Dec 29, 2009

Last Sunday I returned to the church where I had taught the Word two weeks ago. I went just to fellowship with the brethren. I learned then that the church was going on a three-day fast (beginning today). They will also have a New Year's prayer meeting (all night).

In praying about this Sunday evening, the Father said to join them on the New Year's celebration.

I did not know what this meant at the time. But the next morning (yesterday) Bob Henley called me to let me know of a revelation he had received about "A New Year's Passover." He wrote about this in a blog at:

http://www.servias.org/?page_id=9

It appears that New Year's Day is a prophetic type of Passover this year. This revelation began to connect the dots, as I immediately saw this as a confirmation for my own instructions concerning New Year's Eve.

It was customary for the Israelites to stay up all night in a kind of prayer vigil on Passover. We read in Exodus 12:11,

"Now you shall eat it in this manner; with your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in haste--it is the Lord's Passover."

Ron is fond of reminding us that this was the first "fast food," because they were to "eat it in haste." But for our purposes, it shows the all-night parallel between Passover and New Year's Eve. Both are an all-night prayer vigil.

Bob's revelation is that this is connected to a prayer of protection for the days yet coming, even as it was in the days of Moses. (Perhaps we need this in view of the "kings of the east" that have arrived. See yesterday's blog.) The primary difference is that we do not use the blood of lambs and goats, but have the blood of Jesus Christ applied to our forehead ("lintel"). It is the only lawful place where one can apply the blood under the New Covenant, because that is where He has chosen to place His name (Deut. 16:5 & 6; Rev. 22:4).

Exodus 12:12 & 13 says,

(12) For I will go through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike down all the first-born in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment--I am the Lord. (13) And the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses[bodies] where you live; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.

In Moses' day, the firstborn were killed that night, but God made provision for the protection of those who had faith in the Word of God. Those today who have faith in Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, are already covered by His blood, but this New Year's Eve appears to be a special time of remembrance and observation. It may also prove to be a turning point in the history of the Kingdom.

New Year's Day is the first day of the year 2010 on our Gregorian calendar. As such, it is linked to the night of September 18-19, 2009, which was the start of the New Year on the Hebrew calendar (Rosh Hoshana). Recall that on September 18, we reached the 216th anniversary of the laying of the Corner Stone for the Capitol building in Washington D.C. This is all very important, because the year 2010 is 390 years after 1620, which (in some way) ends the time of "No King in Israel."

We expect to see some manifestation by the end of the coming year, where Jesus Christ is laid as the true Corner Stone in America.

The Elisha Connection

The Joshua-Elisha Ministry was launched on April 12, 2009 at the Passover conference in Manassas, VA. Since that time, we have been seeing the 16 miracle-signs of Elisha manifested one after the other. I wrote extensively of this back in May and June and again in October.

The most recent sign that we saw fulfilled was the 5th miracle found in 2 Kings 4:1-7, where the widow woman saw the oil multiplied in order that she might get out of debt to save her sons from slavery. This sign occurred on the night of October 13, shortly after Iceland went bankrupt (Oct. 9). I was in Pensacola, FL at the time, and the preacher (Vinnie) used 2 Kings 4:1-7 as his text.

For details, see my blog that I did the next day.

Well, since that time, we have wondered when the next sign of Elisha might be fulfilled. In my usual blindness, I focused primarily on the sign of the Shunnamite woman's son being raised from the dead. But actually, there is a sign prior to that. It is when Elisha prophesied the birth of her son in the first place (2 Kings 4:16, 17). This is the 6th sign of Elisha.

The 7th sign is when Elisha raised that son from the dead a few verses later.

Anyway, Vinnie invited me to come back to Pensacola shortly after New Year's Day to attend some meetings he was hosting. He said that David Hogan was scheduled as one of the speakers. I have never met him, but others tell me that David Hogan is one of those down-to-earth people that shuns publicity. He has ministered in the back villages of Mexico for many years and has raised many dozens of people from the dead.

I connected this to the Shunnamite woman's son being raised from the dead and realized that I had to go and observe that sign of Elisha. (So I will be on the road all next week.)

The focus upon that 7th sign of Elisha overshadowed the 6th sign of the woman's son being born, so I did not really begin to ponder this until the past week. But if the 7th sign would be seen on January 6 and 7 in Pensacola, then it seemed as if we would have to observe the 6th sign some time before then.

Now here is where the New Year's Passover comes into focus. Passover is about the firstborn SON. Passover is the day that Israel left Egypt--or, as Hosea 11:1 puts it, "out of Egypt I called My son."

In essence, Passover is the time when God's first-born son was born--nationally speaking.

To bring this to a more personal application, we ourselves become level-one "sons of God" by faith in the blood of the Lamb of God, who died on the cross at Passover. It is when we ourselves come "out of Egypt" (i.e., the world system) and become citizens of the Kingdom of God.

So the New Year's Passover celebration this year is the 6th sign of Elisha, where we will play the role of the firstborn sons of God coming to birth.

So once again, the Father was able to fit these signs of Elisha into their proper order. I expect, then, that New Year's Eve will be the 6th sign, followed by the 7th sign in Pensacola next week.

Then we will be almost half-way through the 16 signs of Elisha. At the present rate, this would take another year to complete, but we really do not know yet how these will play out. These signs must be completed in order to lay the foundations for the Joshua-Elisha ministry that is yet to emerge. These signs of Elisha are not the actual ministry that is yet to come, but they are necessary teaching tools to prepare us for that which is coming.