Sabbath 5/2/37/120

Dear Friends,

Today is the Fourteenth day of the Omer Count to Pentecost.  We have gone through the Sanctification of the Temple from 1 Abib and the Sanctification of the Simple and the Erroneous on 7 Abib. We have kept the Lord's Supper and the Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread.  From the Wave Sheaf on Sunday within the Passover and Feast we began the Omer Count.  That will be seven perfect Sabbaths or weeks going to Pentecost on Sunday on 11/3/37/120 or 8 June 2014.

It is important that we study the paper on the Cursing of the Fig Tree (No. 090) to examine what Christ is teaching us with that and the associated parables around that event from the Gospels.  It is to deal with the process of the Sanctification kept by Christ from 1 Abib and on to the Passover of 30 CE with his death on the preparation day of 14 Abib. One of the key lessons was:

"A major lesson to be learnt in this process of cursing the fig tree was that it was set within, and related to the process of the preparation for the Passover, and was part of the cleansing process. The reference to the absence of fruit and the curse was a lesson for the Churches of God, that in this process of cleansing, that which failed to bear fruit was thus left to wither and die.

This lesson was never more appropriate in the latter part of the twentieth century, when the cleansing was never undertaken, and the preparation for the Passover was never directed at the sanctification and salvation of Israel and the nations.

It is for this reason that the parables in Matthew and Mark follow on, dealing with the obtaining of other labour and other sons. One promises to go and labour and one refused to promise. However, the one who promised does not go and the one who refused went and worked as the Father required. This parable was directed at Judah and Levi and ultimately Israel. The parable of the absent landowner (Mk. 12:1-12) was about the prophets and Christ himself, and the vineyard was the whole house of Israel (Isa. 5:7) (cf. The Covenant of God (No. 152))."  

Leviticus 23:15 of the Samaritan Torah states: "And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the Sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven Sabbaths shall be complete."
The seven weeks of the Omer are counted from the Sunday within the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Pentecost is then celebrated on the First Day of the week, namely Sunday, of the eighth week. The names of the weeks as given in the Samaritan writings of their system (KS) are the following.

1. "Week of the crossing of the (Red) Sea" (Exodus 14:26-15:21);
2. "Week of the changing of the water of marah" [bitterness] (Exodus 15:22-26);
3. "Week of elim, where they found twelve water springs and seventy palm trees" (Exodus 15:27-16.3);
4. "Week of the manna, which fell down upon them from heaven in the desert" (Exodus 16.4-36);
5. "Week of the welling out of water from the rock" (Exodus 17.1-7);
6. "Week of the battles against 'Amaleq" (Exodus 17.8-17);
7. "Week of standing at Mt. Sinai" (Exodus 19.1 ff.).

(cf. Sylvia Powels, The Samaritans, edited by Alan Crown).

The Omer Count sequence is also examined in the paper Pentecost at Sinai (No. 115).

So last Sabbath we crossed the Red Sea and were baptised into the body of Christ.  This week we are at the changing of the Waters at Marah. This week we remove the Bitterness of Marah through the Palm Tree of Christ which served to decorate the walls of the Temple with the new Cherubim on either side.
Next week we go on to the week of the Gods or Elim where the twelve and the seventy were symbolically established. Thus the leadership of the church was symbolically established as was that of the nation. That is the core of the new elohim of the sons of God.

Then we proceed to the feeding of the flock with the manna of understanding.  It is important that in that fourth week we pray that the Body of Christ is fed and given the understanding to establish the faith on firm grounds.

We will deal with the meaning of each of the weeks of the Omer count so that we are firmly established in the development of the faith which is before us.

The core elders of the Twelve and the Seventy are fundamental to the structure and understanding of the body of the Temple and the Nation of Israel.  God will begin to deal with them over the next two weeks of the Omer Count.

Pray that we are able to deal with the situations that could develop. The Last Day of the Feast of the Second Passover is on 19 May which is the 30th day of the Omer Count with the Sabbath as the 28th Day on May 17 2014 which is the end of the week of the Manna. In the next week from the 28th Day to the 35th Day of the Omer Count which is the "Week of the Welling out of water from the Rock" we can see the Holy Spirit being given out to the brethren and the nation.  We should pray that this is given in abundance. We should pray that we are able to consolidate our people in the faith.

We will deal with the process again in the weeks ahead.

Pray for our people that they might see and hear and understand.

Wade Cox