If anyone hasn’t recognized the “blood moons” these past couple years, well, God in His mercy just gave us another “blood moon” SIGN so that our hearts are prepared for what is up ahead.

The longest total lunar eclipse of the 21st century happened Friday July 27th, 2018.  As the moon lined up with the earth and sun, the rising full moon darkened and changed from silver to blood red.  It was another “blood moon,” but this one was accompanied by Mars lined up in it’s path to shine brightly for us to see.

With so many of these signs occurring these past few years, ignoring their significance would be a bit silly at this point.  So what is God saying?

Genesis 1:14 says, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for SIGNS and SEASONS, and for days and years.”

Since the Hebrew calendar is based on the moon, whenever there is a significant moon event, we can safely say that it is usually a sign that is tied to the revealing or manifestation of God’s Covenant promises.  We are clearly getting many signals to be prepared for the Millennium, and it would serve us all well to stand at attention during these Fall Feasts up ahead in September.

The planet Mars (seen clearly because of this lunar eclipse), has been known in ancient past to be associated with war.  This could be mythology at it’s best, but there is something very coincidental happening that lines up with events ahead.  God is preparing an army, right?

“And I saw the beast, the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army (Rev. 19:19).

God’s army is His remnant whom He has been training for what is up ahead.  Remember, this year in the Hebrew calendar is about God revealing or releasing His remnant from the hidden places to positions of authority and influence.  But positioning and “having done all; STAND” (Eph. 6:10) will not come without a fight.

God will release His “firstfruits” corporate remnant at His SET TIME to step into their collective authority and purpose and assist King Jesus in establishing righteousness in the earth. God’s promise of protection, redemption, and glory will arise when “war” breaks out and the nations “roar.” (Psalm 2).

War isn’t defined as just killing, destroying  or dividing people and nations.  It can also be described as fighting against the natural elements we are presented with.   In the Bible, Joseph is a great example of one God used to raise up to war against the famine that was threatening to take lives and livelihood.  God positioned Joseph to become governor so that His people would prosper through his wisdom, leadership, and grace during the years of  famine.

Joseph managed to survive and thrive through great hardships throughout his life.  Through the years of bondage,  Joseph was in training to reign; gaining a great relationship with the Lord through the things he suffered.  Then Joseph was able to give what he gained and help the nation survive and thrive.

In Genesis 37:7-9, God gave Joseph a dream:

“There we were, binding sheaves in the field.  Then behold, my sheaf rose and also stood upright; and indeed your sheaves stood all around and bowed down to my sheaf.  And his brothers said to him, ‘Shall you indeed have dominion over us?  So they HATED HIM even more for his dreams and for his words.  

Then he dreamed still another dream and told it to his brothers, and said, “Look, I have dreamed another dream.  And this time, the sun, the moon, and the eleven stars bowed down to me.”

This dream revealed to Joseph the destiny God had ordained as being one God chose to bear the birthright responsibility of the Abrahamic Covenant.  This required Joseph to serve the Lord through obedience and humility.   Joseph was chosen to reign so that God could use Him to protect and bless His people (Gen. 48:48: 1 Chron. 5:2).

“yet Judah prevailed over his brothers, and from him came a ruler, although the birthright was Joseph’s.” 

This role in God’s plan came with  great responsibility that required an even greater sanctification process of removing ALL things that would hinder Joseph’s ability to carry out the higher call.  (Have we been tested lately and chosen to go through this process?)

Yet as hard as it was for Joseph, the greatest transformation needed during this sanctification process was to prepare his heart to love his enemies (which in his case was his own brothers who tried to kill him because of their jealously.)  

When the time came to save his family from the famine in Egypt, Joseph was able to put aside the things he suffered because of their actions and extend to them a helping hand:  

“But now, do not therefore be grieved or any with yourselves because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life.  For these two years the famine has been in the land, and there are still five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvesting.  And God sent me before you to preserve a posterity for you in the earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance” (Gen. 45:5-7).

God had a method to promote Joseph to this position of authority.  It wouldn’t be the one we would pick in our world.  In our world, we would start off and work our way up the ladder with honor, money, and position and see our progression steadily grow.  But Joseph’s process seemed to go backward by world standards.  He went from being his dad’s “favorite,” picked to take over the family business, to being made a slave and then thrown in prison.  Hmm…didn’t appear to many that Joseph was the “chosen” one.

