Festivals of New Wine and New Oil

Our amazing God has been revealing things in these last days which were kept hidden until after Israel became a nation in 1948. The Dead Sea Scrolls were initially discovered in 1947, and continued to be found until 1956. Their contents were published little by little throughout the next decades. YHWH instituted His feasts as rehearsals of things to be fulfilled in Messiah (Lev. 23:2 and Col. 2:16-17). I think that the Festivals of the New Wine and New Oil are specifically for Christ's Bride in these latter days in order to understand what our Bridegroom is about to do.

We know about counting the omer for seven weeks from Passover and celebrating the Feast of Weeks, or Pentecost, on the 50th day (Deut. 16:8-11). But according to the Temple Scroll found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, there were two other 50 day festivals after Pentecost; the first being New Wine of the grape harvest, and 50 days later, the New Oil of the olive harvest.

"…You shall count-seven complete Sabbaths from the day of your bringing the sheaf of [the wave-offering. You shall c]ount until the morrow of the seventh Sabbath. You shall count [fifty] days. You shall bring a new grain-offering….it is the feast of Weeks and the feast of Firstfruits, an eterna[l] memorial.
….You [shall count] seven seeks from the day when you bring the new grain-offering… seven full Sabbaths [shall elapse un]til you have counted fifty days to the morrow of the seventh Sabbath. [You] shall [bring] new wine for a drink-offering…
….[You sha]ll count from that day seven weeks, seven times (seven days), forty-nine days; there shall be seven full Sabbaths; until the morrow of the seventh Sabbath you shall count fifty days. You shall then offer new oil…"
(Temple Scroll - 11QT=11Q19, 20, 4Q365a – XVIII-XXI.)

This year Pentecost was June 7-8, and a huge solar eruption occurred which grazed our upper atmosphere. NASA still picture at http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov//data/REPROCESSING/Completed/2011/c2/20110607/20110607_0934_c2_512.jpg and an incredible video of it at http://www.lmsal.com/~schryver/Public/AIA/AIA-211_193_171_20110607T053556_30s_hugefilamenteruption.mov
This could be a sign in the heaven that more powerful things are coming.

Fifty days from Pentecost will be July 27-28 (26th of Tamuz) for the festival of New Wine. Proverbs 3:9-10 may allude to this festival, “Honor the LORD with your substance, and with the first fruits of all your increase: So shall your barns be filled with plenty, and your presses shall burst out with new wine.”
The Temple Scroll states that no one could drink new wine until the offering had been made at the Temple. This reminded me of our Messiah and Bridegroom saying after communion with His disciples that last Passover, “But I say to you, I will not drink from now on of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom.” (Matthew 26:29) With the Feast of Trumpets being after this festival, that would be certain. Another passage came to mind which speaks to me of the restoration of the fellowship of believers as God's Holy Spirit intends it:

"Why he said, Awake you that sleep, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light. See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Why be you not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; Giving thanks always for all things to God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. (Ephesians 5:14-21)

And then there is the judgment of the wine press.

“I have trodden the wine press alone; and of the people there was none with me: for I will tread them in my anger, and trample them in my fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled on my garments, and I will stain all my raiment. For the day of vengeance is in my heart, and the year of my redeemed is come.” (Isaiah 63:3-4)

After the fall of Babylon (Mecca-Jeddah), there may come another great holocaust before the LORD reutrns:

“And I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from now on: Yes, said the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors; and their works do follow them. And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and on the cloud one sat like to the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle. And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in your sickle, and reap: for the time is come for you to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe. And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped. And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle. And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in your sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe. And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great wine press of the wrath of God. And the wine press was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the wine press, even to the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.” (Rev. 14:13-20)

But this will be followed by the saints slaughtering the wicked with King Jesus:

“And the armies which were in heaven followed him on white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treads the wine press of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he has on his clothing and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS. And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the middle of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together to the supper of the great God; That you may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.” (Rev. 19:14-18)

Fifty days from the festival of New Wine will be September 16-17 (18th of Elul) for the festival of New Oil. This New Oil festival is only two weeks away from Rosh haShanah (Feast of Trumpets). The shaking and beating which occurs to the olive tree may signal more earthquakes and natural disasters this fall. For excellent teaching on this, view http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNngZg721hg and
http://media.voe.org/Manna_fest/2231161 .
Of course oil is linked to a manifestation of God's Holy Spirit: “Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the middle of his brothers: and the Spirit of the LORD came on David from that day forward.” (I Samuel 16:13)
And it also speaks of the unity of the brethren as we are all anointed with oil as priests unto the LORD:

“Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious ointment on the head, that ran down on the beard, even Aaron's beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments; As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended on the mountains of Zion: for there the LORD commanded the blessing, even life for ever more. (Psalm 133)

These two festivals may have been celebrated for over 1,000 years: “All the best of the oil, and all the best of the wine, and of the wheat, the first fruits of them which they shall offer to the LORD, them have I given you. And whatever is first ripe in the land, which they shall bring to the LORD, shall be yours; every one that is clean in your house shall eat of it.” (Numbers 18:12-13) We need to be giving our best to the LORD in these final days. Like Schindler, look around for what you can sell to save one more soul.

“I charge you therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned to fables. But watch you in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of your ministry. For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: From now on there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but to all them also that love his appearing” (II Timothy 4:1-8)

In 2012 the Festival of New Wine will be July 8-9, and the Festival of New Oil will be August 27-28.