You should all have a copy of this book to understand and know the deeper things of this Amazing Feast, the Feast of Trumpets. 2024 Represents the Feast of Trumpets day. Do you understand the basics of this day?

It Was A Riddle Not A Command

Torah Portions

Join Our Sabbath Meetings

There are many people in need of fellowship and who are sitting at home on the Sabbath with no one to talk to or debate with. I want to encourage all of you to join us on Shabbat, and to invite others to come and join us as well. If the time is not convenient then you can listen to the teaching and the midrash after on our YouTube channel.

What are we doing and why do we teach this way?

We are going to discuss both sides of an issue and then let you choose. It is the work of the Ruach (Spirit) to direct and to teach you.

The medieval commentator Rashi wrote that the Hebrew word for wrestle (avek) implies that Jacob was “tied”, for the same word is used to describe knotted fringes in a Jewish prayer shawl, the tzitzityot. Rashi says, “thus is the manner of two people who struggle to overthrow each other, that one embraces the other and knots him with his arms”.

Our intellectual wrestling has been replaced by a different kind of struggle. We are Wrestling with Yehovah as we grapple with His Word. It is an intimate act, symbolizing a relationship in which Yehovah and I and you are bound together. My wrestling is a struggle to discover what Yehovah expects of us, and we are “tied” to the One who assists us in that struggle.

Today, many say Israel means “Champion of God”, or better — the “Wrestler of God”.

Our Torah sessions each Shabbat teaches you and encourages you to constantly challenge, question, argue against, as well as view alternative views and explanations of the Word. In other words, we are to “wrestle with the Word” to get to the truth. Jews worldwide believe that you need to wrestle with the Word and constantly challenge Dogma, Theology, and views or else you will never get to the Truth.

We are not like most churches where “The preacher talks and everyone listens.” We encourage everyone to participate, to question and to contribute what they know on the subject being discussed. We want you to be a champion wrestler of the Word of Yehovah. We want you to wear the title of Israel, knowing that you not only know but are capable of explaining why you know the Torah to be true with logic and facts.

We have a few rules though. Let others talk and listen. There is no discussion about UFO’s Nephilim, Vaccines or conspiracy-type subjects. We have people from around the world with different world views. Not everyone cares who is the President of any particular country. Treat each other with respect as Fellow wrestlers of the word. Some of our subjects are hard to understand and require you to be mature and if you do not know, then listen to gain knowledge and understanding and hopefully wisdom. The very things you are commanded to ask Yehovah for and He gives to those who ask.

Jas 1:5  But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and with no reproach, and it shall be given to him.

We hope you can invite those who want to keep Torah to come and join us by hitting the link below. It is almost like a Torah teaching fellowship talk show with people from around the world taking part and sharing their insights and understandings.

We start off with some music and then some prayers and it’s as though you were sitting around the kitchen back in Newfoundland having a cup of coffee and all of us enjoying each other’s company. I hope you will grace us with your company someday.

Sabbath services begin at 12:30 PM EDT where we will be doing prayers songs and teaching from this hour.

Shabbat Services will begin at about 1:15 pm Eastern.

On the Holy Day, Shavuot, we will be having two meetings. One at 10 AM Eastern and the afternoon will be 2 PM Eastern. Look forward to seeing you all there.

We look forward to you joining our family and getting to know us as we get to know you.

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The Sabbatical Year Ends Aviv 1

This means that once we know when the 1st day of the New Year is, you can begin planting. But because we do not know whether or not the barley will be ripe at any particular time, we must wait to discover if we have a 12th or 13th month this year. It does not matter whether you are in the southern or northern hemisphere. Aviv 1 is the same date around the world. Yehovah’s laws do not change and we all must be diligent in obeying them if we desire to break the curse that are now upon the world. Obey so you and your family can be free of the chains of sin and know His Freedom.

The Year goes from Aviv to Aviv.

Exo 12:2  This month shall be to you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year to you.

You are not to plant or harvest in this Sabbatical year from Aviv 1, 2023, to Aviv 1, 2024.

You are not to plant.

Lev 25:4  But in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest to the land, a sabbath for Jehovah. You shall neither sow your field, nor prune your vineyard.

You are not to harvest.

Lev 25:5  You shall not reap that which grows of its own accord of your harvest, neither gather the grapes of your undressed vine. It is a year of rest to the land.

You are to stock up on food in the sixth year.

Lev 25:20  And if you shall say, What shall we eat the seventh year? Behold, we shall not sow nor gather in our increase!

Lev 25:21  Then I will command My blessing on you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth fruit for three years.

Lev 25:22  And you shall sow the eighth year, and eat of old fruit until the ninth year; until its fruits come in, you shall eat the old fruit.

You are to read the Entire Torah on the 1st day of Sukkot in the Sabbatical Year.

Deu 31:9  And Moses wrote this Law and delivered it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who carried the ark of the covenant of Jehovah, and to all the elders of Israel.

Deu 31:10  And Moses commanded them, saying: At the end of seven years, at the set time of the year of release, in the Feast of Tabernacles,

Deu 31:11  when all Israel has come to appear before Jehovah your God in the place which He shall choose, you shall read this Law before all Israel in their hearing.

Deu 31:12  Gather the people, men and women and the little ones, and your stranger who is within your gates, so that they may hear and that they may learn and fear Jehovah your God, and be careful to do all the words of this Law,

Deu 31:13  and that their sons who have not known may hear and learn to fear Jehovah your God, as long as you live in the land where you go over Jordan to possess it.

You are to forgive debts in the Sabbatical Year.

Deu 15:1  At the end of every seven years you shall make a release.

Deu 15:2  And this is the manner of the release. Every man who has a loan to his neighbor shall release it. He shall not exact it from his neighbor, or from his brother, because it is called Jehovah’s release.

Am I Scaring You?

Originally posted in 2009.

This past week I have had a number of pastors write me to complain about the message being given here. I want to thank those of you who are giving this newsletter to your pastors and telling them to watch the DVD. They are watching, but with a hardened heart. They watch to criticize and not to learn.

One pastor wrote me and said I have found what you are doing particularly disturbing. He went on to say you seem insistent on creating panic among people–and in particular the People of God.

Brethren, if what I am saying is scaring the tar out of you, then you know that it is you who is out of step with Yehovah.

I am showing you the nightly news and the headlines of the papers from around the world. Many of you send them to me. You do this because you too see how scriptures are lining up, in particular Lev 26 and the curses of the Sabbatical and Jubilee years. These pastors and religious leaders do not want you to know this. They prefer it when you remain asleep. You are easier to manipulate.

Please wake up and tell the others in your own congregation to WAKE UP. It is now your job to warn them. As we have just read in Australia many went and warned their neighbours, but the fires came too fast. Many died. I am warning you that this fire of drought and famine is coming, you too must warn others. Soon it will be upon us and too late for many and they will die.

Tell people like Lou Dobbs and other news castors to watch the DVD. The more of you who write these people the better the chance that they will look at it. Just like these pastors are now doing, even though they do not like it.

Yehovah has called you to know these truths at this time. Do not be afraid. He is testing you to see if you will obey or not. If you refuse to obey, well then yes you do have reason to be afraid. But I make no apology for being one of the very few who are willing to take the ridicule in order to shout out this warning. Tell me how many others are teaching you about the curses as found in Lev 26? Who else is showing you how they line up with the nightly news?

Certainly not the pastors who are complaining about being scared because they do not obey Yehovah, teaching their flocks that the law is done away and all you have to do is love. They do not actually teach the law is done away, just the 4th commandment is done away.

So for those of you who are scared and for those who only want to love, here is what Yehovah says on the matter, because yours and my opinions do not matter or count.

Ex 20:6 but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.

De 5:10 but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.

De 7:9 Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments;

De 11:1 “Therefore you shall love the Lord your God, and keep His charge, His statutes, His judgments, and His commandments always.

I hope these pastors read this and let it sink into their heads. This is how you love Yehovah, by keeping the commandments. As I said, it is just that simple. Let’s read some more though just to prove the point.

De 11:13 ‘And it shall be that if you earnestly obey My commandments which I command you today, to love the Lord your God and serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul,

De 11:22 “For if you carefully keep all these commandments which I command you to do–to love the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways, and to hold fast to Him–

De 19:9 and if you keep all these commandments and do them, which I command you today, to love the Lord your God and to walk always in His ways, then you shall add three more cities for yourself besides these three,

De 30:16 in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, that you may live and multiply; and the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess.

Jos 22:5 But take careful heed to do the commandment and the law which Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, to love the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways, to keep His commandments, to hold fast to Him, and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul.”

Ne 1:5 And I said: “I pray, Lord God of heaven, O great and awesome God, You who keep Your covenant and mercy with those who love You and observe Your commandments,

Ps 119:47 And I will delight myself in Your commandments, Which I love.

Ps 119:48 My hands also I will lift up to Your commandments, Which I love, And I will meditate on Your statutes.

Ps 119:127 Therefore I love Your commandments More than gold, yes, than fine gold!

Da 9:4 And I prayed to the Lord my God, and made confession, and said, “O Lord, great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and mercy with those who love Him, and with those who keep His commandments,

Joh 14:15 “If you love Me, keep My commandments.

Joh 14:21 He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”

Joh 15:10 If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.

Ro 13:9 For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not bear false witness,” “You shall not covet,” and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

1Jo 5:2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments.

1Jo 5:3 For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.

Why do these wolves who pose as shepherds, not get it? In order to love Yehovah and to love Yehshua you must keep the commandments. I have just quoted it 21 times. These are not my words yet they say I am scaring people who do not keep the law. They need to be scared, they need to be terrified. They are going against Yehovah. That would terrify me.

Jas 2:19 You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe–and tremble!

