Showing posts with label Feast days. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Feast days. Show all posts

Monday, August 8, 2011

THE MANY REASONS WHY THE LORD'S FEAST DAY OF ROSH HASAHANAH, REPRESENTS THE RAPTURE

The first thing that is imperative to realize is that God's feast days that He outlined in the Torah, represent God's plan of redemption, compromising both His first and second coming. 

 

 Note that there are seven Levitical  feast days outlined by God. The number seven represents completion and is God's perfect number.

 

Please see the following website for an elaboration on God's perfect number being the number, 7 :

http://www.angelfire.com/az/rainbowbridge/seven.html

Jesus has already fulfilled all the Spring Feast days with His first coming.

 

The upcoming Fall feast days represent the Rapture, His Second Coming and the Millennial period. 


The next feast day to be fulfilled would be the first Fall festival, Rosh Hashanah.

It is important to remember that the feast days are NOT just Jewish feast days but are God's feast days. In the book of Leviticus, God stressed that they are HIS feast days. 

Leviticus 23: 

1The Lord said to Moses, 2“Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘These are my appointed feasts, the appointed feasts of the Lord, which you are to proclaim as sacred assemblies


So, the festival (feast) days belong to the Lord Himself. His followers, Jew and Gentile are to keep them. 

 

If the Church had been observing God's feast days then they would have realized that His return for His own would come one Rosh Hashanah/ Yom Teruah.

 

It is noteworthy to realize that Rosh Hashanah has several different titles, all referring to the same festival.

 

It is also known as Yom Teruah,or the Feast of Trumpets. These titles, as well as other names for this important festival, will be used interchangeably throughout this entry. 

 

Yom Teruah is the only one of God's feast days that starts on the sighting of the new moon. 

 

The Jewish idiom for God's feast day of Yom Teruah, is the feast "of which no man knows the day or the hour". 

 

Due to the dispersion of the Jewish people from their land in ancient days, the feast of the new moon/Yom Teruah could have been over before word of the sighting of the new moon in Jerusalem, spread to those who were dispersed in Babylon.

 

Therefore, Rosh Hashanah was celebrated as a two day festival but recognized as one long day. It is the only feast day that begins at the sighting of the new moon by two witnesses in Jerusalem. 

 

Because of this, no one could know for certain, beforehand, the day or hour of the beginning of the feast of Yom Teruah. 

 

Bear in mind that Yeshua (Jesus)was Jewish, speaking to His Jewish disciples when He used this well known Jewish idiom: 

 

Matt. 24: 36“ No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.

Just as in American culture, one would know that if someone informed them that they would visit them on "Turkey Day'" that they were indicating Thanksgiving. 

 

 In the same manner, the Scripture indicates that our Jewish Savior was referring to the well known 2 day feast of Yom Teruah/"on a day or hour that no man knows". This idiom is also indicates how this feast is representative of the Jewish Wedding. 

 

"Of that day or hour no man knows, but my Father only" is the expression used by a Jewish groom when asked when he will go and steal away his bride "like a thief in the night".

 

1 Thessalonians 5:2 For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.

 

The Jewish groom (representing Jesus) goes away to prepare a place for his bride. When preparations on the bridal chamber are completed, the father of the groom (representing our Heavenly Father)tells his son it is time to fetch his bride.

 

The Feast of Trumpets is also known as the "wedding of the Messiah", and therefore, the expression about "not knowing the day or the hour" again is shown to refer to the Jewish wedding custom in relation to this feast.

 

Believers are the Bride of Christ for whom the Bridegroom, Yeshua, (Jesus) will one day come to take to His Father's House, at the time of the Rapture.

 

Therefore, it is clear that the Rapture must take place on a Feast of Trumpets/the wedding of the Messiah.

 

Remember Jesus's assurance to us, His Bride:

Matthew 14:1“Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. 2There is more than enough room in my Father’s home.a If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?b 3When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am.

 

Thus, it can easily be seen how this feast day represents the Rapture, as the Bride of Christ, we are caught up in the air to be with the Lord and to attend the marriage supper of the Lamb.

