When can the church expect Jesus to return? He has told His bride to keep watch for Him. He gave all Christians conditions of the world that signal us that His time to return draws near. God has also given His people a feast day or divine appointment to keep watch for. Every year, Israel celebrates the Feast of Trumpets and looks forward to God to send their messiah. In case you haven’t picked this up yet, the fall feast days have yet to be fulfilled. Since God has fulfilled the first four feast days in their exact order and on the exact days, one should conclude that God will continue to fulfill the remaining three fall feast days in their exact order on their exact day.
Leviticus 23:24 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a Sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation.
The next feast day to be fulfilled is the Feast of Trumpets also called Yom Teruah which means “day of the awakening blast”. Other names for this day are Rosh Hashanah, Yom Hazicharon is a rabbinic name which means “day of remembrance”, Yom Hadin is a rabbinic name which means “the day of judgment” and there is Zicharon Teruah which means “shout for joy”. It is believed that Zicharon Teruah was the first day of creation and the angels shout for joy this day in celebration. The Feast of Trumpets is unique in that it will not start until the first siting of the new moon for the year. When it is New Year’s Eve in Israel and the watchmen keep watch for the siting of the new moon. When they see the new moon, they blow the shofarim. This day is known as the first day of the seventh month also called Tishri 1. Historically, the Jews celebrated this forty eight hours between Tishri 1 and 2. This day typically falls between early September and late September, depending on the year.
Rosh Hashanah marks the beginning of “the days of Awe” or yamim nora’im which, historically in Judaism, the righteous are written in the Book of Life” and the unrighteous are written in the Book of Death. Most people would not be written in either and they spent the next ten days in repentance of their sins which led to the Feast of Atonement also none as Yom Kippur. Yom Kippur is the climax of the ten “days of awe” to which everybody’s fate would be sealed in either the Book of Life or the Book of Death.
In Judaism, there are three trumpets (shofarim) that have a name. They are the first trump, the last trump, and the great trump. Each one of these trumpets indicates a specific day in the Jewish year. The first trump is blown on the Feast of Shavuot (Pentecost) (Exodus 19:19). It proclaimed that God had betrothed Himself to Israel. The last trump is synonymous with Rosh Hashanah (Feast of Trumpets). The great trumpet is blown on Yom Kippur or the Day of Atonement. Messianic Jews believe this will herald the return of the Jesus the Christ back to earth.
The sound of God’s trumpet will blow on that glorious day. We have been given some encouraging passages in scripture about the rapture of the church. If one looks at the passage in Exodus 23:16, you can see that the Jewish years ends and the “ingathering” happens. The Feast of Trumpets proclaims the end of the Jewish year and the beginning of the New Year. In this verse in Exodus, God speaks through Moses giving instruction on the finish of the harvest season. The final ingathering will conclude on Sukkot or Feast of Tabernacles.
Exodus 23:16 “And the feast of harvest, the firstfruits of thy labors, which thou hast sown in the field: and the feast of ingathering, which is in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labors out of the field.”
There are those that refuse to realize that God will blow His trumpet and gather His church. God has only blown His trumpet once in the history of creation. He blew His trumpet on Pentecost at Mt Sinai when He and the nation Israel consummated a marriage between them. This was when Moses was given the Ten Commandments. God blew His trumpet and it was a loud, long blast. It was recognized as being God’s voice. This is interesting because the rapture passages have these same recognizable traits. Please notice how the Feast of Pentecost is linked to this first time God blew His trumpet. It is called “the first trump” and is blown every year on the Feast of Pentecost.
Exodus 19:16”And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people that was in the camp trembled.”
Exodus 19: 19 “And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice.”
In the verse in 1 Corinthians 15:52, one can notice that the rapture, or “harpazo” in the Greek, is sounded off with “the last trump”. If you remember in the previous pages, the shofarim for the Feast of Trumpets is called “the last trump”.
Corinthians 15:51“Behold, I show you a
mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 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.
