Chag Sameach Shavu'ot kol beit Yisra'el and Mishpachah and welcome to the fourth divine annual moed or appointment, the Feast of Weeks more popularly (though inaccurately) called 'Pentecost', a name given much later after the event by Greek-speaking Yehudim (Judahites, 'Jews').

This is the first and only summer festival of Messianic Israel, the Israel of our King Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ). Most of Christendom has discarded this and the other festivals of Yahweh and Messianics typically calculate Shavu'ot over one-and-a-half months too early, imitatating as they do the Talmudic Jewish traditions of the Rabbis who changed a great deal of Israel's wordship patterns and calendar during and after the exile in Babylon. Christendom in its turn has imitated the feasts of pagan Rome both in content and timing.

It is written:

"You shall also count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath that you bring the Wave-Sheaf, seven Sabbaths. They must be complete. Then after the seventh Sabbath, you shall count fifty days, when you shall present a new offering to Yahweh your Elohim (God)" (Leviticus 23:15-16, Holy Bible in Modern English, Ferrar Fenton; cp. Dt.16:9-10).

We have been counting the 100-or-so days of the Omer (according to the Luni-Solar Creation Calendar) since Yom haBikkurim or Day of Firstfruits, also known as Resurrection Day, the day on which our Messiah rose from the dead, bringing us to the anniverary of the Day on which the Messianic Community (Church) was baptised in the Ruach (Spirit) and Fire. About 1,300 years earlier, Moses had received the Torah - the Law, Doctrine, Teaching and Constitution of the new Israelite nation - on Mount Sinai, an event accompanied by a shaking of the earth when Yahweh spoke what sounded like a supernatural blasts of shofarim (trumpets) which so terrified those early Israelies.

In the First Messianic Shavu'ot, when the talmidim (disciples) were gathered together in Jerusalem, Yahweh not only caused the Torah to be supernaturally written on the hearts of those first believers (in fulfilment of the prophecy in Jeremiah 31:31-33) but He also filled them with His Presence - the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit) - and caused those assembled to supernaturally speak in all the known foreign languages of those pilgrims assembled from across the Roman Empire - to their great amazement, mind you - and to speak wondrous things that lead eventually to about 3,000 souls being converted and baptised after Peter had preached to them (Ac.2). This was the occasion popularly known today as 'Pentecost', an Anglicised version of the Greek word pentikostos which means '50th', which is only half the commanded length of the Omer Count. It should more accurately have been called 'Ekatostos' in Greek, or in English, 'Ekatost'. This is a new word for you to learn but one, I feel, we should start using whenever the word 'Pentecost' is wrongly used in order to correct that error, although Shavu'ot or 'Weeks' is actually the proper name given to this festival by Yahweh and we should prioretise its use. And to help you remember, I have created the mnemonic, 'egg-and-toast' - 'Ekatost'.

Which brings me to an important issue that must be resolved, and it's this: why do the accounts in Leviticus and Deuteronomy apparently contradict one another? Why does the one in Leviticus say '7 sabbaths + 50 days' and the one in Deuteronomy say '7 weeks'? Didn't Moses write both of them? That is what conservatives will tell you but the evidence is actually now overwhelming, which we don't have time to get into today but which I will be creating a separate website for eventually, namely, that whilst the material was written by Moses it was assembled by different editors at different times in Israel's history presumbly for different purposes, rather like our having four Gospels recording the same events and not merely one.

And one thing we do know is that Leviticus and Deuteronomy were redacted by different editors at different times in history, and you all know how over the course of time language changes. When I was a boy the word 'gay' meant something completely different to what it means now, as does the word 'hardware'. English has changed in the space of half a century even.

Take another instance: when I mention 'Pesach' or 'Passover' to you, what specifically do you think about? Originally it meant the day of Passover on Aviv 14 which this year was on 27 March. But over time the word 'Passover' came not only to mean the actual day called 'Passover' but the whole spring season of divine moedim or appointments from Aviv 14 to 21 (this year 27 March to 3 April 2021) and so included not only Pesach (Passover) but also Chag haMatzah (Feast of Unleavened Bread) and Yom haBikkurim (Day of Firstfruits), what we now commonly call the Passover Season. And indeed we find 'Passover' used in both senses in the Bible but at different times which has confused Bible readers over the centuries and latterly Messianics who aren't always agreed because of this confusion. It's like I have always said - you have got to do careful history and linguistics and read your scriptures in proper context!

