What has the Ninth of Av, Tisha B’Av, got to do with Gentiles? What does it have to do with Gentile Christians? Without the Branch, there is to be no Church, there are to be no “friends” and “neighbors” to come sit under our fig tree, in a prophecy found in Zechariah 3 and elsewhere in Ezekiel as well. The fig tree is a symbol of Israel for the government aspect of the nation that is called by the Almighty. When it is used in a prophetic sense, it does not, however, refer to the tree in nature, but to the metaphor for Israel in a political manner. Messiah used in in the single parable in Matthew 24 about its leaves and branches in a phase of growth again. It points to the State of Israel that unified in 1948 to the end of the season between 2018 – 2018. This is the period of one generation given in Psalms 90 at verse 10.
From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer.
The month of Av is in the summer.
The Gentiles are in fact the wild olive branch, that the Lord grafted to the stock by His own mighty hand. That is what the Gospel is all about and what the explanation in Romans 11 says about its beginning and its end for the fullness of the Gentiles to come in. The Nation of Yisrael is the cultivated branch that was grafted, all the same, to the stock that is the Branch in Zechariah 3.
8 Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, you and your friends who sit before you, for they are men who are a sign: behold, I will bring my servant the Branch. 9 For behold, on the stone that I have set before Joshua, on a single stone with seven eyes,[c] I will engrave its inscription, declares the Lord of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of this land in a single day. 10 In that day, declares the Lord of hosts, every one of you will invite his neighbor to come under his vine and under his fig tree.”
Shabbat shalom to all on the restful Sabbath. This is the first Sabbath rest day in the Hebrew month of Av. In the history of the Jewish culture, this was a month of mourning, going back to a time before the children of Yisrael entered Canaan. In the memories of all those who were raised in the culture, this day on the ninth of Av has racked up one too many ominous incidents to ignore it. This day shall fall on July 29 at sundown. I estimate in 2020 we will spend the month of Av for the last time, before we enter Elul, the next month, in the period known as the Church Age. Av in 2021 will still come around but the Age of the Church will have been ended in the fullness of the Gentiles.
Those in the Church that love the Bridegroom that comes for the bride within the Church form the bride of Christ. The bride will be received to paradise at some point in the last seven years of the Gabriel prophecy in Daniel chapter 9. As Ruth the Gentile bride, the bride must be married to the Kinsman in order to share in the inheritance of the House. The Messiah is the only way to the Father and there is no other way. Yehosha is the only path to redemption, for the House as well as for the Church. Those in the House that will have turned to the Messiah will know Life. We will be restored our privileges according to Ezekiel. In 11| 17 – the Word of YHVH says to the descendants of Israel that are scattered all over the world nations:
17 Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord God: I will gather you from the peoples and assemble you out of the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.’
Later in chapter 34, the Word of YHVH promises to be our personal Pastor,
11 “For thus says the Lord God: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out. 12 As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. 13 And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land. And I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the ravines, and in all the inhabited places of the country. 14 I will feed them with good pasture, and on the mountain heights of Israel shall be their grazing land. There they shall lie down in good grazing land, and on rich pasture they shall feed on the mountains of Israel. 15 I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord God. 16 I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy.[a] I will feed them in justice.
Indeed, in His First Advent, He called Twelve to follow Him throughout His earthly ministry.
Yehosha is the One that came as YHVH Incarnate in the Kinsman.
He came to call His House tribes and extends a generous invitation to the nations of the world for a hand in marriage. Those who accept His love and promise to wait for Him as a chaste virgin in the soul will be the bride.
The End Of The Church Age
Why are we in’erested in Tisha B’Av in 2020? A sign is always interesting upto and until the moment of fulfillment reaches maturity. Before that, most people treat a sign as a point of reference among others that are tossed into a drawer in their minds. Most people are not going to act on a sign. Most people are not going to inquire with the Holy Spirit for the veracity of a sign. In 1 Thessalonians 5, believers are admonished by Paul to test everything.
16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 19 Do not quench the Spirit. 20 Do not despise prophecies, 21 but test everything; hold fast what is good. 22 Abstain from every form of evil.
Most people put it somewhere on the back of their minds, and if something like it pops up, they like to look back in retrospect. Of course, you don’t install a security alarm system and call the service desk when the thief is at the point of breaking in the back door. That timing is way off. But there, it is how people are who live in disbelief.
