We’ve not updated this blog in a long time, but the time is really at hand for much of what has been talked about here and it’s been seeming like a good time to post.  Yesterday morning my wife heard from the Lord in a way that really struck me, so let me share a version of what she wrote in her journal and then add my comments.  The below was written yesterday…

4/28/2019  In her morning devotional time, Kara heard “The refurbishment of Israel is at hand.  I am gilding my bride.”  Then the Lord showed her an image of sheep being penned into a pasture with a gate.  He said her heart should not want to wander outside the pen or even look at the gate.  Then she heard Revelation 9:4: “They (the locusts) were told not to harm the grass, or any green growth, or any tree, but only to afflict those who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads.”

She was using a Passion Bible and it says the forehead represents the mind.  Those that have the mind of Christ will not be tormented by this five month affliction (mentioned in Rev 9:5).  The notes also say that there are 5 months between the last day of Passover to the 1^st day of the Feast of Tabernacles.

This is an important word for the Body of Christ today.

A number of things stand out to me that I wanted to highlight.  Several days ago, she first heard “The refurbishment of Israel is at hand.”  Today, she heard that and the rest that follows above.  One of the things that’s interesting is the note about there being 5 months between “the last day of Passover and the first day of the Feast of Tabernacles.”

I believe he means the last day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread instead of Passover since Passover is only one day and the Feast is a week afterwards, but many people today just call the two together “Passover” even though this is not how the Bible names the holidays.  Also, there is about five months until Rosh Hashanah (biblical new year) which begins the Fall high holy days which culminate in Feast of Tabernacles, so I’m going to assume he means that as well.  Regardless, the timing of receiving this word is right on point with the biblical calendar for this year.

Going deeper, today is the Feast of First Fruits.  I am new in my understanding of this holiday.  I’ve had a pretty decent understanding of the big four holidays God established through Moses and how they relate to the life of Christ for many years, but the three more minor (of the 7 major holidays), I’m less familiar with.  But just because God Himself set the others apart as more holy doesn’t mean these others are not important.

¹⁰ “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When you enter the land which I am going to give to you and reap its harvest, then you shall bring in the sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest. ¹¹ He shall wave the sheaf before the Lord for you to be accepted; on the day after the sabbath the priest shall wave it.”   (Leviticus 23:10-11)

Jesus was resurrected on the First Fruits holiday.  So He not only was the Passover Lamb, but He also fulfilled the Law of First Fruits by being the first fruits offering.  This would have been obvious to the early believers and Paul alludes to it in 1 Corinthians 15 twice.

First Fruits is on a Sunday and so it is celebrated today by Christians as the main holiday since the Council of Nicaea ordered the Church to stop celebrating the biblical feasts and started merging in pagan worship with Christian worship.  Jesus’ crucifixion was on a Wednesday and as He stated He would in Matthew 12:40, He spent 3 days and 3 nights dead before being resurrected.

First Fruits is the first day after the regular Sabbath that occurs during the Feast of Unleavened Bread.  So this year, that should be today, April 28, 2019 since Passover was Saturday April 20^th and the week of Unleavened Bread would last a week through Saturday, April 27^th.  Since that Saturday is the only one to occur during the Feast, today is First Fruits.  Here’s an excellent video teaching on Passion Week if you’re not familiar with these things.

I believe the Glory of the Lord has come and will manifest in much greater ways than we’ve known before… in the here and now.  This will be painful and awful for most.  And wonderful and awesome for those who have died to their own lives and live for Christ.  For those, who have so turned over their own souls to Jesus, that they have the mind of Christ.

I grabbed her Passion Bible to read what it says exactly and was struck by another part that I’ll type out here…

“9:4…The forehead is a metaphor for our thoughts, our minds.  We must have the seal of sonship on our thoughts, the seal of God as our Father, or we will be tormented in our minds over our true identity in Christ.”

We have talked often about God’s purpose for each of us and our true calling in Christ being that we need to be raised up as mature sons.  The time has come for great advancement for those He has been preparing in the quiet places.

^4b …These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These have been purchased from among men as first fruits to God and to the Lamb. (Revelation 14:4)

God has long planned for this season.  And He has made arrangements for it.  Difficulties are good when they come from the hand of the Father and lead us to purity.  When He uses them to discipline us to grow closer to Him.  To bring about the reasons for which we were made.

“⁷ It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? ⁸ But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. ⁹ Furthermore, we had ^[a]earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of ^[b]spirits, and live? ¹⁰ For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness. ¹¹ All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.” (Hebrews 12:7-11)

^“18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. ¹⁹ For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. ²⁰ For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, ^[a]in hope ²¹ that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. ²² For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. ²³ And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. ²⁴ For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? ²⁵ But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.” (Romans 8:18-25)

Paul was able to see into a day when the sons would be revealed.  He himself was able to taste of these things, but he could not bring them about because timing belongs to the Lord.  The Lord is placing and bringing about His mature sons.

The Lord is readying His Bride.  He is “refurbishing her” and “gilding her” so that she is not presented to Him as a harlot, but as a pure and undefiled bride worthy of the king.  The Bride (and every person who constitutes His Bride) must stay in the pen of His grace.  She must give her life to Christ and Him alone.  It will be a time of great torment for those who do not place their lives entirely in Him.  And it will be a glorious time for all who truly love Him.  And who this is and who it isn’t will get sorted out much more clearly than has been apparent in the past.

Bless His holy Name!  We get to live in a time such as this!  God bless you in this amazing season.

I had planned on posting this on Sunday (the day of First Fruits) but many of the links I had planned to connect what is written above to what we have written about in the past were broken.  Apparently there are many fixes necessary, some could probably be quick and others would be very time consuming.  This website needs a Refurbishment! 🙂  I might start re-posting older things anew.  Basically, start over.  I’m not entirely sure yet, but want to go ahead and get this post out to those with eyes to see and ears to hear.  Either way, if you want to receive future blog posts, you can sign up on the right hand side of the home page here.