By Maria Merola אריאל
© Copyright Double Portion Inheritance, January 2009http://www.DoublePortionInheritance.com
For years I struggled to understand the words of our Messiah, in John 6:39-54, when he said he would raise up his elect “At the last day.”
The question in my mind has been “Does he mean the last day, just before he returns to earth? Or does he mean the very last day after his one thousand year reign on earth is finished?”
It wasn’t until I began to understand the prophetic significance of the Sabbath day, (the seventh, and last day of the week), that I understood why he spoke the words. Four times, our Messiah uses this mysterious phrase about raising up his elect on “The last day.” I figured that if he bothered to say it four times, it must be pretty important, and therefore, I should find out what he means.
I suspect that these four times when he uses the phrase in the gospel of John, are hinting at the idea that the elect will be gathered “from the four corners of the earth” by the malakiym (angels) from the “four winds of heaven” (Revelation 7:1; Matthew 24:31).
Hence, the number “four” is prophetically pointing us to the end-time harvest of souls (from the four quadrants/corners of the earth), at the second coming of Messiah:
Yahuwchanon (John) 6:39 And this is the Father’s will which has sent me, that of all which he has given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.
Yahuwchanon (John) 6:40 And this is the will of him that sent me, that everyone which sees the Son, and believes on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.
Yahuwchanon (John) 6:44 No man can come to me, except the Father which has sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.
Yahuwchanon (John) 6:54 Whoso eats my flesh, and drinks my blood, has eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.
Yahuwchanon (John) 6:54 Whoso eats my flesh, and drinks my blood, has eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.
The last day of our seven-day week is called the Sabbath day, because it concludes the six-day work-week, and it is a day of rest, which YaHuWaH sanctified and called holy (Genesis 2:2-3).
With this seven-day week, YaHuWaH has shown us patterns throughout Scripture to help us understand his covenant relationship with us.
In this study, I aim to show that our Messiah resurrected on the seventh and last day of the week, and not on Sunday morning as traditionally taught in the Christian Church. Additionally, I aim to illustrate that the resurrection of his chosen ones shall also follow in the same pattern as his resurrection.
Thus, when he said that he would raise up his elect “At the last day,” he is describing a Sabbath resurrection for himself, and also for his followers. Understand, that the seventh and last day of the week is also pointing to the seventh and last millennium since the creation.
Thus, “The last day” is not merely pointing us to a weekly Sabbath resurrection, but also a resurrection at the end of 6,000 years since creation, taking us into the one-thousand-year reign of Messiah as “The Sabbath Millennium.”
Thus, “The last day” is not merely pointing us to a weekly Sabbath resurrection, but also a resurrection at the end of 6,000 years since creation, taking us into the one-thousand-year reign of Messiah as “The Sabbath Millennium.”
At the end of his one-thousand-year reign on earth, there will be yet another resurrection on “The eighth day,” just as there is an eighth day following the seven days of the Feast of Tabernacles. This event is seen in Revelation 21, as we see that the bride of Messiah will then be transformed into the New Jerusalem.
The Apostle Sha’ul (Paul) explained very well that the resurrection of our Messiah is a pattern for our own resurrection:
Romiym (Romans) 6:
3 Know you not, that so many of us as were baptized into Yahuwshuwa Mashiyach (Messiah) were baptized into his death?
The Number Seven Symbolizes Covenant
The Apostle Sha’ul (Paul) explained very well that the resurrection of our Messiah is a pattern for our own resurrection:
Romiym (Romans) 6:
3 Know you not, that so many of us as were baptized into Yahuwshuwa Mashiyach (Messiah) were baptized into his death?
4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Mashiyach (Messiah)t was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection.
5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection.
Some might argue “It doesn’t matter when he resurrected, only that he died for our sins, and he resurrected on the third day.”
However, this argument is fallacious, because it does not take into account the fact that the number seven is used in connection with all the covenants YaHuWaH has made with his creation.
If we do not adhere to his prophetic patterns, we will not be able to understand his covenant promises. Those who disregard his instructions to honor the seventh day of the week as a day of rest, are missing the prophetic shadow picture of our Messiah entirely.
As a bride being prepared to meet her bridegroom at the altar, she must know what day, and what hour the bridegroom will come for her. If she arrives at the wedding on a Sunday, (but the bridegroom was there the day before on the Sabbath day), she will have missed her wedding day, just like those foolish virgins in Matthew 25.
The Number Seven Symbolizes Covenant
The number seven is used to signify YaHuWaH’s covenants, as we see this pattern repeated many places in the Bible. There are seven days in the week, and seven branches in the Temple Menorah (Exodus 25:37).
The seven-day week is also the basis for the prophetic pattern seen in The Seventy Weeks of Daniel in the 9th chapter. We are commanded to forgive our brother “Seventy times seven,” (Matthew 18:22).
We are commanded to count Seven Sabbaths of years until the 49th year, and then in the 50th year there is a Jubilee, a cancellation of debts (Leviticus 25:8).
We are commanded to count seven weekly Sabbaths following the Passover leading up to The Feast of Weeks or Shavuot/Pentecost on the 50th day (Leviticus 23:15-16).
Ultimately, the seventh day of the week, is a miniature cycle which points us to what some may prophetically refer to as “The Sabbath Millennium.”
At the completion of the seventh millennium from creation, we will then begin eternity (when the new heaven and the new earth) will descend to earth (Revelation 21:1-3). This will commence what is called “The Last Great Day,” otherwise known as “The Eighth Day,” following the seven days of the Feast of Tabernacles or Sukkot.
The commandment in the Towrah to keep the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days is followed by the eighth day, which is also a High Sabbath:
Wayyiqra (Leviticus) 23:39 Also in the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the fruit of the land, you shall keep a feast unto YHWH seven days: on the first day shall be a Shabbat (Sabbath), and on the eighth day shall be a Shabbat (Sabbath).
With each of these covenants, YaHuWaH called them “The Everlasting Covenant,” or the Briyth Owlam, indicating that not one of his covenants shall come to an end. Each and every one of his covenants are everlasting. In Psalm 105:10 and in Isaiah 61:8, YaHuWaH confirms his “Everlasting Covenant,” for eternity with Yisra’el.
Thus, YaHuWaH has given us a miniature seven-day week, so that we can observe his plan for the redemption of humanity within his seven-thousand-years of restoration. As the seventh day of the week takes us to the weekly Sabbath day, so does the 7,000th day since the creation, take us to our eternal rest in Messiah:
2nd Keefa (Peter) 3:8 But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with YHWH as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
The fourth commandment telling us to keep the seventh day of the week qadowsh (holy), is pointing us ultimately to an event that has not taken place yet. The ultimate Sabbath day is an event in the future, that we are commanded to rehearse for every week as a “holy convocation” (Leviticus 23:3).
