Lessons in the Ladder Days

Candace Long: I'm Candace Long with Lessons in the Latter Days, offering biblical commentary to make sense of the times we're living in. Today's episode is part two in lessons from Exodus 12. We're exploring why God interrupted the narrative in Exodus 12 to change the calendar by making the month of Nissan the first month of the year, rather than the seventh month, which is where it had been for 2,000 years. It reordered the people's sense of time and direction.

Now, having been a pilot for many years, I understand the magnitude of this shift. Because when you're flying, the gyroscopic magnetic compass inside the plane precesses or drifts off course little by little because it is rotating against the magnetic and gravitational forces in the Earth. In fact, one of the first things a pilot learns is to constantly keep your eye on the compass throughout the flight and manually reset the heading from time to time. If you don't do this, you could take off heading to Nashville and wind up in Pigeon Forge.

This magnetic precession illustrates a natural law that God put in the universe to teach us an important spiritual concept that we see here in Exodus 12. God set up a law meant to serve as a spiritual compass to keep his people on course and not be in danger of missing the intended destination, which is the kingdom. This inner compass is very much a part of who I am and why so many of my episodes deal with dates and timetables. I have been trained to be alert to directional signals, and I hope you are seeing that God is giving us a huge alert here in Exodus 12.

He totally stopped the clock on where his people were at that place and time in Egypt. It was all they knew for 210 years, which amounts to three generations. But that life was no longer where God wanted them, and that is our lesson. It was time for God to put into motion what was in his heart, namely to reach in and pluck out a people he was calling to himself, to become a nation of priests that he would personally train to become the governing arm of his kingdom.

We learned in part one that exactly what was going on to them then during Exodus 12 applies to us today because the Hebrew words that God used in the first two verses are said twice, which the sages tell us means he's speaking to two audiences. First, he's speaking to those about to leave Egypt some 3,500 years ago. And second, it was intended for the final generation living right before the day of the Lord, and that is us. God had to get their attention because it was time. He was about to go get them and bring them out, but they were not ready. They were not pointed in the right direction and aligned with the month of Nissan because the time of their deliverance was happening in two weeks.

Now, how do we know it was two weeks? Because he alerted them saying, "This month shall be for you." The month he was talking about was Nissan. And if you break down the days that God laid out for them, what to do when, the first seven days prepared them mentally: they were about to leave. That's week number one. Then from Nissan 7 through the 14th, which is week number two, they were to choose the lamb, inspect it, kill it, put its blood on the door, and eat it that evening, which became the 15th at sundown, and prepare to leave at daybreak. So God was announcing their deliverance was two weeks away.

This announcement could not be more personally affirming to me because my research places us living in the year 2025 to be year six of the final seven years of the church age. If these final seven years began in 2020, which I have presented to you, meaning that we are some two years away from our deliverance, two weeks for them then, metaphorically two years for us today. Now, the sages all agree that the interchanging of weeks, days, and years is very much a part of the way God speaks.

Let me give you an example. In Hosea 6:1 and 2, we read, "Come, let us return to the Lord, for he has torn that he may heal us. After two days he will revive us, and on the third day he will raise us up that we may live before him." This verse refers to the Messiah. "After two days he will revive us," meaning two days of 1,000 years each, referring to days five and six, since he was crucified at the end of day four. Days five and six, the two days, are the 2,000 years known as the church age. And the phrase "on the third day" refers to day seven when he will raise us up and we shall live in his sight. This refers to the first resurrection, known by most as the Rapture. This is metaphorical language and the way God speaks.

Today we find ourselves toward the end of day six, 2025, and we really are at the place the Jews were then. We are witnessing God's judgment on our nation like they witnessed God's judgment on Egypt. Violent weather patterns threaten our crops. Diseases plague our livestock, which in turn threatens our food supply. Life is filled with chaos, violence, diseases, and hatred. And it's here and now that God brings this Exodus 12 shift because for the Torah-observant, Exodus is what we've been studying. That's why God said this calendar shift is for you, because those who study the Torah hear it. And if you don't study it, you won't hear it. God's message is not for you. It's that simple.

Now, what I'm saying is not meant to be fatalistic because God is merciful and patient and we haven't gone yet. There is still time, which is why I said in the last episode I feel strongly that here and now in day six, this message is God's final warning that the magnetic compass inside most Christians is severely precessed. Since 2022, God has spoken through three eclipses and a series of EF3 tornadoes, all of them warning that we're not lined up correctly with the month of Nissan. That's why Exodus 12 is so pregnant with meaning now because the world is about to birth the Messianic Kingdom, and those of us who are hearing him know we're in the preparatory stage of being separated and consecrated because, hear me now, our exodus is at hand.

