Oct 01, 2012

Yesterday was one of those high-revelation days, designed to prepare our hearts for the feast of Tabernacles. At least a half dozen people had some revelatory input into this, starting Sunday morning with an exhortation on Sonship. As I listened to the teaching on 1 John 3:1-4, I discerned that "now are we the sons of God," and "everyone who has this hope purifies himself." The next verse speaks of lawlessness, showing obviously that we are to purify ourselves from lawlessness if we have this "hope" of Sonship, i.e., Christ in you the hope of glory (Col. 1:27).

It reminded me of the 14th day of the first month, which is the Preparation Day for the feast of Passover. On that day they used to take leaven out of the house, signifying the removal of "corruption" or sin.

The bottom line was that God was calling us to set for ourselves a higher standard of behavior.

Likewise we looked at Ephesians 3:14-19, which is a prayer that we might "comprehend" and "know the love of Christ" in order "that we might be filled up to all the fulness of God."

These are all Tabernacles concepts, because the purpose of Tabernacles is for the sons of God to be filled with the fullness of God and not merely the earnest of the Spirit. The first day of Tabernacles prophesies of the birth of the Sons of God ("Manchild"). The eighth day of Tabernacles is the presentation of the Sons of God (Exodus 22:29 and 30), followed by their "manifestation" in the earth.

So today something is being brought to birth. This year is not the ultimate fulfillment of the prophecy, for if it were, we would have seen the resurrection of the dead on September 17 (Trumpets). We are still seeing unveiling of prophetic types, which are designed to teach us some portion of this day's prophetic significance.

Every year on the feast days we are given a portion of revelation; so when we observe these days over the years, we obtain more and more pieces of the puzzle and thus receive a better understanding of what is yet to come when the day is fulfilled on a historic level.

Yesterday's revelation confirmed that Tabernacles is about Sonship, but we also learned that the will of God is for us to "purify our hearts" in preparation for that day.

Some of us went out for lunch and fellowship after the morning meeting. But Holly felt led to take her children to "the zoo." It was actually a petting zoo (goats), but there was also a large building where children could swim in a "river of corn." This was somewhat like some playgrounds where children can jump around in a sea of rubber balls--except that this one had corn in it. Holly was doing the backstroke in corn when she realized that she had been given a few dreams in the past where she had seen herself doing this.

She realized that this was prophetic of something. Yes, the river of corn prophesies of the end of the Elijah famine. It signifies that a time of plenty lies ahead. Call it a cornucopia.

We spent the afternoon sharing and discussing the word and then returned to the church in the evening. (I was the scheduled speaker.) When we go there, another woman shared about a revelation of beautiful white horses. Then the song came on over the sound system, "These are the days of Elijah." Yes, this appears to be the climax of the 3-1/2 years of drought and famine since the prophetic word was given on April 12, 2009 at our first Passover conference in Manassas, Virginia.

We have already seen the type of resurrection on September 17 (Trumpets) with the lame man being healed in New York City. We have also represented the overcomers in their "day of decision" last Wednesday (Day of Atonement) as in the days of Elijah (1 Kings 18:24). Now we have entered the time of Tabernacles, which compares to Elijah's seven prayers for rain.

We are called to pray for rain during these seven days of Tabernacles. If the type continues, we ought to see the first sign of rain on Sunday, October 7, which compares to the small cloud rising from the sea in 1 Kings 18:44). The rains are coming.

Also on October 7, Apostle David (whose church I attend) will be celebrating his birthday on October 7, as well as the launch of his new work of ministry that addresses the problem of human trafficking world wide. This is part of the Open Door ministry that has been prophesied for nearly 30 years. I too have awaited the release into the world-wide scope of the Gospel of the Kingdom. So, assuming that David has heard from God in this, it appears that this is ready to begin.

This IMPLIES that we could see the 9th sign of Elisha--the sign that brings us the first step beyond Elijah's 8 miracles, and the start of the double portion. If so, the timing would be perfect in that it is the end of the 3 years and 6 months since this prophetic sequence began.

If it does not happen, then we will go back into prayer knowing that we do not yet have all the pieces to complete the picture.

But if this really is the climax of the Elijah story, then we should get ready to outrun the chariot of Ahab (1 Kings 18:45 and 46) on the eighth day of Tabernacles. This is pictured in the story of Philip in Acts 8, which is another story involving a horse-drawn chariot. Philip means "lover of horses," so of all the disciples, he was called to picture the ability to do spiritual time travel and divine transportation on Philip Airlines. See Acts 8:39.