The title, Yom Teruah, means Day of Trumpets in Hebrew. There is the blowing of 100 shofar blasts towards the very end of the celebration of this feast. 
The one hundredth and last blast is called "THE LAST TRUMP".  

Just as Jesus was Jewish speaking to a Jewish audience so was Paul, as a Jew, relating the well known Jewish name for the last shofar blast blown ending the Feast of Trumpets/Yom Teruah:

 

1 Corinthians 15:52 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.

  
On The Feast of Trumpets, the challah, or special bread, is baked into the shape of a circle, representing a crown.
It is on this day that the coronation of the King is to occur and the King which we know to be Yeshua Ha Mashiach, is to be enthroned on this festival/feast day. The shofar is blown during the coronation of a king. 

 As such, it can be seen that one day, on a Yom Teruah, (which means the "day of blowing") that the shofars will be blown announcing the coronation of King Jesus!

 

 The thirty days prior to Yom Teruah are the month of Elul. Daily during this month, leading up to Rosh Hashanah, we are supposed to reflect on our lives because God's judgment is coming on Rosh Hashanah.

 

The message from Elul 1 to Rosh Hashanah is clear: Repent before Rosh Hashanah. Don’t wait until after Rosh Hashanah, or you will find yourself in the Days of Awe.

The Days of Awe are the seven days in between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur/Day of Atonement.

These 7 days represent the 7 year Tribulation period and The Day of Atonement represents the Second Coming of Jesus.




God is so loving and merciful that He gave us each year, 30 days to search our hearts and repent prior to what one year will be the Rapture on a Yom Teruah.



Another name for Rosh Hashanah is Yom HaDin which means Day of Judgment. The Jewish people believe that on Rosh Hashanah the"books” are opened in heaven. 

There are three books opened - that of life, for those whose works had been good; another of death, for those who had been thoroughly evil; and a third, intermediate.


Those classified as intermediate are those whose case will be decided on the Day of Atonement (seven days after Rosh Hoshanna on Yom Kippur).

The delay is granted for true repentance, which without, their names would be finally entered, into the book of of death. 



For those who truly repent and forgive others, their names will be entered into the book of Life.

The opening of the books on Rosh Hashanah signifies the judgment of mankind wherein the righteous will be taken in the Rapture and the intermediates and wicked will be left behind to face the 7 year Tribulation. 


The intermediates are those who Jesus called lukewarm and warned He would "vomit" them out of His mouth. 


Revelation 3:15-17
15 “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. 16 So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot,[a] I will vomit you out of My mouth. 

Recognizing this, all professing Christians need to make sure their focus is on the things of God instead of the world:

Revelation 3: 17 Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked


Rosh Hashanah is also known as Yom HaKeseh (Day of the Hiding or Hidden Day) which one may translate into the raptured Bride of Christ being "hidden" in Heaven during the cataclysmic events of the 7 year Tribulation (correlating with the 7 days of Awe).


One of the reasons for blowing the shofar is to proclaim the resurrection of the dead. Jewish thought is that the resurrection of the dead will take place on a Rosh Hashanah. 
Followers of Christ realize that the Rapture is indeed the day of the Resurrection of the dead in Christ. 

In addition, this feast  is also known as the Day of the Awakening Blast or The Day of the Awakening Shout.


1 Thes 4:15-18 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 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: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words. 

The blast of the shofar and the shout of the Lord will one day awaken those who now sleep.


With the dead in Christ, those who are alive and truly belong to the risen Lord, will be "caught up together with them into the clouds" into glorified bodies and everlasting life.

Also, the gates of Heaven are understood to be opened on Rosh Hashanah.  


As such, it is further evidence that the Rapture of the believers in Christ will take place on a Rosh Hashanah when the gates of Heaven are open, in which we may enter in.

The time of sorrows (birth pains) have been steadily growing stronger and closer together just as Jesus prophesied they would as the time of the end drew near.


 Matthew 24:6And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
 7For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
 8All these are the beginning of sorrows.


