watchman4wales

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"... in SEVEN there shall no evil touch thee."

(Job 5:19)

THE COVENANT OF THE RAINBOW

"I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth." 

(Genesis 9:13)

IN A CYNICAL WORLD, THE RAINBOW'S ETHEREAL BEAUTY HAS LOST NOTHING OF ITS POWER TO ENTHRALL THE HUMAN SPIRIT. NO TECHNOLOGICAL WONDER THAT MAN CAN PUT IN THE SKIES CAN EVEN BEGIN TO COMPARE WITH SUCH A SPECTACULAR EXAMPLE OF THE MOST HIGH'S CREATIVE GENIUS!

A POST-FLOOD PHENOMENON, IT WOULD EVER AFTER BE A SIGN OF GOD'S PROMISE TO NEVER AGAIN DESTROY THE EARTH IN THIS WAY.

BUT IT IS ALSO A SIGN OF AN EVEN GREATER COVENANT THAN THAT: THE "NEW COVENANT" ESTABLISHED AT THE FIRST ADVENT OF JESUS CHRIST, AND TO BE CONFIRMED CONCLUSIVELY AT HIS SECOND!

THE NATURAL LIGHT OF THE WORLD

THE SUN IS THE NATURAL LIGHT OF THE WORLD, "THE GREATER LIGHT TO RULE THE DAY." (GENESIS 1:16). 

SUNLIGHT, BEING REFRACTED AND REFLECTED BY RAINDROPS IN THE ATMOSPHERE, SPLITS INTO ITS GLORIOUS SEVEN BAND SPECTRUM.

EVERYONE KNOWS THE OLD PNEMONIC TO RECALL THE 7 COLOURS IN THEIR PROPER ORDER:

RICHARD OF YORK GAINED BATTLES IN VAIN!

• RED 
• ORANGE
• YELLOW
• GREEN
• BLUE
• INDIGO 
• VIOLET

HOW MANY REALIZE THE SPECTRUM'S PROPHETIC SIGNIFICANCE?

...OR ITS INCREDIBLE RELATIONSHIP TO THE JEWISH MENORAH?

THE SUPERNATURAL LIGHT OF THE WORLD

THE DISTINCTIVE 7-BRANCHED CANDLESTICK KNOWN AS THE MENORAH, AS COMMISSIONED BY GOD IN THE 25TH. CHAPTER OF EXODUS, WAS MADE TO THE PATTERN SHOWN TO MOSES ON MOUNT SINAI. IT WAS PLACED IN THE TABERNACLE IN THE WILDERNESS, AND LATER IN THE TEMPLE IN JERUSALEM, WHERE IT PROVIDED THE ONLY LIGHT BY WHICH THE PRIESTS UNDERTOOK THEIR DUTIES. 

"THE LIGHT SHINETH IN DARKNESS; AND THE DARKNESS COMPREHENDED IT NOT." (JOHN 1:5). WHAT WAS NOT UNDERSTOOD ABOUT THE MENORAH WAS THAT IT FORESHADOWED THE MESSIAH! IT WAS INDEED A LIGHT SHINING IN DARKNESS, A LIGHT SPLIT INTO SEVEN DISTINCT PARTS, JUST AS NATURAL SUNLIGHT SPLITS INTO THE SEVEN DISTINCT BANDS OF THE SPECTRUM.

JUST AS THE SUN IS THE NATURAL LIGHT OF THE WORLD, SO IS JESUS CHRIST THE SUPERNATURAL LIGHT OF THE WORLD. HE IS THE LIVING SEVEN-BRANCHED MENORAH, THE VERY EMBODIMENT OF THE SEVEN-COLOURED RAINBOW, BOTH OF WHICH THINGS POINT TO SEVEN VITALLY IMPORTANT EPISODES OF HIS MINISTRY. OF THESE, FOUR HAVE ALREADY BEEN, AND THREE ARE YET TO COME...! 

