The Heart that Discerns What God is Saying

24 Oct The Heart that Discerns What God is Saying

 

In the divine dialogue we don’t so much hear what God is saying — as we see it. We see the replication of patterns all pointing to the same message and we get it. This demands an openness to the supernatural, believing the extraordinary possibility that God cares so much about communication with you, that He goes to unending effort to orchestrate signs that will speak to you.

Over the last few years I’ve been deeply aware of the rising sense of mission summoning ordinary people forward to engage with challenges that dwarf their personal resources. Oddly, this is taking place at the same time as the growing certainty in many, that God is warning of a storm on its way.

I saw this message repeating itself again, at a movie with friends. [1]  A team of astronauts carrying out their mission high over earth in deep outer space received a warning from Houston: a mass of debris is hurtling toward them, posing a threat to their mission and their lives. As the technology supporting them is stripped away, their training and their will to endure become their most crucial assets.

I walked out of that movie seeing that our training is how well we know and how practiced we are in matters of faith. If we have that strong foundation, things falling apart will not immobilize us — our training will kick in to guide our action, helping us focus on what is essential so that our mission is not lost.  And our will to endure is the inner resolve, which God sustains and uses, in order to bring us home.

In the movie, their warning came by radio. . . Our warning is coming through signs — prophecy breaking into time — signs only God can orchestrate.

Jesus unequivocally stated that no one knows the day or the hour when God’s agenda will break into time. But He upbraided those who beheld Him and did not discern the signs of prophecy breaking into time.

When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’  “And in the morning, ‘There will be a storm today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ Do you know how to discern the appearance of the sky, but cannot discern the signs of the times?                                       

Matthew 16:2-3 

Noah, being warned of things not yet seen, built an ark for his family. That ark represents  the sturdy framework of our confidence in God, constructed beam by beam as we see prophecies of redemption breaking into time. God supplies plank and beam, signs orchestrated to speak to us, but we have to nail them together, discerning what He is saying.

So teach us to number our days,
that we may present to You a heart of wisdom.

                                                                                                          Ps 90:12

 

The Sign of The Hebrew Calendar

Believers see the calendar of Hebrew feasts as prophetic, foretelling those events when redemption would break into time.

• Every detail of Passover is a pattern replicating itself in Jesus’s execution — which took place on the very day the Passover lambs were being put to death.

• All four of the prophetic spring feasts were fulfilled in the redemptive events that unfolded that spring, each one coinciding with the actual feast day appointed on The Hebrew Calendar. [2]

The Jewish people did not create their calendar; the God of Sinai gave it to them.

For those who are open to the supernatural, believing that God orchestrates signs to speak to us, because He wants to communicate with us   — The Hebrew Calendar becomes word of God, prophecy breaking into time. It takes its place in the divine dialogue, teaching us how to number our days, that we might have a heart of wisdom to discern what God is saying.

 

The Sign of Shmita

Prophecy is a fascinating entity operating beneath the thick swirl of what men and nations do . . . attracting and methodically ordering the events that will fulfill itself, in the medium of time.

Shmita is an ancient Hebrew practice cycling through The Hebrew Calendar. Initially, it struck me as irrelevant and trivial, until it riveted my attention as prophecy — whose pattern has suddenly replicated itself in time

Every 7th year, the Jew was asked to demonstrate his trust in God’s goodness and ability to provide for him, by desisting from the ordinary means by which he would feed himself.  Israel was to give the land a Sabbath rest: abstaining from food production, neither sowing her fields nor pruning her vineyards. Shmita was the definitive exercise of her trust in God’s faithfulness, her confidence in His character.

God ordered His blessing for Israel in the 6^th year, giving a bountiful crop to sustain her until the harvest of the 8^th year. (Lev 25:21-22) This surplus of the 6^th year was His provision — to be set aside, instead of consumed — enabling Israel to walk through her observance of Shmita with Him.  But she had to number her years in order to mindfully collaborate with her God.

Many people substitute personal irresponsibility (doing nothing) for trusting God. Trusting God is intentional obedience to what we know God is calling us to do, mindfully collaborating with Him as we press forward to engage that enormity that dwarfs our personal resources . . . as Goliath dwarfed David . . . confident that we can count on God to do what we can’t.  This is the faith that Shmita summoned from God’s people. The army that cowered on the sidelines, as Goliath roared, was doing nothing; they were not trusting God to provide.

Shmita was when God laid His hand on His people’s finances: prohibiting them from treating the land as personal property. The produce that grew of itself in the 7^th year was to be freely shared by one and all; it was not to be bought or sold commercially. And all private loans were dropped at the end of the Shmita year.  It was a spiritual reset of the heart and a financial reset of the nation.

Shmita was a stretch of road demanding total dependence on God.  We have all been there. It is the lean year, the demoralizing year of Goliath’s threats, bringing the opportunity of a radiant testimony. When a sweeping change in circumstances renders us helpless, forcing us into a Shmita of total dependence on God, who among us has not been afraid and unwilling at first? But when we embrace our utter dependence on Him, our heart resets. We press forward in mindful collaboration with Him. . .  to see His goodness, power and might realized.