What we are seeing in the two Omer Count passages is what is called a 'conflation' leading to a simplification. The two counting parts have been conflated into just one of them just as word 'Passover' came to be inflated to include all three spring festivals. We get this same phenomenon with 'Elohim' or 'God' terms too, where the word 'Elohim' can refer either to Yahweh the Father Himself or to the whole Elohimhead or Godhead (which is not nearly as simple or straightforward as the Trinitarians and Unitarians would have us believe). Even the word 'Yahweh' can be used in a similar fashion, referring primarily to the Father but also in a secondary or lesser sense to the Son. It's called the 'Elohim or Patriarchal Principle' but because 21st century postmodernist Christians are increasingly hostile to patriarchy, they tend to read their prejudices and biases into ancient texts as well. And the result is confusion. Every generation does it which is competent teachers, shorn of tribal loyalty to various traditions, are so important to the Body of Christ. In my youth, letters were addressed to 'Mr. & Mrs. G.K. Warren', and not to 'Mr. G.K. & Mrs. M.E.M. Warren'. As the head of the family, my father's initials represented both of them, which was a perfectly biblical principle, the same that is used biblically in the Elohimhead/Godhead. Today letters would have been addressed to 'Keith and Marjorie Warren' or 'Marjorie and Keith Warren or even 'Keith Warren & (using my mother's maiden name) Marjorie Beasley'. You have to understand the conventions of the time when reading and analysing any ancient document.

Now ask yourslf why Shavu'ot is called 'Weeks' (which is what the Hebrew word shavu'ot literally means) and not 'days' or '50 days'. Why? Then ask yourself why the Greeks came to change that and to call it 'Pentecost', meaning '50th', and not 'weeks' like the Hebrews? Look at the account in Leviticus 23:15-16 which starts with '7 sabbaths' which is 7 [Creation] 'weeks' and then adds '50 days'. The editor of Deuteronomy, known in scholarly circles as the 'Deuteronomist', simply writes 'seven weeks' which is the same as the '7 sabbaths' part of the Priestly edition who compiled Leviticus. He's just abbreviated Leviticus, compiled by the Levite editor, and quoted the first part of what they wrote, the '7 weeks'. In other words, '7 weeks' is shorthand for '7 sabbaths and 50 days'. What the Talmudic rabbis have done is go with the shortened version and then later the Greeks renamed it 'Pentecost'. That's how, in my opinion, the confusion has arisen. A way, then, to make sense of the apparent 'contradiction' is not to twist the Leviticus passage to mean what the Rabbis later wanted it to mean. (But see the Appendix below for an alternative explanation).

Even if we had not been aware of our manuscript history (and it's admittedly a complicated area of study requiring great expertise, with even the experts not being agreed) we should at least be considering that the symbolism of 100 is very different to that of 50. So we'll briefly do that now. The number representing Shavu'ot would have to be a powerful 'anointing number' - the anointing or endowment of the Ruach (Spirit) that empowered the first believers at the first Messianic Shavu'ot ('Weeks') or Ekatost ('100th'). Remember particularly that one of the major reasons the annual festivals have been given to us by Yahweh is to reveal the stages of the spiritual growth of a true believer...and of the Community of Believers as a whole, the Israelite Nation.

If we will but remember that the Bible is not primarily a systematic treatise on religion, but the history and literature of the spiritual growth of a people under Elohim (God), first of the physical or material world, not in the language of modern science (something flat-earthers need to learn), but in a way which would be grasped by the imagination and intelligence of those for whom it was originally written. The Scriptures' most important feature is the story of the growth of a qadosh, holy or set-apart people, the first three festivals being concerned with individuals and the last four, beginning with Shavu'ot (Weeks, Ekatost, 'Pentecost'), being about the formation, growth and perfection of the community or collective Body of the Redeemed.