This word “convocation” in Hebrew is “miqra” which means a “rehearsal.” If the bride is rehearsing for the future “Marriage Supper of the Lamb” every Sabbath day, she will be better able to understand the time-keeping mechanisms of her bridegroom so that she can be “in one accord” with him and synchronized on his calendar.
Twelve Hours of Daylight for Twelve Tribes Walking in the Light
History records that before the Babylonian Captivity, the House of Yahuwdah (Judah), observed the Sabbath during the 12-hour period of the “daylight” (from sunrise until sunset) on the 7th day of the week. In Exodus 16:22-24, we learn that the Sabbath was celebrated starting in the morning hours.
Ultimately, the seventh day of the week, is a miniature cycle which points us to what some may prophetically refer to as “The Sabbath Millennium.”
At the completion of the seventh millennium from creation, we will then begin eternity (when the new heaven and the new earth) will descend to earth (Revelation 21:1-3). This will commence what is called “The Last Great Day,” otherwise known as “The Eighth Day,” following the seven days of the Feast of Tabernacles or Sukkot.
The commandment in the Towrah to keep the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days is followed by the eighth day, which is also a High Sabbath:
Wayyiqra (Leviticus) 23:39 Also in the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the fruit of the land, you shall keep a feast unto YHWH seven days: on the first day shall be a Shabbat (Sabbath), and on the eighth day shall be a Shabbat (Sabbath).
The Feast of Tabernacles also serves as a microcosm to the ultimate macrocosm of seven-thousand year “week.” The seven days of this feast gives us a miniature replication the seven thousand years from the creation until “The restoration of all things” (Acts 3:21).
At the end of this 7,000 year creation week, the eighth millennium, (symbolized by the eighth day of Sukkot) will be the culmination of restoration since the fall of mankind in the garden. At this event, our Heavenly Father’s will shall accomplished “On earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10).
Seven Everlasting Covenants
Seven Everlasting Covenants
There have been seven covenant promises that YaHuWaH has made since the fall in the garden. He made a covenant with Adam & Eve, with Noah, Abraham, Moses, with the nation of Yisra’el, and with King David. He also promised to renewed his commitment to honor these covenants with the ushering in of the Briyth Chadashah, or the “Renewed Covenant,” (Jeremiah 31:31-33; Hebrews 8:8 & 13; 12:24).
With each of these covenants, YaHuWaH called them “The Everlasting Covenant,” or the Briyth Owlam, indicating that not one of his covenants shall come to an end. Each and every one of his covenants are everlasting. In Psalm 105:10 and in Isaiah 61:8, YaHuWaH confirms his “Everlasting Covenant,” for eternity with Yisra’el.
Thus, YaHuWaH has given us a miniature seven-day week, so that we can observe his plan for the redemption of humanity within his seven-thousand-years of restoration. As the seventh day of the week takes us to the weekly Sabbath day, so does the 7,000th day since the creation, take us to our eternal rest in Messiah:
2nd Keefa (Peter) 3:8 But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with YHWH as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
This word “convocation” in Hebrew is “miqra” which means a “rehearsal.” If the bride is rehearsing for the future “Marriage Supper of the Lamb” every Sabbath day, she will be better able to understand the time-keeping mechanisms of her bridegroom so that she can be “in one accord” with him and synchronized on his calendar.
Twelve Hours of Daylight for Twelve Tribes Walking in the Light
History records that before the Babylonian Captivity, the House of Yahuwdah (Judah), observed the Sabbath during the 12-hour period of the “daylight” (from sunrise until sunset) on the 7th day of the week. In Exodus 16:22-24, we learn that the Sabbath was celebrated starting in the morning hours.
This is not to imply that the seventh day of the week called the “Sabbath Day” is only to be kept for twelve hours. I am by no means advocating that we only keep a 12-hour Sabbath day.
For the time being, (as we have daylight and night time), there will be 24 hours for each calendar date. However, in eternity, we will enter into our eternal Sabbath rest where there is no darkness at all:
Chazown (Revelation) 21:23 And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of Elohiym did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.
Chazown (Revelation) 22:5 And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for YHWH Elohiym gives them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever.
A calendar “date,” according to Scripture lasts for 24 hours, but a “day” (as in daylight) only lasts for twelve hours.
For the time being, (as we have daylight and night time), there will be 24 hours for each calendar date. However, in eternity, we will enter into our eternal Sabbath rest where there is no darkness at all:
Chazown (Revelation) 21:23 And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of Elohiym did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.
Chazown (Revelation) 22:5 And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for YHWH Elohiym gives them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever.
A calendar “date,” according to Scripture lasts for 24 hours, but a “day” (as in daylight) only lasts for twelve hours.
In Leviticus 23:27-32 we understand that “Yom Kippur,” called the “Day of Atonement” begins on “The tenth day of the seventh month,” yet YaHuWaH tells us that we begin to celebrate it on “The ninth day at evening,” and we are to afflict our souls “From evening to evening.”
This is how we know that a calendar “date” changes at evening, and that it runs its course for 24 hours. But a “day” (the light hours) only last for twelve hours:
This is how we know that a calendar “date” changes at evening, and that it runs its course for 24 hours. But a “day” (the light hours) only last for twelve hours:
Yahuwchanon (John) 11:9 Yahuwshuwa answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day, he stumbles not, because he sees the light of this world.
The fact that there are twelve hours of daylight, is a prophetic picture of the Twelve Tribes of Yisra’el who are called to “Walk in the light, as Messiah is also in the light” (1st John 1:7). He also calls his chosen ones “The light of the world,” (Matthew 5:14), just as he is the light of the world (John 8:12).
The question remains, “If there are twelve hours of daylight for Twelve Tribes of Yisra’el, then what do the twelve hours of darkness represent?”
The question remains, “If there are twelve hours of daylight for Twelve Tribes of Yisra’el, then what do the twelve hours of darkness represent?”
There are those who are called “Yisra’el,” by our Heavenly Father, and yet, they are still in darkness, for they have not yet come into the light of Messiah. Those who are still in darkness are the Gentiles who will only come into the light, when Yisra’el begins to walk fully in the light that she is called into.
As there are twenty-four hours in the day, (made up of twelve light hours and twelve dark hours), this is why there are “twenty four elders” who intercede and preside over “Yisra’el.” The 24-hours per day represent the 24 elders in heaven (Revelation 4:4-10; 5:8-14; 11:16; 19:4).
These twenty-four elders represent both houses of Yisra’el (Isaiah 8:14).
There are those who are called “Yisra’el,” who have come into the light of the Renewed Covenant at the first coming of Messiah.
There are those who are called “Yisra’el,” who have come into the light of the Renewed Covenant at the first coming of Messiah.
