Chapter 9: The Post-Church Age of the Overcomers

In our study of the situation, we find two time cycles that have the greatest relevance to the events at hand. First, the Church Age of 40 Jubilees specifically ended on the day of Pentecost, May 30, 1993. Recall that king Saul, who had been crowned king on the day of wheat harvest, or Pentecost (1 Sam. 12:17), died after ruling 40 years. He was prophetic of the Seven Churches under the anointing of Pentecost in the New Testament. However, even after Saul died, his son Ishbosheth became king of Israel for two years, while the single tribe of Judah broke ranks and crowned David as their king. 2 Sam. 5:4, 5 says,

⁴ David was thirty years old when he became king, and he reigned forty years. 5 At Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months, and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty-three years over all Israel and Juah.

David's reign, therefore, can be divided into two stages. The first was a partial rule over a single tribe— Judah. The second was his full authority over ALL Israel. We see in this a foreshadowing of the two comings of Christ—first as the King of Judah, as Pilate's sign over the cross said (John 19:19). In this sense, Jesus, the Son of David, has ruled the true Jews—the Church—in a partial kingdom for the past 2,000 years.

Like David, Jesus has been patient, awaiting the day when His reign would extend to ALL ISRAEL. His Kingdom has been partial for 2,000 years. His second appearance awaits the day that the representatives of all Israel would agree to crown Him King with full Kingdom authority. This “all Israel ” phase of His Kingdom is commonly known as the Millennial Rule of Christ. It is not that He has been without Kingdom authority previously; but rather that His authority, like David's, was partial and still being developed.

The end of the Laodicean Church came on May 30, 1993, for this was the end of the forty Jubilees of King Saul's reign—the Age of Pentecost. At that point, one might say that King Saul died. That is, the authority of Pentecost began to come to an end. Yet it was an abrupt end, for once again, we have seen a transition from the house of Saul to the house of David. The transition is again seven years and six months, ending on Nov. 30, 2000.

On Nov. 30, 2000 A.D., the overcomers were given full authority of the Kingdom on earth. What does this mean?

The Three Churches

The first Church was established under Moses, for we read in Acts 7:38,

³⁸ This is the one who was in the congregation [ecclesia, “church”] in the wilderness together with the angel who was speaking to him on Mount Sinai, and who was with our fathers; and he received living oracles to pass on to you.

The word ecclesia is the usual word translated “church” in the New Testament. It literally means “the called-out ones.” The church of Israel was called out of Egypt at the Feast of Passover. Thus, it can also be thought of as the Passover Church. It had a legitimate calling and a first-level anointing of the Spirit to do its work of bringing righteousness, peace, and the blessings of God's Kingdom into the earth. The primary calling of the Church is to bring heaven to earth, to make the word flesh, to manifest Christ and His glory in this earthly, physical universe.

But because of sin, they failed in their divine mission. Israel went through seven stages of development, as we have shown. But ultimately, God's presence, His glory, was removed from them, and He sent them into captivity. First, His glory was removed from Ephraim at Shiloh (Ps. 78:60-68), and then later from Jerusalem and Judah (Jer. 7:12 -15).

The glorious presence of God was seen by the prophet Ezekiel as it left Solomon's temple in Ezekiel 10, 11. The prophet saw it leave as far as the Mount of Olives (Ez. 11:23), where it remained until Jesus ascended from that place in Acts 1:9-12.

The glory then returned to His new Temple made of living stones ten days later on the day of Pentecost. This established the second of the three Churches. We may call it the Pentecostal Church to keep it distinct from the earlier Passover Church.

This present book has been primarily about the Pentecostal Church. Like the Passover Church, the Pentecostal Church was also divided into seven stages of development, each defined by one of the Seven Churches of Revelation.

The Pentecostal Church Age was also typified by the reign of King Saul, the Pentecostal type of the Old Testament. Hence, we are given the forty “years” (i.e., Jubilees) of the Pentecostal Age, during which time the Church was given opportunity to bring righteousness, peace, and the blessings of God's Kingdom into the earth.

God made it clear from the beginning that He only gave them an earthly king because they had rejected God (Jesus) from being their king (1 Sam. 8:7; 10:19). Nevertheless, God also told Saul that if he would remain subject to King Jesus and not rebel by usurping His authority, then God would establish him forever as ruler in His Kingdom (1 Sam. 13:13, 14).

However, this did not happen. And neither did it happen in the New Testament manifestation of King Saul—the Pentecostal Church of the past forty Jubilees. And so it is that even as God rejected Saul and chose David, so also has God rejected the Pentecostal Church in favor of the new David—Christ and the overcomers—in that great final Church, the Church of the Feast of Tabernacles.