Once Yehovah has set in motion the terrible things you see on the news right now and the things to come, you only have one hope. I have quoted it twice above.

Ex 20:6 but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.

De 5:10 but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments

He will show mercy to you and protect you and keep you from the fiery trial

1 Peter 4: 18 Now “If the righteous one is scarcely saved, Where will the ungodly and the sinner appear?”

Things are going to get tough. Those who obey will be saved, but just barely. Those who do not ought to be terrified as this pastor has said. For who in their right mind would want to hear the following words from our Messiah

Matthew 7:21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ 24 “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock:

1Jo 3:4 Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness.

Psalm 119:172 My tongue shall speak of Your word, For all Your commandments are righteousness.

Ezekiel 14: 12 The word of the Lord came again to me, saying: 13 “Son of man, when a land sins against Me by persistent unfaithfulness, I will stretch out My hand against it; I will cut off its supply of bread, send famine on it, and cut off man and beast from it. 14 Even if these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they would deliver only themselves by their righteousness,” says the Lord God. 15 “If I cause wild beasts to pass through the land, and they empty it, and make it so desolate that no man may pass through because of the beasts, 16 even though these three men were in it, as I live,” says the Lord God, “they would deliver neither sons nor daughters; only they would be delivered, and the land would be desolate. 17 “Or if I bring a sword on that land, and say, ‘Sword, go through the land,’ and I cut off man and beast from it, 18 even though these three men were in it, as I live,” says the Lord God, “they would deliver neither sons nor daughters, but only they themselves would be delivered. 19 “Or if I send a pestilence into that land and pour out My fury on it in blood, and cut off from it man and beast, 20 even though Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, as I live,” says the Lord God, “they would deliver neither son nor daughter; they would deliver only themselves by their righteousness.” 21 For thus says the Lord God: “How much more it shall be when I send My four severe judgments on Jerusalem–the sword and famine and wild beasts and pestilence–to cut off man and beast from it? 22 Yet behold, there shall be left in it a remnant who will be brought out, both sons and daughters; surely they will come out to you, and you will see their ways and their doings. Then you will be comforted concerning the disaster that I have brought upon Jerusalem, all that I have brought upon it. 23 And they will comfort you, when you see their ways and their doings; and you shall know that I have done nothing without cause that I have done in it,” says the Lord God.

Yes brethren if you do not keep the commandments you have sinned. If you remain in your sin you will be told “I never Knew You” and because of our sins this land, and this world are suffering the curses of Lev 26 which are again, told to us in Ezekiel 14.
Yes these pastors do need to be afraid and do need to reread the scriptures.

But does it not say that Satan is attacking those who KEEP the commands of Yehovah? Why is he not attacking those who do not keep the commandments? Is it not because they are already deceived as these pastors are?

Now today in 2024 we are in the year that represents the Feast of Judgment when the Messiah is to come and judge the world. It will take ten years to complete when Satan will finally be locked away in 2033. Now more than ever is the time to repent and return to obeying Yehovah.

Deleavening Your Home

It is now just past the full moon. In two months time we will begin to celebrate Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread. We read in Mt 24:45 “Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master made ruler over his household, to give them food in due season?

So with the Passover season approaching and with many new people learning the Torah and wanting to keep the Holy Days we shall begin now to teach on these.

Once again I am telling you to turn off Oprah and Dr. Phil and to start to read you bible. There is nothing on TV worth watching. Many of you are sharing this News letter and encouraging others to read it and to prove those things said here true or false. I do thank you. But in reality it is those who have come here and learnt the truth that are thanking you. You have saved their lives.
But once you have been turned on to the truth, do not just read what is written here. Search other sites and other groups and learn also from them, what is true and what is not true.

I keep telling you how little time is left and so I am trying to give you as much information as I can without you being over whelmed. Turn off the TV and this will help.

We now have just two months to Passover.

Immediately after the Passover comes a festival that shows us the next step in the plan of Yahweh. After Yahshua is sacrificed as the Passover Lamb, and we have been forgiven for our sins, how do we continue to avoid sin, since we must go on living in newness of life? How do we live as Yahweh’s redeemed people? We find the remarkable answer in the symbolism of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

When Yahweh freed Israel from slavery in Egypt, He told His people that for “seven days you shall eat unleavened bread” (Exodus 12:15). Verse 39 further explains: “And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough which they had brought out of Egypt; for it was not leavened, because they were driven out of Egypt and could not wait, nor had they prepared provisions for themselves.”
The leavening process, which makes bread rise, takes time. The Israelites had no time to spare when they left Egypt, so they baked and ate flat bread. What started out as a necessity continued for a week. Yahweh appropriately named this time the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Leviticus 23:6), or Days of Unleavened Bread (Acts 12:3).

When Yeshua came to earth as a human, He observed this seven-day festival’ sometimes called the Feast of Passover by the Jews because of the proximity of the Passover to the Days of Unleavened Bread. Yeshua kept it as a child and later as an adult (Luke 2:41; Matthew 26:17). The early Church, kept it as well.

Yahweh gave His earliest instructions concerning this festival to the Israelites as they prepared to leave Egypt. “This is a day you are to commemorate; for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the LORD’ a lasting ordinance. For seven days you are to eat bread made without yeast. On the first day remove the yeast from your houses, for whoever eats anything with yeast in it from the first day through the seventh must be cut off from Israel. On the first day hold a sacred assembly, and another one on the seventh day. Do no work at all on these days, except to prepare food for everyone to eat-that is all you may do” (Exodus 12:14-16, New International Version).

This is where we get the expression of spring cleaning from De leavening our homes.

Each year as the Israelites observed this feast, it reminded them of Yahweh’s deliverance of their forefathers from Egypt. The Creator instructed, “Celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread, because it was on this very day that I brought your divisions out of Egypt” (verse 17, NIV). The exodus from Egypt remains as a foundational reason for observing this feast today. Just as Yahweh delivered ancient Israel, He delivers us from our sins and difficulties.

Now notice Yeshua’s teaching about leaven, which expands the meaning of this feast.

During Yahshua’s ministry He performed two miracles in which a few fish and loaves of bread fed thousands of people. After one of these incidents, when His disciples had gone around the Sea of Galilee, they forgot to bring bread with them. So Yeshua told them, “Watch out and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”

The disciples thought Yeshua was referring to their lack of bread. However, He was using the occasion to teach them by calling on the symbolism of leaven. Yeshua asked them, “How is it that you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread? But beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” Then the disciples “understood that He did not say to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees” (Matthew 16:5-12, NASB).

Some of the members of the religious establishment of Yeshua’s day appeared to be righteous, yet they secretly practiced sinful behavior. Yeshua let them know He knew their hearts. They may have appeared righteous to other people, “but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness” (Matthew 23:28).

The Days of Unleavened Bread remind us that with Yahweh’s help we must remove and avoid all types of sin “symbolized by leaven” in all areas of our life.

Symbolically we do this by cleaning our homes and our places of business and our cars and removing any bread or bread products that contain leaven or yeast from them.

During the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the apostle Paul taught the same spiritual lessons as Yeshua, invoking the comparison of sin to leaven. In the context of reprimanding the Corinthian congregation for its divisions, jealousies and tolerance of sexual misconduct, Paul wrote: “Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Yeshua, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” (1 Corinthians 5:6-8).

The church at Corinth was obviously and unmistakably keeping the Feast of Unleavened Bread, to which Paul repeatedly alluded. However, Paul used the Corinthians’ faithful obedience in keeping the feast physically (removing leaven from their homes) as a basis to encourage them to celebrate this feast with proper understanding of its spiritual intent.

Today removing leaven from our homes for seven days reminds us that we, too, through prayer and Yahweh’s help and understanding, must recognize, expel and avoid sin. The Feast of Unleavened Bread is thus a time of personal reflection. We should meditate on our attitudes and conduct and ask Yahweh to help us recognize and overcome our shortcomings.

Paul spoke of this much-needed self-reflection in 2 Corinthians 13:5 when he told the Corinthian church: “Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Yeshua the Messiah is in you, unless indeed you are disqualified.”

Paul explained the significance of the phrase “Yeshua the Messiah is in you” in Galatians 2:20: “I have been crucified with Yeshua; it is no longer I who live, but Yeshua lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of Yahweh, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”

These seven days of self-examination prove invaluable in helping us to devote our lives to Yahweh and Yeshua. This week-long period also pictures our eventual triumph over sin. As Yahweh delivered the ancient Israelites from enslavement to Egypt, so He delivers us from our enslavement to sin (Romans 6:12-18).

We learn by doing. We learn spiritual lessons by doing physical things. Performing the task of deleavening our homes reminds us to vigilantly watch for sinful thoughts and actions so we can avoid them. Yahweh knows that, in spite of our good intentions, we all sin.

Many years after his conversion, Paul described the powerful human tendency to sin. “I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. For I delight in the law of Yahweh according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank Yahweh-through Yeshua the Messiah! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of Yahweh, but with the flesh the law of sin” (Romans 7:21-25).

Paul knew life itself is a battle with sin. The Bible speaks of “the sin which so easily ensnares us” (Hebrews 12:1). We have our own part to play in struggling to overcome sin. Yet, paradoxically, we must rely on Yahweh to help us. Paul explained this to the Philippians by telling them to “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is Yahweh who works in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:12-13, King James Version).

Our observance of the Days of Unleavened Bread helps us realize our need for Yeshua’s help in overcoming our weaknesses. Yet this feast is certainly a time for rejoicing because Yeshua freely gives us the help we need. Yeshua, the Lamb of Yahweh, was sacrificed for the forgiveness of our sins, thus unleavening, or cleansing, our lives. He continues to help us live obediently through Yahweh’s Spirit dwelling in us.

