9/15/07 – Rapture?

Hi all,

We are in the holiest time of year on the Jewish calendar, the time celebrating the 3 falls festivals, so I thought I'd share a bit about these. But first it is important to know about the 4 spring festivals.

The first 4 spring festivals have already been fulfilled, on their exact day:

Passover & Unleavened Bread - Jesus became our Passover and his vicarious death and sinless life made salvation possible. Crucified on the exact day of the feast.

Firstfruits, celebrated on the day after the Sabbath of Passover/Unleavened Bread week (that Sunday), celebrating the first fruits of the earth - Jesus was resurrected on this day as the first-born of the dead. If you read Exodus 12 through 15 carefully (the original Passover/Unleavened Bread) you'll see the original Firstfruits was that Sunday morning when Israel had just crossed the parted Sea and watched Egypt destroyed, a beautiful picture of the True which would take place so many years later on resurrection day/Firstfruits.

Pentecost - 50 days after Firstfruits, the original Pentecost was God giving Moses the 10 Commandments from Mt. Sinai. They had traveled 47 days from Egypt, then waited 3 days before Moses went up the Mount.  In fact one rabbinical source says when Moses received the 10 commandments the Spirit of God divided into the 70 known languages of the earth and went to each culture infusing them with the knowledge of God's right and wrong embodied in those 10 commands. Pentecost of Acts 2 celebrates the literal fulfillment in that all mankind heard the Word of God in their own language (Baptism with the Holy Spirit/tongues).

These are the 4 spring festivals, all feasts, and all literally fulfilled on the exact day. In other words, Jesus was crucified sinless at Passover. He was resurrected on the day of Firstfruits. The pouring forth of the Holy Spirit happened on Pentecost - all these things were done as the fulfillment of the type that had been practiced for generations before.

This leaves us with 3 fall festivals - 2 feasts and a fast - and it is reasonable to assume these will be celebrated on their exact day as well. In fact we know the last one will (Feast of Tabernacles) because Zechariah 14 tells us this, so it is reasonable to assume the other 2 will be as well.

The other 2 are Rosh HaShanah which began the 12th (6pm), and Yom Kippur  (the holiest of days, and a fast) is the 22nd, with the Feast of Tabernacles/Sukkot on the 27th.

Rosh HaShanah is the Feast of Trumpets which denotes a blast called "the awakening blast", which will cause the righteous dead to rise to life. The Shofar used for this feast is very precise. It is called the "Last Trump", and in first use was the right horn of the ram that was caught in the bush when Abraham was to offer Isaac, and passed down to his ancestors.

Paul referred to this "Last Trump" in I Corinthians 15:52 when he says the Last Trump shall sound and those who are dead in Christ will rise followed by the living righteous. He later (again) refers to this in I Thessalonians 4:16 when he says Christ himself will descend with a shout for his church, and the voice of an archangel and the "trump of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first."

In our day, being a mostly Gentile rooted church and ignorant of the festivals, many have not understood Paul's reference to the Jewish festival of Rosh HaShanah and the Last Trump when reading his words, mistakenly thinking "last trump" meant the last to be blown or something.

In fact Rosh HaShanah/Feast of Trumpets is specifically for this purpose - to resurrect the righteous dead. Beyond that, in Judaism the sun stands for God and the moon for believers in God. God is the Source for light and life and we merely reflect His light as the moon merely reflects the sun's.

Thus the moon (believers) are to rule the night (rule over evil), and as such the Feast of Trumpets is the only feast that begins on a New Moon. The New Moon is when the moon is hidden from view; it is the exact opposite of the Full Moon phase. Psalm 81:3 is spoken at this time: "Blow the trumpet in the new moon, in the time appointed, on our solemn festival." It is the only festival that begins when the moon is hidden from view, and the trumpet it is referring to is the Last Trump.

Thus when the Last Trumpet sounds the righteous dead will rise and as Paul said, "we who are alive will rise and meet the Lord (and them) in the air, so shall we always be with the Lord." In other words, even as the moon is hidden during this phase, so too will the righteous dead and those caught up with them be hidden at this time.

Obviously Rosh HaShanah answers to what is called the Rapture of the church. While some question if this doctrine is legitimate or not, the fact it is found as 1 of the 7 God-given festivals removes any doubt as to it's validity.

