I composed this poem on December 8, 2019,after seeing so many Christmas postings in my Facebook newsfeed that professed Christians posted. It is hard to believe that – in this twenty-first century – so many who declare they are Christians are still kicking against the goads (are still refusing to hear YeHoVah’s Voice about not following/not keeping the traditions of men). They have closed their souls and their ears to His Truth – choosing to be unfaithful to His Will and His Ways. Perhaps the real problem is that they are Christians instead of Netzarim (faithful servants/disciples/saints of Yeshua).
By stubbornly refusing to obey YeHoVaH, Christmas celebrators and believers are driving their individual goad in deeper and deeper. Choosing to be unfaithful to YeHoVaH’s Divine Truth, by rejecting the Holy Spirit’s teaching/revealing, causes the necessary pain that comes from His Discipline, which eventually will happen to them, if it hasn’t already begun. Selah . . . .
Why would you be so stubborn as to close your hearts and your ears to me? You are always opposing the Holy Spirit, just like your forefathers! – Acts 7:51, TPT
31 It was the day of preparation, and the Jewish leaders didn’t want the bodies hanging there the next day, which was the Sabbath (and a very special Sabbath, because it was Passover week). So they asked Pilate to hasten their deaths by ordering that their legs be broken. Then their bodies could be taken down. – John 19:31, NLT
In this blog article, I am doing what all saints of Yeshua should do. I am setting the record straight about the Black Friday graphic with Yeshua on the cross flanked by two criminals. Many versions of this graphic have been posted for years on Facebook, but, sadly, they all have been posted not only to confirm Yeshua died on a Good Friday but also to confirm that that Good Friday was a black Friday. The truth is that Yeshua never died on any Friday – neither good nor black or otherwise.
To start with, there were three days of preparation during the so-called Holy Week Yeshua was crucified. The one mentioned in the above Scripture was not on Friday – at least not the week Yeshua died.
During the Holy Week, there were two Sabbaths – a High Holy Sabbath and a regular Saturday Sabbath. The Jews prepared for both of these Sabbaths on the days before they took place.
Moreover, the 13th of Nisan – Tuesday – has been called the “preparation day” for the Passover, which included Passover and Unleavened Bread. On Nisan 13, all leaven was removed out of the Hebrews’ homes.
On this 13th day of Nisan, Yeshua had His Disciples prepare for His Passover meal. Yeshua’s Seder meal actually would be eaten after 6:00pm, which would be the beginning of Nisan 14 since, once again, a Jewish day has always been from sunset (evening) to sunset (evening).
Likewise, the 14th day of Nisan – Wednesday – has always been the day of Passover since the Israelites came out of Egypt. They also have always been allowed to work on this day.
During the week Yeshua died, Nisan 14 (Passover) also was the day that the Jewish religious leaders had the Temple’s guards drag Yeshua in front of Pilate’s (the Roman governor’s) residence around 6:00am (see Matthew 27:1-2; John 18:28-29). Additionally, it was on Passover, from noon (the sixth hour) until three in the afternoon (the ninth hour) that Yeshua was crucified. During these hours, darkness came over all the land. Lastly, it was on Passover that the Jewish people in Yeshua’s day prepared for the next day’s High Sabbath.
Yeshua hung on the cross until right before the 15th of Nisan – Thursday – was about to begin. Nisan 15 has always been the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Yeshua was removed from the cross and then placed in a borrowed tomb right at the start of Nisan 15 – a day that otherwise would be very uneventful, except for the holy convocation.
The 16th day of Nisan – Friday – was called “the morrow after” the Sabbath (the day after Nisan 15th’s High Holy Sabbath). Nisan 16 was the day on which the firstfruits of the barley harvest were cut and bundled. During the week Yeshua died, Nisan 16 also was the day of preparation for the regular Saturday Sabbath.
The 17th day of Nisan – Saturday – in the year Yeshua was crucified was the regular 7th-day Sabbath. At the start of this day, Yeshua had been in the grave two nights and two days. By the start of Nisan 18 – Sunday, the first day of the week – Yeshua had fulfilled His prophesied three days and three nights in the grave. His resurrection also made Him the first fruits of the dead, because He rose on the day of First Fruits when the cut barley sheaves were waved before YeHoVaH.
Yeshua rose from the dead right when Sunday evening started. Sunday was the Day of First Fruits. Remember, a Jewish day is from sunset (evening) to sunset (evening). Without a doubt, the above timeline is consistent with Yeshua’s words that He would be dead and in the grave for three days and three nights.
