If you have read through my blog very much you know the numbers 3, 33, 333 are of great interest to me. It’s why my blog verse is Jeremiah 33:3. For a season, many dozens of times I would awake during sleep, look at my bedside digital clock at exactly 3:33, am or pm depending on if I was working day or night shift. So I notice and investigate 3’s.
If you have been counting the Omer for the 49 days that lead us to Pentecost, you will already know that last night’s counting, (sunset to sunset) was the 33rd day. Unless you are Jewish or follow the Hebrew calendar this day probably will go unnoticed. But I try to follow the Hebrew calendar because it’s God’s calendar. The Bible is full of instructions and noted details by God through His voice and the Holy Spirit’s inspiration of dates on “His calendar.”
As I mentioned before, if you are Jewish, you probably already knew about this holiday and the reasons why it is celebrated. Just to be clear, this date or narrative is NOT mentioned in the Bible. Maybe because the event took place around 132 C.E. The Covid-19 virus, a modern day plague of sorts plays right into the main reason of taking note of this day.
According to the Jewish Talmud, on this date a plague ended that took the lives of 24,000 students of Rabbi Akiva’s because they didn’t treat one another respectfully. This screen shot from https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/lag-baomer/ explains,
There is another narrative that says the plague that caused the deaths of the 24,000 students was also linked to the Simeon Bar Kochba revolt.
Did you notice the grave error and assumption the Jewish teachers and students were operating under. They thought that this Simeon Bar Kochba was the “long-awaited Messiah.” They missed when the REAL Messiah was in their midst. They missed when the REAL Messiah suffered and died on a tree to shed the ONLY Perfect, Sinless, Spotless and Precious Blood the world will ever know of, Yeshua Jesus’ Blood.
For centuries and throughout the Torah, the Jews were taught that only “spotless” animals were accepted by Father God to buy one year’s atonement for their sins. Throughout scripture, a perfect picture of Yeshua Jesus Christ is presented from Genesis to Malachi, those scriptures which are accepted by Jewish believers of God but not believers in the finished work of Jesus told in the New Testament.
To this day, many Jewish believers of a Holy and Righteous God will not read Isaiah chapter 53 because Christians have tried to make them realize it’s a picture of the work of Yeshua Jesus as the suffering servant.
Isaiah 53 – The Sin-Bearing Messiah
1 Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?
2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. (Red Flag by the Prophet Isaiah, you’re gonna miss His coming)
4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.
8 He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.
9 And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
11 He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
NOWHERE except in passages of scripture speaking of the “Sin-bearing, Suffering Servant” has the Torah/Bible spoken of human sacrifice being accepted by God. It is always an abomination to God but here in Isaiah it says, “Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him;”
Maybe the plague that killed the 24,000 students of Rabbi Akiva had less to do with how they treated each other and more to do with their believing that Simeon Bar Kochba was their “long-awaited Messiah.” From this grave error also came the acceptance of another Jewish sages writings known as the Zohar. Oddly enough, the writer of the Zohar died on Lag B’Omer around the 16th century. With the Zohar came a deep root to Kabbalah, mystical teachings and beliefs which are NOT Biblical.
If you are a Christian that loves God, Yeshua Jesus and the Holy Spirit, don’t let a chip get on your shoulder because you can so clearly see the error of “their ways” in rejecting Jesus for these last 2,000 years. God sent a plague to the people He called in scripture many times the “apple of His eye.” There is a day coming when the “fullness of the gentiles” will be complete and God will again turn His primary focus on the Jewish people.
There is a scripture in the Book of Revelation that I think of from time to time that helps to keep my attitude in check and my discerning eyes and ears alert.
Revelation 3:7-11 The Words of Jesus to the Faithful Church,
“And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write, ‘These things says He who is holy, He who is true, “He who has the key of David, He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens”: 8 “I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name. 9 Indeed I will make those of the synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews and are not, but lie—indeed I will make them come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you. 10 Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth. 11 Behold, I am coming quickly! Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown.
Jesus speaks here of “those … who say they are Jews and are not, but lie” and I take that to mean, “Real Jews” accept Jesus as the One and Only Messiah. In the gospels, Jesus told the religious leaders that were rejecting Him that they were “sons of satan” and did what their father satan taught them to do.
