Habakkuk 1:5 Look among the nations, and see; wonder and be astounded. For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told. -LORD God
Key verse: “And ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, when he will return from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately” (Luke 12:36).
Each time a conversation gets to the direction of the return of Jesus Christ, many people are either dismissive, amused or unconcerned. This is because they think it is unlikely or if it will happen at all, that it would be in the distant future. In the process, they miss the essential lesson of ensuring that the Lord’s coming does not meet them unprepared.
Jesus Christ assures His disciples that almighty God has reserved a place in heaven for them. Believers should therefore, not misplace their priorities but jettison anything, including love of money, that could hinder their love, obedience and service to the Lord. They must allow their lives to shine brightly, while living in constant expectation of the imminent return of our Lord Jesus Christ so that when He comes, they would be ready. In fact, He would come when most people are not expecting Him.
Great blessings await those He will meet ready at His return. But those who fail to prepare for His coming and are consumed by the rat race, revelry and oppressive activities of the world, would suffer eternal separation from Him. Those that are ignorant of His advent will also face punishment; while those that knew but refused to get themselves ready, will get a more severe punishment.
This is a timely warning, especially in our present age when all talk about the return of Jesus Christ seem like fable to many. To be ready, you must not condone even the slightest sin in your life but shun all evil distractions of the world. You must diligently follow the Lord, faithfully engage in the service of winning and preparing souls for heaven and growing daily into the nature and stature of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: How ready are you to meet the Lord?
Mark 4:39-41, NKJV “Then He (Jesus) arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, ‘Peace, be still!’ And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. But He said to them, “Why are you so fearful? How is it you have no faith? And they feared exceedingly, and said to one another, ‘Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him!”
2 days ago I was driving along in my car with my mom at the hottest time of the day. It was 95 degrees. I have no AC in my car because it’s broken. So inside the car it was sweltering hot and I was getting sick and dizzy. I could have commanded my AC to work in Jesus name but I have had more success before commanding weather patterns (no joke! lol).
So I spoke to the weather and declared, “I want cool air to start coming in now, the temperature needs to drop 30 degrees, I want cloud coverage to give us shade, a cool breeze, and even a little rain to help cool things down.”
1 Kings 18:44-45a And at the seventh time he said, “Behold, a little cloud like a man’s hand is rising from the sea.” And he said, “Go up, say to Ahab, ‘Prepare your chariot and go down, lest the rain stop you.’”
And in a little while the heavens grew black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain…
There was a cloud the size of a man’s hand and I put my hand up and turned it for measurement. Within 30 minutes, there was thick cloud coverage coming in all around the horizon. The next morning, I woke up and went for a walk. It was very early, dark still. No one in the complex where I live was awake yet but me. I spoke with God and then to a friend who operates in God’s glory. At the end of our conversation, while I was headed back to my apartment, darker rain clouds were rolling in and the temperatures had dropped. It began to sprinkle too. From the time I declared the weather to change, it took 16 hours for the temperature to drop 30 degrees, cloud coverage to cover the skies, rain to come, and cool breeze. Exactly what I declared and asked the Father.
That day was perfect like that all day. Exactly how I wanted it. Twice I received “flash flood” notices on my phone and I said, “no flash flooding”. No flash flood came. The skies just folded up and it stopped!
John 14:12 “Most assuredly, I say to you, He who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.” -Jesus
We are to do greater works than these?! Wow! Let’s start doing them!
Revelation 12:1 And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.
What time is it on God’s calendar? One thing is clear. Humanity has absolutely butchered the ability to mark time as God intended.
Look at all of the calendars. Gentile calendars are generally based on solar cycles. There is the Julian calendar. The Julian calendar is used by the Stellarium software system that many utilize for the Revelation 12 Sign in the heavens. In western society and here in the United States, our calendar is a Gregorian calendar. In 1582, Pope Gregory noted a difference in time as related to the equinoxes and solstices. This variance was affecting the ability to mark Easter accurately.
The Chinese have their calendar. Muslims have their calendar and on and on and on…
God says the first month is Nisan in the spring.
Exodus 12:1-2 Now the Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt,“This month shall be the beginning of months for you; it is to be the first month of the year to you…”
What do the Jewish people do? The Jewish people have two calendars. There is a civil calendar and a religious calendar. The spring month of Nisan is the beginning of the religious or spiritual year in a Hebrew calendar. The beginning of the civil year is the seventh month of Tishri in the fall. A Hebrew Year always contains 12 Hebrew months in a regular year or 13 Hebrew months in a leap year.
The modern day Sanhedrin recognizes there is an error with the current time keeping system as ordained by God. Prior to the 4th century, the calendar was determined by observation. The calendar has been calculated mathematically since 4th century. Years are numbered from creation. Error occurred when man strayed from observation and started calculating.
“Even though the calendar needs to be adjusted, unity is of the utmost importance. Jews are required to adhere to the calendar accepted by the entire nation. Until a formal Sanhedrin is accepted by the nation, Jews must use the established calendar and observe the holidays on the days mandated by rabbinic authorities,” Rabbi Hillel Weiss, Sanhedrin Spokesman.
Do you have confidence in any aspect of humanity to accurately tell time as God intended? As a people, are we sure we are accurate in our understanding of what we are seeing in the sky and how it relates to the timing of events?
Please understand, I hope the Rapture Fall 2017 is right. That would be awesome. Let’s get an eternity of bliss started. There are good men who have spent countless hours of dedication and excellent scholarship on the Revelation 12 Sign. That needs to be recognized.