Therefore, we can be able to recognize how close to the end we are on God's prophetic timeline. 

The hour is growing late. We are at the end of the age and our Lord is returning. 

May all realize that it is time to shift our focus from the things of the temporal to eternity.


May we all repent, forgive others and give the God of Heaven the priority that He deserves!

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

DID WE MISCALCULATE GOD'S TIMING OF THE RAPTURE?

Foremost, it is imperative for all Christ followers to realize that the feast days outlined in the book of Leviticus are God's Feast Days. 

As such, they are not just to be observed by the Jewish people, but by all those whom belong to the God of Abraham, Issac and Jacob. 

The Word of God confirms to us that these feast days are "the appointed feasts of the Lord" and thus belong to the Lord and ALL those who belong to Him, Jew and Gentile.

 

Leviticus 23

Feasts of the LORD
 1 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘The feasts of the LORD, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, these are My feasts.

Please note that the Hebrew name for feast is "moed" which means "appointed time".The Hebrew word for "convocation" is "miqra" which translated, means "dress rehearsals".

As such, God's Word even indicates to us that His appointed times/feast days were given to us as foreshadowing and actual dress rehearsals for God's plan of redemption.

Incredibly, the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus were fulfilled to the very day; falling on the first three, consecutive Spring feasts days.

The Spring Feast day immediately following these three, Shavout, was fulfilled just as precisely. 

The day of Pentecost coincided to the very day as it happened on the actual day of the feast of Shavout.
  
As we can therefore see, the appointed Spring Feast Days were fulfilled to the very days they fell on with the First Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, it is evident that the Fall Feasts will also be fulfilled with such precision, regarding His Second Coming.

With this logic and supporting Scripture, many believe that the Rapture of those who belong to the risen Savior, will also occur on a Feast Day.

Please see the following blog entry for further details regarding God's appointed feast days and their potential alignment with the end times and coming "Day of the Lord".



The preceding blog entry expounds on the multiple rationales pointing to the feast day of Rosh Hashanah as a very possible designated time for the Rapture. 
For the multitude of reasons explained therein, many who heed the Lord's command to watch for His return, were exceedingly dismayed when the Fall Feast days came and went this year.

However, there has been new and exciting information regarding the timing of the Feast Days this year!

This year's Fall Feast Days may have actually been observed a month too early and therefore may have not yet officially come to pass. The following explains this valid reasoning:

God's calendar begins in the Spring with the first designated month being the month of Nisan. This year's observed Jewish and Gregorian calendars had the month of Nisan beginning 4 days before the actual Vernal Equinox. Thus, it was not officially Spring yet.

This error would likewise result in the incorrect observance of all the Spring and Fall Feast Days as it would result in their scheduled dates on the existing calendar having been a month too early.

Notable is the fact that year's observance of Rosh Hashanah/Feast of Trumpets was actually still during the summer as the Autumnal Equinox did not occur until two weeks after the feast was observed. 

Rosh Hashanah is a Fall Feast Day and therefore the dating does appear to be off as it was not celebrated in the fall, but the summer.

Consequently, this deviation moves Rosh Hashanah forward four weeks which means it would instead be observed at the coming next new moon.

According to this theory, on the Gregorian calendar, the next new moon(and possible Rosh Hashanah/Feast of Trumpets) falls on October 9, 2010.

Therefore, this coming new moon, around October 9, 2010, may actually be the correct date to observe the Feast Day of Rosh Hashanah, meaning that there is still hope for a Rosh Hashanah Rapture of those who eagerly await their Savior.

Important to note, according to God's Word, the Feast of Trumpets is celebrated with the sighting of the new moon  by two witnesses.

Therefore, the actual day of Rosh Hashanah still cannot be known for certain as the visualization of the new moon may be from October 9, 2010 to several days later.

This new astounding insight, wherein the dating of the Jewish calendar and feast days may actually be off by a month, certainly shows that though we can know the season; no man can know the day or the hour!

Mark 13:32 "No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.