Shabbat Shalom

Candace Long: I'm Candace Long. Welcome to the second hour of Shabbat Shalom. Coming up next is part six of Ask the Rabbi with Rabbi Michael Washer. Today is very significant. It is the 10th of Nisan, which begins Passover week. Now, though this is overlapping with Easter week, you need to understand that Passover and Easter are two very different celebrations.

Seen through a Christian lens, spring is all about Easter: clothes, bunnies, eggs, Easter service, Easter dinner usually serving ham. And the general belief is that once Easter comes, that's pretty much it biblically. But seen through the eyes of our Jewish forefathers, nothing is further from the truth because the crucifixion and resurrection are not the end of the story; they are the beginning.

The word Easter comes from a pagan Roman festival having to do with the goddess Ishtar. It is not a celebration Jesus would have attended. One of the fastest-growing movements among believers now is a hunger to connect with our Jewish roots. Seen through this lens, Holy Week contains three of the seven appointed festivals that God set up, Tsav, for His people to celebrate, given by God as eternal ordinances.

Three of them. Can you name them? Are you celebrating them? First is Pesach or Passover. Second is Hag HaMatzot or Feast of Unleavened Bread. And number three is Bikkurim or First Fruits. These three happen all in one week, and each one teaches us about Yeshua the Messiah.

After this week, God set up, Tsav, 49 days called counting the Omer, followed by festival number four called Shavuot, known as the Feast of Weeks because it comes after a seven-week-long journey. Shavuot is the destination point of the Exodus, where God betrothed Himself to Israel and gave them the Torah.

This journey to receive the Torah is a picture of everything we need to know on how and when we will be taken into the heavenly kingdom at our exodus to celebrate our betrothal to Messiah at the wedding feast. Are you ready for this? Are you rehearsing this by attending these appointed times? If you are not, your frame of reference is Easter.

As we have discussed in the upcoming segment Ask the Rabbi, there are two Jesuses. There is the one that Hellenized Christianity refers to as Jesus Christ. The Jewish Messiah is referred to as Yeshua HaMashiach, Yeshua the Messiah. And his first coming is shown clearly through every one of the Jewish festivals from the 10th of Nisan through Shavuot.

Now, would it surprise you to learn that in Yeshua's day, there were also two lambs being offered, and the people had to choose between them? First was the lamb brought by the religious leaders of the day. The priests led this lamb into the temple to offer for the nation of Israel, and throngs of people followed that lamb.

Then there was Yeshua, who rode the donkey into Jerusalem on the 10th of Nisan, and throngs of people welcomed him as the promised Messiah. Two lambs. But there were three groups of people. First were the majority who followed the religious traditions of the day.

Second were the crowds who initially followed Yeshua as the Messiah but who became disenfranchised when they realized that he was not going to overthrow the Roman government. Instead, he was arrested and gave himself over to their authority. The multitude of those followers fell away.

And last, there was the small group who remained, who knew that their Master had come to Jerusalem to die because he had prepared them for what was to come. The ones who participated in the Passover Seder were the ones who received the promises, the blessings, and the instructions for the difficult days ahead.

Coming up next is Ask the Rabbi with Rabbi Michael Washer. And we are doing our best to help you understand this complex issue.

Heavenly Father, we are at such a core teaching that you know is troubling a lot of your children who love you. Rabbi and I know that they are at a critical crossroads, which is unsettling. They are desperately seeking to understand what they have been taught compared to the teaching of our Jewish forefathers. Give us wisdom and insight, and remove every spirit of confusion.

I thank you for being a merciful God who has chosen to open up this conversation to prepare us for the difficult days ahead. In the name of Yeshua HaMashiach, amen.

Welcome to Ask the Rabbi part six. I'm Candace Long, discussing your questions with Rabbi Michael Washer. Rabbi, welcome back. We got into some heavy topics, and we're going to continue. We're unfiltered, live, uninterpretable. So welcome back.

Rabbi Michael Washer: Thank you very much for having me, Candace. I love being on this show.

Candace Long: This is a special feature. So I'm going to throw out a question for you. This week we begin our Torah study—actually last week, on the 21st of March—we began our Torah study with Vayikra, starting the Book of Leviticus. And this is the book that most Christians gloss over because they don't see how it relates to us today since there is no temple. And I think most of them believe that there won't be any sacrifices during the Kingdom, so why bother with it? Now, you come from the lineage of Aaron. This book relates to you. Help us to understand its significance today.

