Shabbat Shalom

Candace Long: I’m Candace Long. Welcome to the second hour of Shabbat Shalom. Today’s Torah portion includes Exodus 12, which hit me like a ton of bricks last year. In fact, I wrote four episodes about it, three of which you will hear starting next week.

I needed to air the final week of the church age series first because they coincide with where we are in Exodus. Needless to say, this season has personally been filled with a lot of revelation. But let me get back to Exodus 12. I was so absorbed with it after reading it last year that I even wrote an episode about why I was so shaken. It’s called “Recognizing a Divine Interruption,” and I want to teach you how to recognize what a divine interruption looks like and what to do when you see one.

This is one of those times. For 11 chapters, Moses recounts the backstory of the descendants of Jacob leading up to the Exodus. Every character, every detail, every promise, every danger, every conversation between God and Moses, and between Moses and Pharaoh, and the rollout of nine plagues.

And then we come to Exodus 12, and the narrative stops cold. It shifts 180 degrees to a whole other train of thought. And then for the next 28 verses, God proceeds to tell Moses some amazing instructions to prepare the people to leave where they are and come meet with Him, promising that He will bring them to Himself in a supernatural way.

I believe these instructions were meant for us today. Encountering this divine interruption wouldn't leave me alone. I read and reread it every day. Listeners often write asking how I work, or some will simply come out and say, "Teach me everything you know."

Lord knows I’m trying. Believe me, I don't go out looking for these aha moments. They generally come about as I am studying the Torah. Like last year reading this Torah portion, and this verse jumped off the page and propelled me to look deeper. It was a burning bush moment. It was like a billboard saying, "Pay attention. I’m saying something important here."

Now, if you’ve read my series “Uncovering the Ancient Snare,” I had a similar experience in 2023 of unimaginable revelation that propelled me into months and months of writing and research. Now, what grabbed me about this divine interruption at Exodus 12 was where Israel was in their journey and how that might relate to us today.

I encourage you to go back and review the first 11 chapters of Exodus and then reread the beginning of chapter 12. Take note of how the narrative stops. God said to Moses and Aaron, "This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you."

I will teach you a lot about that one sentence, but for right now, I'll give you a preview. What the Father has done is basically shift their whole way of life. He changed their calendar from Tishrei as month one to the month of Nissan. Now, I will save my three-part series and share with you later what all that means and how it prepares us for our exodus from this world to the world to come.

But here’s one tidbit that I will point out now. Notice the phrase "for you." Listen to the verse again: "This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you." All of the hidden secrets and preparations built into the month of Nissan to prepare them for the Exodus was only for them. Other people wouldn't know about it. It was only for those who were listening to Moses. Now, this explains why it was only 20% who left at the Exodus. The other 80% weren't listening, or they didn't care.

Coming up next, Andrew Gabriel Roth brings us part four of his series "Back to Basics" and teaches us the many different sides of John the Apostle. Heavenly Father, I thank You for the incredible mysteries that You infused into the Torah, just waiting for those who take heed to the divine interruptions and stop and listen. Thank You for giving us the Holy Spirit, who gives us the ability to hear. He prepares us for the things to come and downloads the wisdom we need to put the pieces together. We bless You today in the name of Yeshua HaMashiach. Amen. Join me in welcoming Andrew Gabriel Roth.

Andrew Gabriel Roth: I’m Andrew Gabriel Roth, and welcome to the most misunderstood passages in the New Testament. Thank you for spending part of your Sabbath with me. We continue this week the "Back to Basics" series, which is now part four. This is called "The Many Sides of John." So, let’s get into this topic, one of the most mysterious gospel writers of them all.

John is the ultimate study in contrast among the 12 apostles. Yeshua and the rest knew John, or more properly by his Hebrew name Yohanan bar-Zebedee, as an over-exuberant teenager. And yet Yeshua trusts him with secrets that none of the other much older writers of the New Testament can handle.

And while the rest of the apostles die violent deaths in middle age, Yohanan alone survives the destruction of the Second Temple by decades and recruits disciples of his own who will serve well into the second half of the second century. Yohanan, John, is literally the last man standing from the original eyewitnesses of Yeshua the Messiah.

