2/11/06 – Rapture

Hi all,

Following up on last week's thoughts I've been thinking on the doctrine of the rapture. I received a lot of email this week, and much of it had to do with questions about 'the rapture'.

For years when someone has asked me if I believed in the rapture I asked them, "Which one, there seem to be 7."

Those 7 are:

Enoch, Elijah, Jesus, Pre-Tribulation (more on that later), Mid-Tribulation (Rev 7:9-15), the 2 witnesses (Rev 11:12), End of Tribulation (Rev 19:1-9).

The mid trib and end of trib group could be martyrs I suppose-I really don't know about those groups of people seen before the throne, but there is substantial evidence for a pre-tribulation catching away in the NT, and it's all based on the Jewish feast of Rosh Ha Shanah, the feast of trumpets.

In other words, three is no other scripture outside of The Revelation supporting a mid or end of tribulation rapture, yet there are multiple scriptures supporting the pre-tribulation event.

The foundation for the doctrine of the rapture as a pre-tribulation event is found in the 5th festival of Israel, Rosh ha Shanah. There are 4 springs festivals and 3 fall festivals. 6 of the 7 are feasts, 1 is a fast.

Those 7 are:

Unleavened Bread; Passover; First Fruits of the Barley Harvest; 50 days later Pentecost-the wheat harvest. In the fall there are the Feast of Trumpets (Rosh HaShanah); Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur - a fast), and the Feast of Tabernacles (celebrates God living with man).

In Exodus 12 we have the account of the 1st and 2nd feasts: Unleavened Bread and Passover. Israel took a lamb into their home on the 10th of the month and examined it for 3 days to be sure it was healthy and worthy of sacrifice. Then they killed it at 3pm on the 14th of the month. (literally 'between the evenings', or 3pm - Ex 12:3-6)

They ate un-leavened bread at this time. Leaven, or yeast, being a symbol of sin.

Jesus literally fulfilled this as Mark's gospel in particular follows Jesus coming into the city in Mark 11 on Palm Sunday, then being examined by all the religious leaders on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, concluding in Mark 12:34: "...and no man after that dared ask him any question." The Lamb was found without fault.

The scribes, Pharisees, Sadducees, chief priests, and elders (all the authority groups mentioned in the text who questioned Jesus) didn't know they were performing the literal fulfillment of the 3 day examination of the Lamb. The text is very careful to divide each day, stating 'on the morrow' or 'the next day'. (11:12, 20; 14:1)

Jesus died at 3pm on Thursday the 14th as the Gospels say, on the "day of preparation" (John 19:31; Luke 23:54; Mark 15:42; Mt 27:62).

The day of preparation was the day they killed the Passover lamb at 3pm, they 'prepared' it, thus the designation of that day. That evening, beginning at 6pm started a High Sabbath...meaning Friday was a Sabbath, as well as the regular Sabbath on Saturday.

There has been much confusion in the church world not understanding the Friday High Sabbath of Passover and the Saturday Sabbath. Thus most churches mark Jesus dying on Friday, rather than Thursday. You can find the High Sabbath in Leviticus 23:6-7. (there are a total of 7 High Sabbaths in the festival year)

On the Sunday after the Feast of Unleavened Bread and Passover is the feast of Firstfruits. Leviticus 23:11 states it is to be held 'the day after the Sabbath', which is the Sunday after the Saturday Sabbath on Passover weekend.

This was first seen in Israel's exodus from Egypt. Exodus 12:37 tells us that in the early morning of Friday the 15th they went from Rameses to Succoth, and then camped at Etham (13:20) that night. Saturday they traveled near Baalzephon at the edge of the sea, camping there that night. That night a strong wind blew and the sea parted, so that on the morning of Sunday the 17th they left Egypt, finally free, with Egypt drowning in the flood of the sea.

Israel stood on the other side of the sea on the morning of Sunday the 17th, which became the Feast of Firstfruits. Jesus literally fulfilled this by rising from the dead on Sunday the 17th, thus he is called the 'firstborn from the dead' throughout Paul's writings. (Rom 8:29, Col 1:18, Heb 12:23, Rev 1:5)

Paul also calls Jesus the Firstfruits in I Cor 15:20-23.

The first 3 feasts were fulfilled by Jesus on the exact day they were celebrated. He died without sin as the Passover lamb, and was raised on Firstfruits as the first born from the dead.

But wait, there's more: Starting on Sunday the 17th when they came out of the sea, Israel traveled 47 days to the foot of Mt. Sinai, where they then prepared for meeting God on the 50th day. (Ex 19:11) God then gave the 10 Commandments during this time. This 50 day point out of Egypt was later celebrated in Leviticus 23:15-22 as Pentecost. (Leviticus 23:15 says to count 50 days after the Sunday of the Firstfruits, and celebrate Pentecost, the first fruit of the wheat harvest.)

What is interesting about the first Pentecost, the meeting with God on the mount, is what happened there: Rabbi Joseph Hertz in the Authorized Daily Prayer Book says this:

"...the Divine Voice divided itself into the seventy tongues then spoken on earth, so that all the children of men might understand its world-embracing and man-redeeming message."