As is well known to all of you, '5' is the number of 'grace', 'undeserved loving-kindness' or 'unmerited favour'. The number '10' is the number of 'completeness', 'wholeness', 'order' or 'perfection' which lies at the heart of Yah'shua's (Jesus') mitzvah (commandment), "Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect" (Matt.5:48, NIV). That's to say, be complete, be ordered, be what the number 10 symbolises. One of the striking features of Yahweh's qadosh, holy, set-apart people was their ordered system of spiritual education, what we now call 'discipleship'. Besides the system's divinely appointed officers of Cohen Gadol (High Priest), Cohen (Priest) and Levite, or navi (prophet) and preacher and temple worship, it had a divinely ordered calendar of annual moedim, appointments and festivals, in addition to weekly sabbaths and new moons with 7-yearly Sabbatical Years (Sh'mittah) and 50 Yearly Jubilees (Yovel).

We're under a new priesthood now, the Melchizedek Priesthood, in which Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ) is our only, permanent and eternal Cohen Gadol (High Priest). The whole Levitical System with its animal sacrifices has been permanently replaced by the B'rit Chadashah or New Covenant. The Festivals and other moedim (appointments), though remaining in the New, have a new meaning and practical application in Messiah, some of which have been prophetically fulfilled and some of which have not. Shavu'ot, which we are here observing today, is the last of the annual festivals to have been fulfilled by Christ so far at which point, two millennia ago, the Ruach (Spirit) fell visibly and powerfully on the first believers in the form of tongues of fire and the gift to speak known natural languages supernaturally without having to learn them, languages which others alive then could understand as we understand differebnt foreign languages in our day, were bequeathed.

Shavu'ot was also called by other names anciently, including the 'Feast of Harvest' because under the Old Covenant two loaves of bread made of fine wheat flour (no longer just a 'sheaf' required at Pesach or Passover), were offered to Yahweh (Ex.23:16; Lev.23:15-17). It is important to remember that this is a harvest festival, and specifically the wheat (as opposed to the earlier barley) harvest festival, a point we'll be returning to presently.

So back to the numbers '50' and '100'. 50=5x10 and 100=10x10. 5 is the number of grace, as we've seen, that enables us to begin our spiritual journey towards perfection or completion whilst still in our miserable weakness. Grace is divine favour - undeserved heavenly favour - that Yahweh showers upon those who surrender to Him and admit their impotence at saving themselves. We've been talking about this in our recent series on spiritual Transformation.

When grace is shown to the miserable, this is called mercy; when it is shown to the poor, we call it pity; when it is shown to the suffering, we call it compassion; when it is shown to the obstinate, we call it patience or long-suffering; but when it is shown to the unworthy, we call it favour. This is how we too are to behave toward one another, for this behaviour reflects Divine Character and is important evidence that we have been spiritual regenerated or born-again. But this is really what the Pesach or Passover season is all about, not the feast of Shavu'ot (Weeks). Shavu'ot is not a pente or '5' number, even multiplied by '10' to give 50. That is a reason the name 'Pentecost' is misleading and perhaps also why Pentecostalism is also misleading as it claims to be one thing when it is in reality something else. No, Shavu'ot is a '10' number, multiplied by itself, a 'perfection of perfections' that comes from divine anointing.

The Shavu'ot anointing is given to the community of the saved, especially when they are assembled together according to the command to do so on Sabbaths, New Moons and the Annual Festivals. 'Do-it-yourself' Christianity or 'solo' Christianity as I call it, is supposed to mature beyond itself at Shavu'ot, the midway point or summer axis of the annual festivals. Private one-to-one salvation is addressed by the spring festivals, very much a strong feature of Evangelical Christianity, but that in itself cannot - and does not - lead to completeness because 5 is not a complete number - 10 is. And Shavu'ot or Ekotost is the number 10 multiplied by 10 - it is the number symbolising the beginning of the final spiritual path between Shavu'ot and Sukkot called 'perfection of perfection' - ten-by-ten - which involves the whole community of the Blessed, reaching its climax, ending at Sukkot or the Feast of Tabernacles, which is the 7th feast, the number '7' symbolising government perfection.

The kingship is only given to the qodeshim or 'saints' (set-apart ones) when they are totally dedicated devotees and servants of the Kingdom and its King. It is the inheritance of the Bride. 10 is the perfection of Divine Order or Completeness, the 'perfection of perfection' as it were, because such souls are completely whole and their loyalties are completely undivided. The flesh no longer has any dominion over them for they have become entirely spiritual in mind, heart, spirit and body. Indeed Sukkot, the 7th and last festival, is itself 7 days long (like Chag haMatzah), a 7x7='49 festival', which is hinted at in the first 7 sabbath count of the Shavu'ot count because 7 sabbaths consists of 7 days multiplied by 7. It is no accident, then, that the Omer count is represented as '7 sabbaths' and 50 days - do you have any idea why that is so? Why not simply represent it in Scripture as '100' days or '14 sabbaths'? Why divide it into two parts as the fuller account in Leviticus does? Because Shavu'ot both points back to Pesach (Passover), the Spring Season of Grace (the 5x10=50 days) and forwards to the fullness and climax which is Sukkot (the 7 sabbaths of 7 days = 49), reminding us that our foundation is grace and our completion is spiritual perfection, which is 10x10=100.

