The saints prepare to rule, part 28

At the Passover season in 2017, we held a prayer campaign called Let My People Go on April 9, which was the end of the second 76-day cleansing cycle that year. Yet we did not hold a Passover conference at that time, because we were led to hold it a month later at the time of the Second Passover. This was held at the DoubleTree Hotel in Minneapolis on May 12-14, 2017.

The theme of the conference was Cleansing the Heartland, in preparation for the time when the saints of the Most High would take possession of the Kingdom later that year to fulfill the prophecy in Daniel 7:22, 27.

Hezekiah’s Second Passover

Many are unaware of the provision in the law for a Second Passover, so they have little or no revelation about its prophetic significance. It was revealed to Moses at Israel’s first Passover in the wilderness—their second since the day they came out of Egypt. All the people were commanded to keep the Passover, but some had buried their father and had touched a dead body, making them unclean and ineligible to keep the feast.

Moses inquired, and God gave Him the revelation that those who were ineligible to keep the feast, as well as those who were on a long journey and were unable to keep the feast, were to keep the feast a month later (Numbers 9:10-12).

A similar situation occurred centuries later in the time of King Hezekiah. We read of this in 2 Chronicles 30:1, 2, 3,

¹ Now Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah and wrote letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh, that they should come to the house of the Lord at Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover to the Lord God of Israel. ² For the king and his princes and all the assembly in Jerusalem had decided to celebrate the Passover in the second month, ³ since they could not celebrate it at that time, because the priests had not consecrated themselves in sufficient numbers, nor had the people been gathered to Jerusalem.

Hence, the priests were ineligible by reason of uncleanness, and many of the people were too far away—“on a distant journey” (Numbers 9:10), so to speak. The remnants of Ephraim and Manasseh who had escaped the deportation to Assyria a century earlier, were invited to attend the feast. In New Testament terminology, we could say that Hezekiah was an evangelist, presenting to them the message of Passover—the gospel of the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

Ephraim and Manasseh had been in apostasy for centuries. This was their “distant journey” from God. Hezekiah’s evangelistic message is given in 2 Chronicles 30:7, 8, 9,

⁷ “Do not be like your fathers and your brothers, who were unfaithful to the Lord God of their fathers, so that He made them a horror, as you see. ⁸ Now do not stiffen your neck like your fathers, but yield to the Lord and enter His sanctuary which He has consecrated forever, and serve the Lord your God, that His burning anger may turn away from you. ⁹ For if you return to the Lord, your brothers and your sons will find compassion before those who led them captive and will return to this land. For the Lord your God is gracious and compassionate and will not turn His face away from you if you return to Him.”

If the remnant of the tribes had repented and had returned to God, God would have turned the heart of the Assyrian king and allowed all of the exiled Israelites to return to their land. But this did not happen. The result of this message (through letters) is seen in 2 Chronicles 30:10, 11,

¹⁰ So the couriers passed from city to city through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh, as far as Zebulun, but they laughed them to scorn and mocked them. ¹¹ Nevertheless, some men of Asher, Manasseh and Zebulun humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem.

Apparently, no one from the leading tribe of Ephraim returned to God at that time. So the return of Israel from captivity did not happen. Only a remnant was saved at that time. The rest remained on their “distant journey” from God.

Most of the men of Asher, Manasseh, and Zebulun scoffed and mocked the couriers, but the remnant from these tribes specifically suggest a hidden prophecy. Asher means “happy, blessed.” Manasseh means “causing to forget” (“all my trouble and all my father’s household,” Genesis  Zebulun means “dwelling place, habitation,” although the name was actually derived from an Assyrian word that means “to honor, exalt.”

These names appear to prophesy that the remnant that returns to God will be blessed, will forget their troubles, and will dwell in the house of God. Forgetting their father’s house, or household, also suggests that they will become part of God’s household as sons of God, forgetting their former identity as biological Israelites.

