17 January 2011 (Shanee/Matzah)
Day #307, 5934 AM
The 12-Hour Day
Knowing Yahweh's Will for Your Day
"Are there not twelve hours in the day?" (John 11:9, NKJV).
Nobody really knows when the 24-hour day was invented though many have speculated it was the Egyptians who divided the day into two 12 hour periods of daytime and nighttime based on the number of knuckles on the fingers of one hand. Whether this time-keeping goes back to Creation or appeared later is not so important as the fact that Yah'shua acknowledged the system.
Now clearly, since there are seasonal differences in the length of daylight from one sunset to another, Yah'shua was not here saying that there are 12 hours of sunlight every day. Winter 'days' are shorter than summer ones. Indeed He speaks, three verses earlier, of a different type of 'day' when we are told He remained where He was for another couple of "days" before responding to the request to attend to His very sick dear friend, Lazarus, who, as we know, died before He could reach him.
"Then after this He said to the disciples, 'Let us go to Judea again.' The disciples said to Him, 'Rabbi, lately the Jews sought to stone You, and are You going there again?' Yah'shua (Jesus) answered, 'Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. But if one walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him'" (John 11:7-10, NKJV).
This is a very Johannine passage indeed, not meaning that the apostle John refashioned Yah'shua words into his own unique form of expression but rather that Yah'shua is here saying something very deep and profound that is missed by the superficial but which is of particular interest to one as sensitised to these things as John was.
On a very basic level, Yah'shua is not saying that there are 12 hours of light each day. Rather, He is saying that people properly work twelve hours a day (and six days a week, of course). Today's Unions might howl at such a long work day and 21st century man might balk at having to work four more hours than is standard practice these days, but then the life of modern man is more stressed than was that of the ancients, he is not as healthy, and he has grown all too fond of his lengthening leisure periods which have given him ever great opportunities to sin. As far as Yah'shua was concerned, a man should work 12 hours a day. However, that is not what He is talking about here at all, since no one disputed this fact back then.
The talmidim or disciples were afraid that if Yah'shua returned to hostile Judea that He would be stoned. Yah'shua was here answering His disciples' apprehension: "Are there not twelve hours in the day?" This is an appointed time. Everyone works it. It is fixed, just as our hearts should be as we walk in true tavnith or pattern. Yah'shua is saying that when you are yielded properly to Yahweh, every day has its fixed or appointed program of activity. And nothing can prevent your from accomplishing that divinely-ordained program if you are yielded to Him. It's your 'daily 12', 12 being the number of governmental perfection. When you are submitted to Yahweh for the day, you are under His government, under His toqef or authority - you are perfect for that day! So even if Yah'shua were to return to Judea wherein were lying murderous people waiting to destroy Him, they could not possibly succeed so long as He was yielded to the 12 - to Yahweh's perfect will for the day. His work was not done. So He could say: "My hour has not yet come" (John 2:4, NKJV). He was safe. Thus He could rebuke Peter for trying to stop Him when that hour had arrived:
"From that time Yah'shua (Jesus) began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day. Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, 'Far be it from You, Master; this shall not happen to You!' But He turned and said to Peter, 'Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of Elohim (God), but the things of men'" (Matt.16:21-23, NKJV).
Yah'shua was not denying that there was danger for Him in Judea and Jerusalem. There was danger everywhere He went. But that was not the point. He was safe doing Yahweh's will. Neither was He saying that He would not be killed - He knew that He would and, as He made it clear to Peter, there would be a time when He would consciously go to Judea in order specifically to die, for that was His ultimate mission. But until then, there were 12 hours in a working day and He had work to do.
We have absolutely nothing to worry about each day if we are doing Yahweh's will for that day. That is the point. This morning, when I asked Yahweh what His will was for me, today's passage of Scripture kept coming up again and again and again. I knew there was a message here. When I asked Him why He had brought this Scripture to mind, my first thought was to wonder about the calendar and particularly the Sabbath which I have been thinking a lot of recently, as I still have unanswered questions. When I voiced one of my concerns to Him, He replied: "Do you measure your daily activities by the moon or by the sun?" Though He did not give me the answer I wanted, He opened up a whole new train of thoughts with new questions. One of the reasons we don't get questions answered in prayer is because we ask the wrong questions. Then He showed me a vision to help me further along the way.
Those who are obedient to Yahweh's daily will for them do not need to engage in second-guessing - there is never a need for them to ask, "What if?" Do we believe that our lives have been carefully mapped out by Him, and if we do, are we willing to follow the map or will we insist on trying to draw our own? Do the latter and there will be chaos in your life - in thought, in feelings, in deeds, in everything. There will be no apparent purpose and this will lead inevitably to a crisis of faith. You can only know Yahweh and have His shalom (peace) by daily walking your 12 daily hours obediently in His will.
So find out His will today and go to work!
Comments from Readers
"That was great! (SW, Germany, 17 January 2011)
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