Other Rabbis state this:

"...notice that it (Ex 19:16) does not say "the thunder", but "the thunderings"...as it was uttered, split into seventy voices, in seventy languages, so that all the nations should understand...(Exodus Rabbah 5.9)

"...on the occasion of the giving of the Torah, the children of Israel not only heard the Lord's Voice, but actually saw the sound waves as they emerged from the Lord's mouth. Each commandment that left the Lord's mouth traveled around the entire Camp as a fiery substance and then came back to every Jew individually, asking him, "Do you accept upon yourself this Commandment with all that pertains to it?" Every Jew answered, "Yes,"...finally the fiery substance which they saw, engraved itself on the tablets of stone." (The Midrash Says; Rabbi Moshe Weissman)

Notice that Acts 2:1-4 says that "when the day of Pentecost was fully come there appeared cloven tongues as of fire"...and they all spoke in languages they hadn't learned, so much so that foreigners in the city heard the Word of God spoken in their own languages, thus literally fulfilling the original day of Pentecost when God gave his Word from the Mount. They heard a rushing mighty wind and saw fire...just like Israel at the foot of the Mount.

The 4 spring feasts were literally fulfilled on their exact day.

The last of the 7 festivals is Tabernacles, the celebration of God living with man. During the 1000 year rule of Jesus on the earth we will celebrate this feast each year. Zechariah 14:16: 

"..and it shall come to pass that everyone that is left of all the nations (that survive the tribulation)...shall go up year by year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles."

So we know that 5 of the 7 festivals were or will be celebrated literally on their appointed days. That leaves only Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, which stands for the return of Christ to this earth and the Feast of Trumpets-Rosh HaShanah. 

I would like to believe that Jesus' return at Armageddon will be on the Day of Atonement, for it appears from Paul's writings that what we call 'the rapture' will occur on the Feast of Trumpets.

The Feast of Trumpets (Rosh HaShanah) was started with a blast from a Shofar, specifically called 'the last trump'. This blast awakened the righteous dead to everlasting life. (Talmud, Rosh HaShanah 16b).

Paul refers to this in I Corinthians 15:52, but we haven't understood its' meaning:

"In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

The original Last Trump was said to have been the right horn of the ram that Abraham killed in sacrifice instead of Isaac.

This not to be confused with the silver trumpets used in Numbers 10 to alert the camp to be ready to move.

This 'awakening blast' as it is called is the trumpet Paul also talks about in I Thessalonians 4:16-17:

"For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air..."

Earlier in this book he says that we are to "...wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, who has delivered us from the wrath to come." We are delivered by the catching away at the last trump.

Furthermore, he stated in 5:2-4 that the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night to the world, "For when they shall say Peace and safety, sudden destruction will come upon them"...but "that day shall not overtake you as a thief."

To us, he is not coming unawares or as a thief.

Think about his little parable of a thief in the night. A thief breaks into someone's house and takes something that doesn't belong to him. Paul is stating that to the world, Jesus is that thief, breaking in to take something that doesn't belong to him...a spouse, a whole family, children...but to us he is not the thief-he is coming back for people he bought and paid for!

Within the context, Paul is clearly talking about the Awakening Blast and the changing of the believers who are caught away with the Lord.

Additionally, the Feast of Trumpets is the only one of the seven that begins on the New Moon. The New Moon is the opposite of the full moon...The New Moon is when there is no moon.

In Judaism the sun stands for God and the moon stands for believers. The sun produces it's own light, and the moon needs the sun to be able to reflect it's light. The sun rules the day and the moon was made to rule the night (Gen 1:16).

Thus, Psalm 81 is read during the Feast of Trumpets. Psalm 81:3 says this:
"Blow the trumpet in the new moon, at the time appointed, on our solemn feast day."

In Judaism, when the righteous dead are raised and the believers are changed, they are said to be hidden, just as the new moon is hidden from view. So we see a very clear picture of the rapture in this feast.

That's great that the rapture is included as one of the Feasts of Israel, but when will it occur? Pre-tribulation, Mid-Tribulation, or at the end?

We know that Anti-Christ makes a 7 year peace treaty with Israel (Dan 9:27), and we will know who he is at that point...but will we be around to see that, or will we be raptured out first?

Paul wrote II Thessalonians because he needed to clarify for them when this awakening blast would come. They were happy that they were to be spared from the time of tribulation, but they wanted specific information about the timing, thus II Thessalonians was written.

In Chapter 1:2-13 (part) Paul says:

"...that you be not troubled...as the day of the Lord is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and then the man of sin will be revealed. Who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called god, or that is worshiped; so that he as God sits in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God...And now you know what is withholding him that he might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity is already working, only he who now restrains will continue until he is taken out of the way. And then the Wicked one will be revealed."

The term 'falling away' must be put in the context of the 1st century. It's use was to signify a departure. It was used to describe a ship setting sail, and as it disappeared over the horizon it was sailing out of view and said to "fall away"...apostasia in the Greek.

