The Rapture of the Church

I have been wanting to write about the rapture for a few years, but have not felt the okay from the Spirit until now.  So I am a little excited about this post 🙂

I was raised in the Baptist church, and the idea that there were those in the church who did not believe there will one day be a rapture was a bit of a surprise to me.  When I went off to a Christian college, and sat through a theology class where they told us that their denomination didn’t believe in a rapture of the church because it is only found in one verse in the Bible, I was dumbfounded.  My thought was then, and still is, “So it is okay to say that an idea in the Bible is not true because there is only one verse.”  That is a very slippery slope no Christian should set foot upon.  NEVER disqualify ANY Scripture, EVER.  When you do, you disqualify the very Word of God.  Remember that ALL SCRIPTURE IS INSPIRED BY GOD (2 Timothy 3:16).  But enough of that soap box.

I want to go back to the base argument that the rapture is only mentioned once, because that is also an erroneous statement.  I will go through a number of those passages shortly.

The first thing I want to do is explain the word itself.  Rapture comes from the Latin word rapio.  The same word in Greek is harpazo.  According to Wikipedia’s definition of the word, it means to catch up or take away.  Thayer’s Greek Lexicon expands on that definition for the word harpazo:  to seize, carry off by force; to seize on, claim for one’s self eagerly; to snatch out or away.  And Strong’s defines harpazo as: to seize, catch away/up, pluck, pull, take by force.  Now lets look at some of the passages where it is seen.

Acts 8:39 (NKJV) – “Now when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Phillip away, so that the eunich saw him no more; and he went on his way rejoicing.”

Matthew 13:19 (NKJV) – “When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart.  This is he who received seed by the wayside.”

John 6:15 (NKJV) – “Therefore when Jesus perceived that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king, He departed again to the mountain by Himself alone.”

John 10:12 (NKJV) – “But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches  the sheep and scatters them.”

Acts 23:10 (NKJV) – “Now when there arose a great dissension, the commander, fearing lest Paul might be pulled to pieces by them, commanded the soldiers to go down and take him by force from among them, and bring him into the barracks.”

2 Corinthians 12:3-4 (NKJV) – “And I know such a man–whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows–how he was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.”

Here’s a favorite one.  John 10:28-29 (NKJV) – “And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out  of My hand.  My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all and no one is able to snatch them out  of My Father’s hand.”

As you can see from these passages, the word harpazo is used several times in the Bible, and is used in varying contexts, some spiritual, some physical, some good, some bad.  The point is that it is not a word that is used only once.

I’m sure you noticed that I didn’t list any verses using harpazo in reference to the church body.  Well of course I saved the best for last 🙂  Let’s take a look at Scripture passages that do talk about the rapture, harpazo, taking up of the Church.  Not all of them have the exact word in them, but all point to the same event.

Generally the first passage referred to regarding the rapture is 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17.  We will look at that one, but I want to go back further in the history of the New Testament first.

I’d like to start by looking at where the Church will go when Yeshua (the Hebrew name of Jesus) raptures it.  Look at John 14:2-3 (NKJV) – “In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you.  I go to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.”

One of the arguments I have heard against the rapture of the Church is this:  why would He come back part way from heaven, only to go back again.  I have also heard that because there is no rapture, this verse then must mean that Jesus will gather us to meet Him, and then we will go directly to reigning with Him during the millenium, or thousand year reign, on earth.

In order to truly understand the meaning of this passage, one must understand Jewish custom.  In these verses, Yeshua, who was speaking to His Jewish disciples, was making reference to a wedding ceremony.  Jesus often referred to His followers as His bride.  This is the context in which we must read these words.  Jewish weddings happened in 2 stages.  In the first stage, the bride would be betrothed, or would commit herself to marrying the groom.  After the betrothal, both would go back to their respective father’s homes.  The bride would prepare her wedding attire, and the groom would pay the bride price (Yeshua’s death on the cross), and  prepare a place for her, a home where they would live together.  When the home was completed, the groom would go to the bride’s father’s home, physically pick up the bride, who didn’t know when he was coming, and carry her to his father’s home where they would consummate the marriage and celebrate the wedding feast, which lasted 7 days.  Jesus’s disciples understood this analogy when He spoke it to them.  He was going to prepare a place for us, and then come to take us to be with Him there.

How do we know that this place that Jesus is preparing for us is in heaven, and not on earth?  First of all, because we know where Jesus went after His death and resurrection.  Acts 1:9 says – “Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.”  Oh!  Did you catch that harpazo?  Luke 24:51 says – “Now it came to pass, while He blessed them, that He was parted from them and carried up into heaven.”  So the bride will be taken up/snached up/carried away by the groom to the home that He has prepared for us in heaven.

It should also be noted that, aside from the home that Messiah is presently making for us in heaven, there is also reference to the Church’s presence in heaven during the time of Great Tribulation in Revelation 19:6-8 which says – “And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thunderings, saying, ‘Alleluia!  For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns!  Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.’  And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.”

After the marriage of the Lamb, Yeshua will return to earth to set up His kingdom, and the armies in heaven will be with Him.  Who are the armies?  The saints, His bride.  Look at the words.  Revelation 19:11-15a – “Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse.  And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war.  His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns.  He had a name written that no one knew except Himself.  He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God.  And the armies of heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses.  Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations.  And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron.”  (A long passage to point to one line, but I couldn’t leave out the impressive description of Yeshua.)  See the words used to describe the armies of heaven.  They are clothed in fine linen, white and clean.  These are the same words used to describe the bride of the Lamb just a few verses earlier (arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright).

Now let’s look at how the Church will get to heaven.  I want to go back to Acts 1.  The disciples had just witnessed Yeshua being raptured up to heaven and are standing there gawking up at the sky when two angels appear and say to them (vs 11), “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven?  This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.”  This is the same thing we see in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18, and I quote it here from the New King James Version.  “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God.  And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.  And thus we shall always be with the Lord.  Therefore comfort one another with these words.”

