Homer Kizer Ministries

April 17, 2009 ©Homer Kizer
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Faithful disciples have just finished observing the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Passover) for this year, 2009 on the Gregorian calendar, 5769 on the Hebrew calendar; so why should they, today, look forward to Passover next year? Besides, why title a commentary with a referent to a specific year? Why is 2010 different from this year? Why would Passover next year warrant such a reference?

Jesus ate His last Passover meal on the dark portion of the 14^th of Abib, the night on which Israel in Egypt ate that first Passover, the night when the death angel passed over all the land of Egypt to slay firstborns not covered by the blood of a lamb, the night before Israel left Egypt with a high hand (Israel was to stay indoors until daylight — Ex 12:22 — so Israel did not leave Egypt until the evening of the 14^th, going into the 15^th) … Matthew records,

Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom.” (26:26–29 emphasis added)

What if one of the disciples had not drank from the cup? Jesus had washed Judas Iscariot’s feet, but Judas had left before Jesus made unleavened bread on this night of the year His body, and wine in the cup His blood, poured out for the forgiveness of sins. But suppose Judas had drunk from the cup: would his betrayal of Jesus have been forgiven? Would the sins of any disciple who had drunk from the cup been forgiven?

Every disciple is a firstborn son of God, analogous to the firstborn of Israel in Egypt … would the death angel have passed over the house of an Israelite in Egypt if blood had not been smeared on the doorposts and lintels? The mouth is the entrance into the tent of flesh in which a new creature born of spirit dwells as the doorway was the entrance into the house in Egypt in which an Israelite dwelt; so when the disciples drank from the cup, they did, in type, what Israel did in Egypt when that ancient nation smeared the blood of the selected lamb on doorposts and lintels. Therefore, if a disciple, then or now, doesn’t drink from the cup on the night that Jesus was betrayed, is this disciple not equivalent to an Israelite in Egypt who refused to smear blood on doorposts and lintel? The disciple is, isn’t he? So, question, does Jesus’ blood poured out at Calvary forgive the sins of disciples who did/do not drink from the cup? Again, Judas Iscariot was a disciple whose feet Jesus washed. Does Jesus’ blood, poured out at Calvary, cover the sins of “‘those who have done evil’” (John 5:29)?

The liquid in the cup is not blood, but the fruit of the vine. It doesn’t suddenly become blood when blessed. It is and it will remain wine or grape juice, an offering of the ground, Cain’s offering. But on one night in a year and on only one night, the night that Jesus was betrayed, the liquid in the blessed cup functions as the blood of the Lamb of God, and is the blood of the Passover Lamb of God as a metaphor declares one thing to be another thing. For the Passover is not eaten on many nights during the year, but on one night … of course an Israelite can claim he or she is eating the Passover on another night other than the dark portion of the 14^th of Abib, but if death angels were to again pass over all the land—the promise of Scripture is that they will—then eating the Passover lamb on another night will leave the Israelite uncovered. Only when the Passover lamb is killed and its blood seen on doorposts and lintels at midnight on the 14^th of Abib is the Israelite covered. Or said in other words, is wine really the blood of Christ every day of the year? It isn’t, is it?

In Egypt three and a half millennia ago, Egyptians did not sacrifice a lamb on the dark portion of the 14^th of Abib. Moses didn’t tell Egyptians to cover their firstborns with the blood of a lamb selected and penned on the 10^th day of Abib; so when the death angel passed over all the land, the Lord struck down the firstborn of Egypt from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on the throne to the firstborn of the captive (slave) to the firstborn of livestock (Ex 12:29). Only the firstborn of Israel that were covered by the blood of a Passover lamb were spared … Jesus has told all of His disciples to drink from the cup, as Moses told Israel to smear the blood of the Passover lamb on the doorposts and lintels of their houses. Judas Iscariot was not there when Jesus told His disciples to drink, and by extension, if a disciple doesn’t drink from the cup on the night when the Passover lamb was to be slain, the disciple is analogous to an Israelite in Egypt not smearing the blood of the Passover lamb on doorposts and lintels; the disciple is as Judas was in that the disciple has betrayed the trust of Christ Jesus.