Rabbi Michael Washer: All right, I love this question. I love talking about the Mishkan, the Tabernacle, and the Temple. And the reason it's important—and I understand, by the way, I understand why Christians gloss over it and don't feel that it's important. However, it is extremely important. That's why it's in the Bible, or else why would it be there? It's not a history book. It's a book of the spirit.

And so, there's four things that we need to know in order to even just study anything or feel like there's some application with the Temple and the Mishkan, the Tabernacle. The first one is that it says in Hebrews chapter 8 and Hebrews chapter 9—though it's kind of hard to read it in a regular New Testament because of the translation, kind of hard to see what's being said unless you have a Jewish background.

But in Hebrews 8 and Hebrews 9, it calls the Mishkan and the priesthood and the sacrifices and everything about the Tabernacle copies of the things in heaven. In other words, they're models of heaven. And they're models of the details of heaven, and they're models of the activity in heaven. And every single thing that God told, or sorry, showed Moses to make in the Mishkan was a picture for us to look at and study and learn about not just Yeshua, not just Jesus, but all spiritual things, because there are millions of them.

Millions of details, countless details. And only a few of them are about Yeshua. But listen, the spiritual world is enormous with a lot of detail to it, and the Mishkan shows us—it's a copy and shows us spiritual things, things of heaven. So it's no small thing. It's a huge matter.

Number two is also that it's the biggest chunk in the entire Torah. There's 18 to 20, depending on how you count them, 18 to 20 Torah portions in a row about the Mishkan and the sacrifices. That is the biggest chunk of the entire Torah.

Candace Long: Wow. I love the fact that Leviticus is in the middle of the Torah. It is protected.

Rabbi Michael Washer: Right, it's at the heart, exactly right. And you know, this is so weird. When I learned this, I couldn't believe it. I had to check it because I heard it and I thought, this is nonsense. But it's true. Jewish boys begin their Jewish education of reading the Torah in the Book of Leviticus at the age of three or four. Isn't that crazy? And it's about sacrifices. And this is where Jews start their Jewish education because that's the heart of the Torah.

Candace Long: It's the Holy of Holies of the Torah.

Rabbi Michael Washer: Yes, exactly right. This is no small thing. It is the biggest chunk in the entire Torah. It's not laws and commandments. It's the Mishkan or Tabernacle, the priesthood, and the sacrifices. All right, now, the next thing is that there is going to be sacrifices in the Kingdom. Unless you do a lot of mental gymnastics, there's no way around it.

Candace Long: I'm sure that a lot of Christians are saying, "Wait a minute. Jesus died once and for all. There's no need for any other sacrifices." Because that's going to be an immediate red flag to them. So how do you answer that?

Rabbi Michael Washer: Just the Bible says it. I mean, there's first of all, the Bible does not say that Yeshua was the final sacrifice. Nowhere does it say anything like that. That is a total mistranslation of Hebrews chapter 10. It never says that, not even close to that concept. And Romans 10:4, which does not say that. These are misquotes and mistranslations and people just putting their two cents on it and their twist on it. But it doesn't say that.

Candace Long: Why are there sacrifices in the Kingdom?

Rabbi Michael Washer: I'll show you. There's four books in the Prophets that say very clearly that sacrifices will be brought in the Kingdom, in the Messianic Kingdom. In Jeremiah 33:10-11, it talks about the Jews bringing what's called a Toda, which is a thanksgiving offering, which is one of the Shlamim, peace offerings. And it's a very particular offering.

That's a Toda. And that's in Jeremiah 33. But then in Isaiah 56:6-8, it talks about the Gentiles bringing two kinds of offerings: an olah, a burnt offering—their burnt offerings, plural—and zevachim, which is just sacrifices, blood sacrifices. And these are Gentiles bringing their sacrifices to God's house. And then God says very happily, "My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations, for all peoples."

So it's not just prayer; it's sacrifices that go along with the prayer. Then in Zechariah 14, at the end of it, it talks about that any of the Gentiles who don't go up to do the sacrifices of Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles, they'll get no rain, no agriculture, no growth, no fruit and vegetables. And all of the Gentiles are going to come up and do sacrifices.

Why? The same reason they were given in the first place: to learn about God. There's millions of details in the sacrifices, millions, countless, that show us spiritual things, not just about the death of Yeshua, which people have limited it to. It's wrong to do that. There's millions of details.

