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 in response to an email I got last week from a man named Nathan, who is a lawyer working in one of America's leading cities. He gave me permission to share his letter.

You have to understand I'm busy as a writer and producer and don't have a lot of time to spend on each email and question that I receive. But I have just sent him a five-page personal response and am now writing an entire episode. Why? Because in his letter, I saw signs of a pan-millennialist awakening, which is the title of this episode.

If this term is new to you, a pan-millennialist is someone who doesn't concern themselves with how the end of days is going to unfold because they believe everything will pan out in the end. But let me just say, an awakening has begun. I want to cover six things today.

First, I want to read parts of Nathan's letter. Second, I want to tell you the signs I see of an awakening, especially in God's men of faith. Third, how I responded to him. Fourth, the three timeline clues that place this awakening at a significant time on God's calendar. Fifth, how close this puts us to the day of the Lord. Finally, what the Lord is saying to Nathan and those who resonate with his letter.

Nathan's letter was well-written, thoughtful, and genuine. He wrote, and I'm going to summarize a bit. First, I enjoy the detail you present in your podcasts and appreciate your dedication to the research. As a Protestant Sunday School teacher, I have not studied the Old Testament enough to correlate God's Old Testament dates and deadlines to the end times. Perhaps I am failing as a teacher not to study these areas.

Your three-part podcast series about Exodus 12 has opened my eyes and intrigued me. I believe in the rapture, but I have felt my role was to equip God's people to show his love, apply what we're learning in daily life, and how to lead others to Christ. Usually, discussions about end times are irrelevant to a person who does not know Jesus.

I feel the Holy Spirit is leading me to dig deeper into the timelines you have presented. I, too, feel the earth shaking and a quickening in my spirit and that something is on the horizon. It feels like we are close to the end times, but folks have been saying this for some time.

Nathan went on to write that Jesus started a new dispensation of grace, implying that the Jewish festivals and Levitical guidelines are no longer necessary to follow. He ended by saying, I believe I am sealed until the day of salvation and nothing can separate me from the love of God. But your comments using the example in Exodus that only 20% of the Jews left Egypt seems to imply that my belief and relationship with Christ is not enough for the rapture. Am I misunderstanding this?

I appreciated that his letter was genuine and not hostile. He was sincerely inquiring and worthy of response. You may feel just like Nathan. But I see signs of an awakening. Here we have a genuine, committed follower of Jesus, a Sunday school teacher. But he is sensing something new stirring inside, feeling the earth shaking and a quickening in my spirit.

He's also realizing he has no real answers as to what this means in light of the end times, just an overwhelming sense that something is on the horizon. The other thing to notice is that he has been riveted by a three-part series I produced on Exodus 12. The common denominator in each of these episodes is trying to come to grips with a divine interruption that God made in the Torah by suddenly changing the calendar.

He made the month of Nissan the first month of the year instead of the seventh month, which is where it had been for 2,000 years. What I subsequently learned researching this resulted in a paradigm shift inside of me, which inspired the three-part Exodus 12 series. God basically put up a billboard announcing this timeline shift and only those who saw the billboard and followed the instructions were safely extracted from this world into the presence of God who protected them all the way to the kingdom.

The Exodus, which can be defined as a mass departure of people from one location to another through miraculous signs and wonders, was only experienced by those 20% who heard and followed this news bulletin. The reality that Nathan is having trouble with is that 80% of the rest of the Jews did not hear the instruction. They did not want to follow Moses and they were not taken at the Exodus.

This is a very real biblical picture that should be taken seriously. They dismissed Moses as irrelevant and they were not taken. Does it not seem significant to you that Nathan wrote, admitting his lack of attention to the matter of the rapture because to him and millions like him, it really doesn't matter because everything will pan out in the end? No, God wanted Nathan to stop and ponder at Exodus 12. He wanted him to be perplexed and transfixed there.

This is a sign of awakening that Nathan has stopped to pause and ponder deeply. Thankfully, after admitting he had been intrigued by this series for quite some time, he approached me with his questions. This is another significant sign of awakening. He is a Sunday school teacher and he was staring at a hole in his theology. He was not able to connect the dots.

How could I be so certain about a future event that was not part of his teaching? That is humility, an aptitude that precedes an awakening. It's an admission that many people have few answers for this part of the journey. Praise God.

Here is some of what I wrote him. First of all, I did some research and took the time to learn as much about him as I could. I wrote, dear Nathan, by what I'm reading in your letter, the Lord is getting your attention and saying some wonderful things to you. I pray you have ears to hear them.