The Transfer of Authority

On Nov. 30, 2000 A.D. the transfer of authority from the leaders of the Pentecostal Church to the Tabernacles Church was completed. Not that this was an event apparent to all. The previous transfer of authority from Passover to Pentecost in Acts 2 was not obvious to everyone either. It happened in an upper room with only 120 witnesses, and from that moment to the present time, the leaders of the Jerusalem temple have disputed this transfer. They continued to think of themselves as “chosen” to rule the Kingdom of God, but yet God brought His armies to Jerusalem to overthrow them and negate their claim. Jesus' parable says in Matt. 22:7,

⁷ But the King was enraged and sent His armies, and destroyed those murderers, and set their city on fire.

For centuries the Church thought of itself as the inheritor of the promises to Israel. This teaching is commonly referred to as “Replacement Theology,” where the Church “replaced” the Jews. However, as I showed in my book, Who is a Jew?, the Church did not replace the Jews. The “Church” was the tribe of Judah itself that included both natural Judeans and foreigners who gained citizenship in Judah through acceptance of Jesus as their King.

Those Judeans who rejected Jesus, killed the King and seized His inheritance (Matt. 21:38) lost their citizenship, being cut off from among their people, as the law prescribes (Lev. 17:1-4) for those who refuse to apply the blood of the Sacrifice to their temple.

Of course, the temple leaders in the book of Acts disputed this. They continued to call themselves Jews, while the real Jews (in the eyes of God) became known by the term “Christians” (Acts 11:26). The point is that a true Jew is a Christian, whether he be a Judean by natural descent or a legal citizen by accepting Jesus as King. They are all equal in the sight of God, no one being more “chosen” than another. The law is impartial to the home-born and the foreigner.

As the end of the Pentecostal Age neared, a new phenomenon arose called Zionism, in which the children of Hagar-Jerusalem rose up to seize Jesus' birthright and the birthright name, Israel. The birthright is the Kingdom itself, and this dispute is fully documented in my book, The Struggle for the Birthright. The Jews in Jesus' first manifestation killed the King of Judah and seized His throne. But in His second appearance, the dispute has been centered around Israel, as opposed to Judah.

The Pentecostal Church Replaced

Israel is the Kingdom itself (1 Kings 11:11). The birthright is the full Kingdom. Zionism is the carnal attempt to seize the Kingdom by force and violence, even as their ancestors seized the throne from the rightful King of Judah (Matt. 21:38).

The Pentecostal Church as a whole played the role of Judas in this, supporting this violent seizure of the Kingdom and the name of Israel (in 1948). And so, like Judas, they must be replaced by the overcomers in the age of the Church of Tabernacles. This replacement is documented in Acts 1:20, saying,

²⁰ For it is written in the Book of Psalms, “Let his homestead be made desolate, and let no man dwell in it;” and “his office let another man take.”

The overcomers have now replaced the Pentecostals as the ones divinely elected to bring righteousness, peace, and the blessings of God's Kingdom into the earth. They are the ones called to manifest Christ—to become the manifested sons of God, and to set all of creation free, as we read in Rom. 8:19-23,

¹⁹ For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing [apocalupsis, “the unveiling, or manifesta-tion”] of the sons of God. ²⁰ For the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will, but because of Him who subjected it in hope ²¹ that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. ²² For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. ²³ And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.

We are NOW the sons of God (1 John 3:2), but we are not yet manifested, or unveiled. Paul equates this unveiling with “the redemption of our body.” It is a manifestation in the earth that is pictured in Jesus' transfiguration (Matt. 17:2). It is being clothed with immortality (2 Cor. 5:4). It is being filled with all the fullness of God (Eph. 3:19).

While some may claim to have already attained to this, Paul himself did not dare to do so. In Phil. 3:11-14 Paul writes,

¹¹ In order that I may attain to the resurrection of the dead. ¹² Not that I have already obtained it, or have already become perfect, but I press on in order that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. ¹³ Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, ¹⁴ I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. ¹⁵ Let us therefore, as many as are perfect [in their own eyes], have this attitude; and if in anything you have a different attitude, God will reveal that also to you.

Paul had not attained to either perfection or the resurrection of the dead, in spite of the fact that he had been a Christian believer for many years. His epistle to the Philippians was written toward the end of his ministry while he was awaiting execution in 64 A.D. Yet even this great Apostle did not dare to claim what many today claim.

Yet we are admonished to forget the past and look to that which lies ahead. We are to go beyond accepting Christ and becoming a true Jew. We are to move forward into becoming a true Israelite.

The Seven-Year Jubilee (1993-2000)

On Nov. 21-29, 1993 we were led to begin a seven-year prayer campaign of spiritual warfare called “The Jubilee Prayer Campaign.” Even before the beginning of this prayer campaign, we understood that this was to be on the order of a “ Jericho march” in Joshua 6. However, instead of a seven-day battle, it would be a seven-year campaign.

A few years into this prayer campaign, as I was studying Joshua 6 to see what sort of “rams' horns” the priests were told to blow while marching around Jericho. Were these to be silver, bell-shaped trumpets such as Moses built in Numbers 10? Were they to be shofars such as were blown on the new moons and the Day of Atonement? I discovered then that the Hebrew word translated “trumpets” was yobel, which is the Hebrew word for Jubilee. In other words, Israel 's battle of Jericho was not conventional warfare. It was spiritual warfare, and because they were literally “blowing the Jubilee” for seven days, this was their Jubilee Prayer Campaign.

