the clean and the unclean, because in the previous season, this distinction had not been made and people had become used to mixture.

 

I believe the faithful Melchizedek priesthood will be involved in building up of this spiritual temple and ministering true bread and the wine of the Word. Jesus, our great High Priest after the order of Melchizedek, went once for all into the Holy of Holies and poured His own Blood upon the mercy seat of the pattern ark in Heaven. Now those who are vessels of honor, part of a company of endtime Melchizedek Priests will bring forth bread and wine from the Oracle, the Speaking Place, also known as the Holy of Holies; from the place of dwelling Face to Face. They will walk in the endowment of the seven Spirits of God (on one stone will be seven eyes) and operate as sons of the right hand, bringing the heavy latter rain of the Word that brings the harvest to completion. They are the sons of oil, who minister with a continual flow of golden oil during the 3&1/2 year period.

 

Hosea 6 is a pivotal scripture for this threshold season, the season approaching the fulfillment of the Fall Feasts. It is a time of rending hearts rather than garments, a time of repenting and return. The tearing and the striking is for the redemptive purpose of healing and binding up. God knows there is deep infection under the surface and only lancing and laying open to wash out the poison will trigger healing.

 

Hos 6:1  COME AND let us return to the Lord, for He has torn so that He may heal us; He has stricken so that He may bind us up.Hos 6:2  After two days He will revive us; on the third day He will raise us up that we may live before Him. Hos 6:3  Yes, let us know Him; let us be zealous to know the Lord. His going forth is prepared and certain as the dawn, and He will come to us as the [heavy] rain, as the latter rain that waters the earth.

 

God is coming to deal with His covenant-breakers, with harlotry and idolatry and defilement in His temple:

Hos 6:4  O Ephraim, what shall I do with you? [says the Lord] O Judah, what shall I do with you? For your [wavering] love and kindness are like the night mist or like the dew that goes early away. Hos 6:5  Therefore have I hewn down and smitten them by means of the prophets; I have slain them by the words of My mouth; My judgments [pronounced upon them by you prophets] are like the light that goes forth. Hos 6:6  For I desire and delight in dutiful steadfast love and goodness, not sacrifice, and the knowledge of and acquaintance with God more than burnt offerings....

Hos 6:10  I have seen a horrible thing in the house of Israel! There harlotry and idolatry are found in Ephraim; Israel is defiled. Hos 6:11  Also, O Judah, there is a harvest [of divine judgment] appointed for you; when I would return My people from their captivity [in which they are slaves to the misery brought on by their own sins]

Selah

 

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