#27 The Feasts of the LORD September 12, 2020
The Feasts of Israel are the Jew’s catechism (an elementary book on a summation of principles on religion, in the form of questions and answers. I was given a small paperback book from the Presbyterian Church as a child in the 1950s).
In the Old Testament a year was reckoned as 12 months consisting of 30 days each. [I base this on Genesis 7:11- "In the 600th year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. Then Genesis 8:3-4- "At the end of 150 days the waters decreased. 4. Then the ark rested in the 7th month, the seventeenth day of the month on the mountains of Ararat." These 5 months were 30 days each or 150 days from the text.] This is the period of time used in Revelation for a "time" or a Biblical year - 360 days. [See Revelation 12:6 Then the woman (representing Israel) fled into the wilderness, where she had a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there 1,260 days ( 3 and 1/2 X 360 days). And Rev 12:13 Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male Child. 14. But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time and times (the translation here for times is not an indefinite plural, but double) and half a time (three and one-half times multiplied by 360 equals 1260). Daniel 7:25 He (anti-Christ) shall speak pompous words against the Most High, Shall persecute the saints of the Most High, And shall intend to change times and law. Then the saints shall be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time (3 and ½ times). The 3 and a ½ times are repeated in Daniel 12:7. Per Revelation 13:5 He (the anti-Christ) was given a mouth speaking great things, and he was given authority to continue for forty-two months. This 1260 day period, along with the others previously noted, all refer to the Great Tribulation. See also Rev. 11:2 in which the holy city (Jerusalem) is given to the Gentiles for 42 months, to me a different period of time, but overlapping the Great Tribulation. Also read Revelation 11:3 where the two witnesses prophesy 1,260 days, another different, but overlapping period of time, ending when they are killed by the beast from the bottomless pit (anti-Christ?). I believe they will be resurrected on the Jewish Feast of Firstfruits per Leviticus 23:11. A time would appear to indicate the old cycle of one year of 360 days. However, at this time, a year by a single rotation of the earth around the sun is about 365.24220 days. This is a solar calendar year known as the Gregorian calendar with a leap year every 4 years in February.
I believe that Creation was about 6,000 years ago, though the Internet (Google) tells me it is 4.543 billion years. Obviously, one of us is off a bit. Nonetheless, I believe Christ’s millennium (Revelation 20, when Satan is bound for the thousand years) is the Sabbath of a Biblical week of six days with each day representing a thousand years per Psalm 90:4 and 2 Peter 3:8, plus Hebrews 4:1-11 where His rest is equated with the seventh day, especially in verses 4- 5.
I believe after Creation about 6,000 years ago, there were 12 months of 30 days each, with the cycle of the moon being precisely 30 days. Each month had a sign of the Zodiac, as did each of the 12 tribes of Israel with the most prominent Judah having Leo the Lion, and Joseph (his sons, Ephraim and Manasseh), Taurus, the Bull. We have ancient calendars of this- 12 months of 30 days each- from all over the world, i.e. Japan, China, India, Babylon, Assyria, Egypt, Greece, Rome, and the Mayan civilization. I had assumed the change occurred with the Flood towards the end of the first time period of about 2,000 years- Creation, followed by the last two times periods of about 2,000 years each- the Hebrew and Christian eras. Of course, the Flood was about 1,656 years after Creation.
Each millennium also follows a day of Creation: Day 1- God created the light and separated it from the darkness. He saw the light was good. He gave man one rule: Don’t eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, but Adam and Eve chose the darkness over the Light. Day 2- God created the atmosphere and divided the waters above the firmament (sky) from the waters under the firmament. This would appear to be a canopy of water or ice, which would make the earth very different from our present earth. Per Genesis 2:6, a mist watered the earth, i.e. there was no rain till the Flood. Per Genesis 9:13, after the Flood, God stated He set His rainbow in the cloud as a sign that He would never again bring a deluge over the whole face of the earth. Had there been rain in the world of Creation, this would not have been new. He did not note anything good on this day, however. Small wonder! The earth was so filled with evil men and Nephilim (often giants, sons of fallen angels and the daughters of Adam per Genesis 6:1-4) that God destroyed all land life (animals in whose nostrils was the breath of life per Genesis 7:22) that were not on the Ark. And just before the end of the second millennium, we built the Tower of Babel, again rebelling against God. Day 3- The land appeared and then the plants, and God saw that both were good- the day of double blessing, the day when most Jews wish to be married. In the year 2008 AC (after Creation), Abram was born, who begat Israel, the land, and God also gave us the Torah, the first five books of the Bible, and the Ten Commandments that we are to devour or eat like the plants for our sustenance. Day 4- God created the sun, the moon, and the stars. This millennium was book-ended by David (the moon- the reflected light of God), who reigned in Judah for 7 ½ years (2 Samuel 5:5) beginning about 1010 BC. Circa 1003 BC, David took Jerusalem and became king of united Israel till his death circa 970 BC. The other bookend was the birth of Christ (the Sun). Likely, the Israelites (not just the Jews) are the stars. Day 5—The birds and great sea creatures and all the living things in the sea. Birds? The great sea creatures were pagan Rome, Islam, and the Vikings, but the fish representing the Christians were also coming forth. Day 6- The land animals were created and at the end of the day, man. In 1000 AD, Christendom was being assaulted by Islam who had conquered most of Spain from the southwest, by the Turks in the southeast and the Vikings from the north. The future of Christianity seemed in great jeopardy. Remember that Jewish days begin at sunset and end at sunset. In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue ending the night. The land beasts of Spain, Portugal, Venice, Holland, Austria, the German states, and France came forth after Byzantium ended in 1453 with the Islamic conquest of Constantinople, now Istanbul. And with the conclusion of the Seven Years’ War in 1763 with England the victor over France, Britain became Great, followed by America. These two nations transformed the world thereafter. They represented man and the blessings bestowed by Jacob on Ephraim and Manasseh, who became the Anglo-Saxons, the greatest and most prosperous nations of all time, at the end of the 6,000 years. England was nominally a Christian nation, but was transformed by William Wilberforce, beginning in 1787, when he became a Christian and began his campaign against slavery. Over time, Britain lost their belief in the Christian God for evolution, and lost their empire. America took her place as predicted in Genesis 48:19-20. And then America subsequently also followed the lure of the false god of evolution, forgetting the God of the Bible.
It is interesting to note that the Jews have both a religious and a civil calendar. The civil calendar goes back to creation, with the first month being Tishri and the first day, the Jewish New Year’s Day, usually in September, and the seventh month being Nisan, but the religious calendar began at the time of the Exodus from Egypt per Exodus 12:2, with Nisan the first month on the religious calendar and Tishri the seventh. However, per Genesis 8:4 above, we are told the ark rested on the mountains of Ararat on the seventh month (of the civil calendar), the seventeenth day, which is the seventeenth day of Nisan. On this date, the world began anew. Christ was crucified on Passover, the fourteenth of Nisan (John 19:31). He was resurrected after 3 days, on the seventeenth of Nisan, when God again began the world anew. Genesis 8:13- And it came to pass in the 601st year (of Noah’s life), in the first month the first day of the month, that the waters were dried up from the earth… This would have occurred on what became the onset of the Jewish new year, the Feast of Trumpets. The rabbis say, "Coincidence is not a kosher word."
The Jews now have a lunar calendar based on the moon which goes through its phases every 29.53 days. Consequently, in the Jewish calendar, the months alternate between 30 and 29 days. However, to compensate for the additional days needed for a full year, the Jewish calendar is based on a 19 year cycle in which the third, sixth, eighth, eleventh, fourteenth, seventeenth, and nineteenth years are leap years. During a Jewish leap year, one day is added to the twelfth month Adar, and a thirteenth month of 29 days, known as Adar Sheni, Second Adar, is also added to the calendar. In this sense, the Jewish calendar is a lunisolar calendar, a lunar calendar adjusted to the solar seasons. A lunar calendar is necessary because the 7 feasts given to Moses by God in Leviticus require bright full moons with the exception of the fifth, the Feast of Trumpets, always on a crescent moon.
I had assumed this change occurred because of the Deluge of Noah, perhaps because of a meteor striking the Yucatan in Mexico. The passage of the earth was slowed to its current 365 and a quarter days. Perhaps the earth wobbled on its orbit after the meteor strike, but something increased the orbit by 5 1/4 days. I subsequently learned that all changed around 701 B.C. from 360 day years. Why? I don't know. But there are 360 degrees in a circle. This probably occurred before the change in the calendar's length. Likewise, when Mohammed took Mecca circa 630 A.D., he destroyed a number of idols around the Kaaba. The number interestingly enough was 360, or one idol for every day of the old calendar year. The Meccans could say, “This is the seventh day of the third month. For the best results, sacrifice to and worship this god (idol) today.” (Now, a Muslim year consists of 354 or 355 days. It is a lunar calendar, which cannot be used for agriculture.) Of course, 701 B.C. was long after the Flood, and I don't know what cosmic event changed it.
The LORD in Leviticus gave Israel feasts at precise times of the year. The Jewish calendar and the presently used Gregorian calendars are so different that one cannot get corresponding dates. In other words, Passover falls on the 14th day of Nisan, but Nisan begins at different times in March or April depending on what days have been added for that year. For example, Rosh Hashanah, the Feast of Trumpets begins on the first day of the seventh Jewish month of Tishri. In 2000, it began at sunset (The Jews begin their days at sunset from the opening chapter of Genesis- And the evening and the morning were the ___ day [of creation].) on 29 September with sunset beginning Trumpets on the following years and dates: 2001, 17 September; 2002, 6 September; 2003, 26 September; 2004, 15 September; 2005, 3 October; 2006, 22 September; 2007, 12 September; 2008, 29 September; 2009, 18 September; 2010, 8 September; 2011, 28 September; 2012, 16 September; 2013, 4 September; 2014, 24 September; 2015, 13 September; 2016, 2 October; 2017, 20 September; 2018, 9 September; 2019, 29 September; 2020, 18 September; 2021, September 6; 2022, September 25; 2023; September 15; 2024, October 2; 2025, September 22.
There were 7 great feasts given to Moses by God in Leviticus 23. The number 7 means completeness. This is why Revelation is filled with sevens- 7 churches, 7 seals, 7 trumpets, 7 bowls, etc. As there were 7 days of the week, there were 7 feasts given to Israel during the Exodus. These were the Feasts of:
Spring Feasts 1. Passover 14 Nisan
2. Unleavened Bread 15-21 Nisan
3. Firstfruits within the Feast of Unleavened Bread
4. Weeks (Shavuot) 50 days after Firstfruits
Fall Feasts 5. Trumpets (Rosh Hashanah) 1(-2) Tishri
6. Atonement (Yom Kippur) 10 Tishri
7. Tabernacles (Sukkot) 15 -21 Tishri
The Hebrew word "moedim" (singular-moed) translated "feasts" means "appointed times." According to Mark Biltz's 2014 Blood Moons, page 38, in Genesis 1:14 And God said, "Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years." The word for seasons in italics is "moedim," meaning appointed times, the same word for feasts. The idea is that the sequence and timing of each feast has been appointed by God Himself. Each is a part of a comprehensive whole. Collectively, they tell a story of the past and present, and also point to the future per Colossians 2:16- So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival (feast) or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is Christ.
The first 3 feasts have occurred on 3 consecutive days for about two thousand years. The 14th of Nisan was Passover, followed the next day by the first day of the week-long Feast of Unleavened Bread, a high Sabbath (considered a Sabbath regardless of the day of the week). The third consecutive day was Firstfruits on the second day of Unleavened Bread or the 16th of Nisan. Fifty days after Firstfruits on Sivan 6 was Weeks or Shavuot, which completed the spring feasts. The fall feasts began on the first day of the 7th Jewish month Tishri with the number 7 meaning complete. The first day is the Feast of Trumpets, the Jewish New Year’s Day, which points to Yom Kippur the holiest day in all Judaism, Tishri 10, the Day of Atonement, the only day in which the high priest was allowed to go into the Holy of Holies in the temple to atone for the sins of the nation. It was a trinity with the holiest man (the high priest) going into the holiest place (the Holy of Holies in the Jewish temple) on the holiest day (Yom Kippur).