Another reference to this passage is found in Paul’s letter to the Corinthians.  1 Corinthians 15:50-53 – “Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does corruption inherit incorruption.  Behold, I tell you a mystery:  We will not all sleep, but we shall all be changed–in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.  For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptable, and we shall be changed.  For this corruptable must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.”  In 1 Thessalonians Paul tells believers that we will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air.  Here in 1 Corinthians, he expands on that by telling us that our bodies will be changed at that time from corruptable, mortal bodies to incorruptable, immortal bodies since the former cannot inherit, live in, heaven.

If we are to take the Bible as God’s Word, full of His truth, we must look at these passages and agree that the Church will be raptured, taken up, caught up, snatched away to heaven, by the groom to the place He is preparing for His bride, where we will celebrate the wedding feast of the Lamb, and from where we will return, clothed in fine linen, riding on white horses, to be with Yeshua when He sets up His reign on earth after the Great Tribulation.

This has been a very full post, but I want to address the when of the rapture because Paul tells us in 1 Thessalonians to “comfort one another with these words.”  But what comfort is there if the rapture comes after the Great Tribulation and we must all live through it?  So let’s look at a couple of things with this in mind.

First, if the rapture happened at the end of the Tribulation, we would go to heaven, then turn around and come right back down for the millenial kingdom.  What then would the purpose be of the home that Yeshua is making for us?  And when would we celebrate the wedding feast of the Lamb?  Remember, too, that the time that the bride is at the place prepared for her at the groom’s father’s house is a week, 7 days celebrating the marriage feast.  The Great Tribulation is 7 years.  The analogy is not coincidental.  Since the bride did not arrive half way through the wedding feast, but at the beginning, it can also be understood that the Church will be raptured at the beginning of the 7 years’ of tribulation.

Let’s quickly look at some other passages that help to give us the hope and assurance of the rapture and the deliverance from the Great Tribulation.

Go all the way back to Deuteronomy where Moses prophesies much about the future of Israel.  In chapter 32:21 God says this – “They [Israel] have provoked Me to jealousy by what is not God; they have moved Me to anger by their foolish idols.  But I will provoke them to jealousy by those who are not a nation; I will move them to anger by a foolish nation.”  The foolish nation, and those who are not a nation are the Gentiles, to whom God would bring salvation after the Judean leadership rejected Jesus.  Paul also quotes this in Romans 10:19.  What would provoke Israel to jealousy for God?  I’ll tell you.

Just yesterday I was reading comments on a Facebook post about a Jewish man who had become a follower of Messiah.  He commented time and again about how Judaism was just a show.  That the actions the people took, the feasts and holidays were in appearance only, not acts of the heart, and not a lifestyle.  A very traditional, and obviously orthodox Jewish woman, argued in multiple strains of conversation.  Her perspective as a Jewish person in DNA and in faith is that God is the only god (she is right), and that salvation is for the Jews only.  Worship of Yeshua is idolatry in her mind.  What would make this woman, and the whole  nation of Israel so jealous of God that they are driven to anger?  Obviously not the Christian faith, or the followers of Yeshua.  What would cause the nation of Israel to become so jealous that they would turn their hearts once again to true worship of God?  What do you suppose is going to be Israel’s reaction when millions of people around the world disappear, and they begin to realize that the people who disappeared are the Christian Church?  Won’t they react like the brother of the prodigal son?  I was here all this time, yet You throw a feast for this one?

God also promises to keep us from the time of trouble.  That would be a reference to Jacob’s Trouble (Jeremiah 30:7), and the Last Days which Jesus taught about in Matthew 24, one and the same.  In 1 Thessalonians 1:10 Paul says, “and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.”  And again in chapter 5, verse 10 – “For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

A very telling verse is in Revelation among the letters to the 7 churches.  To be fully understood, however, the reader must recognize that these letters have a 3-fold purpose.  The first was as letters to the actual churches addressing their current state.  The second is as letters to individual Christians to help examine their faith.  The third is prophetic covering the entire Church Age with the first letter going to the earliest church as a whole, and the seventh going to the final church body.  The 6th letter is addressed to the Church in Philadelphia, and says this in chapter 3:10 – “Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.”

This then is the hope that Paul speaks of.  Will we go through tribulation?  Absolutely.  Jesus said we would.  And we do.  We are.  Look around you.  We suffer pain, sickness, death.  Christians all over the world deal with persecution in very wide variances of degrees, from facing mockery to facing death.  But this is nothing compared to the tribulation that is coming during the time of God’s wrath when He punishes the world for rejecting Him and His Son.  That is the time that Jesus talks about preceding His return, the 2nd coming of Christ, which will result in the establishment of His earthly kingdom.  Recall from 1 Thessalonians 4 and 1 Corinthians 15 that the rapture will happen in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye.  It will be lightening fast.  But the Bible says about the 2nd coming of Jesus that all the people of the world will look up and see Him coming and they will mourn.  Matthew 24:30 – “Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the land will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.”  Yeshua doesn’t say that they will look up and bam, He is there.  He says they will see Him coming.  Coming is an ongoing action, not an instantaneous happening.  They will see Him and they will mourn.  I guarantee you that mourning won’t be a flash in the pan either.  Especially since this is where we pick up with Revelation 19 again.  Recall that description of Jesus?  Eyes like fire, crowned with many crowns, robe dipped in blood, and followed by the saints wearing fine linen.  If you pick it up there, verses 15-17, you see that He comes to judge the world.  “Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations.  And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron.  He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.  And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written:  KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.”

At the time of the rapture, Jesus comes to take His church out of this world.  God then sends judgement on all the nations of the world who rejected Him.  This is known as the Last Days, and as the Time of Jacob’s Trouble because the entire world will eventually turn against Israel.  Israel will scatter, many fleeing to Jordan.  The antichrist will seek to completely wipe out all of Israel during this time, but God will preserve a remnant.  And then…”Then I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication, when they will look toward Me whom they pierced.  They will mourn for Him as one mourns for an only son and grieve bitterly for Him, as one grieves for a firstborn.”  Zachariah 12:10.  That is the second coming of Christ, when all that remains of Israel will be saved, not just physically, but spiritually when they finally realize that Yeshua is their long-awaited Messiah.