We could make a whole series of sermons about the multi-layered numerical truths in the Bible and that is admittedly exciting for those of us who like numbers. However, I have a different purpose today. All of this information is supposed to lead you up to, and equip you with, the tools to understand a revelation I need to conclude with. What we have to do now is put the historical Old and New Covenant Shavu'ot's into our own immediate context, our present situation, in 2021, which is the eighth year of the Last Exodus, the hope of the Final Gathering of the 12 Tribes of Israel, and the Penultimate Judgment which began in earnest on Aviv 1 of this very year, and is happening while I speak to you this morning.

Five days ago I was awakened at about 7.30 a.m. on Saturday 3 July 2021 to see an intense vision before me that I have tried to approximate in the leading picture of the article on the website. Bear in mind as I relate it to you all the things we have been talking about this morning so far. My field of vision was, as it were, 'framed' by fire on all sides. Imagine a picture frame on fire but nothing else visible beyond it but only the frame's contents. Inside this blazing frame of fire was a wheat field, fully ripened - a vast, area extending for miles and miles in all directions - but in the middle of the field, was another fire that was consuming the wheat! I knew this was not good so I prayed that Yahweh would intervene in this situation. At once a ferocious wind seemed to blow from the 'east' side of the gigantic field, so powerful that the stalks of grain were bent over and almost flattened from the blast. The destructive fire in the midst of the field was immediately extinguished, but not it only, but the frame of fire also was extinguished too, leaving complete calm or stillness. The remaining stalks of wheat, formerly blown flat to the ground, had bounced back up to almost a vertical position, but not quite because of all the bending they had undergone. Then the vision closed.

This is such an important revelation that it reminds me of a similar one I saw on 5 June 2004 some 17 years ago called The Fields of Fire: A Prophetic Dream About Scandinavia, and in particular Sweden, only this year's vision has the whole world in view. However, the 2004 prophetic dream was undoubtedly a glimpse of the bigger one I saw the other day. Not only that but the vision of 2004 was preceeded by another similar foreshadoing vision in 1994 which you can read in Olive Branch in Section 356 or in the 'Fields of Fire' article. This latest vision is therefore the third and final 'completing' vision of a set of three received in 1994, 2004 and now in 2021 - we have arrived! What we were forewarned of 17 and 27 years ago I will leave you to read up yourselves because I must now explain the newest vision to you.

The fact that the vision was itself framed in fire means that we have arrived at that time of judgment spoken of in 1994 and 2004. It's here now, the Mishpatim Yahweh or the Penultimate Judgment. You would have to be especially blind not to see that it has arrived what with all that's going on with the pandemic, a fraudulent election the USA leading to a clown president, the Antifa and BLM communists burning cities in the West, communist China flexing its muscle and becoming more and more authoritian at home and aggressive on the world stage, the rise of the suveillance state, 5G, bogus global warming taxation, the European Union teetering since Brexit, and so forth.

The vast field is the harvest but this time round I understood something I did not know or understand from the two earlier experiences. Not only are believers being burned up because of disobedience and lawlessness but - and this is the important new level of understanding - our own individual, personal harvests, the accumulation of a lifetime, are being progressively burned up too because of unrepented sin! That personal spiritual harvest - that sanctification worked on us through years of trusting, obedience service - is being lost - consumed - because of carelessness, indifference, disobedience and continuing idolatry, sometimes very subtle. Never assume, as some believers do (misinterpretung the teaching of the apostle John) that we automatically stop sinning as soon as we are saved (or that 'Once Saved, Always Saved')! And had not Yahweh intervened in the vision, by sending a powerful wind - not to fan the flames but to snuff them out - we would all be consumed because of our wickedness, both the greater and lesser sinners. Both the fire and the wind are the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit) - different aspects of the sevenfold Ruach (Spirit) with different rôles.