Candace Long: When the Bible tells us that we are to be a nation of priests, like the Jews were told that in Exodus, are these given then to teach us how we function—Gentiles who are chosen? Because at the end of Isaiah 66, it says that at the end of the birth pangs, Messiah is going to select from the remnant who survive the birth pangs some as priests and some as Levites, both Jews and Gentiles. So is this saying then that we need to read Leviticus because that's what some of us will be doing?

Rabbi Michael Washer: Not just Leviticus, what the rabbis and sages say about each verse of Leviticus. And the reason I say that is believers love to say and embrace the concept—they love the concept—of we are a nation of priests and kings. Well, no you're not. You're only a priest if you know the job of a priest.

I mean, you can't just say "I'm a priest" and then not know your job; then you're just—it's just words, it's just words. But imagine really reading and understanding your job because you know all the details of your job and you know what each thing that you do means. That's being a priest.

And God really does want us to know what it means to be a priest. That's why it's in the Torah, and it's also in the Book of Peter quoting Exodus 19 that you—and by the way, he's talking to Jews. He's not talking to Gentiles. And people miss that because they say, "Oh, we are." No you're not, only if you're in the community and the covenant and the congregation of Israel, because Israel is the one who God said this to. And Israel is the one that God said four times throughout the Bible, "I will dwell in you, v'shakhanti b'tokham, I will dwell within them."

Candace Long: I remember one time when you were sharing the first time that you actually made a sacrifice.

Rabbi Michael Washer: Well, I didn't make a sacrifice, but I killed an animal and learned from it.

Candace Long: Right, tell us about that, of why it was so significant.

Rabbi Michael Washer: It was mind-blowing because I mean, I had—I knew a little bit about how we're going to be cutting up the animal and skinning it and taking the fat pieces. They're big giant chunks of fat that are taken out of the animal and offered to God and that sort of thing. So I didn't make a sacrifice. You can only do a sacrifice if you're in the Temple.

But we did like a little model of a sacrifice. We did it like acting it out so we could learn from it. And I saw so many scriptures come to life like that scripture that says "rightly dividing the word of God." As we're cutting the animal in the pieces, that verse hit me. And I'm like, this is what it's referring back to: rightly cutting up and dividing the animal in its proper pieces because there were actual proper pieces for each sacrifice.

And then the priests would take those up on the altar, but only certain priests and only a certain way brought up on the altar and only a certain place on the altar. So lots and lots of details that we didn't do. But the ones that we did do—skinning it, cutting it up, cooking it—all of these things made other scriptures all over the Bible come to life. And then I understood a lot of scriptures from the New Testament that I never understood before.

Candace Long: Well, and this is what you always teach: when we do the mitzvot, when we actually do something that God lays out for us to do, to learn from that act, and that it teaches us. And that's how to hear God.

Rabbi Michael Washer: Yes, exactly. It talks. Each act in Judaism speaks to us and we hear it. We shma, we hear it, which has been mistranslated as obey. The word shma, to hear.

Candace Long: For those who may be used to my teachings with the Levitical calling, there were three Levitical families. There were the Kohathites, which were the priests, and there were the Gershonites, which were the rear guard in charge of the portals of who goes in and out of God's presence. And then there were the Merarites, which is what I identify with. And they are—you call them lumberjacks. I don't use that term. They're foundation people; we carry the tent pegs. We're very grounded.

A Kohathite can be lost in their intercession and in their protocol, their spiritual disciplines, and they don't know what time of day it is because they're absolutely lost in the presence of God. And a Merarite is out there saying, "Where's my tent peg? I've got to be connected to another tent peg." So we're different. You will relate to the Book of Leviticus, I think, different than I would being a Merarite. I can appreciate, but I can't imagine doing that detail work.

But I wanted to give people an understanding that if they're called to a Levitical calling, that's not everybody. Because everybody is either a Levite or they're aligned with one of the tribes. And that's part of the Commonwealth of Israel in my understanding.

Rabbi Michael Washer: But what's so strange about that is that there were priests who were from the other tribes. I'll give an example: Obed-Edom, who is actually a Gentile but he converted. He was from Benjamin; he was in the tribe of Benjamin after he converted. There's another one: David's sons are called Kohanim. What tribe are they from? Judah. And yet they're priests. And there were others from other tribes that were adopted into the priesthood. And this is very much like believers think of themselves, like adopted into a priesthood. But I'm telling you, you need to learn your job. You need to learn what it means to be a priest if you want to be a priest.