Many so-called Christians will attend church services only on occasion, usually on Christmas or Easter. In the same light, the nonpracticing Jew, who seldom attends synagogue, will attend usually on Yom Kippur. In modern Israel during this holy day, there is no television or radio. No shops are open. It is a day for fasting and reflection in the synagogue. No doubt this was why the surrounding Arab nations attacked Israel in 1973 on Yom Kippur hoping to score a victory before Israel could organize her armed services. The God of the Universe gave Israel victory despite the surprise attack. The 7th and final feast is Tabernacles, a harvest feast from 15 to 21 Tishri. The Pilgrims modeled Thanksgiving on this feast in 1621 in what became Massachusetts. During the days the Jewish Temple was in existence, all Hebrew males were to go to the Temple in Jerusalem on three feasts- Unleavened Bread, Weeks, and Tabernacles. Curiously, there was no mandate to attend Yom Kippur, the holiest feast.
These "appointed times" were intimately associated with the annual agricultural cycle. Firstfruits was the firstfruit of the barley harvest which must be offered to the LORD before it could be eaten. Likewise, the Feast of Weeks, 50 days later (7 weeks plus 1 day) was the firstfruits of the wheat crop. Some call it Second Firstfruits. The seventh and final feast, Tabernacles, was the in-gathering of the harvest, and the time when Israel prayed for rain for the coming year. The LORD gave Israel 7 major crops- barley, wheat, olives, dates, grapes, figs, and pomegranates.
The righteous among the Gentiles, too, will be gathered to the LORD. In that day, the Gentiles will pray in Jerusalem. "And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of Hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. And it shall be that whichever of the families of the earth do not come up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts, on them there will be no rain.- Zechariah 14:16-17. Tabernacles will be the annual feast of Christ's millennium.
The Feast of Tabernacles occurs at Israel's change of seasons. Jerusalem receives as much precipitation as London, England (20 inches). But Israel's rainfall occurs from November to March. These rains bring necessary water for working the soil and producing crops. If several weeks of rainfall are missed, a severe water shortage can quickly occur. Because Tabernacles occurs at the time when the rain is expected, the two have become linked. Even today, the prayers for rain remain an important part of the Feast of Tabernacles.
Tabernacles lasts for 7 days. On each day there was a water drawing ceremony ending with a final climactic ceremony on the 7th and last day. By Jewish tradition God declared on this day whether there would be rain for the next year's crops. Thoughts for rain for the coming year were at a maximum. Around 29 to 31 A.D., as the people intently observed the ceremony, a loud voice cried out from the throng. The crowd turned in surprise and the priests glared at this person who dared interrupt this ceremony. It was Jesus who boomed: "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me to drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water." John 7:37-38; cf. John 4:14. In other words, He said: I am the answer to your prayers. I am the Messiah, I can save you now so that you will never thirst for salvation again.
There were 3 sources of water in Israel. Huge collection tanks cut into the rock are used to collect water during the rainy season. Some can hold millions of gallons of water. They can easily become contaminated or stagnant, and, hence, are the least desirable source for water. Wells are better, but they can dry up during a drought. Springs were the most valuable source of water, "living waters" or waters with movement. Jesus said at this temple ceremony that he who believed in Him would have rivers of living water, that never dry up, flow from his heart.
During the Feast of Tabernacles there was also a temple lighting ceremony when the temple was illuminated by four huge menorahs (lamp stands). The ceremony flooded the temple and Jerusalem with light at night. The bright moon was background also. This ceremony began with the second night of the Feast and ended on the seventh night. On the first day after this ceremony ended, the high Sabbath that immediately follows Tabernacles, John recorded Christ announcing "I am the Light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the Light of life." John 8:12. This too was a Messianic claim confirmed later that day when He healed the blind man. He repeated "As long as I am in the world, I am the Light of the world." John 9:5. With the brilliance of the temple celebration in the minds of the Jews, Jesus offered Himself as their Light and the Light of the world.
Jesus began his active ministry at Nazareth per Luke 4:16
So He came to Nazareth where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. 17 And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah (61:1-2). And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written:
18. "The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me,
Because He has anointed Me
To preach the gospel to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty those who are oppressed;
19. To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD..."
The next part of verse 19, which Christ did not read, is: And the day of vengeance of our God.
Because Armageddon is at the end of the church age of about 2,000 years, not at its beginning.
20. Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. 21. And He began to say to them, "Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."
Thereafter his fellow townsmen, realizing He had claimed to be the Messiah, though He had grown up among them, tried to throw Him off a cliff in verses 28-30. I had believed Christ's childhood was an idyllic one, but Psalm 69 casts a different light on it. In verse 21, "They also gave me gall for my food, and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink" as per Matthew 27:34. Clearly, it is a Messianic Psalm. In verse 7, "Because for Your sake I have borne reproach; Shame has covered my face. 8 I have become a stranger to my brothers, And an alien to my mother's children." Why not his father's children in this male-dominated culture? Because the Messiah was born of a virgin. His Father was different from His syblings. Further in verse 11, "I also made sackcloth my garment; I became a byword to them. 12 Those who sit in the gate speak against me, And I am the song of drunkards." Clearly Mary's early pregnancy was well known in Nazareth, and she bore its stigma for decades as did her Son. In Mark 6:3, after teaching in Nazareth, the townspeople asked, "Is this not the carpenter, the son of Mary...?" We, in America, think nothing of this, but in the male-dominated culture of the time, He would be referred to as the son of Joseph. This comment labels His father as unknown, as the Pharisees did in John 8:41 when they said "We were not born of fornication...", implying He was. The Pharisees knew of the rumors from Nazareth. Christ then proclaims the devil as their father in John 8:44.
It is interesting to note that Christ was free-styling in Luke 4:16 above. The text is taken from Isaiah 61: 1-2, but the underlined verse "And recovery of sight to the blind," is not there. Clearly this is a Messianic claim as noted in Isaiah 42 under the subtitle The Servant of the LORD per verse 1.
"Behold! My Servant whom I uphold
My Elect One in whom My soul delights!
I have put My Spirit upon Him;
He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles.
He will not cry out, nor raise His voice,
Nor cause His voice to be heard in the street.
A bruised reed He will not break,
And smoking flax He will not quench;
He will bring forth justice for truth
He will not fail or be discouraged,
Till He has established justice in the earth;
And the coastlands shall wait for His law."
5. Thus says God the Lord,
Who created the heavens and stretched them out,
Who spread forth the earth and that which comes from it,
Who gives breath to the people on it,
And spirit to those who walk on it;
"I, the LORD, have called You in righteousness,
And will hold Your hand;
I will keep You and give You as a covenant to the people
To open blind eyes,
As a light to the Gentiles,
To bring out prisoners from the prison,
Those who sit in darkness from the prison house.
I am the LORD, that is My name;
And My glory I will not give to another,
So giving sight to the blind was clearly Messianic. It may even be a greater sign to God than raising the dead. In 2 Kings 4, Elisha raised the Shunammite's son as Elijah had revived the widow's son in 1 Kings 17:17-24. And the bones of Elisha raised a Moabite raider per 2 Kings 13:20-21. I can't recall anyone else being raised from the dead till Christ's ministry. The only person that opened the eyes of the blind in the Old Testament was Elisha who in 2 Kings 6:17 prayed that God would open the eyes of his servant, who was fearful because the Syrian army had surrounded the city in which they were staying. When God opened the servant's eyes to the supernatural, he beheld horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. In verse 20, Elisha did pray to open the blind eyes of the Syrian army, just as he had earlier prayed to blind them in verse 18. But Christ during His ministry opened many blind eyes per Matthew 9:27; 12:22; 20:30; 21:14; Mark 8:22; 10:46-52; Luke 18:35-43; and John 9:1-34.
Passover is the foundational Jewish festival dating back to the Exodus, about 1446 B.C. It was so important that God changed the order of the months. When you are a slave, your time is your master’s. A free man’s time is his own. Traditionally, the year had begun on the first of Tishri or Rosh Hashanah which means head of the year, usually in September or early October. In Exodus 12:2, God rearranged the order of the months making the Passover month (Abib at the time, but Nisan after the Babylonian captivity) the first month of the year with 14 Nisan the accepted date to celebrate Passover. Further, in Exodus 12, God outlined explicitly the steps to be taken by the Hebrew slaves who trusted in Him. They were to take a year old healthy male lamb with no defect from the sheep or the goats. It was to be removed from the flock on the 10th day of the Hebrew month of Nisan and kept until the 14th day. This would confirm that the lamb was fit. Moreover each family member, especially young children, would have time to become personally attached to the lamb. It would no longer be just any lamb but their lamb. Every family member would know that an innocent died in their place. the lamb was traditionally killed at twilight, immediately before Passover per Deuteronomy 16:6. Jewish days began at sunset and ended with the next sunset rather than the Roman and our midnight to midnight. (From Genesis 1:5 so evening and morning were the first day.) Christ died on Passover at about 3 PM (the ninth hour per Matthew 27:46, Mark 15:34, and Luke 34:44-6) at the time of the evening sacrifice. There was darkness over the land from the 6th hour (noon) to the 9th hour (3 PM) per Matthew 27:45, Mark 15:33 and Luke 23:44 with 3 hours being much too long for an eclipse. Also solar eclipses only occur when the new moon or crescent moon is in the sky. Passover always occurs under a full moon. The darkness was supernatural.
Every day in the Hebrew temple, there were morning and evening sacrifices at 9 AM and 3 PM respectively. Christ died when the Passover lamb was killed at the time of the evening sacrifice, but He was placed on the cross at 9 AM, the time of the morning sacrifice per Mark 15:25.
One of the so-called discrepancies of the Bible occurs in John 19:14 when after Jesus was scourged by the Romans, Pilate presented him to the Jews before the crucifixion at about the sixth hour (noon in Jewish time). As already noted, Christ was on the cross and darkness covered the land from the sixth to the ninth hour (Matthew 27:45, Mark 15:33, and Luke 23:44) or noon to 3 PM, so how could Christ be presented to the Jews at the sixth hour well before the crucifixion? Actually, this is easily explained. In the first three or synoptic gospels, Jewish time is used; for John, Roman time, which is our modern time. Matthew was written in the late 50s to late 60s AD; Mark; mid to late 50s or 60s; and Luke, earliest date is about 62 AD. If John was decades later (70 to 100 AD, but some feel it was written after Revelation which is generally dated to the mid-90s AD), I suspect the majority of his church in Ephesus was composed of Gentiles who did not follow Jewish time. Hence, he would have used Roman time for his congregation and the Roman world. The sixth hour in John refers to 6:00 AM..
After Passover, Unleavened Bread began at sunset for seven days with the first and seventh days being high Sabbaths (No work was to be done on these days. A high Sabbath was equivalent to a regular Jewish Sabbath or Shabot, but it could occur on any day of the week.) per Leviticus 23:6-8. Christ presented Himself as the Passover Lamb on 10 Nisan when 69 weeks of the 70 week prophecy of Daniel 9 ended. Of course this means some of the Christian timing of the events is off. If Christ presented Himself on 10 Nisan or Palm Sunday, then this would require the crucifixion on Thursday. On the other hand, if He were crucified on Friday, then He would have rode the donkey into Jerusalem as Messiah on a Monday. One must remember that Passover (14 Nisan) was not a high Sabbath, but the first day (15 Nisan) of the one-week Feast of Unleavened Bread was (as was the last day- 21 Nisan). We believe Christ died on a Friday, because He was to be buried before the Jewish Sabbath which began on Friday at sunset. However, I suspect He was crucified on Passover, and was buried before the High Sabbath of the first day of Unleavened Bread which could occur on any day of the week and not necessarily the normal Jewish Sabbath. In most Bibles, Matthew 28:1 Now after the Sabbath (the Jewish Shabot beginning Friday at sunset and ending on Saturday at sunset), as the first day of the week began to dawn (Sunday), Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. However, Sabbath is in the plural in the Greek indicating there were two Shabots- the high Shabot followed by the regular Shabot meaning Christ was not crucified on Friday, but Thursday. Likewise John 19:31 indicates Christ was taken off the cross before the first day of Unleavened Bread, a High Shabot or Sabbath. Hence, He was crucified on Thursday, and placed in the tomb, before the High Shabot began at sunset that evening. The next sunset began the regular Jewish Shabot which ended Saturday at sunset. Christ was out of the tomb by the next day's dawn. Hence, He was resurrected on the third day per Luke 24:7.
Luke 13:31 On that very same day some Pharisees came, saying to Him, "Get out and depart from here, for Herod wants to kill You."