Now bear in mind that this is NOT the Great Tribulation and NOT Final Judgment we are passing through but a dress rehearsal so that we can see clearly those areas of our lives that are still not right before the Almighty, giving us the opportunity to keep on making teshuvah (repenting), a reason we are given the early autumn moedim (appointments). The Shavu'ot (Weeks) Ruach is wind, the Pesach (Passover) Ruach was water (hence the Great Flood) but the Sukkot (Tabernacles) Ruach is fire WHICH WE ARE NOT COMPLETELY READY FOR YET, not by a long stretch.

This is our wake-up call as we are given a taste of the practical effect of the Sukkot Ruach and anointing on our souls. The Sukkot fire is being released on us but it is only partial and of short duration. Anyone who thinks he or she has received it yet in its final form or in its fullest degree is living under a delusion because Yahweh must at some point soon extinguish that portion of it which He has released in the Penultimate Judgment. When the 'frame of fire' has been extinguished, the Penultimate Judgment will be over. This He must do to preserve not only His Remnant but that part of spiritually born-again Christendom which is at least partly Torah-obedient (pursuing holiness) and still repentant...which is most of us, I dare say.

For those who are repentant, the Sukkot fire will remain and continue to grow; but for the uncalled and for the fakes, this fire will expose and burn them, exposing their lie, and they will not be able retain any of it. They must fall back to where they truly are in their journey, to the Shavu'ot anointing or the even earlier Pesach one. That's both why there has been so much prophesying of late and why most of it has been false as those not called try to exercise a gift not intended for them but who have sought to take it by force, with all the fallen motives that men and women seeking the glory and recognition given by men do.

Come on, let's be honest here. How many of us have been begging over these last weeks and months for Yahweh to intervene on our behalf, or on behalf of fellow believers, because of persecution, bad health, financial difficulties and domestic problems? How many of have been experiencing frustration and even desperation? Is anyone claiming to be of the 'Remnant' who is free of many, if not most, of these, remembering, of course, that persecution in one form or another is the lot of all true believers, as Messiah said? (Jn.15:20-21) How many of you have not only failed to listen to, let alone actually obey, the words of Yahweh's authentic nevi'im (prophets) who have been sent into the world at this time? Or are you allowing your ears to be titillated by the words of the false prophets who greatly outnumber the true ones, as they always have done, and as we have been seeing in our series, Return of the Elijah prophets (which we have yet to complete)?

How many of you are clinging on to false traditions because of conscious or unconscious idolisation of a denomination or a charismatic leader? Or because you want to be liked and respected by other believers wishing to be left alone and unchallenged as they cling onto their own false traditions? How many of you are compromising like that? How many of you "suffer fools gladly" (2 Cor.11:19, KJV) because you're afraid to rock anyone's boat or because you're afraid they will turn against you? How many of you are still speaking gibberish and calling it authentic 'tongues'? We've already see what authentic tongue-speaking was among the first century believers. We know exactly what happened on this day of Shavu'ot 2,000 years ago. You can argue with me all you wish in defence of your flesh-titillating prattle but until you forsake it you will be plagued by deception and trouble.

How many of you are clinging the lie that the Torah of commandments has been nailed to the Cross? How many of you, because of this false belief, have been led to the false belief that you can do pretty much anything your little heart tells you and then then labeling it as 'the Spirit' in self-justification? How many are screaming 'Grace! Grace!', which is the Pesach (Passover) anointing, but are refusing to be obedient to the mitzvot (commandments)? What was it, do you suppose, that was given at the first Shavu'ot (Weeks)? It was the Torah, the Mitzvot (Commandments)! The New Covenant or Messianic Shavu'ot was given to those who were already Torah-obedient Yehudim (Judahites, 'Jews') as well as, next, to those Gentiles who were willing to obediently submit to the directive of the First Council of Jerusalem to begin following the Torah Rule or Constitution of the Kingdom. What was that? It consisted, specifically, of four Torah rules to be obeyed by the ex-pagan Gentiles immediately to launch them in their disciplship, namely, to "abstain from things polluted by idols, from sexual immorality (as already defined by Torah), from things strangled, and from blood (i.e. eat kosher)" (Acts 15:20, NKJV). Yet most Christians don't even obey these four basics demanded by the apostolic Council! Do you drain the blood from your food? Do you shun divorce, adultery, fornication, impure sex, and vow-breaking? Yet those who do these things not untypically stubbornly refuse to obey Yahweh and call those who submit to His Law as 'legalists', some of them even having the gall to say that Torah-obedient believers aren't saved because they are refusing Christ and His grace.

