OF TIMES AND SEASONS

OF TIMES AND SEASONS

                In the year 2010, the prophet Neville Johnson had an interactive vision. IN it the Lord came to him carrying an ornate chest. He proceeded to take out an old fashioned sextant. Neville watched as the Lord took a bearing on the horizon and then another bearing on a star, which Neville recognized to be the morning star Venus.

                Neville’s attention was drawn to the sextant and noticed that the arc of the sextant had 14 segments on it. Then the Lord turned to him and said, “There are 14 more years during which the morning star will shine brighter so that in the evening time it will be bright.”

                That vision was 7 years ago in 2010 and we are now approaching the beginning of the last 7 years, the evening when the Morning star will shine bright.               It is very interesting in light of that vision, that in 2015 on September 23 over Israel on Yom Kippur, the Bethlehem star showed up again after 2000 years.

                Now, exactly 2 years later on 23^rd of September 2017, we have the Revelation 12 sign for the birthing of the man child. We may wonder what the meaning of the 2 year gap means, but if we will remember, the Bethlehem Star began shining 2 years before the birth of Christ giving the wise men 2 years to travel and to follow the star and to find the child at the time of His birth.

                These parallels are mysterious and wonderful and we find ourselves wondering at their exact meaning. It will have been exactly 2 years on September 23^rd when the sign in the heavens is declaring that the man child will be born. What are we to make of all of these “Coincidences?” Is the catching away of the man child in Revelation representative of the rapture of the church? Is the woman who gave birth to the man child Israel?

                 In this context we must remember that while we did not replace Israel, we did become a part of Israel. By faith we are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to promise. In Yeshua, believing Israel and Believing Gentiles Christians are one family. So the woman could also represent both Jew and Gentile Christians as they give birth to a remnant Bride.            

                Sadly, much of the church is not being prepared for these events that will now come in a matter of weeks. They ignore the fact that the body of Christ must attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ and that we must grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ.” See Ephesians 4:11-16.

                The head, Jesus, was caught up before Pentecost so that He could send us His Spirit so that we could follow in His footsteps and do His works and partake of His character. We are to be transformed into His image. Then in the fullness of time we too will be born, or caught up to be with the Head, (Yeshua.)

                The popular Gospel being preached in many circles today talks about the material blessings and the perks  of salvation, but say very little if anything about partaking of the divine nature of Christ through His Word, or about escaping the corruption that is in the world through lust. 2Peter 1:4 or that His power has granted us everything pertaining to life and godliness. In other words God has equipped us to become like Yeshua, but we are asking Him for material things that will soon pass away.

                I take this upcoming Revelation 12 sign very seriously because it is tied to many other signs and appointed times than most people know.

                The blood moons were given to us in 2014-15 to warn the church to get back on God’s calendar. He wants us to know and understand the times and seasons of which we don’t have a clue as long as we stay on pagan calendar. And it’s more than just observing Jewish feast days. It is a wealth of understanding of our times and seasons… critical events that are passing the church by right now because they are still more pagan than Judeo/Christian.

                This is why God has raised up the Messianic movement in these critical last days. It is why he has raised up Messianic prophets like Mark Biltz and Jonathan Cahn and many others. He has propelled them into the limelight with messages to wake up the church and the world. Most of the church has taken one look and fallen back to sleep. They are in no way ready for what is now upon us.

                Persecution and martyrdom are coming along with a prophetic anointing and outpouring of the Holy Spirit in unprecedented measure upon those who are ready.

                Will there be a rapture on the 23^rd? It is possible, but it will not be the whole church by any means. Only the wise virgins will go into the marriage feast. They have the oil. They are prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

                As I mentioned before, the church is made up right now of both wise and foolish virgins, of wheat and tares, of sheep and goats. The events of the first half of the tribulation are geared to bring about a separation of these factions as well as to bring in a great harvest of souls hungry to know and to understand and to be saved. Many in the church will fall away when testing comes because, unlike the Philadelphians, they have not perfected love and holiness in the fear of the Lord, they have not denied themselves and taken up their cross and followed Jesus,. They have not kept His Word. They have not made their garments white and spotless. They have not overcome by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony. They have only done their own thing and then splashed on a little perfume on Sunday morning.

                God has given us this time of repentance beginning with the solar eclipse and ending on Yom Kippur, (Day of Atonement)    and after that, we will see the beginning of the final 7 years. The judgments of God are already falling in terms of storms and floods and raging fires. Our own skies here in Vancouver are full of smoke and ash, falling like tiny snowflakes.  Our forests are ablaze with uncontrolled fires because of drought. Houston is reeling and the east coast is bracing for what may be yet another unprecedented storm. Everywhere you look in the world, people are already experiencing unprecedented floods, hurricanes, volcanoes, earthquakes, fires, violence and terrorism, upheaval and unrest. Millions of birds, fish and animals, both wild and domestic are dying.