Jesus’ disciples, post Calvary, were not merely (soma and psuche — body and shallow breath) as Jesus says of them in Matthew 10:28. Rather, once the glorified Jesus breathed on ten of His disciples and said, “‘Receive the Holy Spirit [hagios pneuma]’” (John 20:22), these ten were (1 Thess 5:23) pneuma (deep breath) and soma (body) and psuche (shallow breath), with pneuma as deep breath representing the second breath of life received directly from the Father [pneuma Theon] as Jesus visibly received this second breath of life when the dove descended upon Him (Matt 3:16) and with psuche as shallow breath representing the breath of life Elohim [singular in usage] breathed into the nostrils of the first Adam. Thus, post Calvary, disciples have been twice born and have in them two breaths of life, one that gives life to the flesh and one that gives life to the new self that is a firstborn son of God and one of the firstfruits. And it is this new self as a firstborn son of God that will perish at the second Passover liberation of Israel, now a nation circumcised of heart, if the body doesn’t drink from the cup on the night that Jesus was betrayed … the body (soma) as the tent of flesh in which the new self dwells is directly analogous to the house in which an Israelite in Egypt dwelt.

·      The disciple who does not drink from the cup on the night that Jesus was betrayed, this night being the dark portion of the 14^th of Abib, does not cover the sins of person and all firstborns dwelling in this house (tent of flesh) will be slain, including a firstborn son of God.

·      A beast in Egypt is spiritually analogous to the fleshy body of a human being;

·      As the firstborns of the beasts in Egypt were slain when the death angel passed over all the land at midnight of the long night on which the Passover lamb was slain, human firstborns from the President of the United States to the lowest of men will be slain when death angels again pass over all the land to slay firstborns thereby ending the Passover covenant made with Israel on the night when the Lord led the fathers of Israel out of Egypt.

·      The New Covenant will not be implemented until the first covenant (the covenant made with Israel when the Lord took this nation by the hand to lead this nation out from Egypt — Jer 31:32), that is obsolete and has been about ready to vanish away since the 1^st-Century CE (Heb 8:13) is ended by a second shedding of blood.

The firstborn sons of Adam, who aren’t one son (Cain) but every human being that opens a womb, need to cover themselves with the blood of the Passover Lamb of God. But here is the kicker: Moses did not tell Pharaoh or the Egyptians to cover themselves even though many of the Egyptians would have some awareness of what Israel was doing between the 10^th day and the 14^th day of Abib. The Lord today doesn’t tell all human beings to cover themselves by drinking from the cup on the night that Jesus was betrayed. Rather, He treats those human beings who are not circumcised-of-heart Israel as the Lord treated Egyptians in Egypt. And in Egypt,

At midnight the Lord struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of the livestock. And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians. And there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where someone was not dead. Then he summoned Moses and Aaron by night and said, “Up, go out from among my people, both you and the people of Israel; and go, serve the Lord, as you have said. Take your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and be gone, and bless me also!” (Ex 12:29–32)

When society can get no farther from God but must begin to turn to God; when the one long spiritual night (turning away from the Light) that began at Calvary can get no darker, death angels will again pass over all of the land, slaying all firstborns of man and God that are not covered by the blood of the Lamb of God. This means that the firstborns of natural Israel and of Islam and of Christianity and of every other faith (atheism is a faith) that have not drank of the cup on the night that Jesus was betrayed, the dark portion of the 14^th of Abib, will be slain as the firstborns of Egypt were slain … if this ending of the first covenant occurs on a year like the year in which Jesus was slain, even the majority of Sabbatarian disciples will not have drank of the cup on the night that Jesus was slain and will, by extension, be as Egyptians were in Egypt.

Among Sabbatarian Christians, few even attempt to drink from the cup on the night that Jesus was betrayed. And of the few who make an attempt, most are former disciples of Herbert W. Armstrong who was and remained throughout his life a spiritual novice. Because Armstrong never understood spiritual birth, he never grasped the consequences of not taking the Passover sacraments on the night that Jesus was betrayed—and his disciples to this day fail to understand what is at stake.