Candace Long: We had a question, let me read this one to you. This listener was listening, I guess, to one of the recent Ask the Rabbi programs. "Rabbi Washer mentioned ranks that we will hold when we get to the heavenly Kingdom. I've heard other pastors mention this as well. Can he expand on that? What kind of ranks, and why is it important to have a high rank? I always thought it would be amazing just to get into heaven, and I would be so happy just to be in heaven with God, the angels, and believers to worship him."

Several things stand out to me with that question. Number one, she is not thinking of the Messianic Kingdom on earth that will be for a thousand years. She's thinking of heaven. But we were talking about, because you just mentioned, how important it is to find our place, what we will be doing in the Kingdom.

If we are to be priests, a nation of priests, does that mean we will have two places to live in the Kingdom? One place in the land of our fathers—this is during the Messianic Kingdom—and also a place in Israel itself during the time when we are assigned to serve during one of the 24 courses?

Rabbi Michael Washer: I don't really understand that question. I'll tell you why. I would never think we'll have two places to live. I don't even understand what that means because everybody—everybody but the Jews, of course—are from one of the 70 Gentile nations. But like nations nowadays, a lot of them are going not even going to exist during the Kingdom.

Candace Long: No, but they will be obliterated. I've seen this many times in dreams where the cities, everything that we have built out of pride and false idols and whatever else is going to be decimated. So when Messiah then builds the Kingdom, he's going to have to have people assigned to geographical territories.

As a Gentile, I think this is probably why I think of this question more than maybe you would because our inheritance from the Book of Numbers is genealogically reckoned. And if we are of Jewish blood, then you know that your place will be around one of the Levitical cities that the Scripture names.

For others of us—like one reason why I have invested in sowing spiritual seed in the land of my fathers. And if my fathers came over on the Mayflower, then that's Boston, which I am sowing into. Then other family came in through Georgia, so I began lessons in the latter days sowing spiritual seed in the land of my fathers.

So as a Gentile, I'm looking at that we will be assigned a place. There was a passage in one of the Torah portions called Shoftim, where God says in every city during the Messianic Kingdom, Shoftim will be assigned and policemen and judges to legislate in those areas.

Rabbi Michael Washer: Well, it actually says policemen and judges, not scribes. Policemen and judges. Shotrim and Shoftim. And yeah, you're right. But again, it's not two places to live.

Candace Long: Wait a minute. Okay, let me just counter that a minute, because I've had to work this out myself. I know that I'm a Levite. I know that every Levite has something to do during the 24 courses. And so, and I also identify with something you said last time, that you felt because you are an apostle, you have apostolic giftings that you will be sent out on assignment in an ambassadorial way.

I definitely relate to that as well. Everything I've ever done has been to pioneer something that's not been done before. So I believe that I will be based in a geographical area of land of our fathers, but I will also have dual citizenship, so to speak, in the land of Israel in my Levitical role when the Lord calls me to that.

That if he says, "Candace, come up here," and I'm all of a sudden up there where he is in Jerusalem area and he says, "I want to send you to Australia. There's a group out there that have no clue about something that you talk about a lot, so you go and teach them there." So that's the way I view my place in the Kingdom, just like Caleb did when he recognized Hebron and he said, "That is my place." So that's my understanding.

Rabbi Michael Washer: Yeah, that's pretty close. But it's still—I'm still stuck on two places to live. For a Ma'amad—that means the standing ones—it was a course that had a beginning and an end. It was two-week course, sometimes a one-week course. And everybody would go up for the festivals.

And so there's the Ma'amad, which is just a week or two-week stint in the Temple, and they would live there, I guess, like—you know, there were rooms all around three stories of rooms all around the Temple for the priests. But they didn't stay there forever. They would go back to the Levitical cities.

And so for their stint during their Ma'amad, during their standing course, they would be there in the Temple and then they'd leave. They'd go about their business back home. And that's how it's going to be. But it's going to be all the nations who do this. All the nations who come up to the Temple to offer sacrifices and to worship and to teach and to study and to do work in the Temple for a short period of time and then leave.

Candace Long: I just did not envision that Israel was big enough for every Gentile and Jew who follow the Lord to be living in that geographical place because it doesn't make sense with the assignment of Shoftim in every city.

Rabbi Michael Washer: That's why it's courses. I mean, you could bring a couple million people up to Jerusalem, but they don't stay there. They go back home.

Candace Long: Right, so we have to have a secondary place to live. That's my point.

Rabbi Michael Washer: Okay, but we're not going to live in Jerusalem during a course. We're staying there. I think that's what's throwing me is the living there.

