Saturday, February 14, 2015

The Acts, the Chronicles: Milestone #3 - The Missing Link

In a personal chronicling of the seasons leading up to this point in time, when another pivotal season of biblical history is about to begin in earnest, there are a small number of milestones that really stand out to me. When the Lord drew me to Himself so dramatically in 1980, that established a foundational relationship. When I received an apostolic anointing in 1988, another level was built upon the foundation. There have been several events which have occurred throughout my entire life that stand out as being very notable, and among them are some that have to be considered as milestones, but in comparison to the top two, the next most significant might well be the simple revelation insight I received in 2008.

I had been seeking to understand the meaning of the celestial sign of 1991 for many years but a key element was missing. I understood that it was the sign of the Lord's coming in judgment and that it established a certain date on the Lord's calendar as a hard reference point. As my understanding blossomed over time, I came to learn how his “2nd coming” compared to His 1st. He had been conceived, then born, lived and was baptized. He died, was raised and subsequently ascended. All was not fulfilled in the occasion of His birth on Yom Teruah in 2 BC. Neither was all fulfilled in 1991 when another Yom Teruah was marked by the celestial sign. That was a significant beginning of a season. The events would follow that would be recognized as the occasions of fulfilling prophecy. After discovering the celestial sign, the focus of the work of discovering the chronology of the end times was upon a particular week of years, which might be described as Daniel's 70th 7. What the Lord was revealing about certain events was in the context of this singular week. What puzzled me was why the Lord continued to conceal the relationship between the celestial sign and that week. I had come to learn how the week was a Shemitah, one of the sevens of years that had been cycling since year one from Adam, on the Lord's calendar. I had also learned that the sign of 1991 marked the transition of a Shemitah cycle, and while that was certainly a key element, it wasn't enough. Which Shemitah was going to be the appointed week? It only made sense that they would be known relative to the celestial reference, but what was the count? It was in 2008 that the answer came. When the long missing link was finally granted, the revelation was bittersweet.

Here's the verse that describes the celestial sign of 1991:

The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be. ~ Genesis 49:10 (KJV)

Cryptic, right? Here's the verse that triggered the insight in 2008.

Truly, truly, I say to you, a rooster will not crow until you deny Me three times. ~ John 13:38

Again, that is cryptic. Of all the kinds of signs there could have been arranged for Peter, why that particular one? It's neither random nor devoid of meaning. It was a sign for Peter then and a sign for the church, upon whom the end of the age has come. Given the context in which I received the revelation through that verse, the message to me was immediately apparent. I knew that this was the missing link I had long sought to discover. That was cause for rejoicing, but that was overshadowed by the sobering knowledge that there would be 7 more years to the finish, and severe trials lay ahead. With that foreboding insight came the tempering awareness that the trials were necessary. It was for mercy's sake, because we needed the season to finish getting ready. Yet, we would be ready!

Peter's three denials in sequence represented the failing of the church to pass the tests in the three Shemitah cycles that followed the sign of 1991. In the fourth Shemitah, there would be no more denying the Lord! The rooster would then crow! I understood very clearly that the rooster crowing represented the voice and trumpet call that heralds the Lord's harvest of dead and living in Christ.

15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words. ~ 1 Thessalonians 4:15-18

Although many saints automatically associate that passage with what's known as the pre-trib rapture theory, you should know that, even though it has been co-opted (like 2 Thessalonians 2) in the minds of many, it is nonetheless a legitimate scripture with a comforting message. Not everything about that popular theory is false, although many of the assumptions made are indeed false.

The benefit provided in 2008 by being able to link the week of fulfillment with the celestial sign was such a big deal that I count it in the top 3 milestones in this recording of the chronicle. It was that long awaited insight that established the primary Shemitah as the one that would begin on Yom Teruah in 2012, the one numbered 860 from Adam. This age is going to be 86'ed! Because the Lord gave me to know when certain events would take place within the context of that week, the calendar dating was no longer unknown. The Lord promised that some would know when He would come for His Bride, and that insight is so important that he hid even the “knowability” of the time!

Since 2008, there have been many struggles and severe trials, and many losses and victories won. Delivered, as promised. It makes sense to me now why the Lord would conceal the link from me until 2008. Valuable lessons were learned in the seasons long process of coming to that knowledge. The world is now a far different place, and I am a far different man. As a student at the Lord's feet, I've learned things in the last 7 years that have boggled my mind, but it has been the refinement of my character that I see as the more important work accomplished.

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