32. And He said to them, "Go tell that fox, 'Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.'"
I believe this to be a double prophecy telling of his death and resurrection, but also his return at the end of approximately 2,000 years per 2 Peter 3:8 and Psalm 90:4. I believe this 2000 year span begins with His birth, but some believe the crucifixion. The third day is, of course, His millennium, which is noted six times in Revelation 20. The first approximately 2,000 years after creation is the age of Creation, though the Flood was about 1656 years after Creation, and the second age, approximately 2,000 years, is the age of Israel, followed by the age of the church, all about forty Jubilees and approximately 2,000 years each.
The blood of the Passover lamb was to be put on the two doorposts and the lintel over the door. Though not noted in the Old Testament, this would in effect make a rough cross, particularly with the blood on the lintel dripping down below. The lamb was to be roasted whole (Perry Stone has noted the carcass with the entrails and the legs was tied to a wooden spit as Christ was nailed [and also tied? or attached] to a wooden cross. It could not be eaten raw or boiled, because then it would not be tied or attached to the wooden spit per Exodus 12:8-9.) and eaten in haste, and its remains burnt with fire in the morning. The destroying angel would "pass over" all houses whose doors were marked with the blood of the lamb. The firstborn of Abraham would not be slain as a sacrifice to God on 14 Nisan, circa 1876 BC, though God allowed His Son, the sinless Lamb, to be slain for the sins of the world circa 32 or 33 AD. By Galatians 3:16-17 and Exodus 12:40-41, it is also the day of the year (moed or appointed time per Mark Biltz's Blood Moons 2014, p. 37 when Isaac was born) when Isaac was placed on the altar per Genesis 22.
Exodus 12:40 Now the sojourn of the children of Israel who lived in Egypt was 430 years.
12:41 And it came to pass at the end of the 430 years- on that very same day- it came to pass that all the armies of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt.
However, the Septuagint Greek Old Testament, completed circa 270 BC adds the following five underlined words to verse 12:40 Now the sojourn of the children of Israel who lived in Egypt and the land of Canaan was 430 years.
If the Septuagint is correct, this means the event that occurred 430 years earlier, on that very same day, was not entering Egypt, but something that happened in Canaan on what subsequently became Passover. This means Israel was not in Egypt 430 years. Josephus, who wrote at the end of the first century AD related Israel was in Egypt 215 years; the ancient book of Jasher, 210 years. What was the event noted above?
Galatians 3:16 Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, "And to seeds," as of many, but as of one, "And to your Seed," who is Christ.
3:17 And this I say, that the law, which was 430 years later, cannot annul the covenant that was confirmed before by God in Christ, that it should make the promise of no effect.
In 3:17, the law refers to the giving of the Ten Commandments during the Exodus, but Christ was crucified over 1400 years later, but the event being referred to in the above is 430 years earlier. What could it be? I believe it can only be the attempted sacrifice of Isaac by Abraham, or Isaac on the altar in Genesis 22, when God's covenant with Abraham was confirmed.
The similarities between the crucifixion on Passover and the sacrifice of Isaac are striking. In Genesis 22:2 God tells Abraham to offer Isaac as a burnt offering though He had earlier promised Abraham seed through Isaac (Genesis 21:12). Abraham believed that God could raise Isaac from the dead even as a burnt offering per Hebrews 22:17- 19. The belief was reiterated when Abraham told his two servants that he and the lad would come back after worshiping in Genesis 22:5.
In Genesis 22:3 Abaham takes two men to go with him and Isaac, as Christ was crucified between two thieves. In Genesis 22:4 Abraham saw the place of sacrifice on the third day. The rabbis say that during this interval from God telling him to sacrifice his only son to the time of the sacrifice, Abraham regarded his son as dead. Christ was resurrected the third day.
In Genesis 22:8 (after Isaac inquires about where the sacrifice to God is) Abraham said, "My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering. And God allowed Christ, the LAMB of God, to be sacrificed around 1900 years later, though He allowed a ram whose horns were caught in a bush for this sacrifice. The LAMB would come later.
In Genesis 22:6 Abraham laid the wood for his offering on Isaac his son to carry to the site of sacrifice as the Father allowed Christ, His Son, to carry His wooden cross to Calvary.
In Genesis 22:9 Abraham bound his son and laid him on the wood on the altar as Christ was attached to His wooden cross by nails and perhaps also ropes.
In Genesis 22:14, Abraham called the name of the place, The-LORD-Will-Provide. And about 1900 years later, Christ was provided. The Jews say the place was the Temple Mount for Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac. Others say Gordon's Calvary was the location. Recently, it has been suggested that when the walls of Jerusalem were rebuilt beginning around 1517, the original city of David was left outside the walls, meaning the Temple was outside the present walls of Jerusalem, i.e. the Temple Mount was not the site of the Temple, but the home of the X Roman legion. Further, it was written that the site of the crucifixion was east of the Temple per a recent book by Robert Cornuke, Golgotha: Searching for the True Location of Christ’s Crucifixion, 2016. The site of Christ's crucifixion was the same place where Isaac was to have been sacrificed, outside the walls of Jerusalem.
Genesis 22:19 So Abraham returned to his young men, and they rose and went together to Beersheba; and Abraham dwelt at Beersheba. The question arises: Where is Isaac? Certainly he left with his father and the two men, but he is written out of the story till Genesis 24:62 when he meets his bride. Christ was resurrected and with His disciples for 40 days, but He has now been gone for almost 2,000 years. Soon He will be united with His bride.
The following day, after Passover, was the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which ran a full week, and no Israelite was allowed to eat bread with yeast or leaven for Passover and the following week's feast. This was to remind them that they were to leave immediately in the Exodus as the LORD had instructed, and there was no time to allow the bread to rise. Yeast puffs up and symbolizes sin in the Bible indicating they were to be sinless. This was further emphasized by the fact that leaven was not to even be found in their quarters (Exodus 13:7) during this feast.
As already noted, Unleavened Bread immediately followed Passover and lasted a full week. Firstfruits was celebrated on the second day of Unleavened Bread on 16 Nisan, but apparently this was after the latest Jewish rebellion had been crushed- circa 140 AD. In other words the 3 feasts now run consecutively from 14 to 16 Nisan being Passover, followed by the first day of Unleavened Bread (a high Sabbath), followed by Firstfruits on the second day of the one week feast of Unleavened Bread. Per Leviticus 23:11, originally the Feast of Firstfruits was always to be within the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the day after the regular Jewish Sabbath or Shabot, which was not necessarily the 16th of Nisan. According to one source, Firstfruits was to represent Israel as the firstfruit of the nations for on this day, the sea was opened and the children of Israel escaped Pharaoh's army. As already noted per Genesis 8:4 that the ark rested on the seventh month (Nisan then) the seventeenth day on the mountains of Ararat. Likely this was on what became the Feast of Firstfruits.
Firstfruits was also seen in the conquest of Canaan. Per Joshua 4:19, Israel crossed the Jordan on the 10th of Nisan, circa 1406 BC. The men were circumcised (Joshua 5:2-5) and they ate unleavened bread on Passover, 14 Nisan, thereafter. For 6 days they marched around the city of Jericho once. On the 7th day, they marched around the city 7 times, and after giving a shout, the walls fell down. Then they destroyed everything in the city save Rahab, the harlot (Joshua 2:1. Her son was Boaz per Matthew 1:5) and her family, However, the gold, silver, iron and bronze were dedicated to God per Joshua 6:19. The spoils of Jericho were the Firstfruits of the booty taken from the rest of the Canaanite cities in the future, but the spoils of Jericho went only to God. I suspect strongly they were taken on the Feast of Firstfruits at the end of the one week Feast of Unleavened Bread after the regular Jewish Shabot.
On the tenth of Nisan, the Passover lamb was removed from the flock so he could be examined by the priests for any defects. When John the Baptist first saw Christ per John 1:29, he proclaimed, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” Afterward, Jesus presented Himself as the Passover Lamb to His people and His priests per Zechariah 9:9, ending the 69 weeks (483 Biblical years with each Biblical year composed of 360 days) prophecy of Daniel 9:25- 26 to the day on the tenth of Nisan in 32 or 33 AD. Christians call it Palm Sunday. This prophecy was given to Daniel about 539 BC. The Old Testament was translated into Greek , the Septuagint, circa 270 BC. The prophecy also noted the Messiah would be cut off or killed, and then the Temple would be destroyed, which occurred in 70 AD. The Messiah had to come before this destruction of the Temple.
Per Colossians 2:16-7, the feasts are "shadows of things to come." The first 3 feasts correspond to the time Christ was in the tomb roughly. He was slain on Passover (John 19:31) and entombed before the sun went down. He was in the tomb during the entire first day of Unleavened Bread, a high Shabot or Sabbath. Leaven is a symbol of sin in that it puffs up, but He had no sin or leaven. The next day was the regular Jewish Sabbath or Shabot from sunset Friday to sunset Saturday, 16 Nisan. On 17 Nisan, the third day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, He arose during Firstfruits being the Firstfruit of the grave per 1 Corinthians 15:20 where Paul referred to the risen Christ as the Firstfruit of those who had fallen asleep, as Israel was the firstfruit of the nations. Per Matthew 27:52-53, many bodies of saints were also resurrected after the crucifixion as Firstfruits is plural.
Passover refers to our redemption. Christ, the Passover Lamb, was killed for us.
Unleavened Bread refers to our sanctification. He was sinless- set apart. His body would not decay in the grave. (Psalm 16:10)
Firstfruits refers to resurrection. Death could not hold Him. On the third day, Christ rose triumphantly from the grave.
Fifty days after Firstfruits is the Feast of Weeks so named because 7 weeks were to be marked off and then an additional day added. This pattern of 50 is the same principle of the Jubilee year (Lev 25:8-55). Every 7th year in Israel, no crops were to be sown or plowed (Lev 25:4- 5). The LORD promised an extra bountiful 6th year preceding the Sabbatical year. Any crop that sprang up during this year could be harvested by anyone in the community, but any such crop could not be stored. It must be eaten in season. Debts were not released, but the payments for that year were not pressed. In the Sabbath year, the Law of the LORD was to be read to the people during the Feast of Tabernacles. Some confuse this year with the release of slaves, but Jewish bond slaves were to be released in the 7th year of their servitude which would not necessarily be a Sabbath year. (NOTE: Many indentured servants who came to early America were indentured for 7 years probably also based on this Biblical injunction.) There is no record of Israel ever observing these Sabbath years, and the failure to do so was the reason God gave for taking Israel to Babylon for 70 years per 2 Chronicles 36:21. Curiously, God destroyed Jerusalem in 586 B.C. If Israel failed to keep the Sabbath year for 420 years, this would date back to 1006 BC. David became King of Judah at the age of 30, in the year 1010 B.C. and King of Israel in 1003 BC, so God dated the 420 years from the time of its "righteous" king being in control rather than Saul who reigned from circa 1050 to 1010 B.C. and was of the tribe of Benjamin. Considering this another way, David fought Goliath when he was fifteen in 1025 BC, and the first deportation of Jews by Nebuchadnezzar was in 605 BC, again about 420 years later. Per Genesis 49:10, God's "righteous" king would come from Judah. Originally, Firstfruits was always the day after the regular Jewish Shabot or Sabbath within the one week Feast of Unleavened Bread. It always began at sunset Saturday to end at sunset Sunday. He was resurrected by Sunday’s dawn (John 20:1). Fifty days later with Firstfruits being day 1 of the 50 is also a Sunday- Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was given to the church. This is why the church worships on Sunday- Christ's resurrection and the church's birth.
The Jubilee year was to follow seven weeks of years (49) per Leviticus 25. It was the 50th year. The land would rest for the last year of the seventh week as usual. Then, the land was to remain at rest for a second year, the Jubilee year. The LORD promised a triple crop on the 7th week's 6th year. All hired workers were to be set free. All land was returned to its original owners from the time of Joshua's conquest meaning the tribes would keep their land intact. The LORD owned all the land. He allowed the individual to use it and part of the use could be to lease it out for years, but the owner had no right to permanently give up the inheritance the LORD had given him and his heirs. The land returned to the family in the Jubilee (50th) year. This would keep the rich from acquiring great tracts of land and impoverishing the average man and his family, as has happened in America today. Some believe the Jubilee applies to 1917 when the British took Jerusalem from the Turks and 1967 when Israel regained Jerusalem and much territory during the Six-Day War. If so, Israel would have had much to look forward in 2017- possibly President Trump taking office after 8 years of President Obama. Pres. Trump ordered the American Embassy in Israel to move to Jerusalem on May 14, 2018, the 70th anniversary of the founding of the state. For this reason, some of the Israelis referred to Trump as Cyrus who freed the Jews from Babylon circa 539 BC. President Harry Truman was referred to as Cyrus in 1948 for his efforts to found the state of Israel after almost 2,000 years. Per Leviticus 25:9, Jubilee begins on Yom Kippur instead of Trumpets. I wonder why? Could it be that this is when Christ returns for Armageddon to reign, not rapture, and to begin His millennium?