But at the same time, seeing a consistent vision of who this amazing apostle was can be elusive. His writings are so diverse that it led some authorities to believe his personal letters and Revelation came from another John other than the apostle. Not only that, but the Middle Ages is full of reports of seeing this aged but powerful Christian leader known as Prester John, who leads armies to help the faithful and lives in a mythical kingdom filled with unicorns, dragons, and all sorts of exotic creatures.

Again, what is fable? What is fact? And how do we understand the man underneath it all? Well, to begin with, let me apply a useful comparison. And that would be comparing John with that of King Solomon. Like John, Solomon wrote several books that each have different emphases, nuances, and style from what came before. And also like John, the changes in Solomon's writings from Song of Solomon to Proverbs to Ecclesiastes are not due to the agencies of other men, but to the same man growing and changing throughout his life.

In John's case, from a teenager in Jerusalem to taking care of Yeshua’s mom in Ephesus to being a centenarian, 100-year-old hermit living on the island of Patmos to write Revelation. Well, he actually wrote Revelation decades earlier. To understand John's diverse writings, we need to understand John the man.

As a young man, the John we meet in the Gospels, including his own Fourth Gospel, is vigorous and athletic, beating the much older Peter to the tomb just after the resurrection. He is also quiet, reflective, and an exceedingly deep thinker. Only John is entrusted with the fact that Yeshua is the Word made flesh and the Torah made flesh. Only John is bold enough to be an eyewitness to Yeshua's death at the crucifixion site when all the other so-called more mature disciples were hiding and fearing for their lives.

As a result, young John is a mixture of being a humble receiving vessel but with a faith strong enough to risk losing everything to obey his Master the Messiah. That's who he is. John never doubts himself in the way Thomas does. He doesn't deny Yeshua three times like Peter did. He also seems immune from the constant arguments the other disciples get into as to who is best among them, with the possible exception of his meddling mom trying to get him and his older brother James to sit at the left and right side of Yeshua in Matthew chapter 20. Granted, in Luke's version of that event, James and John are said to make this request without their mom present. But in that case, the older brother James would have been more likely to make that request than the younger brother John.

Another aspect of this has to do with John's brother, sometimes called James the Great. His Hebrew name is Ya'akov or Jacob. And while Ya'akov at the time has a tremendous status among the 12, he is never recorded as having said a single word in the New Testament. Not one. Not one question, not one statement. Whereas younger brother John writes more than 50 chapters of the New Testament in one form or another. To put that in perspective, there are 260 chapters from Matthew 1 to the end of Revelation. So, of those 260, John wrote 50 or 51 chapters.

Also, John's older brother is not to be confused with Yeshua's younger brother who was also called James, who wrote the Epistle of James and was the head of the Jerusalem assembly in the book of Acts. That's a completely different person. Now John's older brother, again James the Great or Ya'akov, is also the first among the 12 to be martyred, whereas younger brother John is the last. He's the only one who dies peacefully in his bed.

These contrasts and shifting paradigms for John are gone over in painstaking detail in the Apostolic Writings that we've been talking about, my new translation from the most reliable ancient Aramaic manuscripts into English. And in the Apostolic Writings, we also have biographical overviews that cover all five of John's books to dozens of important footnotes in each of those five books, shedding more light on John the man and on his long and productive life. And it's an awesome story to tell, guys. I highly recommend it.

Let me give you one example. Only the Apostolic Writings shows John's transition from the youngest apostle to a young man taking care of Yeshua's mom, living a quarter of a century after the resurrection in Jerusalem before relocating with Mary or Mariam to Ephesus and making final residency on the island that is off the coast of Ephesus, Patmos.

And only the Apostolic Writings shows historical manuscript evidence that John is not running from the Emperor Domitian in the mid-90s, but actually from the Emperor Nero in the mid-60s before Nero himself commits suicide in June of 68 CE. This exclusive evidence from the Aramaic Crawford Codex is not in any Greek equivalent text, and it dovetails with the number of the beast in Revelation 13:18. Only Nero's name, not Domitian's name, adds up to 666.