Our salvation does not depend on whether or not we believe there will be a rapture of the Church, or when we think it will take place.  Some may question then why I take the time to write about it and discuss it.  I do it for this reason:  “Therefore comfort one another with these words.”

It’s Undeniable: The End Times are Here…NOW

Here is a 2-part series, published on another site first.

For two thousand years, Christians all over the world have been watching the signs of the times, with an eye on the clouds, always waiting and wondering when Yeshua (Jesus) would return.  

They have witnessed, lived through, and died at the hands of unspeakable evil.  The words of Yeshua in Matthew 24 have been forever on our lips. There have been earthquakes, famines, pestilences, false prophets, wars and rumors of wars.  And always we have wondered how much worse can things get?  Surely this present evil is the last straw, the one which will bring God to the point of judgment.  Yet Yeshua has lingered- God’s patience for mankind reaching far beyond what our own sinful hearts can.  So when leaders in the Christian world today speak of the soon return of the Messiah, many scoff. Perhaps they have been so hardened by the wait that they no longer believe.

There is a problem with what 2000 years’ worth of Christians have looked at to determine the signs of the times, however.  In my 3-part article “Who is Israel? And What Role, If Any, Does She Play in God’s Kingdom” I explain how the Gentile church’s anti-Semitic history has not only removed the Jewishness from Jesus, Christianity, and the Bible, but has also effectively eliminated the importance of the Old Testament.  This, then, is the problem.

What Yeshua said in Matthew 24 was not the be all, end all of end time prophecy.  To get the complete picture, one must study a great deal of the Old Testament.  In fact, sixteen of the OT books are books of prophecy.  Many of the prophecies written there have already been fulfilled in the first coming of Messiah, and the events that happened to the nation of Judah in the year 70 AD when the Jews were scattered throughout the world.  Many others have not.  The only way to truly understand end-time prophecy is to study the Old Testament.

This is the year 2016, and I am telling you that the time of Yeshua’s return is near, very near.  Not because of the evil of this present age, not because of the increase in natural disasters, not because there is unbelievable unrest all over the world.  I am telling you this because of what is happening to and around Israel.  

Israel is the key to understanding end-time prophecy.

The rapture, the 2nd coming of Messiah, the Tribulation, they all center on Israel, not the Church.  When Israel became a nation in her own land in 1948, the ball was set in motion because that was a prophecy that had remained unfulfilled until that time.

I want to address a couple of terms.  First, the House of Israel and the House of Ephraim are one and the same.  They are the 10 tribes of Israel which became the Northern Kingdom after the time of King Solomon.  They were eventually assimilated by Assyria, not to be heard from until this past decade in which the remnant God preserved has begun to awaken and return to the Promised Land.

Second, the House of Judah was the 2 remaining tribes, which became the Southern Kingdom of Israel, or just Judah.  They were taken captive by Babylon (where they were first called Jews), but allowed to return to Jerusalem 70 years later (a fulfilled OT prophecy).  These same Jews were the ones who centuries later bore Yeshua (Jesus), and later played a major role in crucifying Him.  As a consequence, another 70 years later, Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed, and all the Jews were scattered throughout the world.  The land of Israel was gone, and the people were no longer a nation.  Finally, the Whole House of Israel is all 12 tribes of Israel, the House of Israel/Ephraim and the House of Judah, united as the original nation of Israel that God designed.

With this quick lesson in terminology under our belts, let’s start digging into what Ezekiel has to say about what is happening in our world today.

Ezekiel 36:7-12 (TLV) –

Therefore thus says Adonai Elohim: ‘I have lifted My hand. Surely the nations that surround you will themselves suffer scorn.  “‘But you, mountains of Israel, you will shoot forth your branches and yield your fruit for My people Israel; for their return is near.  For behold, I am for you. I will turn to you. You will be tilled and sown.  I will settle a large population upon you—the whole house of Israel, all of it. The cities will be inhabited. The desolate places will be built up.  I will multiply man and beast upon you. They will increase and be fruitful. I will cause you to be inhabited as you were before. I will do better for you than at your beginnings. You will know that I am Adonai.  I will cause people, my people Israel, to walk upon you. They will possess you, and you will be their inheritance. You will no longer deprive them of children.’”

These verses are a promise from God that He would someday return the whole house of Israel to the land He promised them. This little bit of wording is so important in understanding what is being said here.  God said “the whole house of Israel, all of it.”  Israel has not been united since the civil war divided it after King Solomon died.

As I mentioned above, the House of Israel was assimilated by Assyria, and not heard from again.  That was during the time of the great prophets of Isaiah and Jeremiah, in 722 BC.  The House of Judah, which was captured by Babylon and returned to Jerusalem 70 years later, around 538 BC, was again evicted in 70 AD.  The two houses of Israel have not been the “whole house” since some time in the upper 800s BC.  And none of the nation of Israel, Judah or Israel/Ephraim, were in the land of Israel from the year 70 AD onward…until 1948.  

In that year, Israel was established as a nation again, and given at least a portion of the land that God had promised to their forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  Even then, this was only the Jews…those of the House of Judah.  The House of Israel remained lost; lost to the world, but not to God.  God had promised to preserve a remnant of each of the tribes and return them to Israel.  This began in the late 1990s.

Small communities all over the world, who have maintained the Israeli Law of Moses for thousands of years began to awaken- a miracle of God.  They began to recognize themselves and their culture as being of Israel, and they began to seek to return to the land of Israel.  In 2005 Israel approved measures allowing these groups to begin returning home.  These groups are not Jewish, because they are not of the House of Judah (the tribes of Judah and Benjamin), but they are Israelites, from the House of Israel, identifying with the 10 lost tribes who were assimilated 2700+ years ago.  God is bringing the whole house of Israel back to the land.

In Ezekiel 37:15-22 God told Ezekiel to take two sticks.  On one, he was to write the name of Judah, and the other, Israel, each stick representing one of the two houses.  He was to bind the sticks together to symbolize that they would become one stick/nation again.  In verse 24 we are told that “My servant David will be king over them.”  Obviously, this was not in reference to King David, for he had died long before.  This is a reference to the millennial reign of Yeshua when He returns to set up His kingdom on earth, His thousand year reign.