Candace Long: Right, so we have to live some place else, and the land of my fathers, the Lord would assign me some place.

Rabbi Michael Washer: Sure, sure, I get that. Absolutely. You're right, there's going to be Levitical cities and there's going to be—by the way, I don't think people know this—the City of Jerusalem is separated by 30 miles from the Temple of Jerusalem. We see that in the book of Ezekiel, the last chapters of Ezekiel.

There's 30-mile difference between the city that's raised up as a mountain where the Temple mount is and the city of Jerusalem, Zion itself. They're two different places, about 30 miles apart. And then there's pasturelands for the priests in between. So it's a lot more complicated than people envision.

Candace Long: One of the passages that struck me when I was studying the Shoftim was the motivation that we should all have. Because the reality is that most Gentile believers, most people who have grown up in Hellenized Christianity, have no foundation of Torah, so they could not be assigned to a position of a Shoftim in their city because they are not knowledgeable of the whole foundation upon which the Kingdom of God is based.

Rabbi Michael Washer: That's exactly right. That's why there's greatest and least in the Kingdom, which was the question. Why is there greatest and least in the Kingdom? "I'm just going to be happy to be there." I don't believe that's true. I think people say that because it's like, oh, I'm glad I'm part of it, which is fine.

But the truth is you need to learn your job. And in order to judge, just like all rabbis did, they have to judge according to Torah. Well, you can't judge according to Torah unless you know Torah. And knowing Torah takes a lifetime to learn. When we get to the Kingdom, we are not going to magically wake up and know everything.

That's a myth that's been spread from 1 Corinthians chapter 13. Says "I'll know as I am known." It's talking about knowing yourself. It even says "in a mirror." You don't see everything in a mirror; you see yourself in a mirror. And we'll know ourselves like God knows us. But that's all. We're not going to know everything and be able to judge right from wrong in every situation unless we learn the Torah.

Candace Long: This to me was the impetus. Not only was I so thankful that the Lord had called me early on to study the Torah, but why I'm so passionate about providing that Torah training in Shabbat Shalom, because to provide that foundation, at least we start somewhere and we begin the cycle and we learn the feasts and the festivals and do the pictures and learn from them.

So I thank you for giving your feedback. If you have a question that you would like to discuss, please reach out to us. Go to our main page at shabbatshalomradio.com and click the button at the top that says Email the Show. I'm Candace Long, and you've been listening to Ask the Rabbi with Rabbi Michael Washer. Join us next Saturday morning from 7 to 7:30. Shabbat Shalom.

If you'd like to share this episode or listen to it again, it is available in our archives, which you'll find at the bottom of our main page at shabbatshalomradio.com. I'm Candace Long, your host for Shabbat Shalom. Coming up next is part two of one of my most downloaded series that I wrote a little over a year ago in 2025 called Prepare for the Rapture.

Part one aired last week and laid the foundation. It's the story of Elijah and Elisha found in 2 Kings 2, which shows us that right before the seven-year birth pangs, there will be a "great separation" among those who love God. Some, like Elijah, will be taken before those seven horrible years begin. And others, like Elisha, will remain on earth. This episode focuses on Elijah and what he teaches by way of preparation for those of us for whom the Lord is coming at the redemption.

Are you ready to be taken? Are your affairs in order? Because according to my 35-year research, I am looking for the redemption this year. I am preparing for it because I believe I will be taken. Now, what is interesting to me is learning that of this three-part series, this part two is not the most downloaded episode. Most are listening to parts one and three. This tells me that among the choices to be taken or to remain, more people want to know how they can remain and not go when the Lord comes to the cloud. Be instructed.

I'm Candace Long with Lessons in the Latter Days, offering biblical commentary to make sense of the times we're living in. I want to return to a topic I began a couple of months ago called Prepare for the Rapture. Today in part two, I want to teach lessons from Elijah to those who are called to be taken. Now, both Christians and Jews need to understand what this biblical event is and how it will impact them.

Now, for those who do not know what I'm talking about, the Rapture is a term that refers to a key teaching in Christianity whereby millions of followers of Jesus as the Messiah will be suddenly taken out of the earth while they're still alive. One minute they're here, the next minute they're gone. Now, if this were to happen tomorrow and you were not taken, would you understand what just happened? An even more critical question is if you are being prepared to be taken, are you ready? Do you have your affairs in order?