Through time and testing, God gave Joseph the opportunity to present his gift to interpret dreams to the one in charge: Pharaoh.  And he humbly, yet with great faith, stepped into that opportunity that the Lord presented SUDDENLY, at GOD’S SET TIME, by interpreting Pharaoh’s dream.

Pharaoh’s dream really ended up revealing the national blueprint of events that would transpire up ahead.  But it also revealed the blueprint of how God was going to make a way to overcome the adversity when this “war” broke out because God ALWAYS makes a way for His people.

If you recall Pharaoh’s dream, Pharaoh saw 7 healthy cows and seven gaunt cows (Gen. 41).  The gaunt cows ate the 7 fat and healthy cows.  Then 7 heads of grain full and good came up, and 7 withered heads sprang up after them and devoured the good heads.  Joseph interpreted this dream:  That the two dreams were a double witness to what would transpire up ahead.  The land would have 7 good years, and then be followed by 7 years of famine.  After Joseph gave this interpretation, he was asked to execute and govern a plan to prepare for the battle of famine ahead.

At the beginning of 2012, God gave me a similar vision to prepare God’s remnant.  He  reminded me of the dream God gave Pharaoh and told me that our nation would have 7 good years, followed by 7 difficult years.  I saw in particular this would be triggered by an economic shift that would affect the peace of our nation and the nations around the world.  But God also shows us in Matthew 24:7 that this shift is accompanied with the natural elements that will shake the earth (wind, fire, rain, earthquakes, famine to name a few).

We are now in process for the great shift, so we must be ready.  God is preparing His army to get into positions to govern and execute His plan so that when the shift occurs, we step into our roles.

Each of us have a significant part to play in God’s plan.  We may think our life has little significance to the world standards, or to even our own standards when we tend to fall into the trap of comparing our live with others; even Christians.  BUT, God had a grand plan for Joseph, and He has a grand plan for us too!  It doesn’t matter what prison we have been in, who has come against us, what accusations we have been accused of, or even if we find ourselves strangely stuck cleaning toilets for a living.  God never gave up on His plan to use Joseph significantly.  And God has not given up on us too!  Joseph was a light in a dark time.  We will be too!  Our job is to stand on His faithfulness, keep our eyes SET upon Him alone, and to prepare our hearts for the SUDDENLY!

“SUDDENLY there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were loosed” (Acts 16:26).

Today, I learned that the horse JUSTIFY, who just won the Triple Crown,  is taking a lap around the Del Mar Racetrack in California before the races begin.  This is happening the day after this SIGN in the sky, while the California fires are burning, so we should ask again; What God is saying?  It will be a bitter sweet moment for JUSTIFY:  an honor lap in remembrance of the recent Triple Crown victory, but also a final lap because the Triple Crown winner is retiring due to his ankle injury that isn’t healing.  Afterwards, SWITCHFOOT is playing.

I have written in previous blogs of God’s vision to me years ago about the Kentucky Derby, and seeing it realized through JUSTIFY.  The Lord revealed through these races another SIGN that it is His time for His remnant to arise and run their race.  This race was fought through the war of the elements (rain and terrain).

JUSTIFY retires, which produces a period at the end of her victory story.  Now, the feet running the race up ahead are switched to the remnant.  The FIRE of the Holy Spirit will ignite this race.  Watch and see!

YOU who are reading this have been enlisted in His great army to fight for our King’s cause.  You have been through a great sanctification process. This lunar eclipse is yet another SIGN to remember there is a reward to those who wait upon the Lord.   But we must prepare our hearts for the sound of the trumpet, so when the Commander in Chief summons, we are READY!

  “And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to everyone according to his work” (Rev. 22:12).

 

 

 

 

 

Looking at the state of the Church today, we probably think it is impossible for God to draw the body of Christ together into ONE if we didn’t know it was God’s plan.  As we study what the Bible refers to as the “mysteries of Christ,” we will begin to get a glimpse of how He is going to do it.

The “mysteries of Christ” that the Bible speaks of can be simply explained when we have the full revelation that Christ is in ALL things.  This may sound so easy, but it requires the Lord taking off our blinders to really SEE it.

We know that Jesus was there “in the beginning” (Gen. 1:1; John 1:1-4), and it is written He is in the end, which really isn’t an end because it is the beginning again when God makes all things new:

“Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away (Rev. 21:1).

The Bible also says that Jesus is the First and Last, the Alpha and Omega (Rev. 22:13).  Jesus is in ALL of creation. Paul had the revelation of this mystery, so it was his desire others would get the revelation as well:

“To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages, has been hidden in God who created all things through Christ Jesus” (Eph. 3:8,9).

