TABERNACLES PENTECOST, 2008
TWO PENTECOSTS
Over the last fourteen years as I continually pondered this matter
of Pentecost and the latter rain, there were three items that I could not
resolve, one that caused me great heartache and disappointment. You will
find this to be the case when you read the past writings, as these were
discussed.
We know that there has to be a latter rain, as the former has indeed
already taken place. These two separate rains are clearly stated in the
following passages:
“They do not say in their heart, ‘Let us now fear Yahweh our God, Who
gives rain in its season, both the early rain and the latter
rain, Who keeps for us the appointed weeks of the harvest.’ ” (Jeremiah
5:24).
So rejoice, O sons of Zion, and be glad in Yahweh your God; for He
has given you the early rain for your vindication. And He has poured
down for you the rain, the early and latter rain as before
(Joel 2:23).
One of the most compelling and revealing passages regarding the latter
rain and its clear timing is Hosea 6:1-3. We have continually noted in
these writings that Yahweh afflicts the church for 2,000 years, and would
do so for another 1,000 years if He did not establish the Elijah and cut
these days short. This Elijah work thereby requires the latter rain, with
the outcome that we ascend alive, even as we see set forth in these verses:
“Come, let us return to Yahweh. For He has torn us, but He
will heal us; He has wounded us, but He will bandage us. He will
revive us after two days (2,000 years); He will raise us up on
the third day, that we may live before Him.
“So let us know, let us press on to know Yahweh. His going forth is
as certain as the dawn [following 2,000 years of darkness]; and He will
come to us as the rain, as the latter rain sent upon the earth.”
Thus we specifically see that the latter rain is at the culmination
of the two days, 2,000 years, wherein He has wounded us. And as stated
here, knowing Yahweh is indeed the Bride’s pursuit. This is what has driven
me for more than fourteen years, and is why this writing is being made
available. And as noted at the opening of this section, trying to discern
the timing and fulfillment of the latter rain offers some perplexing questions.
Let us consider three.
First, the former rain came on a Passover Pentecost; so can we expect
to receive the latter rain on the same feast? Second,
one of the testimonies of the latter rain seems to be the water that comes
out from under the eastern gate in Ezekiel 47. That water is first a trickle
that is on the souls of the feet, then to the knees, then to the loins,
then deep enough in which to swim. In its continuing course, the leaves
of the trees provide healing and it flows into the sea and heals it.
So then is the latter rain a gradual outpouring?
In contrast, the third question is, maybe the latter rain is a sudden
mighty endowment of power, as was the case in
the former rain. This is testified as well in 1 Kings 1:32-40 where Solomon
was anointed king at a spring called Gihon. (Gihon is also one of the
four rivers that flowed from the garden of Eden.) “Gihon” means “bursting
forth,” and this was precisely the effect when Solomon was anointed there—from
out of obscurity he was suddenly king, causing his brother’s presumptuous
banquet to abruptly come to a halt.
What then are the answers to these questions? To begin with, the latter
rain absolutely cannot be associated with a Passover Pentecost. Here
are some of the reasons.
First, a Passover Pentecost is already spent, having effected the
former rain. That work overshadowed the first Bride and brought forth
the body of Christ, Christianity.
Second, as testified in numerous ways, the church was supposed to
receive 3,000 years. What would be the outcome of those 3,000 years?
There are many evidences showing they would effect death. One evidence
is the three hours of darkness that compelled Yahshua to declare from
the cross, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” These 3,000 years
would be the same certain death testified if Judah had given Tamar to
his third son. And relative specifically to this examination of Pentecost,
in Exodus 32:27-28 we find a clear and direct testimony of what a Passover
Pentecost brings—on the first-ever Pentecost, 3,000 were killed. This
is the promise that is associated with this Passover Pentecost—3,000 years
of death. And, this was affirmed on that Pentecost when 3,000 were added
(Acts 2:41).
Another testimony of this death is set forth in Leviticus 14. First
though, we know that the dove is a type of the Holy Spirit. When Yahshua
was baptized by John, we read that “the Holy Spirit descended upon Him
in bodily form like a dove” (Luke 3:22). This is the same type we find
when Noah sent out the dove after sending out the raven—again, the Holy
Spirit. In Leviticus 14 there are two birds that were used in the cleansing
of the healed leper. The first was slain over an earthen vessel over running
water, the same water testimony at Yahshua’s baptism. The second bird
was dipped into the blood of the first bird and then released alive.