A theological base exists to support speculation about when the second Passover will occur, about when the Tribulation will begin, but speculation is always speculation. There is, however, convincing modeling to show that the second Passover liberation of Israel will occur on the second Passover; i.e., on or about when Noah was in the Ark, with Noah entering the Ark on the 10^th day of the second month, when the paschal lamb would have been selected and penned for the second Passover, and with Noah being in the Ark for seven days (until the 17^th day of the second month) before the fountains of the deep opened … the world was baptized into death on the 17^th day of the second month. It will be “raised” into life during a spiritual Passover week that is the seven endtime years of tribulation. And at the end of these seven years, Jesus will again drink of the fruit of the vine with His disciples in the Kingdom.

Circumcised-of-heart Israel will leave sin following its Passover liberation as natural Israel left Egypt after the firstborns of Egypt were slain. And behind circumcised-of-heart Israel will be death on a presently unimaginable scale … if U.S. President Obama is still in office when this second Passover liberation occurs, he will die, as will every other firstborn of God and man who has not covered himself or herself with the blood of the Lamb of God, this blood being the fruit of the vine in the blessed cup on the night that Jesus was betrayed. Again, wine taken in any other cup or on any other night is the fruit of the ground, Cain’s offering, for which the Lord had no respect. Only on one night of the year and in one cup is wine the blood of the Lamb of God [“one cup” refers to having been blessed as the Passover sacrament representing Jesus’ shed blood, not to a solitary cup].

If President Obama is in office, he will be as the firstborn of Pharaoh was: there will be nothing the Secret Service or anyone else can do to prevent his sudden death, which will not come at the hands of a man, but by the workings of God. The selective deaths of firstborns, not the random killing of just any human being, will be evidence that these deaths are of God and are not the sixth Trumpet Plague. And the very fact that a security service such as the Secret Service cannot protect a firstborn will serve to turn all of humankind’s focus to God as men and women suddenly attempt to get right with God while remaining unwilling to obey the Father and the Son.

Today, many Christians and Jews are alarmed by the actions of the new American President who comes onto the world stage as a political novice: they worry about Islamic terrorist training camps in the United States and about missile attacks in Israeli. They are sheep frightened by shadows … Jesus said, when His disciples asked about the end of the age, “‘For many will come in my name, saying, “I am the Christ,” and they will lead many astray. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places.  All these are but the beginning of the birth pains’” (Matt 24:5–8 emphasis added).

Christians are not to be alarmed by wars and rumors of wars, by natural disasters, by natural or human events; for all of these events are but the beginning (or lead up to) of Zion giving birth to a nation in a day (Isa 66:7–8). Yet because of unbelief, Christians and Jews are very much alarmed by wars and the threat that radical Islam poses in this world; Christians and Jews are alarmed by natural disasters, by the incompetence of novice politicians, by threats to individual freedom and national sovereignty. But despite being alarmed, they will not cover themselves with the blood of the Passover Lamb of God, which makes no sense at all.

The Father and the Son cannot help being appalled by the unbelief of Israel, natural and spiritual. But the greatest danger is that Lord turns the unbelief of Israel against Israel by liberating the nation from indwelling sin when only those who are truly one with the Father and His Christ drink from the cup on the night that Jesus was betrayed — and this is a possibility in 2010, for rabbinical Judaism will begin the new year of 5770 on March 17, 2010, thereby eating the Passover in the month of March. Rabbinical Judaism and Sabbatarian Christians who uses Judaism’s calendar will not eat the Passover in the same year as will disciples who are of Philadelphia. Whereas Philadelphia will have a thirteenth month in 5769, rabbinical Judaism will not, thereby placing a calendar separation between Philadelphia and rabbinical Judaism; for according to Philadelphia, Judaism and the major splinters of the Sabbatarian Churches of God will eat their 2010 Passover in Adar II of year 5769 and will not eat the Passover in year 5770, thereby eliminating all of these natural and spiritual Israelites from drinking from the cup on the night that Jesus was betrayed.