End-time point number one:  the two houses of Israel (Judah and Israel/Ephraim) will be united as one nation again, and be brought back to the land of Israel by the time that Yeshua begins His thousand year reign on earth.  Judah has been back in the land since 1948, and the remaining tribes of Israel have been making their way back gradually since 2005, becoming the whole house of Israel that God talked about.

Next, take a half step back in Scripture to Ezekiel 36:27.  Here God tells His people that He will put His Spirit within them, and that they will keep His laws, and obey His rules.  Israel has returned, but they do not keep God’s laws- the Law of Moses as described in Exodus and Leviticus.  Even the most orthodox Jew who desires to keep the Law is unable to do it completely, because there is no temple.  Certain parts of the Law must be done at the Temple and require animal sacrifice.

With a Muslim mosque standing on the Holy Hill where the Temple of God must stand, how can this be an indicator that the end times are here?

This is how- which brings me to End-Times Point Number Two:  A third Temple will be built at some point during the end times because the AntiChrist will desecrate it.  A group of Orthodox Jews have begun to raise money and build the artifacts for the third Temple, including the altar, which will allow them to resume complete obedience to God and His Law, and which God Himself foretold in Ezekiel 36.  In fact, recently, the altar was completed to the great excitement of many who are following the progress, including myself.

The original Temple that King Solomon built was destroyed when Jerusalem was taken captive by Babylon, and its artifacts were taken as booty.  A second temple was built when Judah returned from that captivity 70 years later, and the artifacts were returned.  This temple was destroyed 70 years after the crucifixion of Yeshua.  The book of Revelation talks about a third Temple, the one that will be rebuilt during the first 3 ½ years of the Great Tribulation, and which will be desecrated by the Anti-Christ.

PART TWO

In part 1 of this article we examined two End-Time Points:  The first is that God promised to not only unite the divided Israel (the House of Judah, and the House of Israel, sometimes called the House of Ephraim), but also to return them to the land of Israel and rule them under one king, David (symbolic of Yeshua/Jesus).  In 1948, Judah was returned to the land of Israel, and as of 2005, the ten lost tribes of the House of Ephraim were beginning to return as well.  What remains is for that process to be completed and for Yeshua to return for His thousand year reign on earth.

The second point is that the book of Revelations speaks of a third Temple during the Great Tribulation, one that will be desecrated by the Anti-Christ.  God said, through Ezekiel, in chapter 36, that He would put His Spirit in the people of Israel and they would again obey His Laws (the Law of Moses).  This obedience to the Law is currently limited without a Temple because animal sacrifice, and certain other ordinances require the Temple and the altar.  In the past few years, a group of Orthodox Jews have been working to rebuild the Temple artifacts (which includes the recent completion of the altar) in preparation for the third Temple, as soon as they are able to do so.  Currently, a Muslim mosque stands on God’s Holy Hill, but rest assured, God will not allow this mockery forever, and with the building of the artifacts, that time appears to be nearing soon.

The world is currently setting the stage for the Gog/Magog war.  In Ezekiel 38:1-6, God gives a list of nations that He will turn toward Israel, and bring up against her.  It seems to be a general consensus that Gog/Magog is Russia.  Gog was a title for a prince, while Magog was the nation.  Also listed is Rosh (northern part of Russia that borders with Europe), Meshech (Moscow), and Tubal (Tobolsk of Siberia).  Verse 3 says, “Thus says the Lord God:  ‘Behold, I am against you, O Gog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal.’”

In verses 5-6, God states that Persia, Ethiopia, Libya, Gomer and Togarmah will join Magog in this attack on Israel. Until 1935, the present day nation of Iran was called by its ancient name of Persia.  Gomer is believed to be possibly Germany, or at the very least part of the land which is now Turkey.  Togarmah is known to be in what is now Turkey.

Ezekiel 38:8-12 – “After many days you will be visited. In the latter years you will come into the land of those brought back from the sword and gathered from many people on the mountains of Israel, which had long been desolate; they were brought out of the nations, and now all of them dwell safely.  You will ascend, coming like a storm, covering the land like a cloud, you and all your troops and many peoples with you.”   ‘Thus says the Lord God: “On that day it shall come to pass that thoughts will arise in your mind, and you will make an evil plan:  You will say, ‘I will go up against a land of unwalled villages; I will go to a peaceful people, who dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates’—to take plunder and to take booty, to stretch out your hand against the waste places that are again inhabited, and against a people gathered from the nations, who have acquired livestock and goods, who dwell in the midst of the land.

What does this passage tell us?  First of all, notice that the people of Israel will be brought out from the nations and will be living in the land of Israel.  We know from part 1 of this article, and the review above, that the whole house of Israel is now in the process of being united, and living in the land.

Second, these verses speak of the people of Israel dwelling in safety.  Israel today faces many threats, to be sure.  However, their determination to never again go through anything like the WWII holocaust has led them to build up one of the best, if not the best military defense systems in the world.  They recognize that they need to be able to completely and independently defend themselves because there is no guarantee that any other nation will come to their defense.  The recent vote by the United Nations to allow Iran a pathway to obtaining nuclear weapons is a case in point.  Israel has certainly become a nation secure in its own defense.

Finally, this coming battle is not the Battle of Armageddon.  That battle is when Messiah returns at His second coming and defeats all the armies of the world.  The battle talked about here in Ezekiel is commonly called the Battle of Gog and Magog. The Battle of Armageddon will begin when all the nations of the world, led by the Anti-Christ, surround Israel with the intent to destroy her, completely obliterate her.  The Battle of Gog has a completely different intent.  Russia, Iran, Turkey, Libya, Ethiopia, and probably Germany, will surround Israel in order to plunder her riches.

Is Israel really wealthy enough to care about plundering her?  In the fall of 2015, a huge supply of oil was discovered in Israel’s Golan Heights that is estimated to be billions of gallons.  What does Russia need most?  Oil.  Around the same time as the oil find, Russia began to test the waters militarily.  They moved into Syria under the pretense of fighting ISIS.  How would the rest of the free world respond to their military advancement?  Well, it gave the news outlets something to talk about for a while.