First of all, I see two important clues concerning the timeline of your quest. Clue number one was the Torah portion assigned to the specific week you reached out to me. The name of the Torah portion is Shofteem, which means Judges. Shofteem is all about God's sacred charge of appointing judges and executive officers or scribes in the gates of every city when we go into the kingdom.

These Shofteem are legislators specifically appointed to legislate and interpret the Torah in all cases that come up. It is not a coincidence that you were drawn to my teachings that led you to reach out to me then. Looking into your background, you seem particularly gifted in writing legal interpretations and opinions based on worldly law.

It seems a no-brainer to me that God would want to stir up in you a desire to learn about his legal system. This is a very personal call to you. He's telling you there's something missing. I believe you were moved by my legislative proposition in the Exodus 12 series. My investigative findings and the application to these end times, all of which was made possible because I chose 20 years ago to begin honoring the Sabbath and study the Torah.

This is the foundation most Christians are missing. Jesus honored the Sabbath. He attended the festivals. He sacrificed. He was the physical embodiment of living out the Torah. He did not dismiss or put aside one thing. He came to fulfill it perfectly. What I see is that the Lord is impressed with how you have stewarded your abilities, ones that he put inside of you before you were born.

Here are some of the gifts I see. He has given you the ability to see a case clearly, to break out all the pieces properly and identify what parts you need to investigate further, how to pinpoint where wrong has been committed, how to lay out all the threads on your desk and in your mind and discover what fits where. What's missing? What's the truth? And your impeccable desire for justice and desire to walk before him.

Not only do you see things clearly, but you are gifted to make sense of what you're seeing and then present a clear, concise, persuasive argument so others can understand the issue and arrive at a just conclusion. These are gifts, Nathan, important leadership legislative gifts. I believe Jesus wants to use in his kingdom.

Now the question for you is this: If the rapture were next month, would you be ready to step into the place he has for you? No, you are not ready, which is why I believe he is stirring these things in your heart and why you were prompted to reach out to me during the very week he was teaching these things to those of his children who honor the Sabbath.

This generation has lost its ability to contemplate, to reason deeply and deliberate in the study of God's ways. They have tossed aside the spiritual mooring upon which his kingdom is based. Do you know how long it took me to write the Exodus 12 episodes? I spent months and months making sense of his promptings. I knew there was a powerful message he wanted to communicate because he kept giving me clues to dig deeper.

He always waits to see what we do with these promptings. Whenever I say yes to him and start digging for answers as if searching for gold, as Proverbs 2 tells us, he never fails to reward with tremendous insight. This is his way. This is what builds wisdom and discernment of the times. I searched out the meaning of Hebrew words, applied them to what I have learned over 20 years as to his timetable and his season and how part A related to part B and then scribbled out various scenarios on what it all means after 35 years of studying the biblical end of days.

By the time these episodes were uploaded, I was absolutely drained. But I knew I was doing the work he assigned me to do as a chronicler. Nothing is more rewarding than that. Your letter was fruit from my labor. Glory to God. You are conflicted about the rapture, whereas I am anxiously waiting to be taken because I know the training I will receive to prepare me to return with Messiah after the seven-year birth pangs and help him establish his kingdom in some small way.

He has been preparing me for this for many years and is using every gift and ability I've been given. This is an incredible journey. Now, if you decide to say yes to what's stirring in your heart, will it require everything of you? Yes. The reward you receive though will be eternal.

Timeline clue number two is the month we are in on the Hebrew calendar. It's the month of Elul. This month is the 30 days prior to Rosh Hashanah, which begins Holy Week on God's timetable. This is when we rehearse the day that Messiah returns at the rapture, which triggers the day of the Lord. God designed the month of Elul to prepare us for the day of judgment, which falls on Yom Kippur, the 10th of Tishrei.

Elul is a time we repent and return to study God's ways. It is not coincidental that your heart began to stir now. When you learn his times and seasons, you will see things like this more clearly. When I first read your letter, the Lord led me to the parable of the 10 virgins in Matthew 25. I'll let you read that passage for yourself, but allow me to pass on eight takeaways which I believe speak to the disconnect between where I am, Torah observant, and where you are, a believer that the dispensation of grace releases us from the ways of our Jewish forefathers.

Takeaway number one, the 10 virgins were all clean. Now, the term virgins is not just talking about women here. All of them, men and women collectively called the bride, were waiting for the bridegroom who is Messiah. They were all qualified to be taken and they were clean.

