Shalom-shalom, peace in the name of Yeshua. This is Crystal Sharpe and welcome to the Ancient Scrolls program. Today is Sunday, the first day of the week, April 29.
So, let us go ahead and get started.
Last program I had finished out a few teachings on Passover that I had started sometime in March. I often quote on this program
Isaiah 46:
Remember the former things of old: for I am God and there is none like me. Declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying: My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure.
Ecclesiastes 1:9
The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.
On this program I emphasize these two passages so you will see the word for yourselves and the Holy Spirit will reveal to you the patterns of those prophetic events that are going to be repeated at the end of this age. Last program I had presented the parallels of the apocalypse of Exodus or the revelation of Exodus—that is what apocalypse means — the revealing of God’s purposes; and I made comparisons to the book of Revelation.
Then I ended the program teaching that a civil war had developed in Egypt after the firstborn discovered that the God of the Hebrews had their deaths scheduled for Passover. Learning of this the first born grew alarmed, and rightly so, they approached Pharaoh concerning this because after having to endure 9 plagues from the God of the Hebrews, they believed that death was certain for them as well. When the other Egyptians refused to accede to their pleas, the desperate firstborn attacked their fellow-Egyptians and precipitated a civil war. Thus, the 10th plague was a double blow to Egypt—not only did God kill the firstborn, but also many other Egyptians had been killed by the angry firstborn. This was from Psalm 136:10.
To Him who smote the Egyptians through their first-born, for His kindness endures forever.
So let us go on and pray:
Father,
Thank you for being God, and for being King of the Universe. You are the holy One, giving life to all creation. Thank You that You sent Your Son to dwell among us, that the word became manifested into the likeness of Your Son. You heart’s desire is to dwell with man.
You are merciful and compassionate. Your mercy endureth forever and Your mercies are new each morning; great is Your mercy toward us. Your banner over us is love. Help us to obey Your word to love You with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our strength; help us to love our neighbors as we love ourselves.
I ask You, Father, to convict this nation and our hearts of our unrighteousness, surgically remove the callouses from our hearts, and dig out the stony places that prevent Your word from flourishing in us; pull down every stronghold, every false doctrine, every worldly ideology that is against the knowledge of You. Convict this nation of its porn, its sexual addictions, child molestation, its vices, its idolatry, adultery, witchcraft, charismatic witchcraft, drug addiction, its hatred of You, murder, its greed, its obsession with self-gratification. Help us to be sensitive to Your Spirit.
Father, push back the principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness and spiritual wickedness in high places that prevent Your word from taking root in us; for Your word is the seed of life, your word is seed of truth. I plead the Blood of Jesus on this nation, on this state, in Beckley. We ask you to send angels on assignment that will sabotage every plan of the enemy, that every weapon formed against Your remnant church will not prosper. We thank You for the soon outpouring of Your Spirit in these last days.
We pray for our president that You will prosper him in Your knowledge, wisdom and understanding, and discernment. We pray protection over him, his wife, children and grandchildren. We pray Your justice and righteousness will prevail over the darkness in this nation, and the nations.
We mention Israel, Your chosen people. We pray the conviction of the Holy Spirit over that nation, and their Arab neighbors as well.
We bless You today. Amen
Ok, so this morning I am going to cover some information on the Omer and it will lay a foundation for Shavuot which means Pentecost in Greek next program. We will see how far we can go on the program. Next month the Christians celebrate Pentecost on May 20th, and the Jews will celebrate Shavuot, or Pentecost, on May 19th.
I would like to discuss some passages in the Word concerning the Omer. Today we are on Day 30 of the counting of the Omer. The counting of the Omer connects Passover (Redemption) to Shavuot (Revelation, at Mt Sinai was the giving of the Torah, or the Teachings of righteousness and justice); and Shavuot cannot be determined except by counting from Pesach or Passover. The Jews begin the counting of the Omer on the 16th of the Jewish month Nisan.
So let’s refresh our memory: Pesach or Passover begins the 14th of Nisan—which fluctuates between our March-April period. So, you have Pesach the 14th, two days later the 16th is the offering of the First fruits of Barley, or Bikkurim in the Temple (this represents the resurrection of Yeshua), and this begins the counting of the Omer. After the offering of the sheaf, or the Omer, to God in thanksgiving, the producers of the crops of Barley are allowed to harvest their fields.
Omer is about sanctification: the process of being set apart, becoming holy. Just like Pesach or Passover has 7 days of observing Unleavened bread, and this Unleavened bread is called Matzah, there is no leavening, or what we say yeast, which makes the dough raise. Leavening represents the world and its influence, that is, its doctrines and ideologies. We have the world’s continual influence in our lives, and the world like Egypt is full of idolatry. Whatever standards you or I observe will prove to others whom we serve—idolatry or the God of the Hebrews. It is the continuance of getting the leaven out of our lives. Leaven consists of those things of the world that we adopt in our lives that contradicts the Torah (the laws of justice and righteousness). Even in Revelation 18:4
And I heard another voice from heaven, saying: Come out of her my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins and that ye receive not of her plagues.
