TUESDAY 4TH DECEMBER
Today is the 24th day of the biblical ninth month. This day has
tremendous significance for Christians, Jews and Moslems. I will
explain.
This is the first day of the week known as "The Festival of Lights".
TO CHRISTIANS
Beginning in 520 BC when those of the tribes of Judah, Benjamin and
Levi were returning to Jerusalem which had been destroyed by the
Babylonians 70 years before, nothing seemed to be going right. Until
they laid the foundation of Yahweh`s temple - from then on, God
promised to bless them. This was the temple to which Christ came
(unless we take into account Herod`s rebuilding of parts of it). This
was the temple in which Christ taught regularly in which his own voice
was heard, and which He had such a zeal for he drove the animals which
were being bought and sold there out of it.
Haggai 2:18 Consider now from this day and upward, from the four and
twentieth day of the ninth month, even from the day that the
foundation of the LORD'S temple was laid, consider it.
19 Is the seed yet in the barn? yea, as yet the vine, and the fig
tree, and the pomegranate, and the olive tree, hath not brought forth:
from this day will I bless you.
As for the people, themselves, they needed to be cleaned up. God said
that all the works of their hands before this were unclean.
Haggai 2:10 =B6 In the four and twentieth day of the ninth month, in
the second year of Darius, came the word of the LORD by Haggai the
prophet, saying,
11 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Ask now the priests concerning the
law, saying,
12 If one bear holy flesh in the skirt of his garment, and with his
skirt do touch bread, or pottage, or wine, or oil, or any meat, shall
it be holy? And the priests answered and said, No.
13 Then said Haggai, If one that is unclean by a dead body touch any
of these, shall it be unclean? And the priests answered and said, It
shall be unclean.
14 Then answered Haggai, and said, So is this people, and so is this
nation before me, saith the LORD; and so is every work of their hands;
and that which they offer there is unclean.
Here the priests were asked concerning the law - if any person is
"unclean by a dead body" and they touch holy flesh - is the holy flesh
unclean - to which the answer is "yes".
Then Haggai (whose name means "festivals") said that God regarded the
entire nation as "unclean" and every work of their hands and their
offerings "unclean". In other words, the state the people were in at
present was unacceptable to God.
TO JEWS
This day and the week following it are known as "the festival of the
dedication of the temple." Christ himself attended this festival in
Jerusalem:
John 10:22 =B6 The feast of dedication took place at that time, in
Jerusalem: it was, winter,
23 and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the porch of Solomon.
(Rotherham).
In 167 BC a Greek conqueror called "Antiochus Epiphanes" had put a
statue of Zeus (one of the Greek "gods") into the temple of God at
Jerusalem. He also offered a pig on the altar (which is an unclean
animal according to the bible in Leviticus 11). Exactly 3 years later
to the day the temple was cleansed (the altar scoured) and the morning
and evening sacrifices which had been stopped for 3 years exactly,
were resumed. The Jews commemorate this event called "the abomination
of desolation" by the 8 days of "Hannukah" when the Talmud claims that
one day`s supply of the oil for the lamps in the temple miraculously
lasted for 8 days until more could be prepared.
So for 3 years exactly, to the day, the temple ceased functioning and
remained in an unclean state.
Christ referred to his own body as "the temple" and said if it were
destroyed, he would raise it up in three days.
He also gave the Jews a sign that he was the Messiah, that he would
(like Jonah) be in the "heart of the earth" for three days and three
nights.
MUHAMMAD
=2E. is said to have received the Koran on the 24th day of the ninth
month. Now although this is the ninth month according to the Biblical
calendar, the muslims nowadays do not insert a "leap month" in the
spring (a 13th month), so their months gradually go back through all
the seasons. So their ninth month (ramadam) now could be any time of
the year, instead of just being in the late autumn.
Other Islamic sources say that he received the Koran on the 27th day
of the ninth month.
So this day and this entire week (until the 1st day of the 10th month
in the holy calendar) relate to the temple, Christ`s body, and the
time the Koran was received.
|