Takeaway number two, 50% of them were able to monitor the supply of oil and what they might need to wait through the lingering season. These 50% were called wise. The other 50% were referred to as foolish. That word means dull or stuck in a mental stupor. There was no illumination in their thinking.

Takeaway number three is the metaphorical meaning of lamp and oil. King David wrote in Psalm 119, your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. The Hebrew for God's word is Dabar, referring to the actual words that came out of the mouth of the Almighty at Mount Sinai. It is those words, the Torah, that light the path.

Exodus 27 tells us the children of Israel were to bring pure olive oil beaten for the light to cause the lamp to burn always. Everything the Jews were given to do in those days gives us light for our path today. They were beaten and crushed for us to know God's ways. The light and lamp of course refer to the Menorah and it was to be lit continuously to pour out the seven spirits of God before his throne.

Takeaway number four is the dedication that 50% of them gave to their lamp. But their attention was on more than just a lamp. As Levitical priests, they knew their charge was to keep the lamps burning continuously. To do so, they had oversight of three things, not one: their lamp, the oil for that lamp, and the vessel or receptacle that kept the oil reserve.

That's why they were referred to as wise. They knew what they were to do before the bridegroom came. This is why they refused to share their oil with the other five. They took their priestly charge seriously, each guarding their lamp, oil and vessel knowing their lives depended on it.

Takeaway number five, the bridegroom tarried. The Hebrew word means a delay in time or a lingering. The five virgins who were not taken did not embrace the calling of the priests and had no understanding of the need to look after the receptacle of extra oil.

Takeaway number six, the parable says the cry came at midnight. Let's break this out a minute. The word cry means clamor and tumult. Midnight is the darkest part when there is no light to make your way. This was not a peaceful time. It was tumultuous. Matthew 25 tells us their lamps went out. What this means is that at the time of clamor and tumult all around them, their lamps were suddenly extinguished.

This is an alarming pronouncement. Listen to this: 50% of these virgins who were clean realized they were in the dark and had no way to go forward. And it was midnight and no shops were open to buy more. Now, there is a deep truth here if you can hear it. A person cannot give away priestly oil. You have to pay the price to buy it and I'm not talking about money. This oil is not a commodity. It is a rich understanding of the times and seasons of God known only to those who were beaten and crushed and paid the price to hold on to what they had sacrificed to purchase.

Takeaway number seven, the bridegroom called them to come forth at that time of awful realization of being in the dark. The shofar sounded and a thundering voice shouted, come forth. This is the rapture, a call to come forth, to come out of where they were to meet him. Where did they go? Up.

Takeaway number eight, when the virgins tried to go into the wedding after the door closed, the bridegroom answered, I don't know you. Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour. Now, I could be wrong in my interpretation about this, but I'm seeing it through a Jewish lens and I do not see this as a closed door forever.

By the terminology he's using here, he's referring to the time when he will physically return to earth at what's called the second coming. That takes place after the seven years of birth pangs. So he's telling them this next part you're going to have to go through is harder. You have to watch differently. For if you did not know the time of my coming now, you will not know the day or the hour of my coming then.

This brings us back to Exodus 12, which is where Nathan was transfixed. Most Christians have bought into the belief that we are not supposed to know the day or the hour of his coming. This is why Exodus 12 is so important. Our Exodus into the heavenly kingdom is just like theirs. It will be a mass departure of people from one location to another by miraculous signs and wonders.

But consider this: God did not keep them in the dark. He told his people exactly when he was coming to take them at the Exodus, the day and the hour and how it would all unfold. He could not have been more clear when he would come to take them to himself. So why would God be so clear and specific with them and leave us in the dark?

The good news in all this though, Nathan, is you are showing signs an awakening is happening before he comes. This gives you time to consider what it would be like to be trained as one of the Shofteem in the Messianic kingdom. This is the invitation the Lord has given you. My prayer for you is that you will take the month of Elul before Rosh Hashanah to make a decision to reconnect with the ways of our Jewish forefathers. They are shining the light for this part of the journey while our Savior tarries.

In the description notes to this episode, I'm going to put links to several resources on how to return. It doesn't have to be overwhelming, just one step at a time. To forward this episode or listen to it again, go to candacelong.com/podcasts and look for the title Signs of a Pan-Millennialist Awakening. In the description notes, you'll also find a link to my new program, Shabbat Shalom, that airs every Saturday morning from 6:00 to 9:00 Eastern Time at weeziradio.com. Come study the Torah with us. You've been listening to Lessons in the Latter Days. God bless.