But most important of all, whilst not in any way diminishing Torah, or true Tongues, or faithfulness to holy sexual conduct, and all the other things we have been commanded to steer our lives by, how many of us are actually loving the way Christ taught us to love, because ahavah-, chesed-, agapé- sacrificial-type love is the common thread that links all the mitzvot (commandments) the festivals together? Indeed, it's the very grease that oils the hinge of the door that is Shavu'ot which must be opened to proceed into the autumn (fall) festivals and to the grand consummation of the Æon (Age)! This door, when it swings open, changes your direction from purely self-salvation to community-salvation, because Shavu'ot (Weeks, Ekotost) is a Kingdom signpost that tells us to turn and transform our personal salvation interests into congregational service...including building up the congregations of the Elect!

Remember the words of admonition of the beloved apostle Paul which speak to us today at this dress rehearsal of the final burning:

"Now if anyone builds on this foundation [of Christ] with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one's work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one's work, of what sort it is. If anyone's work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire" (1 Cor 3:12-15, NKJV).

That is what I was looking at in this latest vision, brethren and sisters, the burning up of the dross - but also, as I'æve said, some the good things too - the work, the fruit of our labour which we have acquired but which we have put at risk in our disobedience, and that is what catapulted me into prayer asking Yahweh to intervene. I don't want to enter heaven by the skin of my teeth dispossessed of my rewards. You see, the fire is burning up us too! And on one level, I was observing myself, and I knew it, that I was not faring well, and that I needed intervention and undeserved loving-kindness (grace) so as not to be fully consumed by the time the present day of purification is ended. So what are we clinging onto that we shouldn't be? Why throw away the rewards of eternity to be left with a paltry inheritance? Why accumulate our good labours in vain (not, I repeat, to be saved, but for future glory)? It is not worth it.

Is anyone enjoying the fire? We ought to be, or at the very least, not be troubled by it anymore than the righteous malakim (angels) are who live in it all the time. It ought to be our supernatural home. And I do not think it is an 'accident' that at this time some parts of the world are having terrible heat waves with temperatures as high as 50°C in western Canada! I believe 600-700 people have died in British Columbia alone because of the scorching heat which is comparable to the summer in Iraq! They're running out of water in California, that iniquitous state. The prophesied drout will come, and not just to America. It's hot enough here in Sweden which is half the amount of Victoria Island, Washington State, and Oregon, and we don't have air conditioning. But neither do those in Canada and the north-western American states.

In a family study we had two evenings ago we were reading Proverbs 19:21 where it says, "Many are the plans in a person's heart, but it is Yahweh's purpose that prevails" (NIV). Are we fully on board with His program - His plans - or are we running ours, doublemindedly (Jas.1:8; 4:8)) in parallel with His...or worse (Yah forbid), have we set His plans completely aside for our own? This is not, I hope you'll agree a good time for running declaring independence from Heaven and amok in a world being consumed by anarchy. The covid 'pandemic' lockdowns, which is all a part of the Penultimate Judgment, are ruining economies and severely restricting our movements anyway and interrupting many of our own plans. But in one way, this reduction of our freedoms is a blessing in disguise, at least for now.

A brother in Germany asked me recently if I thought that we would soon return to the way things were before. I informed him we would never return to the ways things were before but that at some point in the very near future the Enemy will suffer a defeat and the crisis would de-escalate somewhat. Please do not get the idea that the de-escalation is about to happen right now - it isn't. There is to be much trouble for a while, at least until the end of next Sukkot (Tabernacles). So the flames aren't necessarily going to be blown out right now - there are big changes that still need to be made in the Remnant. You will remember that the journey through the Wilderness in the First Exodus wasn't a party and we are only a few years into the Last Exodus. But there were oases or wadis back then and similar oases will present themselves to us too, and have done. We can, at the very least, look forward to them, for times of refreshing and rest, little 'Beulahlands'. Otherwise, get acclimatised to more of the same for a while. But that doesn't mean Yahweh's people should perpetually be holed up. We are shorly to go out to do His work in ways we have never done before, nor even dreamed of.