THE FEAST DAYS OF THE LORD

IN THE 23RD. CHAPTER OF LEVITICUS ARE DETAILED THE 7 "FEASTS OF THE LORD... WHICH YE SHALL PROCLAIM IN THEIR SEASONS." (LEVITICUS 23:4). THEY ARE:

THESE FEASTS, ONE FOR EACH BRANCH OF THE MENORAH, ONE FOR EACH COLOUR OF THE RAINBOW, WERE (AND ARE!) DEFINITIVE POINTERS TO THE MINISTRY OF JESUS, YESHUA THE MESSIAH!

WE COULD USE THE FOLLOWING PNEMONIC, NOT ONLY TO REMEMBER THEM IN THEIR CORRECT ORDER, BUT TO REMEMBER THEIR ENORMOUS SIGNIFICANCE FOR US ALL:

PROPHETICALLY UNDERSTOOD FEASTS PORTRAY THE

APPOINTED TIMES!

THE FIRST FOUR, COLLECTIVELY THE SPRING FESTIVALS, PROPHESIED KEY EVENTS RELATING TO HIS FIRST COMING, FOUR  GREAT "APPOINTED TIMES" ALL OCCURRING PRECISELY ON THE DATES SPECIFIED IN LEVITICUS, SOME FOURTEEN CENTURIES BEFORE THEIR MESSIANIC FULFILLMENT!

THE FEASTS AND THE SPECTRUM

THE FIRST FOUR FEASTS CORRESPOND TO THE FIRST FOUR COLOURS OF THE RAINBOW, THE FIRST FOUR OF THE SEVEN "APPOINTED TIMES":

RED IS THE COLOUR OF THE BLOOD OF THE SACRIFICIAL PASSOVER LAMB, CALVARY'S "LAMB OF GOD, WHICH TAKETH AWAY THE SIN OF THE WORLD." (JOHN 1:29).

ORANGE IS THE COLOUR OF THE SETTING SUN. THE JEWISH DAY ENDS AT SUNDOWN, "WHEN LIGHT IS LOST AND THE STONE OF NIGHT IS ROLLED ACROSS."

YELLOW IS THE COLOUR OF THE SUNRISE. THE FINAL CHAPTER OF THE OLD TESTAMENT CONTAINS THE PROMISE: "UNTO YOU THAT FEAR MY NAME SHALL THE SUN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS ARISE WITH HEALING IN HIS WINGS." (MALACHI 4:2).

GREEN IS THE COLOUR OF NEW LIFE; FRESH GROWTH AND HEALTHY FRUIT-BEARING BRANCHES. EPHRAIM (REDEEMED ISRAEL) IS PICTURED AS DECLARING: "I AM LIKE A GREEN FIR TREE. FROM ME IS THY FRUIT FOUND." (HOSEA 14:8).

THREE SHADES OF BLUE

WHAT OF THE REMAINING THREE AUTUMN FEASTS AND COLOURS OF THE SPECTRUM, THE BRANCHES OF THE MENORAH... AND THE  "APPOINTED TIMES" THEY STAND FOR?

WILL THEY TOO BE FULFILLED ON THE DATES SPECIFIED IN LEVITICUS? WE WILL FIND OUT SOON ENOUGH!

THE "THREE SHADES OF BLUE" REPRESENT IN EFFECT THREE PARTICULAR ASPECTS OF THE END-TIME PANORAMA COLLECTIVELY CALLED "THE DAY OF THE LORD."

THIS IS EXPLORED MORE FULLY BELOW.

"A RIBBAND OF BLUE"

IN NUMBERS 15:38, THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL WERE COMMANDED TO "MAKE THEM FRINGES IN THE BORDERS OF THEIR GARMENTS," WHICH WERE TO BE TIED WITH "A RIBBAND OF BLUE." THIS BLUE-RIBBONED HEM IS A WONDERFUL STUDY IN ITS OWN RIGHT; SUFFICE IT TO SAY HERE THAT IT WAS TO SERVE TO "REMEMBER ALL THE COMMANDMENTS OF THE LORD, AND DO THEM; AND THAT YE SEEK NOT AFTER YOUR OWN HEART AND YOUR OWN EYES." (NUMBERS 15:39).

