Greetings, In the Name of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who was raised from the dead on the third day and today sits by the right hand of God until the appointed day and hour when He shall return for us.
We have a lot to discuss and break down as for years the division on the topics we will bring up has been shared to defend our ideas, thoughts and pre-conceived idea’s on the Rapture.
But can we truly know when Jesus Christ is going to come?
GO AHEAD AND SAY IT!
YOU KNOW YOU ALREADY DID...
"NO MAN KNOWS THE DAY, NOR THE HOUR WHEN THE SON OF MAN COMETH"
PART ONE: The Rapture – Christian Scriptures for discussion.
We find verses that tell us we won’t know the exact day or hour of that event. Is Matthew 25:13 saying Jesus will return at an unknown time?
What does it mean when we says Jesus will return but no one will know the day or the hour?
Matthew 25:13 (KJV) Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.
So is it clear that we can not know the time when Jesus will come?
CAREFUL….
The Scripture is saying you can not know the exact day or exact time. However, we must be careful to not jump into any conclusions. I know for years it has been taught by everyone to everyone that we can not know the day or the hour, when our Lord will come. We hear that we will be taken off guard just like a thief in the night will catch you unaware.
So what do we know for sure that will take place?
The Scriptures are clear on many factors of the coming of the Lord.
Can we agree that Jesus is coming back again?
If we look at the following scriptures we can see that the topic of our Lord Jesus Christ coming back for us is biblical and scriptural. First Thessalonians 4:16, and 17. Truly has a lot of information for us to consider. Notice how descend from heaven is. Mentioned in the verse and that many other activities are happening at the same time.
First Thessalonians 4:16 “For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.”
First Thessalonians 4:17 “Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.”
It is clear that the scriptures are saying that the Lord will come from Heaven one day to bring us up to himself to be with Him.
Descend from Heaven:
> With a Cry…
> With the Voice…
> With the sound of the Trumpet of God…
and the result of all these things happening the Dead in Christ will rise up from the place they have been. (Which is not heaven by the way)
As you can see the scripture is strong in proclaiming the return of Jesus Christ. There are many scriptures that support the coming return of Jesus Christ and it is part of our HOPE AND FAITH.
Titus 2:13 “waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.”
John 14:3 “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, you may be also.”
THE RAPTURE IS A MAJOR EVENT.
BUT WHAT DOES THE RAPTURE HAVE TO DO WITH THE FEASTS OF THE LORD?
It would take a lot of pages to talk about all the feasts of the Lord. Here. But let’s consider the following.
The Feasts of the Lord are important as their point the way to the main events of time for both the Jews, and for the Gentiles.
7 Major Feasts
Let me just say right from the start here that the feasts which God gave to the nation of Israel (and are often called the feasts of Israel) are incredible in their truth about Jesus and for their prophetic revelation concerning God’s plan to redeem and retake this planet. I thought I had a good understanding of the feasts before I did a recent study on them… but I was wrong! My understanding was very limited compared to what I discovered! So whether you think you know the feasts well and hardly at all, I can honestly say that this is a very important topic to study once again. It is one that will only become all the more important as we edge closer to the return of Jesus Christ and the fulfillment of these feasts.
7 FEASTS OF THE LORD:
PASSOVER:
UNLEAVENED BREAD:
FIRST FRUITS:
PENTECOST:
FEASTS OF TRUMPETS:
DAY OF ATONEMENT:
FEAST OF TABERNACLES:
Matthew 24:30-31 “ Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”
I would like to point out that a Loud Trumpet call is mentioned in Matthew and can I state the obvious? I never heard of a quiet trumpet call. The word used for Loud is the same word that would be used to describe many variations of the word which one that fits the meaning is LONG. MEGAS IS USED AS LONG 33 TIMES 150 TIMES AS GREAT. WHICH ALSO WOULD FIT IF YOU THINK OF THE GREAT LONG TRUMPET BLAST THAT IS BEYOND THE NORMAL SHORT BLASTS WE HEAR DURING THE FEAST OF TRUMPETS
First Corinthians 15:51-53 “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 imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.”
The Days of Awe
As mentioned earlier, the feast of Trumpets starts on the Jewish month of Tishrei 1. It is a two day feast (Tishrei 1-2) because the feast requires the sighting of the new moon and then the sighting had to be reported to the priests. Because of the uncertainty of when exactly this will occur, it is celebrated over two days. Tishrei 1 to the day of Atonement on Tishrei 10 are collectively called ‘the days of Awe’. They are the most solemn and holy days in the entire Jewish year. In fact, preparing for this time even starts in the previous month. The previous month of Elul starts a 40 day period known as Teshuvah (meaning repent or return) which concludes on the day of Atonement in the following month of Tishrei. For each day during Elul, the trumpet (ram’s horn) is blown to remind to the people to return to God in preparation for the upcoming ‘days of Awe’ between Tishrei 1-10. Everyone had to search their own hearts during this period and make sure they were right with God.
The Feast of Trumpets
Rosh HaShana Head of the Year
Tishrei 1 is also first day of the Jewish new year in their civil calendar. It is also believed that Adam was created on this day so it is not only the start of a new year but is the birthday of the human race!
Fulfillment: The fulfillment, at the rapture, will certainly be a whole new beginning for the children of God! It is on that day that everything is reset anew as those ‘in Christ’ are taken to Heaven. How interesting that the first creation started on this day (according to Jewish belief) and the church will experience the full reality of the new creation again on this day! Also consider this: What day did Noah, when he was on the ark, get to remove the covering of the ark and see the new post-flood world for the first time once the waters had receded?