And then, there are those who are called “Yisra’el” who are still in darkness, but they will come into the light at the second coming of Messiah. This is why there are twelve foundations stones in the New Jerusalem, for the Twelve Apostles. But there are also twelve gates for the Twelve Tribes of Yisra’el (Revelation 21:14).
In this study, I want to illustrate that a new calendar date changes at sundown, even though the period called “daylight” is only twelve hours long, and the period called “night” is also twelve hours long. Genesis 1:5 makes clear, the chronology of a 24-hour calendar date “And the evening and the morning were the first day.” To learn more about this topic, see my other blog: When Does a Biblical “Day” Begin?
In this study, I want to illustrate that a new calendar date changes at sundown, even though the period called “daylight” is only twelve hours long, and the period called “night” is also twelve hours long. Genesis 1:5 makes clear, the chronology of a 24-hour calendar date “And the evening and the morning were the first day.” To learn more about this topic, see my other blog: When Does a Biblical “Day” Begin?
Another thing that I aim to show, is that our Messiah resurrected on the Sabbath day, and not on Sunday morning. But why are these things important to know? For starters, those in the Christian Church use the excuse that the Sabbath was changed to Sunday, because they erroneously believe our Messiah was resurrected on Sunday morning. Once we understand that he was raised up on the seventh and last day of the week, we cannot use this excuse any longer. Once we uncover the truth about when his crucifixion and resurrection took place, we can throw away that excuse and get back to honoring the seventh day and keeping it holy as commanded.
Those who deny that our Messiah was in the heart of the earth for exactly “Three days and three nights,” have tried to suggest that he was only in the grave for “approximately three days” or that he resurrected “within three days.” Some have tried to suggest that in ancient times, only the daylight hours counted as “days,” thus they conclude that his alleged Friday crucifixion was day #1, then his Sabbath burial was day #2, and his resurrection was on Sunday morning as day #3. However this does not add up to three 24-hour days and three 24-hour nights for a total of 72 hours. Yahuwshuwa gave us the sign of Jonah the prophet as validation that he is the Messiah (Matthew 12:40). Therefore, if it was sufficient for him to be in the heart of the earth for only 36 hours (between Friday at 3:00 p.m. until Sunday at 6:00 a.m.) his prophecy would have failed, making him appear to be a false prophet.
It is not prophetically fitting, nor is it possible for our Messiah to have been resurrected on Sunday morning after a Friday crucifixion. For a more detailed study, please see the blog entitled: “Three Days & Three Nights in the Heart of the Earth: The Good Friday Myth.”
The Sign of Jonah
Matthithyahuw (Matthew) 12:
38 Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from you.
39 But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Yownah (Jonah):
40 For as Yownah (Jonah) was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
You will notice that he said he would be in the heart of the earth for three daylight periods (12 hours each) and three night-time periods (12 hours each). This means a total of 72 hours.
If our Messiah was crucified at the ninth hour of the day (3:00 p.m.), we need only count 3-24 hour periods from there and we can ascertain when he resurrected. We know from the historic Hebrew calendar, that our Messiah did not die on what is called “Good Friday.”
His Passover crucifixion in the year 31 A.D. took place on the fourth day of the week (what we today call Wednesday). Counting 72 hours (3-24 hour periods) forward, brings us to the same time of day, around 3:00 p.m. on Saturday evening, before the Sabbath was ending. Our Messiah resurrected on the Sabbath day to redeem those who had profaned his holy Sabbath day, (who had previously been taken into the Babylonian & Assyrian Captivity).
His Passover crucifixion in the year 31 A.D. took place on the fourth day of the week (what we today call Wednesday). Counting 72 hours (3-24 hour periods) forward, brings us to the same time of day, around 3:00 p.m. on Saturday evening, before the Sabbath was ending. Our Messiah resurrected on the Sabbath day to redeem those who had profaned his holy Sabbath day, (who had previously been taken into the Babylonian & Assyrian Captivity).
The House of Judah had profaned the Sabbath day and consequently, YaHuWaH allowed them to be taken into the Babylonian Captivity.
After the Yahuwdiym (Jews) returned from their captivity back to Jerusalem, they were fully aware that they had been sent into captivity with the Babylonians because they had profaned the Sabbath (Nehemiah 13:17; Ezekiel 22:8,26,38). They had deeply repented, and now they were taking extra precautions to not allow merchants to come in to sell their wares on the Sabbath day:
18 Did not your fathers thus, and did not our Elohiym bring all this evil upon us, and upon this city? yet you bring more wrath upon Yisra’el by profaning the Sabbath.
19 And it came to pass, that when the gates of Yerushalayim (Jerusalem) began to be dark before the Sabbath, I commanded that the gates should be shut, and charged that they should not be opened till after the Sabbath: and some of my servants set I at the gates, that there should no burden be brought in on the Sabbath day.
20 So the merchants and sellers of all kind of ware lodged without Yerushalayim (Jerusalem) once or twice.
21 Then I testified against them, and said unto them, Why lodge you about the wall? if you do so again, I will lay hands on you. From that time forth came they no more on the Sabbath.
In the besowrah (gospel) of Yahuwchanon (John) in the sixth chapter, our Messiah, Yahuwshuwa promised to raise up his elect “At the last day.” What exactly did he mean by this? In order to understand this phrase “I will raise him up at the last day,” we must first lay the framework of what a “day” is in Hebrew understanding.
In the Strong’s Hebrew Concordance, the word is “yom:”
# 3117 yowm yome; from an unused root meaning to be hot; a day (as the warm hours), whether literal ; from sunrise to sunset; or from one sunset to the next; or figurative (a space of time defined by an associated term), (often used adverb):--age, always, chronicals, continually, continuance daily, (birth-), each, today, (now a, two) days (agone), elder, end, evening, forever, everlasting, evermore, full, life, as (so) long as (live), (even) now, old, outlived, perpetually, presently, remains, required, season, since, space, then, (process of) time, as at other times, in trouble, weather, (as) when, (a, the, within a) while (that), whole (age), (full) yearly, younger.
As you can see, the word “yowm” in Hebrew literally means a 12-hour day from sunrise to sunset. Since the root word for “yowm” means “to be hot,” it becomes apparent that this word can mean the 12-hour period of daylight. However, it can also refer to a 24-hour period, (from sunset to sunset).
The Apostle Keefa (Peter) exhibited this understanding when he explained that one day is like 1,000 years to YaHuWaH:
2nd Keefa (Peter) 3:8 But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with YHWH as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
2nd Keefa (Peter) 3:8 But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with YHWH as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
At creation, YaHuWaH separated the “light” from the “darkness.” However, he called the light part the 24-hours “owr,” (not day), as the English translation causes confusion. But the darkness, he called “night.”
Bereshiyth (Genesis) 1:
4 And Elohiym saw the light, that it was good: and Elohiym divided the light from the darkness.
5 And Elohiym called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night.....
2nd Qorintiym (Corinthians) 6:14...... and what communion has light with darkness?
