We are in the midst of the 21 Days Of Tammuz - a preparatory time of mourning when the Jewish people remember the calamities of Jewish history. This fast day holds tremendous truths and warnings for us as believers. It as on 9 Av that the 10 spies brought back an evil report of unbelief to Moses which brought great judgment upon the nation of Israel for her unbelief. Yeshua has come as the weeping prophet to warn us to repent of our hardened hearts of unbelief and return to a simple child-like faith IN Him. In the Last Days, Jerusalem will be restored, her Temple rebuilt, and the Temple cleanser will return to rule and reign with a rod of iron for 1,000 years. As we celebrate Tisha B'AV let us remember the sufferings of our fellow Jewish brethren but look in earnest to our coming redemption in Yeshua!

Tisha B'AV Begins Sundown, August 8, 2003

By Chris McDonald

As we write this journal, we have recently celebrated the Jewish holiday of Shavuot, or Pentecost. Celebrated in the spring of each year, Shavuot speaks to us of harvest. It was on Shavuot, or Pentecost, when God gave the children of Israel the LAW upon Mt. Sinai to live by and to honor their GOD with. You see Israel had only ONE GOD. This is what separated her from the heathen countries around her who worshipped many. "HEAR OH ISRAEL, the Lord YOUR GOD is ONE GOD! AND YOU SHALL WORSHIP HIM WITH ALL YOUR MIND, WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH and with ALL YOU HEART."  In modern Jewry, the books of Ruth, Habakkuk and Ezekiel are still read on this feast day in the synagogues. Ruth speaking of harvest, meeting Boaz her kinsman redeemer - the church (GENTILE BRIDE) meeting her heavenly Redeemer (YESHUA) and as a result saving the life of Naomi, Ruth's mother-in-law- a type of the Jewish people. WHEN THE CHURCH GETS RIGHT AND COMES BACK TO YESHUA WITH ALL OUR HEART REVIVAL IS GOING TO BREAK OUT UPON OUR JEWISH BRETHREN! We can put our tracts back in our pocket until that happens. We cannot every provoke our OWN selves to jealousy let alone the Jewish people who don't know Yeshua.

 The books of Ezekiel and Habakkuk are read in the synagogue because these books speak to us of FIRE, WIND and VOICES - three things that took place on the DAY OF PENTECOST spoken of in the book of Acts. This was a very festive occasion with the priests offering their peace offerings, their burnt offerings and their WAVE offerings. All of these events going on were a picture, a type, a foreshadowing of the great outpouring of the Holy Ghost in these last days.

        Zechariah had foretold the days would come when the Lord would pour out upon Jerusalem a spirit of "grace" and "supplications" when they would look upon the one they pierced. Even though this event on a national scale is yet future, the Jewish people have mourned for Yeshua many times without realizing the one they are mourning for is the one that was crucified outside their gates 2,000 years ago.

Zechariah 12:9-10 "And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications; and 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."

        This prophecy from Zechariah is about a special outpouring of the Holy Spirit that will take place in the last days just prior to Yeshua's return. Joel described a  similar outpouring which was in type a picture of the events on the Day Of Pentecost in Acts chapter 2:

Joel 2:28-29 - "And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out My Spirit."

        This is exactly what happened on the day of Pentecost, The Holy Ghost came in like a flood as a spirit of prophecy fell upon them, on the Temple square at Jerusalem. Even poor servants and housemaids were gifted with prophetic utterances. Yet this great outpouring also became a steady watering of the Holy Spirit that has lasted throughout the centuries. For 2,000 years God has poured out His Spirit like showers on His people, daily watering His Church and protecting it. Isaiah speaks of the corporate Body of Yeshua - both Jewish believer AND the grafted in Gentiles - as a vineyard:

Isaiah 27:2-3 - ". . .A vineyard of red wine, I the Lord do keep it; I will water it every moment: lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day."

    THERE IS MUCH IN GOD'S WORD ABOUT 2 OUTPOURINGS!  The two outpourings of the Spirit are referred to as the first (or former) rain and the last (or latter) rain.


Deuteronomy 11:13-14 - "And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love the Lord your God, and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul. That I will give you the rain of your land in its due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil."

