Tag Archives: Exodus

The Third Day—Prophetic Significance

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Exodus 19:1, 11, In the third month…the third day. 

Here we read that the Israelites arrived at Sinai in the third month. Jewish tradition teaches that YHVH most likely gave this order to the Israelites on the third day of the third month, and that this third day—the day YHVH gave the Ten Commandments—was on Shavuot.

Now let’s connect some dots or put some pieces of the puzzle together to form a prophetic picture of an amazing truth. Shavuot and the giving of the Ten Commandments was a day when YHVH, for the first time in recorded biblical history, sounded the heavenly shofar—known as the first trumpet. This relates back to the ram caught in the thicket by his horns. Abraham could see “the place” (Mount Moriah) afar off in three days (Gen 22:4), which related to Messiah’s first coming three millennia later. Likewise, the Israelites were to be ready “on the third day” to receive the Written Torah thundered from the lips of the pre-incarnate Yeshua the Messiah (Acts 7:38; 1 Cor 10:4) at Mount Sinai. But the “third day” reference here is also a prophecy analogous to Abraham’s “third day.” What is the connection? Abraham saw the death of the Redeemer on Mount Moriah and the Israelites were living out a prophecy that pointed to the same time when Messiah would come as the Living Torah culminating on the Feast of Shavuot. The “third day” reference for both Abraham and the Israelites had the same relevance, for both were living in the second century B.C. (i.e. before the birth of Yeshua, the Messiah) who was born near the beginning of the first century A.D.—or the third millennia, or third day prophetically, from both the time of Abraham and the Israelites.

Though a bit tangential to the subject of Shavuot, let’s look at another concept relating to the prophetic implications of the third day. As Yeshua, the Living Torah, came on the third day, so he will return on the third day after his first coming—or, in the third millennia after his first coming. That is, he came in the first millennium of our common era, and we have just passed into the third millennia of the same era and are now in the twenty-first century. According to biblical prophecy, Messiah will return in this third millennia, or third day:

Come, and let us return unto YHVH: for he has torn, and he will heal us; he has smitten, and he will bind us up. After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. Then shall we know, if we follow on to know YHVH: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth. (Hos 6:1–3)

This is a prophecy about the restoration of his people Israel in a spiritual marriage covenant to him (referred in Scripture as the “renewed covenant, see Jer 31:31,33; Heb 8:8–13). But it is also referring to the resurrection of the saints or, the bride of Messiah, who will participate in the marriage supper of the Lamb of YHVH. The saints are Israelites who are part of the Romans 11 olive tree whose root goes back to Abraham and to YHVH.

Yeshua makes further reference to the third day when he says,

…Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I shall be perfected. (Luke 13:32)

Yeshua was speaking of his ministry on earth at his first coming as well as his being resurrected on the third day. But, the “third day” is also a reference to his second coming in the third millennia or third day after his first coming. As he was “perfected” on the third day and raised from the dead, his saints will be “perfected” or resurrected at his second coming in the third millennia.

The Ten Commandments were given at Mount Sinai on the third day after two days preparation. That is, the children of Israel had two days to prepare and on the third day YHVH would give them his law from Mount Sinai. Similarly, Yeshua has had his people prepare themselves for 2000 years and in the third thousand-year period (or the seventh thousand year since creation—i.e. the Sabbath millennia) Messiah will return to resurrect his people after which the 1000-year sabbatical millennia will commence.

In reference to this, John records,

And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee… (John 2:1)

This is another prophetic statement referring to the marriage supper of Yeshua the Lamb of Elohim (Rev 19:7–9 cp. 2 Cor 11:2) to occur after the second coming of Yeshua Messiah in the third 1000-year period after his first coming.

Even after two days of preparation, ancient Israel was still not ready (spiritually) to receive the Torah from YHVH. On Shavuot, at Mount Sinai, YHVH entered into a marriage covenant with the children of Israel, but they were not ready to live up to the terms of that covenant. Those terms, simply stated, involved Israel being faithful and obedient only to YHVH, Israel’s spiritual marriage partner, and to his instructions in righteousness—the Torah. This Israel quickly demonstrated they were not willing to do, for they had hardly said “I do” to their marriage vows when they made and began worshipping the golden calf calling their act of spiritual adultery “a feast to YHVH” (Exod 32:5).