In the Scripture verses above, we first see that Yah separated the light from the darkness. The Apostle Sha’ul (Paul) understood this concept very well, which is why he declared that we should not mix these two periods together.
We get a glimpse into the plan of salvation for mankind by understanding that it will take place within a 7,000-year period called “creation week.” Yah created heaven and earth “In six days,” and afterward, he rested from his work on “The seventh day.”
Bereshiyth (Genesis) 2:2 And on the seventh day Elohiym ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.
Bereshiyth (Genesis) 2:3 And Elohiym blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which Elohiym created and made.
Shemoth (Exodus) 20:11 For in six days YHWH made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore YHWH blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.
YaHuWaH has allotted 7,000 years for the implementation of his salvation plan for mankind; at the end of which will bring in “The eighth day,” or “The eighth millennium” into eternity---a new beginning with no ending.
The seventh and eighth days of the Feast of Tabernacles is a microcosm, a miniature picture of these two periods----the seventh and the eighth millennium.
YaHuWaH created heaven and earth, the animals, plants, trees and mankind (humans) all within six literal days, and then he rested on the literal seventh day that week. He did his first creative work in one literal week, but he is also continuing to recreate and restore mankind since the fall in the garden.
YaHuWaH created heaven and earth, the animals, plants, trees and mankind (humans) all within six literal days, and then he rested on the literal seventh day that week. He did his first creative work in one literal week, but he is also continuing to recreate and restore mankind since the fall in the garden.
Therefore, at the end of 6,000 years, our Messiah will return, taking us into what is called “The One Thousand-Year Reign of Messiah.” Another name for this is called “The Messianic Kingdom,” when our Messiah shall rule and reign on earth for one thousand years, appointing his bride to be his “kings and priests” (Revelation 1:6; 5:10; 20:4-6).
At the beginning of the Messianic Kingdom, the first-born bride of Messiah will be “resurrected,” and given an immortal body (1st Corinthians 15:50-54). But there will also be those during this reign who will not become the bride Messiah until the very end (in the eighth millennium).
At the beginning of the Messianic Kingdom, the first-born bride of Messiah will be “resurrected,” and given an immortal body (1st Corinthians 15:50-54). But there will also be those during this reign who will not become the bride Messiah until the very end (in the eighth millennium).
Just as Jacob married Leah first (after seven years of work), our Messiah will marry those who are “The first-born” at the beginning of the Millennium. There will be those during the Millennium (who typify Rachel), and they too shall be married to our Messiah, at the end of the Millennium, for they shall be “The last-born.”
Mattityahuw (Matthew) 19:30 But many that are FIRST shall be LAST; and the LAST shall be FIRST.
What does this mean? It means that those who were called “Old Covenant Yisra’el,” (who did not receive Messiah at his first coming), may very well end up becoming the last ones to get married to him on the eight day or the eighth millennium. And those who received him at his first coming, may end up being the first to be his bride in the seventh millennium!
However, both brides, (typifying Leah & Rachel) shall be raised up together to form “The New Jerusalem” at the very end of the Messianic Kingdom, on what is called “The Last Great Day.”
Messiah Crucified on the 4th Day of the Week
Mattityahuw (Matthew) 19:30 But many that are FIRST shall be LAST; and the LAST shall be FIRST.
What does this mean? It means that those who were called “Old Covenant Yisra’el,” (who did not receive Messiah at his first coming), may very well end up becoming the last ones to get married to him on the eight day or the eighth millennium. And those who received him at his first coming, may end up being the first to be his bride in the seventh millennium!
However, both brides, (typifying Leah & Rachel) shall be raised up together to form “The New Jerusalem” at the very end of the Messianic Kingdom, on what is called “The Last Great Day.”
Messiah Crucified on the 4th Day of the Week
Our Messiah, Yahuwshuwa became flesh and dwelt among us in the “Fourth Millennium” (in the middle of the 7,000-year creation week). He also died “In the middle of the literal week” (Passover week, on the 4th day of the week or Wednesday).
This would have also been in the middle of “Daniel’s 70th Week” (in the middle of his 7-year ministry). Hence, he died “In the midst of the week, within the week, within the week.”
Let’s take a look at this triple fulfillment:
*7,000 years: Messiah died in the fourth millennium from creation in the midst of the week of seven millennia.
*7 years: Messiah died in the middle of a 7-year ministry of working for Leah & Rachel (just like Jacob). His ministry lasted for 3.5 years, and his “Two Witnesses” in Revelation 11:4, will pick up where he left off with a 3.5-year ministry (1,260 days). They will finish out the seven-year ministry of working for Leah & Rachel aka both Houses of Yisrael..
*7 days: Messiah died in the middle of Passover Week on the fourth day of the week (what we today call Wednesday).
Therefore, the seventh day Sabbath points to our redemption in Messiah, Yahuwshuwa!
YaHuWaH always seems to do things in “patterns,” which is why he resurrected on “The last day” of the literal week. This also points to the bigger pattern (the macrocosm), where he will raise up his elect “At the last day” of the 7,000-year creation week.
Romans 6:5 says that we have been “Planted together in the likeness of his death,” and that we shall also be “Planted together in the likeness of his resurrection.” Thus, we can see that he causes his elect to follow in the same pattern as him, in the way that he died, and resurrected. It is because “Seed reproduces after its own kind,” and we are born-again of his “incorruptible seed” (1st Peter 1:23).
Now, that we have established the importance of the number “seven,” (as it relates to covenant and prophecy), we must understand, that our Messiah did not resurrect on “The first day of the week,” known as “Sunday.” For in the same way that he promised to raise up his elect, “At the last day” (the last day of the seven thousand years), he too was raised up on the last day of the literal week!
Hoshea (Hosea) 6:2 After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight.
Romans 6:5 says that we have been “Planted together in the likeness of his death,” and that we shall also be “Planted together in the likeness of his resurrection.” Thus, we can see that he causes his elect to follow in the same pattern as him, in the way that he died, and resurrected. It is because “Seed reproduces after its own kind,” and we are born-again of his “incorruptible seed” (1st Peter 1:23).
Now, that we have established the importance of the number “seven,” (as it relates to covenant and prophecy), we must understand, that our Messiah did not resurrect on “The first day of the week,” known as “Sunday.” For in the same way that he promised to raise up his elect, “At the last day” (the last day of the seven thousand years), he too was raised up on the last day of the literal week!
Hoshea (Hosea) 6:2 After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight.
In 2nd Peter 3:8, we are told that “One day is with YHWH as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” Hosea’s prophecy has a dual fulfillment, as it is telling us that after 2,000 years (from when Messiah died and resurrected), that he would revive his bride by resurrecting us in the seventh millennium, aka in the year 6,000 from creation. However, for those that accept his blood atonement during the Messianic Kingdom, they will be raised up together with the bride after 3,000 years from when Messiah died and resurrected.