In the meantime, we can individually get right with Yahweh and pray He ends the current trial and purification by blowing the fire out but don't be in a hurry to cut short your purification, however painful the current trials and tribulations may be - but rather "be pure and blameless until the day of Christ" (Phil.1:10, NIV). Only good things come of purification. It is an act of loving kindness on the part of Yahweh to give us this opportunity to get fully clean now.

Tomorrow, we shall assemble for our regular Sabbath and the day after for Rosh Chodesh. Do not miss the prophetic signifiance of three consecutive moedim at this important time. Until then, may Yahweh bless you as we keep our minds firmly fixed on Him these next couple of days. We shall conclude by renewing our Shavu'ot Covenant. If you have been baptised and have covenanted to become a Bar- or Son or Daughter of Covenant Covenant (what most orthodox Christians call 'confirmation'), please repeat these words spoken by Israel at the First Shavu'ot:

"Everything Yahweh has said we will do"

Comments from Readers

[1] "Thank you. The explanation of the day count is quite interesting....I can also say that, at least here in South Africa, the blazing fire is well under way. Last year (2020) things seemed so quiet by comparison. Now every other day in our church group we hear of someone who is sick, or who has died. Even my father has very recently passed away of the plague. You could certainly describe the current situation here as 'desperate'. This message has at least been somewhat encouraging" (RSRB, South Africa, 8 July 2021)

"When the day of Pentecost had fully come..." is, in the Greek, Kai en tó symplérous thai tén hémeran tés pentecostés (Ac.2:1) which rendered literally is, "And in the together-fulfilling of the day of the fiftieth...", is speaking of the fiftieth day of the last part of the two part count (7 sabbaths + 50 days) - it isn't describing a 'day' called 'Pentecost'- remembering there were no upper and lower case letters in ancient Greek: it was all one case.

This was written to Theophilos (Latinised to Theophilus), a Greek name, and a former Cohen Gadol or High Priest (and not, as traditionally supposed, some high-ranking Roman official or nobleman), son Ananus/Annas, known from the time Yah'shua (Jesus) was falsely accused (Lk.3:2; Jn.18:13,24; Ac.4:6). He had been the High Priest from 37-41 AD and had a granddaughter called Joanna, mentioned in Luke 8:3 and 24:10 who had been a witness of the resurrection. It was through her that Luke had access the family of the High Priests who were Sadducees (Ac.5:17) and we know that a great many of the cohenim (priests) were subsequently obedient to the faith (Ac.6:7). The Sadducees were highly Helenised, hence his Greek name, Theophilos (meaning 'beloved of God' or 'friend of God'). This was written before Stephen was brought before the Sanhedrin or Council and accused before the Cohen Gadol (High Priest) who might have been no less than Theophilos himself! If this is true, then Stephen's impassioned sermon might have led to the conversion and salvation salvation not only of Saul of Tarsus, but also Theophilos.

Now back to the Omer counting to Shavu'ot in Leviticus 23:15-16 which begins with the first or original seven complete sabbaths (weeks) and is then followed by 50 more days. This span of time literally took place from the time the Red Sea (Yam Suf) was parted to the time Moses administered the Covenant to Israel in Exodus 19 & 24. At some time during this period the 7 full sabbath count ended and the 50-day count began. Moses went up Mount Sinai several times (in total, 8 times) but in this passage we see Moses with Aaron, Nadab, Abihu and 70 elders:

"Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went up and saw the Elohim (God) of Israel. Under His feet was something like a pavement made of sapphire, clear as the sky itself. But Elohim (God) did not raise His hand against these leaders of the Israelites; they saw Elohim (God), and they ate and drank" (Ex.24:9-11, NIV).

During this time Aaron made the Golden Calf (Ex.31:18-32) and finally said, "To tomorrow is a feast (chag) of Yahweh" (Ex.32:5). Like the apostate Caiphas who would many centuries later make a true prophecy about Messiah (Jn.11:45-53), Aaron was prophesying a true prophecy as the ordained Cohen Gadol or High Priest - this was indeed a feast day to Yahweh even if he was corrupting it with a golden idol, and this was the first part of the true Count - the 7 sabbaths. We see, then, the Omer Count of 7 sabbaths + 50 days was correctly fulfilled when Moses broke the Tables of Stone in Exodus 32:7-29.