I believe the Rapture to be imminent. My 35-year research leads me to believe it will happen within two years. And personally, I am preparing for it because I know I will be taken. This is why I have returned to radio, to do what I can to prepare as many people for what is about to happen.

In part one, I discussed 2 Kings 2, which puts us into the story of Elijah the prophet and his servant Elisha right before Elijah was taken away in a fiery chariot from heaven. Now, I urge you to listen to this part first because it lays the foundation needed to either be taken out of the world or to stay and live through the worst seven years in biblical history.

Jews call this seven-year period the birth pangs because at the end of it, the Messianic Kingdom will be birthed. Christians call it the Tribulation. Same seven-year period when God's wrath comes to cleanse the earth from idolatry, bloodshed, and immoral filth. The Messianic Kingdom cannot come until the earth is cleansed. This is what Jews and Christians are waiting for.

Lesson number one: we need to understand that the singular event that triggers the birth pangs is when Jesus comes to the clouds and calls his followers to come out of the earth. The New Testament teaches that he will literally snatch them away in a split second, just as Elijah was carried away into heaven.

Lesson number two: the word Rapture is not found in the Bible. It comes from a Latin word raptura, which means to carry off or snatch away. The word was introduced in medieval times, and it stuck. It is a word that describes the event. Although the word may not be biblical, the concept of God calling out his followers has deep biblical roots.

The first instance of somebody suddenly taken to heaven was our seventh patriarch Enoch, who was Noah's grandfather. This is recorded in both Genesis as well as in the New Testament Book of Hebrews chapter 11. The ancient records tell us that Enoch went just like Elijah did, in a fiery chariot sent from heaven.

He was the seventh patriarch who was taken at the end of seven days of preparation, snatched out of the earth as a picture to teach us that certain ones who have earned favor with God will be taken out of the earth at the start of the seventh day known as the Day of the Lord. This is an important latter days' picture.

The second example is found in the ancient Book of Jasher. It records that five years before the flood, all the people who knew the Lord were taken out of the earth at the same time. Jasher wrote, "the Lord willed them to die so as not to behold the evil that God would bring upon their relatives."

Now, I want you to take note of this because it represents a pattern whereby God removes the ones that he considers faithful, righteous, and just. He removes them before his judgment falls. And he does this for three reasons. Number one: to reward their faithfulness. Number two: to protect them from seeing the evil poured out on others. And number three: because he has need of them in heaven.

I go into great detail about Enoch and others who were taken before the flood in my monograph The Days of Noah, which you can find in my online store at candacelong.com/store. Still other examples in the Bible are King Josiah and King Hezekiah. God told each of them that because of their faithfulness, he would remove them before judgment fell. So the takeaway for us is that God removes his faithful ones before judgment. This is a repetitive biblical concept.

Lesson number three is an important latter days' concept rooted in the Torah and it relates to our topic. In both Leviticus 23 and Deuteronomy 16, God instructs his people to count the days from Passover to Shavuot for exactly seven weeks. This is a yearly observance called counting the Omer, and it happens when the harvest comes in and the grain goes through five processes to purify it to be worthy of an offering to God.

The grain, which is a picture of us, has to be gathered, threshed, winnowed, parched, and sifted. This is a picture or tavnit representing the harvest of souls which goes through the same sifting processes at the end of the age. And those who make it through and are cleansed will enter the Kingdom.

Now, what many Christians and Jews do not understand is that during this seven-week process, the Torah specifies two separate harvests: the barley harvest and later the wheat harvest, separated by a seven-week period. And Moses emphasizes these seven weeks have to be perfect and complete, and only then will God receive the full harvest. Now, I hope you can see this because God is speaking in the metaphorical language of pictures.

The first harvest, barley, comes right at the beginning before the seven weeks begin to be counted. The barley harvest is the grain that gets ripe first and represents the millions of followers of Jesus who will suddenly be snatched out of the earth. They will disappear. This is a real event that is about to happen.

Jesus told his followers in the last intimate conversation he had with them, found in the Gospel of John chapters 14 through 17. Jesus told them he was returning to the Father and was going to prepare a place for them. He said, "I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am, you may be also."

The Apostle Paul, a devout Jew whose life was changed when Jesus appeared to him after the resurrection, wrote in this abbreviated portion of 1 Thessalonians 4, "For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and the trumpet of God, and we shall be caught up together to meet the Lord in the air."