Let’s bundle some of this together.  Israel is now so secure in their ability to defend themselves that they have signed agreements with none other than Russia and Turkey.  The end of last month, Israel and Russia signed an agreement in an effort to stabilize relations in the area.  At the same time, they signed an agreement with Turkey that would allow Israel to build a pipeline through Turkey to enable the transportation of natural gas to Europe.  What better evidence of Israel’s sense of security than agreements with these two nations?  This most certainly could lead to the “unwalled villages” mentioned in the passage above.

Let’s move on to verse 13 – “Sheba, Dedan, the merchants of Tarshish, and all their young lions will say to you [Gog], ‘Have you come to take plunder? Have you gathered your army to take booty, to carry away silver and gold, to take away livestock and goods, to take great plunder?’”

Barely over a week after the Russian and Turkey deals, Israel revealed agreements with four African nations: Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, and Rwanda.  They have offered humanitarian assistance and military aid, as well as education and training in the areas of science and military for decades.  In an effort to make Israel known as an independent military superpower in the region, they have now made this information public.

When the Gog alliance comes against Israel, there will be nations who will openly question their actions, but none will come to her aid.  Israel will stand alone.  The merchants of Tarshish are nations of East Africa.  Sheba and Dedan are England and Spain.

What about the United States?  Last fall, I wrote an article called King of Kings…Lord of Presidents (published on http://www.madisonscpc.net), in which I stated that I believe God is going to place Donald Trump in the office of president.  God has a plan to use this pagan leader to fulfill His purposes for the US.  This was confirmed for me when a contributing writer for Madisons CPC, Terresa Monroe-Hamilton, published a 3-part series entitled Trump: The Russian Connection in which she chronicles an amazing friendship between Donald Trump, a number of his campaign personnel, and highly influential Russians.

It will be interesting to see how that relationship plays out in the days, months, and years ahead now that Donald Trump is indeed President of the United States.

The world may turn their backs on Israel when the Battle of Gog begins, but God will not.  For the first time in centuries, God will make Himself known in a very obvious way.  Israel will know that God has not forgotten them.  And the rest of the world will know that Israel is still God’s chosen people, the apple of His eye.

As Russia, Turkey, Iran, Libya, Ethiopia, and Germany come against Israel, God will show the fury of His wrath.  There will be an earthquake so great that Ezekiel 38:20 says, “the fish of the sea, the birds of the heavens, the beasts of the field, all creeping things that creep on the earth, and all men who are on the face of the earth shall shake at My presence.”  The mountains will crumble.

God will confuse the Israel’s enemies so that they will destroy each other.  There will be pestilence, flooding rains, hailstones, fire, and brimstone from heaven.  The whole world will know that He is GOD!  At the same time, the homelands of these warring nations will come under God’s judgement, as well.  The death toll of Israel’s enemies will be so great that it will take Israel seven months to bury all the dead, and seven years to completely destroy all of the weapons left by them.

The stage is set.  The only questions remaining are when, and what about the Christians?  Don’t they say anything? Do anything?  Some religious scholars believe that the Rapture will come before this time.  With the disappearance of millions of Christians, the world will be in complete chaos, including the markets, and will create a tremendous need to have control of massive oil reserves.  It would also explain the lack of the voice of the church in defense of Israel.

However, other scholars say that there is no evidence pointing in either direction, and so we Christians could very well be here on earth to witness the Gog/Magog war.

Yeshua said no one knows the day or the hour, not even Him.  However, He didn’t want us to be clueless either.  If He had, He would not have given us all the prophecies and signs that point to the end.  Prophecies are undeniably being fulfilled.  We cannot know the day or hour, but we can recognize the season, and it is now.  Prepare the way of the Lord, for He cometh!!

Keep one eye on Israel, and one eye on the clouds.  Come quickly Lord Yeshua!

*Scripture passages taken from the Tree of Life Version and the New King James Version.

The 7 Feasts of Israel and Their Link to Messianic Prophecy

Hello!

I have just finished a 3-part series about the Feasts of Israel and what part they play in the Messiah’s life.  It is absolutely amazing, and something we Gentile Christians miss far too often.  I promise you, you will be amazed!  These posts were originally published on another site.  I will post all three here for ease of access.

PART ONE

At the time of Moses, God commanded Israel to celebrate seven feasts.  They were Passover, Unleavened Bread, First Fruits, Weeks, Trumpets, Day of Atonement, and Tabernacles.  Passover through Weeks were spring feasts, while Trumpets through Tabernacles were fall feasts.  The question is, if these feasts were commanded for Israel to follow, what does it matter to the Church?  There are two primary answers.  First, as people grafted into the tree of Israel, every Christian should know and understand these feasts.  Truthfully we should follow them in some way on the appropriate days as well.  I’ll get more into that later.  The second reason is that each of these feasts is intricately connected to Messianic prophecy, some fulfilled, and others yet to be.

Before we begin looking at the feasts, let’s take a brief look at the Jewish calendar.  Israel today, and always, has followed a lunar calendar.  The first day of the month is the day after the new moon, with the first sliver of the moon.  The 14th of the month is always the full moon.  Every month is always 28 days.  This was established by God at the time of the Exodus.  The Jewish day (according to God in the creation story…and the evening and the morning was the first day) begins at sundown and ends the following sundown.  So the Sabbath actually begins Friday night at sunset, and ends Saturday at sunset.  The days of the week do not have names, as we do.  Sunday is the first day of the week; Monday is the second, and so on.  Saturday is not day six.  It is simply Sabbath.  The same was originally true of the months of the year.  Names were given during the time of captivity in Babylon.

Just as we, with the solar calendar, have a leap year in which we add a day to sort of readjust the calendar for the ¼ rotation, the Jewish calendar has a leap month, so to speak.  There is a 19-year cycle in which an extra month is added to the yearly calendar in years 3, 6, 8, 11, 14, 17, and 19.  This does not have anything to do with our topic, but it is interesting.