Paul tells us in Ro 2:13 (for not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified;

James tells us it is the doers of the law who will be justified. Jas 1:22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

Let’s read what James also has to say about doing things.

James 2:14 What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? 17 Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. 18 But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your F6 works, and I will show you my faith by my F7 works. 19 You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe–and tremble! 20 But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? F8 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? 22 Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? 23 And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” F9 And he was called the friend of God. 24 You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only. 25 Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way? 26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

Some brethren do not believe we should keep the days of Unleaveded bread. Some do but they say you do not have to remove the leaven from your homes.

The bible says we do have to keep this time for ever, and that you do have to remove the leaven, and that by doing so you are acting out your faith by your works.

I am sharing this message now with you, so that you have time to begin to clean one room or two a week before the Days arrive in about two months time. You will see as you move your frig and stove how the crud has piled up over time and how hard it is to remove. This is the same as sin sneaking in to your lives and you not knowing it until one day it is exposed. Then you see how hard it is to remove or correct that sin. It is not easy.

You will learn by doing. Please consider doing the necessary work in cleaning your home so that you will be ready for the Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread.

Always remember that as you move closer to Yahweh, He moves closer to you. When you stop so does He and he waits for you to make the next move.

The more you learn and practice the more that will be revealed to you. But if you do nothing you learn nothing.

So may your spring cleaning be bountiful in teaching you many lessons from the scriptures.

The Day of the Lord – The Feast of Trumpets

As you all should know, all of us are struggling to understand our Bibles in relation to world events. I am no different than you.

A brother by the name of Chris Erlank, who has been following our teachings for several years, wrote to me to tell me that these ten years of Awe began in the fall because they ended in the fall at Atonement in 2033.

I would always reply that Exodus 12:2 states the year begins with Aviv.

After our brief discussions, we would leave it and say we will see at Trumpets in 2023. When that date passed in 2023, Chris wrote me to concede the point as nothing had happened. But something did happen….

I wrote you in my introduction last week about my vision and then how this other brother had a dream the same night about confronting a Hamas terrorist with his trumpet. I will include it here for this record.

Last week’s introduction was more than I expected to say, but all things revolving around the Feast of Trumpets is consuming me.

On January 1, 2024, I awoke at 4 AM, considering the Feast of Trumpets as both a day and as a year. I began to compare each event on the Feast of Trumpets with the year. I had not done this before and within a moment I began to make connections that left me unable to get back to sleep. I was up the night before until 2 AM working on the next video and wanted to sleep, but these thoughts raced through my head and kept coming. These thoughts did not excite me as they troubled me exceedingly as I matched up world events with the Feast of Trumpets.

I began to write them down before I forgot them during the day and eagerly waited for someone to wake up so I could talk to them, only to find out they too had just had a dream about themselves defending against a Hamas terrorist and how the trumpet consumed the gun-wielding bandit. Both of us having these vision and dreams at the same time. How odd, especially for me as I loath those who want to tell me their dreams.

But these thoughts continued to flood my mind all of Monday and Tuesday. At our Executive meeting Tuesday evening I put the vision to the team and demanded to know everything and all things about the Feast of Trumpets down to the details and then tasked them to dig into this and see what they can discover that we do not already know. The movie I was working on took on a new sense of urgency and had to be changed. I also contacted the head of the Chabad organization here in Canada and I will be having a meeting with them to discuss this with them as well.

I hope to have it written out for you by next Sabbath. I am currently working on my taxes for the year getting them ready and put into an new system to help us streamline things. It is taxing my brain to get it all done but I could not do it without the help of a sister with the patience of Job.

I would like to explain what I am now understanding to you in this week’s Newsletter to the best of my ability.

The year most definitely begins with Aviv, as Exodus 12:2 states. That has not changed. But for this analogy we must look at the year as in the Day of the Lord.

We have in scripture certain verses that use the day for a year in prophecy. The first one is from Yehovah Himself.

Num 14:34  According to the number of the days in which you searched the land, forty days, each day for a year you shall bear your iniquities, forty years; and you shall know My alienation.

Again, it is Yehovah telling Ezekiel that one day on his side represented an entire year.

Ezk 4:5  For I have laid on you the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days. So you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.

Ezk 4:6  And when you have fulfilled them, lie again on your right side, and you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days; a day for a year; a day for a year, I have set for you.

Many Bible students have used the Daniel 70 weeks prophecy, thinking it is 70 X 7 to get 490 days, and they then take those 490 days and make them into 490 years. We know here that the 70 weeks of Daniel is, in truth, speaking of the 70 Jubilee Cycles, or 70 Shabua, which is what the world weeks actually means, but I cite this here as another example used by theologians.

Very few cite this next verse as proof that a day can also represent a year in the Bible, but Laban did state this as a matter of fact, and Jacob knew that it meant he would work for another seven years before he could marry Rachel.

Gen 29:26  And Laban said, It must not be done so in our country, to give the younger before the first-born.

Gen 29:27  Fulfill her week, and we will give you this one also for the service which you shall serve with me still another seven years.

So, a day can mean a year in prophecy, and in this teaching, we are looking specifically at the Day of the Lord.

When we go to Genesis 1, we are told over and over how the day begins with darkness and ends with light. The Day begins at sunset and ends the following sunset.

Gen 1:5  And God called the light, Day. And He called the darkness, Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

Gen 1:8  And God called the expanse, Heavens. And the evening and the morning were the second day.

Gen 1:13  And the evening and the morning were the third day.

Gen 1:19  And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

Gen 1:23  And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.

Gen 1:31  And God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

Yehovah makes sure there is no misunderstanding by stating it clearly in Lev 23. From the evening of the 9^th until the evening of the 10^th shall be your Day of Atonement Sabbath. Yehovah Himself tells us It goes from sunset to sunset.

Lev 23:32  It shall be to you a sabbath of rest, and you shall humble your souls. In the ninth of the month at evening, from evening to evening, you shall keep your sabbath.

We are talking about the Day of the Lord, which is the Feast of Trumpets. Anyone who has gone out to look for the moon on the Feast of Trumpets will quickly understand what I am about to explain.

The first thing you must do to determine the Feast of Trumpets is to have people looking for the new crescent moon. They must know where to look, and they must know when to look. We do not know who will see it or when or even if anyone will see it, but we will have people out looking. Then once the moon is seen by two witnesses, they must then go before the High Priest and testify they saw it.

Next, we must know the sun has set. Sunset begins the next day. This is clearly demonstrated in the very first chapter of the Bible, as we have quoted above.

You also must understand that in Israel, there are only two seasons: summer and winter. You will not find in the Bible any mention of fall or spring in the original Hebrew.

Gen 8:22  While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.

Psa 74:17  You have set all the borders of the earth; You have made summer and winter.

Zec 14:8  And it shall be in that day, living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them shall go toward the eastern sea, and half of them toward the western sea. In summer and in winter it shall be.

Amo 3:15  And I will strike the winter house together with the summer house, and the houses of ivory shall perish. And the great houses shall be swept away, says Jehovah.

So, if a day is likened to a year and the year has two seasons, then winter would be likened to the night time, and summer would likened to the daytime.

Winter, a.k.a., the night begins on the first day of the seventh month. Summer, a.k.a. the day, begins on the first of Aviv. So, the Day of the Lord, the Feast of Trumpets, begins on the first day of Winter.

The 1^st day of the Feast of Trumpets would represent the moment the sun has set. Twelve months represent 24 hours – 6 months represent 12 hours – 3 months represent 6 hours. So, one month represents 3 hours. Five days would represent 1/2 hour. Please double-check my math.

This is not meant to be precisely moment by moment, but it is a guide to understanding the events of this past year.

When the sunset on Thursday, August 17, 2023, the Day of Trumpets began, and at the same time, the Day of or the Year of the Lord began. Yom Teruah is a day of shouting, the year of shouting, and it is the alarm to remind mankind that Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, the final day of judgment, is now fast approaching. It is now just ten years until mankind repents or until they are all destroyed for not obeying our King.

According to tradition, Yehovah judges all creatures during the 10 Days of Awe between Yom Teruah and Yom Kippur, deciding whether they will live or die during these next 10 days or, in our understanding, over these next 10 years. The Torah teaches that Yehovah inscribes the names of the righteous in the “Book of Life” and condemns the wicked to death on Yom Kippur. This is when Satan will be locked away, which is represented by the Azazel Goat that is thrown into the pit on the Day of Atonement each year. Most of those things in the Book of Revelation are to take place during this time.

You have until Yom Kippur in ten year’s time to perform “teshuvah,” or to repent and return to obeying Yehovah. Now is the time; seize the moment and repent! If you wait until the end of the ten years, it means you will have to do this during the Great Tribulation, so do it now rather than later. It grows exponentially harder with each passing year.

In the same way, you cannot see the moon at the exact moment the sun sets, neither will the witnesses see the moon to announce this day for let’s say an hour or three, which in our math equation is about 30 days later. As it turned out, this 7th month in 2023, was a 30-day month, with the moon only being seen at sunset on Saturday, September 16, 2023. Although I looked for it, I could not see it because of the buildings blocking the way.

Those on the Hillel Calendar would be keeping Yom Teruah on the evening of Friday, September 15, 2023. In the land of Israel is where you are to sight the moon to begin the month. Here in Israel, you report to the High Priest once you have seen it.

In my book The Restoration of All Things, I show you those people who have been active in restoring some of those things back to our knowledge so we can obey Yehovah by keeping His Moedim at the proper time.

Nehemia Gordon began to restore the sighting of the moon in 1994 and searched for the Barley to begin the year. Keith Johnson began to restore the proper name of Yehovah to our public conscience in 2010, and I began to restore the Sabbatical and Jubilee years to everyone’s understanding in 2005. All three of us have ministries, and all three of us, by chance, were in the Holy Land at this very time in 2023.

