#9 A New Normal, Transition to the second set of three.

The transition from day three, to day four is a disappointment for the logical thinker. We noted how everything suddenly made logical sense in day three when water, light, air and bare ground suddenly yielded the new life of vegetation. For the naturalist the hope is that we have turned a corner and the logical growth of our enterprise will continue. Having suffered through day one and day two he grasps the results of day three as proof of better days ahead.

In day four however things on earth see no improvement at all and instead new lights appear in the sky overhead. The naturalist has run into a day that is all about setting standards. Most importantly standards of time. Long term, the benefits of this day will become evident, but in the moment, day four is a disappointment for anyone seeking a continuation or improvement on the first set of three days.

Indeed day four is the beginning of its own set of three days and in many respects just as the light of day one exposed chaos and signaled that order was about to begin, so also the lights of day four signal an opportunity to order, the most difficult concept of time.

The element of time in our world is a mystery, more often, simply accepted than explored. More often taken for granted as normal, than thought of as extraordinary. In order to harness this component of our lives, we moderns have created a calendar which, using mathematical dates, simply moves forward in a steady march, adding one day to the next, one month to the next and one year to the next.

We barely think of the celestial bodies as time setters and it seldom occurs to us that in some way, we may have lived this day before or that history may have clues for us based on the rhythms of the celestial time setters. Therefore we miss many opportunities for new beginnings and sound endings. As a result our transitions in life are chaotic, halfhearted and often forced due to circumstance.

And no wonder since by the end of day four our natural eyes have seen one day, “day three” in which new life has been evidenced. Three of four have been seemingly sterile or inert. Our patience continues to be tested. It’s obvious now that day one and two where necessary for the new life of day three. Day four returns us to testing mode and requires more grit and determination.  As our story develops it will also become obvious, that the time setters of day four will also be of great value.

We are about to experience life very unlike the life we were so happy about back in day three. Day four is a time to set standards and consider the times, look back over previous cycles and set out on a new or maybe altered path. Like day one it’s a new beginning and we will need all our tools and resources for success when day five is revealed.

#8 Day Four

Signs for appointed times,

This may be my most important post to date. The ideas expressed in these next few paragraphs are hard won. Yet the journey to acquire these insights have been so remarkable that I would not change a thing.

Day four begins a new series of three and as such, it has more in common or “unity” with day one than it does with the day that proceeded it. Indeed the transition from the third to the fourth day can be most counter intuitive. I will discuss that transition next week

¹⁴ Then God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for *seasons* and for days and years; ¹⁵ and let them be for lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so. ¹⁶ God made the two great lights, the greater light to govern the day, and the lesser light to govern the night; He made the stars also. ¹⁷ God placed them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, ¹⁸ and to govern the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness; and God saw that it was good.¹⁹ There was evening and there was morning, a fourth day. Genesis 1:14-19 NASB

The writer shows us that these celestial bodies have two purposes the first of which is “as signs for seasons, and for days and years” the secondary purpose, apparently, is “to give light on the earth”. The writer goes on to speak of the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. Much more is going on here than simply providing light.

From this day forward it will be the sun and the moon which will be used to explain the meaning of time and to identify important times to those of us in on the revelation.  

The writer shows the lights in the heavens as created beings, not eternal. He does this by recording that they are created on the fourth day. In other words they have a beginning and as modern researchers now know, they also have an end. This is a very passive aggressive way to demonstrate that the ancient pagan practice of worship of the sun, moon and stars is meaningless and without merit.

Therefore we are subtly warned that these lights above are not gods, but we are to pay attention to them, because it is by their guidance, in collaboration with the revealed, that we will be able to identify important elements of time including days and years.

But notice the phrase “for signs for seasons” in verse 14, the word translated “seasons” is the Hebrew word “mow’ed”, Strongs number H4150.

The word mow’ed is best translated appointment or appointed time. In other words the sun and moon will be used to guide us to specific moments in time. 

This is the purpose of this entire study, to coordinate our efforts with the Creator’s timing. But what times you may ask?

If you recall in my introductory piece I mentioned the Biblical Feast of Tabernacles and its significance concerning the release of debts in the seventh year according to Deuteronomy 31:10 and the role it played in identifying this pattern.

Take a look at Leviticus 23 verse 2 from the New American Standard.