In the case where there is merely a day’s difference between Philadelphia’s calendar and rabbinical Judaism’s calendar, with the Sabbatarian Churches of God eating the Passover one day before Philadelphia eats the Passover and with Judaism eating the first of its Seder services on the same night as Philadelphia eats the Passover even though Judaism is one calendar day ahead of Philadelphia, quibbling over the day might well be a case of splitting hairs … make no mistake, the difference of a day has importance, but that importance might be lost to the traditions in which the person was born. But when a month makes the difference of a year, Philadelphia separates itself from Judaism in a manner that all in this world can see.

The covenant made with the fathers of Israel on the day when Israel left Egypt was the Passover covenant … the Lord [YHWH] did not make many covenants with the fathers of Israel on the day when He brought Israel out from Egypt; He made one —

And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “This is the statute [covenant] of the Passover: no foreigner shall eat of it, but every slave that is bought for money may eat of it after you have circumcised him. No foreigner or hired servant may eat of it. It shall be eaten in one house; you shall not take any of the flesh outside the house, and you shall not break any of its bones. All the congregation of Israel shall keep it. If a stranger shall sojourn with you and would keep the Passover to the Lord, let all his males be circumcised. Then he may come near and keep it; he shall be as a native of the land. But no uncircumcised person shall eat of it. There shall be one law for the native and for the stranger who sojourns among you.” / All the people of Israel did just as the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron. And on that very day the Lord brought the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their hosts. (Ex 12:43–51 emphasis added)

And it is this one covenant that is “becoming obsolete and growing old” and “is ready to vanish away” (Heb 8:13). It is this covenant that will be superseded by the New Covenant, and it is this covenant by which sins are “passed over” or forgiven (Matt 26:28). So until the New Covenant is implemented, disciples remain under the Passover covenant for what is becoming obsolete is not yet obsolete, and what is ready to vanish away has not yet vanished away.

The first Passover covenant had not yet vanished away a quarter of a century after Calvary; and since the New Covenant was not then implemented because the first covenant had not ended, what has since changed that would cause a Christian to believe that what was becoming obsolete has been made obsolete? Truly, the Passover covenant that was growing old and that was about to vanish away has not yet vanished but still remains as a binding covenant on all of Israel. It is by the terms of the Passover covenant that sins are forgiven, and a person plays pretend with the Lord when the person thinks that a shank bone or a chicken neck is an acceptable substitute for a paschal lamb, that a bone satisfies the rules of the Passover covenant … a Seder service mocks the Lord, and two Seder services (on the dark portion of the 15^th and 16^th of Abib) doubly mocks the Lord. The sacrifice of a lamb is required, with the only acceptable lamb today being the Lamb of God, a metaphor like that of the liquid in the cup being the blood of Jesus.

About this Passover covenant Moses records, “And the Lord [YHWH] spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the first month of the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, ‘Let the people of Israel keep the Passover at its appointed time. On the fourteenth day of this month, at twilight, you shall keep it at its appointed time; according to all its statutes and all its rules you shall keep it’” (Num 9:1–3) … no death angel passed over all the land to slay firstborns not covered by the blood of a paschal lamb; so was the slaying of firstborns only a one time affair? Such a slaying of firstborns hasn’t again happened even though three and a half millennia have passed. And the answer is in the origins of the word “covenant.”

The testimony of the Lord is that there are statutes and rules that pertain to the Passover, with the foremost rule being that on the 14^th of Abib, the first month, at twilight, Israel shall keep the sacrifice, but to keep the Passover on the 14^th at twilight requires knowing when the 14^th is and knowing whether the twilight is at the end or at the beginning of the day, for a day begins with darkness, with light to follow the darkness as heavenly life follows death (Heb 9:27–28). … The 14^th of Abib isn’t a set day of the week, but a set calendar date, with the establishment of the calendar coming to endtime disciples through only one example year; for what month was it when the Lord [YHWH] said, “‘This month shall be the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you’” (Ex 12:2)?