And it's good that we are hidden and out of the way with the Lord because of what is next. The Feast of Trumpets kicks off what is called the Days of Awe. From God's perspective, once the Last Trump is sounded and the righteous (dead and alive) are caught up and hidden from view, the earth goes into the Days of Awe. From this point forward until the Day of Atonement/Yom Kippur, mankind is in one of three categories: The wholly righteous, the wholly wicked, or the intermediates/undecided.

The intermediates make up the largest group, and they have until the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) to either become righteous by receiving God, or going the other way and rejecting him. At the Day of Atonement everyone will be either wholly righteous or wholly wicked - no in between on that day.

Yom Kippur answers to the return of Christ and is depicted in Revelation 19 and Matthew 25. 

Five days after Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, is Sukkot, or the Feast of Tabernacles. It is also called the Feast of Living Waters. This will help you understand the 7th and 8th chapters of the gospel of John and Jesus' statement during this feast that HE is the true Living Waters. 

The Feast of Tabernacles celebrates God living with man, originally when Israel wandered in the wilderness and the Lord led them by pillars of fire and cloud. It's literal fulfillment will be when Jesus sets up his earthly kingship and rules from Jerusalem for 1000 years.

It is interesting to note that each festival is fulfilled on it's exact date and fulfilled only that once - in other words Jesus only died 1 time on the cross, thus fulfilling Passover/Unleavened Bread only once. Jesus was only resurrected 1 time on Firstfruits. Pentecost was literally fulfilled that one time recorded in Acts 2.

In the same way there will just be that 1 time the Last Trump is sounded to awaken the righteous dead at Rosh HaShanah, and change the righteous who are alive in the blink of an eye. And there is only 1 return of Jesus.

However, the Feast of Tabernacles will be celebrated every year for 1000 years in a row. Why? Because it celebrates God living with man, and that is exactly what Jesus will be doing during his reign - living with mankind - therefore it will be in constant fulfillment and celebration for that time.

Zechariah 14:16 says: "And it shall come to pass that everyone left of all nations (those who survive the tribulation) will go up year by year to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles."

Just as the 4 spring feasts were fulfilled on their day, and we know Tabernacles will be fulfilled on it's day (and kept on it's day each year), it is reasonable to assume the Feast of Trumpets will happen on it's day as well.

That is why every year about this time you start hearing of people who have calculated the rapture will be THIS day, usually always coinciding with Rosh HaShanah.

The 7 years of tribulation are all about the Days of Awe on an earth-wide scale, forcing the issue upon the whole earth of who they will serve - God or the devil. 

In summary then: The festivals in order as presented in scripture, spring festivals first:

Jesus dies sinless, for mankind - Passover and Unleavened Bread

Jesus resurrected from the dead as the first fruit of the earth and inviting all - Firstfruits

The Holy Spirit is poured out on mankind, enabling all nations to come to God - Pentecost

The fall festivals:

The righteous dead and living from the first fruits are caught up and hidden away in God - Feast of Trumpets

(the earth goes into the Days of Awe/tribulation to force mankind to decide who to serve)

Jesus returns to judge the nations and set up his kingdom - Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement

Jesus lives with mankind as King over the earth for 1000 years - Tabernacles

On a personal level, this time of year is a solemn one. As Jews all over the world take the Days of Awe and looming Day of Atonement very seriously by apologizing to all they wronged over the past year and exchange gifts - making sure all is forgiven before going before God on that most holy of days - so too we need to turn our thoughts inward, seeking the Father, seeking wisdom, seeking to judge ourselves in areas we've fallen short - (If I have offended in the past year in this space please forgive me)

I think many people today are caught up in rapture fever, but personally, I'm more concerned about the Day of Atonement that is coming, when I'll be held accountable for my life. I long to be done with this life that I may be caught up in Life, but not before I've run my race and finished my course.

This is a very brief overview of the 7 festivals, but there is a lot of good material available from places such as the Messianic Jewish Press and other sources.

Because the Father seems to be keeping these appointments I think it's important for us to be aware of them as well, for his appointments are in fact, with us.

Looking inward and heavenward, some thoughts this day,
John Fenn (by the way, no "Thoughts" next week due to travel schedule)
www.ifaithhome.org