The New Year

The New Year is always very important, because it brings many blessings to the human beings.

Now, let’s read what the new year means to the Hebrew people as well. Chapter 23, verses 23 to 24, of Leviticus:

“And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,

Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation.

Ye shall do no servile work therein: but ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord.”

“THE NEW YEAR,” that is our subject for the Bible study of today’s Sunday Bible School.

Among the majority of Gentiles, the New Year is on January *1^st of the current year on each occasion. For the Hebrew people, the New Year sometimes falls in October and other times in September.

Now, where does the root of the Jewish new year come from? It’s one of the feasts given by God to the Hebrew people: the Feast of the Trumpets.

There are seven Hebrew feasts,¹ which are commemorative and are also prophetic, which reflect what God would do later on; like Passover, which took place in Egypt among the Hebrew people, where each household sacrificed a one-year-old lamb and applied its blood on the lintels and doorposts of their homes, to preserve the life of the firstborn in those Hebrew families, on the night that every firstborn in Egypt would die, starting from the firstborn son of the Pharaoh to the firstborn of the slaves and of the animals as well.²

In order for the firstborn to escape death, on that night, the heads of households sacrificed a one-year-old lamb on the fourteenth day in the evening; and the blood of that paschal lamb would spare the firstborn in those homes from death; the angel of death would not enter those homes, because he would see the blood and not enter there.

Later on, that feast was materialized; but before that they had to commemorate it every year until that feast was fulfilled, which would bring great blessings to all the people. That feast was fulfilled through the appearing, ministry, and death of Jesus Christ on Calvary’s Cross.

When John the Baptist saw Jesus, he said: “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.”³ And whenever the Holy Supper [Communion] is taken, and the Foot Washing is carried out, it is a commemoration of the Feast of Passover, fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

Saint Paul, in First Corinthians, chapter 5, verse 7, tells us: “For Christ our passover is sacrificed for us.”

And that is why Christianity commemorates the death of Christ upon taking the Holy Supper, which was taught by Jesus Christ at the Last Supper, when He said (referring to the bread): “This is my body, which is broken for many.” And He says: “Eat ye all of it.” Then, taking the cup of wine and giving thanks to the Father, He gives it to His disciples and says: “This is My Blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” “Drink ye all of it.”⁴

Just as Passover was commemorated every year among the Hebrew People, now when Passover is fulfilled that way, now Passover is commemorated by taking the Holy Supper; which has the bread, which represents the body of Christ, who was crucified for all those who would be the believers that would form the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Then come the days of eating the unleavened bread, which is the second Hebrew feast, of Leviticus chapter 23.

Remember that those Hebrew feasts contain the Divine Program that God would carry out until His Coming, and consequently, until the resurrection of the dead in Christ, and the transformation of those who are alive in the Mystical Body of Christ (meaning, in His Church), and then the rapture or catching away of the believers in Christ to go to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb; then the return of Christ with His Church, for the establishment of the Millennial Kingdom of the Son of David.

Now, before the Millennial Kingdom there is the Feast of the Trumpets; but before that, with the death of Christ as the Sheaf that was waved before God, we find the third feast; and then the fourth feast: the Feast of Pentecost.

Fifty days after the resurrection of Christ comes the Feast of Pentecost, the fourth of the seven Hebrew or Jewish feasts contained in Leviticus chapter 23. That is how it is for Christianity. That’s why the day that the believers in Christ —there in Jerusalem, in the upper room— received the Spirit of God, was the Day of Pentecost, the fiftieth day after the resurrection of Christ.

And now, we find that seven stages of the Church have passed in the Dispensation of Grace, which pertains to, which is marked by the Day of Pentecost there in Israel.

Those are Hebrew feasts, and from the first to the fourth they have also been fulfilled for the blessings of the Gentiles; because God would call out a people for His Name from among the Gentiles.⁵

After the Feast of Pentecost, in which we have been since the birth of the Christian Church there in Jerusalem, in the upper room, until our time, seven stages of the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, seven ages, have been passing.

And in the end we have the promise that to the Age of the Cornerstone, the Lord will come with the saints who have already departed, He will resurrect them in eternal bodies, and He will transform the believers who will be alive, and take them with Him to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.

But just as He spent about forty days already resurrected among His disciples, there will also be a time period, in the Coming of the Lord with the saints who departed and the living who will be transformed, there will be a time period of forty days, more or less (about forty days, just as it was in that time), already transformed with glorified, eternal, immortal bodies just like the glorified body that Christ has had since back in the time when He resurrected.

There will be a great manifestation of the Divine Power in the fulfillment of the vision that was shown to Reverend William Branham, of a Great Tent Cathedral; and it will be a blessing to Israel. There will be great blessings there, for the Hebrew people and for the believers in Christ of this end time.