                We are even in the midst of a huge band of space debris whizzing by us on every side, thus letting us know that as Revelation has told us, there will be deep impacts in the days ahead. According to Revelation 12, Satan is about to be cast down to the earth, his wings clipped with no further access to either the 3^rd or the 2^nd heavens and he will come down in rage, seeking whom he may devour. He will pursue the remnant people of God both Jews and Gentile Christians who keep the commandments of God and who bear the testimony of Jesus.

                These things, people and events are so intertwined that it is impossible to sort it all out in an exact way. Let us suffice to say that it will all come to pass exactly as the bible tells us it will. All of the pieces will fit together perfectly and the fall feast days will be fulfilled exactly according to the exact day and hour just as Yeshua fulfilled the Spring Feasts at His 1^st coming.

                In all honestly we bring up these fulfillments of prophecy and the amazing things going on in the world for but one reason. That is that we may prepare a people to meet the Lord and to be ready for whatever may come between now and then. What we have not done in terms of preparation we will soon pay for in tribulation and persecution.

                There were three harvests mentioned in connection with the feast days in Israel. The first harvest was of Barley. It was waved before the Lord as the first fruits of the harvest. Interestingly enough, Barley is easily separated from its chaff by shaking and waving in the breeze. The wind blows the chaff away. Likewise, those who have been submitting to the discipline and judgments of the Lord during times of ease may only need a little shaking and the wind of the Holy Spirit to finish God’s work in them and to present them to God as wise virgins at the marriage supper of the Lamb.

                The second harvest was a harvest of wheat. This represents the general population of the church. They have clung to the flesh. Their harvesting is more violent as they need to be threshed to separate the wheat from the chaff. They will be saved and taken into the barns of the Lord, but they will have to go through fierce persecution and tribulation to separate them from the chaff in their lives.

                There was a third group represented by the grape harvest. In Revelation 14 the grapes are seen as being harvested and cast into the winepress of God’s wrath. These too may actually be saved although they will have to endure the wrath of God and to be beheaded for their faith. These are included in the group of harvests called the first resurrection and they are seen in Revelation 4 as coming alive and reigning with Christ on earth for 1000 years. They are not said to have been caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, but only to come to life on earth and to reign with Christ for 1000 years.

                This third (grape class) may be represented by a man that Paul talked about in 1 Cor. 5:5. The man had refused to repent of his sins and yet he was a Christian, he was saved, but not perhaps in the way we would choose to be saved, for Paul said, “I have decided to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.” That is to say that he may never receive a resurrection body but would be in heaven as a spirit only. And while that is better than being in hell, he would never receive the reward of an immortal and glorified body in which to enjoy the powers and pleasures of the age to come.

                We can only go so far with these things, but I can’t help but wonder if there isn’t something to these different levels of salvation that correspond to people’s willingness or unwillingness to separate from the lusts of the flesh and to submit to the full redemptive work of Christ in their lives.

                The bottom line is that Jesus has provided everything we need to overwhelmingly conquer through Jesus Christ our Lord. He has given us His covenants, His Holy Spirit, His precious promises by which we may partake of the divine nature. If we are willing to die with Him, then He will raise us up by the power of His resurrection to live in victory and power.

                There is also some speculation that as with Jacob’s ladder, those who are caught up in the first resurrection will be able to go back and forth between heaven and earth to help those who are struggling to make it through their time of testing. What a thrill that would be.

                We have been told things in the Bible that go far beyond our ability to comprehend at this time and so I will leave us with one such text found in Ephesian 3.

                “…that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth and to know the love of Christ which surpasses all knowledge, that you may be FILLED UP TO ALL THE FULNESS OF GOD. Now to Him who is able to EXCEEDING ABUNDANTLY BEYOND ALL THAT WE ASK OR THINK, according to the power that works WITHIN US, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.”

                Friends, we need to leave everything else behind and press in. We need to contend for these things not only in terms of power, but in terms of qualification, for Yeshua has promised that what He has started in us He will finish.  This is not just some power and glory trip we are on. I can think of a lot of people I dearly love that I can’t seem to wake up. But given the right circumstances in the world, coupled with the power of the Holy Spirit as poured out in Tabernacles power, we may be able to rescue some of these loved ones for the kingdom.

                Do you have kids you want saved? Pray for the power. Do you have friends and loved ones whom you just can’t seem to reach? Pray for the overcoming and 7 fold anointing power so that when the whole world goes to hell in a hand basket, some of these people, now ready for answers, will see Yeshua in you and be saved.