A couple of millennium ago, the King of the Universe became a servant to His creation.  Divesting himself of the majesty and glory that was rightfully His, He took on the flesh of mortal man and became our Korban Chatat (sin offering), our ultimate atonement.  This had been decreed from the foundations of creation, and as such a reality before Adam was.  The coming of our Mashiach was not one of question but rather a foregone conclusion.  Hashem said it, so it was an impossibility it wasn’t going to come to pass.Our Saviour rose on the first day of the week – yom rishon shavuah.  True it may have been the first day of the calendar week, but it most likely is referring to the first day of the omer.  The wording in a number of the passages refers to shabbaton – the plural form of shabbat.  The Feast of weeks (Shavu’ot) is a count of 7 sabbaths (shabbaton).  Unfortunately, within our culture the wording of our english bibles make it difficult for us to see these things.  During the first 40 days of the Omer, the Master appeared to many teaching and and proving his resurrection. It wasn’t about the fortieth day.  It WAS day 40.  They knew. They were counting.Then the Master leaves – but He says stick around, something neat is going to happen.  If you were living at that time, if you were zealous for Hashem and His ways, if you had saw Him on the shore of the Yarden that day during the 40 days of repentance, if you had saw him declare his Messiahship on Yom Kippur, if you had walked with him for three cycles of the torah parashat while he revealed the truth buried within, if you saw him enter the Holy City on the day your people selected their Pesach, if you had heard the crowds shout their affirmation that HE WAS their King while he rode upon a donkey like Moshe and Avraham, if you had heard him being tested in the house that was built for Him and found to be without fault, if you had taken the cup of wine from Him on the last Pesach Seder; if you saw him nailed to a cross on the day you and your brothers celebrated the first day of Chag Matzot (unleavened bread), if you heard that He had risen from the dead on the first day of the Omer, and if it was only 10 days until Shavu’ot –  and you heard Him say, “something is waiting happen”, what would you be thinking. Would you have your eyes fixed on the next mo’ed (feast) – Shavu’ot?I pray that you first 40 days have afforded you the opportunity to reflect on where you were, and where Hashem is taking you.  Each year I’m taken by the whole process of Bikurim – first fruits.  The focus is NOT the day our master died.  The focus is NOT the day our master rose from the dead.  The focus is NOT the day ascended.  The focus is HIM and His RETURN.  The days of the Omer give us 49 days to prepare our hearts, refine ourselves.  We’ve had our own Exodus, now we are on the way to the mountain to meet the Holy One, blessed is He.40 days our Master walked with them – then silence.  He was gone.  They only need to remain faithful and obedient.  If they didn’t keep counting, they’d miss it.  If they had missed one day – what would have been the ramifications?The coming of the Mashiach, is a thing of certainty.  He said it, and it will come to pass.  We only need remain faithful and obedient.Only 9 days left.  Don’t miss it.Shabbat Shalom!In His Dust,דוד