It also needs to be recognized there are others who have looked into the Revelation 12 Sign. And some of us respectfully question and/or disagree with the timing of the rapture in regards to the date presented (September 23, 2017).
Questioning and/or disagreement does not make us heretics because we differ. I am a sinner. I am a flawed man. The space between my ears is a dangerous place. Jesus Christ died for all of my sins. He was buried. And Jesus rose from the dead on the third day according to the Scriptures. I/we are all members of the bride and body of Christ in His good news. This is what is important.
I personally believe the resurrection/rapture event will take place on the Feast of Trumpets or Yom Teruah. To me, the issue is the year. There are some who make excellent arguments for the rapture during the Feast of Weeks or Pentecost. It is called Shavout in the Hebrew. I was once in the Pentecost rapture camp. I was first taught the rapture event is “imminent” and it could happen at any moment. Our salvation is not dependent on us understanding the Revelation 12 Sign.
We should be ready for our gathering to Christ in the clouds regardless of what is in the sky on any given date. Be ready. Stay ready regardless of what does or does not happen on any day!
A pastor I know made a common sense statement on matters such as the Revelation 12 Sign. “Good men can respectfully disagree.”
Dig in on your own with the Holy Spirit. Encouragement to study the Scriptures is highly recommended.
Acts 17:11 Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.
Revelation 12:1 And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.
One of the customs of the 40 day period of Teshuvah is to visit a cemetery. Jewish belief is the resurrection will occur during the period of Teshuvah. Specifically, the resurrection is to occur on the new moon holiday of the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah. Christians refer to this as the Feast of Trumpets.
The Revelation 12 Sign occurs within the 40 day period of Teshuvah in the Gregorian year 2017 on September 23rd. Rosh Hashanah or the Feast of Trumpets will start the civil Hebrew year 5778. When the new moon is identified by two witnesses and confirmed by the high priest, this will initiate Tishri 1.
The notion the rapture is a signless event is false. The rapture is not the next imminent prophetic event. Scripture is very clear. The resurrection of the dead comes before the rapture. The dead in Christ will rise first and ascend into Heaven before the rapture occurs. Yes, there is a historical event that will precede the rapture. It is the resurrection. The Apostle Paul points this out on two occasions.
1 Corinthians 15:51-52 Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will 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 will be changed.
The idea of sleep communicated by the Apostle Paul is physical death. When we die, our body is buried and sleeping in the ground like a seed as stated earlier in 1 Corinthians 15:42-44. Sleep implies the body will wake up at some point in the future.
The new information conveyed is we will not all sleep. Translation, believers will not all physically die. The sequence of events is described next. One, the dead will be raised imperishable (resurrection). Two, believers in Jesus who are alive and remaining…we will be changed (rapture).
The order of events is confirmed a second time in 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17. The resurrection happens first. Then the rapture occurs second. Dead believers go first.
1 Thessalonians 4:15-17 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.
Living believers will be tipped on the coming of the rapture by the resurrection of the dead. The issue is the time gap between the two events. The time frame between the resurrection and rapture is not stated. There is no time marker. It could be seven seconds or seven years or whatever. The text does not say. But, the resurrection of the dead in Christ does come first. I suppose the timing of the two events would be relative to “imminent”.
When the inhabitants of planet earth see thousands upon thousands of people arise from their graves and rise into the air, this will cause a variety of responses which will likely include chaos and confusion. This is not the Zombie Apocalypse the culture is expecting. Living believers should know their ascent into the clouds to join the resurrected and Jesus Christ is next in the order of events.
To the critic who says the word “rapture” is not in the Bible. Critic, you are correct. So where does the word “rapture” come? For the answer, we have to go back to the fourth century. The word comes from the Latin translation of the Bible. The Latin translation is called the Vulgate. St. Jerome was commissioned to translate the Bible into the Latin language (Faith Christian Academy, Fourth Grade History). The word is “rapiemur” per http://www.Vulgate.org, The Latin Vulgate New Testament Bible in 1 Thessalonians 4:17. St. Jerome translated the New Testament from the original Greek.
The original Greek word is “harpazo”. Per Strong’s Concordance it means: to seize, carry off by force, claim for one’s self eagerly, to snatch out or away.
1 Thessalonians 4:17 Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. The Greek word for caught up is “harpazo”. Jesus will seize and claim for Himself eagerly those who believe in Him. Once we are claimed, we are forever with Him. If the security of that verse is not enough…
John 10:28-29 and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. This is Jesus talking in these two verses. The word snatch or harpazo is used twice. Once we are taken, we have double coverage. Jesus Himself will securely protect a believer. By the Son’s admission, the Father is greater and He has hold of those who believe as well. We are not going anywhere but with God. Talk about eternal security.
The Father and the Son know to “snatch” the believer because they are sealed with the Spirit. Ephesians 1:13-14 In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.
We have eternal security in the triune God. We are “harpazoed” and property of God.
Can we realistically propel and sustain ourselves into the clouds? Talk about hang time… Are we capable of locating Jesus in the clouds? Over what city? How high is He suspended over the Earth? What time is the meeting?
Mark 4:39-41, NKJV “Then He (Jesus) arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, ‘Peace, be still!’ And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. But He said to them, “Why are you so fearful? How is it you have no faith? And they feared exceedingly, and said to one another, ‘Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him!”