You may be asking yourself at this point, “How can the bride be raised up after three days, and on the seventh and last day simultaneously?” Our Messiah was raised on the third day from his death, but it was on the seventh day of the week. We get a picture of this in the ordinance of the Red Heifer:
Bamidbar (Numbers) 19:19 And the clean person [Messiah] shall sprinkle upon the unclean on the third day, and on the seventh day: and on the seventh day he shall purify himself, and wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and shall be clean at evening.
This ordinance is describing a prophetic picture of our Messiah who (like Eleazar the priest) was to sprinkle the unclean person (those who shed his innocent blood, and those who touched his dead body for burial). This was to be done on the third day, and on the seventh day. Our Messiah, resurrected on the third day from his crucifixion, but it was also on the seventh day of the week at evening!
The Red Heifer ordinance in Numbers 19 instructed the priests to kill the Red Heifer, and to use the ashes to cleanse the altar in the Temple. This was to be done whenever the nation became guilty of shedding innocent blood. And they certainly were guilty when they shouted “Crucify him!”
The Red Heifer ashes were to be applied when touching a dead body, which would have disqualified those who had taken down our Messiah from the cross from partaking in the Passover meal that year. They would have had to wait for the following month to keep Passover in the second month. However, Numbers 19 goes on to tell us that “On the third day” (after being cleansed with the ashes of the heifer), the person is made clean “On the seventh day at evening!” This is further evidence that our Messiah acted as the Red Heifer, and that he resurrected on the evening of the seventh day!
As the Red Heifer, Yahuwshuwa cleansed the defiled altar in the Temple, and thus sanctified the Passover Lamb sacrifice that year. Additionally, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus were made clean by taking down his body from the cross, (because they were prophetically touching the ashes of the Red Heifer by touching Messiah). This means they were cleansed in time to keep First-Fruits!
To learn more, see this blog: The Red Heifer Ordinance Fulfilled in Messiah
In Revelation 11:11 the corporate Two Witnesses will also raised back to life “After three days.” However, the prophecy in Hosea 6:2 is not merely talking about a literal three days. It is also referring to “Three thousand years” from when he was resurrected!
After the seventh millennium, the bride will be taken into “The eighth day,” as she will be transformed into the New Jerusalem. This last day of the Feast of Tabernacles is called “The Last Great Day” or in Hebrew, “La’Shanah Rabbah.”
Chazown (Revelation) 21:1-2 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I Yahuwchanon (John) saw the holy city, new Yerushalayim (Jerusalem), coming down from Elohiym out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
Before we can get an accurate picture of when our Messiah resurrected, we must first define these biblical terms:
The word “evening” in Hebrew is ereb:
#6153. `ereb eh’ -reb from 6150; dusk:--+ day, evening, tide, night.
It comes from the root word “arab” which means the following:
#6150. `arab aw-rab’ a primitive root (identical with 6148 through the idea of covering with a texture); to grow dusky at sundown:--be darkened, toward evening.
*Note: This means “toward evening” but not evening yet, hence it can mean the period of the latter half of the day from 12 noon (noontide) until sunset at 6:00 p.m.
#6256. `eth ayth from 5703; time, especially (adverb with preposition) now, when, etc.:--+ after, always, certain, + continually, + evening, long, (due) season, so (long) as, evening, noon-tide, time, when.
An example of this word in Hebrew is “noontide:”
Yirmeyahuw (Jeremiah) 20:16 And let that man be as the cities which YHWH overthrew, and repented not: and let him hear the cry in the morning, and the shouting at noontide (eth, noon to evening time);
Our Messiah, Yahuwshuwa was sacrificed on the tree at 9:00 a.m. fulfilling the morning sacrifice done in the Temple. Between 12:00 noon, until 3:00 p.m., there was total darkness in order to fulfill the commandment to kill the Passover Lamb “between the evenings.”
Mattithyahuw (Matthew) 27:45 Now from the sixth hour (12 noon) there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour (3 p.m.)
Marqos (Mark) 15:33 And when the sixth hour (12 noon) was come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour (3 p.m.)
Debariym (Deuteronomy) 16:6 But at the place which YHWH your Elohiym shall choose to place his name in (Yerushalayim), there you shall sacrifice the Pesach (Passover) between the evenings (beyn ha’ereb), at the going down of the sun, at the season that you came forth out of Mitzrayim (Egypt).
You will notice that Messiah was first crucified at the 3rd hour of the day (9 a.m.), according to Mark 15:25. This is when the morning oblation was offered up daily in the Temple, thus he fulfilled the morning oblation. He also hung on the tree from between the hours of 12 noon until 3:00 p.m. During those hours, it grew dark making it as “evening” or noon-tide. He finally died at 3:00 p.m., fulfilling the Towrah commandment that the Passover Lamb was to be sacrificed “between the evenings.”
Mattithyahuw (Matthew) 27:45 Now from the sixth hour (12 noon) there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour (3 p.m.)
Marqos (Mark) 15:33 And when the sixth hour (12 noon) was come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour (3 p.m.)
Debariym (Deuteronomy) 16:6 But at the place which YHWH your Elohiym shall choose to place his name in (Yerushalayim), there you shall sacrifice the Pesach (Passover) between the evenings (beyn ha’ereb), at the going down of the sun, at the season that you came forth out of Mitzrayim (Egypt).
You will notice that Messiah was first crucified at the 3rd hour of the day (9 a.m.), according to Mark 15:25. This is when the morning oblation was offered up daily in the Temple, thus he fulfilled the morning oblation. He also hung on the tree from between the hours of 12 noon until 3:00 p.m. During those hours, it grew dark making it as “evening” or noon-tide. He finally died at 3:00 p.m., fulfilling the Towrah commandment that the Passover Lamb was to be sacrificed “between the evenings.”
The period that is called “evening” in Genesis 1:5 means dusk, and it is a period that lasts from 12 noon until 6:00 p.m. Genesis 1:5 says that there is a period called “evening” (noon until sundown), and then a period called “morning” (from sunrise until twelve noon). This period completed “twelve-hours of daylight.”
Yahuwchanon (John) 11:9 Yahuwshuwa answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day?
To learn more, see this other blog: When Does a Biblical “Day” Begin?
We have established that there are 12 hours in a daylight period, but there are 24 hours in the period called “day” (yowm), which also includes the full calendar date, beginning at sundown (evening) and ending at the following evening (sundown).
At creation, Elohiym separated darkness from light, designating each of these periods as separate and distinct, so that we would be able to understand why our Messiah spent “Three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” Christianity has tried to designate all day on Friday as day #1, and then all day Sunday as day #3. However, we cannot designate all day Friday as day number one, because our Messiah died in the evening. And since they claim he resurrected on Sunday morning, the remainder of the day cannot be used to include day number three.