One last thing about the Jewish calendar.  Just as we have different year markers, so do they.  By that I mean, the first of our calendar year is January 1.  A fiscal year can begin anytime a company chooses.  And for those of you, like me, who live in the education world, the new year begins in August or September.  In fact, I am known to wish my fellow teachers, and my students a happy new year on day one back to work.

Israel has a religious calendar and a civil calendar.  The religious calendar begins in the  spring.  The first day is in the month of Nissan, which comes during our time of March and into April.  The first day of the civil year is in the fall.  It is the 7th religious month, but the first civil month.  This is when they celebrate Rosh Hashanah, the new year, and when the number of the year turns over to the next.  In the month of Tishri (our September/October) this fall the Jewish year will turn over from 5776 to 5777.  Their years are calculated according to dates in the Bible from the time of creation.  So much for billions of years.  Since Jews, by in large, do not recognize the Christian calendar with BC and AD (before and after Christ), they use the terms Common or Christian Era (CE) and Before the Common Era (BCE).

With this information, let’s get started on the feasts.  The first feast is probably the most familiar for the Christian.  It is Passover.  Passover was instilled by God before Moses even led Israel out of Egypt.  The Passover was the last of the ten plagues inflicted upon Egypt for not allowing God’s people to leave.  The Israelites were commanded to select a year old male sheep, without blemish, on the 10th day of the first month (Nissan).  They were to take it into their home for four days.  On the 14th they were to sacrifice this lamb, roast it, and eat it with bitter herbs and unleavened bread.

Very specific instructions were given.  It is especially important to note the lamb was to be without blemish.  They were also told not to break any bones.  The lamb was not to be moved outside of the house, and if any of the meat was not eaten, the whole thing was to be burned up.  The people were to brush blood from the lamb on the sides and top of the door frame of their house, and no one was to leave the house before morning.  That night, God went through all of Egypt and killed every firstborn male, human and beast, that was not covered by the blood.  It was the blood of the lamb that brought salvation from slavery in Egypt to the people of Israel.

Some of the keywords of this story should ring little bells in the mind of the Christian.  The lamb without blemish whose blood brought salvation, for one.  The Israelites were commanded to keep the Passover every year on the same date as a memorial to what God had done for them.  Yeshua (Jesus) was brought up observing the Passover and observed it during His adult life.  In fact, it was during the observance of the Passover that we find some striking parallels.

On the 10th day of Nissan, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, Yeshua, entered into Jerusalem in preparation for the Passover.  During the Passover meal, Yeshua took the bread (unleavened bread) broke it and said, “This is my body.”  (Leaven, in the Bible, represents sin.)  Yeshua equated the unleavened (sinless) bread to himself.  Yeshua also took the cup of wine and said, “This is my blood poured out for many.”

The Passover meal (and now what we call the Last Supper) was eaten at night, on the 14th of Nissan.  That date carried over to daylight…still the 14th, still Passover.  At nine a.m., Yeshua was put on the cross.  Six hours later, at three p.m., He died…on Passover.  The lamb without blemish, whose blood brought salvation from the slavery of sin.  The unleavened/sinless bread that was pierced for our sins.  The blood on the doorpost…taken upon ourselves through communion…that delivers us from eternal, spiritual death.

The Passover Feast was a celebration of what God had done for Israel and continues to be for them.  But as with many Jewish symbols established by God, there was a shadow of something more- a prophecy that was fulfilled in Yeshua.

There are six more feasts to cover, and we will get to those in future parts of this article, so please be watching for them.

PART TWO

In the first article of this series, we learned the Jewish calendar, established by God, is a lunar calendar.  The months are 28 days long, beginning on the first sliver after the new moon, with the middle of the month always being the full moon.  Each new day begins at sundown and ends at sundown the following day.  An understanding of the Jewish calendar is important to understand how and when the 7 Feasts are held, when the Sabbath actually is, and how these times relate to events in the life and death of Messiah.

We also looked at the first of the 7 Feasts God commanded the Israelites to observe, Passover.  Passover was not only a memorial to the physical salvation God gave the Israelites when He brought them out of slavery in Egypt, but also a symbol of the spiritual salvation that was given by Yeshua (Jesus) when He died on the cross.  In fact, Yeshua fulfilled the prophecy that is the Passover Feast when He became the young male lamb without blemish that was sacrificed for our salvation.  You can read that full article here.

Today we continue with the remainder of what are known as the Spring Feasts (Passover, Unleavened Bread, First Fruits, and Feast of Weeks or Pentecost).

The Passover always begins at sundown on the 14^th of the month of Nisan, regardless of what day of the week it was.  Because it was the 14^th of a lunar month, it was also on a full moon.  The year that Yeshua was crucified on Passover, the 14^th happened to begin (at sundown) on a Friday.  The very next day, the 15^th was the day beginning the Feast of Unleavened Bread.  That year it would have started on the Sabbath.  This was why Yeshua had to give up His spirit before sundown on Passover.  It was normal for a crucified person to take up to three days to die.  Yeshua died in six hours, so there would be time to bury His body before the Sabbath, which was also the beginning of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

Unleavened bread, called Matzah, is bread made without yeast.  The Israelites in Egypt were commanded to make the dough for their exodus without yeast, because they would not have time to wait for it to rise before they fled.  They ate Matzah during the Passover meal and then carried uncooked Matzah dough with them when they left Egypt.  The bread itself is symbolic.  Leaven or yeast, in the Bible, is representative of sin.  When the bread is made, it is pierced all over, and covered with stripes, to make sure no rising takes place.  Then it is broken and eaten.  The Feast of Unleavened Bread lasts a full seven days.  The number seven in the Bible is very significant.  It means completeness or wholeness.

As with all of the Feasts, Unleavened Bread has Messianic prophetic meaning.  Yeshua was the Passover Lamb who was crucified on Passover.  He was also the unleavened bread; the bread that was completely without sin- pierced and striped for our sins.  Isaiah 53:5 (TLV) – “But He was pierced because of our transgressions, crushed because of our iniquities.  The chastisement for our shalom [peace] was upon Him, and by His stripes, we are healed.”