Historically, the 60th anniversary of Queen Victoria's long reign in Britain was hailed as her Diamond Jubilee Year amidst great rejoicing with the British Empire at its height, when she reigned over a quarter of the earth's land surface, the largest empire in the world's history. Could it be they wished to celebrate the LORD's blessings? According to Dr. D.James Kennedy, in 1899, the British buried a time capsule with information not for the 20th century, but for the 30th century. And what was this information that they thought might most benefit the 30th century? John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believed in Him should not perish, but have eternal life." At this point Darwinian evolution was still playing the moth and the worm; its effects were not yet noticeable. And Britain remained Great a bit longer. It is curious to note that Tim Tebow often went into Florida Gator football games with John 3:16 written on his face under his eyes. In the NFL wild card playoff game with Pittsburgh on Jan. 8, 2012, his next to the last game as a Denver Bronco, he passed for 316 yards on ten completed passes for an average passing gain of 31.6 yards. The LORD rewards his own.
The Feast of Weeks or Shavuot on the 6th of Sivan was said to represent the giving of the law on Sinai. According to The Feasts of the LORD, this teaching began in 140 A.D. after the latest Jewish rebellion was crushed by the Romans. The Bible is not explicit on this, but does note the law was given in the third month (Exodus 19:1) which would fit chronologically as Nisan was the first month on the religious calendar. This feast concludes the spring feasts of Israel.
According to Jewish tradition, Weeks was the time of Enoch's birth and also the time when the LORD took him. Along with Elijah, Enoch did not die, but was taken by God. It has been suggested by some Biblical authorities that this will be the timing of the Rapture as Enoch would be a model of the church before God's wrath fell on the antediluvian world though God did help Noah and his family through it. Enoch was removed circa 987 AC (after creation), before God's judgment in 1656 AC, as will all true Christians before God's wrath falls on the present world. Adam died at age 930.
The book of Ruth, the Gentile bride of Boaz, as the church is the Gentile bride of Christ, is read in the synagogues during the Feast of Weeks. Ruth was the Moabitess who became a widow in Moab and followed her Jewish mother-in-law, Naomi, to Israel telling her "Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God...". In effect, she was representative of the Gentile Christians being grafted into Israel. Why is this book read during this feast which is also known as the Latter or Second Firstfruits, the firstfruit of the wheat crop? During the threshing floor scene in Ruth, she is at the feet of Boaz who redeemed her as Christ redeemed His church. Curiously, her descendant, King David, was also reported to have been born and to have died on this same feast, the middle feast of those given by God to Moses. David’s reign was also in the approximate middle of the 6,000 years as was his taking of Jerusalem in 1003 BC.
During the first 3 feasts, leaven or yeast was strictly forbidden, but during this feast, the bread was baked with leaven. Could this also represent the Gentile Christians being grafted into Israel?
Per Revelation 11:3-12, God will send two witnesses who will prophecy 1260 days during the final week of Daniel. One is Elijah per Malachi 4:5. The other is likely Moses or Enoch. I prefer Moses to chastise the Jews and bring a remnant to faith, as well as bringing the Jews and all the lost tribes back to Israel. Moses died before Israel entered into the promised land the first time. This time, I believe he will bring all the tribes into the promised land, but God would allow Moses to do this only once and in the company of Elijah. It would be too much pride for any one man to bring the tribes out of Egypt, the hyperpower of the day, to be the instrument by which God gave the Ten Commandments and the Torah, and also to lead Israel into the Promised Land once by himself. Hence, in the company of Elijah, Moses will bring the rest of the Jews and the lost tribes, to include the Anglo-Saxons, the tribes of Joseph- Ephraim and Manasseh, back to Israel as one of the two witnesses.
The two witnesses of Revelation 11 have the power to turn water into blood and to strike the earth with all plagues as often as they desire. Moses in Exodus 7:17 turned water into blood and brought great plagues on Egypt. However, per Hebrews 9:27, it is appointed once for man to die. Moses was reported in the Scriptures as dying (Deut 34:5). Certainly the LORD can resurrect Moses, and let him die a second time. Those who died a second time from Scripture include Lazarus in John 11, the daughter of Jairus in Luke 8, the son of the widow of Nain in Luke 7:11-14, the son of Zarephath by Elijah in 1 Kings 17:17-23, the Shunammite's son in 2 Kings 4:17-37 by Elisha, Dorcas restored by Peter in Acts 9:36-42, and a young man who fell asleep and out of a window by Paul in Acts 20:9-12. Jonah was also likely resurrected after 3 days in the belly of the great fish. Jonah cried out of the belly of Sheol per Jonah 2:2 which is from the grave for his spirit though his body resided in the whale's belly. Again Moses could be resurrected and die a second time. However, if Elijah is coming back to die, then Enoch would be the only man who never died. Of course, there would likely be millions removed by the Rapture who also never died. And like Enoch, this would be one body though composed of many millions. It would be the body of Christ, the church. And Enoch would be the model for this, being raptured before the Flood, though it was centuries before the Flood when men lived to be over 900 years old. The eight on the ark represented those who will come to faith during the Great Tribulation, while the rest of earth’s population perished. Perhaps, Enoch will be one of the witnesses who will be killed in Revelation 11 and then resurrected on the feast of Weeks, meaning he was born, taken by God without dying, and resurrected on the same date of the year. However, I favor Moses as the second witness representing the law with Elijah, the prophets. These two men talked with Jesus at the transfiguration per Luke 9:30.
Per Revelation 11:11, the two witnesses will be resurrected after 3 and one-half days. Hence, I suspected this would likely be on the fourth day of the one week Feast of Unleavened Bread, i.e. in the middle of the week of the feast per Daniel 9:27, having been killed on Passover, one Passover or two or three after the anti-Christ's assassination per Revelation 13:1,3, also on Passover, and then his (anti-Christ’s) miraculous resurrection 3 days later The anti-Christ will then place the abomination of desolation one day later or on the fourth day of the seven day Feast of Unleavened Bread, i.e. in the middle of the week (of 7 years and also the 7 days of Unleavened Bread) per Daniel 9:27. If my speculations on the demise of the two witnesses are correct, then simply by adding 1260 days to the date of the two witnesses' first appearance, one should come up with a date that when a Jewish calendar is consulted should be Passover. For example, if they were killed on Passover, sunset on April 22 to sunset April 23 Jerusalem time in 2024 (April 12-13 in 2025), they would start their ministry around 9- 10 November, 2020 (October 30- 31, 2021), or 1260 days earlier. (I recommend you do your own math and check the dates of the future feasts which I took from the Internet.) I suspected the two witnesses' resurrection in the midst of the week of Unleavened Bread will be God's response to the placement of the abomination of desolation in the Holy of Holies in the middle of the week of a preceding Unleavened Bread. In effect, God is saying, "Satan, you wish to take one of my feasts. That'll be the day!"
However, this speculation about it occurring on the fourth day of Unleavened Bread has a problem with Daniel 8:13 where the question is posed- How long with both the sanctuary and the host be trampled underfoot? The answer is 2300 days. I suspect this is a double prophecy, first occurring during the reign of Antiochus Epiphanes in the second century BC, but also soon to occur again, the 2300 days occurring within the 2520 days of Daniel’s final or 70th week. It will occur after the nations surrounding Israel save
Egypt attack and are destroyed per Amos 1 & 2, Zephaniah 2, and Isaiah 17:1. Israel will seek a friend as America has collapsed (Amos 2:6- 16) and make a treaty with the anti-Christ. Revelation 11:2 notes Jerusalem will be given to the Gentiles for 42 months or 1260 days. This will begin the 2300 days. The Great Tribulation of 1260 days will end it, leaving an overlap of 220 days. The abomination of desolation will be put up on the 1041st day of this 2300 day period, beginning the 1260 days of the Great Tribulation. 220 days later, the anti-Christ loses or evacuates Jerusalem. There is not enough time to get to the next fourth day of Unleavened Bread. An excellent possibility would be the anti-Christ is resurrected and kills the two witnesses shortly thereafter, likely before he puts up the abomination of desolation on the fourth day of Unleavened Bread. 3 ½ days later, the two witnesses are resurrected on Firstfruits, the seventh, or perhaps the sixth day of Unleavened Bread. Of course, this would mean Firstfruits would have to occur on the seventh, or perhaps the sixth day of Unleavened Bread on Saturday sunset to Sunday sunset. If Israel immediately takes over Jerusalem from the anti-Christ, I doubt the Israelis will rejoice at the two witnesses’ deaths when the first anniversary of the abomination of desolation occurs. It seems more likely to me that they will be resurrected on the same Feast of Unleavened Bread when the anti-Christ is resurrected on Unleavened Bread’s third day. He kills the two witnesses. Then the abomination of desolation would occur on the fourth day, then the resurrection of the two witnesses on the seventh, or perhaps the sixth day, 3 ½ days after they are killed, which would change the dates given above for their first appearance by a few days. The key is their resurrection on Firstfruits. I suspect God will complete the feasts of Israel during the final week of Daniel’s 7 Biblical years. As a possibility, it may work like this: - Passover- Ezekiel 38 & 39, Russo-Islamic invasion of Israel shattered.
Unleavened Bread ?
Firstfruits- 2 witnesses resurrected and raptured.
Weeks or 2nd Firstfruits. Per Revelation 7, 12,000 from every tribe save Dan go forth sealed by God on their foreheads. In Revelation 14, 144,000 are with Christ in heaven. They apparently have been raptured, but when? If they are the same 144,000 of Rev. 7, then perhaps on Weeks, also known as Second Firstfruits..
Trumpets-?, one of the trumpet judgements most likely-1st, 7th, or in between
Yom Kippur -Armageddon. Christ returns to reign.
Tabernacles – annual Feast of His millennium (Zechariah 14:16-19)
Hanukkah- The new or old temple is dedicated and Christ crowned.
For the Christian, Weeks or Second Firstfruits has been replaced by Pentecost, originally 50 days after Firstfruits. It should be noted that when the Christian church gained ascendancy in Rome, they rearranged the dates so the crucifixion and resurrection and Pentecost would fall on different dates than their Jewish counterparts of Passover and Firstfruits and Weeks. As Revelation, Daniel’s 70th week, is to bring Israel back to Him, I recommend you follow the Jewish Feast dates rather than the Christian, but remember Firstfruits should fall on Saturday sunset to Sunday sunset, as would Weeks per Leviticus 23:11. At Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was given to all Christian believers during the Age of Grace (unmerited favor). The law had been given to Israel along with the land. The separation between Jew and Gentile was ended. The LORD was calling out His body, the church. In the same light the temple veil which symbolized the unapproachability of God was torn in two from top to bottom with the death of Christ (Matthew 27:51). As the tearing of the veil began at the top, this indicated the tearing was an act of God. Heaven had been opened by the royal priesthood of Christ, and the priesthood of all believers had begun. Could Weeks be the day of the rapture of the church?
When taking the sacraments, the body of Christ is represented by unleavened bread made from wheat. Curiously, Bethlehem, where Christ was born, means house of bread. Weeks, or the Latter or Second Firstfruits (of wheat) was when the Holy Spirit was given to the body of believers, His bride and His church. Could it also refer to the removal of His body, the single body of the church, via the rapture, just like Enoch on an earlier Weeks? I still favor Trumpets.
Most of the material I have read indicate the Rapture will occur on the on the fifth feast, with five being the number of grace (God's unmerited favor), on the Feast of Trumpets, the first feast of the fall. They believe the interval of time between Pentecost and Trumpets represents the Age of the Church and that Trumpets will end this interval. The fall feasts of Israel begin with Trumpets, also known as Rosh Hashanah which translates as head of the year. It traditionally has been associated with the first day of creation, but also the day on which man was created (day 6). Obviously, it can't be both. According to Jewish tradition, it was the day that the dead were to be raised, and hence, many Jewish tombstones had a ram's horn trumpet (shofar) inscribed on them. It is simply referred to as the Feast of Trumpets. The blowing of a trumpet in ancient Israel had several functions: it was blown to call a solemn assembly, when the children of Israel were to come into God's presence (Ex 19:13,17,19; Num 10:2), and it was blown when Israel was to go to war, e.g. Joshua blew the trumpet at the conquest of Jericho and Gideon against the Midianites. One could suggest the Rapture; the other, the visible coming of the LORD with great power and glory to reclaim the Earth. The trumpet also announced the coronation of a new king.