This describes the event known as the Rapture, when Jesus takes up the barley harvest that has been sifted during our seven final years of the Church Age, which is now. Once we're gone, God's attention then turns to the seven years of birth pangs, which will cleanse, purify, and prepare Israel, his long-awaited wheat harvest, to be brought into the Kingdom and fulfill every promise he had made to our Jewish forefathers. I wanted you to see how these two harvests, the barley and the wheat, relate to each other, separated by seven years.

Let's return to Elijah now. During the remainder of our time, we're going to look at three takeaways. Number one: what Elijah's story teaches us as to what qualified him to be taken. In other words, if you want to be taken early, is there something you need to do to reserve your place, so to speak? Number two: why was Elijah taken early? And number three: what were the final things that Elijah did before he left the earth?

Takeaway number one is found in 2 Kings 2. This passage opens with the ominous phrase that we discussed last time, "And it came to pass when the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven by a whirlwind." The sages teach, as you recall, that the phrase "and it came to pass" always signals something foreboding. So God is giving us a caution light here. Stop and pay attention to what follows.

Elijah takes Elisha to four different places that I refer to as stages. And they are given in a special order: Gilgal, Bethel, Jericho, and the Jordan. At each place, Elijah tells Elisha the same thing. He says, "Tarry here." Elisha says, "No, I'm not going to leave you." So they go to the next place with the same instruction: "Tarry here."

Now, this repetition of the same words and the same action is repetitive and significant. The word tarry is the word yashab, which means to make to abide there, to cause somebody to sit down and make this a resting place. I want you to see the significance of each of these four places in the life of God's people. What we are seeing here is Elijah acting out a four-act play, I believe, is preparatory instruction for who qualifies to be taken because Elijah had tarried in each of these four places.

So what do these places signify? Gilgal is found in Joshua 4 when the Israelites crossed the Jordan and set up their first encampment in the land that God promised them. Now, several things you should note about this place. Everything that happened there is a picture of what will be required of us in order to cross over and enter the Kingdom.

Number one: it says all the people were clean when they crossed over. Let's pause a minute because this is a prerequisite. The Hebrew word clean is tamam, which means they were complete and perfect in a moral sense. This relates to the principle in Deuteronomy 23 which says, "For the Lord your God walks in the midst of your camp to deliver you and to give up your enemies before you. Therefore shall your camp be holy, and that he see no unclean thing in you and turn away from you."

The word unclean refers to nudity, disgrace, immodesty, and especially showing your genitals. So here at Gilgal, Israel entered the Kingdom clean, pure, and unified. The priests and Levites knew their roles. They carried the ark and the stones representing the tribes. And all of the tribes were unified in their covenant to carry the Torah and bear its yoke of responsibility and remain a nation totally centered around God, learning His ways.

Bethel was the second place. This was historically where Abraham first camped when he came into the land. It was here in Bethel where Jacob dreamed and saw angels ascending and descending. Those who tarry or learn to abide here will experience being fed with the heritage of Jacob our father, written about by the prophet Isaiah in chapter 58.

The third place they tarried was in Jericho, the first place of victory and conquest where Israel was to destroy everything and was not to take any personal souvenir. Now, metaphorically, Jericho was the place where the flesh had to die and we lay down our desires for personal praise of something we've done. After Jericho was wiped out and later rebuilt, it became a retirement place for the sons of the prophets. It was also where Elijah established a school and poured his life into those who wanted to learn from him.

The final place they tarried was the Jordan, the valley of decision where we find Elijah right before he left the earth. It was also the place of no turning back that Elisha came to, for there was no way he could go back without a miracle.

So what do these four places mean for us today? Very simply, those being taken early must have a clear identification with our Jewish heritage. God is telling us through this story to tarry at each location. Feel what they felt. Understand what it means to carry the yoke of the Kingdom, to learn more about God's ways.

Now, here is where I'm concerned because let's face it, most Christians hold on to their traditions. We are not properly aligned with our patriarchal heritage. I want to be sure to say this next part carefully. There are many people who love Jesus, but their bond is with Christianity, not Judaism.

Now, the purpose for the spirit of Elijah coming right before the Day of the Lord is to teach how we can become more grafted into our Jewish vine. If the Rapture took place today and you know very little about Judaism and following God's ways that he set up in the Torah, I do not believe that you would lose your place in the Kingdom.

However, I do believe you would lose your opportunity to fully inherit the intended place God had for you and your ancestors. Jesus tells us in Matthew 5—this is my paraphrased verse—"Whoever dismisses or relaxes one of the least of the commandments that God set up and teaches others that it's okay not to do them either shall be called least in the Kingdom of heaven."