Nehemia was there with his wife visiting family for a few months and left on October 13. Keith was there doing a tour and visiting from about September 10 to October 6. I was there from August 30 until October 11, doing a tour and looking for the abomination to be set up. Not one of us knew what was about to begin.

In my book, The 2300 Days of Hell, we explain how the 70^th week of Daniel is 70 Jubilee Cycles, which starts with Moses at the burning bush. Seven Jubilee Cycles later, Messiah the Prince, King David, is born, just as Daniel 9 says and then 62 Jubilee Cycles later, the final and last Jubilee Cycles begins – this was 1996. Both the 70^th Jubilee Cycle and the 120^th one for mankind are the same, starting in 1996. It was in this same year, 1996, that a group of Jews marched around Jerusalem, declaring the time of “Jacobs Trouble” had begun.

Daniel’s prophecy warns us the decline of the nations of Israel would begin in the midst of the 70^th week or the 70^th Shabua, which is the 70^th Jubilee Cycle and that middle was 2020. Even though we were warning people about 2020, when it happened, we did not fully understand it until 2021 came and we looked back. Then we realized that COVID was what caused the daily prayers of our lips to cease when every church, synagogue, mosque, and temple around the world went into lockdown to stop the spread of this Biblical plague. That announcement by W.H.O. on March 11, 2020, was when we kept Passover that year.

We then realized the Daniel 12:11 prophecy might very well begin starting on March 11, 2020. 1290 Days later brings you to September 22, 2023. So, I wrote our 2^nd book in the Elijah Trilogy, The Abomination That Makes Desolate, to explain all of this and warn people that something was about to happen around September 22, 2023. I was so sure, I even went to Israel to witness this event. When we went to the place where we expected it to be set up, sure enough, there was a new shrine to the Virgin Mary being built in the Holy Place where no statues had ever stood. I even spoke to Yehudah Glick, a former member of the Knesset and former leader of the Temple Mount Movement, in person and wrote public letters to the Prime Minister and the Chief Rabbi.

Keith Johnson contacted me and was very annoyed with my antics and warnings. Some of his people were very concerned about what I was saying and about being there on tour at this same time. Not one of these people believed me, but when September 22 came, nothing happened. I began to doubt myself. There was no abomination set up – the shrine was built but no statue.

On Wednesday, September 20, I could hear trumpets in my dreams while I slept on Mount Golgotha, blowing loudly through the skies, and it was so sweet and smooth and loud. I woke up wondering what the Trumpet of the Lord would sound like and thinking that if I ever heard it, it would sound like that – sweet, smooth as silk and very loud. Then, the next night, on Thursday, September 21, I again heard the loud, beautiful sound of the Trumpet blasting across the Kidron Valley to where I was staying. This time, I was not asleep. I got up and went outside to hear the trumpets being blown from the Kotel at the Western Wall on loudspeakers from 12 AM to 1:30 AM. It was so beautiful in the crisp, cool air of the night. It was still four days until the Hillel Yom Kippur, Sunday night and Monday.

Friday, September 22, 2023, no statue was set up. Keith Johnson met with me the following Wednesday to discover why I was passionate about this abomination. Although he understood, he was not convinced of my understanding of the scriptures. I also tried to explain these things to Keith when I met him in Charlotte, North Carolina in December 2022.

On Friday, September 29, Nehemia invited me to keep Erev Shabbat and the start of the Feast of Sukkot on the Hillel calendar at his sister’s home. He recorded us walking, talking and seeing the Blood Moon rising over Jordan. A blood moon is a warning of the sword coming.

When nothing happened on September 22, 2023, our team here at sightedmoon.com went back to the drawing board, looking to see what we might have missed. We then saw that Prime Minister Netanyahu had declared a national lockdown for Israel, not on Sept 22, when W.H.O. announced it, but two weeks later, on March 25, 2020, which is 14 days after the date we thought it would happen. So, we were now watching for some sort of abomination to be set up on October 6. I looked at the place where they had built a shrine and could not see anything happening where we expected it, and I looked again on October 7 while the rockets were flying overhead, oblivious to the horrors being acted out at that very same time all around Gaza. The Abomination was set up at the Rav festival in Be’eri, Israel. The Rav was located in what the Bible called Kadesh Barnea, which was also known as the Holy Land. Kadesh means Holy.

Returning back to our analogy of the start of the Feast of Shouting, Yom Teruah, as a year and not just a day. I heard the loud shofar blast from the Temple Mount five weeks after our Yom Teruah on August 17, 2023. This would be equivalent to about 3 ½ hours on our Day for a year analogy. But it was the shofar blast I heard representing what was meant for this day or year of Trumpets. Yom Teruah is a day of shouting and of war. On October 7, 2023, we most certainly heard shouting, and it was heard around the world as the start of this new war that had just begun. The shouting and the horrors of this war are ongoing and will continue for the following number of months, with Israel fighting on seven fronts.

We had three witnesses in the land at the same time—Nehemia, Keith and myself. Nehemia recorded us talking and walking and witnessing the blood-red moon rising at the Shabbat meal with his sister. On October 7, both Yehudah and Keith acknowledged I was right about what I had been warning them about.

Daniel 12 has this other interesting verse that we must heed.

Dan 12:11  And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the desolating abomination set up, a thousand two hundred and ninety days shall occur.

Dan 12:12  Blessed is he who waits and comes to the thousand three hundred and thirty-five days.

Yehshua warned us that when we saw the abomination spoken of by Daniel, we would have to flee right away. You did not have time to gather your things or even to grab your coat, but to flee immediately. The Abomination was set up on Friday, October 6, and at 6:30 AM Shabbat morning, Hamas attacked and began the slaughter and raping of 1400 men, women and children while many of them slept. The Abomination was the Buddha inflatable statue set up over the DJ tent at the Rav around which the throng of people danced all night. They were not keeping Shemini Atzeret.

When we arrived at the 1335-day count, which was just 45 days after the war started, then the first bunch of hostages were freed on November 24, 2023. November 21 was the 1335 days from the time Netanyahu began lockdown back on March 25, 2020. November 21 was possibly when the agreement was reached to free the hostages.

Before I move on to the next point I must insert in here what Yehshua says in Matthew as there are so many clues to what I have just told you and to what I am about to show you.

Mat 24:6  And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled, for all these things must occur; but the end is not yet.

Mat 24:7  For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines and pestilences and earthquakes in different places.

Mat 24:8  All these are the beginning of sorrows.

Mat 24:9  Then they will deliver you up to be afflicted and will kill you. And you will be hated of all nations for My name’s sake.

Mat 24:10  And then many will be offended, and will betray one another, and will hate one another.

Mat 24:11  And many false prophets will rise and deceive many.

Mat 24:12  And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many will become cold.

Mat 24:13  But he who endures to the end, the same shall be kept safe.

Mat 24:14  And this gospel of the kingdom shall be proclaimed in all the world as a witness to all nations. And then the end shall come.

The Abomination of Desolation

Mat 24:15  Therefore when you see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place (whoever reads, let him understand).

Mat 24:16  Then let those in Judea flee into the mountains.

Mat 24:17  Let him on the housetop not come down to take anything out of his house;

Mat 24:18  nor let him in the field turn back to take his clothes.

Mat 24:19  And woe to those who are with child, and to those who give suck in those days!

Mat 24:20  But pray that your flight is not in the winter, nor on the sabbath day;

Mat 24:21  for then shall be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world to this time; no, nor ever shall be.

Mat 24:22  And unless those days should be shortened, no flesh would be saved. But for the elect’s sake, those days shall be shortened.

Mat 24:23  Then if any man shall say to you, Lo, here isChrist! Or, There! Do not believe it.

Mat 24:24  For false Christs and false prophets will arise and show great signs and wonders; so much so that, if it were possible, they would deceive even the elect.

Mat 24:25  Behold, I have told you beforehand.

Mat 24:26  Therefore if they shall say to you, Behold, He is in the desert! Do not go out. Behold, He is in the secret rooms! Do not believe it.

Mat 24:27  For as the lightning comes out of the east and shines even to the west, so also will be the coming of the Son of Man.

Mat 24:28  For wherever the carcass is, there the eagles will be gathered.

The Coming of the Son of Man

Mat 24:29  And immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun shall be darkened and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from the heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken.

Mat 24:30  And then the sign of the Son of Man shall appear in the heavens. And then all the tribes of the earth shall mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of the heaven with power and great glory.

Mat 24:31  And He shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather His elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.

Now for more understanding about this Holy Day of Yom Teruah. On this day, the Thief in the Night would sneak into the Temple and check to see if the priest on duty that night was still awake, keeping an eye on the fire upon the altar so that it did not go out.

If that priest was found asleep, the Thief in the Night would take some coals from that fire and put them on the clothing of the sleeping priest who would wake up to see his clothes on fire and have to rip them off and run home naked.

What does this look like? To find out, we must go to Revelation. Keep in mind we are talking about the thief who comes in the night which would represent the winter when we use a day for the year prophecy. So sometime this winter, we expect something like what you are about to read to take place.

Also, be aware that each day during the 10 days of Awe, the Trumpets are blown, warning people to repent and teshuvah back to Yehovah. It is during this time when the seven trumpet plagues are poured out. I believe one trumpet is blown for each year during the next Sabbatical cycle from 2024 to 2030. 2030 represents Shabbat Shuva, the day of return or the year of return to the land of Israel.

Rev 8:1  And when He opened the seventh seal, there was silence in Heaven for about half an hour.

Rev 8:2  And I saw the seven angels who stood before God, and seven trumpets were given to them.