        The planting and harvesting seasons in Israel were just the opposite of ours---The first rains fell from October to the end of December, just before planting season. These rains softened the ground. And the last rains fell from March through April, just prior to harvest. Those rains ripened the harvest. It is important to note: that these two outpourings always had to do with the harvest. "That thou mayest gather in. . ." (verse 14) And if you want to judge any move of the Holy Spirit---to discern if it is of God or of the flesh---then use this criterion. The Spirit's work is always focused on the harvest of the cold dead backsliders and to bring the lost forever to Jesus Christ to be born---again. It doesn't matter what kind of manifestations you see in any so called revival. It is not a true movement of God unless it is focused on this harvest! The Holy Ghost rains always (in the fall) to produce an ingathering of souls.
 

        God poured out His Spirit in the former rain of Pentecost. to prepare the ground. This outpouring softened the ground for the Gospel Seed to be sown. Spirit-filled sowers were sent out from the Upper Room that day unto all the world---to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the earth to make disciples of (replicating) Jesus Christ
.
The Church has now seen 2,000 years of sowing and growing and it's HARVEST TIME. It's harvest time!
 

The Fast Of The Ninth Month Is Key To Understanding This Harvest

        When the summer comes, it's hard to remember that the Jewish holidays don't end with Shavuot. In the month of Av, the Jewish people celebrate two very different holidays. The first, Tisha B'Av, commemorates the many disasters that have befallen the Jewish people throughout history. The second, Tu B'Av, just six days later, celebrates young love. This journal deals with the first. July 10, 2002 will actually be the FIRST of the month of AV on the Jewish calendar. The "FAST" of this ninth month will be celebrated on the 18th.

        The Month of Av

        The name of the fifth Hebrew month of Av is of Babylonian origin. It is also called Menachem Av [lit. "The comforting of Av"], in anticipation of the consolation for which the Jew hopes, after all the misfortunes that happened.

        According to the scriptures, Aaron, the High Priest, died on this day. Aaron was known for his love of peace. It is thus paradoxical that in this month, a tragedy of overwhelming proportions befell the Jewish people, in part, the rabbis tell us, because of the inability of the Jewish community of Judea to maintain cordial relations with one another.

        Shabbat Chazon

        The Shabbat before Tisha B'Av is called Shabbat Chazon [lit. "Shabbat of Vision"], alluding to the prophetic reading of the week, from the first chapter of the Book of Isaiah. In this prophecy, the Children of Israel are rebuked, but also comforted:

Zion will be redeemed with judgment
And those that return to her with righteousness.

        Based on the writings of the biblical prophet Zechariah, Jewish tradition established four fast days of mourning throughout the year. (Yom Kippur is not one of these days. It is a day of atonement and not of mourning.) According to Zechariah, the second fast day is to occur in the fifth month of the year, the month of Av. This day commemorates both the destruction of the First Temple, by the Babylonians in 586 BCE, and the Second Temple, by the Romans in 70 CE and is held on the ninth day of the month of Av, also known as Tisha B'Av.

        Just six days after Tisha B'Av, on Tu B'Av, the fifteenth day of the month, Jews celebrate one of the loveliest, but unfortunately, one of the most forgotten, holidays of the Jewish year. According to tradition, the fifteenth of Av was the day on which the young women of Jerusalem would leave their work in the vineyards and search for a young man to marry. About Tu B'Av, the Rabbis wrote: "There has not been a better day for Israel (the Jewish people) than the fifteenth of Av" (Mishnah, Tractate Ta'anit 4:8). So you see the pattern - mourning first, rejoicing and marriage second. That is a beautiful picture of what is about to transpire in Israel in the natural and the church in the spiritual. As we have stated many times before - if you want to know what is happening in the church - SEE ISRAEL!

        Dark days are ahead for planet Earth. Dark days are ahead for the nation of Israel as a whole. Dark days are ahead for America. The only thing we can do as John McTernan taught recently is pray for mercy in God's judgment upon us. WEEPING lasts for a season, a moment, but JOY COMES IN THE MORNING! PRAISE GOD PRAISE GOD.

        After these dark days where if it were not for the elect NO FLESH will be saved, Yeshua will return and there will be a wedding! GLORY TO GOD. There's going to be a reunion between Yeshua and His Beloved Bride. We as His Body are part of that Bride but so is natural Israel. ALL OF ISRAEL SHALL BE SAVED! And this will happen in ONE DAY when Yeshua returns and Zechariah 10:10-12 is fulfilled. GLORY TO GOD. Neighbor don't you feel that? That's how close we are to the coming of the Lord!

Tisha B'Av, the Temple and Jewish History

        Tisha B’Av commemorates the calamities of Jewish history. None are more deeply wounding to the Jewish heart than the destruction of the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem and the exiles of  the Jewish people from their homeland. 

