To Heaven and Back Again: Passover, Jesus and God's Timeline

It is well known that the Jewish feast of Passover is a foreshadow of Jesus and the sacrifice of the cross. It is a feast they were told to celebrate for all time. Here is a quick review of how Passover represents what Jesus would do.

What God’s people went through after Passover is a timeline of what would happen after the cross. Once God’s people were set free, they set out to walk with Him, just as we do when we take Jesus as our Lord. They were heading toward a Promised Land, representing the final destination of living with Jesus as He rules this earth. In a recent encounter in the Secret Place, the Lord showed me where we are on this timeline.

For many months, the Lord impressed upon me the need to spend time seeking His face each day. Through miracles and the work of knowledge, He showed me that He would bring me into the Secret Place and visit Him face-to-face.

Not long after doing this, I took what He said in the Secret Place and turned it into a message on His word, instead of saying exactly what He said. The scriptures were rightly applied, but it wasn’t what He said at that moment. Even while writing the message, I became sick. In the Secret Place, Jesus showed me this:

On my knees I dug three holes in the soft earth and planted seeds.

First Hole:

Jesus’ hands were right on top of mine. A huge tree sprang up, giving fruit and shade.

Second Hole:

My hands were slightly off from His, only by half an inch. Though our hands were mostly together, it wasn’t good enough. A small, stunted tree sprang up with thorns among the fruit.

Third Hole:

The Lord’s hands were beside mine as I dug the hole and planted a seed. A bush sprang up with large thorns and almost no fruit.

While I pondered this for weeks the fever would leave for a couple of days when He told me to do something. But it would quickly return. Within a few days, I realized the mistake in the message and corrected it, however the symptoms persisted. Words of wisdom came from our team members, “My grace is sufficient.” (2 Corinthians 12:9-11 NKJV)

I sought the Lord as to why repentance and His blood didn’t immediately remove the sickness. The answer didn’t come the way I expected it to. First I came into full repentance for not only this last time, but every time I had gone even a fraction off of what He had been saying. The fever broke a few days later.

Because I had been self-quarantining, it was exciting to be free of the cough and fever. On Friday after morning prayers over coffee, I rushed into my appointments. Instead of taking time to visit with the Lord in the Secret Place, I thought, “I will be working on Saturday, so today is mostly a family day. I can forgo seeking Him and go grocery shopping with the family.” There was plenty of opportunity to spend time seeking Him, I just chose to do other things.

While out and about, drainage began running down the back of my throat. That night, I woke up from a dream coughing. “What is going on!” I thought. “This can’t possibly be because I didn’t seek you, Lord, for one day?”

That morning, the Holy Spirit urged me to finish reading the story of Moses, beginning where he struck the rock two times instead of speaking to it. The Lord had been speaking to our ministry leaders about this for a couple of weeks. After reading the full story, I set about seeking Him in the Secret Place. Here is what He said with the scripture He was referring to:

Jesus said: My people have done as Moses: They keep doing the same action/prayer expecting the same result instead of listening to me about what is right for that moment. As Moses did, they have taken some of the glory for themselves.

I won’t go through all of the similarities at this time, but suffice to say that the first part of Israel’s journey from Egypt, represents where the Body of Christ as been since Jesus left. In the story of Moses traveling through the desert, we see that when the Israelites were new to God’s ways, they would cry out to Him and He would help.

God sent manna when they were hungry
When they were tired of only manna, He sent quail into the camp
God brought forth water from a rock when they were thirsty

This is the period of grace where God shows up more often then not when His people cry out to Him. Jesus is saying we are done this:

And the Lord said to Moses, “Take the rod, and assemble the congregation, you and Aaron your brother, and tell the rock before their eyes to give forth its water… (Numbers 20:7-8 AMPC)

… “Moses said to them, Hear now, you rebels; must we bring you water out of this rock?” And Moses lifted up his hand and with his rod he smote the rock twice. (Numbers 20:10-11 AMPC)

In the past, Moses struck the rock and water came forth, but that wasn’t what God said to do. Yes, God is faithful and water still came. Ministers have success with a prayer, then a procedure is created. Often a book is written urging people to do things the same way. Often a fee is charged and money given to the man for this book. This is giving glory to the man who created it, not God.

The Lord continued: As it was with Moses and the children of God, so it will now be for the leaders and my body.

They angered the Lord also at the waters of Meribah, so that it went ill with Moses for their sakes… (Psalms 106:32 AMPC)

The Lord let the sickness linger so that I would seek Him and for the sake of His body. I was literally ILL. If you continue reading the account of God’s people, you will see that their lives became much more difficult in many ways:

They had to fight enemies every step of the way. (Numbers 20:17-24)
Aaron was taken from them. Aaron was the mouthpiece of Moses just as the Holy Spirit is our Companion. God’s leaders will now come under judgement and many will be removed. (Numbers 20:24-29 AMPC)

Jesus said: Going forward, My people will need to do what God’s children did in the desert and keep their eyes upon the snake on the pole.

Then the Lord sent fiery (burning) serpents among the people; and they bit the people, and many Israelites died… And the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you… (Numbers 21:6-7 AMPC)

And Moses made a serpent of bronze and put it on a pole, and if a serpent had bitten any man, when he looked to the serpent of bronze [attentively, expectantly, with a steady and absorbing gaze], he lived. (Numbers 21:9 AMPC)

The people new exactly how they had sinned against God. The attack of the serpents was the consequence for that sin. The pole represented the cross. Jesus hung on the cross and took all our sin upon Himself. This is why people say that He “nailed our sin to the cross.”

To remain free of enemy attacks we must know what our sin is, as the people of God went to Moses and knew why the serpents came. It is also necessary to keep our eyes upon the cross. The Amplified version of the Bible tells us how we are to look at it:

attentively - paying close attention
expectantly - have an expectation of an outcome
steady - not looking away
absorbing gaze - soaking up all that He did

We must look and keep on looking. We must be willing to learn and grow as we soak up all that He did for us and what that means.

I ask the Lord, “But I said a prayer in the morning. Why wasn’t that good enough?”

Jesus smiled, “You are a leader of my people. I expect more from you. Not only on days you are scheduled for work, but every day.”

“Lord, this is a harsh word. What sign will you give people that is it from You?”

His eyes blazed, “If they will look to what was done on the cross they will be free. When they take their eyes off Me it will return. Is more of a sign required than this?’

After apologizing for my behavior, I left the Secret Place. All the symptoms were gone.

This is what God will be doing in the entire Body of Christ. We will need to fight for each step we gain towards our destiny. Leaders will be removed. If you want to remain free of attacks of the enemy, we must look to His sacrifice for our sins where they are nailed to the cross. Our gaze must be steady upon Him. What does He want us to do each day? This is what will keep us free.

The good news is this. It wasn’t long until the God’s people entered the Promised Land. These are the final hours of the last day!