 “The Lord’s appointed times which you shall proclaim as holy convocations—My appointed times are these:” Twice in this verse the term “appointed times” is used, both clearly defined as God’s appointed times, both Strong’s H4150 “mow’ed”

Leviticus 23 goes on to define, by use of days and moons many “mow’ed” including the 8 days that start on the 15^th day of the seventh moon which is the appointed time of Tabernacles. As a matter of fact Leviticus 23 lays out its appointed times in the period of 7 lunar cycles. Here is likely one more place to gain insight, concerning the pattern of seven built in to creation.

Our modern calendars are designed to take us away from the appointed times as proscribed by the celestial bodies of day four, but to find our Creator’s appointments and rhythms we will need to return to a calendar governed by the sun and moon.

The celestial lights do us no good on their own but joined to the biblical revelation they set us up to be in time with the rhythms of the Creator and his creation. Used properly they will enhance our work and our rest.

Concerning day four itself, while it has no new life in it, as day three had and may feel like a useless day to the naturalist. It is actually a profoundly important moment, when a whole new standard is being set. Be careful what you do on day four, as it will set the standard for many days to come. Even more importantly, figure out how to put your life in rhythm of the “mow’eds” of Leviticus 23. After all if our creator has appointed times with his people, I can’t imagine anyone would want to miss them.

# 7 Transition from Day Two to Day Three.

Imagine the Natural observer at the end of day two. He has made one of two choices during the overwhelming disarray that has come to light, either he has given up or he has tried to fight through to, what he hopes will be, better times.

If he has given up, then if he survives at all, he will be in hunter-gather mode when the new life of day three emerges.  His garden will certainly not have clean rows of valuable produce but he may find some remnants of previous care taking.  

However consider the Naturalist who has worked through the entire period of chaos. The light of day one gave him some hope that a better day may be around the corner. However that light faded into a long night of doubts, if his determination survived the night, the light returned on day two renewing hope.  Alas, day two only yielded some space or an opening a-midst the water which still swirls above and below. Now the light fades again as, day two draws to a close, he faces what he suspects is another long night.

At this point our hard working Naturalist is in danger from his own hand, exhausted from the stress and doubt as well as the physical labor, his temptations are appeasement, capitulation and irresponsibility. Can he find within himself the strength to endure another long night or will he be so psychologically damaged that he makes a self-damaging decision.

As the light dawns on day three the doubts are huge. The real question is, can one endure without the revealed knowledge that, there is life in day three?

How much more, will a individual work hard and take chances in day one and two and how much more cheerfully and steadfastly can a person endure day one, day two and the early dark hours of day three if he understands the whole revelation of the first three days of Creation.

#6 Day Three

The amazing moment in time when water, light, air, and bare ground suddenly exist simultaneously.

Then God said, “Let the waters below the heavens be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so. God called the dry land earth, and the gathering of the waters He called seas; and God saw that it was good. Then God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit after their kind with seed in them”; and it was so. The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit with seed in them, after their kind; and God saw that it was good. There was evening and there was morning, a third day. Genesis 1:9-13 

Water in uncontrolled, chaotic arrangement preexists day one giving us the first element necessary for life but in destructive, overwhelming form.  Day one and day two had only one event or new feature each, light in day one and space or air in day two, in contrast day three has two new features bare ground and vegetation.

Anyone who has ever gardened knows that if conditions are right, vegetation is going to sprout even if you did not plant seeds, even if you don’t want it, fertile ground combined with water, light and air will produce some sort of vegetation.

The Creation story in many ways seems to defy the observer of nature but in day three it suddenly all makes sense to the natural eye. Water, light, air, bare ground, of course plant life follows.

If only the naturalist had done more in day one and two to prepare of the new life of day three.

New life on the third day is a biblical theme with which every student should be familiar. In addition to the appearance of vegetation on day three, Abraham’s near sacrifice of Isaac happens on day three and Isaac comes off that altar with new life, Jonah’s fish spits him out, to a new life, on the third day.  I like this one…. it will take a bit of thought, Noah comes out of his boat on the 27^th day of the se

cond month. That’s three days before the beginning of the third month to offer sacrifices of thanksgiving… there are things in that story we all need to ponder.

There are lots of other examples of this biblical phenomenon of new life on the third if one wishes to dig them out. Of course the Jewish writers of the New Testament made sure to point out that Jesus was resurrected on the third day after his death, on the first day of the week. Just that in itself should give each of us plenty to ponder.

So much can be written about the third day the third month the third year and the third set of seven years that we could fill up Google. But the idea here is for each of you to ponder these things yourself. Here are a few thoughts about the new life, in the form of vegetation in day three. It is stationary, it’s stable, it can’t move or communicate, and vegetation grows slowly and provides the base of the food chain for all the future life to come.