It is interesting that so many Christians never think of Jesus being a part of the Old Testament, but He was there, because He was IN all things:

“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.  For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers.  All things were created through Him and for Him (Col. 1:15,16). 

“And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist”( Col. 1:17).

Therefore, if Jesus is in all things, then we cannot throw away the Old Testament, like many Christians do, and say it’s irrevelant today because Jesus was in it and set the pattern that He Himself would perfect as the Son of man.

“which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ” (Col. 2:17).

Everything about our Hebrew heritage in the Bible is a cyclical pattern, which lends itself to the whole concept of  eternal life because a circle has no beginning nor end.  Our world thinking conditions us to think differently, as we drive towards a one-way destination trying to create something new that we hope is valued.  Perhaps this mindset keeps the “mysteries of Christ” still mysteries.

This worldly thinking is not unfamiliar to the Bible as we read in Gen. 11 when the people decided to build the Tower of Babel.

“Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves” (Gen.11:4).

We know the outcome of that one.  It led to destruction and the dividing of people to the ends of the earth, who eventually, started all over again building “their towers.”

Thankfully, God has a better pattern; a blueprint that repeats itself each day, week, month, year, and AGE that produces life and multiplicity.  This blueprint NEVER loses it’s value!  We can look at the beginning of the Bible and see the same pattern repeated in a different Age, but with greater levels of redemption and glory, until ALL is restored through Christ.

Since Christ remains the same, we can count on the established pattern.

This pattern doesn’t have a hierarchy that qualifies our worth, for ALL are worthy.  It also frees us to rest in the knowledge that we can’t miss God; for with each cycle, we are given opportunities to draw closer to the knowledge of the Lord and His plan for us.  This pattern produces hope and mirrors God’s love for the world (John 3:16).

Recognizing the cyclical pattern helps solve the mystery of Christ, so that we see that the bible isn’t divided into two parts, Old and New, but is ONE story repeating its pattern now perfected through Christ.

Having a Hebrew mindset produces in us a reverence to honor and adopt the Old and New and discover the same blueprint in both that God created.  We can line up with it and multiply it’s purpose.

We are fortunate enough to be on this side of the cross so we can actually read about the fulfillment of the pattern with His glory:

……”the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations but now has been revealed to His saints” (1 Col. 1:15-18,26).

Ever since the time Jesus came as the Son of man, died on the cross and rose, man can SEE and experience the WORD through Christ. AND, through his example, we can understand the mind and heart of God’s law which is LOVE, not punishment.  We can also now see the purpose of the blueprint of the Feasts, which was to lay out the story of how God would redeem all things through Christ.

Jesus paid the price to be the substance of God’s love FIRST.  Those who have been saved have been chosen to multiply His light and love and become His HOLY NATION.  This description is used because a nation is made of many people in one land that function together through the unifying governing laws of the land.  When we choose to follow God’s blueprint, we submit ourselves to His kingship and become HIS HOLY NATION.

So before the New Testament, God’s people had NO concept of how Jesus would come in the flesh and perfect the Covenant promise except for the prophetic proclamations that had been made.  Even when Jesus began fulfilling these prophesies, many of God’s  people couldn’t see or understand.   However, when Christ fulfilled the “blueprint” and the “pattern” of what God instructed them in the Law, then Christ truly was a witness to Himself as being Lord.

Jesus Himself told us that the WORD, the pattern that had been established, must be fulfilled.

“Then He said to them, ‘These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me’” (Luke 24:44).

TIME AND LAW have been the two keys the enemy has strategized to change so he can remove the “sons of God” from God’s pattern.  Grace and mercy have covered the Church at large over the years while we have built denominations that have created their own LAWS and celebrations outside of God’s appointed TIMES.  But that grace is waning as Christ is shifting us to follow His appointed times and His way of being jointly fit together so we can emerge as His HOLY NATION.

God is removing the veil (mystery) of God’s blueprint to the Church at large so they can look and become the “HOLY NATION.”  As we sync into God’s timing, function, and purpose, it will open up a gate to unify corporately.  THEN the mystery of how this broken “body of Christ,” which today is so fragmented, will suddenly function together with other “body parts.” And the greatest miracle and mystery will be revealed as we then all knit together with the Head (Christ) and become the “HOLY NATION” that becomes known as His Bride.

“But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a HOLY NATION, HIs own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light”(1 Peter, 2:9).