I believe the angels are right now being gathered before the Altar of Yehovah with the trumpet plagues in their hands. This silence in heaven of about a half hour equates to about five days on our day-for-year equation. What is this silence in heaven?

Understand we have just begun the Feast of Shouting, the Feast of Trumpets, the shouting of War and judgment. Does silence mean a five-day truce? But also understand that the Trumpets were to be blown to announce the arrival of the King, our Messiah, who was to come on the Feast of Trumpets. He is coming as a thief. He is going to sneak in when no one sees Him.

At the same time, He is also going to be announced by Trumpets, but many will not hear or know what the noise is.

“The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Make two silver trumpets. Of hammered work you shall make them, and you shall use them for summoning the congregation and for breaking camp. And when both are blown, all the congregation shall gather themselves to you at the entrance of the tent of meeting.” (Numbers 10:1-4)

The original Hebrew word for ‘trumpet’ is ‘Chatzo’tzerah’ {חצוצרה} . This is a fascinating word because we do not know for sure what its origin is. In fact, this Hebrew word has a four letter root – which is very rare to find in the Hebrew language – H- Z- Z-R. {ח-צ-צ-ר}

Some of the Hebrew scholars believe that this word came from the Hebrew adjective ׳ zar’ {צר} which means ‘narrow’ and suggests the narrow shape of this instrument.

Mat 7:13  Go in through the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many there are who go in through it.

Mat 7:14  Because narrow is the gate and constricted isthe way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

The ‘Septuagint’ (the old Greek translation of the Bible) is very clear about the difference between the ‘Chatzo’tzerah’ (‘trumpet’) and the ‘Shofar’ {שופר} (‘horn’), as can be found in the following example from Psalms:

“With TRUMPETS and the sound of the HORN make a joyful noise before the King, the LORD!” (Psalm 98:6)

There, according to the Old Greek translation, the ‘trumpet’ is made out of metal and the ‘Shofar’ is made out of an animal’s horn. By the way, in the old Latin translation (the ‘Vulgate’) the word for ‘trumpet’ is ‘tuba.׳

One of the main differences between the ‘Shofar’ and the ‘trumpet’ is that while everyone could blow in the ‘Shofar,’ in the ‘trumpet’ ONLY the priests were allowed to do so:

“And the sons of Aaron, the priests, shall blow the trumpets. he trumpets shall be to you for a perpetual statute throughout your generations.” (Numbers 10:8)

The importance of the role the trumpet played in the Temple in Jerusalem can be found in the Book of Ezra (among others) at the description of the rebuilding of the Temple:

“And when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the LORD, the priests in their vestments came forward with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise the LORD, according to the directions of David king of Israel.” (Ezra 3:10)

I believe the 5th and 6th seals are in the process of being played out right now, with the martyrdom of saints taking place along with the 6th seal or the 6th seal combined with the 1st trumpet now about to begin which will cause the silence in heaven of a half hour. We must watch. Could it be a nuclear blast in which the world holds it breath for 5 days?

Rev 6:9 And when He had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the Word of God, and for the testimony which they held.

Rev 6:10 And they cried with a loud voice, saying, Until when, Master, holy and true, do You not judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?

Rev 6:11 And white robes were given to each one of them. And it was said to them that they should rest yet for a little time, until both their fellow servants and their brothers (those about to be killed as they were ) should have their number made complete.

Rev 6:12 And when He had opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake. And the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood.

Rev 6:13 And the stars of heaven fell to the earth, even as a fig tree casts her untimely figs when she is shaken by a mighty wind.

Rev 6:14 And the heaven departed like a scroll when it is rolled together. And every mountain and island were moved out of their places.

Rev 6:15 And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every freeman, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains.

Rev 6:16 And they said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him sitting on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb;

Rev 6:17 for the great day of His wrath has come, and who will be able to stand?

The sixth seal causes people from every segment of society to hide in caves and call to the surrounding mountains and rocks,

“Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can withstand it?” (Revelation 6:16–17).

It is almost like the ten virgins all being awakened at the same time and knowing He is coming. Five were ready, and five were not. What is that one event that is going to cause all 10 virgins to wake up knowing our Messiah is coming?

The sixth seal sounds like a nuclear explosion of such magnitude that every nation is moved around the world. The heaven rolls up like a scroll from the mushroom cloud, and the stars falling are rockets shooting across the sky, much like what we have witnessed in the attacks by Gaza on Israel and the iron dome defending her. The Great Earthquake could also be a nuclear attack. But on who and when? The answer may be found in understanding the thief in the night.

Between the sixth seal of Revelation 6 and the first trumpet in Revelation 8 is Revelation 7, talking about the 144,000 and an innumerable multitude of people before the throne, but we are also told these are those who have come out of the Great Tribulation which we have not yet started. That time is from 2030 to 2033.

Rev 7:14  And I said to him, Sir, you know. And he said to me, These are the ones who came out of the great tribulation and have washed their robes, and have whitened them in the blood of the Lamb.

Revelation 8:1 “there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.”

The arrival of the King in all His majesty is all I can see that would make the absolute, sudden silence even more dramatic. There is something about the seventh seal that stops every mouth and silences all of heaven. Scripture does not specify the reasons for the silence in heaven for that half an hour. But here are some possibilities.

The silence in heaven is a sign of deep respect and awe in the presence of the Judge of all the earth. Just as earthly courtrooms demand silence when the judge presides, so does the heavenly courtroom.

Zep 1:7  Be silent before the face of the Lord Jehovah, for the day of Jehovah is at hand. For Jehovah has appointed a sacrifice; He has consecrated His called ones.

Zep 1:8  And it shall be in the day of Jehovah’s sacrifice, I will punish the rulers, and the king’s sons, and all who are clothed in foreign clothing.

Zep 1:9  And I will punish all those who leap on the threshold in that day, who fill their masters’ houses withviolence and deceit.

Zep 1:10  And it shall be in that day, says Jehovah, the sound of a cry from the Fish Gate, and a howling from the Second, and a great crashing from the hills.

Zep 1:11  Howl, people of Maktesh, for all the people of Canaan are cut down; all those who carry silver are cut off.

Zep 1:12  And it shall be in that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and punish the men who are settled on their lees; who say in their heart, Jehovah will not do good, nor will He do evil.

Zep 1:13  And their goods shall become a prize and their houses a waste. They shall also build houses, but not live in them, and they shall plant vineyards, but not drink their wine.

Zep 1:14  The great day of Jehovah is near; it is near and rushing greatly, the voice of the day of Jehovah. The mighty man shall cry bitterly there.

Zep 1:15  That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of waste and ruin, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness,

Zep 1:16  a day of the ram’s horn and alarm against the fortified cities, and against the high towers.

Zep 1:17  And I will bring distress on men, so that they shall walk with the blind, because they have sinned against Jehovah. And their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as dung.

Zep 1:18  Their silver nor their gold will not be able to deliver them in the day of Jehovah’s wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of His jealousy. For He shall make even a full, yea, a speedy end of all the dwellers in the land.

Hab 2:20  But Jehovah is in His holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before Him.

Read where your prayers are stored and understand that it is the time to pray as if your lives depend on it. It is time to pray like never before and to repent, turn back and begin to obey the commandments. Understand the incense rose up before the curtain of the Ark. And once a year at the end of these 10 Days of Awe, the High Priest, also known as the Theif in the night, would go into the Holy of Holies where he would offer the incense before the ark of Yehovah. That was once a year at the end of the 10 Days of Awe. We are talking about the 1st day of those 10 Days of Awe. The High Priest, every day was to offer incense on the Golden Altar outside the curtain of the Ark.

Exo 30:6 And you shall put it before the veil that is by the ark of the testimony, in front of the mercy-seat that is beside the testimony, where I will meet with you.

Exo 30:7 And Aaron shall burn sweet incense on it every morning; when he dresses the lamps he shall burn it.

Exo 30:8 And when Aaron lights the lamps at evening, he shall burn it, a perpetual incense before Jehovah throughout your generations.

Lev 16:12 And he shall take a censer full of coals of fire from off the altar before Jehovah, and his hands full of fragrant perfumes beaten small, and bring it within the veil.

Lev 16:13 And he shall put the incense on the fire before Jehovah. And the cloud of the incense shall cover the mercy-seat that is on the Testimony. And he shall not die.

Lev 16 is describing events on the Day of Atonement. We can conclude that Revelation 8 is not on the Day of Atonement because he is offering the incense on the altar. The prayers of the Saints.

Rev 8:3 And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer. And many incenses were given to him, so that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints on the golden altar before the throne.

Rev 8:4 And the smoke of the incense which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God from the angel’s hand.

Rev 8:5 And the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar, and cast it into the earth. And voices and thunderings and lightnings and an earthquake occurred.

What does it mean to cast the fire on the earth?

Throwing fire down to the earth may be an allusion to Ezekiel 10:2. In Ezekiel, a man dressed in linen takes coals from the altar and flings them over the city of Jerusalem as a sign of judgment. When this is done, a number of apocalyptic images appear, thunder lightning and an earthquake. All of these resonate with Revelation 8:3-5.

If it is the censer which is hurled to the earth, then the background for the image may be the daily worship in the temple. As far as I know, Massyngberde Ford was the first to suggest this (Revelation, 136), I encountered the suggestion through Jon Paulien (Decoding Revelation’s Trumpets, 314).

In the Mishnah tractate Tamid 5:4-6, when the censer was cast down, it made such a loud sound that it was a signal for three things to happen, the first two are worship, the third is that a priest go to the eastern gate to begin dealing with those who need to deal with personal uncleanliness.