This is why the Apostle Sha’uwl used a metaphor of not mixing light with darkness:
2nd Qorintiym (Corinthians) 6:14...... and what communion has light with darkness?
Let us define what these terms mean in Scripture:
Morning: (bowqer) dawn, the breaking of day; also sunrise until noon.
Noontide: (eth) noon until sundown.
Evening: (ereb) noon until sundown (dusk or twilight).
Night: (layil) after sundown until before dawn the next morning (total darkness).
Day: (yowm) a twelve-hour cycle from sunrise to sunset; also a 24-hour calendar date.
The term called “night” in scripture is “layil” in Hebrew and it is not the same thing as “evening.” There are four watches in a night and each one is three hours long, totaling twelve hours to a “night.”
The Hebrew word for “day” is “yowm,” and it can mean “from sunrise to sunset,” or during the warm hours of the day. It can also mean “from sunset to sunset,” or a 24-hour period. Thus, we can see that Elohiym began his 24-hour day from evening to evening:
Bereshiyth (Genesis) 1:5 And Elohiym called the light [owr] day [yowm], and the darkness [choshek] he called night [layil]. And the evening [ereb] and the morning [boqer] were the first day [yowm].
Bereshiyth (Genesis) 1:5 And Elohiym called the light [owr] day [yowm], and the darkness [choshek] he called night [layil]. And the evening [ereb] and the morning [boqer] were the first day [yowm].
You will notice that all four periods of the 24-hour calendar date are called “yowm,” meaning “day.” The evening, the morning, the day, and the night are all summed up as a “day.” After Elohiym named these two periods, he ordained that the evening begins the new calendar date, which is why it reads in Hebrew as follows: “Existed evening existed morning day one.” When reading Genesis 1:5, we see that the “evening” (dusk) came first, and then came the twelve hours of darkness called “night.”
After that, came “morning,” (boqer, or dawn). Thus we can see that a calendar date begins at sunset, and ends again at the following sunset. However, the twelve hours of daylight begin in the morning, and end at sundown (from sunrise to sunset). The “morning and evening sacrifices” in the Temple were done within a 12-hour period between 9:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m.
2nd Dibre ha Yamiym (Chronicles) 13:11 And they burn unto YHWH every morning and every evening burnt sacrifices and sweet incense: the showbread also set they in order upon the pure table; and the candlestick of gold with the lamps thereof, to burn every evening: for we keep the charge of YHWH our Elohiym; but you have forsaken him.
These two daily sacrifices were done as “bookends” at the beginning and the end of a day.
1.) The new calendar “date” begins and ends at sundown, and is a 24 - hour long cycle.
2.) The “daylight” begins at sunrise, and is 12-hours long until sundown.
When Did Messiah Resurrect?
Most people assume that he resurrected on Sunday morning because of this verse in Matthew 28:1 as it is written in the King James Version:
Mattithyahuw (Matthew) 28:1 In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Miryam (Mary) Magdalene and the other Miryam (Mary) to see the sepulchre.
Mattithyahuw (Matthew) 28:1 In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Miryam (Mary) Magdalene and the other Miryam (Mary) to see the sepulchre.
The problem with Matthew 28:1 is that the word “dawn” is a poor translation.
The Greek word there for “dawn” is the equivalent of a word in Hebrew that means “a mixture of light and dark” hence, the word should really be “dusk” as the sun was going down.
The Strong’s Hebrew Concordance reveals that at sundown, the “dawning of the day” is at twilight or dusk:
#5399 nesheph neh’-shef from 5398; properly, a breeze, i.e. (by implication) dusk (when the evening breeze prevails):--dark, dawning of the day (morning), night, twilight.
The Greek words are as follows:
#2020. epiphosko ep-ee-foce'-ko a form of 2017; to begin to grow light:--begin to dawn, draw on.
#2017. epiphauo ep-ee-fow'-o a form of 2014; to illuminate (figuratively):--give light.
You can see why the English translators thought that the word should be “dawn” (as in early in the morning, just before sunrise). However, the word epiphosko can mean “....to draw on,” and it can mean “the beginning of something” as in the “the dawning of a new era.” Hence, for something to “dawn” means that something new is approaching. The term is much broader than the English word that we use to describe “sunrise.”
Murdock’s Translation on e-sword has it translated correctly:
Mattithyahuw (Matthew) 28:1 And in the evening of the Sabbath as it was dusk, as the first (day) of the week began to dawn, came Mary of Magdala and the other Mary, to view the sepulcher.
You will notice that Murdock is calling this time of day “dusk,” but he is saying that the “week” (Sabbaton in Greek) was beginning to “dawn” or to “draw on.” In other words it was not sunrise, but it was the end of the Sabbath at sundown, as the new week was approaching (dawning).
The MRC Translation on e-sword translates it like this:
Mattithyahuw (Matthew) 28:1 Now late on the Shabbat, as it began to draw toward the first of the week, Miryam of Magdala and the other Miriam went to look at the grave.
Andrew Gabriel Roth who translated the English Aramaic New Testament (AENT) Peshitta also agrees with this interpretation. Here is what he says:
“Aramaic literally reads ‘b’ramsha din b’shabata’ or ‘in the evening of the shabbat.’ What is true for dawning is also true for setting in the sense of ‘conclusion’ as is meant here....Murdock and Etheridge also confirm this idiomatic reading in their translations.”
Something that one must understand is that the calendar date changes at sunset each day--- not at midnight. It was Pope Gregory who made the date change at midnight in 1582 C.E., thus fulfilling the role of the Beast in Daniel 7:23-25. “The beast shall think to change times and laws...”
In Matthew 28:1, a new calendar date, as well as a new week was “dawning” (beginning) at sunset. The word “day” in this passage is in italics in the King James Version. Whenever we see a word in italics in the KJV, it means it was not there originally.
The verse should read like this in the King James Version:
Mattithyahuw (Matthew) 28:
1 In the end of the sabbath, as it began to draw on toward the first of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre.
2 And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of YHWH descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it.
Now think about this logically. The Sabbath ends on Saturday night at sundown right? It says that it was “The end of the Sabbath,” so how could our Messiah have resurrected on Sunday morning if the Sabbath ends at evening, and he was already gone from the tomb?
The Sabbath ends on what we today call on “Saturday evening” at sundown. Hence, when Matthew 28:1 says “Towards the first of the week,” it is telling us that Saturday night at sundown had not arrived yet, but it was fast approaching, the first calendar date of the week!
This period is called “Havdalah” which in Hebrew means “Separation, exiting the Sabbath.”
We see this occurring in Acts 20:7:
Acts 20:7 And upon the first [day] of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight.