Of course, no one can literally “blow” a Jubilee. It is understood that it was a shofar, a ram's horn. It was the kind blown on the Day of Atonement. I came to understand then that this seven-year period from 1993-2000 was a seven-year Day of Atonement (Jubilee), even as the battle of Jericho was a seven-day “Jubilee.” Since the Day of Atonement, or Jubilee, was a preparation day for the Feast of Tabernacles, it did not take long to understand that we would also see a second seven-year period (2000-2007) representing the Feast of Tabernacles.

The Seven-Year Feast of Tabernacles (2000-2007)

As I write this, we are still observing what God is doing during this time period, and so our information is incomplete. Nonetheless, there are a few basic elements of this time period that ought to be mentioned.

First, in our 2000 edition of Secrets of Time, pages 186-188, we mentioned the importance of the year 2006-2007. It is 2,520 years after the completion of the second temple in Jerusalem in 515 B.C. (Ezra 6:15). Since we have seen many other 2,520-year cycles being completed in the past two centuries, it would seem that the greater temple that Haggai envisioned (that is, the corporate body of Christ) might be completed by 2006-2007.

Secondly, 2006-2007 is also 4 x 490 years after the Apostle Paul was sent out with Barnabas on their first missionary journey in 47 A.D. Paul was a prophetic type of an overcomer, because he manifests the change from Saul to Paul. While he was called “Saul,” he was a type of King Saul who persecuted David. But after the great light struck him down (Acts 9:3, 4), he became “Paul.” He shows believers how to make the transition from Saul to Paul. But more importantly for our purposes here, this element of timing may have something to do with the commissioning of the overcomers to their work of ministry.

Paul's commission in 46-47 A.D. was also precisely 490 years after Nehemiah completed building the wall around Jerusalem in 445 B.C. (Neh. 2: 1; 5:14).

Finally, 2006-2007 is twenty years after the 120 th Jubilee year from Adam (1986-1987). Both Jesus (Luke 3:23) and John began their ministries at the age of 30, because they were following the pattern laid down by Moses (Num. 4:3). That was the age requirement in their day. But few people know that King David changed the requirement to twenty (1 Chron. 23:27). We today are living in the time of the reign of David in a post-Saul era. Hence, the year 2006-2007 is just twenty years after the 120 th Jubilee year.

If we put all these things together, we may conclude that the year 2006-2007 is an important time to watch. I see it as the conclusion of a seven-year manifestation of the Feast of Tabernacles. Now, whether or not this proves to be the final fulfillment of the feast or not remains to be seen. We make no claims, nor do we presume to prophesy anything specific. All we are saying is that this observation helps us to be watchful, as Jesus admonished us (Mark 13:35-37).

At the very least, we are learning things about the Feast of Tabernacles that we did not know or understand previously. It may be that this is God's only purpose in this particular Tabernacles manifestation. It may be mostly a matter of personal revelation. But it might also be more. Either way, as long as we remain alert, we will benefit from the revelation of the Word.

Jacob's Trouble

Jacob had to work hard for his uncle Laban for three Sabbath-year cycles (21 years). His first seven years of labor were rewarded with his marriage to Leah and Rachel. But he was then obligated to work another seven years because he had been given Rachel. That was a total of fourteen years of labor. Then he continued to work for Laban for another six years, for a total of 20 years. He then returned to Canaan in the 21 st year, which was his Sabbatical year.

In Secrets of Time, we showed that Jacob began to work for Laban 312 Sabbath years from the beginning of Adam's chronology. He married Leah and Rachel in the 313 th Sabbath year from Adam. He returned to Canaan in the 315 th Sabbath year from Adam—which was also the 45 th Jubilee from Adam. Thus, Jacob's name was changed to Israel in the 45 th Jubilee from Adam.

My point is to show that the 20-21 years of Jacob's labor, leading to the year he received his overcomer name, Israel, may well run parallel to the 20-21 years from 1986-7 to 2006-7. If this does NOT prove to be the case, it at least bears watching.

There is much that has occurred in recent years and much to share at the appropriate time and place. But this is a study of the Seven Churches, focusing more on the Age of Pentecost, rather than on subsequent events after 1993. The full story of the Jubilee Prayer Campaign (1993-2000) and the Tabernacles manifestation (2000-2007) must await a future book when we have the luxury of hindsight.

Prophecy of the Feast of Tabernacles is outlined in Revelation 16 in the pouring out of the seven vials, or bowls of wine, because the priests were instructed to pour out a drink offering of new wine each day of the Feast of Tabernacles (Num. 29). Thus, it would appear that the seven vials of Revelation 16 are the actual prophetic fulfillment of the Feast of Tabernacles and its ceremony. Thus, we will have more to say as we study Revelation 16.

Meanwhile, history marches on according to the divine plan. It is for us to be watchful and in prayer to know what He is doing.