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Wednesday, December 14, 2016

Haggai 2 Enigma: Christmas & Chanukah 12.24.2016

Image result for hanukkah ancient art
I ask friends to send me ideas, and then I add the pieces together. Here’s a new enigma:

If I mentioned Eschatos (Greek) to you, you'd realize I'm talking about the end times. In Hebrew, Acharei/Achareith are similar words. But, what if I said "Ba'Yom Hahu," would you catch the inference?

Ba’Yom Hahu means "In That Very Day," and it can mean a future day and/or and end times day, or both. BaYom Hahu appears 22 times (Hebrew Alphabet Circumlocution) in Zechariah, with a greater emphasis on the last (Achareith) chapters. Most Orthodox Jews recite or sing "BaYom Hahu" from Zechariah 14:9 every week regarding the Mashiach’s arrival.

Then Adonai will be king over the whole world. On that day Adonai will be the only one, and his name will be the only name [Ba’Yom Hahu, Ba’Yom Hahu, Yeeyay Adonai Echad, Ushemo, Ushemo, Ushemo Echad]. Zechariah 14:9 (CJB)
Recently, my friends noticed an important Ba’Yom Hahu at the end (Achareith) of Haggai 2. It seems related to Chanukah, but could it happen this year? 

On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month [Chanukah-1] in the second year of Daryavesh, this word of Adonai came through Hagai the prophet: “Here is what Adonai-Tzva’ot says: ‘Ask the cohanim what the Torah says about this: if someone carries meat that has been set aside as holy in a fold of his cloak; and then he lets his cloak touch bread, stew, wine, olive oil or any other food; does that food become holy too?’” The cohanim answered, “No.” Then Hagai asked, “If someone who is unclean from having had contact with a corpse touches any of these [food items], will they become unclean?” The cohanim answered, “They become unclean.” Hagai then said, “‘That is the condition of this people, that is the condition of this nation before me,’ says Adonai, ‘and that is the condition of everything their hands produce; so that anything they offer there is unclean. Now, please, from this day on, keep this in mind: before you began laying stones on each other to rebuild the temple of Adonai, throughout that whole time, when someone approached a twenty-measure pile [of grain], he found only ten; and when he came to the winepress to draw out fifty measures, there were only twenty. I struck you with blasting winds, mildew and hail on everything your hands produced; but you still wouldn’t return to me,’ says Adonai. ‘So please keep this in mind, from this day on, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month [Chanukah-2], from the day the foundation of Adonai’s temple was laid, consider this: there’s no longer any seed in the barn, is there? and the vine, fig tree, pomegranate tree and olive tree have produced nothing yet, right? However, from this day on, I will bless you.’”
The word of Adonai came a second time to Hagai on the twenty-fourth day of the month [Chanukah-3], as follows: “Tell Z’rubavel, governor of Y’hudah, ‘I will shake the heavens and the earth, I will overturn the thrones of kingdoms, I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the nations, and I will overturn the chariots and the people riding in them; the horses and their riders will fall, each by the sword of his brother. When that day [BaYom Hahu] comes,’ says Adonai-Tzva’ot, ‘I will take you, Z’rubavel, my servant, the son of Sh’alti’el,’ says Adonai, ‘and wear you like a signet ring; for I have chosen you,’ says Adonai-Tzva’ot.” Haggai 2:10-23 (CJB)

Oddly enough, Ba’Yom Hahu appears in Haggai 2:10-23 related to a Kislev 24 prophecy three times. Coincidentally, Kislev 24 (Hanukkah) and Christmas Eve share December 24 this year. WE need a rededication, a Chanukah today. Haggai's prophecy may be a partially fulfilled prophecy related to the Maccabean Revolt and some future event(s), which could be today.
(Endtimesforecaster) "Notice that this date [in Haggai 2] is repeated three times. The first God establishes the fact that even though Israel was chastised they refused to repent. The second mentions that God’s blessing will return to Israel, and the third that judgment will fall upon the nations."

Sunday, December 9, 1917. General Allenby, leading the British forces (remember Lawrence of Arabia), liberated Jerusalem for the first time in centuries from Turkish/Muslim rule… The date on the Jewish calendar–you guessed it: Kislev 24.
Therefore Kislev 24 needs to be watched, and if nothing occurs this year, which is a possibility, that would be all the more reason to watch Kislev 24 in 2016, which just so happens to fall on Christmas Eve. (William Frederick, M. Div.)