They would get in the Kingdom, but Jesus could not delegate them to a leadership position there because they did not seek to learn and study God's ways while they had time. They chose to follow Christian traditions instead that are not rooted in the Torah. I believe this is why the Lord called me to begin studying Judaism in 2006 so that I could testify to how much learning God's ways has meant to my spiritual growth.

And I spend my time producing resources to help you learn the ways of our forefathers. There is still time to let God know that you want to learn and grow and be better prepared to be taken and receive your full inheritance.

Takeaway number two has to do with why Elijah was taken. Heaven required Elijah to become a constant reminder of the prophet who will return before the Day of the Lord. In fact, his presence is built into Holy Week itself. The Jewish custom is for families to set a place at the dining room table for Elijah at the Passover Seder and honor him with great expectancy.

He appears at the end of the Book of Malachi as the spirit of Elijah sent out to prepare us for the Messianic Kingdom and return us to the faith of our fathers, which is Judaism. In Matthew 17, we find Elijah at the Mount of Transfiguration working along with Moses to prepare Jesus for his role during his final week before the crucifixion. And finally, Revelation 11 tells us that Elijah will be one of the two witnesses who will prophesy to Israel during the birth pangs. He will explain to them what all has gone on and why. There was much work that Elijah had to do in heaven to prepare for this future role.

Now, to apply this principle to us, we who are taken at the Rapture will enter an intense and exciting training period. Remember, the New Testament teaches that followers of Jesus, along with devout Jews, will function as priests and assist Messiah as he builds his Kingdom. We need to be trained how to do this.

We have a lot to learn, especially those who were taken away from Judaism in the third century as the early Christians were. And the Torah teaches that training will take place during the seven years of cleansing on the earth. Then when Messiah comes to establish his Kingdom on earth at the end of the birth pangs, we all need to have been trained and prepared in our respective roles of what he has gifted and called us to do, and we'll be under his supervision.

The final takeaway is what Elijah was busy doing right before he was taken. First, he revisited the places where he had taught and prepared them for his departure. That's why I have returned to radio to follow Elijah's example. I am returning to the places where I received the most interest in my teachings. I feel an urgency to impart what he has taught me about the Kingdom before I leave the earth.

Second, Elijah spent time mentoring those who wanted to learn from him. So I am planning to spend more time with those who desire to learn from me. Mentoring and coaching is a high priority. Third, Elijah asked the one closest to him, which was Elisha, "What may I do for you before I go?"

Going was foremost in Elijah's mind. And for me, that means taking care of every legal matter, getting my financial affairs in order, anticipating the disruption of society and normal legal proceedings once the Rapture occurs. I'm working on this part now. I believe life will experience a great upheaval.

For instance, personally, I am setting up my finances and corporate structure differently so that Lessons in the Latter Days is able to continue after I'm gone for those who remain, like Elisha, and help them understand why they were not taken and what they need to be busy doing. Personally, this is a time when my attention is less involved with what is going on politically.

My mind and heart have already shifted to the Kingdom. My priorities are to keep my home free from defilement and my ears open to hear the insights and lessons the Lord wants me to pass on in these programs, which I plan on doing as long as I have breath. This year I will offer some online courses for those who want personal one-on-one teaching.

If this interests you, go to my website and subscribe so that I have your name and email address. That way I can notify you when these classes are available. It's important to me that I pass on to others what he has shown me regarding the final week of the Church Age and what we are to be doing as we head toward the birth pangs.

I look forward to coaching and consulting one-on-one or with small groups to help you identify your calling, what the Father put you on earth to do. This is one of my highest priorities. I have lots of online training modules if you want to learn at your own pace, and you can find links to those on my website. To share this episode with others, go to candacelong.com/podcasts and click on this episode, Prepare for the Rapture part two.

I want to thank you so much for being with me. I don't take this time for granted. I hope you join me again next time for Lessons in the Latter Days. Thank you so much for listening. Coming up in our final hour, Rabbi Michael Washer will bring us one of his most foundational teachings from our Torah portion Tsav.

Following him in the final half hour, I conclude this series with Prepare for the Rapture part three, which are the lessons from Elisha for those who are called to remain. Remember, you'll find all of our programs archived at the bottom of our Shabbat Shalom page, arranged by date, teacher, and topic. Stay tuned for our final hour coming up next on WEZE AM 590, our media partner for shabbatshalomradio.com.