UNDERSTANDING TIMES AND SEASONS
(week 27/13)
OLUBI JOHNSON
God’s purposes are fulfilled at specific times and seasons:
Ecclesiastes 3:1 KJV: To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
In particular, the 3 major feasts of Israel foreshadow God’s purposes for the church: Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles.
The feast of Passover was fulfilled by the crucifying of Christ on the day of Passover about 33AD:
1Corinthians 5:7-8 NIV: Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb has been sacrificed. (8) Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth.
It was necessary that the Lord Jesus was crucified on the day of Passover to fulfill the prophetic shadow; and since then anytime anybody gets born-again, they partake of the spiritual reality of the feast of Passover (Col. 2:16-17).
Similarly, the feast of Pentecost was fulfilled 50 days later in the upper room in Jerusalem; again it had to be exactly on the day of Pentecost to fulfill the prophetic shadow:
Acts 2:1-4 NKJV: When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. (2) And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. (3) Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. (4) And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
Now, in this end-time, God is fulfilling the feast of Tabernacles in 3 seasons corresponding to the fulfilling of the blowing of trumpets; the Day of Atonement and the feast of Tabernacles (Lev.23.24-44). These 3 seasons are:
1. The blowing of trumpets from about 1900-1950: the restoration of praying in tongues from about 1900 (Charles Parham in Topeka Kansas 1901 and William Seymour at Azusa St. in Los Angeles in 1906).
1 Corinthians 14:2 NIV: For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God. Indeed, no one understands him; he utters mysteries with his spirit.
Isaiah 58:1 NKJV: “Cry aloud, spare not; Lift up your voice like a trumpet; Tell My people their transgression, And the house of Jacob their sins.
1 Corinthians 14:8 NIV: Again, if the trumpet does not sound a clear call, who will get ready for battle?
Now, in the Old Testament shadow, the purpose of the blowing of trumpets was 3-fold (Num. 10:1-10):
i. To gather the people together; the reality of this was fulfilled when Israel was regathered as a nation again on May 14th, 1948; also the Ecumenical world council of churches was formed in 1948; the Voice of Healing by Gordon Lindsay was started in 1948 and also the Latter Rain movement started in 1948. All of these gatherings signified both natural (Rom.11:2) and spiritual Israel (Gal. 3:29) gathering together at the evangelical, Pentecostal and Kingdom levels: fulfilling the purpose of the ‘trumpets’: praying in tongues that began to blown about 1900.
ii. To call the people for war: Praying in tongues is an essential weapon for spiritual warfare (Eph. 6:10-18; 1 Cor.14:2).
iii. To call the people to journey from the present camp in the wilderness northward (Deut. 2:3; Ps. 48:2; 50:2) to the promised land of perfection (Heb. 6:1). Prophetic revelation and direction comes through speaking in tongues (1 Cor. 14:2, 2:7-16).
So the season of Trumpets has been fulfilled just like Passover and Pentecost.
The next season is the Day of Atonement; the prophetic and apostolic teaching of God’s Word since about 1950-2000 also has fulfilled this. The purpose of the Day of Atonement in the Old Testament was to cover the sins of natural Israel for one year by the High Priest; it was also a day of fasting and separation unto God:
Leviticus 16:29-34 NKJV: “This shall be a statute forever for you: In the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall afflict your souls, and do no work at all, whether a native of your own country or a stranger who dwells among you. (30) For on that day the priest shall make atonement for you, to cleanse you, that you may be clean from all your sins before the LORD. (31) It is a Sabbath of solemn rest for you, and you shall afflict your souls. It is a statute forever. (32) And the priest, who is anointed and consecrated to minister as priest in his father’s place, shall make atonement, and put on the linen clothes, the holy garments; (33) then he shall make atonement for the Holy Sanctuary, and he shall make atonement for the tabernacle of meeting and for the altar, and he shall make atonement for the priests and for all the people of the assembly. (34) This shall be an everlasting statute for you, to make atonement for the children of Israel, for all their sins, once a year.” And he did as the LORD commanded Moses.
The substance or reality of this shadow is fulfilled in Christ by:
Ephesians 5:26-27 NKJV: that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, (27) that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.
2Corinthians 7:1 NKJV: Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
The revelatory apostolic and prophetic preaching and teachings that have been released from about 1950 to about 2000 have made available cleansing perfection to the church fulfilling the purpose of the season of the Day of Atonement.
It is crucial to understand that the purpose of the prophetic and apostolic ministries is to reveal unto the church the prophetic season we are in and what must be done to fulfill the purpose of the season. It is the Christians that believe the prophets and obey the Word they preach and teach for that season that will prosper in the purpose of God for that season: hence this prophetic landmark message.
1 Chronicles 12:32 NKJ: of the sons of Issachar who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do, their chiefs were two hundred; and all their brethren were at their command;
2 Chronicles 20:20 NKJV: So they rose early in the morning and went out into the Wilderness of Tekoa; and as they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Hear me, O Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem: Believe in the LORD your God, and you shall be established; believe His prophets, and you shall prosper.”
In our lesson next week, we will see how the purpose of the season of the feast of Tabernacles (about 2000-2050) that we are now in will be fully fulfilled.