Few textual clues exist for the month being referenced. Endtime disciples are left with the traditions of rabbinical Judaism, with the one mentioned exception: the year that Jesus was crucified. For in the narrative of the crucifixion, disciples find a weekly timeline lain atop the calendar dates of the sacred year, thereby giving Philadelphia a model for establishing the calendar. But because the crucifixion narrative has been so badly told clarification of when Jesus was crucified must be addressed: Jesus said he would give only one sign that He was from heaven, and this sign would be the sign of Jonah (Matt 12:38–40; 16:4), with specific reference to Jonah being in the belly of the great fish (whale) for three days and three nights (Jonah 1:17 — in Hebrew Scriptures, 1:17 is chapter 2:1).

Jesus twice mentioning the sign of Jonah causes His reference to the sign to behave as Hebraic thought-couplets function, with the first presentation representing the natural or physical presentation of the idea (sign) and with the second presentation representing the mental or heavenly presentation of the same sign. Here, what the sign represents physically has importance, for in Hebrew there is no linguistic ambiguity: “night” is the twisting away or turning away from the light, and “day” is the hot portion of a twenty-four hour period. So three days and three nights can only be or mean three 24-hour days, or 72 hours. Any other unit of time doesn’t adequately satisfy Scripture; therefore, Jesus would be in the grave for a period of 72 hours.

In John’s gospel is a narrative time line: six days before the Passover, as the Pharisees were keeping the Passover, Jesus comes to Bethany (John 12:1) where he stays with Martha and Mary. The following day—five days before the feast (John calls the entire period of Passover and Unleavened Bread the Sabbath)—Jesus enters Jerusalem riding on a colt; He enters as the Lamb of God and as the future high priest. Then on the preparation day for the great Sabbath of the Sabbath (i.e., for the first high day of Unleavened Bread) Jesus is crucified (John 19:31, 42). This preparation day is the 14^th of Abib, and the great Sabbath of the Sabbath is the 15^th of Abib (Lev 23:6–7).

At sunset ending the 14^th of Abib and beginning the 15^th, Jesus is placed into the Garden Tomb. He will now, to fulfill the sign of Jonah, be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth, or in the grave. These three days will be the 15^th of Abib, the first day Sabbath of Unleavened Bread, the 16^th of Abib, and the 17^th of Abib. And He will leave the grave during the dark portion of the 18^th, and probably at the very beginning of the dark portion (the person who argues for Him leaving the grave in the closing minutes of the 17^th has an argument of merit, but a quibble about one side or the other of “even” between the 17^th and the 18^th is probably an unnecessary splitting of hairs).

John records in his gospel, “Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb” (20:1). So indeed, Jesus left the tomb sometime during the dark portion of the 18^th of Abib, the first day of the calendar week and the middle day (fourth day) of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The evidence of Jesus’ testimony would have Him leaving the tomb nearly twelve hours before Mary arrives at the tomb, with these twelve hours analogous to the first 1260 days of the seven endtime years of tribulation, but His exiting the tomb is not recorded in Scripture. All that is recorded is that He was gone while it was still dark on the first day of the week (cf. Luke 24:1–7; Matt 28:1–6; John 20:1–2). Apparently Jesus left the tomb during the night without the rock being rolled away, meaning that He was not resurrected as a physical human being but as a heavenly being who would ascend to the Father at about the third hour of the day to be accepted as the Wave Sheaf Offering, the first of the harvest of firstfruits … disciples are to celebrate the Wave Sheaf Offering at its appointed time (Lev 23:10–11). They are to celebrate Jesus’ resurrection on the Sunday after the weekly Sabbath within the seven days of Unleavened Bread, and they should celebrate His resurrection at about the hour when the high priest traditionally waved the first sheaf of ripe barley (about 9:00 am).