Another important detail you'll find in the Apostolic Writings exclusively shows that some ancient manuscripts left off the letter 'N' in the "Kaisaron" or Caesar of Nero's name. An 'N' has a value of 50. So not surprisingly, some manuscripts will say the number of the beast is 616 because they are lacking the 'N'. And again, the Apostolic Writings explains this so that you can have unprecedented understanding.

And that finding in turn puts the composition of Revelation, again as I said a little earlier, to 66 CE rather than 96 CE. And that will further explain why John in both his Gospel and in Revelation refers to Jerusalem before it was destroyed in the present tense. See John 5:1-2 and Revelation 11:1-2.

But let’s get back to the Gospel of John for a moment. Only the Apostolic Writings comprehensively demonstrates why the story of the woman caught in adultery, that's in John 7:53 to 8:11, could not have been originally from John's pen, but has very questionable origins from some surprisingly later source material. We see also how all the ancient codices of John in Greek and in Aramaic exclude the story of the woman who was an adulteress. And how the story itself has Torah-inaccurate details proving it had to come from a Gentile writer from a much later time who did not understand how those rules in the Torah actually worked.

Now, in addition to all of these things that we're discussing, the Apostolic Writings has a special section called "The Second Testimony of Yohanan." And that is after his Gospel, highlighting the special aspects of his three personal letters and the Book of Revelation in ways that are completely different from what is in the Gospel of John, because this is an older, more mature John that we're dealing with.

So, through detailed historical and linguistic analysis, John's second biographical overview explains why theories about another writer who is sometimes called "Presbyter John" are misguided and inaccurate, and how any alleged differences in style or approach are best explained by John simply getting older and better as his faith deepens after ultimately having eight decades of service to Yeshua the Messiah.

And yet, in spite of all this, the Catholic West seems is so far behind the times in this regard in that they did create this guy named Prester John in the Middle Ages based ironically on a misunderstanding in the Gospel that some thought John would never die. But Yeshua Himself corrects that and says, "No, I didn't say that. I simply said if I want him to remain until I return, what is that to you?"

But that didn't stop Prester John from defending the faithful through miraculous deliverances and living in a magical utopian kingdom, unicorns and dragons. I mean, my goodness. Talk about going big or going home. And of course, some would say Prester John was the apostle while others identify a totally separate man as John who wrote those last three books as well as Revelation.

So one can get their story straight in the West, it’s hard to figure out what that tradition is because it keeps changing. Now, thank heaven then for the Aramaic Apostolic Writings because it avoids these pitfalls by staying firmly rooted in the Eastern linguistic traditions for the New Testament. Also, it is important for seeing the linguistic connections between and among the Johannine books, such as the unique and intentional bad grammar that happens only in John 1:1 and 1 John 1:1 to show masculine verbs with feminine nouns, which should never happen. And it is done to demonstrate that all divine male and female attributes rest in the Messiah.

Or the beginning word in the Gospel of John is linked to the Word of Life in 1 John 1:1, the Word of Truth and commandments of 2 John, and the walking in truth of 3 John. They're all connected by the same author, the same thoughts, organizing principles, and intentions.

Finally, it’s possible that the new research detailed in the Apostolic Writings might also force a rethink of when each book was written by John. In that revision, the Gospels would be followed by Revelation. So it be those two major books first and then the three short personal letters of 1-3 John last, which brings an entirely fresh way to view how and why John writes all of these things in the first place.

So, it's important to understand that sometimes our long-held assumptions might be wrong. Only by combining all five works in chronological order with this one apostle, this one Yohanan bar-Zebedee, John the son of Zebedee, can we see trends that shaped this longest-serving apostle of them all. What I called at the start, "the last man standing." The only one who not only saw the temple burn at the hands of the Romans but had decades of life afterwards to think about what that meant.

Therefore, John also offers us a unique perspective as the only witness among the 12 who again lived decades into a new reality where Judaism nearly died and the Gentiles dominated what later became what we call Christianity now. John alone is that bridge between the last vestiges of the Jewish origins of our faith and the looming Catholic model that endeavored to replace it.

