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The 5th day of Tabernacles

Today is the 150^th day since Emmett Flood joined President Trump’s legal team on May 2, 2018.

To put it in prophetic terms, today is the day Noah emerges from the ark after the flood. We read in Genesis 7:24,

²⁴ And the water prevailed upon the earth one hundred and fifty days.

In Genesis 8:2-4 reads further,

² Also the fountains of the deep and the floodgates of the sky were closed, and the rain from the sky was restrained; ³ and the water receded steadily from the earth, and at the end of one hundred and fifty days the water decreased. ⁴ And in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the Ark rested upon the mountains of Ararat.

In other words, today is a “new day.” Perhaps the earth has been cleansed in some way. Perhaps we have turned the corner in some way.

As for timing, it is unclear if Moses was applying the dates according to the old calendar or to the calendar as revised by God in Exodus 12:2,

² This month [Abib] shall be the beginning of months for you; it is to be the first month of the year to you.

The 17^th day of the 7^th month, if dated according to the revised calendar, would be Tishri 17, which fell on September 26, 2018. But if Moses was dating it according to the calendar used by Noah, where Tishri was the first month, then the date would have fallen on Abib 17. That would closely coincide with the wave-sheaf offering, or resurrection day.

Fortunately, we do not have to depend on either calendar, nor do we have to enter into that dispute, because we are simply applying this prophetic event to the coming of Emmett Flood. Last May, when I wrote about Mr. Flood, I took note that Emmett means “truth.” Therefore, I suggested that he was a sign of the “flood of truth” that was coming.

At the same time, I wrote in my journal to watch September 28, since that was the 150^th day from May 2^nd. So here we are, and we should now watch for a flood of truth that is coming.

Last May we could only speculate about what might come about 150 days later. Would this mark the time of the flood of the Holy Spirit? September 28 is, after all, the 5^th day of the feast of Tabernacles this year. (More about that shortly.) Now that we have arrived on that date, we look at the news and note that the Senate committee will probably vote on the Judge Kavanaugh nomination for the Supreme Court today.

Yesterday was a grueling day for him with Dr. Christine Blasey Ford testifying against him with allegations from their teenage years. She looked quite convincing, though she could not say where or when this allegation took place, nor would any of her “witnesses” corroborate her story. Her best friend from high school denied the event.

Even her own family declined to sign papers to support her story. If this had been a court case, the judge would have thrown it out immediately for lack of evidence. In fact, when this is over, Kavanaugh himself would have grounds to sue her for libel, though I doubt if he would do so.

But let us get away from the drama and look at the prophetic timing.

Explaining Tabernacles

The feast of Tabernacles is a 7-8 day feast (Leviticus 23:39). The law says that the first day and the eighth day were to be treated as Sabbaths. The law gives instructions for the feast, but it does not break down the week into specific days. To understand the purpose of each day of the feast, we must dig deeper and study the precedents given to us as prophetic patterns.

There are two main patterns that I have found. Years ago I discovered that the book of John was structured to be a revelation of the eight days of Tabernacles. John deliberately structured his book in a Hebrew parallelism, using eight specific miraculous signs that Jesus performed. Each sign was followed by commentary to reveal the spiritual and prophetic meaning of that sign.

The first seven signs occurred prior to Jesus’ resurrection; the last sign came afterward, so we see a natural division between the first seven days of the feast and the last great day of the feast.

The 4^th and 5^th signs in John are the centerpiece of the feast, and they are recorded in John 6:1-21. The last half of John 6 gives commentary on the 4^th sign (feeding the multitude), and then John 7 gives commentary on the 5^th sign (coming to the disciples in the middle of the lake).

It is clear that the 5^th sign in John is prophetic of the second coming of Christ in the midst of a prophetic “storm” (opposition, threats). Yet its connection to the 4^th sign about feeding the multitude suggests that truth is being dispensed to the people. When we read John’s commentary in the last half of chapter 6, we see that Jesus was the bread that came down from heaven to feed the people (John 6:51).

The manna, however, was “loathed” (Numbers 21:5) by the majority, even as Jesus was rejected as the Messiah (John 1:11). Jesus was thus a very controversial figure.

When we apply this to the 4^th and 5^th day of Tabernacles in 2018, i.e., September 27 and 28, we can see how this story is playing out this year. The flood of truth is being fulfilled in both the Kavanaugh hearings as well as the impending release of the unredacted FISA documents. The “storm” is obvious as well.

