#41 ON THE RAPTURE 24 October, 2023

Pastors usually say no one knows the day or hour of the rapture of the church, which, of course, is what Christ said in Matthew 24:36. However, it seems to me, He would like to give those left behind some inkling of what has happened, so the event would likely occur on a relevant date in the Bible. Hence, I thought the best choice for the rapture of the church was on the Feast of Trumpets in the fall. It is a yearly feast and it has already occurred for this year. Christ is redoing the feasts of Israel. His triumphal entry into Jerusalem came on the tenth of Nisan per Exodus 12:3 when the lamb was taken from the flock for Passover to fulfill the sixty-nine weeks of Daniel 9:25-26 to the day. In the spring on the fourteenth day of Nisan for Mosaic Feast #1, He was the Passover Lamb. Feast # 2, Unleavened Bread, began the next day for a total of seven days. His body did not decay in the grave per Psalm 16:10. Within the seven-day Feast of Unleavened Bread is First Fruits. He was the First Fruit of the grave (to be resurrected eternally). First Fruits is always the day after the Jewish Sabbath of sunset Friday to sunset Saturday within Unleavened Bread per Leviticus 23:11. Now, it is celebrated the second day of Unleavened Bread on the premise that the first and last (seventh) day of Unleavened Bread are High Sabbaths, Sabbaths regardless of the day of the week. This began circa 140 AD, but originally it was the day after the regular Jewish Sabbath of sunset Friday to sunset Saturday. Per Genesis 8:4, the ark rested on the mountains of Ararat on the seventh month, the seventeenth day, but this was the old Jewish calendar which was changed during the Exodus per 12:2 when the seventh month became the first month and the first month, the seventh, i.e., Nisan, the day and month of the resurrection of Christ, which began the world anew. In Genesis 8:13, Noah removed the covering of the ark as the ground was dry on the first day of the first month, i.e., what subsequently became the fifth Mosaic Feast of Trumpets. The fourth feast is Weeks, always fifty days after First Fruits, with First Fruits being day one of the fifty. This means the bulk of First Fruits (Jewish days go sunset to sunset) and Weeks would be on Sunday, the holy day for Christians. On Sunday, Christ was resurrected, on First Fruits, and the church was born on Weeks.

The LORD is fulfilling the Mosaic Feasts of Israel. I believe He will return on Yom Kippur, the sixth Mosaic Feast to reign, and the final or seventieth week of Daniel will end on Hanukkah, which always begins seventy-four or seventy-five days after Yom Kippur (see Daniel 12:12 where Hanukkah begins 75 days after the Great Tribulation ends). Hanukkah celebrated the removal of the first abomination of desolation. I believe it will also celebrate the removal of the second abomination of desolation. It is an eight-day feast. Tabernacles, the seventh feast, is the feast of His millennium per Zechariah 14:16. Hence, we only have the fifth feast left- Trumpets, the Jewish New Year. At the trumpet of God, the dead in Christ will rise first per 1 Thessalonians 4:16. It seems an excellent fit for the rapture. However, it is past for this year.

Trumpets is on 1 Tishri in the fall. It points to Yom Kippur on 10 Tishri. The Jews say on Yom Kippur, God opens His books of the good, the bad, and the in-between. The ten days from 1 Tishri to 10 Tishri are called the Days of Awe when the Jew is to sincerely repent and pray fervently. The Jews believe when God opens his books on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in Judaism, the only day the High Priest could enter the Holy of Holies to atone for his sins and his nation’s, He graciously grants the good another year of life. The bad will die the coming year. If you are in-between and sincerely repent and pray fervently during the Days of Awe, He will give you another year to think about it. To me, it fits very well for the rapture as it points to Yom Kippur when Christ will return. Could another event do just as well? I believe the defeat of the Russo-Islamic invasion of Israel (Ezekiel 38 & 39) would also do. Perhaps, they will both occur on Trumpets, just different years. If the Feast of Trumpets is not the rapture, then you must have another feast that could fill in, and the destruction of Russia and the remainder of Islam in Ezekiel 38 & 39 fills in nicely.

Other feasts would also do for the rapture, such as the last day of Tabernacles. The Jews live in temporary shelters for the seven-day feast to commemorate their forty years in the wilderness, but after the last day, they go into their permanent abodes. Is that when we give up our human bodies for eternal ones? Tabernacles is also a harvest feast for the year, the Pilgrim’s model for Thanksgiving.

David was born and died on the Feast of Weeks. The Jews consider it a sign of righteousness to die on your birthday. The church was born on Weeks. This is another possibility for the rapture.

Hanukkah is the Feast of Lights for 8 days. Christ was the Light of the World while He was in it, His church when He left. It is also the Rededication of the Temple. 1 Corinthians 6:19 goes do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit…? This is also noted in 1 Corinthians 3:16. Another possibility for the rapture of the church

Purim is the salvation of God’s people, a lesser possibility to me.

However, another possibility has recently occurred to me. Christ said in Matthew 24:37 “But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. 38 “For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark. 39 “and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be…. 44 ”Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your LORD is coming.”

As you know, we are or soon will be in the days of Noah. I read verse 37 by itself as His coming during the new days of Noah and defeating the anti-Christ on Yom Kippur one year in the near future towards the end of Daniel’s final week of seven Biblical years of 360 days each. However, the Bible is filled with double prophecies. Verse 38 seems to be a clear reference to the rapture, especially when combined with 37 and the verses following. When did Noah enter the ark? Per Genesis 7:11 on the seventeenth day of the second month, and then judgement came on the rest of the earth with the Flood. This would refer to the old Jewish calendar beginning with Tishri, the first month of the old calendar with Tishri 1 being the Jewish New Year. So, according to my Jewish calendar, the bulk of the day would be on 1 November, 2023, this year in Jerusalem. It could also refer to another year, of course. Jewish days go sunset to sunset. Hence, the day would begin at sunset in Jerusalem or about 10 am to noon our time on 31 October or Halloween in Tennessee. Halloween is also known as Reformation Day, the month and day in 1517, when Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses on the door of the Wittenberg cathedral to start the Protestant Reformation. Would it not be something if the LORD raptured on Halloween, particularly when so many kids are trick or treating with many parents capturing the scene of their children in costumes? Then suddenly the kids and all Christians vanish, clearly to be seen on playback of their devices. The Jewish calendar has a nineteen-year cycle, so in most years, the seventeenth day of the second month would not be on Halloween, when it would be particularly likely the event would be captured by many parents on their devices, if this were the evening of the rapture. Of course, there are so many cameras now, that it would be difficult for the rapture not to be captured on some devices somewhere, but particularly true for a few hours on Halloween. I believe all children below the age of accountability will be raptured. The Jews believed this was the age of 13, perhaps from Genesis 16:17, 17:1, 23 when Ishmael was circumcised at age 13. Perhaps, this would be earlier now with television, cable, and modern movies. If they were raptured during the early evening hours of Halloween, only older children would return home, creating quite a stir in this nation. Of course, it would not be portrayed by most as a Christian event as most are unaware of Reformation Day, October 31, 1517, or the month and day of Genesis 7:11 on the Jewish calendar. I am not predicting this is the day of the rapture, but merely noting it would be a particularly good time. As noted above, there are other possibilities.