In the timeline of the crucifixion, the 10^th day of Abib is a weekly Sabbath, the 14^th day is Wednesday, the 15^th is Thursday, the 17^th is again the weekly Sabbath, and the 18^th is Sunday. Now, taking this timeline back to the period when Jesus lived, with the possible year of the crucifixion limited by what Luke writes about when John’s ministry begins —

In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being the governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee … the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness. And he went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” (3:1–3)

disciples will encounter critics who argue that Tiberius’ reign began in 14 CE, and fifteen years later is 29 CE so the year of Jesus crucifixion must necessarily be 33 CE, but these critics argue from ignorance: the fundamental fault of their argument is that Tiberius began to reign in 13 CE when Augustus gave his powers to Tiberius without stepping down from power, thereby making them co-princeps so that whenever he died the governance of Rome would continue without an interruption or possible upheaval. Whereas historical texts will assign 14 CE as the “official” date when Tiberius’ reign began, in actuality Tiberius had been reigning for more than a year before his reign officially began, a reality everyone under his authority would have known (as Luke knew). Now add to Tiberius’ reign beginning in 13 CE instead of 14 CE that Luke writes “in the fifteen year” which doesn’t add fifteen years to 13 CE, but adds 14 years; thus, when 14 is added to 13 CE, the word of God comes to John in 27 CE, not in 29 CE. Since a person had to be thirty years old to enter the priesthood, the word of God would have come to John when he was around thirty as Jesus’ ministry began when He was about thirty (Luke 3:23), suggesting that John’s ministry began about Passover of 27 CE while Jesus’ ministry began about Sukkoth 27 CE. Jesus’ ministry was then three and a half years in length, making the crucifixion in 31 CE.

But when looking at the calculated calendar of rabbinical Judaism, a problem exists, the same problem that will exist in 2010: according to the calculated calendar, the Hebrew year 3791 began on March 11^th of 31 CE (Julian calendar), thereby having the first high day of Unleavened Bread (the 15^th of Abib) to occur on Tuesday, March 25^th and thus eliminating that month as a possibility. However, the first new moon (dark of the moon) to occur after the vernal equinox occurred on April 10^th at noon, meaning that the new moon crescent would not be seen on the 11^th, a Wednesday, but would probably have been seen on the 12^th, which is according to the calculated calendar the 1^st day of Lyyar of year 3791.

Conversion from the Julian calendar to the sacred calendar will have the 10^th of Lyyar, the Sabbath, being the 21^st of April, 31 CE; the 14^th of Lyyar, a Wednesday, being the 25^th of April; the 15^th being Thursday; and the 18^th, Sunday, being the 29^th of April, 31 CE, on the Julian calendar.

The calculated calendar’s month of Lyyar for the year 3791 has the weekly cycle and the calendar cycle agreeing with what Scripture records as the first month (Abib) in 31 CE, meaning that in the year 3791, the month of Lyyar is misidentified, but was actually the month of Abib … what is seen is that the calculated calendar’s month of Lyyar should actually be the first month of the year, the month of Abib or Nissan. According to the only example we have in Scripture that addresses when the first month of the year is to begin so the Passover covenant can be kept as Jesus kept the Passover, the month and the year will begin with the sighted crescent after the vernal equinox. And because the calculated sacred calendar identifies this month as Lyyar rather than Abib, the beginning of the month is free from set-asides; the month begins as it should, meaning that any argument for the month having “really” begun with the dark of the moon and the actual beginning occurring later due to set-asides is not a valid argument.

In 2010, the Hebrew year 5770 should properly begin on April 15^th, not on March 17^th: the month that begins on March 17^th is the last month of year 5769, not the first month of year 5770. Nevertheless, rabbinical Judaism will begin its calendar a month before the equinox occurs, thereby creating the situation that those who take the second Passover according to rabbinical Judaism’s calendar will actually take the Passover on the night that Jesus was betrayed; only those who take the second Passover according to Judaism’s calendar will drink of the cup on the night that Jesus was betrayed. And those who use Judaism’s calendar will not be looking for a second Passover liberation of Israel in late May, at the time when, according to their calendar, Moses entered into the cloud and into the Lord’s presence (Moses enters the cloud on the 10^th day of the third month).