Most Christians use this as an excuse to say that “Sunday” is the true “Christian Sabbath” and they think that they have “proof” that the disciples “broke bread” on the first “day” of the week.
The natural conclusion would be to think that this is speaking of “Sunday Morning” but the word “day” does not appear in the original text! Another important thing to note is that in Acts 20:7 the Greek translation for “first day of the week” says “En de te mia ton Sabbaton.”
Here, “mia” is not “The FIRST day of the week” but “The First of the Weeks” (plural). If you read the entire chapter of Acts 20, you will see in the previous verses that the disciples had just finished celebra-ting the “Feast of Unleavened Bread” and now they were counting “seven weeks” (Sabbaths) until “The Feast of Weeks” (Pentecost or Shabuwoth) and so this was the “first of the weeks” (plural) in the count.
The English translators did not know this, because they were not keeping the seventh day holy as the Sabbath, and thus they did not translate this correctly.
Here, “mia” is not “The FIRST day of the week” but “The First of the Weeks” (plural). If you read the entire chapter of Acts 20, you will see in the previous verses that the disciples had just finished celebra-ting the “Feast of Unleavened Bread” and now they were counting “seven weeks” (Sabbaths) until “The Feast of Weeks” (Pentecost or Shabuwoth) and so this was the “first of the weeks” (plural) in the count.
The English translators did not know this, because they were not keeping the seventh day holy as the Sabbath, and thus they did not translate this correctly.
Also important to note, is that whenever a word is italicized in the King James Version, it means that the word was not there in the original text. As you can see, the word “day” was not in the original text, because this was not in the day time! This was the first of the “weeks” (Sabbaths) in their 50-day count-down until Pentecost and this was immediately following the Sabbath on Saturday evening:
Acts 20:7: And upon the first of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight.
Once we have this basic understanding, we realize that Acts 20:7 was not speaking about Sunday morning. It was describing the “first calendar date” of the week called “Havdalah” (exiting the Sabbath). It is further validated by the fact that Sha’uwl (Paul) preached until midnight that same night. If this had been Sunday morning, he would’ve preached from early Sunday at 9:00 a.m. (approximately) until 12 midnight that same night and this means he would’ve preached for 15 hours straight!
It is absurd to believe that Paul preached that many hours in one day. One of the things that I like about the King James Version, is that it italicizes words that were not originally there in the text. The same thing occurs here with this word “day” is in italics here in John 20:1:
It is absurd to believe that Paul preached that many hours in one day. One of the things that I like about the King James Version, is that it italicizes words that were not originally there in the text. The same thing occurs here with this word “day” is in italics here in John 20:1:
Yahuwchanon (John) 20:1 The first [day] of the week comes Miryam (Mary) Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and sees the stone taken away from the sepulchre.
Notice that it was “yet dark” and the word “day” was not there in the original text.
Hence, it does not say “the first day of the week” it says “the first of the week” meaning the first calendar date of the week. Yahuwshuwa said in John 11:9 that there are 12 hours in a day.
Did you ever wonder why our Messiah made a point of separating 3 days from 3 nights? If a “day” is 24 hours long, why did he not say that he would be in the heart of the earth for “three days?” Why did he make a point of saying “three days & three nights?”
The word Greek word for “half” in Revelation 11:11 is a word that means “a part of” something, and not necessarily “fifty percent of something.”
#2255. hemisu hay’-mee-soo neuter of a derivative from an inseparable prefix akin to 260 (through the idea of partition involved in connection) and meaning semi-; (as noun) half:--half.
Chazown (Revelation) 11:11 And after three days and an half the spirit of life from Elohiym entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them.
If scripture sets a precedence of defining a “half of a day” as only a part of a day and it does not round off the partition of the day to a full day, then one cannot use the full day of Wednesday (Messiah’s crucifixion) to mean the entire “day one” of his “three days and three nights” prophecy. The first “day” of this prophecy must then commence on Thursday at sunrise (the morning after his crucifixion).
This means 6-12 hour cycles:
Wednesday Abib 14 @ sundown became Thursday Abib 15 = #1 night.
Thursday Abib 15 @ sunrise = #1 day.
Thursday Abib 15 @ sundown became Friday Abib 16 = #2 night.
Friday Abib 16 @ sunrise = #2 day.
Friday Abib 16 @ sundown became Saturday Abib 17 = #3 night.
Saturday Abib 17 @sunrise = #3 day.
Thursday Abib 15 @ sunrise = #1 day.
Thursday Abib 15 @ sundown became Friday Abib 16 = #2 night.
Friday Abib 16 @ sunrise = #2 day.
Friday Abib 16 @ sundown became Saturday Abib 17 = #3 night.
Saturday Abib 17 @sunrise = #3 day.
Grand Total = 3 days & 3 nights.
The fact that our Messiah’s resurrection occurred before the “first” calendar date of the week, (and it was not yet dark), means that he resurrected just before sundown on Saturday evening.
The women were unable to go to his tomb until after his body was gone from the grave, because the Roman Soldiers were ordered to stand guard until the end of their three-day watch. These women could’ve been arrested had they gone to the tomb sooner. By the time the women arrived, the stone had already been rolled away earlier that day and the angel was there waiting to give them the good news!
Messiah resurrected before the end of Sabbath while it was still daylight! HalleluYah! He is Master (Lord) of the Sabbath!
The Conclusion: No More Excuse to call Sunday a Holy Day!
Yahuwshuwa is Master (Lord) of the Sabbath Day!
How Sabbath Observance Came to Begin on Friday Night
Some people argue that weekly Sabbath observances were never celebrated on Friday nights in Scripture. However, the annual Sabbaths of the Feast of Trumpets (Yom Teruah), and the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), are to commence in the evening, according to the Towrah. Additionally, our Messiah ate his Passover meal with his talmudiym (disciples) after sundown on the 13th of Abib (when it became the 14th of Abib (Passover). This was identical to the first Passover (Pesach) in Egypt. To learn more about how our Messiah fulfilled the Passover like the original one in Egypt, see these blogs:
Nehemiah 13 also explains that on the evening of the 6th day of the week, is when the cessation of buying and selling commenced in biblical times. A publication entitled The Jewish Festivals: History & Observance (by Hayyim Schauss - Shocken 1938) states the following:
“In the time of the Tannaim there was no Friday Night Services in the Synagogues (p.14)...Later it became customary to hold communal services in the Synagogue on Friday Night...” (p.15).
“This approximately, is the picture we have of the Sabbath in those very old days, when both kingdoms of Yisra’el, (Yahuwdah & Ephrayim) were united. It was a festival on which there was a cessation of daily work, and the people assembled in the sanctuary to celebrate the day. The strict rest of later days was not yet a part of the Sabbath” (p.6).