And yet, even when Yohanan dies at the age of 100, he was still not done telling his original truth. And this is perhaps the most important legacy of them all. Because when John settled on Patmos after presumably Mary died, she's buried in Ephesus and he moves to Patmos because Nero is now persecuting the believers, when that happened, he takes in a whole bunch of students.

And these students in turn, some of them become important Messianic and Christian leaders in their own right. And a lot of them also lived into their 80s, 90s, and beyond. So, if you have John in his 80s and 90s teaching these young men who are still active 70-plus years later, then that means John's original students are active into the second half of the second century.

And that is amazing. I’m going to highlight just two of these amazing students who became leaders in their own right. One is named Papias. Papias dies around the year 130 AD. And it was Papias who witnessed the changing of the Gospel narrative as he first heard it from the original Jewish vision to what was being put forward by the Roman Church at that time, a more Gentile version.

And what Papias said was that he didn't want to read what he called "the new books," the new books that did not have the truth. He wanted to hear the truth from the actual apostles whenever possible. And so Papias is an eyewitness to the swapping out of the original pro-Torah agenda for what we have today. And Papias was taught by John.

But an even more important guy is named Polycarp. Polycarp withstood pressure from the chief bishop of Rome. They didn't have the term Pope then; they were simply chief bishops. Polycarp was head of the assembly that’s mentioned in Revelation, Smyrna. And Smyrna is mentioned first because it is probably the most powerful of those seven churches. And Polycarp is the head of that.

So when Polycarp goes to Rome, he’s confronted by the chief bishop, what they will later call Pope or Papa, a guy named Anicetus. Anicetus is the one that told Polycarp to abandon keeping Saturday Sabbath, to not keep Passover, to abandon the Torah-observant feast-keeping model that he learned from the apostles who learned it from Yeshua.

And this guy Anicetus actually says, "You need to forget what the apostles taught you and follow the traditions of the presbyters of this city of Rome instead." And so what happens then is Polycarp basically says, "Thanks, but no thanks." And the so-called chief bishop of Rome who is supposed to be in charge of all Christians wherever they are cannot persuade Polycarp to abandon Passover or to abandon the Saturday Sabbath.

And so Polycarp has a student who’s writing and reflecting on this showdown maybe 20 years later, a guy named Irenaeus. And Irenaeus tells us that they had to agree to disagree because Polycarp was too strong to be cowed or intimidated by the chief bishop of Rome. And the chief bishop of Rome basically was not going to be persuaded by Polycarp either. So it was a stalemate.

And this is an incredibly important piece of church history telling us that Gentiles were keeping the Torah. And the final proof of that comes from the Emperor Constantine, who around the year 325 issued a bunch of commandments outlawing all Jewish practices for Gentiles in his kingdom. That if you were caught doing Sabbath or doing the feast, you could be executed or you could be locked up.

And the reason Constantine did this is because there were a lot of Torah-observant Christians in his empire, or why would the emperor have wasted his time if there weren't? So clearly Polycarp and Papias are examples, and they're not the only ones, by the way, people who were taught by John to get back to him, who were taught to keep the Torah, the Sabbath, the feast because their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Yeshua HaMashiach, taught those to them.

And so Polycarp's example in particular is very powerful in letting us know the type of things his teacher John taught him. And so that is your link between the entire Gentile Christianity which takes off more in the second century and the first century what we call Nazarene Jewish take that was at the start of this.

So, as a result, no member of the 12 and no one other than perhaps Paul or Yeshua Himself had a greater or more long-standing impact on the faithful than John. So John needs to be celebrated for the pioneer and the brave scriptural warrior that he was. He was the one that Yeshua insisted understand the deep mysteries of Godhead. He was the one who stood firm and did not fear Romans arresting him when he watched his Messiah bleed out on the torture stake of the cross.

So Yohanan commands a particular pride of place and a level of respect and appreciation. And it's not that we don't honor Matthew or Mark or Luke or Paul or Peter; all of those guys did amazing work under tremendous pressure. And we are all enriched by everything that all of these wonderful people did. But we would be remiss if we didn't look at the singularly unique way that John spoke truth to power, no matter who that power was. And how he was the one who held the door open going back to the time of Yeshua. He held that door open longer and better and more widely and more majestically than just about anyone else you could think of.