What is our role? I am reminded of the gardener who was showing his pastor around his garden. The pastor commented on how God had very much blessed the garden. To which the gardener responded “Pastor you should have seen it when God had it alone!”

We have a role, we are part of creation. Whatever our calling, it will take both our effort and the miracles of new life for our gardens to produce well for the benefit of our families and our world.

So to the third day… HERE! HERE!

Or as Tevye sings in Fiddler…To life, to life, l'chaim…. L'chaim, l'chaim, to life.

#5 The transition from day one to day two.

The LIGHT of day one has revealed chaos and it also has given us hints about this new set of seven. As I showed earlier, the Genesis writer’s use of “Echad” gives us some indication that day one has in it all the elements, or has unity with the six to come.

With this in mind, we watch day one intently for clues about the six to come. As evening comes and the beginning of day two approaches we need to prepare ourselves for the natural feeling that we are headed back to the chaos in the dark of Genesis 1:2. There is simply no sign in the natural elements that give you any hope of improvement.

Indeed as I pointed out last week even the full and complete work of day two has no hopeful signs in it for a natural observer, unless they are aware of the revealed, which in the case of day two, is that there will be space for life created a-midst the chaos of water above and chaos of water below.

This is a good time to point out few fundamentals, you may have noticed the words on the sunflower at the header of this Google plus community. Those words come from Deuteronomy 29:29.

 “The secret things belong to YHWH our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may observe all the words of this instruction.”

Certainly science and academics, in its study of the natural world, has done wonders for mankind, increasing our life spans, improving our health but one has to wonder, if certain things are not hidden from the observer of nature. Keep this thought in mind as we move along, commenting on these segments of seven and the transitions.

The instruction to work will be there when the natural feeling will be that, it is useless, and the temptation to work will be there when the instruction to rest is given.

So what is asked of us on day one and day two is that with steady faith, we work for improvement of the current condition without regard for how we feel. This is a moment when we need to be looking for even the slightest hint or direction from either the light of day one or an opening of space in day two.

Being prepared for day one and day two is crucial, resource wise, but also emotionally, as few others will see what you are seeing, observers of nature will see and feel only chaos on day one and two. Meanwhile we will be putting forth effort and resources toward faithfully improving the barely discernible path.

#4 Day Two

Back on January 17, I wrote about day one and the following week I wrote about the transition from day seven to day one.

This will be our mode of operation, I will introduce each new segment of time and give some thoughts on what characteristics that particular day, month, year, of set of seven years will likely exhibit. I will then in the following post, discuss the transition from the previous segment of time to the new segment of time.

If all that is confusing, you will get the idea as we go along.  

 Then God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.”  God made the expanse, and separated the waters which were below the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse; and it was so.  God called the expanse heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day. Genesis 1:6-8

Day two seems as chaotic as the events before day one.  However amid all the shaking, a space develops or opens up in the middle of the chaos. With water above and water below, suddenly there is a space. A space for what? We know it’s a space for life, but without knowledge of the fact that it is day two and good things are coming, that space very well may seem like cold air when you come out of the water. That this opening is space for life is not evident via natural observation, but we know life will come. Those unaware of the count have no idea what the space means. To them it seems like just more confusion.

Here is an interesting thought, in Hebrew, the alphabet is also a means of counting, the second letter of the Hebrew Alphabet is “beyt” which literally means house and in its original Paleo form, the letter was the floor plan of a two room house or tent. (See the attached) A house or a tent is a space for life.

Knowing it’s year two can be very helpful in keeping your chin up and your plan on track. It also can give you the courage to step into a space that opens up while others are still convinced that only chaos is the order of the day.

Consider this, the spies went to spy out the land in the second year after coming out of Egypt.  They lost heart just when they should have prepared to move boldly. I think they would have been planting roots on new ground in the third year had they not lost heart.

The second segment of time in our set of seven is a time of continued testing. It has openings or space for future life but you have the means and be willing to step in when the water is still swirling above and below.

Another analogy is that of a planted seed. The first step is to plant, the second step is the outer coating of the seed must decay before the third step, the germ of life can spring forth. So also in day two some breakdown is still happening. It’s a messy time but our instructions are to work, do our part to help things move in the right direction.   

The alphabet attached to this post is from Jeff Benner’s web site “The Ancient Hebrew Research Center”.  I highly recommend his work. It has been very helpful in my pursuit of the seven and fifty.