As I have proposed in my analysis, the end of the Church Age shall fall on the next New Year Of The Trees – La Ilanot, Rosh haShana on January 27, 2021, yet another Jewish feast, for Israel is the timepiece of how the end times will unravel. We who watch need to be diligently watchful of YHVH’s feast days to tell the times and the season. Father did not design His feast days (He specified to Moshe that these are “His feast days”) for no purpose.
The Ten Blood Moons of the twenty first century were signs for the world to view. Many astronomers viewed them and there are many spectacular pictures posted on the internet. They extended for a period from December 2010 to January 2019, full moon to full moon over 9 years and 1 month. The period between the date of the last of the series, incidentally falling on the La Ilanot of 2019 on January 20, 2019, and the coming La Ilanot on January 27, 2021 is to be interpreted to be a “pause” for the Church. The closing of many churches today is not the closure of her. It is just the period of “pause”. Today, due to the SARS-CoV-2 virus and the CoVID-19 cases triggered by the virus, under the governors and county supervisors’ orders, many churches have closed their doors. John Roberts of the Supreme Court also voted on July 25, 2020 to side with closing church in Nevada. Some more financially abled ones are turning to digital technology by meeting on social media. Members who have a smart phone or a computer may log on and view on a 2-D screen some kind of old church program without the handshakes and the hugs. But generally, their doors remained locked due to the social distancing standing orders On July 24, Bishop T.D. Jakes, on interview on the Today Show, told the anchor in reply, that he does not believe his 30,000 strong congregation will ever congregate like before again. In whichever state the Church will exist in after the End of the Church Age, it will devolve into a social media event, a “TV” show among many, or to be a virtual gathering using digital technology. “Church” will exist under that digital dominion. Even the Church has fallen to the “ten toes” (digital) reign of the last kingdom that supports the whole beast standing up against Israel, according to Daniel 2. The Church will never be allowed to carry on the command to convocate to corporate worship again, as long as the SARS-CoV-2 virus does not meet its solution. Until then, safety measures will prevent corporate worship, corporate evangelism and corporate congregation.
On that course in the near future, this will manifest. Hebrews 10:25, KJV: “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.” The Church will have forsaken this assembling forever. Christ says, only because their first love has been lost and when it is, He will personally remove her lamp stand from her.
These two verses summarize the state of the Church in 2020. Consider the lamp stand given to her for coming in custody of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
4 But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. 5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.
Shmita – YHVH’s Release
On Mount Sinai, Moshe was commanded by YHVH to observe a seven year cycle pattern.
The Sabbatical Year
“At the end of every seven years you shall grant a release.”
2 And this is the manner of the release: every creditor shall release what he has lent to his neighbor. He shall not exact it of his neighbor, his brother, because the Lord’s release has been proclaimed. 3 Of a foreigner you may exact it, but whatever of yours is with your brother your hand shall release. 4 But there will be no poor among you; for the Lord will bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance to possess— 5 if only you will strictly obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all this commandment that I command you today. 6 For the Lord your God will bless you, as he promised you, and you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow, and you shall rule over many nations, but they shall not rule over you.
Not only is the Church forced upon a shmita (sabbatical), also is the whole world placed on pause due to the permitted pandemic. This year, 2020, is supposed to be for personal reflection, re-connection from family to family, extending to the soul to the Maker in reconciliation. Distractions are being forced away from all of us to look for true meanings. For pro-sports, fans are released from their favorite pastime to seek what they should rather occupy their affections in. Some found family. Some people will find it while some will not. Some Christians (since this is a sign for the Gentile Church) will repent to God and some will stay lukewarm and vomit-worthy by Christ. The warning was issued many times over.
Rabbi Jonathan Cahn once expected the shmita to arrive on the last day of Elul (sixth month) in his book The Harbinger (The Harbinger: The Ancient Mystery that Holds the Secret of America’s Future [Cahn, Jonathan], 2012). He formed his prediction in the footsteps in the wake of the 2001 and the 2008 financial busts. In it, Rabbi Cahn took the 9/11 terrorism attack was a “divine warning” to the United States. But the financial market did not crash on the last day of Elul in 2015. In fact, Cahn’s “prophecy” failed. It was not a prophecy. It turned out to be a smart speculation. But it was not revelation. The Lord did not tell Rabbi Cahn that. On September 10, 2014, Rabbi Cahn told the 700 Club about how to “unlock a thousand year old mystery”.