Tamid 5:5-6. A. He who won [the right to the ashes with] the firepan took the silver firepan and went up to the top of the altar and cleared away the cinders in either side and scooped up [ashes with the firepan]. B. He came down and emptied them out into that [firepan] of gold. C. About a qab of cinders scattered from it, and he swept them out into the water channel. D. And on the Sabbath, he covered over them with a psykter. E. And a psykter was a large utensil, holding a letekh, and two chains were on it, one with which he pulled to lower it, and one with which it was held firm from above, so that it should not roll. F. And three purposes did it serve: (1) they turn it over on top of cinders; and (2) on a creeping thing on the Sabbath; and (3) they lower the ashes from on the altar with it. 5:6  A. [When] they reached the area between the porch and the altar, one man took the shovel and tosses it between the porch and the altar. B. No one in Jerusalem hears the voice of his fellow on account of the noise of the shovel. C. And three purposes did it serve: (1) a priest who hears its sound knows that his brethren the priests enter in to prostrate themselves, and he then runs and comes along; (2)  and a son of a Levite who hears its noise knows that his brethren, the Levites, enter to say their song, and he then runs and comes along; (3)  and the head of the priestly watch then had the unclean people stand at the eastern gate.

The censer caused catastrophic events to happen. These disturbances are often associated with a theophany, primarily when God reveals himself at Sinai. Richard Bauckham considers the section a conscious reference to the Exodus events, especially given the potential parallels between the plagues and the trumpets (Exod 19:16-18; Ps 68:8; Isa 64:3).

That these apocalyptic phenomenon are all associated with the theophany at Mount Sinai is perhaps a hint at the background for the seven trumpets with follow immediately after this in Revelation. The imagery used for the seven trumpets draw on the plagues on Egypt.

Let’s first look at the scriptures mentioned above before I try to explain the noise of the shovel.

Ezk 10:1 And I looked, and behold! In the expanse over the head of the cherubs was seen the appearance of the form of a throne, like a sapphire stone, above them.

Ezk 10:2 And He spoke to the man clothed with linen, and said, Go in among the wheels, under the cherub, and fill your hands with coals of fire from between the cherubs, and scatter them on the city. And he went in before me.

Ezk 10:3 And the cherubs were standing on the right side of the house when the man went in; and the cloud filled the inner court.

Ezk 10:4 And the glory of Jehovah rose from the cherub, over the threshold of the house. And the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was full of the brightness of Jehovah’s glory.

Ezk 10:5 And the sound of the cherubs’ wings was heard over the outer court, as the voice of the Almighty God when He speaks.

Ezk 10:6 And it happened when He had commanded the man clothed with linen, saying, Take fire from between the wheels, from between the cherubs; he went in then and stood beside the wheels.

Ezk 10:7 And a cherub stretched out his hand from between the cherubs to the fire between the cherubs, and he lifted it and put it into the hands of the one clothed with linen. And he took it and went out.

Ezk 10:8 And the form of a man’s hand was seen under the wings of the cherubs.

Ezk 10:9 And I looked, and behold, the four wheels were beside the cherubs, one wheel was by one cherub, and another wheel by one cherub; and the wheels looked like the color of a stone of Tarshish.

Ezk 10:10 And their appearance was as one, the four of them, as if the wheel were in the midst of the wheel.

Ezk 10:11 When they went, they went on their four sides. They did not turn as they went, for to the place where the head faces, after it they went. They did not turn as they went.

Ezk 10:12 And their whole body, and their backs, and their hands, and their wings, and the wheels were full of eyes all around, even their wheels that the four of them had.

Ezk 10:13 As for the wheels, it was cried to them in my hearing, Whirling wheel!

Ezk 10:14 And four faces were to each one. The first face was the face of a cherub, and the second face was the face of a man, and the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle.

Ezk 10:15 And the cherubs rose up. This is the living creature that I saw by the river of Chebar.

Ezk 10:16 And when the cherubs went, the wheels went beside them; and when the cherubs lifted their wings to soar from the earth, the wheels did not turn from beside them, even they.

Ezk 10:17 When they stood still, these stood still, and when they rose up, these lifted up. For the spirit of the living creature was in them.

Ezk 10:18 And the glory of Jehovah went from the threshold of the house, and stood over the cherubs.

Ezk 10:19 And the cherubs lifted up their wings and rose up from the earth in my sight. When they went out, the wheels also were beside them. And he stood at the door of the eastern gate of Jehovah’s house. And the glory of the God of Israel was over them from above.

Ezk 10:20 This is the living creature that I saw under the God of Israel by the river Chebar, and I knew that they were cherubs.

Ezk 10:21 Four, even four faces are to each; and four wings to each. And the form of a man’s hands was under their wings.

Ezk 10:22 And the form of their faces, they are the faces that I saw by the river Chebar, their appearances even theirs. They each went straight forward.

Psa 68:8 The earth shook, the heavens also dropped at the presence of God; Sinai itself was moved at the presence of God, the God of Israel.

Isa 64:1 Oh that You would tear the heavens and come down, that mountains would quake before You,

Isa 64:2 as the brushwood fire burns, the fire causes water to boil, to make Your name known to Your foes, that the nations may tremble at Your presence!

Isa 64:3 When You did dreadful things which we did not look for, You came down, the mountains flowed down at Your presence.

Isa 64:4 And from forever they have not heard, nor did they listen. Eye has not seen a God except You, who works for him who waits for Him.

Isa 64:5 You meet him who rejoices and works righteousness, those who remember You in Your ways. Behold, You were angry, for we sinned. In them is eternity, and we will be saved.

We must pause here and re-read the words of Yehshua in Luke. Yehshua gives us an answer to the fire that is thrown on the ground. He also tells us how to prepare for this time as it approaches, so let me quote it all to you. Until now, I had never made this connection to the fire from the altar and the incense being cast to the ground nor the silence that takes place.

Have No Fear

Luk 12:4 And I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.

Luk 12:5 But I will warn you of whom you shall fear: Fear Him who, after He has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yea, I say to you, fear Him.

Luk 12:6 Are not five sparrows sold for two assaria? And not one of them is forgotten before God.

Luk 12:7 But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Therefore do not fear, you are of more value than many sparrows.

Acknowledge Christ Before Men

Luk 12:8 Also I say to you, Whoever shall confess Me before men, the Son of Man also shall confess him before the angels of God.

Luk 12:9 But he who denies Me before men shall be denied before the angels of God.

Luk 12:10 And whoever shall speak a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him. But to him who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven.

Luk 12:11 And when they bring you into the synagogues, and to rulers and authorities, take no thought as to how or what thing you shall answer, or what you shall say.

Luk 12:12 For the Holy Spirit shall teach you in the same hour what you ought to say.

The Parable of the Rich Fool

Luk 12:13 And one of the company said to Him, Master, speak to my brother to divide the inheritance with me.

Luk 12:14 And He said to him, Man, who made Me a judge or a divider over you?

Luk 12:15 And He said to them, Watch and keep yourselves from covetousness. For a man’s life is not in the abundance of the things which he possesses.

Luk 12:16 And He spoke a parable to them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully.

Luk 12:17 And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room in which to store my fruits?

Luk 12:18 And he said, I will do this. I will pull down my barns and build bigger ones, and I will store all my fruits and my goods there.

Luk 12:19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years. Take your ease, eat drink and be merry.

Luk 12:20 But God said to him, Fool! This night your soul shall be required of you, then whose shall be those things which you have prepared?

Luk 12:21 So is he who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.

Do Not Be Anxious

Luk 12:22 And He said to His disciples, Therefore I say to you, Be not anxious as to your life, what you shall eat; nor for the body, what you shall put on.

Luk 12:23 Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing.

Luk 12:24 Consider the ravens: for they neither sow nor reap, having neither storehouse nor barn, and God feeds them. How much more are you better than the birds?

Luk 12:25 And which of you by being anxious can add one cubit to his stature?

Luk 12:26 If then you are not able to do even the least, why are you anxious about the rest?

Luk 12:27 Consider the lilies, how they grow; they do not toil, they do not spin. And yet I say to you that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

Luk 12:28 If then God so clothes the grass (which today is in the field, and tomorrow is cast into the oven) how much more will He clothe you, O little-faiths?

Luk 12:29 And do not seek what you shall eat, nor what you shall drink, and stop being in anxiety.

Luk 12:30 For all these things the nations of the world seek after, and your Father knows that you have need of these things.

Luk 12:31 But rather seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you.

Luk 12:32 Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

Luk 12:33 Sell what you have and give alms. Make for yourselves purses which do not become old, an unfailing treasure in Heaven, where no thief comes nor moth corrupts.

Luk 12:34 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

You have just read your encouragement about what is coming. Now you are about to read what is said to the 10 virgins. You must get ready now. Pray for the Holy Spirit to fill you with His Understanding. Be watchful, guarding the Torah to obey it in every way. Be awake, and do not fall asleep. He is coming in the second or third watch of the night. No one knows for sure, but that is the time after midnight. The thief in the Night is the High Priest who sneaks in when the priest on duty may have fallen asleep. Be on guard. The Trumpets announce His coming. Do you hear them? Do you hear the shovel being pushed into the fire upon the altar? Listen!!!

You Must Be Ready

Luk 12:35 Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning.

Luk 12:36 And you yourselves be like men who wait for their lord, whenever he shall return from the wedding, so that when he comes and knocks, they may open to him immediately.

Luk 12:37 Blessed are those servants whom the lord will find watching when he comes. Truly I say to you that he shall gird himself and make them recline; and coming up he will serve them.

Luk 12:38 And if he comes in the second watch, or comes in the third watch, and find it so, blessed are those servants.

Luk 12:39 And know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and would not have allowed his house to be dug through.

Luk 12:40 Therefore be ready also, for the Son of Man comes at an hour when you think not.

