Jan 26, 2007

Paul says in Romans 8:19 that "the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing [unveiling, or manifestation] of the sons of God."

This presents us with quite a different picture than is normally taught in many Christian circles. Some teach that the manifestation of the sons of God will be accompanied by horrible plagues on the earth, ending with a great conflagration that will burn it up completely. I can hardly imagine creation eagerly anticipating such a thing. No, this is the great Hope of Creation.

Creation eagerly awaits this event, because it stands to benefit from it. The "fire" that is coming is the baptism of fire, the Holy Spirit baptism, which I recommend for every Christian believer. At the time of the First Resurrection, when the overcomer Sons of God are manifested, it will begin the time of the Restoration of All Things. All of creation wants to be restored, but most do not know the way to restoration. Religion is man's attempt to be restored to God.

The manifestation of the sons of God is only the beginning of the final outworking of the divine plan for the earth. That divine plan was set at the beginning. Much of the Church has no vision of this, thinking that when the second coming of Christ occurs, virtually everything will come to an end. They do not realize that Christ's second coming is only a new beginning, one where the first-fruits will be manifested.

In the law of first-fruits, once the first-fruits are offered to God, then the real harvest can begin. This is revealed in Lev. 23:10-14,

" (10) When you enter the land which I am going to give to you and reap its harvest, then you shall bring in the sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest . . . (14) Until this same day, until you have brought in the offering of your God, you shall eat neither bread nor roasted grain nor new growth."

The overcomers are the first-fruits of the harvest to come. The manifestation of the sons of God represents the time when the first-fruits are offered to God--or are presented to God as Sons. They are inspected and found to be "eared out," or ripe for harvest. Once God has been presented the first-fruits, then it is lawful for the others to begin harvesting their crop.

In Romans 11:16, Paul speaks of the law of first-fruits in this way:

"And if the first piece of dough be holy, the lump is also; and if the root be holy, the branches are, too."

And so, when God inspects the cross-section (or portion) of the harvest at the presentation of the first-fruits, and when He finds it "holy," then the rest of the field is proclaimed ready for harvest. Only then is the entire field acceptable to Him. This is why the manifestation of the sons of God marks the beginning of a much greater harvest of souls for the Kingdom of God. It is not bad news; it is good news for creation.

The Wave-Sheaf Offering

The First Resurrection at the second coming of Christ is the time of the first of the first-fruits being presented to God. It is the first corporate presentation of the sons of God, which is symbolized by barley--the first-fruits offering that is presented to God on the first Sunday after Passover. The Church calls it by its Babylonian name, "Easter," named for the goddess Ishtar. The Bible calls it the wave-sheaf offering. But regardless of what we call it, it is what it is.

The wave-sheaf of barley also marks the time of the "counting of the omer." The people used to count barley grains each day for 50 days until Shavuot, "Pentecost." The omer itself was a measure of grain and has particular prophetic significance as a transition from Passover to Pentecost.

Omer is spelled with three Hebrew letters: ayin, mem, and resh. It means a "heap," and is usually translated "sheaf." But if we break the word down into its component letters, we see that each letter is also a distinct Hebrew word.

Ayin means "an eye," and indicates seeing, acknowledging, or watching.

Mem means "water."

Resh means "head," often in the sense of a leader.

Putting together these concepts, the omer literally refers to "watching for water on the head." In other words, the counting of the omer between Christ's resurrection and the day of Pentecost signified preparing and being WATCHFUL for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

Of course, the vast majority of the people did this as a ritual without understanding its true significance.

The Order of Events Coming

If you have followed the web logs from the beginning, and read the Foundation For Intercession bulletins, you will recall the basic order of events prophesied by the feast days:

1. Feast of Trumpets: The resurrection of the overcomers (i.e., "leaders of the people") occurs at the blowing of a single trumpet (Num. 10:4; 1 Cor. 15:52; 1 Thess. 4:16).

2. Day of Atonement/Jubilee: The Church repents in panic and fear for seeming to have missed "the rapture" as they have been taught. The Church fulfills the Day of Atonement (mourning); the overcomers fulfill the Jubilee (rejoicing).

3.  The First day of Tabernacles: The overcomers are given immortality, joining with the resurrected overcomers from past ages who were raised two weeks earlier at Trumpets. This represents the New Birth of the corporate New Man.

4. The Middle of Tabernacles: Christ comes to join the Head with the Body of overcomers, in order to make this corporate body complete and eligible to be presented to the Father. This pattern of Christ's coming in the midst of the feast is found in John 7:14.

5. The Eighth Day of Tabernacles: The completed and perfected body of overcomers (sons of God) are presented to God on the eighth day according to the law (Ex. 22:29, 30).

This corporate New Man (Head and Body joined) is also the Melchizedek Priesthood that will "reign with Him for a thousand years" (Rev. 20:6). The pattern of their manifestation to the world is found in the presentation of Aaron and his sons. The difference is that the old Levitical priesthood has been replaced by the new priesthood.

That pattern is found in Lev. 8 and 9. In Lev. 8:35 we read that Aaron and sons were consecrated for a full seven days for the priesthood, prophesying of the seven days of the feast of Tabernacles. Then on the eighth day they were presented to the people (Lev. 9:1), and the glory of God was manifested to the people (Lev. 9:4, 6, 23).

And so we see that the feast days prophesy of the "catching away" of the saints on the eighth day of Tabernacles, to be presented to the father as Sons circumcised in heart on the eighth day and as Priests consecrated on the eighth day. But they will also RETURN on the same day in order that the glory of the Lord might appear (manifest) to the congregation (ecclesia, or "Church") on the eighth day according to the law.

This also will fulfill Jesus' words in John 7:37-39 about the outpouring of the Spirit, for this was spoken "on that last great day of the feast" (of Tabernacles). The timing of a prophecy always reveals something about its fulfillment. In this case, the real call to those who are thirsty will begin after the sons of God are presented to Him and then manifested on earth on the eighth day of Tabernacles.

This is the beginning of the fulfillment of the Fruitfulness Mandate of Genesis 1:28. It is the first-fruits, which then signals the beginning of a thousand-year harvest. 

This is the final part of a series titled "Fruitfulness in the Kingdom." To view all parts, click the link below.

Fruitfulness in the Kingdom