The last day of Elul, the sixth month, is the preceding day of the Rosh Hashanah of the Jewish calendar. In 2015, on Sunday, on September 13, no such prediction materialized. The day passed. Nothing happened, there was no worldwide fanfare. So what happened? In hindsight, we may glean from the pattern. Rabbi Cahn also stated, “God isn’t bound to anything except being who He is! I’ve always cautioned that we can’t put God in a box. He doesn’t have to do anything, and nothing has to happen on any set day or time. At the same time though, it is wise to be ready for any eventuality.“
According to Rabbit Cahn, he retroactively explained his Shmita prediction this way. “ It caused the collapse of world trade, commodities, the oil market, global production, the retail industry, profits, earnings, revenue, etc. 2015 ended up being the worst year for making money since the last Shemitah of the Great Depression – 78 years ago! And the impact of the Shemitah of 2015 has continued to shake the world into 2016.” Let us take a look at the stock exchange performance in 2015.
It is poor form for anyone to carry on in Solomon’s footsteps for a paradigm of viewing everything “under the sun”. “Under the sun” is used extensively in the Book of Ecclesiastes for everything of man’s endeavors in the absence of the Lord’s doings. That is the king’s end-of-life teachings which he put in Qoheleth (Ecclesiastes). Well, the long and the short of it, The Almighty intervened. He gave us five years to clean up our acts. How does that sound?
From 2015 to 2020, the world is granted “5” years under grace. The Hebrew letter stands for “5” and “5” the number is for grace, Khen. The letter Hey is the fifth letter of the Aleph–Bet, having the numeric value of five. In the Covenant name of the Almighty El Shaddai, Hey is repeated as the “H” in YHVH. In the illustration, the name is read from Right to the Left, as in all Hebrew texts.
The Alef Bet “Hey” looks like this. In Aramaic it is the same as Hē. In Chassidic thought,2 the hei represents “thought, speech and action”. Just as the form of the hei is composed of three lines, the vertical stroke, the horizontal line at the top and the “limb” that extends to the ground, “so do thought, speech and action comprise the three garments of the soul, the three garments through which we express who we are”. In the Torah, the thought is the mind, the speech and action are our expressions and “the strength”.
For believers, by my estimation, we were given five years to align our intent to faith with our fruit, a display of what we say we believe in. The servant in Matthew 25 who hands back the one talent that he was made steward of had no fruit to show. Christ condemned him to the outer darkness.
Being faithfully committed in the business of the Father is something that all of us should be doing any day regardless, not just in these five years. But in the manner that God is, He marks out objects as set apart for His purposes. These five years will be presented at judgment as an exhibit of God’s grace (“5”) for all to acknowledge that the signs were given that points to repentance.
Some are successful but most just “carry on” on cruise control instead of going on re-alignment of heart and soul to deeds and expressions. But since in the “pause” period, their regular patterns are broken, they have been granted grace to reveal what substance is in their faith. Is it dependent of pre-arranged activities by someone else, or can you worship God on their own and sustain the worship? Are they a worshiper of a lip service client? Those who will not find purpose will also be the ones who will have not taken benefit of this time of alignment.
After The “Pause”
We still are a few years away from the revealing of the identity of the anti-christ figure, though he is right now alive in the world. But that number can be counted by one hand. Speaking in 2020, at the end of these five years on pause, going forward, once these five years are over, the 70th week of Daniel will begin, again by my estimation as the progression of eschatology from print. The significance of that has the milestone of a bearing. It is the revelation of the eighth king in Daniel 11 at the 3 1/2 year mark once the count of “7” years is begun.
For the paused Elul 29, so when will the count begin? As the following day is the beginning of the year after the “release” (shmita), that point should be in our Spring 2021. In the Spring since Abib of 2020, the worldwide governments pushed pause on social gatherings and the aviation industry. For months, flights in and out of certain countries were banned. Due to the lack of demand, crude oil prices dropped. So if Abib/Nisan 2020 is the seventh year, then once this “year” is over, then Abib 2021 will reset to be the first year of the next shmita (7 years). By projection, the 3 1/2 year mark will be in the fall of 2023. There are two holy feast days in Leviticus 23 which are six months apart. Historically these two feasts were used to mark the dates of birth of John the Baptizer and Christ.
It is said that the last king will be embroidered in wars and international intrigue, especially in northern Africa south of the Mediterranean, and up north to the Middle East, as he follows his god of fortress. This guy is very spiritual, contrary to propaganda that paints him as the caricature of a super-villain. He believes in a god, just not the God of all creation. He follows a kind of christ, just not the Risen Christ from the year 30 A.D..
Look at these two words: Adidas and Addidas. Can you tell which is the recognized brand name in sport apparel without Googling it? The analogy of this speaks to definition. Will believers be intimate with God’s words to the point of dividing the truth from lies, or to have to be “told” what to think and how to act?