Between the time of the feasts of Shavuot and Yom Teruah when Moses received the second tablets of stone from YHVH containing the Ten Commandments, the children of Israel, the bride of YHVH, prepared herself not only to receive YHVH’s instructions the second time, and this time she was faithful to her marriage vows for approximately 38 years while she wandered in the wilderness after which she entered the Promised Land and “stayed the course” until after the death of Joshua.

Similarly, Messianic Israel of the first century a.d. (or “the Israel of Elohim,” Gal 6:16) received the Torah on the fleshly tablets of their hearts written by the finger of the Ruach HaKodesh on the day of Pentecost. But starting in about a.d. 70 with the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem and continuing up through the Second Jewish Revolt of a.d. 135 until the time of Emperor Constantine (in the fourth century), the second century bride of Messiah had, for the most part, abandoned YHVH’s Torah-commandments and had begun mixing the truth of Elohim with pagan practices, which was like the golden calf worship of old (e.g. Sunday worship, Christmas and Easter celebrations and many other pagan beliefs and traditions that exist in the Christo-pagan church to this day).

In our day, is not YHVH calling out a remnant of people who are leaving behind the traditions of golden calf worship, where the church has mixed the truth of YHVH’s Word with the pagan traditions of this world, and returning to the ancient blessed paths of YHVH’s Torah-instructions in righteousness (Jer 6:16, 19)? In fact, the Book of Revelation speaks of a group of end-time saints who will say “I do” to YHVH, and whose identifying mark is their faith in Yeshua the Messiah (i.e. the gospel message), and yet who faithfully keep YHVH’s Torah-commandments (Rev 12:17 and 14:12). Are these remnant redeemed believers not preparing themselves for the second coming of Messiah on the Yom Teruah when Yeshua, the Living Torah, will return to marry his spiritual bride—the saints, or sanctified ones, of YHVH (Rev 19:7–9)? As the children of Israel entered into the Promised Land under the leadership of Joshua, so YHVH’s spiritual bride will return to the spiritual Promised Land of Israel at the beginning of the Millennium under the leadership of Yeshua the Messiah (Heb 4:1–11).

 

The Other Side of the Sabbath Law—Thou Shalt Work Six Days!

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Exodus 16:4–30, The Sabbath. This chapter chronicles YHVH’s efforts to literally force an irreverent, unruly and disobedient nation to keep the seventh day Sabbath. He did so in a most poignant way—through food and hunger. It’s as if he were instructing the stiff-necked and rebellious Israelites that if they refused to follow his Sabbath instructions, they would literally go hungry. “If you don’t obey me, you don’t eat.” This shows the gravity the Creator places on the Sabbath command. Yet despite these clear instructions, most in the Babylonian church today, like the rebellious children of Israel of old, refuse to obey YHVH’s clear instructions regarding the Sabbath. Instead, they prefer to believe the doctrines of men proffered to them by their spiritual leaders that purport to invalidate the Sabbath command. Paul’s sage observation in Romans 8:7 describes the situation perfectly: “Because the carnal mind is enmity against Elohim: for it is not subject to the [Torah] law of Elohim, neither indeed can be.” In our day, the same question can still be asked of followers of Yeshua that YHVH asked of the Israelites at that time, “How long do you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws?” (Exod 16:28).

Not only this, but by forcing the Israelites to gather manna each day, he was teaching them to work six  days for their daily bread. Though the bread came from heaven—YHVH’s was its source—he still required the people to work each day by going out and gathering it. There is no free lunch even where YHVH is concerned. The nation of Israel wasn’t a welfare state empowering lazy freeloaders! If a man doesn’t work, he doesn’t eat.

The Sabbath command in Exodus 20 not only prescribes resting on the Sabbath, but this presupposes that one has followed the preceding command to work the previous six days. Humans are naturally inclined to laziness. If one doesn’t have to work, they won’t. YHVH works maintaining and sustaining the universe. YHVH who created humans in his image expects us to follow his example of working and then resting.