53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put
on immortality.”
In the passage in 1 Thessalonians 4:16, One can see that the rapture is initiated by “the trump of God”. There are those that do not understand scripture and mistranslate these two passages as being blown during the Tribulation period by the angel that blows the seventh trumpet judgment. It is God’s trumpet in 1 Thessalonians 4:16 that we see here and not an angel’s trumpet as one reads in Revelation 11:15! The seventh trumpet blown by angel in Revelation11:15 is blown in judgment while “the last trump” is blown in blessing and celebration to the Bride of Christ.
1 Thessalonians 4:16 “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: 17 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.
18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
Verse 18 of 1 Thessalonians 4 tells us to comfort one another with these words. If the church has to endure through any part of the Seven Years Tribulation Period or 70th week of Daniel, how can one comfort someone with this? I am comforted knowing that I do not have to be here for that terrible time on earth.
Another rapture verse is in Revelation chapter four. Here, one can read that John the Apostle being called to heaven by a voice that sounds of a trumpet. This seems to fit right in with these other passages.
Revelation 4: 1” After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will show thee things which must be hereafter.”
Now that the main harvest and the resurrection is being covered, there seems to be a doctrine that the scripture brings forth. The resurrection is spoken of in both the Old Testament and the New Testament. If one was to look at Leviticus chapter 23, one will see that God has put all seven feast days in that chapter. He has also mingled in the three phases of the harvest with the feast days. God commands Israel how to harvest their crops and when. If one takes a closer look, it can be concluded that God has put the harvest in three phases. The first fruits of the harvest followed by the main harvest while leaving the four corners of the field alone. This is for the poor to glean. This is a wonderful sign of God’s mercy!
Leviticus 23:22 “And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not make clean riddance of the corners of thy field when thou reapest, neither shalt thou gather any gleaning of thy harvest: thou shalt leave them unto the poor, and to the stranger: I am the Lord your God.”
One should look at the first fruits of the harvest as representative of the First Fruits of the Resurrection which has already been witnessed in Christ’s first advent with us. One should then think of the main harvest of the crops representative to the Rapture of the Church. The gleaning of the four corners of the fields is representative of the Tribulation Saints that are killed between the rapture and the 2nd coming of Christ. Taking a look at the gleaning of the four corners, the Tribulation Saints seem fit in just like the strangers and the poor were in Israel’s past; they too are poor and deserve pity having to go through that time of suffering.
The Resurrection of life has three phases. The First Fruits of the Resurrection, the Rapture of the Church and the Resurrection of the Tribulation Saints. There is a second resurrection that one would not want to be a part of. That would be the resurrection of damnation. Jesus tells us in John 5:28 that we will be raptured at the sound of God’s voice (trumpet). Then Jesus reveals to us in John 5:29 that there are two resurrections. The resurrection of life and the resurrection of damnation.
John 5:28 “Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,
29 And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the
resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection
of damnation.”
The time is coming soon where the church will be gathered on the Feast of Trumpets and taken off this planet. Paul the Apostle (Romans 11) as well as Jesus (Luke 21) quoted that day as “the time of the gentiles comes in”. It is the ingathering of the church or main harvest. One will notice that the gentiles are mentioned in the ingathering but not Israel. How can God not include His people of Israel?
Romans 11:25 “For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in.”
Luke 21: 24 “And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.”
Israel will have to endure the seven year 70th week of Daniel or Tribulation Period because they have rejected their messiah. Short of the small percentage of Jews that have accepted Jesus Christ as their savior, the entire nation of Israel will be left behind and not be a part of the main harvest or rapture of the church. God will keep His promises to Israel and will be the redeemer to those who will believe and endure through the seven years.
Romans 11: 7 “What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded.
8 (According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day.
9 And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumbling block, and a recompense unto them:
10 Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow down their back alway.
11 I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy.
12 Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fullness?”…..
…23 “And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be grafted in: for God is able to graft them in again.”