Cleansing the Heartland

Our conference at the Second Passover in 2017 was based on the pattern of Hezekiah’s feast. Jeanette Strauss was one of the guest speakers, and her message was about cleansing our land. We partook of communion, eating and drinking just half of the communion elements, and we put the other half into a container of dirt (earth). We were then instructed to scatter this consecrated earth in various places to cleanse, redeem, and lay claim to those portions of the earth.

We were actually making a covenant with the earth, a covenant of fellowship between heaven and earth, for this was God’s purpose from the beginning of creation.

Thanks to Jeanette Strauss, whose revelation of the Divine Court and of redeeming the land through communion (the blood of Jesus), we were sent out to begin the process of cleansing the land that had been polluted by sin.

Unresolved sin pollutes the land and has a negative effect on its ability to yield fruit. We see this in the law of tribulation in Leviticus 26:20, where the land is judged for the sin of the people.

²⁰ Your strength will be spent uselessly, for your land will not yield its produce and the trees of the land will not yield their fruit.

This is confirmed also in Solomon’s prayer at the dedication of the temple. 2 Chronicles 7:14 says that if the people repent, God would “forgive their sin and will heal their land.” God’s kingdom is more than just the King and the citizens; it includes the land itself. The carnal mind sees no connection between sin and unproductive land.

My own revelation led me to Deuteronomy 21:3, 4, which sets forth the lawful manner in which we are to cleanse the land that has been polluted by blood (that is, unsolved bloodshed). The elders from the town nearest to the place where the murder took place were to execute a heifer in place of the murderer. The heifer represented Jesus Christ, of course—as did all of the sacrificial animals who were killed on behalf of sinners.

The elders then prayed the model prayer given in Deuteronomy 21:6-9.

⁶ All the elders of that city which is nearest to the slain man shall wash their hands [as did Pilate many years later in Matthew 27:24] over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley; ⁷ and they shall answer and say, “Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it. ⁸ Forgive Your people Israel whom You have redeemed, O Lord, and do not place the guilt of innocent blood in the midst of Your people Israel.” And the bloodguiltiness shall be forgiven them. ⁹ So you shall remove the guilt of innocent blood from your midst, when you do what is right in the eyes of the Lord.

Pilate knew this law, so we read in Matthew 27:24,

²⁴ When Pilate saw that he was accomplishing nothing, but rather that a riot was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this Man’s blood; see to that yourselves.” ²⁵ And all the people said, “His blood shall be on us and on our children.”

His declaration was similar to the words in the law: “Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it.” In doing so, Pilate was prophesying that Jesus was fulfilling the role of the heifer that was being killed in order to “remove the guilt of innocent blood from your midst.” Unfortunately, the people cursed themselves—essentially confessing that they were guilty of this “unsolved murder.”

Yet in the end, they too will find that Christ’s blood was to cover them as well in the restoration of all things. This is the secondary meaning of “His blood shall be on us and on our children.” God knows how to nullify every curse and turn it into a blessing.

Blessing the Earth

After the conference, the people went home and redeemed their own land, as well as other parts of the earth as they were led by the Spirit. By doing so, they acted as Melchizedek priests, who have replaced the priests of Levi in Deuteronomy 21:5,

⁵ Then the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come near, for the Lord your God has chosen them to serve Him and to bless in the name of the Lord; and every dispute and every assault shall be settled by them.

The old way of doing things under the priesthood of Levi is no longer relevant, now that Christ has fulfilled all of the sacrifices under the Old Covenant. The Melchizedek priesthood has replaced the Levitical order, and this new priesthood has a better way of dealing with sin and cleansing the land. We are equipped by the blood of Jesus “to bless in the name of the Lord,” removing all curses, and causing the land to yield its fruit.

The true sons of Abraham are called to be a blessing to all families of the earth (Genesis 12:3). Their blessing will turn everyone from their wicked ways (Acts 3:26).

So on the Second Passover in 2017, we were equipped with the revelation of redeeming the land (ultimately, the whole earth) in preparation for the transfer of authority from the beast system to the saints of the Most High.