The First and Second Temples
 

    The First Temple was built by King Solomon in the tenth century BCE.  The construction of the First Temple transformed Jerusalem into the religious center of the Jewish people.  After its destruction by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia, Judaism’s leaders assured the people that God would not abandon the Jewish people.  However, biblical poetry relates Jewish mourning over the destruction:

“By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down and we wept in our remembrance of Zion (our homeland)” (Psalm 137)

      
        The sages point out that the breakdown of civil behavior, as well as a lack of religious sincerity, were the hallmarks of the social disintegration which allowed Israel's enemies to subject them to siege, misery, and final defeat. The fast day has become a symbol for all the misfortunes of the Jewish people, for the loss of national independence and sufferings in exile, including the Crusade massacres and, in our times, pogroms and atrocities suffered under the hands of tyrants. (A special day for the commemoration of Holocaust victims has been set aside to correspond with the Fast of the 10th Tevet).

        In the next generation, fortunately, the Jewish people were allowed to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple under the rule of King Cyrus of Persia.  This Second Temple stood longer than the first but was eventually destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE.  According to tradition, both the first and second Temples were destroyed on the ninth day of the month of Av.

        Other Tragedies On The Fast Of The Ninth Month

        Throughout history, Tisha B’Av has also marked other calamities for the Jewish people.  Other calamities recorded as having occurred on Ninth Av include:

• The issue of the decree forbidding the generation of Israelites who left Egypt to enter the Land of Israel. (Numbers 13-14) This is what we want to deal with in this article today.

   

• The capture of Betar, the last stronghold of the leaders of the The Bar Kochba Revolt, in 135 BCE.

   

• The establishment of a heathen temple on the site of the Temple, one year later, by the Roman emperor Hadrian. He rebuilt Jerusalem as a pagan city - renamed Aelia Capitolina - which was forbidden to Jews.

   

• The mass suicide of the Jews of York during the anti-Jewish riots in the year 1190.

   

• The expulsion of Jews from Spain, after centuries of Jewish cultural and spiritual growth. Historically, the period between the 17th of Tammuz and the 9th Av, has witnessed a series of calamities and disastrous events for world Jewry. During the mourning period, Jews focus on the the destruction of the First and Second Temples, signifying the cessation of the national, social and political life of the Jewish state.

   

• The outbreak of World War I

   

  During the Three Weeks from 17th Tammuz until the 9th Av, the Jewish nation undergoes a collective period of mourning.

   

• The initiation of the deportation of the Jews of the Warsaw Ghetto.

        The prophets have promised that there will be a future time when Zion will be comforted from all the troubles that have befallen her since the destruction of the Second Temple. Until then, the Three Weeks is a period of mourning and reflection which intensifies in the 9 days (The 21rst Day Of Tammuz) that count down to a dramatic close with the fast of Tisha B'Av

        Tisha B’Av is observed by a 25 hour fast from sundown to sundown.  At evening services, it is customary for congregants to sit on the floor and to mournfully chant the Book of Lamentations, one of the five Megillot of the Bible.  Lamentations, written by the prophet Jeremiah, recounts the destruction of Jerusalem but ends with the prophet’s words of hope and appeal for help:

“Return us G-d to You and we shall return, renew our days as days of old” (Lamentations 5:21).

        By the Shabbat following Tisha B’Av, the mournful tone of Av is over.  This Shabbat is called Shabbat Nachamu, the  Shabbat of Comfort, because the readings for this Shabbat include comforting words from the prophet Isaiah.  With Tisha B’Av over and in the heat of summer, the Jewish people look towards the fall, and the beginning of the New Year.

The Prophetic Message To The Church Today Through The Fast Of The Ninth Month

        The Temples have not stood for centuries but even so there is still a Biblical, PHYSICAL and SPIRITUAL connection between the Jewish people and their homeland, the land of Israel.  Since the exiles, the Jewish people have struggled to return and rebuild a Jewish nation.  The current situation in Israel has divided Jewish people the world over along political and religious lines.  Nevertheless, we should all remember that Israel and Jerusalem remain at the center of the Jewish experience - both historical and modern.  Throughout the year, Jews physically and spiritually turn themselves in prayer toward Jerusalem.  Tisha B’Av reminds us of this connection between the Jewish experience and Jerusalem and to continue to look for Yeshua's return. NEIGHBOR DO YOU HEAR WHAT I AM SAYING TO YOU.