Trumpets occurs on the first (or second) day of the 7th month of Tishri with 7 representing completeness. Tishri usually falls from September to mid-October. It is the only Hebrew feast which falls on a new moon when the moon is dark and only a thin crescent in the sky, from six to ten PM in Jerusalem according to one DVD. All other feasts occur when the moon is bright. It is Israel's dark day, and perhaps the appointed time for the rapture. The removal of all true Christians during a crescent or new moon, the symbol of Islam, would likely be taken by the Muslims as a sign from Allah that he was with them and they were to rise up and destroy their enemies. If the rapture occurs on the Feast of Trumpets, the God of the Bible, Who is not Allah, may allow Islam to do great damage to the enemies of Allah thereafter, but this will be temporary. If the rapture occurs on this feast, the church is gone with all true Christians. To me, the other event which could occur on Trumpets would be the destruction of the Russo-Islamic invasion of Ezekiel 38 & 39, though I favor Passover for this. Perhaps, it will be neither.
Trumpets is to alert the Jew that Yom Kippur is coming on 10 Tishri. The period from Trumpets to Yom Kippur are what Judaism calls "the high holy days," also "the days of awe," the traditional time of God's judgment. According to Jewish tradition, three books are opened in heaven at this time- the Book of Life for the righteous, the Book of Life for the wicked, and the Book of Life for the in-between. As the Judge of the Universe reviews mankind's deeds for the past year, He inscribes the name of every individual in one of these books. Judgment against the wicked is final and irrevocable; they will have life cut short in the coming year. Those recorded in the Book of the righteous will mercifully be granted another year of life and prosperity by the LORD. For the remainder (those not written in either of the first two books), the sealing of their fate is deferred and hangs in the balance until Yom Kippur. If they sincerely repent during Yom Kippur, God will grant them another year of life until the following Yom Kippur.
Paul wrote: "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 trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall all be changed." 1 Cor 15:51-2.
Paul also described the LORD's coming: "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." 1 The 4:16-7.
These verses suggest to me the Rapture of the church occurring possibly on Rosh Hashanah, but I also believe the LORD will save Israel from their darkest day. The ancient rabbis had a similar view: "in the month of Nisan (at Passover) our ancestors were redeemed and in Tishri (Rosh Hashanah) they will be redeemed in the time to come." This may refer to the coming of the LORD to rapture His church on Trumpets followed by His coming in power and glory a few years later on Yom Kippur to reign on earth. I believe the rapture occurs either just before Daniel's final week begins or during the first, though perhaps the second year of the final week. I believe the final week of Daniel will follow the millennia modeling the days of creation. I had initially thought what could better represent the separation of the light from the darkness, i.e. the first day of creation, than the rapture of the church during the first year of Daniel’s final or 70th week. Subsequently, it occurred to me that after the removal of the church, there will be great numbers turning to Christ during the final week. Perhaps, the first year of Daniel’s final week is when there is a new Great Awakening, i.e., when the Spirit falls on many per Joel 2:28- 29. The coming to reign on the earth will end anti-Christ's rule of 1260 days, better known as the Great Tribulation.
Trumpets was the only Hebrew feast when the crescent moon was seen in the sky. The feast could not be proclaimed till the crescent moon was seen. If it was not sighted on 1 Tishri because of overcast skies, it was celebrated on 2 Tishri. In Matthew 24:36, Christ said no one would know the day or the hour of His return. Trumpets works well for those words.
10 Tishri was the Day of Atonement or Yom Kippur. This was the most solemn day of the year for the people of Israel. Kippur is from the Hebrew word kaphar meaning "to cover." It was on Yom Kippur that an atonement (covering) was made for the previous year's sins. The atonement or covering consisted of a blood sacrifice of an innocent animal. The LORD commanded, "For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement (covering) for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement (covering) for the soul." Lev 17:11. Likely blood sacrifices go back to Genesis 3:21 when the LORD killed innocent animals, lambs most likely, to provide Adam and Eve skins to cover their nakedness. This was the first animal death in the First Couple's world of vegetarian creatures (Genesis 1:30). Clean, as opposed to unclean, animals were defined in Leviticus 11:1- 11, the dietary laws for Israel, which were given just after the Exodus circa 1446 B.C. However, in Genesis 7 regarding Noah and the ark, God divides the animals into clean and unclean with 7 clean and two unclean, the male and his female coming into the ark. Man was created herbivorous and was not given the right to eat meat till after the Flood per Genesis 9:3. Clean apparently referred to animals that could be sacrificed to God. Before he was murdered by his brother, Abel complained that Cain, the first borne son of Adam and Eve, was eating his sheep in the book of Jasher (Joshua 10:13, 2 Samuel 1:18). Many humans probably ate meat before the Flood, but not those who honored God.
Yom Kippur was designated by the LORD as the day in which "you shall afflict your soul." Lev 23:27,32. It was a day devoted to fasting and repenting of one's sins during the past year. The Israelite who failed to devote himself to fasting and repentance on Yom Kippur was to be cut off from Israel. Lev 23:30.
Yom Kippur was the only day in which the high priest was allowed to enter "the Holy of Holies" in the Jewish temple in order to atone for his and the nation's sin for that year. In effect, Yom Kippur is a trinity when the holiest man (the high priest) enters the holiest place (the Holy of Holies in the Jerusalem temple) on the holiest day. For the Christian, there is no day of atonement as Christ atoned for our sins on the cross, so this is the least likely fall feast which is a candidate for the Rapture to me. However, recently a Jewish organization sent me a review of Yom Kippur noting to a Jew the last trumpet referred to the last trumpet blast at the end of Yom Kippur which broke the fast of that holy day. This still seems to me unlikely to refer to the Rapture, which I believe will be most likely on Trumpets or the last day of Tabernacles, but perhaps Hanukkah, Weeks, or Purim, but certainly on a Hebrew feast. Time will tell.
By my calculations, Christ was crucified in early April of 32 or 33 AD The order to rebuild Jerusalem was given in the second chapter of Nehemiah, verse 1 "in the month of Nisan in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes." As it is written, it refers to the first day of Nisan though this is not conveyed in the English language translation. It corresponds with the 14th day of March (5th day of March) in the year 445 (444) BC. Per Daniel 9:25- 26, 69 weeks of 7 Biblical years of 360 days each gives the date of 6 April, 32 (30 March 33) AD. I believe this to be 10 Nisan when Christ presented Himself as the Jewish Messiah by riding the donkey's colt into Jerusalem a few days before His crucifixion. On 10 Nisan, the Passover lamb was removed from the flock and presented to the priests to make sure it had no defect. I had initially liked 30 AD because the wrath of God fell upon the Jewish nation 40 years later, but the ministry of Jesus only lasted 3 to 3 and 1/2 years, and His nation rejected Him throughout making the time from the beginning of His ministry in about 29 (30) AD to the wrath of God falling upon the Jews about 40 years later. The LORD likes certain numbers among them 3, 7, 12, 40, and 70. In Matthew 23:36, Christ also warned of a future judgment within a generation in Matthew 24:32-34. Hebrews 3:9-10 indicates a Biblical generation may be 40 years, though I prefer 70 or even more likely 80 per Psalm 90:10.
Mark Biltz in his book Blood Moons (2014) noted that in 32 AD, there were total lunar eclipses on Passover and Tabernacles. There were also partial lunar eclipses on Passover and Tabernacles in 33 AD. There were solar eclipses on both Nisan 1 (start of the Jewish religious year) and Rosh Hashanah (Trumpets on Tishri 1) in both 32 and 33 A.D.noted on page 147.
It is interesting to note before the wrath of God fell upon the Jews in 586 BC Jeremiah was foretelling the Babylonian captivity for decades earlier. But there are no prophets from Malachi in the mid-fifth century BC before the Roman destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, except for Christ and His herald, John the Baptist. Certainly the Jews were expecting Messiah at the time of Christ, but they probably used the 365 and a quarter days per year dating system rather than the Biblical 360 days per year. They were expecting Him in 39 (40) AD. (483 calendar years or 69 weeks of years after the order went out to rebuild Jerusalem in 445 [444] BC). Christ was early, and and not their vision, only God's vision. They wanted a military conqueror; they got a conqueror of hearts. He was the New Covenant foretold by Jeremiah 31:31-4, and with His one time blood sacrifice, the blood of innocent animals was no longer required, and so the Jewish temple, where the Old Covenant was still honored by animal sacrifice was swept away, though God graciously gave the Jews 38 (37) years as a grace period to accept the change. They would not. And Christ held them accountable to know the precise date of His coming per Luke 19:41-4. Enter the Roman legions to enforce God's judgment as Nebuchadnezzar had done centuries earlier.
The seventh and final feast is Sukkot or the Feast of Tabernacles. The English word "tabernacle" is from the Latin tabernaculum meaning "booth" or "hut." It acquired the name from the Biblical requirement for all Israelites to dwell in tabernacles or temporary shelters during the holiday. One should be able to see the stars through the roof. It was to be an annual reminder of God's provision during the 40 year wilderness sojourn when Israel lived in similar shelters until that unbelieving "generation" passed away. At the end of the feast, the Jews left their booths to return to their permanent dwellings.
It was celebrated with great joy. It commemorated the past goodness and provision of God during their wilderness sojourn, and it commemorated the present goodness and provision with the completion of the harvest. As already noted, it was also known as the Feast of the In-gathering as it celebrated the harvest and in-gathering of crops at the end of the agricultural cycle. Likewise, I suspect it is also to celebrate the in-gathering of the righteous, both Gentile and Jew, in the world to come. I suspect the booths are also representative of the perishable bodies we now inhabit soon to become the imperishable, most likely at the end of the last day of the feast, though perhaps earlier, or perhaps, the day after the feast ends.
Sukkot, or Tabernacles was the most important feast of Israel, mentioned more often in the Scriptures than any other feast. It was one of the three feasts that all Israeli males were required to attend in Jerusalem per Exodus 23:16. It was when Solomon dedicated the Temple to YHWH and the Shekinah glory of God filled the Temple. It will be as already mentioned per Zechariah 14:16 when the whole world comes to worship God in Jerusalem yearly during His millennium. It is the annual feast of His millennium.
On the 15th of Tishri, thirteen bulls were offered to the LORD. Thereafter, the number of bulls was decreased by one daily, until the seventh day when seven were offered. The first day of the feast was considered a high Shabot, and the day after the seven-day feast was over was another high Shabot. It seems to me you would call it an eight-day feast with a high Shabot on the first and eighth days, but it is considered a seven-day feast with a high Shabot the day after it concludes, when one bull is offered to God. The total number of bulls during the seven-day feast is seventy with one more after the conclusion. I suspect this was for the seventy Gentile nations after the Flood, and the last after the conclusion of the feast is for Israel, not just the Jews, but all Israel.
Tabernacles could also refer to the rapture. As already noted, the number 7 denoted completeness. Each day during the feast, the priests entered Jerusalem with a water offering to the LORD to ensure rain for the next cycle of crops. They were heralded by 3 trumpet blasts, and they circled the altar once. On the 7th day of the Feast of Tabernacles, they were heralded by 3 trumpet blasts of 7. As Joshua did at Jericho on the 7th day, they circled the altar 7 times during this 7th day of the 7th feast of the 7th month, the 21st day of Tishri, a multiple of 3 and 7. This could be the best time for the rapture of the church -- the last or seventh day of the Feast of Tabernacles as the day is filled with sevens. Remember it is the Feast of the Ingathering of the harvest (and of the true church?). At the conclusion of the seventh day at sunset, those observing the feast leave their temporary shelters for their permanent homes. Do we leave our present bodies for our brand new bodies? Seventy bulls are offered for all the nations, and then one more the day after the feast concludes for Israel. Will Israel stand alone? I still like Trumpets best, but the seventh day of Tabernacles seems to have a lot going for it, particularly until the US presidential election on 3 November, 2020. I believe Trump is a Christian, though many would argue that. Vice-President Pence is a Christian. This year, Trumpets begins at sunset, the 18th of September in Jerusalem for one to two days. The Feast of Tabernacles begins at sunset on October 2 in Jerusalem with the seventh day of the feast beginning in Jerusalem on 8 October at sunset to 9 October at sunset. Does the last trumpet refer to the final trumpet at the end of the Feast of Trumpets on Tishri 1 or 2? Trumpets is a little over six weeks before the presidential election, and the seventh day of Tabernacles a little over three weeks before the election. If the rapture occurred and Trump and Pence were taken, then the Speaker of the House becomes President till the election. However, Speaker Pelosi refers to herself as a good Catholic, so who is next? It would be almost impossible for the Republicans to decide on a candidate at six weeks or three weeks, meaning the Democrats would very likely win. Should this happen, we would have a mystery man as president, as Joe Biden does not appear to be someone who could last. The Democrats have chosen Kamala Harris, the most liberal senator in the US Senate as their vice-presidential candidate. In Ezekiel 28, the ruler of the great trading city of Tyre is a prince, not a princess, with Satan as the king of Tyre. This makes this a very interesting year.
