Studies in Revelation
Part 10 - The Last Days - Part 4
In our last study, we considered the “day” and “night” of Pentecost which includes the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth months leading to the Feast of Tabernacles, finding that it adds up to 18, the number of “oppression” and “bondage,” which signifies our “captivity in Babylon.” I believe our “night” of Pentecost agrees with John 2:19.
John 2:19-22 (ESV)
19 Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." 20 The Jews then said, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?" 21 But he was speaking about the temple of his body. 22 When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.
I find it interesting that when Jesus spoke of them destroying the temple that they said it took “forty-six years” to build it. The King James renders this as “forty and six.” Forty is our number of probation, trial, and chastisement while six speaks of our enmity with God. Coincidence? I don’t think so. Also note that Jesus “was speaking about the temple of his body,” in other words, He was referring to a spiritual “temple,” made up of those who are the ministers to the “body of Christ”; see 1st Corinthians 3:5-17. No doubt, Jesus was a true “temple of God” wherein the Father dwelt, but as for His “body”? Please consider.
John 19:33-34 (NKJV)
33 But when they came to Jesus and saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs. 34 But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.
In the parable of Adam and Eve, we find that Eve was taken from the “rib” or “side” of Adam. Beloved, in the same way, the church, which is defined as “female” and engaged to Christ to be His “wife,” was also taken from the “side” of Christ when the soldier pierced Him and “blood and water came out.” The blood speaks of the remission of our sins while the “water” speaks of the “washing of water by the word” as recorded in Ephesians 5:26. For further understanding, read Ephesians, Chapter 5, verses 22 through 33.
So what did Jesus say? “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” As shown on our illustration, the “three days” correspond to the three segments of the “Feast of Tabernacles”; the Day of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and the Day or Feast of Tabernacles proper. If our perspective is correct, then the third and final day is the seventh branch or Feast of Tabernacles proper which for Israel began on the 15th day of the seventh month. In his book, The Biblical Meaning of Numbers from One to Forty, Jones tells us that “fifteen is the number of new direction. Psalm 15 speaks of entering God’s rest when we dwell on God’s holy hill. This is a new direction from the normal walk of the carnal man. Even as eight follows the perfect cycle of seven and is the number of new beginnings, so also 15 follows 14 (the second cycle of seven).” Now, please consider what Jesus said in the following.
John 6:35-40 (NASB95)
35 Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst. 36 "But I said to you that you have seen Me, and yet do not believe. 37 "All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out. 38 "For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. 39 "This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. 40 "For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day."
Not once, but twice, Jesus tells us that “this is the will of Him who sent Me” which is to raise all that He has been given on the “last day.” And what is this “last day”? Please consider.
John 7:37-38 (NKJV)
37 On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. 38 He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water."
Here we see that the “last day” was “that great day of the feast.” And which feast was this? In agreement with our illustration, it was the Feast of Tabernacles; see John 7:2 and Leviticus 23, verses 34 through 36. Now, let’s go to John, Chapter 11.
John 11:23-24 (NKJV)
23 Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again." 24 Martha said to Him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day."
In the story of Lazarus, Martha states that the “last day” is “the resurrection,” and Jesus did not dispute this.
John 12:48 (NKJV)
48 He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him--the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day.
As we see, Jesus stated that the word which He had spoken would judge us in the “last day.” Now, with this idea of “day” in mind, consider the following from Hebrews, Chapter Three.
Hebrews 3:7-11 (ESV)
7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, "Today, if you hear his voice, 8 do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness, 9 where your fathers put me to the test and saw my works 10 for forty years. Therefore I was provoked with that generation, and said, 'They always go astray in their heart; they have not known my ways.' 11 As I swore in my wrath, 'They shall not enter my rest.' "
Friends, how long was “the day of testing in the wilderness”? According to Hebrews 3:10, it was “forty years,” showing that a “day” is not literal but figurative, indicating the necessary time span where the Father’s will is fully accomplished.
In agreement with what we are considering, we see on the left side of our illustration where I have the “Last Day” of the “Last Days,” which again, is the 15th day of the seventh month of the Feast of Tabernacles. As a matter of study, the Day of Trumpets began on the first day of the seventh month, while the Day of Atonement was on the tenth day of the seventh month. All three “days” fell in the seventh month, our number seven denoting “spiritual perfection” or “completion,” which agrees with our “last days” and “last day.” The fact that there are three days in the Feast of Tabernacles also speaks of “a complete witness” of the Lord’s resurrection.
Now, in our last study, we considered the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth months together, which equals 18 and reflects our “captivity in Babylon,” however, when we add our “last day” in with the “last days,” we arrive at 25. Here’s a portion of Stephen Jones’ explanation of its spiritual meaning.
The Hebrew number 25 consists of two Hebrew letters, kaph and hey. Kaph is an open palm, the act of giving or covering. Hey means inspiration, or the breath of God, and generally has to do with the Holy Spirit. Thus, 25 has to do with laying on of hands to bless people with the Holy Spirit.
Twenty-five is the number of blessing. It is five squared, and so twenty-five is related to five, the number of grace. Blessing is based upon the idea of grace.
The 25th time that Noah’s name is mentioned is in Gen. 8:6, which speaks of Noah opening the window of the ark to let in the fresh breeze that signified the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. It was then that He sent first the raven (unclean spirit) to demonstrate the fact that the flood had not resolved the problem of unclean spirits yet. Then he sent out the three doves to signify the solution to this problem. The doves indicate the three historic occasions by which the Holy Spirit would be poured out in Passover Age, the Pentecostal Age, and the Tabernacles Age.
“Twenty-five is the number of blessing,” my friends, which has to do with the work of the Holy Spirit and where we are now heading. Despite tradition’s take that a rapture is coming where God will remove His people from the earth, scripture disagrees and shows that we are not heading for a rapture, BUT RATHER A RESURRECTION, and beloved, when we truly understand His divine principle of sowing and reaping in the light of the Feasts of Israel, this makes perfect sense. For further understanding, I encourage you to read 1st Corinthians, Chapter 15, verses 35 through 58.
Friends, the “last days” began with Pentecost, and our pattern on the lampstand is clear. Since that glorious day we have moved through the “night” of Pentecost and into the Feast of Tabernacles, which begins with the “Day of Trumpets,” followed by the “Day of Atonement” and ending with the Feast of Tabernacles proper, signifying the “last day” or “resurrection.” It is also the conclusion of the “time, times, and half” or “dividing of time” as recorded in Daniel 7:25 and 12:7 and in Revelation 12:14.