But my mind takes that thought in another direction that is more relative to my discernment for my relationship to God. Isn’t it just as plausible that there are “Christians who say they are and are not, but lie.” Not just everyday carnal Christians but Christian teachers, preachers and prophets. Throughout the old and new testaments, God warns His people to be on guard for those who will pervert His Word as satan did in Genesis with Eve, “hath God said?”
They teach of No Longer Law and forget to mention the “Law of the Spirit” that real Christians are under because we have been bought by the precious blood of Yeshua Jesus and are NO Longer our own. True Christians are governed by the leading of the Holy Spirit, aware of the Holy Spirit’s constant presence and will do nothing intentionally to grieve Him. Do we sin? Absolutely!!! But our sensitivity to the Holy Spirit senses it’s convicting power of sin and that brings quick repentance and seeking of forgiveness. Often times it’s not even an action or deed but only a misguided thought that will smite our heart leading us to ask our Dear Heavenly Father’s forgiveness and purging of all such thoughts.
Counting the omer is Biblical. Leviticus 23:15–16, and Deuteronomy 16:9-12, states that it is a commandment to count seven complete weeks from the start of the grain harvest ending with the festival of Shavuot on the fiftieth day.
Part of counting the Omer from Passover to Shavuot/Pentecost as the articles mentioned, is a time of semi-mourning. It’s a time to seek a deeper walk and connection with God. Going through times of hardships and plagues ought to do that in themselves. Nightly, a psalm is part of the prayers prayed. It’s a psalm with a blessing,
Psalm 67
1 God be merciful unto us, and bless us; and cause his face to shine upon us; Selah.
2 That thy way may be known upon earth, thy saving health among all nations.
3 Let the people praise thee, O God; let all the people praise thee.
4 O let the nations be glad and sing for joy: for thou shalt judge the people righteously, and govern the nations upon earth. Selah.
5 Let the people praise thee, O God; let all the people praise thee.
6 Then shall the earth yield her increase; and God, even our own God, shall bless us.
7 God shall bless us; and all the ends of the earth shall fear him.
Part of the counting of the omer is about getting right with God so that He will bless the spring crops, “then shall the earth yield her increase” but my mind again thinks of a more relevant meaning. People in the Bible are often represented as trees, plants, flowers, grass, and vines that need pruning for it’s time of harvest.
Reading Psalm 103 this morning before writing this reminds me again of that,
Psalm 103:15-16 As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth. 16 For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more.
BUT One Day, then shall the earth yield her increase, God will take in His Harvest of souls. A day I believe is the rapture of His true followers. Those who haven’t rejected His offer of salvation through the shed blood of Yeshua Jesus. And those who did what Jesus said to do. “If you love me keep my commandments.”
10 Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth. 11 Behold, I am coming quickly! Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown.
I think Psalm 67 draws a distinction between the taken and the left behind. 7 God shall bless us; and all the ends of the earth shall fear him.
Those taken will feel SO Blessed in the presence of God our Father and Jesus in heaven but the left behind will be in great fear. Especially those that know what the Book of Revelation says awaits them. This is the time to “persevere” and not slacken our resolve to be sold out Christians according to the Word of God and NOT according to a man’s interpretation of it. Now is the time to know the Word of God for yourself and let the Holy Spirit teach and lead you.
The key to everything is in trusting and fearing Father God, NOT a man. He alone knows our heart and thoughts before we think them. He knows we are born sinners in need of a savior so He sent the One and Only Savior Yeshua Jesus.
Psalm 103:13-14 Like a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him. 14 For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.
Fools and false teachers will tell you that God shouldn’t be feared, doesn’t correct His children in our day and wants you to have your “best life now.”
Hebrews 12:5-8 And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons:
“My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord,
Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him;
6 For whom the Lord loves He chastens,
And scourges every son whom He receives.”
7 If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten?
8 But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons.
One Glorious Day, God will draw a distinction between those who are Jews and Christians and have persevered to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit and His Word and those who don’t, giving only lip service.
Malachi 3:16-18 Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another: and the Lord hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name.
17 And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.
18 Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.
In The Word 