The outcome of these hearings will probably be seen today if the committee votes on the nomination of Kavanaugh. Who will win the day? Will Kavanaugh survive the storm? It seems clear that Kavanaugh is playing the role of the disciples in the boat, since he is the one that is being threatened by the present storm of controversy. Yet it is also interesting that his accuser’s name is Christine, a form of Christ, who came to him (in Washington) in the midst of the storm.

Nonetheless, it is difficult to make Christine into a Christ figure in the story, except in the background sense of the sovereignty of God. God Himself was ultimately responsible for the storm, even if the devil (accuser) was allowed to stir up trouble. In other words, the accuser had an evil purpose in mind, but God used it for His ultimate glory to give us revelation about the second coming of Christ.

Note also John’s commentary in the 7^th chapter, where Jesus sent the disciples ahead to Jerusalem and then arrived in secret (John 7:8-10) in the midst of the feast (John 7:14). This suggests, as I believe, that Jesus will come in the midst of Tabernacles. By connecting John 7 with the 5^th sign in John, I believe that Christ will return specifically on the 5^th day of the feast of Tabernacles.

So today, September 28, 2018 we ought to see some sign of the second coming of Christ, though it is plain that the “big event” will take place in some other future year. The fact that it correlates with the 150^th day from Emmett Flood suggests the connection to the storm and to the time when the people will receive “truth” (Emmett). This truth is specifically the manna, the living bread, which in times past has been loathed, but which in our time will be received with gladness.

It may also be significant that Jesus’ birth on the eve of Trumpets in 2 B.C. fell on September 28 in that year. (See Secrets of Time, chapter 9.) Hence, today is a sign of both comings of Christ, and from this we may say that Noah’s emergence from the ark on the 150^th day was also a type of Christ’s coming.

The Deuteronomy Sign

As I wrote earlier, there are at least two major patterns of the eight days of Tabernacles that I have found. Besides the pattern in the book of John, there is also the pattern in Deuteronomy. The book of Deuteronomy (“The Second Law”) is mostly a series of eight speeches that Moses gave in the plains of Moab just before he died. These correspond to the eight days of the feast of Tabernacles.

The 4^th speech of Moses (Deuteronomy 14:1 to 16:17) is about the “Way of Life for the Sons of God.” Coming in the middle of Deuteronomy, this speech and the next form the heart of Moses’ teachings, and it culminates with instructions for keeping Tabernacles at the end of chapter 16.

The 5^th speech of Moses covers sections of Deuteronomy that are actually out of order, but it begins in Deuteronomy 16:18 and ends with Deuteronomy 21:9. I explained all of this in my commentary on the Fifth Speech of Moses, “Kingdom Government.”

When I was writing my third novel of The Anava Chronicles, My Father’s Tear, I discovered the correlation between the eight days of Tabernacles and the eight speeches of Moses. I was then able to weave my story around the revelation of Moses and John to illustrate and teach the revelation of the feast of Tabernacles. In fact, in the story we keep the feast in Shiloh, where Eli was ministering with his corrupt sons, and I found opportunity to teach the prophetic nature of each day of Tabernacles.

So in My Father’s Tear, chapter 16 was entitled, “A Son’s Way of Life.” It told of the events in the story that took place on the 4^th day of Tabernacles, and it was meant to be a parallel to the fourth speech of Moses, “Way of Life for the Sons of God.” In the story, we multiply the bread to feed the multitude.

In The Anava Chronicles, Chapter 17, “Instructions for Kings,” we are caught away to a cave in a mountain where we meet with God to receive our instructions as priest-kings and judges in the earth. Note that Moses' speech begins with the theme of instructing officers and judges.

Tying it Together

It is of interest that Judge Kavanaugh would be the main topic of discussion in the news yesterday and today. The 5^th day of Tabernacles is about Kingdom Government in the book of Deuteronomy. In John’s account it is about Jesus coming to the 12 disciples—and we know that 12 is the number of divine government.

The feast of Tabernacles itself was the only feast where the entire book of Deuteronomy was read and studied each year. And the 5^th day of the feast, which is the climax of the feast in the tradition of Hebrew parallelism, is about Kingdom Government. This suggests that the 5^th day of Tabernacles is when Christ will come, “Peter” will go out to meet Him, and when they return to the prophetic “boat,” they will be caught away together to Capernaum, “covering of the Comforter.”

Moses shows how the underlying purpose of Christ’s coming is to give instructions to the overcomers on how to judge the world in righteousness (1 Corinthians 6:2).

John shows how the underlying purpose of Christ’s coming is to teach in His Temple and to bring about the outpouring of the Holy Spirit (Capernaum) through the manifestation of the Sons of God.

These are the important lessons that we should learn and contemplate today, the 5^th day of Tabernacles, September 28, 2018.