June 29 - July 1, 2018

(Click Here to view the original blog post)

On the Hebrew calendar, the new year (Rosh Hoshana) begins on the first day of the seventh month, or 7/1. It normally occurs some time in September, based on the sighting of the new moon. This year it will be the evening of September 9, just as our conference in Branson is ending.

So in a sense, July 1^st is a prophetic type of Rosh Hoshana, the feast of Trumpets, which also prophesies of the resurrection of the dead.

I recall some years ago, as Darla and I were driving north from California to Washington state, we stopped one Friday evening at a hotel. As the sun began to set, I suddenly became dizzy and had to go to bed. Worse yet, I could not move my head without seeing the whole room spinning. I had vertigo all night and all day (Saturday).

Finally, at 3:00 a.m. I woke up and turned my head. I did not become dizzy. I cautiously got up and went to the restroom without any problem. Later in the morning, we checked out of the hotel and continued our journey to Portland, Oregon, where I had a meeting that evening.

The point? I experienced a type of death and resurrection so that I could receive a revelation of timing. Jesus was laid in the tomb on a Friday evening and was raised at 3 a.m. on Sunday morning on “the third day,” as the Scriptures tell us and as the early church leaders affirm. The “three days and three nights” (Matthew 12:40) was a Hebrew idiom that meant continuous time. It does not refer to a period of 72 hours, as some insist.

Note that the Muslims just got through their holy month of Ramadan, where they fast for 30 days. But they do not fast 30 days and 30 nights. They fast only during the day. Their fast is not continuous. So “three days and three nights” conveyed continuous time, rather than just being dead during the day and walking around during the night.

At any rate, there are 21 passages which speak of “the third day” and only one that says, “three days and three nights.” The apparent contradiction means that at least one of these expressions has to be idiomatic. Luke 13:32 defines “the third day” clearly:

³² And He said to them, “Go and tell that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I reach My goal’.”

See also the prophecy of resurrection in Hosea 6:2,

² He will revive us after two days; He will raise us up on the third day that we may live before Him.

Jesus Himself said many times that He would be killed and then raised on the third day. See, for example, Matthew 17:22, 23 and Matthew 20:19.

Anyway, since I was required to experience it for myself, it is my own revelation that Jesus was laid in the tomb on Friday toward sundown, and He was raised up at 3:00 a.m. Sunday morning. I had always wondered what time Jesus was raised, since the women arrived at the tomb “while it was still dark” (John 20:1) and discovered that Jesus had already been raised to life.

I believe that Jesus was raised when the temple doors opened that same morning to allow the new shift of priests to enter the city. The priestly families ministering in the temple rotated every week, and the new shift arrived some time early Sunday morning. Hence, when the big iron doors opened, that is the moment, I believe, when Jesus’ tomb was opened as well.

The feast of Trumpets also speaks of resurrection. Here is where Hosea’s prophecy is applicable, for it blends the resurrection of Christ with the resurrection of His body of overcomers as well. That is one reason why the resurrection has been postponed for 2,000 years. As we come into the third day since the first work of Christ, we are at the dawn of a new day, as Hosea says.

But again, the resurrection of the overcomers will probably occur again while it is yet dark and before the sun rises (prophetically speaking).

So that is what I learned in my death-and-resurrection experience, which was designed to teach me timing. I had no control over this. I believe that God taught this to me directly by putting me through that experience. I was raised up at 3:00 a.m. on Sunday, July 1^st.

Insofar as watch dates are concerned, I normally watch July 1^st only, but in years where July 1^st falls on a Sunday, I find it necessary to watch a longer time period from Friday, June 29 to Sunday, July 1^st.

What shall we watch for? I do not know. However, if we know the background of those dates, then when events occur, we will recognize what is happening and understand the revelation.