What took my breath away
was when I saw the prophecy of Shmita breaking into time,
stunningly replicating itself, to help us number our years with wisdom.

Hundreds of Shmita have come and gone, but in the last two (2001 and 2008), Shmita’s ancient pattern has replicated itself in time.

Keep in mind that on the last day of Shmita (Elul 29 on the Hebrew Calendar) private loans were dropped, bringing a financial reset — the root of “Shmita” means “to drop.”

• Elul 29, 2008 (September 29) brought the biggest single-day drop in stock market history, wiping out massive personal and corporate worth.
• Elul 29, 2001, 7 years prior, coincided with the largest single-day drop in the market up until that time in history. (September 17)
• Shmita is all about 7s. In 2001 the market dropped 7%, closing on the 7th day, 7 hours, and 7 minutes after the first plane hit the twin towers.  In 2008 the market plummeted 777 points. [3]

No human entity could have orchestrated this. [4]  What does this mean?

• It does not prognosticate the next great drop of the Dow, but
• It does mean that God is surfacing the Hebrew Calendar as a framework to help us interpret unfolding events.

Every detail of The Hebrew Calendar is a prophetic picture pointing to God’s redemptive agenda breaking into time.

Shmita is a practice that demands trust in God to provide: it is spiritual boot camp for those with the stomach for training.  It is collaboration with God for those who have been taught to number their years, so that when it comes around again, they understand what it entails. Shmita’s prophetic pattern replicating itself as events in time is a message:  “Trust Me in this, My strength is made perfect in your weakness.”

But only those who are open to the supernatural, believing God cares this much about communicating with us, that He makes the extraordinary effort to orchestrate such signs, will discern what God is saying.

If the pain and loss of Shmita 2001 and the accompanying global financial crisis of Shmita 2008 are surfacing The Hebrew Calendar to get a message across to us — it must be a crucial message to warrant words that strong.

  

The Sign of Jubilee

God taught Israel to number her years carefully. After 7 Shmita (49 years) Jubilee would come.  The 50^th year was the year of Jubilee — the most anticipated year on The Hebrew Calendar, a time of joyous celebration.

You shall thus consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim a release through the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, and each of you shall return to his own property, and each of you shall return to his family.

Lev 25:10-11

The mark of Jubilee is release, return and restoration

• Release throughout the land: as slaves are set free
• Return of the land to its true owner, and
• Restoration of each one to his family inheritance, lost in difficult times

Jubilee is prophetic — foretelling events that will fulfill God’s redemptive agenda in time. Believers see the prophecy of Jubilee unfolding in what Jesus accomplished:

• Release from slavery to sin
• Return of our inheritance (as children of God)
• Restoration to what was meant-to-be ours, but was lost in the past

While Shmita has been the backbone of Jewish record keeping down through the centuries, Israel long ago lost track of her Jubilee. From the time of the Assyrian incursion and the first deportation from their homeland, the year of Jubilee has not been designated or observed.

Jubilee had no meaning for a people who no longer possessed their land, whose inheritance was taken, and who were dispersed to every corner of the world.

But, like Shmita, Jubilee is breaking into time. . .

 

The Jubilee pattern

Jubilee is an extraordinary “year” spanning the 18-month overlap of both years on the Hebrew Calendar: from the beginning of the calendar year (running from fall to fall) through to the end of the feast year (running from spring to spring).

Jubilee’s pattern can be recognized in

• Its arrival immediately after 7 Shmita of 49 years, bringing
• A “new year” marked by release, return and restoration, stretching over
• The 18-month time-frame of both the calendar year and feast year to follow

Twice in modern history this Jubilee pattern has replicated itself in unfolding historic events.  Both occurrences took place immediately followed a Shmita . . . 49 years apart. . . helping us number our years with a heart of wisdom, to discern what God is saying.

 

The 1916 – 1917 Shmita took place during the crisis of World War I

• In the new year following (9/1917 – 9/1918) the Balfour Declaration urged a Jewish Homeland in Palestine (11/ 2/1917) For the first time in 2,000 years an event took place in time bearing the mark of Jubilee***: the release, return and restoration of the land to its rightful owner.

• In the feast year (3/1918 – 3/1919), Germany signed the Armistice (11/11/1918), and General Allenby captured Jerusalem from the Turks (12/1918), ending Ottoman rule of The Promised Land.

Exactly 49 years later

The 1965-1966 Shmita took place in a time of rising hostility bringing missile strikes and acts of sabotage to Israel by her Arab neighbors.

• In the following New Year (9/ 1966 – 10/ 1967) the Six-Day War took place, in which (June 5^th – 10^th, 1967) Israel tripled her territory, expanded her borders and gained control of Jerusalem and access to the temple mount for the first time in 2,000 years. Release, return, and restoration. ***

• The Feast year (4/1967 – 3/1968) brought joyous celebration with the release of the Old City of Jerusalem from Arab control, the Jew’s return to the temple mount, restoring her access to holy ground lost in difficult times . . .