The Bible states that we do not know the day or the hour of His coming for the rapture. Paul states in 1 Thessalonians 5:2: "For we know the Day of the LORD comes as a thief in the night. For when they say peace and safety, then sudden destruction comes upon them like a woman in labor." However, most forget the next verse 4. "But you, brethren, are not in darkness so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. You are are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober." The true Christian will have warning of His coming. To me the signs of the times are all about, or perhaps we live in "the time of the signs" per Chuck Missler.
At present Israel is a secular nation, though it has a large number of religious Jews. To build the temple, the Jews will need the aid of a strong majority of the nation. They do not have that at present, nor are they likely to get that majority without the intervention of God. Now what would immediately catch the attention of secular Israel like no other event and cause them to suddenly commence the building of YHWH's temple at full speed? I believe it will be the destruction of their surrounding enemies save Egypt as prophesied in Amos 1 & 2, Zephaniah 2, and Ezekiel 35 and 36. However, it could also occur after the destruction of Egypt and Turkey per Daniel 11:40-43, Ezekiel 29 & 30:5, and then the Russo-Islamic invasion of Ezekiel 38 & 39. Most authorities believe these will begin or occur before the final week begins or a little into the final week, but before the Great Tribulation of 1260 days when the anti-Christ reigns somewhat supreme on the earth. I suspect it will begin just before the final week begins or the first year of the final week (7 Biblical years) of Daniel, and the three assaults are completed, certainly, before the Great Tribulation. Suppose that destruction of the Russo-Islamic armies occurred at Passover, or, less likely, Trumpets. Would the deliverance of Israel on one of those special or appointed times not seal the belief in the average Israeli that their God was God and still looking after them as in the days of Hezekiah, when He broke Assyria, the superpower of the day, before Jerusalem? 2 Kings 19:35 And it came to pass on a certain night that the angel of the LORD went out, and killed in the camp of the Assyrians 185,000; and when people arose early in the morning, there were corpses- all dead. I believe the Israelis would put up His temple in record time, perhaps within a year or two.
Perhaps the Russo-Islamic horde of Ezekiel 38 & 39 will be destroyed by God on Passover, Trumpets, or another feast. The temple will then be built or completed. And at the dedication of the temple at the first Passover thereafter, the anti-Christ is killed by the sword, and resurrected three days later on the third day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The next day, on the fourth day (or perhaps another day of the feast) of the one week feast, he erects the abomination of desolation in the Holy of Holies in the Jerusalem temple, or per Daniel 9:27 "in the middle of the week" (of Unleavened Bread's 7 days, but also the fourth year of Daniel's 70th week, i.e. a double prophecy) to begin his 1260 day reign. I had thought that at the next Passover or perhaps the second thereafter, the two witnesses are killed, and three and a half days later, they are raised "in the middle of the week" of Unleavened Bread on the fourth day of the seven day feast per Daniel 9:27. Now, I believe the two witnesses will be killed during the same Feast of Unleavened Bread that the anti-Christ is resurrected. The two witnesses will likely be resurrected on Firstfruits.
I have read that the Jews will not build the temple now because the Arabs would declare Holy War, jihad, if they did. But jihad would likely have already been declared when Russia (king of the far north) and her Islamic allies enter the north of Israel. And then the LORD intervenes utterly destroying the overwhelming hordes as foretold to Ezekiel 38 & 39. Remember what has already occurred, i.e. the destruction of the surrounding Arab nations save Egypt per Amos 1 & 2 but to include ISIS per the second chapter of Zephaniah (Assyria) and a black African component with Damascus being nuked per Isaiah 17:1, then Ezekiel 30:5 - the destruction of another invasion led by Egypt (king of the south) with Turkey (king of the north) and black and North African Muslims plus Muslims from all over (the mixed multitude, which would include Europe and America), and then the nuking of the Aswan Dam making Egypt unlivable for forty years per Ezekiel 29. Would the Arabs wish to again take on YHWH and the Jews after this last jihad ended in utter catastrophe for the king of the south (Egypt) and the king of the north (Turkey) per Daniel 11:40, followed by the destruction of the Russo-Islamic invasions? Not for many years at least. And with their surrounding enemies decimated and their confirmed knowledge of being the "chosen people," the Israelis will build the temple of YHWH. I suspect the impetus to build the Temple will greatly accelerate with the destruction of the surrounding Muslim nations save Egypt, i.e., that described in Amos 1 & 2. (NOTE: in late 2002, Turkey for the first time since the early 1920s elected an Islamic government. In July 2007, the same Islamic party was re-elected though with less of a majority. During the Iraq War, they denied America access to Iraq through their territory. Circa 2011, Turkey had very harsh words for Israel, demanding an apology after the Israelis boarded a flotilla bound for the Gaza Strip from Turkey. Israel refused to apologize. On Sept 2, 2011, Turkey expelled the Israeli ambassador and sent their prime minister to sign a treaty with Egypt, the highest personage from Turkey to Egypt in 15 years. Shades of Ezekiel 30:4-5. Though continuing to seek European Union membership, Turkey is now turning eastward, back to Islam. Within the past decade, an attempt by the Turkish military to take back the nation to the secular state of Ataturk created after World War I was unsuccessful [some describe this event as a coup by Erdogan to remove the army's power] and the Islamics under Erdogan were greatly strengthened. They will be part of the Islamic army per Ezekiel 30:5 that invades Israel after Israel destroys her neighbors per Amos 1 & 2 save Egypt. God has not forgotten the Christian Armenian massacre of World War I by the Turks, the first genocide of the 20th century estimated at one to one and a half million persons. The Hagia Sophia was the largest church in Christendom in Constantinople until 1453 when the Ottoman Turks captured the city and renamed it Istanbul. After Turkey lost World War I, under Ataturk, they became a secular nation. In 1934, the Hagia Sophia became a museum and tourist destination. About 11 July, 2020, Turkey announced that it would become a mosque again.).
After almost 60 million abortions in America since the Roe vs. Wade decision of our illustrious Supreme Court (Many, if not all, of the judges who made that decision are waiting for the true Supreme Court to open. I believe they await their fate in a place called sheol as designated by Christ in His parable of the rich man and Lazarus in John 16:9-31. Those judges put Christ and God in the dock. Now, they will be in the dock. The rich man indulged himself with never a thought for God; these justices perverted a nation. I doubt they will like the final decision on their fates. Going from the agony of Sheol within the earth to the greater agony of Gehenna, the lake of fire [the sun?], is not much of a trip, but one hell of a judgement.) It has been said that American children care little about human life, but they are concerned about animals. This point was driven home in a recent movie Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom in which dinosaurs are brought to northern California and locked in large cages in a building that has been set on fire. The heroine, who is an animal rights activist, releases the animals from their cages and gets ready to turn them out into California. She pushes the plastic case off the red button that will release them, and the hero says words to the effect: “Careful, once you do this, there’s no going back.” Apparently, it dawns on her that she is releasing these huge creatures, some of which are meat-eaters, on an unsuspecting human population. She pulls the plastic case back over the red button, and cries watching the dinosaurs dying. Suddenly, a siren goes off with lights coming on and the outer door opens, releasing the dinosaurs. The hero and heroine look back to see who pushed the button. There is a little girl who had been aggressively chased by a carnivorous dinosaur only a short while before. She says, “I had to. They’re alive, like me.” Now one thing that a rebuilt Jewish temple would require is an enormous number of animal sacrifices yearly. Animal blood would flow in rivers, especially from a people previously on the edge of death and filled with gratitude for their miraculous escape from the seemingly invincible Russo-Islamic hordes.
When the Nazis gained power, they made propaganda films of the Jewish kosher customs of slaughtering animals to show the average German how different the Jews were from them. Now imagine these huge numbers of animal sacrifices being shown to the world by television. These images would be taken back to the entire world by pilgrims from all over. Imagine the smell on a visit to Jerusalem - a slaughterhouse combined with the smell of burning flesh. Of course, the Jews could care less. YHWH had saved them from certain destruction, and undoubtedly, He would do so again should anyone dare to take them on. Peace in their time. But the anti-Christ from his bastion in Europe, now suddenly devoid of young raving Muslims, will dare. And this time the heavens will be silent. Slowly it will dawn on the Israelis that God is angry with them. But He had just saved them! And in His honor they had rebuilt His temple and re-instituted animal sacrifices. How could He possibly turn against them? And then they will slowly recall the rapture of the church, and they will slowly grasp the truth about Christ and history being HIS story. But the anti-Christ will be in charge and the slaughter will begin (Zechariah 13:8-9).
In Daniel's final week of the 70 weeks, Passover could be the destruction of the Russo-Arab army, but it could also be on Trumpets in the fall, though I favor one of the trumpet judgements for this. The two witnesses will be resurrected and raptured on Firstfruits. The 144,000 or 12,000 from each tribe save Dan per Revelation 7 & 14 are firstfruits per 14:4. Joseph is represented in Revelation 7 as two tribes by Joseph and Manasseh (USA), a slap at Ephraim (England). Joseph had two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, together likely the Anglo-Saxons. (See The Uniting of the Sticks for more information.) The northern tribes of Israel are usually listed collectively as Ephraim, but after receiving the greatest empire of all time, England turned from the God of the Bible to silly unscientific evolution and the vast ages. Then they lost their empire. Approximately 3 to 6% of England's population were listed as Christian in a recent poll. As noted earlier, could the two witnesses including Elijah, immediately after their resurrection, be raptured on Firstfruits on the fourth day, or another day, of the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the 144,000 Second Firstfruits, Weeks? There are 7 trumpet judgments in Revelation. Will the last trumpet judgment begin on the Feast of Trumpets? Or the first? Or one of the others, such as Tabernacles, or the day after Tabernacles, one of the 8 days of Hanukkah, or Purim? Will the LORD return on Yom Kippur to rapture His church or to destroy His enemies? 10 Tishri, Yom Kippur, seems unlikely for the Rapture, but very likely for Armageddon.
Per the 7th trumpet in Revelation 11:15 The seventh angel sounded. And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, "The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our LORD and of His Christ,, and He shall reign forever, and ever!" And the 24 elders who sat before God on their thrones fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying:
"We give you thanks, O LORD God Almighty,
The One Who is and Who was and Who is to come,
Because You have taken Your great power and reigned.
The nations were angry, and Your wrath has come,
And the time of the dead, that they should be judged,
And that You should reward Your servants the prophets and the saints,
And those who fear Your name, small and great,
And should destroy those who destroy the earth."
Then the temple of God was opened in heaven, and the ark of His covenant was seen in His temple. And there were lightnings, noises, thunderings, and earthquake, and great hail.
I personally prefer the feast of Yom Kippur as the return of the LORD to destroy His enemies and to reign on the earth (with the rapture occurring on Trumpets or the last day of Tabernacles, though perhaps another feast). I base this on the 70 weeks prophecy of Daniel given in 539 B.C. per Daniel 9:24
Seventy weeks are determined
For your people and for you holy city,
To finish the transgression,
To make an end of sins,
To make reconciliation for iniquity,
To bring in everlasting righteousness,
To seal up vision and prophecy,
And to anoint the Most Holy.
I had thought that anointing the Most Holy referred to anointing Christ. But the experts on Scripture write this refers to anointing the Temple for worship. Remember the anti-Christ will desecrate the soon-to-be-built Jewish Temple. Now Christ when He returns to destroy His enemies can certainly snap His fingers and make the lakes of the blood of His enemies resolve, but I doubt He will do so on the day of His return because of Daniel 12:11-12:
And from the time the daily sacrifice is taken away, and the abomination of desolation is set up, there shall be one thousand two hundred and ninety days. Blessed is he who waits and comes to the one thousand three hundred and thirty five days.