The Haggai 2 trend works today. The world has been chastised, but won't repent. God's blessing will return to Israel regardless because God promised to bless them in the end times (Achareith/Ba’Yom Hahu). We're waiting for judgment against the nations, and December 23, 2016 will see the nations gather against Israel in Paris to construct a Two-State Solution.
Hanukkah holds hidden secrets to end-time prophecy

He [R. Jonathan Cahn] believes Hanukkah presents a preview of the end times events, the spirit that will envelope the world, and the strategies for Christian endurance more than any other biblical holiday.
“It foreshadows the Antichrist, the abomination that causes desolation, the calling of good evil, the removing of God from the public square, the banning of God’s word, sexual immorality, and the persecution of God’s people,” he told WND. “It also reveals the strategy that end-time believers need to know that might overcome all these things.” (WND)

I still maintain October 12, 2016 started the Judgment Phase of the Jubilee Year, where something big could occur this year. Haggai 2 specifically states the people are busy building fancy homes, but God has no Temple. That sounds like our present-day world, doesn’t it?
At some point in time the final seven-year tribulation will begin in the fall. We know that Yahushua’s first coming fulfilled half of the Mashiach Prophesies related to spring festivals. Shavuot fulfilled Shavuot or Pentecost Prophesies. Only the fall festivals remain unfulfilled.  

Based on fall timing for the end of days, the latest day to kick-off the seven-year end times is Chanukah of any year, while the optimal time is Rosh Hashanah (mid-September) to Cheshvan 17 (around November 2), each year, the day Noah’s Flood began. When you add 1,260 days plus 1,260 days you generally arrive at Rosh Hashanah seven years later.
We know the end times end in the fall of any year seven years after tribulation begins. However, we have no idea of when tribulations might begin. I support the theory that any Worldwide Peace Agreement wouldn’t be published until months later, so the masses would be left guessing. (If I’m guessing, can you imagine what the neophytes will think when cataclysmic events unfold?)

In the meantime, we’re expecting war. When? I don’t know. What parties? Eventually, everyone against Israel.

Why is the Balfour issue in particular causing such a stir? The short answer can be summed up as rebellion against God and his plans, both for the salvation of all through his Son and for restoration of his chosen people – to the land promised them for millennia, and to Yeshua, the Jewish Messiah known to Westerners as Jesus.

The timing of the declaration by Foreign Secretary Lord Arthur James Balfour in November 1917 could not have been more precise, coming just [months after Passover 1917, when America declared war, and] weeks before the capture of Jerusalem by British and Allied forces led by General Edmund Allenby, ending [exactly!] 400 years of rule under the Turkish Ottoman Empire [prophesied by R. Judah ben Samuel] and handing to Britain on a plate the means by which they could honour their pledge. (Charles Gardner)

“These relations are based on specific and narrow understandings in order to prevent clashes,” Professor Inbar explained. “With Russian warplanes operating so close to the Israeli border this is necessary, and it is in Israel’s interest not to have any disputes with Russia. But there is no signed treaty or formal agreement.

The original version of the prophecy written by Rabbi Ostropoli notes that Israel will undergo many processes. At first, Israel will be under Turkish rule, after which it will be under British rule, and, in the end, Israel will be under the rule of Russia.
The Ottoman Empire ruled in Israel at the time Rabbi Ostropoli wrote his book, but the British Mandate in Palestine was still almost 300 years in the future when he predicted they would rule over Israel. Russia has never ruled Israel, but the Russian Army has never stood as close to Jerusalem as it does today. (Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz)

War? I’m telling you to watch Turkey, and maybe Saudi Arabia, for they are the wild cards.
Am I making any predictions? No. But, I'm curious...

Then came Hanukkah in Yerushalayim [BaYom Hahu]. It was winter,and Yeshua was walking around inside the Temple area, in Shlomo’s Colonnade. So the Judeans surrounded him and said to him, “How much longer are you going to keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us publicly!” Yeshua answered them, “I have already told you, and you don’t trust me. The works I do in my Father’s name testify on my behalf, but the reason you don’t trust is that you are not included among my sheep. My sheep listen to my voice, I recognize them, they follow me, and I give them eternal life. They will absolutely never be destroyed, and no one will snatch them from my hands. My Father, who gave them to me, is greater than all; and no one can snatch them from the Father’s hands. I and the Father are one [Yeeyay Adonai Echad, Ushemo, Ushemo, Ushemo Echad].” John 10:22-30 (CJB)
Shalom,

Joel