The word was translated as "falling away" and it's contextual meaning was lost on us Gentiles, thus some have speculated it means a falling away from the faith...but that is not the case.

In context Paul is stating the Anti-Christ will not be revealed until the "departure" come first...not a falling away from the faith, it is a falling away out of view-a departure that must come first.

This is consistent with his first letter about the blast of the trumpet, and consistent with his notation of it being the Last Trump that will be sounded.

The "He" that restrains the anti-Christ therefore is the body of Christ...until "He" is taken out of the way so the man of sin can be revealed.

Why does the body of Christ need to be taken away? We are the salt, preservative of the earth. Once the preservative is gone the earth can go 'bad' so to speak.

The main reason is because the last 7 years, the Tribulation, is dealing with Israel almost entirely. God's focus is off the Gentiles and back onto Israel.

To this Jesus referred in Luke 21:24 when he said: "And they shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem will be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the time of the Gentiles if fulfilled." 

Paul elaborates a bit more in Romans 11:25: "...blindness in part is happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in."

We can therefore mark the beginning of the end. When we see Jerusalem no longer controlled by Gentiles and when we see spiritual blindness start to lift off Jews as it pertains to Jesus as the Messiah.

Israel took control of Jerusalem in 1967, almost perfectly coinciding with a massive awakening of Jewish people discovering the Jesus is the Messiah...the blindness if lifting and Jerusalem is controlled by Israel, therefore we are at the time of the end of the Gentiles.

There is a set time for the fullness of we non-Jews to come to the Lord. When that time is over the Body will be removed, and the Lord will turn his attention once again to Israel, as Paul continues to say in v26: "...and so all Israel shall be saved."

The focus on Israel during that last 7 years is why there are 144,000 Jewish evangelists who preach Jesus to Israel and the 2 witnesses are the 2 most important men to the history of Israel: Moses and Elijah, to convince them Jesus is their Messiah.

Though some think Enoch and Elijah are the witnesses, citing 'it is appointed once to die', they misunderstand the point of the Tribulation and the power of God.

The 'once to die' of Hebrews 9:27 is just making the point that we will all be judged. (or else what do you do with CPR and shocking hearts back to life if you follow that logic to it's end)

Notice the signs of the witnesses in The Revelation 11:6:

"These have the authority to shut heaven so that it doesn't rain...and have they authority to turn the waters to blood and smite the earth will all plagues..."

Remember that it was Moses and Elijah who appeared to Jesus (Moses stands for the Law and Elijah the prophets), and that Michael the Archangel took possession of the body of Moses for safe keeping in Jude 9...why? So that Moses could fulfill his days that were cut short. Moses will speak from the Law and Elijah from the prophets to convince Israel Jesus is Messiah just as Jesus taught the disciples after his resurrection and Paul did later in his travels.

One final note that often leads to questioning a pre-tribulation rapture, and that is the text of Matthew 24:37-44:

"But as the days of Noah were, so shall also be the coming of the Son of Man...For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking and marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark. And knew not until the flood came and took them all away...then two will be in the field; the one shall be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken, and the other left...watch because you don't know what hour the Lord is coming. If the overseer of the  house had known at what time the thief would have come he would have watched...therefore you be ready..."

The flood took people away at the start of the flood, not at the end...the flood 'took them all away'.

The context is people going about their business until the flood swept them away. The flood is the tribulation in this parable. The flood took them away at the start of the flood...not at the end.

That is why Jesus said his coming (for his people) would be like the flood taking people away...at the start of the flood. Paul alludes to this passage by using the same 'thief in the night' parable Jesus used here.

Coming full circle...Unleavened Bread, Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles were/will be fulfilled literally on their respective days.

I believe Paul's case for the Feast of Trumpets is strong enough to be fulfilled on the exact day as well, before the Tribulation. It would break precedence if it didn't.

In fact in Judaism at the blowing of the Last Trumpet it is not only the Awakening Blast to resurrect the dead and hide the living believers, but it begins a 10 day time of preparation before the Day of Atonement. It begins the time in the OT called 'the time of Jacob's trouble' and divides the people of the earth into three groups: The Wholly Righteous, the Wholly Unrighteous, and the largest group, the Undecided.

The Undecided have until the Day of Atonement (return of Jesus being the literal fulfillment) to decide their fate.

Will there be believers of all nations on the earth during the tribulation? Of course. The Holy Spirit doesn't leave the earth. He's been here since Genesis 1:1 and being God, isn't going anywhere. He is the only way people are born again, thus he must be here. But the Body of Christ will be taken away.

At least most of us...let me leave you with this thought. Hebrews 9: 28:

"So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and to them that look for him, he will appear the second time without sin unto salvation."

That verse makes me wonder if some in the body of Christ aren't really looking for him...and therefore won't be caught up in the rapture? I know a lot of Christians living like the world, and I question if they are really looking for the Lord. Will they be left behind to be some of those suffering in the Tribulation time? That will have to be a future 'thought'.

In the last 2 weeks I've shared some thoughts about end times in detail that I hope were thought provoking and clear enough to follow or examine for yourself.

 

Blessings,
John Fenn
cwowi.org