Israel does have many warnings of the “Day of the Lord”. The “Day of the Lord” is the seven years of Jacob’s trouble or 70th week of Daniel. There will be a recognizable event that starts this seven year Tribulation Period. It is a covenant or treaty initiated by a world leader to which he has Israel and her enemies sign a seven year covenant. This world leader can then be identified, by initiating this covenant spoken of in Daniel 9:27, as the “antichrist” spoken of in the scriptures. The “week” indicated is the 70th week of the seventy week prophecy from that same chapter. These weeks are 7 year weeks or 1 week of years. Sixty nine of the weeks of years have already taken place. Those sixty nine weeks of years brought the messiah into Jerusalem as you read earlier in this chapter. The final week is the consummation between God and Israel.
Daniel 9: 27 “And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.”
Joel 2:1 “Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand;”
In Israel’s history, they have been blessed by God and then also punished by God for their unfaithfulness to Him. Satan has been very active in pulling the Jews into desolation. In the captivity of the northern kingdom by the Assyrians (721 BC) and then the southern kingdom of Judah by the Babylonians (538 BC), Israel was brutalized. A remnant was taken to Babylon to endure, then seventy years later be allowed to go back and rebuild Jerusalem and the temple. After the Jews murdered their messiah, they were punished again with the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, this time by Titus and the Romans (AD 70). After rejecting the messiah, the Jews have been persecuted and brutalized many times. God will remember in the 70th week of Daniel all that He has promised them and will bless those that will believe that Jesus Christ is their Messiah and God.
He brought them back to the land of Israel and on May 14, 1948, they became a nation again. This fulfilled Ezekiel 36-37 as well as Isaiah 66:8.
Isaiah 66: 8 “Who hath heard such a thing? Who hath seen such things? Shall
the earth be made to bring forth in one day? Or shall a nation be born at
once? For as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children.
After the Feast of Trumpets has happened, fulfilling the “main harvest” or gathering up of the church, the world will mourn for nine days until the seven year peace covenant is established. This brings the world to the next feast to be fulfilled; it is The Feast of Atonement or Yom Kippur. Knowing that the Feast of Atonement will be the atonement day for Israel, it can be seen that it will most likely be both the start of the seven year 70th week of Daniel and the end of that seven years which is highlighted with the 2nd Coming of Jesus Christ to the earth. The 2nd coming Of Christ will be a Day of Atonement and Judgment. This will be an end to the physical life of all non-believers.
Leviticus 23:27 Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement: it shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord. 28 And ye shall do no work in that same day: for it is a day of atonement, to make an atonement for you before the Lord your God. 29 For whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted in that same day, he shall be cut off from among his people.
Since the Feast of Trumpets is on Tishri 1 and the rapture of the church happens on that day, one can know that the earth will be in much misery and despair after losing children and other loved ones at the twinkling of an eye. It is reasonable to think that the world will be seeking leadership and help to bring order to the mayhem that will be occurring. The antichrist will find himself easily lifted up to power within nine days. Once this antichrist has secured a signed covenant or peace treaty between Israel and her enemies, he will be celebrated and exalted. It is believed that the Feast of Atonement (Yom Kippur) which is celebrated on Tishri 10 will be that day that the seven year covenant between Israel and her enemies gets signed. This will start the Seven Year Tribulation Period known as the 70th week of Daniel. That would mean the second coming of Christ would be exactly seven years from that date which would be Tishri 10 as well as the Feast of Atonement (Yom Kippur). Please keep in mind, the scriptures measure these years as 360 day years which is what the Jewish calendar uses. It will be seven 360 day years later and exactly Tishri 10 that the second coming of Jesus Christ will fall upon.
There will be heavy persecution of anyone that has accepted Jesus Christ as savior during this seven years. Many will be killed for their faith in Christ. The “mark of the beast” will be implemented and so anyone that is in Christ will refuse to take the “mark”. That person would find it hard to find food and shelter and would be sought out to be killed.