The difference of a month makes all the difference in the world; for if a person will not drink from the cup on the night that Jesus was betrayed, the person is not under grace and will have his or her sins counted to the person when the death angel again passes over all the land. Only the person who drinks of the cup on the dark portion of the 14^th of Abib of the year that begins with the first sighted new moon crescent following the equinox drinks on the night that Jesus was betrayed. The firstborn son of God dwelling in the tent of flesh of a born-of-spirit disciple will perish if not covered by the blood of the Lamb of God, and this person will then necessarily join him or herself to the great falling away that occurs 220 days after the seven endtime years begins (about Christmas of the year when the Tribulation begins). Even Sabbatarian disciples in whom the new self is slain because this firstborn son of God was not covered by the blood of the Lamb of God will join in the great falling away when the lawless one is revealed (2 Thess 2:3).

A warning is being sounded now, a year in advance … if Sabbatarian disciples use rabbinical Judaism’s calendar to determine when they will take the Passover sacraments of bread and wine in 2010 and if the second Passover liberation of Israel from indwelling sin and death occurs in 2010, these Sabbatarian disciples will not have covered themselves with the blood of the covenant that doesn’t end until death angels again pass over all of the earth, slaying firstborns not covered by the blood of the Lamb of God. These Sabbatarian disciples will be as 8^th-day Christendom is in that the new self, born of spirit as a son of God, will be slain by death angels passing over the land.

Of course, the unbelief of most Christians will prevent them from entertaining the possibility of the Father sending death angels out to kill firstborns that belong to Him. Where is the logic in that they will ask? Besides, their God would never do that, or so they will insist … if Jesus left an example for His disciples to follow and if after two millennia (forty years of jubilee) very few of His disciples even half-heartedly follow that example, why wouldn’t the Father kill off the Church, then resurrect the Church from death and begin anew? That is what the parable of the wedding feast is all about (Matt 22:1–14); for Israel, natural and circumcised of heart, are those who are invited to the wedding of the Lamb of God. They have been invited since Moses gave Israel the Law. But natural Israel seized the servants of God and shamefully treated them, and most Sabbatarian disciples will be too busy protesting their own righteousness to even eat the Passover in year 5770. Oh, they will eat when it is convenient for them, but their eating in the previous year (5769) is akin to Israel in Egypt sacrificing lambs before the beginning of months occurs: their eating early is of no value to them if the death angels pass over all the land in the second month of 5770.

It will do no good to warn President Obama that as a firstborn he is as the firstborn of Pharaoh was … a disciple can mentally assign the image of President Obama to the ancient firstborn son of Pharaoh, slain when Israel left Egypt, and a disciple can pray that this man who has the hubris to walk a red carpet to his destiny will repent and take the sacraments in a worthy manner on the 14^th of Abib, but he won’t. Nevertheless, the effort of praying for him is worth making; for praying for his repentance will take minds away from those things about which Jesus said not to be alarmed (again Matt 24:6). When praying for the President, a person cannot become too upset about his incompetence for the person must truly believe that the things for which the person prays will come to pass.

How can a disciple not be concerned about radical Islam having terrorist training camps in the United States? … Pause and consider what is at stake: do you suppose the Father and the Son know about these training camps, or are these camps so secretive that God doesn’t know of them? And if God knows about them, why would He permit them to operate if they were not useful to Him? You don’t seriously think that either Christendom or Judaism is pleasing to God, do you? Surely you are not that naïve. And if God hates—and that is the right word—what Christians and Jews do in His name, then will He not use Satan, the spiritual king of Babylon (Isa 14:4), as He used Nebuchadnezzar, the human king of Babylon, to bring the sword against lawless Israel, natural and circumcised of heart? He has in the past, and He will again. So wouldn’t your time and energy be better spent in trying to “get right” with the Father and the Son now rather than worrying about those things which Jesus said not to be alarmed by? That would seem to be the case, but then, you might not want to enter the kingdom of heaven considering that you will have to walk like Christ Jesus walked.

No one who is today born of spirit and who doesn’t drink of the cup on the night that Jesus was betrayed has to be concerned about entering the kingdom; they simply will not be there, which is why the Church will not be returned to life until the second Passover liberation of Israel. It is enough to lose a few thousand sons of God to disobedience; there is no reason to lose millions or billions. Thus, the Christian Church with which most everyone is familiar is the dead corpse of what will be a living body (i.e., the Bride of Christ) as this present unbelieving generation passes away.

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"Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved."

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