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The Hebrew Calendar, Shmita and Jubilee are no longer just spiritual allegory; they are prophecy breaking into time. They are signs being orchestrated to speak to us– their ancient patterns reproducing themselves in historical events. These numbers and patterns replicating themselves, coinciding with corresponding events in time mean something, if you believe in a divine dialogue between God and man.

If God is trying to communicate to us, we turn a deaf ear at our own risk.

 

The Sign of the Tetrads 

This next Shmita (September 2014 – September 2015) comes 7 Shmita, 49 years since the last Jubilee. What makes this coming Shmita of additional interest is the rare tetrad of lunar eclipses that will frame it. Each of these eclipses will take place on a major feast day of the Hebrew Calendar.

Full lunar eclipses are known as “blood moons,” because in full eclipse the moon looks red.  A stunning correlation exists between blood moon tetrads falling on the feast days of The Hebrew Calendar and events bringing a significant advance in God’s redemptive agenda.

• A tetrad of lunar eclipses took place on the Jewish Passover and the Feast of Tabernacles the year before and the year after Jesus’ crucifixion — framing that event. [5] — the single greatest advance of God’s redemptive agenda in history.

Only seven times since Jesus’ crucifixion,
have four consecutive blood moons fallen on the same Jewish Feast Days
two years in a row.

Each of these took place as historical events moved God’s redemptive agenda forward:

• The first tetrad came in the years 162 and 163, coinciding with a plague that hit Rome, wiping out a third of her population, at the height of her persecution of Christians. But when the Romans fled the city, the Christians stayed behind to take care of the sick. When Rome saw this, Christian persecution ended. The tetrad of blood moons falling on the Jewish Feast Days of those two years framed a painful time of plague and death, but it brought a significant advance in God’s redemptive agenda.

• The links between the next four tetrads and redemptive history is not as easily discerned . . . but the Inquisition, with the expulsion of the Jews from Spain and Columbus’ discovery of the Americas, which would become the safest home for the Jewish people outside of their own homeland took place during the tetrad in the years of 1493 and 1494.

• The 6^th tetrad took place when Israel was fighting for her for existence as a state . . .  out-manned and out-gunned by her well prepared enemies . . . This tetrad  framed her victory in her war for independence,  July 1949, when God established her as a sovereign state . . . a significant advance of God’s redemptive agenda for Israel, as a nation.

• The 7th tetrad began just weeks before The Six Day War, framing the 6 days in which Israel tripled her land, regaining control of Jerusalem and access to the temple mount for the first time in 2,000 years. . . a significant advance of God’s redemptive agenda for Israel.

April 15th, 2014 will usher in the next tetrad, with four consecutive eclipses falling on the same Jewish Feast Days two years in a row — raising my own expectation that significant historical events are going to unfold, which may be painful, but which will bring a significant advance in God’s redemptive agenda for Israel.

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The Sign of Israel’s national rebirth — prophecy unfolding in time

Few subjects are more contentious than Israel, but the core of the argument is not Palestinian versus Israeli rights. A just God equally defends the rights of both. The argument’s core is the identity of God.

• If God is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob . . . Who gave that land to their descendants, Who has chosen Israel to be the symbol of His redemption for all mankind . . . her national  rebirth as prophecy unfolding in time is one of the most significant signs orchestrated by God, for all men, to tell them who He Is.

• But IF this God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob IS NOT our God . . . and IF we do not believe Israel is His symbol of redemption to all mankind . . . we will hotly contest her unique claims to Jerusalem and the land, and none of these signs will hold any meaning.

The antipathy of the world toward Israel is staggering. But it has little to do with politics and everything to do with the identity of God.

 

In Conclusion

As unfolding prophecies break into time, falling with stunning accuracy on the Hebrew Calendar, who we think God is will ultimately determine whether we pay any attention to those signals or not.

If God is the God of divine dialogue, and He is speaking through all of these things, but we are not listening — we put our own mission in danger, refusing to heed the warnings.

If replicating patterns mean anything, the blood moon tetrad framing the coming Shmita is telling us that a significant advance in God’s redemptive agenda is about to take place during a time of privation, when we will need to be dependent on God to provide.

This tetrad frames the return of that time-frame, recycling from ancient times past, in which God has asked His people to embrace their dependence on Him . . . to trust Him to provide.  Very likely, this Shmita framed by a tetrad of blood moons is significant — for Israel, and for us — seeking a reset of our hearts . . . coaxing us to interpret unfolding events in the light of God’s redemptive agenda for man.

This coming Shmita is the 7^th, separated by 49 years from the last Jubilee. If the Jubilee pattern replicates itself  — release, return, and restoration will suffuse the following 18 months, when the Hebrew calendar year   (9/2015 – 10/2016) overlaps the Hebrew feast year  (4/2016 – 3/2017).

I, for one, believe that God is telling us that challenging times are coming . . . with events that are going to advance His redemptive agenda.  How can I not look forward to what the future holds?

So teach us to number our days,
That we may present to You a heart of wisdom.

 Ps 90:12

 

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