2013 Broadcast:

By focusing only on the New Testament, we have lost so much in terms of our understanding of God, His Son and the ultimate plan for mankind. Realizing this, I can no longer consider myself to be a "New Testament, Bible Believing Christian" but rather a "FULL Testament, Bible Believing follower of Yeshua!"

By studying the Torah (as the First Century Believers did), we can learn a lot - including the meaning behind the oft quoted, "thief in the night" idiom. It comes from the Book of Leviticus:

The LORD said to Moses: “Give Aaron and his sons this command: ‘These are the regulations for the burnt offering: The burnt offering is to remain on the altar hearth throughout the night, till morning, and the fire must be kept burning on the altar. The priest shall then put on his linen clothes, with linen undergarments next to his body, and shall remove the ashes of the burnt offering that the fire has consumed on the altar and place them beside the altar. Then he is to take off these clothes and put on others, and carry the ashes outside the camp to a place that is ceremonially clean.The fire on the altar must be kept burning; it must not go out. Every morning the priest is to add firewood and arrange the burnt offering on the fire and burn the fat of the fellowship offerings on it.

The fire must be kept burning on the altar continuously; it must not go out.

- Leviticus 6:8-13 (NIV) [emphasis mine]

Notice the repeated statements that the fire must not go out! This was a command of God. So, the priests had to take it very serious! A tradition was therefore developed involving the priest of the night watch and the High Priest. Early in the morning, before dawn, the High Priest would return to the Temple to prepare everything for the daily sacrifices. He did so in a stealthy manner in order to "check on" the night priest to ensure he had done his job right.

Consider what this on-line source has to say about this issue:

The high priest would begin to walk around the temple looking for the priest.  If the priest was found to be asleep, the high priest would go over to the altar and gather some of the orange hot coals from the altar in a fire pan and bring them over to the sleeping priest and gently place them under the sleeping priests’ garments.

FYI, these weren’t fire retardant garments the priests wore either.  It is said that the priestly garments after being soiled were actually taken off and tore into strips and were used as wicks in the menorah in the temple.  So they lit up pretty easily. So the garments of the sleeping priest would soon be ignited in flames and the only thing that the slothful priest could do is shed all the garments and go home burnt, wounded, shamed, and naked.  This was an important lesson to the priest.

[emphasis mine]

In the above passage of Leviticus, we learn that they are to put on linen (highly flammable) clothes, with linen garments that clung close to his body. This was serious business! And this is what Yeshua means to emphasize in the time of Great Tribulation when He said,

"Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame."

- Revelation 16:15 (KJV)

From reading the Torah, we can get a much greater understanding of lots of things concerning the Messiah, including some of the idioms used in reference to the Last Days, like coming "as a thief in the night." The obvious implication is that we are to be awake, sober and alert so that when our High Priest, King and Bridegroom returns, we are ready for Him - which brings us back to the Parable of the Ten Virgins.

Exodus 34:21-24

New Living Translation (NLT)

²¹ “You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but on the seventh day you must stop working, even during the seasons of plowing and harvest.

²² “You must celebrate the Festival of Harvest with the first crop of the wheat harvest, and celebrate the Festival of the Final Harvest at the end of the harvest season. ²³ Three times each year every man in Israel must appear before the Sovereign, the Lord, the God of Israel. ²⁴ I will drive out the other nations ahead of you and expand your territory, so no one will covet and conquer your land while you appear before the Lord your God three times each year.