“Beginning with the Babylonian Exile, we find the Sabbath attaining a new significance and a deeper spiritual content....In the Babylonian Exile...The Sabbath attained a higher state of development among the exiled Jews in Babylonia, and it was these exiled Jews who enforced their Sabbath, with its stricter observance and its universal rest” (p.7).
“The Jews in Yisrael, about a century after the Babylonian exile, did not as yet know the strict Sabbath of the Babylonian Jews” (p.8).
“...At The Beginning of the Common Era...In order to assure against profanation of the Sabbath, the Jews added the late Friday afternoon hours to the Sabbath” (p.13).
*Note by Maria Merola: This means that the Babylonian Jews began observing Sabbath, even before the sun went down on Friday evening (even more strict than the prophet Nehemiah). This is obviously a violation of Towrah, where we are commanded not to add, nor subtract from it.
“The Sabbath in general, thus attained its peak in the first two centuries of the Common Era, the age of the Tannaim (70 A.D.-200A.D.), as the Jewish teachers and sages of that period were called. However, there were no Friday Night services as of yet.
This part of the Sabbath observance developed somewhat later in the age of the Amoraim (350 A.D.-500 A.D.), as the sages of the Talmud from the third century, and on were called, and it did not attain its highest peak until much later, at the very threshold of modern times.”
Twelve Hour Celebration of Sabbath In the Towrah?
19 And Mosheh said, Let no man leave of it till the morning.
20 Notwithstanding they hearkened not unto Mosheh; but some of them left of it until the morning, and it bred worms, and stank: and Mosheh was wroth with them.
21 And they gathered it every morning, every man according to his eating: and when the sun waxed hot, it melted.
22 And it came to pass, that on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for one man: and all the rulers of the congregation came and told Mosheh.
23 And he said unto them, This is that which YHWH has said, Tomorrow is the rest of the holy sabbath unto YHWH: bake that which you will bake to day, and seethe that you will seethe; and that which remains over lay up for you to be kept until the morning.
24 And they laid it up till the morning, as Mosheh bade: and it did not stink, neither was there any worm therein.
25 And Mosheh said, Eat that today; for today is a sabbath unto YHWH: today you shall not find it in the field.
26 Six days you shall gather it; but on the seventh day, which is the sabbath, in it there shall be none.
27 And it came to pass, that there went out some of the people on the seventh day for to gather, and they found none.
28 And YHWH said unto Mosheh, How long refuse you to keep my commandments and my laws?
29 See, for that YHWH has given you the sabbath, therefore he gives you on the sixth day the bread of two days; abide you every man in his place, let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.
In verse 24, the people ate the manna that they had prepared the day before; but on the morning of the seventh day, Mosheh said to the people “Eat that today, for today is a Sabbath.”
The sequence of events in verses 22-25 clearly show us that the Sabbath was celebrated for the 12-hour period of “daylight,” starting with the morning of the seventh day. However, does this mean the sixth night of the week (what we today call Friday Night) is not the Sabbath?
Please, do not misunderstand me. As we learned earlier from Nehemiah 13:19, the prophet commanded that the gates of Jerusalem be shut “Before the Sabbath, when the gates began to be dark.”
This tells us that on the 6th day of the week (what we today call Friday), as soon as the sun was going down (dusk, twilight), is when the gates were shut in order to prevent the Sabbath day from being profaned by merchants attempting to sell their goods.
The Sabbath officially begins at sundown on the sixth day of the week, which then becomes the seventh day of the week. However, the actual services in the Temple were not conducted until the morning of the Sabbath.
The Sabbath officially begins at sundown on the sixth day of the week, which then becomes the seventh day of the week. However, the actual services in the Temple were not conducted until the morning of the Sabbath.
First Fruits Offering At Sundown or Sunrise?
“....And he shall wave the sheaf before YHWH, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it.”
Yahuwshuwa Messiah acted as the Passover sacrifice, but when he resurrected he was the High Priest after the order of Malkiy-Tzedeq (Melchizedek) who was commanded to wave the firstfruits offering of souls before YaHuWaH.
Romiym (Romans) 8:23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
1st Qorintiym (Corinthians) 15:20 But now is Mashiyach (Messiah) risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.
1st Qorintiym (Corinthians) 15:23 But every man in his own order: Mashiyach (Messiah) the firstfruits: afterward they that are Mashiyach’s at his coming.
Ya’aqob (James) 1:18 Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
The Hebrew word for “First Fruits” is bikkuwr, and this is why The Day of the First Fruits is called “Yom Ha’Bikkuwriym.”
But when exactly did he do this? When was the High Priest scheduled to offer the “first fruits?” When was “the morrow after the Sabbath” to begin?
We can glean some understanding of when this took place from the historical account in the Talmud:
The second-century Mishnah affirms that, when the Sadducees controlled the Temple, the sickle was put to the grain just as the sun was going down on the weekly Sabbath (Menahot 10:1-4, Jacob Neusner translation, pp. 753-754). The book, Biblical Calendars, states, “The Boethusians [Temple priests] reaped [the firstfruits sheaf] at the going out of the Sabbath” (p. 218. Additional information can be found in the section titled “Temple Service,” p. 280, as well as in The Temple: Its Ministry and Services by Alfred Edersheim, 1994, pp. 203-205). The New Testament’s silence on this Sadducean practice—along with its agreement with the ritual’s fulfillment in Messiah—must be construed as acceptance of its validity.
The priests began to make the first cutting right at the end of the Sabbath, continuing over into the first day of the week, when the bulk of the work would be done. The ritual, however, was not complete until the sheaf was offered (waved) before Elohiym the following morning, or more precisely, between 9:00 a.m. and noon. Some might object to the reaping of the sheaf in the closing minutes of the Sabbath because it is a day of rest when no work is to be done. After one understands the full reason for it, as well as Yahuwshuwa’s direct statement that a priest is blameless in the performance of his required duties (Matthew 12:5), any objections to the practice disappear.
The Conclusion:
Yahuwshuwa ha’Mashiyach resurrected before sundown on the Sabbath. Afterward, he went to the heavenly Temple as the High Priest to wave the “first-fruits offering.” However, it was not the barley that he waved.
Instead, Yahuwshuwa waved before YaHuWaH, the souls of men as his first-fruits offering! His resurrection on the seventh day of the week points us to the Sabbath Millennium, when he will also resurrect his bride in the final wheat harvest at the last day, in the Sabbath Millennium!
Yahuwshuwa ha’Mashiyach resurrected before sundown on the Sabbath. Afterward, he went to the heavenly Temple as the High Priest to wave the “first-fruits offering.” However, it was not the barley that he waved.
Instead, Yahuwshuwa waved before YaHuWaH, the souls of men as his first-fruits offering! His resurrection on the seventh day of the week points us to the Sabbath Millennium, when he will also resurrect his bride in the final wheat harvest at the last day, in the Sabbath Millennium!
Thankyou.
ReplyDelete