The fifth feast of the Jewish or Hebrew feasts, of Leviticus chapter 23, is the Feast of the Trumpets. The Feast of the Trumpets is where God will call to judgment the world, the nations, and every person who heard the Gospel and disregarded what he heard. He heard that through Christ he would obtain forgiveness for his sins and would be cleansed from all sin with the Blood of Christ, and that he would be baptized in water in His Name, in the Name of Jesus Christ our Savior, and Christ would give him the baptism of the Holy Spirit; because the promise is that God will baptize the believers in Christ with Fire.

Because it’s for the believers that there is the promise of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, where the new birth is brought forth, which Christ spoke to Nicodemus about in chapter 3, verse 1 to 6, of Saint John, when He says: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.” “Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a man be born of Water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God.”

It’s because just as we have entered into this earthly kingdom in physical bodies by being born through our earthly parents; through Christ in Holy Spirit in the midst of His people, He brings forth the new birth in all those who receive Him as their only and sufficient Savior; and he is born in the spiritual realm in the Kingdom of God, he enters into the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of the King of kings and Lord of lords.

And then, at the Last Day, when the number of the elect who would form the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ is completed, the believers who departed will be resurrected in eternal bodies; and there they will receive the physical part of the new man, in the image and likeness of the Lord Jesus Christ; and we who are alive will be transformed, and then we will be in the image and likeness of Christ, we will therefore be in the image and likeness of God. And that is the Family of Christ, the Second Adam.

Through the first Adam all die, because he sinned back in the Garden of Eden; but through the Second Adam, Christ, we receive Eternal Life, we enter into the Kingdom of God in the spiritual realm, which is His Church, the Mystical Body of Christ; and at the Last Day we will receive the physical part, which will be our transformation, where we will receive the physical, eternal, immortal, incorruptible, and glorified body, just like the glorified body that Christ our Savior has. As simple as that.

Now, while it’s the new year for Gentiles, in the majority of Gentile nations, when a new year begins in all the spheres of society, of the Gentile peoples who practice Christianity, we can see that for the Jews the new year is the first day of the month of Tishrei of the Jewish calendar, which is sometimes in September and other times in October.

Now, the seventh month has the other three feasts which come after the Feast of Pentecost. The fifth feast is the Feast of the Trumpets (as I had mentioned to you before), and that feast is for the Jews; where they are called with the Trumpet of the Feast of the Trumpets, and gathered, to then be reconciled to God, and so that later on the Kingdom of God may be established, restored to the Hebrew People. Because the Kingdom of God on Earth is the Kingdom of David, and the earthly Throne of God is the Throne of David.

The Hebrew People have a great blessing, the Jews have a great blessing and a great privilege in these three remaining feasts; of which the first is already about to begin: the Feast of the Trumpets, where God is the King and Judge of all human beings, where God will call all human beings to judgment.

In Malachi chapter 4, verse 1 and on, it says: “Behold the great and dreadful day of the Lord is coming,” (other versions say: “of Jehovah” or “of the Eternal One”). And Malachi tells us there that it will be a dreadful day. Malachi chapter 4, verse 1 and on:

“For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.”

That is the time of the great tribulation or Jacob’s trouble, which is about to begin in the very near future, which may even be this year 2017 for the Gentiles, and the year five thousand and something for the Jews, that is, 5777.

For the Jews, the cycle of the new year that began last October, of last year, is the Jewish New Year; and many Jews proclaim that that will be the Messianic time for the Coming of the Messiah, of the Son of David, of the King of Israel. It may be possible that the hopes of Israel become a reality in this cycle of a new year, because all the signs are being fulfilled at this end time.

As the days pass, we will be seeing what God will do; because when the Jews see the Lord Coming for His Church, they will say: “This is the One we are waiting for;” but He comes for His Church, to give Her the rapturing faith, the faith to be transformed and taken with Christ to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, to the seventh dimension, God’s Dimension.

We are in a time of overlap between one feast, the Feast of Pentecost, and the Feast of the Trumpets.

This is the time for Israel to wake up to the reality of the Divine Program relevant to this end time for the Jews, under the Feast of the Trumpets; where the ministry of Elijah will be calling and gathering Israel, and preparing them for the Lord’s Coming to Israel, for the Coming of the Son of David, of the King of Israel. Therefore, Israel will be alert this new year, which for them began around the month of last October, and for Christianity the new year begins today, January 1^st, 2017.

We are at a very important time for Christians, and also a very important time for the Jews. It’s time to wake up.

Remember the parable of the ten virgins? “At midnight there was a cry made: Behold, the bridegroom comes; go out to meet Him!”⁶ We are at a time of a spiritual awakening for the soul and spirit of all human beings, to secure our eternal future in the Kingdom of God with Eternal Life.

Soon the Dispensation of Grace will close, when the last elect comes in and forms part of the Mystical Body of Christ, receiving Him as his Savior; and then, God’s entire Program on Earth will go on to the Hebrew people in the fulfillment of the Feast of the Trumpets.