God told Moses what to say, and I paraphrase this: "Tell the people the time has shifted, so listen to the next four things I have to tell you because doing these things will get you out of here and bring you to me." Today we're going to learn what those four things are. And if you are hoping to be taken in the Rapture, please listen carefully, as this concerns your standing in the kingdom. First, I want to remind you of the meaning of the word "exodus." This is, again, metaphorical language. It means a mass departure of people from one location to another.

Now, let me pause right here for a bit of commentary. Many Christians have no concept of the timetable of the Rapture. That's why they're just tooling along thinking we have all the time in the world. I dare say, though, that most believers have embraced a lie, a subtle belief system that says, "No man knows the time of his coming, not even the angels in heaven." Yes, that is a verse in Matthew 24, but from the Jewish point of view, it is taken out of context and does not mean we're not supposed to know. I devoted an entire episode to straightening out this false theology, and it's found in the episode called "What Do You Mean Mom Has Disappeared?" I encourage you to listen, and I'll put a link to it in the notes to this episode.

Bottom line, though, the error is found in a misunderstanding of the sequence of events that Jesus lays out for us in Matthew 24 and all of the Old Testament prophecies that Jesus is referencing in that passage. When you look at it correctly through the eyes of those who understand Hebrew and the Tanakh, the passage makes perfect sense and concurs with what God shows us right here in Exodus 12. If you examine Exodus closely, God gave his people, those who were listening and following Moses, he gave them exact time signals of when their deliverance would be. This is the pattern he sets here. His people are supposed to know the time of his coming, and it's all tied in to our alignment with the month of Nissan.

As you know, I spend every Sabbath studying the Torah readings using the five-volume Schottenstein Chumash. This is an interlinear translation of the Torah from Hebrew to English, and it includes commentary from the rabbinic writings, collectively referred to as "the sages." This commentary contains tremendous insight that helps Gentiles understand what was going on, important Hebraic concepts, and how they are to be applied today. As a chronicler, I appreciate how the sages put each passage into its proper context. And this wisdom, combined with Holy Spirit working inside me as I'm studying the Torah, makes it come alive every week. I'll put a link to the Chumash in the notes to this episode.

What follows next are the four sacred charges that God gave his people through this divine interruption.

Number one: The Lord sanctified the new moon signaling the month of Nissan. That means he set apart that new moon and hallowed it.

Number two: God told them the exact time they would leave and step-by-step instructions to experience his miraculous deliverance.

Number three: He consecrated this remnant of people, meaning that he set them apart from all the other Jews that were in Egypt and prepared only them to meet him at Mount Sinai.

And number four: He taught them the Passover laws and promised that those who followed these laws would get to the kingdom safely.

The application of these four sacred charges is critical to those who want to be taken at the Rapture. We have to align ourselves with Nissan and follow these laws. God set them here in the holy books for all eternity. What alarms me most is that the majority of Christians have chosen to ignore all of them, celebrate Easter, and follow the Gregorian calendar. They have allowed themselves to be severed from God's times and seasons and the rehearsals that he meant for us to experience. The danger is that many who love God will miss the signals and be left behind like the 50 percent in the parable of the ten virgins, which Jesus taught in Matthew 25.

Sacred charge number one is the big one where I'll spend the rest of our time in part two. God sanctified the new moon at Nissan and set the entire month apart from all the other months. From the beginning, God used the moon to signal for his people to meet with him and rehearse everything they need to prepare them to live in his kingdom. Once you identify Nissan, you know where you are on God's calendar, and you can therefore determine the exact date of every festival throughout the year because they can only be established at the new moon at Nissan one.

Let me share a section from the book "Rosh Hashanah and the Messianic Kingdom to Come." It's by temple scholar Joseph Good, who is a Torah-observant Gentile, by the way. In his book, Joe Good explains that there are two calendars in Judaism: there's a civil calendar and a religious calendar. You see, from the beginning in the time of Abraham, the civil calendar was the only one. The first month on that calendar is the month of Tishrei, which is in the fall, during September and October on the world's calendar. You should be familiar with Tishrei one because this date is regarded as the birthday of the world and the beginning of creation.

Consequently, Adam was created on Tishrei six, and the first Sabbath was on Tishrei seven. So when we read in Genesis 8:4 that Noah's ark rested upon Mount Ararat on the 17th day of the seventh month, it is understood to be the month of Nissan because Nissan is the seventh month on the civil calendar. Now, does the 17th of Nissan ring a bell with you? It should. Nissan 17 was when the Red Sea parted and the Hebrews crossed over to the other side. This was the date of their exodus. Nissan 17 was also when Jesus burst through the tomb and crossed over to the other side as the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. This date was his exodus. So God uses the same picture here in Genesis. Noah made it to the other side of the flood safe and sound on Nissan 17 by an equally miraculous deliverance.