Now Scripture seems to be clear that the anti-Christ will run rampant for time, times (dual, not indefinite plural), and half a time per Daniel 7:25, or 1260 days, but in the above verses, we have 1290 and 1335 days or 30 and then an additional 45 for a total of 75 beyond the 1260 days. What happened after the first abomination of desolation was placed in the Holy of Holies in the Jerusalem temple circa 168 B.C. by Antiochus Epiphanes? After their victory over Antiochus, the Jews rededicated the temple. Thereafter they had an 8 day feast called Hanukkah, also known as the Feast of the Lights. It always occurs 74 or 75 days after Yom Kippur, hence, the 1335 days.
Recall Daniel 9:27:
Then he (anti-Christ) shall confirm a covenant with many (Israel or perhaps the G-20, G-7, nations of the European Union, etc.) for one week;
But in the middle of the week
He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering (the beginning of the Great Tribulation)
And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate;
Even until the consummation, which is determined,
Is poured out on the desolate.
Yom Kippur in 2026 begins at sunset on Sunday, Sept 20, and ends at sunset Monday on Sept 21 in Jerusalem. Hanukkah begins at sunset in Jerusalem, 74 days later on December 4 and goes for 8 days to sunset Saturday, December 12. Regarding Yom Kippur in 2026, 1260 days earlier falls on 10 April, 2023, the fourth day of Unleavened Bread, with Passover beginning at sunset Wednesday on April 5. Firstfruits would begin at sunset on April 9, sunset Saturday to sunset Sunday. The fourth day of Unleavened Bread would begin sunset on Sunday April 9. If Daniel’s final week ends at sunset on December 12 (the last day of Hanukkah in 2026), then seven Biblical years earlier would have Daniel’s 70th week beginning on 18 January at sunset on 2020. If my conjectures on the 2300 days are correct, they would begin 138 to 145 days after the week begins, or about 4 to 11 June of this year. The Israelis still control Israel and Jerusalem, so this is apparently not the year (2020) it begins.
Yom Kippur begins at sunset Sunday, October 10 to sunset Monday, October 11 in 2027. Hanukkah begins at sunset on Friday, Dec 24 to sunset Saturday, January 1, 2028- beginning 74 days after Yom Kippur. 1260 days before this Yom Kippur, in 2027, falls on Sunday, 28 April at sunset to Saturday, 29 April at sunset, the sixth day of Unleavened Bread. The fourth day of Unleavened Bread would fall on Friday at sunset on April 26 to Saturday at sunset on April 27. Firstfruits would fall on sunset Saturday, April 27 to sunset Sunday, April 28. The final week would begin about 6 Feb, 2021.
Yom Kippur in 2028 begins on Friday, Sept 29 at sunset to Saturday, Sept 30 at sunset. Hanukkah begins in 2028 at sunset on Dec 12 to sunset on Dec 20. Hanukkah begins 74 days after Yom Kippur. 1260 days before Yom Kippur, in 2028, falls on sunset 18 April to sunset 19 April, the sixth day of Unleavened Bread, with Passover beginning Saturday, April 12 at sunset to Sunday, April 13, 2025. The fourth day of Unleavened Bread would fall on sunset 16 April to sunset 17 April, 2025. Firstfruits would begin on Saturday at sunset on April 19 to Sunday at sunset on April 20 for one day. Daniel’s final week would begin, according to this scenario, at sunset on January 25, 2022. (I urge you to do your own calculations. I got these dates for the Jewish feasts from the internet, but sometimes the dates seem to vary a little!) The prophecy referring to the middle of the week appears to apply to the fourth year of the final week of Daniel as well as the fourth day of the one week feast of Unleavened Bread, IF the LORD returns to destroy His enemies on Yom Kippur in the near future, i.e. a double prophecy. Could the second, third, fifth, or sixth day of Unleavened Bread be considered in the midst of the week? I suspect so.
If the middle of the week of Daniel's final 7 years also does refer to the middle of the week of Unleavened Bread as the time when the Great Tribulation begins, it may have very interesting implications. Try Revelation 13:1
Then I (John) stood on the sand of the sea. And I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his heads a blasphemous name. Now the beast which I saw was like a leopard, his feet were like the feet of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. The dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority. And I saw one of his heads as if it had been mortally wounded, and his deadly wound was healed. And all the world marveled and followed the beast. So they worshiped the dragon who gave authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, "Who is like the beast? Who is able to make war with him?”
On to Revelation 13:11: Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon. And he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence, and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived.
I suspect the antiChrist will be in Jerusalem to celebrate the first or, possibly, the second Passover in the newly rebuilt Jewish temple. Anti-Christ means not only against Christ, but also in the place of Christ. Could it possibly be that the anti-Christ begins the Great Tribulation in the middle of the one week Feast of Unleavened Bread after being attacked in Jerusalem and taking a fatal head wound by a sword on Passover? Like Christ, he is resurrected three days later, to begin the Great Tribulation the next day on the fourth day or perhaps, a few days later, in the middle of the week of Unleavened Bread. Satan is also familiar with Biblical prophecy.
His resurrection will be a little different from Christ's per Zechariah 11:13:
Woe to the worthless shepherd,
Who leaves the flock!
A sword shall be against his arm
And against his right eye;
His arm shall completely wither,
And his right eye shall be totally blinded.
Thereafter, per Zechariah 14:16, Tabernacles will be the feast of Christ's millennium, but, to me, Hanukkah will be the most likely choice for when the Most Holy (the Temple and/ or Christ) is anointed and Daniel's final week ends per the end of Daniel 9:24. However, Christ’s millennium may begin on Yom Kippur, when He returns to reign and when the Jubilee begins. After being desecrated, the Temple takes 30 days to cleanse. His reign and the end of Daniel’s 70th week may overlap.
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Tisha B'Av or the ninth of the Jewish month of Av, is usually in August. The ninth of Av was the month and the day the Babylonians destroyed Solomon's temple in 586 B.C. and also the month and the day that the Romans destroyed Herod's temple in 70 A.D., a curious coincidence. The rabbis say coincidence is not a kosher word.
Minor events of Tisha B'Av include the defeat of the Bar Kochba rebellion in 135 A.D. when the Romans, exasperated by another Jewish rebellion, renamed Judea Palestine after the Philistines, the ancient enemy of Israel. In A.D. 1290, the Jews were expelled from England on this date by Edward the Long shanks of the 1995 movie Braveheart fame. (Oliver Cromwell allowed the Jews to return to England in the 1650s, and thereafter England began to ascend to numero uno on the world stage. "I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you," per Genesis 12:3) And the expulsion of the Jews from Spain was on this date in 1492 A.D. by Ferdinand and Isabella, who also expelled the Moors (Muslims). Some of the Jewish families had lived in Spain more than 2,000 years at that time since the destruction of Solomon's temple. Between 1290 and 1492 A.D., the Jews were also expelled from France on Tisha B'Av. Grant Jeffery has reported that Tisha B'Av was also the time when the spies returned after 40 days of examining the "promised land" and gave a false report that Israel could not take it. Israel refused to enter and was subjected to a funeral march of 40 years till that unbelieving generation passed away. Jeffery also reported that the First World War began on this date, and Russia launched a pogrom against the Jews within their borders killing tens of thousands at that time. The Jews were removed from Gaza on Tisha B'Av by their fellow Israelis in 2006. Will there be a dramatic event on this date during Revelation? Perhaps!
There are two other Jewish feasts that are not in the Torah- Hanukkah and Purim. Hanukkah is the Feast of the Dedication (of the Temple). Though not Levitical, it is referred to in John 10:22- 39 where Christ validates it as the Feast of the Dedication in winter. It is to me, the model, for the end of Daniel's final week, when Christ will be crowned for His millennium, likely on the eighth and final day of the feast, but perhaps an earlier day of the eight, thus ending the final or 70th week of Daniel, meaning the final week will be divided into 3 unequal portions, and not the standard halves of 1260 days each. The middle piece, better known as the Great Tribulation, will be 1260 days with the last piece being 75 to 82 days, as Hanukkah is an eight day feast, and the first piece being 1260 less 75 to 82 days.
Daniel had a vision during the reign of Babylon about 550 BC of an all powerful ram (symbol of Persia) conquering all before him. Then suddenly the ram was attacked by a goat (symbol of Greece) who came upon him so quickly that the goat's feet did not touch the ground. The goat had a notable horn (Alexander the Great). He trampled the ram and grew great, but when he became strong the horn was broken, and 4 notable ones grew up in the place of the one large horn.
This vision encompassed the future. At the time it was given , Babylon reigned, but it was replaced by Persia, the ram. The goat we are told in Daniel represents the kingdom of Greece. The Aegean Sea means the goat sea. The great horn (Alexander the Great) speedily conquered the Persian Empire, only to die suddenly in Babylon at age 33 without an heir. His empire was divided among his 4 generals into 4 parts with two being Syria (the Seleucid kingdom of the north) and Egypt (the Ptolemaic kingdom of the south which ended with the death of Cleopatra). Judea was a pawn between these two kingdoms of north and south for more than a century thereafter.
Continuing Daniel 8:9- 14 And out of one of them ( the four horns) came a little horn which grew exceedingly great toward the south, toward the east, and toward the Glorious Land (Israel). And it grew up to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host and some of the stars to the ground and trampled them. He even exalted himself as high as the Prince of the host; and by him the daily sacrifices were taken away, and the place of His sanctuary was cast down. Because of transgression, an army was given over to the horn to oppose the daily sacrifices; and he cast truth down to the ground. He did all this, and prospered.
Then I heard a holy one speaking; and another holy one said to that certain one who was speaking, "How long will the vision be, concerning the daily sacrifices and the transgression of desolation, the giving of both the sanctuary and the host to be trampled underfoot?"
And he said to me, "For two thousand three hundred days or morning- evening sacrifices: then the sanctuary shall be cleansed." (NOTE: Days underlined above has been translated from morning and evening sacrifices. If so, there could be a total of one thousand one hundred and fifty days with two sacrifices each day, before the temple was cleansed, or 2300 days. The temple was desecrated at least by 15 Kislev, circa 168 BC, when a statue of Zeus was placed on the altar of God. The temple was rededicated on 25 Kislev circa 165 BC. Assuming 165 BC is the accurate date, a Jewish year is 354 days X 3 years = 1062 plus 15 Kislev to 25 Kislev in 168 BC, or an addition of ten to 1072 plus the addition of at least one month of 30 days during the 19 year cycle of Jewish years = 1102. Sometimes 2 months were added in 3 years increasing the number to 1132, or 18 shy of 1150. Was the temple desecrated earlier than 15 Kislev in 168 BC? I don't know! One author has written there were actually 2300 days from the initial onslaught by Antiochus Epiphanes till the cleansing of the temple.)
The little horn refers to Antiochus IV who came to the Seleucid throne in 171 BC. He was cruel and savage. He declared himself Antiochus Epiphanes, Antiochus the God. The Jews referred to him as Antiochus Epimanes, Antiochus the madman. Antiochus sought to unify his kingdom through Greek culture (Hellenism) and to destroy Judaism. On the 15th day of the Jewish month of Kislev circa 168 BC, he erected an idol of Zeus, the supreme god of the Greeks, in the Holy of Holies in the Jerusalem temple. Curiously, the idol of Zeus had the face of Antiochus. He then sacrificed a pig on the altar on the 25th of Kislev to add insult to injury to the Jews and their God.
After a time the Jews revolted and after a few years retook Jerusalem and the temple despite overwhelming odds. To rededicate the temple required the burning of a flame for 8 days. They discovered only one small cruse of unpolluted oil in the temple, enough to burn for one day, but 8 days were required for the re-dedication. Miraculously, the cruse burned for 8 days. This feast is for 8 days. It has been said to be modeled after the Feast of Tabernacles, and the number 8 does mean a new beginning. The altar was rededicated to YHWH on the 25th of Kislev, circa 165 BC.
Hanukkah is also known as the Feast of Lights. The Hanukkah menorah is brought out for this feast. Unlike the typical menorah, this one has four candle holders on each side of the central place for a candle for a total of 9 candleholders, with a typical menorah having seven. Each day of the feast another candle is lit from the central candle, the shammash or servant candle which is higher than the rest.