Here we see the two outpourings of the Holy Spirit. The first outpouring,
the first bird, effected death, which has been ongoing for 2,000 years.
Remember, the entire work of the church thus far has been under that
first bird, that first Pentecost. It is two loaves of leavened Pentecost
bread that, like that first bird, cannot ascend to the Father—it could
not be offered as a burnt offering.
In contrast, the latter outpouring, the latter bird, does not die but
ascends alive. Therefore, it is quite clear that these two Pentecost works,
these two birds, are distinctly different, and the latter rain CANNOT
be associated with the death work of a Passover Pentecost. This holds
true with any effort by the first Remnant or Christianity, as well as
seeking to receive the latter rain on that specific feast day. I know this
all too well.
This point is exceptionally important to realize, and begs two very
important questions. If the former rain was obligated to a specific feast,
does it not speak that the latter rain would equally be obligated to a
specific feast? And if the former rain was evidenced by an identification
with the Jubilee number, fifty, then is it not evident that the latter
rain would have the same identification?
One evidence of this is found in 1 Kings 18:4 and 13 where Ahab’s steward,
Obadiah, told Elijah, “Has it not been told to my master what I did when
Jezebel killed the prophets of Yahweh, that I hid a hundred prophets
of Yahweh by fifties in a cave, and provided them with bread and
water?”
This is as strange a statement as Esther’s request for a second wine
banquet (Esther 5:1-8), both passages looking to the same thing—the two
outpourings of the Holy Spirit. But notice in the testimony related by
Obadiah to Elijah that there were two fifties. Here we see the two Pentecosts,
two fifties that produce a ten (Yahshua) at the nations level (100).
But, there cannot be a Pentecost unless there is something that gives
the testimony of fifty days, again a Jubilee of sorts. “Pentecost” actually
means “fiftieth,” so how can there even be a Pentecost without a count
of fifty? This event cannot be on an ambiguous sliding scale like Christianity’s
totally fallacious floating of Daniel’s-seventy-weeks tribulation period.
It is as tied to a fifty as was the former Pentecost.
Christianity said that they had the latter rain beginning in 1948—the
Latter Rain Movement. But if that was the latter rain, the second fifty,
then where was that count evidenced? Do they have an ambiguous sliding scale on their Pentecost latter
rain as well? The fact is, that movement was only a continuation of the
former rain that is a leavened shortfall that leads to death—their last-effort
attempt to effect the kingdom and Yahshua’s return. But the participants
in that movement are now either dead or facing death.
The evidence is that there must be a feast other than Passover that
is to be fulfilled, one that cannot be associated with death, and with
it must be the testimony of waiting fifty days—a Pentecost. From all I
have seen, this feast is the new-heavens-and-new-earth-building feast of
Tabernacles. And as addressed in Trumpets, 2005, page 4, a Pentecost must be
added to that feast in order to make it complete—it needed a third part,
a body, in order to be alive.
In fact, close examination of the feasts reveals that there is only
one place where a count of fifty can be added in like manner. Dedication,
or Hanukkah, is an added feast, but it is a straight eight days. Purim
is an equally added feast, but it is only a two-day feast. The only feasts
that were set forth by Yahweh at the exodus were Passover and its Pentecost,
along with Tabernacles. The pattern of Passover is a 1 – 7 – 1, Passover
– Unleavened Bread – Pentecost. This is the same pattern of olive tree
– lampstand – olive tree found in Zechariah 4—the breach of Christianity
separating the two Remnant.
On the other hand, Tabernacles is a 7 – 1 pattern, Tabernacles and
the great eighth-day holy convocation. Therefore, the only place to add
a fifty in all these feasts, and in fact even begs for the addition of
a fifty, is to add the essential promise-fulfilling ninth to Tabernacles—the
latter-rain Pentecost! Thus the completed pattern would be 7 – 1 – 1, with the testimony of the uniting of the
two Remnant. (This is, of course, the pattern of the revealing 7 – 1 – 1 trips up Mount Sinai as well, and the 7
– 1 – 1 presidents of the U.S., the seven dying in office.) Therefore,
Tabernacles Pentecost is the sole possibility for the latter rain.
Continue to page 3 of Tabernacles
Pentecost, 2008 for TWO TESTIMONIES