The civil calendar is used for the counting of years, to determine the sabbatical years and the years of the Jubilee. But here in Exodus 12, God introduced and established the religious calendar with the month of Nissan as the first month. On the first day of Nissan in the year 2448 from creation, two weeks before the Exodus, on that very day, God showed Moses the crescent new moon and instructed him regarding the setting of the Jewish calendar and the mitzvah, or commandment, to sanctify the new month. It was to be an honored celebration.

This was the very first commandment given to the newly born nation of Israel, even before the Exodus and the giving of the Torah. The new moon was not easy to determine; it had to be done officially, in the beginning by a pair of witnesses who watched the heavens each night until they saw the faint crescent of the new moon. The fixing of the religious calendar was determined officially by the Sanhedrin, and over the centuries, the Jews were the only ones who could accurately determine when to meet with God. It was not a loose date. Nissan one was fixed and could not be changed ever.

The Gentile rulers did not like this and realized that if they took away the new moon celebration at Nissan, they could effectively destroy Judaism, which is exactly what the Hellenists did during the times of Persia and Greece. And the same thing was done by the Romans during Jesus' day. Hellenism forbade the Jews from doing three things: honoring the Sabbath, being circumcised, and celebrating the new moon. These three commandments are always attacked most because these are the key attributes that define what it means to be a Jew.

Let me explain how important this is by reciting part of almost every Jewish prayer, which is prayed multiple times every day. Part one begins this way: "Baruch atah Adonai Eloheinu Melech ha-olam," which means "Blessed are you, Lord our God, master of the universe." Here's part two: "Asher kidshanu b'mitzvotav v'tzivanu," which means "who sanctifies or sets us apart by doing those things you set up for us to do," most commonly translated as commandments. And one of those things is to sanctify the new moon. You see, a devout Jew is set apart and sanctified by those very things God gave us to do.

Now, this is where it gets really hard for Christians to understand because most Christians follow the ways of Hellenism and they do away with the things that are considered too Jewish. And there are many teachers and pastors out there who say that we don't need to do these things anymore, which contradicts what God set up for us in Exodus 12, calling these laws surrounding Nissan and Pesach eternal laws that are a central part of the way he governs his kingdom.

Now, many might say, "Well, I'm sanctified by the blood of Jesus, and that's the only thing that's important." But you see, Jesus was and is Torah in the flesh. It is not within his nature to violate something the Father established in the Torah, for he cannot contradict himself. Jesus said, "I am the way." What was that way? It was what's called the derech, which represented the ways of God, all of his ways. If you go off doing your own thing and establish your own traditions apart from the derech, then very frankly, you are not walking in the way of Jesus.

If you are uneasy about what I'm saying and feel an inner block inside you against doing any of these Jewish things, such as honoring the Sabbath or celebrating the festivals, this unrest is Hellenism. It means you are in its grip, and it will threaten the place in the kingdom that the Lord desires for you. Now, I know that I'm messing with your mind here, but I'm trying my best to untangle you from a dangerous belief system that has entrapped a lot of people who genuinely love God. He did not add a parenthesis after Exodus 12 saying that when Messiah comes, his people could ignore everything he literally engraved in stone. Jesus himself said that he came to fulfill the law, not to dismiss it or scoff at it. Every Gentile who calls themselves Christians are held accountable by which calendar system you follow: the ways of God or the ways of the Hellenistic world that we live in.

In closing, by way of encouragement, I want to share an insight into the spiritual condition that the young nation of Israel was in at Exodus 12. Lest you think his people were spiritual giants, I found it very comforting to learn from the sages that at that time in Egypt, the sages write that the nation had fallen to the 49th level of impurity, which is one level above spiritual extermination. But by God's grace and his love for them, they heard these words from Exodus 12 and mustered up every ounce of resolve to leave where they were and follow Moses. And God blessed them with such a sense of his presence that they were able to stand before him at Mount Sinai and found worthy to receive his Torah. There is no shame to admit to God where you are in this discussion. Our Lord told us, "Small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it."

May the Lord bless you as you consider this teaching. Next time in part three, we'll discuss the remaining three sacred charges. To refer this episode to others, go to candacelong.com/podcasts and look for this episode, Lessons from Exodus 12, part two. I hope you join me again next time for Lessons in the Latter Days. God bless.