Perhaps the most important calendar date that gets ignored by Christendom is Tisha B’av or the Ninth of Av on the Jewish Calendar. Although the Jewish people commemorate this important date by observing “The Nine Days of Av”, a period of spiritual reflection and fasting, the Christian Church has largely ignored this important date in God’s Plan of Salvation for mankind. The 9th of Av is a landmark date in world history, as it is a date that has on numerous occasions been associated with God’s Judgment upon both Israel and the world at large.
The following are some of the significant events of world history that have occurred on the 9th of Av:
- 1446 B.C. Moses coming down from the mountain and breaking the two tablets of the 10 commandments and the subsequent Judgment upon Israel for making the golden calf.
- 1445 B.C. One year after Moses had broken the tablets on Mount Sinai, Israel stood at the edge of the Promised Land. They believed the evil report of the 10 spies rather than the good report of Joshua and Caleb. Israel was once again judged and consigned to wander in the Wilderness for 40 years.
- 421 B.C. Destruction of the First Temple by Babylon under Nebuchadnezzar.
- 70 A.D. Destruction of Second Temple by Rome under Titus.
- 132 A.D. Bar Kochba revolt was crushed, over 100,000 Jews killed.
- 133 A.D. Turnus Rufus plows under the Temple Site.
- 1095 The First Crusade declared by Pope Urban II, 10,000 Jews killed in the first month of the Crusade.
- 1290 Jews expelled from England.
- 1492 Jews expelled from Iberian Peninsula during the Spanish Inquisition.
- 1555 Pope Paul IV removed the Jews from Rome to the ghetto.
- 1914 Germany declares war on Russia, Russia declares war on Germany and on its own Jewish population.
- 1942 Deportation of Jews from Warsaw to concentration camps.
- 2005 Jews expelled from Gaza.
While the 9th of Av is commonly associated with judgment, oftentimes just prior to the judgment, a time of blessing is offered by God. When Moses came down from the mountain with the 10 commandments, it was to be a time that God was offering to enter into a special union with the Hebrew people. This union had been rejected by Israel, as they had instead chosen to worship the golden calf from their Egyptian past. God judged them at this time and 3,000 people died (Exodus 32:28). Exactly one year later, again on the Ninth of Av, the Hebrew people stood at the edge of the Promised Land. They once again refused the offer of God to enter into a trusting relationship with Him. Rather than accepting the good report made by Joshua and Caleb regarding the Land, they instead chose to believe in the evil report of the 10 dissident spies. God then once again judged them by making them wander for the next 40 years in the Wilderness.
God Turns Cursing Into Blessing
It is of interest to note that God is in the business of turning cursing into blessing. In the Book of Nehemiah we read:
“Because they met not the children of Israel with bread and with water, but hired Balaam against them, that he should curse them: howbeit our God turned the curse into a blessing.” Nehemiah 13:2
A wonderful example of God historically turning cursing into blessing can be seen in the case of the 3,000 Hebrews who were judged on the 9th of Av at Mount Sinai after they had refused to enter into a relational union with God at the giving of the 10 commandments. This curse would later be turned into a blessing on the 9th of Av on the Day of Pentecost, when 3,000 Jewish believers willingly became the initial members of Jesus’ Bride, the Christian Church.
God is consistent in all His doings, He changes not (Hebrews 13:8). We know that God has ordered the events of World History to occur on specific dates. He alone is in Sovereign control of all things that occur in both Heaven and on the Earth (Daniel 4:35). A prime example of this is recorded In the Old Testament. Here we are told that God brought the Hebrew people out of Egypt on the “self-same” date that He had brought them into Egypt 430 years earlier:
“Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and
thirty years.
And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the self-same
day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt.”
Exodus 12:40,41
Should we not in like manner expect that God might also choose to harvest the wheat of His Church on the self-same date that He had initiated it, that being the Day of Pentecost, which we now know to be not in spring on the Feast of Shavuot, but rather in the summer on the Feast of New Wine, the 9th of Av?
From the Word of God, we are also told that the appropriate time of harvest is not winter, spring, or fall, but rather in the time of summer, “He that gathereth in summer is a wise son…” (Proverbs 10:5).
Shouldn’t we therefore expect that God the Father’s Son would harvest His Bride the Church in the summertime? Jesus certainly alluded to this in the parable of the fig tree:
“Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth
leaves, ye know that summer is nigh:
So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.
Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.”
Matthew 24: 32-34
Here we find Jesus indicating that the beginning of the time of the end, the Rapture of the Church, would likely be occurring in the summertime.
In the New Testament Church Age, the Holy Spirit resides not in any Temple made with hands, but rather within the physical bodies of believers who constitute the Bride of Christ. This is shown in the Apostle Paul’s first letter to the Church at Corinth:
“Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you.”
I Corinthians 3:16
The Church is therefore shown to be the new Temple of God in New Testament times.
Should we therefore then consider the possibility that God may indeed turn the curse that was placed upon the First and Second Jewish Temples on the 9th of Av into a blessing for His New Testament Temple, the Church, at the time of their removal from the earth, on the self-same day, the 9th of Av?
There are numerous believers in today’s Church that believe God will likely Rapture the Church on the same day that He had initiated it, on the Day of Pentecost. However, many of these believers still mistakenly believe that the Day of Pentecost coincides with the Feast of Shavuot in the spring of the year, and not at the end of the wheat harvest, at the Feast of New Wine, which is a summertime event. Might these believers indeed be the believers to whom Jesus was referring to in the Book of Matthew, where He stated:
“Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the
thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house
to be broken up.
Therefore be ye ready: for in such and hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.”
“Even so, come quickly Lord Jesus.” Revelation 22:20