And that is basically what I wanted to share with all of you. And I thank you very much for listening, and I wish you all wonderful Shabbat Shalom.

Candace Long: You can learn more about Andrew Gabriel Roth and his book, "The Apostolic Writings," in his handout which you'll find on our ShabbatShalomRadio.com page. I’m Candace Long, your host for Shabbat Shalom.

Next week, unfortunately, will be Andrew's last week as part of Shabbat Shalom. He is such a gifted teacher. He wrote to tell me how much he has enjoyed being with us, but the Lord is leading him to focus on his own research and writing projects. I know you join me in wishing him well. There are several new segments I’m working on to incorporate into our weekly curriculum. One is a short series coming up in February honoring Black History Month. After working with gifted people of color since the mid-80s, I believe the Lord has called them especially for this hour, and we’ll be talking more about that.

Another series that premieres in February is called "Families Under Attack." It will feature weekly interviews with Rajan Morrison, who is the co-founder of Healing for the Nations. Rajan has worked in the mental health field for over 50 years, with experience in both secular and Christ-centered programs. We both realize that families are under attack today in ways we have never experienced before. So each week, we're going to discuss the top disruptors that she is seeing in families today.

If you’d like to ask a question or submit your situation for possible discussion—anonymously, of course—please go to our main page at ShabbatShalomRadio.com and click the button that says "Email the show." Coming up next is part four of the final week of the Church Age, which is subtitled "God’s Four-Year Inspection Before the Rapture." I will demonstrate how to follow the body of Jesus' last seven days and draw instruction from it. I will examine days three through seven, which correspond to our years 2022 through 2026, which is projected to end with the Rapture. It will also help you understand why we have seen an unusually high number of ministry leaders stepping down because of serious morality issues. I'll be sharing some graphics with you, which you'll find in my revised handout on our main page at ShabbatShalomRadio.com. Be instructed.

I’m Candace Long with "Lessons in the Latter Days," offering biblical commentary to make sense of the times that we’re living in. Today’s episode was inspired by the high number of church leaders who since 2020 have stepped down or been forced to defend themselves against serious morality issues, such as Perry Stone, Hillsong co-founder Brian Houston, Hillsong church pastor Carl Lentz, international apologist Dr. Ravi Zacharias, Mike Bickle, founder of the International House of Prayer, Tony Evans, senior pastor at Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship, T.D. Jakes, senior pastor of the Potter's House, and Robert Morris, founder of Gateway Church that reaches more than 100,000 people.

What is going on with the church? This is a perfect lead-in to the final week of the church age part four, on God’s four-year inspection. Now by the end of this episode, you’re going to understand what’s happening and why. We’re going to continue to follow the body of Jesus’ last seven days. Now remember, with these last seven days, we’re dealing with a biblical week of years, each day representing one year. This means that the last seven days of Jesus’ life is a template for this final seven years leading up to the Rapture.

So what happened on Jesus’ final day? He died. His body left the earth. So what does that say will happen to us at the end of our final day? Metaphorically, it means that the body of Christ will die too. It will leave the earth. That is the picture. So to understand what’s going on now, what we do is we study His final week day by day, because that is God’s curriculum that teaches us how our final seven years will likely unfold.

In part three, we explored days one and two, which corresponded to the years 2020 and 2021. Today’s episode centers around day three, which was the year 2022. Now historically in Jesus’ final week, that day was the 10th of Nissan, the beginning of Holy Week. Now I want you to remember this date, the 10th of Nissan. Jesus was crucified on the 14th of Nissan, which corresponds to 2026, which is when I believe the Rapture of the church will take place.

Today we’re going to look at three things: what took place on the 10th of Nissan during the Exodus, what happened on the 10th of Nissan in Jesus’ day, and finally, we'll apply that wisdom to today. First, I want to remind you why the month of Nissan is significant. Right before the Exodus from Egypt, the Lord instituted the Passover on the Hebrew calendar as an ordinance that we are to observe forever. In Exodus 12, "the Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, 'This month, Nissan, shall be for you the beginning of months, the first month of the year for you. Tell all of the congregation of Israel that on the 10th day of this month, they shall take every man a lamb according to their fathers’ houses, a lamb for a household.'"