        To put it in more frank terms, America's survival depends on our connection to the Jewish nation and her people! EVERY single cataclysmic judgment on America since 1987 has been tied to three things:

1. Homosexual events

2. An Abortion Decision That Killed Human Life

3. The Nation's Handling Of Israel - Touching The Apple Of God's Eye.

        God is moving prophetically in the world to bring the conclusion to His plan. Israel is the HEART of that plan because He is returning to Jerusalem. When politicians (I don't care who they are be it Republican or Democrat) seek to take East Jerusalem from Israel's control and give it to the Palestinians, we are MESSING WITH GOD'S PLAN! We as a nation are  INTERFERING by trying to pressure Israel to give up the West Bank and lose control of those areas. That is one reason there will NOT be a Palestinian State. That is one reason that even in the last six months EVERY SINGLE TIME GEORGE W. BUSH has announced plans for the U.S. to back a Palestinian initiative for statehood there has been an earthquake on American soil! Israel's sufferings are connected to OUR sufferings. If she suffers, the US will suffer! HEAR WHAT I SAY TO YOU FRIEND.

        There is a CONNECTION to this nation to the nation of Israel. It cannot be shoved under a political rug and ignored any longer. That is why I fear for our nation more than I have at any time in our history. America has pressured and bullied Israel for the last 13 years to give up land for peace. On September 11, 2001 the terrorists that flew planes into our Pentagon and New York's World Trade Center towers were terrorists that belong to the same religion as Israel's terrorists! HEAR WHAT I SAY TO YOU. This is not fun and games any longer. The world has changed. Our destines have always been intertwined but NOW it's about BLOOD.

        Islamic fundamentalists have shed the blood of innocent Israelis launching most of their attacks from the West Bank part of the Middle East. If the USA grants these thugs a "state" we will in effect be creating a TERRORIST STATE pure and simple. You cannot get around that. You cannot ignore that child of God. THIS AFFECTS YOU! The church MUST STAND UP and be heard with ONE VOICE that we are the CHILDREN OF YAHWEH and we are partners  to the death with the children of Abraham, Isaac and JACOB! GLORY TO GOD. Their sufferings MUST BECOME OUR SUFFERINGS. Their tears need to become OUR TEARS. We need to WEEP over Jerusalem like Yeshua wept so long ago and PRAY FOR THE CONTINUED PEACE OF JERUSALEM! When we pray for the peace of JERUSALEM we are praying for the soon return of Messiah to planet EARTH. We are saying "EVEN SO COME QUICKLY LORD JESUS!" GLORY TO GOD!

The Spies Of Numbers 13-14 and The Fast Of The Ninth Month

        It is recorded in Numbers 13 and 14 that 10 out of 12 spies came back to Moses with an evil report. Only JOSHUA and CALEB showed true faith in G-d and said "WE ARE ABLE TO GO UP AND TAKE THE COUNTRY!" Because of the unbelief and hardness of heart of the other 10 the entire nation was CURSED to wander in a wilderness for 40 years until the next generation was born. The "Joshua" generation if you will would cross over into the Promised Land because of faith.

        This took place on this solemn feast day of mourning. Neighbor, there is a tremendous lesson in this for the church of the 21rst Century.

        I don't know how much longer Yeshua will tarry. Some believe He is not far from splitting the Eastern Skies open and blowing that grandest SHOFAR ever when the DEAD in CHRIST will rise FIRST and we which are alive will be caught up in the clouds to meet HIM FOREVER AND EVER (1 Thes. 4:14-17). I tend to agree with that. However, having said that NO ONE knows exacly how long He will tarry. The more I study end time prophecies and listen to men who know a great deal about prophetic events I'm beginning to lean more and more to the notion the church is going to be here on Planet Earth when a great deal of prophecy is fulfilled. I don't think this "escape" teaching is doing us any good. You would think it would get us motivated to live for God in these last days. Instead it has produced nothing but lethargy and caused men to draw swords over the doctrinal aspects of the second coming instead of coming together in UNITY to bring in the harvest before the night falls.

        There is an ever increasing ATTACK on pure faith in the church in these last days. Men who profess education and theological "prowess" demean and attack every thing godly behind pulpits on a constant basis. The power of the HOLY GHOST has never come under such attack as it has in these last days. The unbelief of the church is suffocating at times. It's hard to hear anyone say "WE BELIEVE GOD." It's hard to hear a preacher stand up any more and say "JESUS IS THE SAME YESTERDAY< TODAY and FOREVER>" It's hard to walk into a denominational church (and it doesn't matter the name on the door) and hear someone preach that God is STILL in the business of healing, delivering, saving and setting captives free.