It has been suggested that Christ was not born at Christmas time or 25 December. Hanukkah may have been the time of His Immaculate Conception. In other words the Light of the world was conceived in Mary's womb during the Feast of Lights. His birth likely occurred on Trumpets or perhaps Tabernacles thereafter with John the Baptist's birth on the preceding Passover. Per Luke 1:26, John was about 6 months older. During the three winter months, Israel is difficult to move about in because of the weather. It seems unlikely that a Roman government official would require the Jews to try to move to their ancestral towns in this season. Likely it was a season other than winter when the taxes were collected by the Romans at the census. Also the shepherds were not in the fields with their flocks during December to February, a cold and wet season in Israel, as they were per Matthew 2:8. Christ's birth on Trumpets would begin the fulfillment of the fall feasts. He could then come on Yom Kippur to destroy His enemies and theirs had the Jews accepted Him.
As Hanukkah is the Feast of Lights, In Matthew 5:14 Christ referred to His followers "You are the light of the world." As noted earlier, it is also known as the Feast of the Dedication (of the temple). Per 1 Corinthians 3:16 "Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are."
Per 1 Corinthians 6:19 "or do you not know your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit Who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own. For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's."
As Christians are the light of the world and the temple of the Holy Spirit, could the Feast of Lights, Hanukkah, also known as the Feast of the Dedication of the temple refer to the Rapture? After all it is a feast not noted in the Torah, and the church is also not noted in the Torah. I suspect the rapture of the church will occur on Trumpets or the last day of Tabernacles, though perhaps Hanukkah, though there are other possibilities. Dr. Chuck Missler of Koinonia House (Khouse) suspected it would be on the Feast of Weeks. In particular, I wonder about the third chapter of Malachi, a portion of verse 1:
And the LORD Whom you seek
Will suddenly come to His temple.
Certainly, He came in the first century A.D. to the Temple in Jerusalem, but this verse could have a double meaning. It could also refer to the rapture with His temple being the church before Daniel's final week of 7 years of 360 days per year begins, or perhaps, the first or second year of Daniel's final week of 7 years. He could return on Yom Kippur to win Armageddon and save Jerusalem, and 75 days later (Daniel 12:11-12) begin Hanukkah. The anointing of the Most Holy would most likely occur on the 8th and final day of Hanukkah and the 82nd day after Yom Kippur to end the final week of Daniel. Of course, He could be anointed on the first day of Hanukkah or any day thereafter, of the 6 remaining.
I suspect Hanukkah is the model for the ending of the final week of Daniel, and just like the Jews rededicated the temple circa 165 B.C. after the first abomination of desolation was placed in the Jewish Temple by Antiochus Epiphanes, the presently unbuilt but soon to be rebuilt Jerusalem temple to the God of Israel will be rededicated, and Christ will be anointed as King of kings during Hanukkah to end the final week of Daniel.
Events that occurred on the dates of Hanukkah in the past include: 1. The foundation of the second temple in 520 BC per Haggai 2:18-19, 2. The first abomination of desolation when Antiochus Epiphanes sacrificed a pig, an unclean animal, on God's altar in the Jerusalem temple. 1 Maccabees 4:54. 3. The recapture and cleansing of the temple circa 165 BC. 1 Maccabees 4:52-4. 3. Jerusalem freed from Turkish rule - 1917 AD.
Finally, there is Esther's feast, Purim. Today it is considered a minor Jewish holiday, but it represents the salvation of the Jews, God's chosen people, from the wicked Haman during the Persian Empire. It occurs in late February to March for 2 days. In 2021, Purim begin at sunset on Feb 25. It always begins 30 days before Passover.
Luther and Calvin felt that Esther should not be a part of the Bible because there was no mention of God though it is obvious God is working behind the scenes because of the timing of the events. The Jews have noted God’s name 5 times in Esther in their Talmud by using acrostics, the first or the last letters of words in a row. Equidistant letter sequencing of the text has also noted God’s name four more times for a total of nine.
Esther means star in Persian, but “something hidden” in Hebrew. In fact, Megillat Esther, Hebrew for the scroll of Esther could be translated as “the revealing of the hidden.”
Like the Bible codes in the Old Testament in the Hebrew and likely the New Testament in the Greek, Who but God could build such a code as this in time? Has He incorporated the feasts over 3 periods for the Jews, the church, and again for the Jews and the lost tribes of Israel during the final week of Daniel.
P.S. If Israel's dark day is on the Feast of Trumpets, perhaps this is because the rapture of the church leaves Israel utterly alone and friendless among the nations. The Muslim jihadists have sought a nuclear Hiroshima for America with Islamic suicide bombers blowing up nuclear devices in Boston, New York, Washington, Miami, Houston, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles simultaneously. A single nuclear device exploded in the atmosphere above America could destroy the electrical systems in America sending us back to the 19th century. This is an EMP or electromagnetic pulse. Fox News noted on 25 Feb, 2019, that Iran had fired a cruise missile from one of its submarines, and North Korea had successfully done this earlier. I believe there must be a mechanism to bring the Anglo-Saxons, who I believe to be the lost tribe of Joseph, and the rest of the lost tribes back to Israel. Hence, America and Britain must become much more difficult to live in, especially for those of Anglo-Saxon descent. Whether by the jihadists' nuclear vision or an EMP attack or by earthquakes, tsunamis, exploding volcanoes, droughts, floods, hurricanes, or some combination thereof, I believe this must come to pass. The dollar would, of course, collapse thereafter or perhaps before, and America as we have known it would cease to exist. At present, only God holds up the American dollar and our ever increasing debts. At the same time, the immediate threat to Israel by Islam and Russia must be ended completely setting up the anti-Christ of Europe. The Euro is having massive problems. Some believe it will collapse, but the anti-Christ will make European currency sound in the near future, even if the Euro collapses. China and Japan also have massive debts. China and Russia are also buying gold. Isaiah 60:4 notes your sons will come from afar. Isaiah 60:6 notes Midian, Ephah and Sheba shall bring Israel gold and incense (frankincense). The Magi brought the baby Jesus gold (king), frankincense (priest), and myrrh (an aromatic substance to mask the stench of death). Myrrh will not be required again.
Ezekiel 37:16 notes the stick of Judah and Ephraim will become one. Isaiah 60:9 notes “…the ships of Tarshish (the British Isles) shall come first, to bring your sons (the Anglo-Saxons of Britain, their colonies, and America) from afar, their gold and their silver with them.”
Much of the above came from The Feasts of the LORD: God’s Prophetic Calendar From Calvary to the Kingdom, 1997, by Kevin Howard and Marvin Rosenthal.
JEWISH HOLY DAYS: The Making of a Baby
By J.R.Church from his Prophecy in the News magazine
Zola Levitt discovered an amazing correlation between Jewish Holy Days and the gestation of a human baby, from conception to birth. While preparing for writing a book for new parents. Zola contacted a gynecologist for some help in understanding gestation. During that session, the gynecologist showed him a series of pictures, pointed to the first one (an egg and a sperm) and said, "On the fourteenth day of the first month, the egg appears." The statement struck a chord in his Jewish mind because that was the date of Passover. He remembered the roasted egg on his family table every Passover. Now, for the first time, he knew what it meant! Not wanting to lead the gynecologist off from the subject at hand, he didn't say anything, but continued to listen.
The gynecologist continued: "The egg must be fertilized within 24 hours, or it will pass on." This reminded Zola of the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the seed or grain that "fell into the ground and died," the firstfruits of which was presented to God. Next, the gynecologist said, "Within two to six days, the fertilized egg attaches itself to the wall of the womb and begins to grow." And, sure enough, the Jewish evangelist thought, "The Feast of Firstfruits is observed anywhere from two to six days after Passover!"
Next, he was shown a photo of an embryo showing arms, hands, fingers, legs, feet, toes, a head, eyes, etc. The caption said, "Fifty days." The gynecologist continued, "Around the fiftieth day, the embryo takes on the form of a human being. Until then, we don't know if we have a duck or a tadpole." Zola thought, "That's Pentecost!" (Weeks)
The next picture showed the embryo at seven months. The gynecologist said, "On the first day of the seventh month, the baby's hearing is developed. For the first time it can hear and distinguish sounds outside the womb." Zola knew that was the date for the Jewish Festival of Trumpets.
The gynecologist continued, "On the tenth day of the seventh month, the hemoglobin of the blood changes from that of the mother, to a self-sustaining baby." Zola thought, "That's the Day of Atonement, when the blood was taken into the Holy of holies!"
Next, the gynecologist said, "on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, the lungs become fully developed. If born before then, the baby would have a hard time breathing." And Zola thought, "That's the festival of Tabernacles, a time of celebration the Temple, home of the Shekinah glory or Spirit of God." In the New Testament, the Greek term pneuma, normally translated as "breath," is applied to the "Holy Spirit."
Birth takes place on the tenth day of the ninth month. Eight days after birth, in Jewish families, a son is circumcised. Zola noted that the eight days of Hanukkah are celebrated right on schedule, nine months and ten days after Passover. (NOTE: Birth is usually 9 months and 10 days after conception. Hanukkah begins on the 25th day of the ninth month or 9 months and 10 days after conception. Hanukkah is known as the Feast of Lights, and the infant sees light for the first time with birth. It is an 8 day feast, and male children are circumcised 8 days after birth. In the same light, hearing is developed in the fetus on the first day of the seventh month after conception.)
No human being could have understood the gestation period 3,500 years ago. The establishment of the Jewish Holy Days was given to Moses by Jehovah, Himself. Its correlation with the human gestation period is not only remarkable; it proves "Intelligent Design." It proves the existence of an intelligence beyond this world. It proves that there is a Creator God that guides the affairs of man.
On Wednesday, April 19, 2006, Zola Levitt went home to be with the LORD after a battle with lung cancer. The announcement on his website added: "What a soldier's testimonial - to stay at his post until called away by Yeshua! Happy is the man whose work is his play."
In giving his testimony, Zola wrote: "I came to the LORD on March 14, 1971, through the urging of campus Crusaders at Indiana University. They challenged me to read the Scriptures, particularly the Book of John. I went by night, like Nicodemus, to the campus director's home and brought a New Testament bound by itself (what Dr. McCall, our ministry senior theologian refers to as 'The Amputated Bible').
"When I read John"s cosmic views of the LORD and the plan of salvation, I realized that I was reading Jewish writing about a Jewish Messiah, and a Jewish way to God. All the campus Crusaders might have been Gentiles, but I knew Jewish thought when I read it. My prayer of 28 years ago was extremely simple. I said to God, 'If You're there, show me.' An open-minded look at the life I have led since that moment would have to conclude that He has indeed shown me wonders."
The correlation between the Jewish festivals and the birthing of a baby was just one of those "wonders."
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The following lunar eclipses occurred in:
April 15, 2014 Passover
October 8, 2014 Eretz Sukkot 14 Tishri, the day before Sukkot (Tabernacles)
April 4, 2015 Passover
Sept 28, 2015 Sukkot or Tabernacles
There were back to back lunar eclipses- Passover and Sukkot (though off one day before Sukkot)
Also total solar eclipse on March 15, 2015- Nissan 1, 2015- the beginning of religious year
Partial solar eclipse on Sept 13, 2015- hours before Trumpets on Tishri 1- beginning of civil year
The late JR Church of Prophecy in the News has noted that lunar eclipses spell disaster for Israel, whereas solar eclipses for the Gentile world. He also noted that back to back lunar eclipses for Passover and Sukkot occurred in 1967 and 1968 with the Six-Day War occurring in 1967. A similar pattern in 1949 and 1950 with Israel founded in 1948. A similar pattern occurred in 1493 and 1494, with Columbus sailing the ocean blue in 1492, but the Muslims were kicked out of Spain also in this year as were the Jews, some of whom had resided there since the fall of Solomon's temple in 586 BC, or over two thousand years. The Jews had to be gone from Spain by the ninth of Av.
Nothing seemed to happen during these eclipses, but I wonder. At some point in the last decade, China became the #1 manufacturing nation on earth, though America retained the largest economy based on GDP. However, America had been the largest manufacturing nation on earth since about 1873. Is this an ominous foreshadowing of things to come?
On Aug 21, 2017, the “Great American Eclipse,” according to the media, occurred. It was a total solar eclipse that began in Portland, Oregon, reportedly a very ungodly city. It swept across America to the South Carolina coast. I believe the only nation it crossed was the U.S. Was it an omen of things to come? The Jews say a solar eclipse is a bad sign for the Gentiles. Though I believe America was founded by the Anglo-Saxons of the lost tribes of Israel, mostly Manasseh, the majority of the population is now likely Gentile. It was written that several years before Jonah went to Nineveh, the population had been greatly disturbed by a solar eclipse. Also, Daniel may have had his skin depigmented by his time in the whale’s or fish’s belly, presenting as a very strange apparition.
-R Gentry