Here’s Rabbi Michael Washer’s description of the story in his book, "When All the Pictures are Restored." "The new calendar that God set up and gave to Israel is a picture of a spiritual rebirth. It was spring, Nissan, a time of new things coming up from the earth. God chose this time to give Israel its rebirth as a new nation chosen to serve God. Each house was to take a lamb for itself. It was to be checked for four days until the 14th and would serve as a substitute for the firstborn of each house. God had said, 'When I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you when I strike the land of Egypt.' For four days, the lambs had to be in their homes. It was the parents' duty to check the animal for defects. No doubt the children would become attached to it. They probably fought over who would hold it or pet it, who would feed it and clean up after it. This animal was part of the family and would shortly die for some of them. After four days came the 14th. The Jews knew that the death angel was coming at midnight, and there had to be blood over the doorposts. The family went outside at three in the afternoon. They laid their hands on the lamb’s head to identify it as a substitute for them. The father then cut its throat over a basin in the doorway called a saph, which caught the blood as it drained out. The lamb was complacent as it died. The father dipped a hyssop branch into the blood and slapped it onto the doorposts. The mother helped the father skin the lamb, and it was roasted whole and vertical, taking special care that none of its bones were broken."

This four-day inspection period was very important to the Lord. First, the Lord was looking at the level of intimacy that each family member had with the lamb. How well did they care for it over these four days? Now by way of application, since 2022 God has been inspecting our level of intimacy with Him, testing us to see if we are sensitive to His needs as these days get worse.

Second, each family member had to make sure that lamb was worthy to depend on for their salvation. 2022 was a time when families were in turmoil because death was all around us. We each had to decide who or what we trusted for our well-being. Did we trust in the lamb alone, or did we look to the vaccine and boosters to save us from death?

And number three, the final inspection was inside the lamb itself. Now just as the lamb had to submit itself fully for intense examination, so do we. And this is what it means to follow the body. We mirror what Jesus was doing each day. He fully submitted to this inspection and was found pure. In the same way, we have to be willing to be checked for any blemish or defilement.

But here’s the problem. As I explained in the series “Uncovering the Ancient Snare,” an insidious trap was laid by the enemy to pollute the bodies of millions of people without their knowledge, using a genetically engineered substance that was the vaccine. Now if you’re new to this series, please do not freak out. God has graciously given us a window of time before Messiah comes to deal with this issue of vaccine pollution. And I will put links to two important transcripts for those of you who took the vaccine and who want to be cleansed from any defilement that may have taken place.

God is merciful, but He requires personal accountability as to the choices we made during the pandemic. Now these transcripts will instruct you how to renounce your participation with the vaccine and rededicate yourself once again to Jesus alone for your safety and well-being. You’ll find these transcripts in the description notes to this episode, the final week of the Church Age part four, at CandaceLong.com/podcasts.

So what was the 10th of Nissan like during Jesus’ last week? Every year began with a swirl of activity that centered around three separate inspections that happened simultaneously. The first inspection was the transportation infrastructure. It was called "preparing the way." Rabbi Washer writes, "During the month of Adar, which was the month before Nissan, the bridges and roads would be repaired by road crews. With these tens of thousands of men, women, and children coming up to Zion to keep the festival, they needed a decent path to follow. Now this flood of people brought with them a stampede of animals carrying fruit and vegetables and grain to offer to the Lord. Now the road crews did much more than fill potholes. To prepare for a flood of worshippers, their true purpose was to prepare the way of the Lord. This is a pre-designed path through the wilderness, through forests, and all types of terrain leading up to Jerusalem, which is a picture of the kingdom. And all who were coming up to see God had to be clean. To be clean when coming to Jerusalem takes up a full two-thirds of the Mishnah. You see, if the worshippers came across a dead person or a dead animal, they would become unclean and unable to keep the festival."