        Yeshua warned that when He came back it would be possible for Him not to find "faith on the earth." What was He talking about? He had told the story of a widow woman who persisted and persisted against an unrighteous judge for an answer. To get this woman off his back the judge gave in and granted her the request. Yeshua said "if this unrighteous judge" gave into the request of a righteous woman, then HOW MUCH MORE WILL OUR HEAVENLY FATHER DO FOR US??????

        The reason America is not seeing a move of GOD IS THE CHURCH and our OWN UNBELIEF. We don't really believe God means what He says. Jesus has become nothing more in many churches than a name on a bulletin or on the sign outside. He's become a cliché or a name in a cute catch phrase we like to use to attract people to our churches. GOD HELP US.

        Neighbor listen to me the nation of ISRAEL DIED IN THE WILDERNESS on the FAST OF THE NINTH MONTH because of unbelief, because of unbelief. Paul speaking in Hebrews warned us not to allow our hearts to become hardened as they did in the day they provoked the Lord and died with an "evil heart of unbelief." They PERISHED after they had drank from the living ROCK. And that's the plight of the modern church especially in America. We have drank from the water but we are about to perish in the wilderness because of our blindness and our hardened heart of unbelief. That is the prophetic message of the fast of the ninth month.

In Closing

        I have a dear friend in Knoxville who has a prophetic mantle. He has been ostracized something terrible by many so-called pastors and preachers in this city. One pastor in particular told him he could come to his church as long as he "didn't cause trouble." When my friend attended a cell group within this pastor's church he began to minister to others through words of wisdom and the anointing of the Holy Spirit. Many got offended at this (THIS WAS NOT A BAPTIST CHURCH JUST SO YOU WILL KNOW AND UNDERSTAND IT IS NOT JUST THE BAPTISTS WHO ARE DYING OF UNBELIEF) and eventually he was asked to leave not only the church but the cell group as well. He was labeled a "trouble maker"{ by many in the church's administrative offices  a well as many in the cell group who did not "BELIEVE" in the gifts of the Spirit. He was made to feel (along with his wife) they had done something to hurt that church. His "trouble" was merely obeying the Holy Spirit because HE BELIEVED that God still healed today and God still SPOKE TODAY and GOD STILL worked miracles TODAY and GOD wanted to TOUCH PEOPLE TODAY! He was only obeying the voice of the Lord.

         This particular pastor got his church back and the people got their cell group back without the "trouble" any more. The sad tragedy to this is they don't even know they are perishing in unbelief just like Israel did so long ago. This spirit was not just in the cell group it is infested in the entire leadership of this church. I had had lunch with the former youth pastor of this same church about a year earlier and he looked at me straight in the face and said "I don't believe speaking in tongues is real or for today. In fact you can't even show me in scripture where the 'tongues' in Acts were actually 'tongues' after all"  This was not some poor misguided lay person who never came to church telling me this - this was the YOUTH PASTOR of one of the largest so-called Pentecostal churches in KNOXVILLE! Now before you "tongue-bashers" get your religious dandruff up, hear what I am about to say. Tongues were not the issue, the unbelief of that young man's heart WAS! It's this same sickening spirit of unbelief within the church that will bring America to ashes if we don't repent.

        Neighbor, Israel will celebrate a time of MOURNING in the next week as she remembers the calamities of her past. I cannot help but wander if we as the church in America in this 21rst Century will be mourning too very soon over the loss of a nation. We are losing our children to witchcraft and the occult because they want to see the power of God on display and we have cast the power of God out of our churches in unbelief. So because they don't see the power of Go din our churches they will go find power displayed somewhere and the enemy is more than willing to display his. It's funny - the witches and the  psychics BELIEVE in their power and God. But we in the church are like those 10 spies in Numbers and deny the supernatural power of God every day in our pulpits without blinking. Who will suffer for that????? THE NATION! Israel as a NATION suffered for her unbelief and we will too if we don't repent.

        It's the FAST of the ninth month. I encourage you on the 18th of this month to fast in honor of our Jewish brethren. CRY OUT TO GOD to forgive us of our unbelief here in the American church. FORGIVE US LORD for our blindness in not discerning the times we are living in. HELP US FATHER to stand side by side with Israel in the church without compromise. Let us shed the tears they shed. Let us feel the hurt they feel. Let our hearts experience the fast of the ninth month so we may know the weeping heart Yeshua has for His own. Help take the scales off our eyes before it is eternally too late. In Yeshua's name. Amen.

Shalom.