Today I want to finish my post by showing you a quote from his book A History of Hebrew. (Available free from his web site in ebook form it is only 44 pages and well worth your time.) the link is here… http://www.ancient-hebrew.org/ahh/ahh.htm

 “Let's take the concepts of the past and the future to demonstrate how important it is to recognize that

Biblical concepts are sometimes the opposite of our own. We perceive of the past as behind us and the

future as before us. The Hebrew word for yesterday, the past, is תמול (temol) and the word for

tomorrow, the future, is מחר (mahhar). Temol comes from a root that means "to be in front" while

mahhar comes from a root that means "to be behind." And therefore in Hebraic thought the past is in

front of you and the future is behind you. Why did the Ancient Hebrews perceive of time in this way?

Because the past is known, it is laid out in front of you to see, while the future is not known and is

therefore hidden behind you.” Jeff Benner … A History of Hebrew

Think about that, the past is in front of you, available for you to see. The future is behind you, still unknown. The rhymes of the past are available to be known, to what extent they can enlighten the future is our undertaking.

#3 The transition from seven to one, darkness to light.

The transition from seven to one, darkness to light.

Publicly writing your private meditations is a bit disconcerting but I want to do it in hopes of encouraging others to process these things in their own way and open the opportunity for us all to grow in our understanding. I believe deeply that this subject must be approached with great humility and I hope to demonstrate why by the end of this piece.

^“The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.” Genesis 1:2

The second verse of Genesis one represents the earth before the seven day week and in particular the Sabbath. In my view, it is also our eventual situation if we don’t follow day seven instructions. The clearly defined events of the six days of work have brought order but failure to follow the instructions for day seven will bring about degeneration and return us to the chaos of verse two. The prescribed antidote is to pull back and disengage from the normal work of our hands.

Again the instructions for day seven is different than the instructions for month seven which is also different from the instructions for the seventh year and for the seventh set of seven years or the Jubilee.  However in each case a shift away from what had been during the previous six is evident and the pattern holds regardless of which set of sevens we are discussing. This brings me to the words of Genesis 1 verse 5.

 ^“God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day.” Genesis 1:5

Here may be the first example of the concept that rest is first, before work. As I pointed out last week, the seventh day was man’s first day since he was created last on day six thus his first day was a day of rest. Likewise on the very first day the Creator separated light from darkness and set evening as the beginning of the day, therefore setting darkness and by implication rest and sleep, before morning light and work.

But what I really want to highlight from this verse is the last two words “one day” or in the Hebrew “yom echad”. Yom is the Hebrew word for day but the use of echad (Strongs H259) seems to be giving us some guidance. It should be noted that echad is used here rather than the word “ri’shown (Strongs H7223)  

Ri’shown is used in the below passage to indicate Esau is born first.

^“Now the first (Ri’shown) came forth red, all over like a hairy garment; and they named him Esau.” Genesis 25:25

Ri’shown clearly is the word for first in line but echad has a different sense to it. While it is also used in many case as one or first, echad also has a characteristic of unity or harmony. A good example is below from 1 Chronicles.

“All these, being men of war who could draw up in battle formation, came to Hebron with a perfect heart to make David king over all Israel; and all the rest also of Israel were of one (echad) mind to make David king.” 1 Chronicles 12:38

This verse demonstrates the harmony factor of echad, many minds obviously, but all agreed or were in unity (echad). Therefore by using echad rather that ri’shown, the Genesis writer is showing us that while indeed the day of light is the first day, it also has a unity factor which I suspect tells us that what happens on day one, or year one (or whichever sequence of seven you are studying) has a unity or harmony with the other six which will follow. Again, thinking out loud, day one “yom echad” seems similar to a fertilized egg growing to its completed gestation by the end of day six. If this is the case, then greatest attention needs to be given to the events and characteristics of day one. For what we observe on day one, will likely have some unity, with what we will experience throughout this particular set of seven.

One more thought; the Jewish writers of the New Testament clearly saw that light on day one was not the result of the sun, since the sun was only created on day four. In many ways and at many places they tell us they that they believed that the LIGHT of “yom echad” was Yeshua (Jesus) none more so than John at the beginning of his gospel. Consider his rhythm and flow compared to Genesis one.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was in the beginning with God. ³ All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. ⁴ In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. ⁵ The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.” John1:1-5

Following the instructions for the seventh as a way of preparing for the LIGHT of one, is much more than a business strategy. To be prepared for the LIGHT of the world “full of grace and truth” John 1:17 is a profound opportunity we should not miss.

I can’t think of anything more terrifying than to arrive at year one tight-fistedly. I humbly submit that the real reason for Sabbath is so we do not worship the works of our hands and if we do worship the works of our hands, we can expect the LIGHT of yom echad to expose it to the world.