This is not a presumption made by people wishing to put meaning where there is none.  Consider the words of 1 Corinthians 11:23-24 (TLV): “For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you—that the Lord Yeshua, on the night He was betrayed, took matzah; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, ‘This is My body, which is for you.  Do this in memory of Me.’”

Yeshua, the Lamb without blemish, sacrificed on Passover:  prophecy fulfilled.

Yeshua, the lineless unleavened bread, broken and buried on the Feast of Unleavened Bread:  prophecy fulfilled.

The third Feast follows on the heels of Passover and Unleavened Bread.  In fact, it can sometimes fall in the middle of Unleavened Bread.  The Feast of First Fruits was first celebrated after the Israelites were at long last in the Promised Land and had produced a crop.  It was the celebration of the spring crops and the act of giving back to God the first fruits of what He had provided for them.  Again, Passover was the 14^th of Nisan, and Unleavened Bread, the 15^th, regardless of the day of the week.  The Feast of First Fruits was on the Sunday following the Sabbath that was during the time of the 7-day-long Feast of Unleavened Bread.  It is always on a Sunday.  Because Passover and Unleavened Bread were on Friday and Saturday in the year that Yeshua was crucified, it worked out perfectly that the very next day, the Sunday which would be the Feast of First Fruits, would be the third day, on which Yeshua was raised from the dead.  1 Corinthians 15:20 (TLV):  “But now Messiah has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.”

Feast prophecy #3:  fulfilled.

The last of the Spring Feasts is the Feast of Weeks.  It is exactly 50 days after Firstfruits.  Recall that Firstfruits is the Sunday after the Sabbath that is within Unleavened Bread.  Count from that Sabbath 7 weeks – 49 days from Sabbath to Sabbath, then add one more day to make 50.  Like the Feast of Firstfruits, the Feast of Weeks is always on a Sunday.  If you are good with calendars, you have perhaps already figured out that Weeks is what the Gentile church calls Pentecost (its Greek name).

All of the seven Feasts are given as commands in Leviticus 23.  Passover is mentioned, but most of its instructions were given in Exodus 12.  Leviticus records the Law as given to the people of Israel through Moses by God on Mt. Sinai.  Jewish tradition says that it took exactly 50 days for the Israelite people to travel from Egypt to Mt. Sinai, where they received God’s Law.  It was obedience to this law that determined God’s presence with the people.  In fact, in Exodus 32 we have the story of the golden calf.  Moses went up to Mt. Sinai to receive the Law from God.  While he was there, the people gave him up for dead, gathered gold jewelry, melted it down and made a golden calf to worship.  As a result, two very significant things happened.  The first is that about 3,000 men were killed for their leadership in building the calf (of interesting note is that no one from the tribe of Levi participated, and thus they received the blessing of being the tribe of priests).  Remember that number.

The second thing was that the Spirit of God would no longer be present within the camp.  Up to this point, God dwelt in the midst of the people.  He lead them by manifesting Himself as a pillar of cloud by day, and a pillar of fire by night.  From this point on, His angel led the people, and God only met with Moses, outside of the camp, at the Tent of Meeting (Exodus 32:34; Exodus 33:1-3).

Now we jump back to the Feast of Weeks/Pentecost after Yeshua’s death and resurrection.  In the wilderness, at the time of the Feast of Weeks, God gave the people His Law, obedience to which determined how God dwelt with or manifested Himself with the people.  On the Feast of Weeks, after Yeshua went back to Heaven, God sent His Holy Spirit to dwell within His people, all who believe, both Jew and Gentile.  God’s presence was no longer dependent upon our obedience, but upon the belief and acceptance of the perfect obedience of Yeshua.  Because He was sinless, our acceptance of His sacrifice meant that we could never lose the presence of God within us by any doing of our own.

Note also the number I emphasized earlier:  3,000.  Three thousand men were lost in the wilderness due to their disobedience to the Law; their rejection of God as the God who saved them from bondage.  Acts 2:41 (TLV):  “So those who received his message were immersed, and that day about three thousand souls were added.”  Hundreds of years after 3,000 souls were lost, 3,000 were redeemed for their acceptance of God’s salvation from bondage, the bondage of sin.

Feast #4:  prophecy fulfilled.

PART THREE

In parts 1 and 2 of this series, we studied the Jewish calendar and four of the seven feasts established by God.  The first four are the spring feasts: Passover, Unleavened Bread, Weeks, and First Fruits.  They are all more than God-ordained feasts.  They are all also Messianic prophecies, which have been fulfilled.

Today we will look at the remaining three feasts, the fall feasts:  Trumpets, Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), and Tabernacles (Sukkot)- all have yet to be fulfilled.

What is the significance to the long wait between the two sets of feasts?  You will recall that the spring feasts were all fulfilled through Messiah’s death, burial, resurrection and the coming of His Holy Spirit.  Each feast represented something significant about what happened in Israel’s past, but was also a prophecy that shadowed the coming of the Messiah.  They were all tied into the spring harvest, as well.

The Feast of First Fruits (on which Messiah was raised to life, and is called the First Fruits of the resurrected) is, in fact, the festival to give thanks to God for the spring harvest.  The spring harvest is the smaller harvest; its first produce is to be offered up to God as a sacrifice.  During the summer, the wheat crops are grown, and the larger crop is harvested in the fall. This is commemorated with the Feast of Trumpets.

In his letter to the Corinthians, Paul tells us that Messiah is the first fruits of those to be resurrected, and those who belong to Messiah are the seconds (1 Cor. 15:20-23).  Yeshua (Jesus) was raised to life on the day of the Feast of First Fruits.  The summer growing season is the time we are living in now.  The time after the spring harvest when the new seed is planted and grown for the greater harvest in the fall.  That harvest will be when Yeshua calls His church to Himself.

This opens up an interesting discussion regarding the Rapture of the Church.  Why believe that the Feast of Trumpets prophecy will be fulfilled by the Rapture?  During this feast, the shofar, or trumpets, are blown.  The trumpets were a signal to all Israelites to stop what they were doing and gather at the temple, whether the harvest was complete or not.  It was a call to gather before the presence of the Lord.

