Rapture and End Times

But Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice, and proclaimed to them: “Men of Judah and all you residents of Jerusalem, let me explain this to you and pay attention to my words. For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it’s only nine in the morning. On the contrary, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:

(Acts 2:14-21)

Pentecost, or Shavuot, was when the Lord gave Moses the law, and was the day the Church was born.

A convergence of world events is happening now, that point toward a historic Middle East convulsion:

‘Peace plan won’t be made public until after Shavuot’ / Arutz Sheva, May 12, 2019

Jason Greenblatt, the US envoy for international negotiations, told Fox News in an interview on the weekend that the so-called “Deal of the Century”, as the Trump administration’s peace plan has come to be known, will not be released until at least after Ramadan, the formation of a new Israeli government and the Jewish holiday of Shavuot, which ends on the evening of June 10.

 

IRGC chief: US will collapse with one strike just like the World Trade Center / Al Arabiya, May 18, 2019

The head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on Saturday that his country is in a full intelligence war with the United States and “enemies of the Islamic Republic” which includes cyber and military operations.

“We are in a full intelligence war with the United States and the enemies of the Islamic Republic. This war is a combination of psychological warfare, cyber operations, military operations, diplomacy, fear, and intimidation,” Major General Hossein Salami, who was named head of the force last month, was quoted as saying by Fars news agency.

Salami also said that the Americans are facing great risks now.

“America has lost its power, and even though they look powerful, they are frail,” he said while adding: “In reality America’s story is the same as the story of the World Trade Center that collapsed suddenly with one strike.

His comments came just days after he said that the Revolutionary Guards were on the “cusp of a full-scale confrontation with the enemy.”

 

Islamic Jihad leader predicts war this summer / Arutz Sheva, May 8, 2019

Islamic Jihad leader Ziad al-Nakhala said on Tuesday that he believed that a war would break out between Israel and Gaza this summer because of the intention to “disarm the resistance in Gaza.”

 

Iran’s special marine unit sabotaged tankers / Debka, May 12, 2019

A special unit of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards marine force carried out the sabotage attack Sunday on 4 Saudi oil tankers outside Fujairah port, DEBKAfile’s exclusive sources reveal.

 

The Third Gulf War has already begun / Arutz Sheva, May 15, 2019

On Monday morning, May 12, 2019, four oil tankers sailing in international waters were attacked as they made their way out of the Straits of Hormuz towards the Indian Ocean.

The attacks on the Saudi tankers show that Supreme Leader Khamenei supports the Revolutionary Guards’ position and is willing to endanger his country in order not to give in to the forces of “The Arrogant Ones,” the expression denoting America in Ayatollah rhetoric.

Persian Gulf air is saturated with oil vapor while oil and gas facilities are everywhere, and Iran is easily able to deal a swift and mortal blow to the economies of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Emirates. There is a serious potential for deterioration leading to war and it is highly likely that in the near future we will see a head-on clash between Iran and the United States.

 

Top Iranian general tells militias to ‘prepare for proxy war’ — report / The Times of Israel, May 17, 2019

Tensions between Washington and Tehran have soared in recent weeks with a war of words between American and Iranian leaderships, allegations of sabotage attacks targeting oil tankers off the coast of the United Arab Emirates, a drone attack on a Saudi oil pipeline claimed by Yemen’s Iranian-allied rebels, and the dispatch of US warships and bombers to the region.

The New York Times reported Thursday that photographs showing Iranian missiles mounted on small boats in the Persian Gulf had led the US to dispatch the warship fleet and bombers to the region.

 

Petraeus: Iran should watch its step / POLITICO, May 18, 2019

Tensions with Iran have risen in recent weeks as phrases like ‘potentially imminent threat’ have been used by Sen. Marco Rubio. The Trump administration has made it clear from the git-go that it distrusts Iran, withdrawing from the 2015 nuclear agreement negotiated with the Obama administration and the leading powers of the world — and pushing sanctions designed to penalize countries that continue to trade with Iran. The tensions grew when Iranian President Hassan Rouhani announced Iran was also withdrawing from the nuclear agreement. Rhetoric on both sides has become more heated.

“Can they try some kind of proxy activities? Can they might make life difficult for us? They can but they’re going to be have to be very careful not to overplay their hand and result in some kind of response that is quite punitive,” Petraeus said.

 

Interestingly, Enoch was said to have been born on Pentecost, and Raptured on Pentecost.

The Rapture is a harvest of souls, and Pentecost is a harvest Feast. The main theme surrounding Pentecost (or Shavuot, the “Feast of Weeks) is the harvest of the firstfruits, or the barley harvest, which was the first grain crop to ripen during Israel’s agricultural year.

Does the history of the Pentecost give us clues on the Rapture?