So how does this inspection apply today? The way of the Lord is called the "Derech," the way, which was what the original followers of Jesus were called. They followed the ways of the Lord. They honored the Sabbath. They studied the Torah. They celebrated the festivals. These traditions were put in place by God to set His people apart from all the other nations. And this is the way the Lord meant for us to walk.

So much of my calling is to help believers reconnect with our Jewish roots, because I believe the majority of Christians are in danger. Case in point was Holy Week in 2024 when Christians celebrated Palm Sunday 26 days earlier than God’s schedule. This is a serious navigational error showing His people on two different paths. Further confirmation came during the eclipse across the United States on April 8th, 2024, which happened to be the last day of Adar announcing the beginning of Nissan. This was not a coincidence. God was shouting that Holy Week would begin in 10 days on Nissan 10, and He was telling Christians, "You are on the wrong path." The pathway, the way to meet with God is not a variable. It is constant. So during this four-year period of inspection, prepare wisely the way that you take to the kingdom.

The second inspection was a ritual called "Bedikat Hametz," which means search for leaven. Rabbi Washer explains, "During the month of Adar, the mothers of all of the Jewish households begin giving their homes a thorough cleaning by removing every bit of leaven. Now in Judaism, leaven is seen as a picture of idolatry, arrogance, pride, and the way of the Gentile. Leaven swells up, and God said to throw it out of the house. So from the 10th to the 14th of Nissan, every home and every heart is swept clean. The mother then purposely leaves 10 small pieces of bread in a specific place, and at the beginning of the 14th, the father goes through the house holding a candle, a wooden spoon, a feather, and a piece of linen. He searches each room for the 10 pieces and sweeps them with the feather onto the spoon. Everything is then wrapped up in the linen and cast out the front door."

Now the takeaway for us is this. Leaven swells up, and God said to throw it out of the house. This relates to what is going on in today’s churches. God is cleaning house. If we set up altars for worship in our churches and the leaders are puffed up with pride because of the anointing they have, and if they harbor any impurity, God is throwing them out of His house. We are in the middle of this four-year inspection, and it’s going to get worse. What we are witnessing is "Bedikat Hametz" by the Almighty Himself. He must have a pure bride.

The third and final inspection that went on in Jesus’ day was the ritual called "The Selection of the Lamb." Washer writes, "This was the lamb that was chosen to die for the nation of Israel and for the priests. In a procession, the high priest, followed by many of the priests and residents of the city, would exit Jerusalem by the eastern gate, travel a little over a mile to Bethany, and select a lamb. They then made their way back over the Kidron Valley to the eastern gate as the worshippers waved palm branches and sang the Hallel psalms. It was kept in the temple courts in a special room until Passover on the 14th and inspected for four days by the priests."

So in Jesus’ day in Bethany, there were two processions going on at the same time. In one procession, the religious leaders led the lamb back to Jerusalem that they chose for the nation. While simultaneously, Jesus led another procession mounted on the colt and the foal of a donkey, fulfilling Zechariah’s prophecy in chapter 9, proclaiming Himself to be Israel’s Messiah. Luke writes, "As He was approaching near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God, saying, 'Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord.'"

What does this mean for us today? Let me suggest four things before we close. Number one, the nation at large, the majority of people, chose the wrong lamb, not recognizing the time of their visitation. The religious leaders of the day were heavily influenced by Hellenism, which steered God’s people away from Judaism. They were no longer studying Torah and keeping the ways of the Lord as they once did. They wanted to be like the world. So much so that God blinded them to the prophecies being fulfilled before their eyes. What this tells us is the same thing is going to happen before the Rapture, meaning that the majority will have gotten so far away from God’s ways, they will choose the wrong lamb and will not be taken at the Rapture.