The Master himself will give the command. Archangel
thunder! God’s trumpet blast! He’ll come down from heaven and the dead in
Christ will rise—they’ll go first. Then the rest of us who are still alive at
the time will be caught up with them into the clouds to meet the Master. Oh,
we’ll be walking on air! And then there will be one huge family reunion with
the Master. So reassure one another with these words. – 1 Thessalonians
4:16-18, MSG
…To the one who overcomes I will give access to feast on
the fruit of the Tree of Life that is found in the paradise of God. – Revelation
2:7, TPT
…To everyone who is victorious I will let him
feast on the hidden manna and give him a shining white
stone. And written upon the white stone is inscribed his new name, known only to
the one who receives it. – Revelation 2:17, TPT
To everyone who is victorious and continues to do my works to
the very end I will give you authority over the nations – Revelation 2:26,
TPT
And the one who experiences victory will be
dressed in white robes and I will never, no never erase your name from the Book
of Life. I will acknowledge your name before my Father and his angels. –
Revelation 3:5, TPT
For the one who is
victorious, I will make you to be a pillar in the sanctuary of my God, permanently secure. I will write on you the name
of my God and the name of the city of my God—the New Jerusalem, descending from
my God out of heaven. And I’ll write my own name on you. – Revelation 3:12, TPT
And to the one who conquers I will give the privilege of
sitting with me on my throne, just as I conquered and sat down with my Father
on his throne. – Revelation 3:21, TPT
The Bride of Christ (the
collective Body of His Saints) is the prophesied Barley Harvest of Overcomers (Victorious
Conquerors) – the glorified firstfruits who are raptured before the Tribulation
Period begins.
The Non-overcoming Carnal
Believers are the Tribulation Period’s Wheat because they resemble Tares. These
Wheat believers are the ones whohave not cooperated with the Holy Spirit’s sanctification process (have
not allowed Him to gradually change them into the image of Christ).
Prophetically speaking, the Barley Harvest represents the first of God’s three end-time Harvests and, thus, part of the first resurrection. The Scripture refers to these saints as “overcomers.” Additionally, God’s first three feast days – Passover, Unleavened Bread, and First Fruits – spiritually represent the three stages of salvation: 1. justification (Passover), 2. sanctification (Unleavened Bread), and 3. glorification (First Fruits). Just as Jesus Christ was the first holy and saintly Barley Harvest Overcomer to be resurrected from the dead as the Barley First Fruits of the greater Barley Harvest to come, the Bride of Christ also represents the rest of the holy and saintly Barley Harvest of Overcomers.
It is written that only Christ’s
holy and saintly overcomers – the spiritually mature believes who are transformed
into the image of Christ – will either be resurrected from the dead as part of the
first resurrection or raptured alive BOTH happening during the Pre-Tribulation Rapture.
These are the saints who will rule and reign on the earth during Jesus Christ’s
millennial reign. Please note that no matter if God is speaking literally or figuratively,
it also is written that the Barley Overcomers (symbolizing the barley grain
that always is planted AFTER the Wheat) is always harvested before the Wheat.
The natural (physical)
and spiritual orders of the grain harvests are why the Wheat Harvest represents
“carnal believers who today are mostly ‘Christian’ churchgoers.” These carnal believers
are the end-time gathered Gentile nations. Indeed, Christ’s Gospels’ description
of the gathered nations is a picture of God’s Wheat Harvest (see Matthew
25:32, Mark 13:27). It is written that all nations will come to know the
Lord and serve Him.
This second harvest speaks of those believers who were justified by faith, but either they did not go through or did not submit to the Holy Spirit’s sanctification process. Many of these carnal believers will also be first resurrection believers, but just barely. They will be saved but have the smell of smoke on them. Furthermore, the alive end-time Wheat (carnal) believers will need to be shifted like wheat in order to become fully sanctified so that they can wear God’s Divine Nature and Character (be glorified). Unfortunately, they will be the beheaded Tribulation martyrs.
Carnal believers who are Wheat still have some rebellion or lawlessness in
their lives that must be purged by the Fire of God (the Holy Spirit). The only
way for this purging to happen is for this Wheat to be exposed to the Antichrist’s
wrath during the prophesied end-time Tribulation. The believers who are part of
the Wheat Harvest will be brought forth in the second resurrection (Tribulation
Period’s Rapture) to be glorified “ yet so as through fire.” The apostle Paul
writes:
Remember, there is only one foundation, the one
already laid: Jesus Christ. Take particular care in picking out your building
materials. Eventually there is going to be an inspection. If you use cheap or
inferior materials, you’ll be found out. The inspection will be thorough and
rigorous. You won’t get by with a thing. If your work passes inspection, fine;
if it doesn’t, your part of the building will be torn out and started over. But you won’t be torn out; you’ll survive—but just barely.
– 1 Corinthians 3:11-15, MSG
If Christ’s believers are not saintly overcomers – victorious
over the flesh, the world, and the devil – they are
not Christ’s Barley Bride. It is only with the aid of the Holy Spirit that
saints who become overcomers are able to control their flesh, conquer the
corrupt world systems, and defeat God’s enemy the Devil. Selah (pause and
calmly think about that)!
NOTE: God established that three of His seven commanded appointed times (feast days) would be associated with two different grain harvests and one fruit of the vine harvest that took place annually in Israel. The barley grain ripens first around the time of First Fruits, the wheat grain ripens later around the time of Pentecost, and the grapes from the vine ripen last just prior to the feast of Tabernacles. Moreover, God established that these three crops (barley, wheat, and grapes) would also depict, spiritually speaking, three classes of people. The Barley represents the holy and saintly overcomers, the Wheat represents the carnal believers, and the Grapes mostly represent the unsaved unbelievers.