1 Corinthians 15:51-52* says, “Behold, I tell you a mystery:  We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed— In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last shofar.  For the shofar [trumpet] will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed.”

1 Thessalonians 4:16-17* – “For the Lord Himself shall come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the blast of God’s shofar, and the dead in Messiah shall rise first.  Then we who are alive, who are left behind, will be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air—and so we shall always be with the Lord.”

Both of these passages tell of a trumpet blast before all believers, dead first, then living, will be called into the presence of the Lord.  Yeshua, Himself, made this promise.  Look at what He says in John 14:2-3*:  “In My Father’s house there are many dwelling-places.  If it were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?  If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to Myself, so that where I am you may also be.”

In these verses, Yeshua was speaking in symbolic terms that the disciples, as Jews, would understand.  It was traditional for a groom to leave His bride with her family while he went off to build a home for them.  Once that home was completed, he would return to get her.  He would literally pick her up and carry her to their new home where they would live together.

In Matthew 25, we know that Yeshua refers to Himself as the groom.  His bride is the body of believers, both Jew and Gentile, who make up the Church [This does not include the unbelieving Jew.  Jeremiah 8:20 – “Harvest is past, summer is over, yet we are not saved.”  A remnant will be saved during the Tribulation.].  Yeshua was telling his disciples that when He left, He was going to prepare the marriage home, then come back and physically lift, and carry away, His bride to live with Him.

Now saying that the Feast of Trumpets will be the Rapture leads to another discussion, because we can pinpoint a date for the Feast of Trumpets.  Just as Yeshua fulfilled each of the spring feasts on their specific, and chronological dates, we can, at the very least, suspect that He will fulfill the fall feasts in a similar manner.  The Feast of Trumpets is always on the first day of the seventh month, the month of Tishri. This would be the first sliver after the new moon in September for us. Obviously, we cannot know the year, but I want to give you something to consider when it comes to date-setting.

Yeshua said plainly that no one knows the day or the hour, not even Him or the angels, only the Father (Matthew 24:36).   He was not talking about the Rapture of the Church in this passage.  He was talking about the Tribulation and the 2nd coming.  We can know this, because if we continue reading this passage in context, and without the chapter and verse breaks that have been added in, Yeshua wraps up this segment by talking about the Great White Throne Judgement (Matthew 25:31-46).  This is HUGE!  What He was saying is that no one knows the day or hour that He will return physically to earth and set up His earthly kingdom (the Millennial, or thousand year reign written about by John in Revelations 20).  Of course, all this being said, who can know the mind of God?

Here is what we have so far.  We know for a fact, that Yeshua personally fulfilled the prophecies of the first four feasts, the spring feasts, on their respective dates and in chronological order.  We know that we are currently living in the summer growing season before the fall harvest.  If one studies the Scriptures, specifically the Old Testament, one can also see quite clearly that God is a god of patterns.  It is a much bigger lesson than I have time to go into here.  But knowing this, and knowing what we do about the spring feasts, can we not then also know with some certainty that the fall feasts will also be fulfilled at least on their respective dates and in chronological order?

This next part gets a bit dicey.  I want to wrap up this series with this article, so I am going to move on to the next fall feast, the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur.  This was the feast that every Israelite obeyed or was excommunicated.  It was the day when all Israel turned their hearts to God and confessed and mourned their sin.  Prophetically it will be the day when all Israel, as one, recognizes that Yeshua is their Messiah, and mourn that they rejected Him.  Zechariah 12:10* says “Then I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication, when they will look toward Me whom they pierced.  They will mourn for him as one mourns for an only son and grieve bitterly for him, as one grieves for a firstborn.”  Chapter 13 describes God’s forgiveness of the Israelites for this sin.  As Hosea forgave his wife, the harlot, God too, will forgive His wife, Israel the unfaithful, and redeem her to Himself.  This atonement will mark the ending of the Great Tribulation, and usher in Yeshua’s return to earth for His kingdom (Zechariah 14 and Revelation 20), which then also is the last feast, the Feast of Sukkot or Tabernacles.

The Feast of Tabernacles is the feast the Israelites celebrated to honor God’s presence with them as they wandered through the wilderness and lived in sukkots (tabernacles…tents).  It is the time when Yeshua will live and reign in person on earth, His second coming.  This is also the only feast that will continue to be celebrated throughout eternity (Zechariah 14:16-19).

Every year, on that set date, all people of the earth will come to Jerusalem (the new Jerusalem) to worship in the presence of the King.

The dicey part?  We know the dates of the Day of Atonement and the Feast of Tabernacles.  Atonement is on the 10th day of the 7th month (Tishri, the same month as the Feast of Trumpets), and the Feast of Tabernacles is on the 15th day of the same month.  Yeshua said that no one knows the day or the hour, and He was referring to His second coming, which would be the Feast of Tabernacles on the 15th of Tishri.  But, we also know that feast prophecies have been fulfilled on the exact dates and in the exact order.  What a conundrum!

I have prayed and prayed about this.  I have read and studied this.  As I sit here writing what I have learned, I share with you what is on my heart.  I believe that the Day of Atonement for Israel will come, and when it comes, it will usher in the 2nd coming of Yeshua, in that order, as the feasts have been celebrated for thousands of years.  Because no one knows the day or the hour, except the Father, I believe these dates will be re-established at new times.  It is on the date of Yeshua’s 2nd coming that we will all celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles for eternity.  As with anyone with the gift of prophecy, and anyone who studies God’s Word for that matter, we can all be certain to not have a complete understanding of everything.  One thing I am certain of—there are three feasts remaining to be fulfilled.  I have no doubt that they will be.  And I have no doubt that the summer growing period is nearing its end, and fall will be here soon.

The bottom line is this:  Studying end time prophecy is intended to give us hope in God’s promises, and also to drive us to our knees to seek His work in preparing our hearts for those days.  I pray these articles have done that.

*All Scripture passages were taken from the Tree of Life Version of the Bible.

If you have been blessed by these articles, please take a moment to pray and thank God.