This is similar to the Feast of the Lord, Pesach, or Passover, when the Hebrews left Egypt. In that Exodus narrative Pharaoh is commanded to let the Hebrews go, but in Revelation, God commands His people come out of Babylon. So, here in Revelation it’s like either a Passover or Pentecost theme going on of this separation from the world. The Hebrews are leaving, separating themselves from the corruption of Egypt, they are setting themselves apart from the idolatry of Egypt. In Revelation it is the same. God is calling His people out of idolatrous Babylon. What is in the beginning is occurring at the end of the book.
In Revelation—these are just comparisons—there are 5 churches that are addressed concerning their specific sins, or the leaven, the yeast, in their churches. Yeshua counsels these churches to repent from their sins, to separate themselves from their gross errors, to remove the leaven, to begin the process of sanctification, so they can move toward the goal of spiritual renewal—like at Pentecost. They are warned that if they do not repent then they will experience judgments.
So, we are still in the days of counting the Omer. What is an Omer? An Omer is a measure of a sheaf of barley or wheat offered to the Lord as a thanksgiving offering. The first passage for it is in Exodus 16:16
This is the thing which the Ld hath commanded, Gather of it (that is manna) every man according to his eating, an omer for every man, according to the number of your persons; take ye every man for them which are in his tents.
So in this passage an omer was just enough, it is enough sustenance to fill and satiate the hunger and appetite of a person. Alfred Edersheim in his book “The Temple: It’s Ministry, It’s Service” has an omer as a measure of 5.1 pints, and still other sources measure it as a quart while others say the measurement in liters.
Leviticus 23:15- (the sheaf of wave offering is the wheat harvest)
And you shall count for youselves from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering seven Sabbaths shall be completed. Count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath; and you shall offer a new grain offering to the Lord. You shall bring from your dwellings two wave loaves of two tenths of an ephah. They shall be of fine flour; they shall be baked with leaven. They shall be firstfruits to the Lord.
Okay, so Israel is commanded by God to count the weeks until Shavuot, or Pentecost, this is the wheat harvest. At the completion of Shavuot is the wave offering of two loaves of bread, and of course, these two loaves of bread represent the House of Israel and the House of Judah. We would say the loaves represent the Gentiles and the Jews.
During the 49 days of the Omer count, the wheat crop in Israel ripens. By the end of the Omer count, the crop is ready to harvest and the First Fruits of the wheat crop can be brought to the Temple for Pentecost. No producers of wheat are to harvest their crop until the first sheaf is offered in the Temple as a thanksgiving to the Father.
The counting of the Omer began first when the Hebrews left Egypt.
The sages teach (in the Midrash Rabbah), when the Israelites left Egypt, Moses told them that in 49 days they would receive the Torah.
After having been slaves in Egypt, the people were so excited at the prospect of this spiritual emancipation that they kept a count of the passing of days ending with the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai.
I wish to add that the Hebrews are going through a type of resurrection as they progress toward Shavuot. Physically they are redeemed but they are going toward a spiritual renewal. They had endured such oppression and death in Egypt that they needed their dry bones to come to life. They are walking out this imagery of resurrection.
I am going to give some examples from the New Testament of Yeshua’s post-resurrection appearances during the days of the Omer count.
Too, in Exodus 13:21 during the days of the Omer count: And the Lord-YHVH- went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so as to go by day and night. He did not take away the pillar of cloud by day or the pillar of fire by night from before the people.
Here are some of the appearances of Yeshua according to the gospels and I Corinthians 15.
On the first day of the Omer, Yeshua appeared to Mary Magdaline first (Mark 16:9; John 20:16-18), some other women (Matthew 28:5-10), and then to Simon Peter (Luke 24:34; I Corinthians 15:5).
On the second day, He appeared to the two on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-32) and later that evening to the disciples (Mark 16:14, Luke 24:33-39; John 20:19).
A week later, He appeared to the disciples again (John 20:26) and eight days later appeared to Thomas (John 20:24-29). Some time later, He appeared the third time to the disciples as they went back to their fishing jobs (John 21:1-14).
Still later Yeshua appeared to 500 (I Corinthians 15:6) and then to his half-brother, James (I Corinthians 15-7).
On the 40th day of the Omer count, this is before Pentecost, Yeshua ascends to heaven from Bethany. In Exodus 24: 18
Now the glory of the Lord rested on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days. And on the seventh day He called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud. The sight of the glory of the Lord was like a consuming fire on the top of the mountain in the eyes of the children of Israel. So Moses went into the midst of the cloud and went up into the mountain forty days and forty nights.
I am going to leave the program here, and this was an introduction to the Omer and Shavuot.
Okay I am at the end of the program. If it be God’s will I will have a teaching next week. So, have a good week, remember to walk by faith and not by sight; keep your spiritual garments clean from blemishes, spots and wrinkles, ask God to cleanse you of all unrighteousness every day, remain in His service, Love God and love your neighbor