THE BLUE FIFTH RIBBON OF THE SPECTRUM PROPHESIES THE DAY WHEN THE GOOD SHEPHERD WILL RETURN - INVISIBLY - TO GATHER HIS FLOCK, I.E. THOSE WHO HAVE DEMONSTRATED THEIR WILLINGNESS TO "REMEMBER ALL THE COMMANDMENTS" BY ACCEPTING JESUS AS LORD AND SAVIOUR. THIS IS THE EVENT KNOWN AS THE RAPTURE OR TRANSLATION OF THE SAINTS, THE ULTIMATE FESTIVAL OF TRUMPETS.

"For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the TRUMP of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:

Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord."

(1 Thessalonians 4:16-17)

THE COLOUR OF HIS COMING!

INDIGO - THE SIXTH BAND - IS NAMED FOR THE DARK BLUE DYE OBTAINED FROM THE PLANT OF THE SAME NAME, WHOSE ROOTS, STEMS AND LEAVES HAVE BITTER PROPERTIES. A PASTE MADE FROM THE LEAVES (WHICH YIELD THE DYE) HAS TRADITIONALLY BEEN USED FOR THE TREATMENT OF SORES.

WHEN JESUS, YESHUA THE MESSIAH RETURNS, THE NATION OF ISRAEL WILL MOURN BITTERLY: THEY WILL TRULY TASTE OF THE INDIGO. AS THE PROPHET ZECHARIAH FORETOLD: "THEY SHALL LOOK UPON ME WHOM THEY HAVE PIERCED, AND THEY SHALL MOURN FOR HIM, AS ONE MOURNETH FOR HIS ONLY SON, AND SHALL BE IN BITTERNESS FOR HIM, AS ONE THAT IS IN BITTERNESS FOR HIS FIRSTBORN." (ZECHARIAH 12:10) 

ON THE DAY OF ATONEMENT EVERY SOUL WAS TO BE AFFLICTED; THE ULTIMATE SUCH AFFLICTION WILL OCCUR ON THE ULTIMATE DAY OF ATONEMENT, THE DAY WHEN MESSIAH VISIBLY RETURNS TO TEND THE NATION'S WOUNDS WITH HIS HEAVENLY INDIGO!

"Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as THE LIGHT OF SEVEN DAYS, in the day that the Lord bindeth up the breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound. "

Isaiah 30:26 

THE COLOUR OF HIS KINGSHIP

VIOLET, THE SEVENTH AND FINAL STRAND, IS DEFINED IN THE DICTIONARY AS "A RICH BLUISH-PURPLE". PURPLE HAS ALWAYS BEEN THE COLOUR OF ROYALTY; THE FACT THAT IN THIS CASE THE COLOUR IS BLUISH EMPHASISES THAT IT IS A ROYALTY WHICH REMEMBERS AND KEEPS GOD'S COMMANDMENTS! VIOLET THUS SYMBOLISES THE COMMENCEMENT OF MESSIAH'S EARTHLY REIGN, THE SEVENTH "APPOINTED TIME", THE DAY WHEN "THE LORD SHALL BE KING OVER ALL THE EARTH!" (ZECHARIAH 14:9).

GOD, IN THE SECOND PERSON OF THE TRINITY, WILL ONCE AGAIN "TABERNACLE" WITH MEN; HE WILL LIVE IN THEIR MIDST, AS HE ONCE DID IN HIS TABERNACLE IN THE WILDERNESS, AND THE WORLD WILL FINALLY KNOW PEACE IN A GLORIOUS MILLENNIAL SABBATH!

"God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made."

Genesis 2:3

AND FINALLY...

THE "SEVEN STAGE PLAN" IS ALSO APPLICABLE TO THE CHRISTIAN'S INDIVIDUAL JOURNEY TO FULFILLMENT!

IN THIS WAY, THE EARTHEN VESSEL DOES INDEED BECOME A CROCK OF GOLD AT THE END OF THE RAINBOW...

BY GOD'S GRACE ALONE!

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