Luk 12:41 And Peter said to Him, Lord, do You speak this parable to us or also to all?

Luk 12:42 And the Lord said, Who then is that faithful and wise steward whom his lord shall set over his house servants, to give them their portion of food in season?

Luk 12:43 Blessed is that servant when his lord comes and finds him so doing.

Luk 12:44 Truly I say to you that he will set him over all his possessions.

Luk 12:45 But if that servant says in his heart, My lord delays his coming, and shall begin to beat the male servants and women servants, and to eat and drink and to be drunk,

Luk 12:46 the lord of that servant will come in a day when he does not expect, and at an hour when he does not know. And he will cut him apart, and will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers.

Luk 12:47 And that servant who knew his lord’s will and did not prepare, nor did according to His will, shall be beaten with many stripes.

Luk 12:48 But he not knowing, and doing things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For to whomever much is given, of him much shall be required. And to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.

You have now read the warning to the 10 virgins and how you must be ready and not attack those who are getting ready. Now Yehshua tells you who the angel is throwing the fire on the earth. It is He Himself who is going to do that. And many of us already know the turmoil we must deal with in our own families.

Not Peace, but Division

Luk 12:49 I have come to send fire on the earth. And what will I do if it is already kindled?

Luk 12:50 But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how I am pressed down until it is accomplished!

Luk 12:51 Do you suppose that I have come to give peace on earth? I tell you, no, but rather division.

Luk 12:52 For from now on, there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three.

Luk 12:53 The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother; the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.

Interpreting the Time

Luk 12:54 And He also said to the crowd, When you see a cloud rise out of the west, immediately you say, There is a shower coming. And so it is.

Luk 12:55 And when you see the south wind blow, you say, There will be heat; and it occurs.

Luk 12:56 Hypocrites! You know to discern the face of the heaven and the earth, but how is it that you do not discern this time?

Settle with Your Accuser

Luk 12:57 And why, even of yourselves, do you not judge what is right?

Luk 12:58 For as you go with your adversary to the judge, give pains in the way to be set free from him, lest he drag you to the judge, and the judge deliver you to the officer, and the officer cast you into the prison.

Luk 12:59 I tell you, you shall not depart from there until you have paid the very last lepton.

Now, let’s read and understand the silence in heaven of a half hour. We are talking about Luke 12:49, which you just read, but notice there is a change in speech from verse 48 to 49. We read earlier about Priest taking a shovel and gathering up the hot coals from the Altar, and we read how no one in Jerusalem hears the voice of his fellow on account of the noise of the shovel. (silence in heaven of about 1/2 an hour). This is the pause in Yehshua’s speaking to the Apostles.

This silence in Jerusalem leaped off the page as I read it. What is the noise of the shovel and what does that sound or look like today?

We have an example when we read about the coming of Yehovah to Mount Sinai.

Exo 19:16  And it happened on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mountain. And the voice of the trumpet was exceedingly loud, so that all the people in the camp trembled.

Exo 19:17  And Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet with God. And they stood at the lower part of the mountain.

Exo 19:18  And Mount Sinai was smoking, all of it, because Jehovah came down upon it in fire. And the smoke of it went up like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly.

Exo 19:19  And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and became very strong, Moses spoke, and God answered him by a voice.

Exo 19:20  And Jehovah came down upon Mount Sinai, on the top of the mountain. And Jehovah called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up.

Notice that the Trumpet sounds long and becomes very loud, announcing the arrival of the King, just like at the King’s coronation and in the same way the Feast of Trumpets announces the arrival of Yehovah. Next, when you read the parts about the mountain quaking greatly along with the thunders and flashes of lightning, consider what you are told in the 6th seal and seventh seals.

Rev 6:12 And when He had opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake. And the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood.

Rev 6:13 And the stars of heaven fell to the earth, even as a fig tree casts her untimely figs when she is shaken by a mighty wind.

Rev 6:14 And the heaven departed like a scroll when it is rolled together. And every mountain and island were moved out of their places.

Rev 6:15 And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every freeman, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains.

Rev 6:16 And they said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him sitting on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb;

Rev 6:17 for the great day of His wrath has come, and who will be able to stand?

This is not Him casting the fire on the earth. This is something else that precedes it.

In chapter 8 we read about the fire being cast on the earth and then there were voices and thunderings and lightnings and an earthquake occurred.

Rev 8:1  And when He opened the seventh seal, there was silence in Heaven for about half an hour.

Rev 8:2  And I saw the seven angels who stood before God, and seven trumpets were given to them.

Rev 8:3  And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer. And many incenses were given to him, so that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints on the golden altar before the throne.

Rev 8:4  And the smoke of the incense which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God from the angel’s hand.

Rev 8:5  And the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar, and cast it into the earth. And voices and thunderings and lightnings and an earthquake occurred.

Next, read Biblehubs commentary on the words Yehshua spoke in Luke verse 49.

Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers

(49) I am come to send fire on the earth.—There is a strange unique abruptness in the utterance. We are compelled to assume a pause, a moment’s thought, as in one whose gaze looks out into the future, and who at once feels its terrors and yet accepts them. The fire which He came to send is the fire of judgment which shall burn up the chaff (see Note on Matthew 3:12 New King James Version
His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”), the baptism of fire which shall purify and cleanse as well as destroy. The Son of Man knew that this, with all its terrors, was what He came to work. If the fire was already kindled, if judgment was already passed upon the unfaithful stewards and the servants who knew their Lord’s will and did it not, why should He wish to check it? What other wish or will was right for Him than that it should complete what it had begun, even though it brought not peace, but a sword—not union, but division?

 

MacLaren’s Expositions

Luke

FIRE ON EARTH

Luke 12:49.

We have here one of the rare glimpses which our Lord gives us into His inmost heart, His thought of His mission, and His feelings about it. If familiarity had not weakened the impression, and dulled the edge, of these words, how startling they would seem to us! ‘I am come’-then, He was, before He came, and He came by His own voluntary act. A Jewish peasant says that He is going to set the world on fire-and He did it. But the triumphant certitude and consciousness of a large world-wide mission is all shadowed in the next clause. I need not trouble you with questions as to the precise translation of the words that follow. There may be differences of opinion about that, but I content myself with simply suggesting that a fair representation of the meaning would be, ‘How I wish that it was already kindled!’ There is a longing to fulfil the purpose of His coming and a sense that something has to be done first, and what that something if, our Lord goes on to say in the next verse. This desirable end can only be reached through a preliminary painful ordeal, ‘but I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I straitened till it be accomplished.’ If I might use such an incongruous figure, the fire that is to flash and flame through the world emerges from the dark waters of that baptism. Our Lord goes on still further to dwell upon the consequence of His mission and of His sufferings. And that, too, shadows the first triumphant thought of the fire that He was to send on earth. For, the baptism being accomplished, and the fire therefore being set at liberty to flame through the world, what follows? Glad reception? Yes, and angry rejection. Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, nay! but rather division.’ The fire, the baptism, and the sword; these three may sum up our Lord’s vision of the purpose, means, and mingled result of His mission. But it is only with regard to the first of these that I wish to speak now.

The thief in the night comes in and throws fire on the sleeping priest if he is not awake and on duty. This is similar to the High Priest during the day throwing the fire on the ground during his duties after he places the incense on the altar representing the prayers of the Saint.

The sixth seal strikes me as a nuclear attack with the evil fire mentioned in Zechariah 5. This is the fire that catches everyone asleep so they flee naked. As I write this everyone speculates Iran is just days away from having a nuclear bomb as they increase the speed of centrifuges used to make this type of fire. There are five days between the 1st Day of Unleavened Bread or the Feast of Passover the the 7th day of Unleavened Bread. The 7th Day of Unleavened Bread this year lands on April 1, 2024.

I do not know precisely when to expect the fire in the night. But all of us are commanded to watch and not fall asleep.

Mat 24:42 Therefore watch; for you do not know what hour your Lord comes.

Mat 24:43 But know this, that if the steward of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched and would not have allowed his house to be dug through.

Mat 24:44 Therefore you also be ready, for in that hour you think not, the Son of Man comes.

Mrk 13:32 But of that day and hour no one knows, no, not the angels in Heaven, nor the Son, but the Father.

Mrk 13:33 Take heed, watch and pray, for you do not know when the time is.

Mrk 13:34 As a man going away, leaving his house, and giving authority to his servants, and each man’s work to him, and commanded the doorkeeper to watch.

Mrk 13:35 Then you watch, for you do not know when the lord of the house is coming, at evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrowing, or early;

Mrk 13:36 lest he come suddenly and find you sleeping.

Mrk 13:37 And what I say to you, I say to all. Watch.

We are to be awake doing a work and watching. If we are not doing the work or we go to sleep, He will put the coals from the fire on us, and we will have to run home naked and ashamed. All the world is asleep and few that are watching for His coming.

 Nahum 3:5 Behold I am against you, says Jehovah of Hosts; and I will uncover your skirts upon your face. And I will cause the nations to see your nakedness, and the kingdoms your shame.

To the Sardis Church He says:

Rev 3:1 And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars says these things. I know your works, that you have a name that you live, and are dead.

Rev 3:2 Be watchful and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die. For I have not found your works being fulfilled before God.

Rev 3:3 Remember then how you have received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. Therefore if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you.

Rev 3:4 You have a few names even in Sardis who have not defiled their garments. And they will walk with Me in white, for they are worthy.

Rev 3:5 The one who overcomes, this one will be clothed in white clothing. And I will not blot out his name out of the Book of Life, but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.

Rev 3:6 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

To the Laodicean church he tells them they are naked. This is the same nakedness and shame that the priest experiences for falling asleep:

Rev 3:14  And to the angel of the church of the Laodicea write: The Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Head of the creation of God, says these things:

Rev 3:15  I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I would that you were cold or hot.