Moreover, this chapter is almost entirely dedicated to instructions pertaining to preparing for the Sabbath. This shows the priority that YHVH places on Sabbath observance for his people. Also note that these instructions are given many weeks before the official giving of the Torah (or law of Moses) at Mount Sinai. This is but one of the many examples of YHVH revealing key aspects of his Torah-law before he gave it the Israelites in one legal codified corpus at Mount Sinai.

 

The Gospel Message in the Red Sea Crossing

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Exodus 14:22, The children of Israel went. According to Jewish tradition (e.g. in The ArtScroll Stone Edition Chumash commentary on verse eight), the crossing occurred on Nisan 21 (or the Month of the Abib, which is the first month of the biblical calendar occurring in the early spring), which is the last day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, even though the Scriptures don’t explicitly say this. The Jewish sages deduce this from the chronology of events leading up to the crossing. On the fifteenth day of the first month, they reason, Israel left Egypt and traveled from Rameses to Succoth. On the sixteenth day, they traveled from Succoth to Etham, and on the seventeenth from Etham to Pi-hahiroth. Then on the eighteenth it was reported to Pharaoh that Israel had been gone for three days. On the 19th and 20th Pharaoh mustered his army and pursued Israel, and on the twenty-first day of the first month Israel crossed the Red Sea, which was the last day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

The Red Sea. The Israelites went through the midst of the Red Sea. Like the killing of the Passover lamb and the painting of his blood on the door posts, the crossing of the Red Sea prophetically pointed forward to the message of the gospel and the steps a disciple of Yeshua must take in his spiritual journey. Paul states in his letter to the believers in Corinth,

Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; and did all eat the same spiritual meat; and did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Messiah. (1 Cor 10:1–4)

The Israelites going through the Red Sea is a prophetic picture of baptism for the remission of sin of the new believer. Red reminds us of the blood of Yeshua that cleanses sinners of sin. Moreover, sea water is salty and salt is a biblical symbol representing cleansing, purification, preservation and eternity and all of which point to the efficaciousness of Yeshua’s atoning blood on behalf of the redeemed saint.

Now let’s look at Israel’s Red Sea passage in light of its larger gospel message context. While back in Egypt, YHVH sent Moses the evangelist to the Israelites with the message of redemption from their Egyptian slavemasters. To be spared from Eloim’s judgments against sin, all the Israelites had to do was to believe the evangelist (i.e. the preacher of the gospel message) when he told them to kill a lamb and to put its blood on the doorposts of their houses (i.e. have faith in the shed blood of Yeshua the Messiah who died on the cross to set us free from the penalty of our sins). This they did, and they were spared Elohim’s judgment against sin. Next, they had to put leaven (i.e. a picture of sin) out of their houses (a picture of their lives), eat unleavened bread (i.e. a picture of accepting Yeshua unconditionally) and leave Egypt (i.e. a picture of leaving behind the world’s ways and lifestyles). The next thing they had to do was to go through the Red Sea (i.e. a picture of baptism for the remission of sins). There are more steps to follow (e.g. finding water to drink at Marah, coming to the desert oasis of Elim, receiving manna from heaven and water from the rock) that all point prophetically forward to the message of the gospel at work in the believer’s life, but we’ll discuss these one by one as we proceed.

 

 

Understanding the Second Exodus

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The concept of the Messianic Age in Hebraic thought involves an understanding of the first and final redemptions, which are two separate events. The first redemption or first exodus occurred when the Israelites obeyed the Word of Elohim and placed the blood of the lamb on the door posts of their homes resulting in YHVH delivering them out of Egypt. It is understood by redeemed believers that Israel’s exodus from Egypt was prototypical of one’s placing their faith in Yeshua (the Lamb of Elohim) who redeems them from sin’s death grip through his shed blood at the cross, and then leads them out of their spiritual Egypt of sin and worldliness toward the promised land of a new spiritual life in Messiah Yeshua.