Oh, did I mention that my friend Philip drove quite a distance to attend the meeting last night? His very presence added to the prophetic picture.

The "catching away" (harpazo) is a Tabernacles fulfillment when the Sons of God are caught up to the throne to be presented to the Father on the 8th day (of Tabernacles) to fulfill the law in Exodus 22:29. While I do not expect this event to occur in 2012, it appears that this year we will see a Philip-type work of ministry. That ministry is described in Acts 8:40,

⁴⁰ But Philip found himself at Azotus; and as he passed through, he kept preaching the gospel to all the cities, until he came to Caesarea.

Caesarea was a Roman city named after Caesar. As a prophetic type, Caesarea was the Roman government. In this Open Door ministry that lies ahead, I fully expect that we will preach the gospel of the Kingdom to all the cities until we stand before the leaders of this world government. That should prove to be interesting. Perhaps Caesarea-Rome also represents the Roman Church. After all, the next chapter in Acts is about the conversion of Saul.

The Old Testament King Saul was a type of the church, for he was crowned on the day of wheat harvest, or Pentecost (1 Samuel 12:17). Saul, of course, persecuted David, the type of Overcomer, because he knew that David was truly anointed to replace him in the end. He eventually died by suicide, having been overcome by the Philistines (the flesh).

The New Testament Saul, after persecuting the church, was converted, and his name was soon changed to Paul. Paul means "little." He took a name that described himself in opposite terms from his ancestor, King Saul, who stood head and shoulders above everyone (1 Samuel 9:2).

Saul was his Old Covenant name, reflecting his character as a zealous persecutor representing the Old Jerusalem (Hagar). Paul was his New Covenant name, reflecting his character as a New Creation. Paul comments on this change in Galatians 1:13 and 14,

¹³ For you have heard of my former manner of life in Judaism, how I used to persecute the church of God beyond measure, and tried to destroy it; ¹⁴ and I was advancing beyond many of my contemporaries among my countrymen, being more extremely zealous for my ancestral traditions.

Later, he explains that the Old Covenant was "Hagar" (Galatians 4:25), admitting that while he was in Judaism, centered in the Old Jerusalem, he was a son of Hagar--that is, he was an Ishmaelite and not an inheritor of the Kingdom. Only after his conversion could he say truly that his mother was "Sarah," saying in verse 26, "the Jerusalem above is free; she is our mother." Verse 28 then says, "And you, brethren, like Isaac, are children of promise."

Paul continues in verse 29 to show how Ishmael persecuted Isaac. This was a painful memory for Paul, as he recalled his days persecuting the church. In other words, those days for him reflected the character of both Saul and Ishmael. The end of the matter, Paul says, is to "cast out the bondwoman (Hagar) and her son (Ishmael), for the son of the bondwoman shall not be an heir with the son of the freewoman."

In other words, Jews (following Judaism) will not inherit the Kingdom, because in the sight of God they are of Hagar, not of Sarah. Those who teach that the Jews are inheritors regardless of their rejection of Jesus Christ, do not understand Paul's teaching on this matter. Paul concludes in verse 31,

³¹ So then, brethren, we are not children of a bondwoman, but of the free woman.

Paul's use of the word "we" shows that he included himself in this. When he repented of his war against Jesus Christ, he changed mothers. No longer did he consider Jerusalem to be his mother, but rather claimed the New Jerusalem as his mother. This was one of the primary revelations that Paul received when he escaped from Damascus and went to Mount Sinai in Arabia (Galatians 1:17). It was not a revelation that he learned from the other disciples. Paul had to go to Mount Sinai and visit the site of the Old Covenant (Hagar) to see this first-hand.

This is a revelation that has largely been lost in the past century with the rise of Christian Zionism. Christian Zionism supports Hagar and makes its appeal to the divine court that the son of Hagar should be the heir of the promises of God. We, on the other hand, follow Paul's instructions to "cast out the bondwoman and her son." We support Sarah as the mother of the promised seed and make our case before God in accordance with Paul's understanding of the will of God.

Who will win their case before God? Each side believes it will win. I believe that God has already decreed His verdict as of July 9, 2012, and so we were led to deliver that verdict on July 14 in St. Paul, Minnesota--the namesake of the Apostle in question. It is therefore only a matter of time before we see this verdict carried out.

Meanwhile, God is working within the Isaac company to empower them to carry the Gospel of the Kingdom to all parts of the earth.