Rev 3:16  So because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.

Rev 3:17  Because you say, I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing, and do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked,

Rev 3:18  I counsel you to buy from Me gold purified by fire, so that you may be rich; and white clothing, so that you may be clothed, and so that the shame of your nakedness does not appear. And anoint your eyes with eye salve, so that you may see.

Rev 3:19  As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten; therefore be zealous and repent.

Rev 3:20  Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him and he with Me.

Rev 3:21  To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me in My throne, even as I also overcame and have sat down with My Father in His throne.

Rev 3:22  He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

Revelation 16 talks about the 7 final bowls; again, we are told to be aware of the thief in the night. It would be my position to think this applies to the year 2033 when Satan is finally locked away.

Rev 16:1 And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go and pour out the vials of the anger of God on the earth.

Rev 16:2 And the first went and poured out his vial on the earth. And a bad and grievous sore fell on the men who had the mark of the beast, and on those who worshiped his image.

Rev 16:3 And the second angel poured out his vial on the sea. And it became like the blood of a dead one, and every living soul died in the sea.

Rev 16:4 And the third angel poured out his vial on the rivers and fountains of waters, and they became blood.

Rev 16:5 And I heard the angel of the waters say, Righteous is the Lord, who is, and was, and who will be, because You have judged these things,

Rev 16:6 since they have poured out the blood of the saints and prophets; and You gave them blood to drink, for they were deserving.

Rev 16:7 And I heard another out of the altar saying, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous areYour judgments.

Rev 16:8 And the fourth angel poured out his vial onto the sun. And it was given to him to burn men with fire.

Rev 16:9 And men were burned with great heat. And they blasphemed the name of God, He having authority over these plagues. And they did not repent in order to give Him glory.

Rev 16:10 And the fifth angel poured out his vial on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom became darkened. And they gnawed their tongues from the pain.

Rev 16:11 And they blasphemed the God of Heaven because of their pains and their sores. And they did not repent of their deeds.

Rev 16:12 And the sixth angel poured out his vial on the great river Euphrates. And its water was dried up, so that the way of the kings from the rising of the sun might be prepared.

Rev 16:13 And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.

Rev 16:14 For they are spirits of demons, working miracles, which go forth to the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that day, the great day of God Almighty.

Rev 16:15 Behold, I am coming as a thief. Blessed is the one who watches and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame.

Rev 16:16 And he gathered them into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.

1Th 5:1 But of the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need that I write to you.

1Th 5:2 For you yourselves know accurately that the day of the Lord comes like a thief in the night.

1Th 5:3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety! Then sudden destruction comes on them, as travail upon a woman with child. And they shall not escape.

1Th 5:4 But you, brothers, are not in darkness, that the Day should overtake you like a thief.

1Th 5:5 You are all the sons of light and the sons of the day. We are not of the night, or of darkness.

1Th 5:6 Therefore let us not sleep as the rest do, but let us watch and be calm.

1Th 5:7 For those sleeping sleep in the night, and those being drunken are drunken in the night.

1Th 5:8 But let us, who are of the day, be calm, having put on the breastplate of faith and love and the hope of salvation for a helmet.

1Th 5:9 For God has not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,

1Th 5:10 who died for us, so that whether we watch or sleep we should live together with Him.

1Th 5:11 Therefore comfort one another, and edify one another, even as you also do.

2Pe 3:1 Beloved, I now write this second letter to you, in which I stir up your pure mind by reminder

2Pe 3:2 to remember the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of the Lord and Savior by us, the apostles.

2Pe 3:3 First, knowing this, that there will come in thelast days scoffers walking according to their own lusts

2Pe 3:4 and saying, Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.

2Pe 3:5 For this is hidden from them by their willing it, that the heavens were of old, and the earth out of the water, and through water, being held together by the Word of God,

2Pe 3:6 through which the world that then was, being flooded by water, perished.

2Pe 3:7 But the present heavens and the earth being kept in store by the same Word, are being kept for fire until the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.

2Pe 3:8 But, beloved, let not this one thing be hidden from you, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

2Pe 3:9 The Lord is not slow concerning His promise, as some count slowness, but is long-suffering toward us, not purposing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

2Pe 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a rushing noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat. And the earth and the works in it will be burned up.

2Pe 3:11 Then, all these things being about to bedissolved, what sort ought you to be in holy behavior and godliness,

2Pe 3:12 looking for and rushing the coming of the Day of God, on account of which the heavens, being on fire, will melt away, and the elements will melt, burning with heat?

2Pe 3:13 But according to His promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

Final Words

2Pe 3:14 Therefore, beloved, looking for these things, be diligent, spotless, and without blemish, to be found by Him in peace.

2Pe 3:15 And think of the long-suffering of our Lord assalvation (as our beloved brother Paul also has written to you according to the wisdom given to him

2Pe 3:16 as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which the unlearned and unstable pervert, as also they do the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction).

2Pe 3:17 Therefore, beloved, knowing beforehand, beware lest being led away with the error of the lawless, you fall from your own steadfastness.

2Pe 3:18 But grow in grace and in knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.

Now let me share with you something else. Prime Minister Netanyahu declared a second national lockdown in 2020. He did so on September 25 while at the same time proclaiming peace peace just as they were in March with the Abraham Accord. In the same manner, as we saw horror come 1290 days after March 25, 2020, and began the latest war of the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, I am also expecting another attack 1290 days after September 25, 2020, which brings you to March 31, or April 1, 2024, depending on how you count it. Not only is March 31, 2024, wave Sheaf Day, but it is also Easter Sunday. Add on to all of this the fact that we have a solar eclipse taking place across the USA, as mentioned in the Newsletter on April 8, 2024. Could this be the silence in heaven spoken of?

In our day-for-the-year analogy for this year of the Year of the Feast of Trumpets, then sunrise would be equivalent to Aviv 1. The morning service when the Priest would be offering the incense on the Golden Altar and the prayers of the Saints, would be about 9 AM or could I say, Shavuot, and the afternoon one would be about the 9th of Av. I am speculating and searching for a pattern to help understand these events. There is no thus says the Lord here.

But the duration of the solar eclipse this coming April 8, 2024, will be about two and half hours from start to finish of the partial eclipse and just about 3-4 minutes for the total eclipse. Is this the silence in heaven spoken of, I do not know.

The Trumpets and the Plagues of Exodus – Revelation 8

How are the plagues from Exodus used in the book of Revelation?

There are a remarkable number of parallels between this series of judgments and the ten plagues in Exodus.  For example, trumpets are associated with the theophany at Sinai (Exod 19:13-19; 20:18).  The first trumpet judgment is similar to Exodus 9:13-25, hail and fire fell upon the Egyptians.  The third trumpet resembles the plague of the freshwater in Exodus 7:20, except that there the waters turned to blood. The locust in Rev 9:3 is an apocalyptic version of the eighth plague (Exod 10:12-20).

Richard Patterson traced Exodus Motif in the Prophets, showing that the Exodus was a significant source of imagery for the rest of the Old Testament. The reason for this is the common “Divine Warrior” and “Divine Redeemer” themes in the Prophets. In the Exodus events, God fought for this people in order to redeem them out of their slavery. The prophets pick up those twin themes and apply them to their current situation. Israel has persisted in their unbelief and is once again under oppression (the Exile). God will once again fight for them and redeem them from the nations in a New Exodus.

While Patterson’s article does not continue to follow his argument into the Second Temple Period, the New Exodus theme is present in this literature. But plague imagery is not as common in Jewish sources as we might have guessed. In his detailed survey of the imagery of the Exodus in later Jewish writings, David Aune only finds the plagues in an eschatological sense in the Apocalypse of Abraham. There are ten plagues, although they do not track with the original ten plagues or the seven trumpets from Revelation.

Apoc. Abr. 30:3-8  And he said to me, “I will explain to you the things you desired in your heart, for you have sought to know the ten plagues which I prepared against the heathen, and I prepared them beforehand in the passing of the twelve hours on earth. Hear what I tell you, it will be thus. The first: sorrow from much need. The second: fiery conflagrations for the cities. The third: destruction by pestilence among the cattle. The fourth: famine of the world, of their generation. The fifth: among the rulers, destruction by earthquake and the sword. The sixth: increase of hail and snow. The seventh: wild beasts will be their grave. The eighth: pestilence and hunger will change their destruction. The ninth: execution by the sword and flight in distress. The tenth: thunder, voices, and destroying earthquakes.” (Rubinkiewicz, OTP 1:704)

Nevertheless, Revelation seems to be re-using imagery from the Ten Plagues.  Since John is standing on the shoulders of the Hebrew Bible. This is not a surprise. But it is important to at least wonder why it is important that the Exodus Events were chosen as the main backdrop for John’s apocalyptic description in Revelation 8-9. The purpose of the original ten plagues was for God to show his power to Israel. The ten plagues were not “evangelistic,” hoping that the Egyptians would see them and somehow “convert” to being Jewish. The plagues prove to the people of God in Egypt that he is a God who acts on their behalf to redeem them out of their slavery. The children of Abraham need to be convinced that the God of their ancestors is active and that he cares for them.

This may also be the function of the judgments in Revelation.  By the time of the eschatological age, Israel will have been in a state of unbelief for a long time. Like the original Exodus, they certainly need a reminded of the righteous character of their God. Revelation is using the language of the Hebrew Bible, how God has worked in the past, to describe how he will work again in the future.

Let me recap;

We see the Angel, Yehovah, standing beside the Altar, Golgotha, with fire in His hand, finding the world asleep and is about to cast fire upon the earth with thunder and lightning and voice shouting. Are you watching?