The Israelites were enslaved by the Egyptians, and around 1,400 B. C. God used a man named Moses to deliver them from their slavery. After leaving Egypt, the Israelites wandered through the wilderness on their way to a good land, which God wanted them to live in. While they were in the wilderness, God gave Moses the law, which Moses taught the Israelites to obey. The 10 Commandments were given at Mt. Sinai, a mountain in the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt. This law provided the infrastructure for their society, for generations to come, and still impacts us today.

Every year on the holiday of Shavuot the Jewish people renew their acceptance of God’s gift, and God “re-gives” the Torah. The word Shavuot means “weeks.” It marks the completion of the seven-week counting period between Passover and Shavuot.

The giving of the Law (or Torah) was a far-reaching spiritual event, compared to a wedding between God and the Jewish people. Shavuot also means “oaths,” for on this day God swore eternal devotion to the Jewish people, and they in turn pledged everlasting loyalty to Him.

Two wheat loaves would be offered at the Holy Temple, and the Jewish people would begin to bring their first fruits, to thank God for Israel’s bounty.

Just as Passover celebrates physical freedom of the Israelite’s redemption from bondage in Egypt, Shavuot celebrates spiritual liberation through their experience of God’s presence and revelation at Sinai. In the Passover exodus, God brought a people out from among the nations.

At Sinai on that first Shavuot and later at Pentecost, God created a nation set apart for Himself. He revealed Himself and how to live as a redeemed community, a kingdom of priests and a holy nation (Exodus 19:6).

As the Jewish people celebrate this feast year after year, they recount the awesome events that took place at the foot of Mt. Sinai. It is what defines them as a people. Therefore it was not by chance that God chose Shavuot, called Pentecost among Christians, for this miraculous event took place exactly seven weeks following Jesus’s last Passover. This was a time when Jerusalem would have been filled with Jews from all the surrounding lands who had come with great anticipation to “meet with the Lord”—the meaning of the “appointed times” listed in Leviticus 23—Jewish people of that time had a keen sense of this.

The first followers of Jesus must have had a greater sense of expectation as they were told by the Lord Himself that, “in a few days you will be immersed in the Holy Spirit!” (see Acts 1:5) before He was taken up before their eyes.

Acts 2 records that approximately 120 followers of Jesus were gathered in Jerusalem for the Shavuot celebration when “suddenly there came a sound from the sky like the roar of a violent wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then they saw what looked like tongues of fire, which separated and came to rest on each one of them. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different languages, as the Spirit enabled them” (Acts 2:1-4).

No longer would man walk by commandments on tablets of stone, but by the Holy Spirit, who would write the law on hearts of flesh and give power to overcome the powers of darkness…the law of sin and death…while empowering us to become witnesses to the ends of the earth! The “church” had been born.

Just as the nation of Israel had been created in the wilderness of Sinai to reveal the one true God to the world, now the doors had opened to the nations to come and know and worship Him in Spirit and in truth. Whereas God once dwelt in the Temple fashioned of bricks and mortar, by His Spirit, He now dwells in vessels of clay.

Whereas men once went up to Jerusalem to enjoy God’s presence, His presence now remains with us as we travel the earth taking His wonderful message—this Good News of the Messiah of Israel to the Jewish People and to the nations.

 

* The Kingdom began on Pentecost, along with the End Times

* The Lord descended upon man in the form of fire on both Pentecost and Shavuot

* Pentecost was the reverse of the Babel curse

The Acts 2 checklist itself is interesting:

(Acts 2:19-21)

 blood and fire and a cloud of smoke – A clear reference to battle. Blood is commonly used as an emblem of slaughter or of battle. Fire is also an image of war, and the conflagration of towns in time of war. It has always been customary in war to burn the towns of an enemy, and to render him as helpless as possible. Therefor, the clouds of smoke are rising from burning towns.

 

 The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood – A clear reference to the sun and moon being darkened by war.

 

 before the great and remarkable Day of the Lord comes – A clear reference to the Day of the Lord, which is the beginning of the 7 year Tribulation period. Current events show this day rapidly approaching.

 

 Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved – A clear reference to the Rapture. 

Are we nearing the time of the Rapture?

You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm; to a trumpet blast or to such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them, because they could not bear what was commanded: “If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned to death.” The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, “I am trembling with fear.”

But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven? At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” The words “once more” indicate the removing of what can be shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may remain.

Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our “God is a consuming fire.” (Hebrews 12:18-29)

If you are not sure that you are saved, you can accept Christ into your life right now, by praying:

“Lord Jesus, I believe you are the Son of God. Thank you for dying on the cross for my sins.  Please forgive my sins and give me the gift of eternal life.  I ask you in to my life and heart to be my Lord and Savior.”

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