THE HOLY LAND CONNECTION - PART X



DEFINING:

•Passover = The Hebrew feast day commemorating the sacrificial lamb in Exodus where the Angel of Death passed over Israel while the firstborn in Egypt were slain. It also is the same day the Lord Jesus Christ, our Lamb sacrifice for our sins, was crucified.
•Tishri = Tishri is the seventh month of the religious year for Israel and the first month of the civil year for Israel. This month holds the feasts of Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and Tabernacles (also known as Sukkoth).
•Rosh Hashanah = This is a two day feast occurring on Tishri 1 and Tishri 2 of the Hebrew calendar. This is also called the Feast of Trumpets or Yom Teruah. It is very possible that this feast day is tied to the rapture of the Christian church prior to the start of the tribulation because the Feast of Trumpets also signifies the Day of the Lord.
•Yom Kippur = This is known as the Day of Atonement. It is considered to be one of the most important of Jewish holidays of the year. It is a day set aside to atone for the sins of the past year. It occurs on the 10th day of Tishri. It is found in Leviticus 23:26-32.
•Sukkoth (Feast of Tabernacles) = The feast of Sukkoth begins on Tishri 15, the fifth day of Yom Kippur. It is a joyous feast day while Yom Kippur is one of the most solemn of feast days. Sukkoth is a feast day with a festival atmosphere. It marks a season of rejoicing. Sukkoth means booths and refers to temporary dwelling places the Jews gather into during this holiday. Most Christian scholars believe the feast of Sukkoth is the feast for the 2nd Advent of the Lord Jesus Christ when he returns with his saints on white horses at Armageddon.
•Tetrad = When four consecutive lunar eclipses are all total eclipses, the group is known as a tetrad.
•Saros Cycle = The saros cycle is an eclipse cycle with a period of about 18 years, 11 days, and 8 hours (approximately 65851/3 days) that can be used to predict eclipses of the sun and moon. One cycle after an eclipse, the sun and moon return to approximately the same relative geometry, and a nearly identical eclipse will occur west of the original location. (As you study, you will see that the saros cycle appears to be very connected to the biblical calendar and God’s MOEDS. Approximately every 50 years, God may be marching month by month on the biblical calendar to reveal his sovereignty in his plan of redemption and his faithfulness in keeping covenants by proclaiming through his lights (sun and moon).
•Nissan = The first month of the Jewish religious year that occurs in the spring time. Passover occurs on the 15th day of this month.
•Av = Av is the fifth month of the Hebrew Calendar and means ‘Father’. It is a time of mourning for the Jews. There are two festivals that are in Av and they occur on the 9th and 15th of Av. On the 9th of Av is Tisha B'av which is a sad day when Jews fast. Take a look at all the events that have occurred on the 9th of Av throughout Jewish History:
o1312 BCE - The generation of Jews who came out of Egypt under Moses' leadership 16 months earlier were condemned to die in the desert and the entry into the Land of Israel was delayed for 40 years. As related in Numbers 14, when the 10 of 12 spies that Moses sent to the Land of Canaan returned with their disheartening report, the people wept all night -- the night of Av 9th -- proclaiming that they'd rather return to Egypt than attempt to conquer and settle it. Basically, these 10 spies were slanderous of God’s word and his promise to go before them, fight for them, and deliver the land into their hands. Therefore, God decreed that the entire generation would wander in the desert for 40 years until that last of them died out, and that their children under the leadership of Joshua will enter the land he promised as Israel's heritage. Consequently, the 9th of Av has been a cursed day throughout Jewish history.
o586 BCE - The 1st temple was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar (100,000 Jews died/Millions exiled)
o70 CE - The 2nd temple was destroyed by General Titus (2 million Jews died/1 Million exiled)
o135 CE - The Bar Kochba revolt was crushed by the Emperor Hadrian (100,000 Jews were slaughtered)
o136 CE - General Turnus Rufus leveled Jerusalem, rebuilt it as a pagan city to be called Aelia Capitolina, and forbade Jews to enter.
o1095 CE - Pope Urban declared the 1st Crusade (thousands of Jews died/many communities obliterated)
o1290 CE – Expulsion from England, the Jews of England were expelled by King Edward I
o1492 CE - Spanish Inquisition & the expulsion of Jews from Spain
o1914 CE - WWI started, stemming the resentment for the Holocaust
o1935 CE - Hitler enacted a law that propelled the nation toward the infamous Nuremberg Laws of the Holocaust
o1943 CE - The beginnings of the deportation of the Warsaw Ghetto to Treblinka
oFuture - It is very possible that abomination of desolation could fall on this day as well

Even though God has allowed so many difficult things to occur on this fast day of the fifth month, he has also promised to restore joy and gladness to it proving his faithfulness yet again.

Zechariah 8:19, “Thus says the LORD of hosts; The fast of the fourth month, and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth, shall be to the house of Judah joy and gladness, and cheerful feasts; therefore love the truth and peace.”