By contrast, the final redemption or second exodus is a series of events that will occur at the end of the age prior to the return of Messiah Yeshua at the beginning of the Messianic Age (or Millennium).

For those who have placed saving faith in Yeshua the Messiah, at the final redemption, the redeemed believers will receive their spiritual or glorified bodies at the resurrection of the dead, which occurs at the second coming of Yeshua. After that, they will rule and reign Continue reading →

 

The Biblical Calendar 101

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Exodus 12:2, Month. It is the Hebrew word chodesh (Strong’s H2320/TWOT 613b) meaning “the new moon, month, monthly, the first day of the month, the lunar month.” It is found in the Tanakh (Old Testament) 276 times and is translated in the King James Version as “month” 254 times, “new moon” (20 times), and “monthly” (1 time). We see that from these definitions that the terms “month” and “new moon” are synonymous. It has been understood for millennia that ancient Israelites began their month with the new moon.

Why was it important for the Israelites to know when the new moon occurred and when the month began? The dates of the annual biblical festivals that YHVH gave to Israel and instructed them to observe were determined based on when the new moon occurred (Lev 23:5, 6, 24, 27, 34).

The next question to answer is this: when does the biblical month begin? As we noted above, for modern astronomers the term “new moon” means something different than it did to the ancients, including those who YHVH inspired to write the Bible. Ancient calendars were determined by the moon, while modern ones are not. Some biblical expositors teach that the new moon begins when the moon is in conjunction or in line with the earth and the sun and is in its dark phase. Others believe that the month begins just after the moon has moved out of its dark phase and begins to show a sliver of light, which is called the visible or crescent new moon. Who is right?

Some Bible teachers claim that there is no place in the Scriptures that specifically states that the new moon begins at the first visible sliver after being dark for several days. Therefore, they reason, it is an assumption to say that it does (even though, as we will see below, this was the understanding of the ancient Israelites), and therefore, the new moon Continue reading →

 

The Passover Seder Is a Drama-Based Gospel Tract

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Exodus 10:2, Tell or recount, relate. YHVH commanded Moses to record the story of Egypt’s judgment and fall for the Israelite’s future posterity. The Israelites were to pass this story down orally and in written form to succeeding generations. The Passover seder is the fulfillment of this Torah command in that it re-enacts the exodus story. In other words, YHVH is commanding parents to pass the gospel message of redemption downward to each new generation. The Passover seder is literally a gospel tract involving a dramatic presentation where the participants act out the message of the gospel.

 

Tribulation and Persecution, Yes; Wrath of Elohim? No.

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Exodus 8:22; 9:4, 26, Set apart the land of Goshen. YHVH separated the children of Israel from the Egyptians in that he spared them from the last seven plagues. What does this teach us about the judgments of Elohim? The Israelites were made to go through the first three plagues only. Do YHVH’s people ever experience trials and tribulations? Yes. (Read Deut 8:2–5; 2 Tim 3:12; Heb 11, the entire chapter; Rev 7:9–14.) Do the saints need spiritual refinement in order to help them become the chaste bride of Yeshua who is without the spot and wrinkle of sin? Yes. (Read Eph 5:27; 1 Cor 3:9–17.) The saints may go through tribulation, but they will not have to experience Elohim’s wrathful judgments unto death upon a wicked world (1 Thess 1:10; 5:9 cp. Rev 6:17; 7:2–3). Other examples of the saints going through tribulation, but then being delivered before Elohim poured out his final wrath upon the wicked include Lot in Sodom, and Noah at the flood.

Exodus 8:23, I will make a difference. As YHVH intensifies his judgments on a nation to get that nation’s attention, he, at the same time, will highlight his true servants by affording them special protection from the judgments. He delivered both Noah and Lot from his severe judgments upon the surrounding heathen rebels. This will occur in the end times when YHVH will allow some of his servants to escape his judgments (Ezek 9:4; Luke 21:36; Rev 7:4; 9:4). He will lead them through the flood and fire.

When thou passest through the flood, I will be with thee; and through the waters, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. (Isa 43:2)