(The correct spelling is Adidas.) The sad truth is many will walk on the broad way toward destruction. They cannot tell the real Messiah from the impostors. Here we see a military leader who is winsome in his fights, and he shall prosper. Prospering is important to a swath of Christendom in 2020 who goes after prosperity and instant healing of diseases.
36 “And the king shall do as he wills. He shall exalt himself and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak astonishing things against the God of gods. He shall prosper till the indignation is accomplished; for what is decreed shall be done. 37 He shall pay no attention to the gods of his fathers, or to the one beloved by women. He shall not pay attention to any other god, for he shall magnify himself above all. 38 He shall honor the god of fortresses instead of these. A god whom his fathers did not know he shall honor with gold and silver, with precious stones and costly gifts. 39 He shall deal with the strongest fortresses with the help of a foreign god. Those who acknowledge him he shall load with honor. He shall make them rulers over many and shall divide the land for a price.[f]
40 “At the time of the end, the king of the south shall attack[g] him, but the king of the north shall rush upon him like a whirlwind, with chariots and horsemen, and with many ships. And he shall come into countries and shall overflow and pass through. 41 He shall come into the glorious land. And tens of thousands shall fall, but these shall be delivered out of his hand: Edom and Moab and the main part of the Ammonites. 42 He shall stretch out his hand against the countries, and the land of Egypt shall not escape. 43 He shall become ruler of the treasures of gold and of silver, and all the precious things of Egypt, and the Libyans and the Cushites shall follow in his train. 44 But news from the east and the north shall alarm him, and he shall go out with great fury to destroy and devote many to destruction. 45 And he shall pitch his palatial tents between the sea and the glorious holy mountain. Yet he shall come to his end, with none to help him.
A Brief History Of The Ninth Of Av
Tisha B’Av falls in July or August in the Gregorian calendar. It is a a day of fast among Jews. In 2020 it shall begin on July 29 at sundown. Before the children of Israel entered the Promised Land, panic and despair of ever entering the “Promised Land” was caused by ten of the 12 agents sent in to Canaan to spy on the land. Joshua and Caleb stood out. Only these two were allowed to enter the Promised Land, and all who were born away from Mizrahiym (Egypt). For this, they were punished by God that their generation would not enter the land – on Tisha B’Av.
On the Ninth (9th) of the month of Av (the fifth month), in the summer, the Solomon’s temple was destroyed by the Neo-Babylonian king, Nebuchadrezzar (also spelled Nebuchadnezzar in Aramaic) in 586 BC. Then the next temple, the Zerrubabel temple, later embellished by the Edomite king Herod The Great, was destroyed in 70 A.D. by General Titus of Rome in the Revolt of the Jews.Incidentally the Neo-Babylon empire was envisioned by Daniel to be the first beast in his dream (Daniel 7) and Rome was the fourth beast. After Rome, there would come (already here) another beast that is “not like any of the former beasts”. A “little horn” will rise out of its head. This is the anticipated anti-messiah.As a result of the 1096 AD Crusade, the Jews were expelled from England on July 18, 1290 – Tisha B’Av.The Jews were expelled from France on July 22, 1306 – Tisha B’Av.The Jews were expelled from Spain on July 31, 1492 – Tisha B’Av.All these expulsions from Europe drove toward the diaspora to the New World.On the same date, in 1492 AD, the Spanish Inquisition forced out all non-converts among Jewish citizens. They came to the Americas under Colombus’ commandership across the Atlantic. Later Suleiman The Magnificent of the Ottoman Empire sealed up the East Gate of the Temple ruins with cement on the 9th of Av in 1541 AD. He hoped to stop prophecy, where it says the Messiah will enter through the East Gate (Golden Gate).Germany entered World War I on August 1–2, 1914 – Tisha B’Av.On July 23, 1942 the mass deportation of Jews began from the Warsaw Ghetto, en route to Treblinka. – Tisha B’Av.This month is observed by all observant Jews to be humbled to repentance to God.
Let us all who believe in the Coming of Jesus Christ to pray for our family, community and nation to repent from sin. This may well be the last Av that we may mourn for the sin of the nation and the sin of the individual.
There is this promise on the table given by the Messiah. From Matthew 5, the word “blessed” is translated from the Greek, makarios. In context, makarios is a prolonged form of the poetical μάκαρ makar (of the same meaning); supremely blessed, by extension fortunate, well off, blessed, happy.
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
5 “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons[a] of God.
Daniel's 70TH Week (Shavua) "I Will Be Back!" 