Genesis 8:13 ‘By the first day of the first month of Noah’s six hundred and first year, the water had dried up from the earth. Noah then removed the covering from the ark and saw that the surface of the ground was dry.’
Yep, it was the first day of the first month which is Tishrei 1 – the same day that would become the feast of Trumpets, or Rosh HaShanah, the new year, the new beginning! Noah saw his new world on this day. It is quite likely that this is a type for resurrected believers seeing their new world (Heaven) for the first time on this day.
THE LAST TRUMP
The term ‘the last trump’ or ‘last trumpet’ is well known to believers because Paul uses it to define the time that the rapture and resurrection will take place. Here is the key scripture:
1 Corinthians 15:51-52 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed– (52) in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.
So what was Paul talking about when he mentioned this event happening at the ‘last trumpet’? The last trump was a phrase known at the time and spoke of the last great trumpet that occurred on the feast of Trumpets. On that day 100 trumpet blasts were heard. The last one was called ‘the last trump’. Arnold Fructenbaum writes: ‘Paul is writing from his own Pharisaic, rabbinic background. The last trump is a technical term for the final, long, and most significant trumpet blast of the Feast of Trumpets… Paul was saying that the Feast of Trumpets was going to be fulfilled by the rapture of the Church.’ So here we have even further proof that the rapture and resurrection is tied directly with this next feast.
Philippians 3:20-21 “But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.”
A DAY OF REMEMBERANCE
The feast of Trumpets is also known as the Day of Remembrance. It is a day on which they remember God. But also, it is a day on which God is said to remember them.
Fulfillment: The wonderful passage from Malachi notes how God is currently remembering those that believe in Him and what the result of this will be.
Malachi 3:16-18 Then those who feared the LORD talked with each other, and the LORD listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the LORD and honored his name. (17) They will be mine, says the LORD Almighty, “in the day when I make up my treasured possession. I will spare them, just as in compassion a man spares his son who serves him. (18) And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.’
God is writing a book or scroll of remembrance for all those that fear His name. It is those that He will ‘spare’ when He makes up His treasured possession. But spared from what exactly? The next verse, which starts in chapter 4 goes on to say what they are spared from:
Malachi 4:1-2 Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and that day that is coming will set them on fire, says the LORD Almighty. “Not a root or a branch will be left to them. (2) But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. And you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall.
Clearly, the day that the righteous are spared from is the time of judgment and wrath that is coming upon the earth. This corresponds exactly with the feast of trumpets being the rapture and removal of the bride to Heaven before the ‘days of awe’, the time of wrath, that falls upon this earth. God will remember us. God will draw a distinction between the righteous and the wicked just as He said in Malachi.
DAY OF JUDGEMENT
Jewish thought also associated the feast of Trumpets with the day of Judgment. God was said to open the books on that day and judge the righteous and the wicked according to what they had done. There were said to be three classes: The wholly righteous, the wholly wicked and the intermediates.
Fulfillment: Prophetically, this has meaning again for both the believer and unbeliever. For believers, following the rapture of the church to heaven, is the Judgment Seat of Christ where our lives and even motives will be examined.
Romans 14:10-12 You, then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. (11) It is written: ” ‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every knee will bow before me; every tongue will confess to God.’ ” (12) So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.
1 Corinthians 4:5 Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men’s hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God.’
For the unbeliever, ‘Yom Hadin’ will also usher in judgment… but of a different type. Believers won’t face the wrath of God for this has been taken by Christ. But those that reject the offering of Christ will face the wrath of God. Their day of judgment will begin while they are still on earth during the ‘days of awe’. Apart from the trumpet at the rapture, trumpets are used to announce the the judgements of God as evident throughout the book of Revelation. According to Jewish belief, in the days of Awe, some will be ‘wholly wicked’ and will not repent even with clear evidence of God (Rev 16:11,21) But the ‘intermediates’ will choose in this day which way they go. They will have until death or the day of Atonement (the return of Jesus Christ in glory to earth) to turn to the Lord before it is too late.
In connection with the feast of trumpets beginning this period of judgement is the fact that the Jews also associated this feast with ‘the time of Jacob’s trouble’. Thus they saw that the ‘days of Awe’ were going to be an incredibly difficult time for the nation of Israel as well. It is their ‘dark day’. But, as Jeremiah tells us, they ‘shall be saved out of it’ (Jer 30:6-7)
DAY OF THE KING
This feast was also associated with the coronation of the King. For example, we read the following about the coronation of King Solomon:
1 Kings 1:39 Zadok the priest then took the horn of oil from the tent and anointed Solomon. Then they blew the trumpet, and all the people said, “Long live King Solomon!”
Fulfillment: Jesus is the coming King! This process starts at the rapture where He is established as the king of the earth. Revelation, with the breaking of each seal, depicts the process of the King taking back His Kingdom having established Himself as the only one with the rights to this world in Revelation 5. He is the One that has been given the decree to reign:
Psalms 2:7-8 I will proclaim the decree of the LORD: He said to me, “You are my Son; today I have become your Father. (8) Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession.
This process of judging and retaking this world will carry on through the 7 year period until He returns with this name on His robe – ‘King of kings and Lord of Lords’! (Rev 19:16) It is quite likely that the 7th trumpet which announces that the ‘kingdoms of this world have become the kingdom of our Christ’ will also fall in the final year of that period on the feast of trumpets.3