Therefore, let’s be prepared at this time, because at any moment the door of the Dispensation of Grace will be shut, at any moment the Feast of Pentecost will end; and what there will be is the Coming of the Lord as the Lion of the tribe of Judah, as the King of kings and Lord of lords, and as the Bright and Morning Star; and it will be a blessing for all the believers in Christ. But for those who rejected salvation, it will be a cause for sadness, because the time of God’s mercy will have ended, and they will have to face the time in which the Lord will be Judge and King of all the Earth, to judge the human race, nations, individuals.

We are in prophetic times, these prophetic times being fulfilled.

Let’s hold on tight to Christ, just as Jacob held on to the Angel that appeared to him when he was going to meet his brother Esau; and he was afraid, because his brother had said: “When my father dies, I will kill Jacob.”⁷

It’s because Jacob had negotiated to get the birthright blessing from his brother Esau, at first for a plate of lentils;⁸ and then (later on) he went to his father, when Isaac was already very old and had to die, and before dying he had to bestow the blessing upon his children, the first one, the birthright blessing, which is the most important one, which is for the oldest child.

And since Jacob loved that blessing and believed it, even though he was born after his brother Esau, he sought the birthright blessing and obtained it. When his brother went hunting to prepare a meal for his father Isaac, who asked him to prepare him a meal to then bless him, Jacob got ahead and, with his mother, he prepared a tender goat, took it to his father, and he received the birthright blessing spoken by the mouth of Isaac, prophet of God.⁹

And later on, when he was returning from Haran (where he had to flee to because he had obtained the birthright blessing spoken by his father),¹⁰ when he was already returning with his entire family that he gained in Haran (from the family of Abraham’s brother), we find that his brother Esau was then coming with a group of four hundred individuals armed with swords; and Jacob was afraid, he prayed to God; and the Angel of the Lord appeared to him, and Jacob held on to Him.

The Angel says to him: “Let me go, for the day is breaking.” The Angel had to go to the House of God, to the Presence of God; and Jacob says to Him: “I will not let You go, until You bless me.”

And the Angel asks him: “Which is your name? What is thy name?” Jacob tells Him: “Jacob.” The Angel tells him: “Your name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel; for as a prince you had power with God and with men, and have prevailed.”¹¹

And the Angel injured Jacob on the hip, he was left with a limp; but it’s better to be limping with God’s blessing than to be someone with two healthy legs without God’s blessing.

He obtained the Angel’s blessing, which has to do with this end time. Just as an Angel appeared to Jacob before Jacob’s encounter with his brother Esau, an Angel messenger will appear to them, in whom the same Angel of God that appeared to Jacob will be in him, manifested through that messenger; He will appear to Israel. But first to the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ.

We will have the visit of the Angel of the Lord, the Angel of God; the same One who delivered the Hebrew people from bondage in Egypt, the same One who appeared to Abraham on different occasions, the same One who also appeared to Jacob on different occasions; we will have Him manifested through a messenger of the end time, who will be a messenger for the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we will receive the revelation of the Seventh Seal, and therefore, we will receive the revelation to be transformed and taken with Christ to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. That is how we receive the rapturing faith.

And all of that is under the manifestation or fulfillment of the Third Pull, which will be fulfilled in a Great Tent Cathedral.

Therefore, this is what’s in store for those who will be transformed and taken with Christ to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, and for those who have died physically and are believers in Christ.

These are the promises that there are for this end time, promises of great blessings that will be fulfilled to prepare us to go to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb; and for Israel to receive the Son of David, the heir of the Throne and Kingdom of David, a descendant of David.

Therefore, let’s be prepared, because we don’t know when the door of the Dispensation of Grace will be shut, and the age will be shut… or the Feast of Pentecost will be shut and the Feast of the Trumpets will open.

When the Feast of the Trumpets opens, the Dispensation of Grace will have ended, and the Lord will no longer be Intercessor, High Priest, but King and Judge of all the Earth; which will happen very soon.

We don’t know how many days, weeks, months, or years are left before the door of the Dispensation of Grace is shut and the door of the Dispensation of the Kingdom is fully opened for the Jews. Therefore, there is a great blessing for the believers in Christ, and there is a great blessing for the Jews at this end time.

And we pray to God so that everyone receives the blessings of these Jewish feasts that are promised in the Scripture, which are the type and figure, the shadow of what God would be doing in the Dispensation of Grace and what He will be doing in the Dispensation of the Kingdom.

May the blessings of God be upon all of you and also upon me; and in this new year that we are starting today, according to the Gregorian calendar, the calendar of the Gentiles, may we receive great blessings. Therefore, let’s be prepared before God. In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

And may the Hebrew people, the Jews, also receive great blessings this new year, which begins today for the Gentiles and began around last year for the Jews, in the month of October.

May that entire Divine Program under the Feast of the Trumpets open for the Jews soon, that is my prayer. And may everything that God has for the believers in Christ be opened and fulfilled as soon as possible. In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

May God bless you and keep you all.

“THE NEW YEAR.”