Number two, the 10th of Nissan represents the year 2022, and that is when this inspection period began. Now what appears to me is that whatever you looked to for your well-being then is pretty well locked in all the way to 2026, unless there is a major time of repentance. Remember the period of inspection of the lamb is four entire days, which means four years. So being saved, so to speak, required four entire days of familiarity, caring for the lamb and embracing it with your life. It wasn't "take it on the first day and don't interact with it for the rest of the time." No, it was offered to you on day one so that by day four, you come to adore this lamb and the sorrow you feel at having to sacrifice it is deeply felt and personal. God requires this level of inspection; this cannot be taken lightly. I know that the Father is merciful, so if you are being awakened listening to me now and you want with all your heart to choose Jesus now as the lamb you are depending on, the Father will most assuredly hear your prayer, and I pray you make this decision today while it is fresh in your spirit.

And number three, what this picture is also saying is that on the 10th of Nissan during Jesus’ final week, there were two lambs entering the city, and the people had to choose which one to follow. Now because this week mirrors the final week of the Church Age, that means that there will be two versions of Jesus, and most likely, sadly, the majority will choose the wrong one. Remember in Matthew 24, one of the last things Jesus warned us about was not to be led astray by a false Christ.

I want to present you with what I and many others believe will be the final deception. It centers around the question, which Jesus will you choose? As surprising as this may seem, there really are two versions of Jesus. There is the Hellenized version that we're used to, the one who smiles at our Roman traditions of Easter and Christmas, Sunday worship, and being politically correct. This Jesus is typically depicted as slender and rather effeminate, with long hair parted in the middle with little to no beard. It is this Jesus who is displayed in most churches around the world. This is the lamb we are used to seeing pictures of and is the one the majority will choose. But this one is not Yeshua.

The other is referred to as Jesus the Messiah, and he is very Jewish. His hair and beard conform to the instructions in the Torah as to how God's priests must look. Now quite frankly, most believers don't know what to do with this Jesus because he seems to require things that are different from our church traditions, and we're uncomfortable with that. I deal with this issue much more fully in part four of the series on Transgenderism, which is today's modern face of Hellenism. I encourage you to listen to it. Many devout rabbis have come to believe in Jesus as the Messiah, and their message is tremendously important. They know the Torah. They know what the true Lamb of God would have to look like to satisfy all of the requirements of a Jewish Messiah. I'll put a link to this important episode which summarizes their thinking for you. I believe history will show that this issue will be the greatest deception of all, and I do not want you to be caught off guard by it.

The final takeaway in this four-year inspection period is to stay focused on three things. Number one, prepare your way to walk in God’s way. Whatever is blocking you, attend to that. I want to help you. One of my most popular resources is a 17-page monograph called "Jewish Roots: God’s Call to Reconnect." You can find it in my online store at CandaceLong.com/store.

Number two, inspect everything in your home and in your family and throw out everything that is impure and defiling, and guard yourself against focusing on your own self-importance.

And number three, consider well which Jesus you are waiting for: the one in Roman clothes with long hair parted in the middle, or a Jewish Messiah who is the fulfillment of every Messianic prophecy. I want to refer you to my monograph with pictures so you can see the difference for yourself. It’s called "Transgenderism: A Multi-layered Sign of the Latter Days." You’ll find it also at CandaceLong.com/store.

God is rebuilding the foundations of our Jewish forefathers. Our Messiah is Jewish. God’s kingdom is Jewish. I pray you do not miss your day of visitation. I want to thank you for being with me today. To share this episode with others, it’s called "The Final Week of the Church Age Part 4: God’s Four-Year Inspection." You’ll find it on my podcast page at CandaceLong.com. I’m Candace Long, and I hope you join me again next time for "Lessons in the Latter Days." I hope you found the graphics that I shared with you helpful. If you have questions for me, please email the show.

Coming up in our final hour, Rabbi Michael Washer teaches us his insights into the Torah portion Bo. It’s called "God's True Invitation." Following him in the final hour, I will teach the Final Week of the Church Age part five, which includes an overview of the 10 plagues, a deep dive into plagues one, two, and three, and what all that means to us. My premise going into this episode was that we would experience all 10 plagues that God brought upon Egypt. Thank you so much for taking the time to be with us today. At the bottom of the page, you'll find all of our programs archived by date, teacher, and topic. If you missed an episode or you want to listen to something again. Stay tuned for our final hour coming up next on WEZE 590, which you can access directly on ShabbatShalomRadio.com.