Rapture and End Times

“Celebrate a festival in My honor three times a year. Observe the Feast of Passover. As I commanded you, you are to eat unleavened bread for seven days at the appointed time in the month of Abib, because you came out of Egypt in that month. No one is to appear before Me empty-handed. Also observe the Feast of Pentecost with the firstfruits of your produce from what you sow in the field, and observe the Feast of Tabernacles at the end of the year, when you gather your produce from the field. Three times a year all your males are to appear before the Lord God. (Exodus 23:14-17)

The traditional view of the Rapture, the “harvest” at the end of the age, is that there is only one harvest, and then comes the end. However, Scripture gives abundant witness to show that it actually consists of three separate phases that differ in timing, as well as in the crop harvested.

These three phases of the harvest are: the barley crop, the wheat crop, and the crop of grapes. Our Lord is profoundly merciful, and does not want anyone to be lost forever. All three positions are correct. There is a Pre-Tribulation, Mid-Tribulation, and Post-Tribulation Rapture, symbolized by the 3 main feasts:

1) The Feast of Passover

 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt: “This month is to be the beginning of months for you; it is the first month of your year. Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month they must each select an animal of the flock according to their fathers’ households, one animal per household…You are to keep it until the fourteenth day of this month; then the whole assembly of the community of Israel will slaughter the animals at twilight. They must take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses where they eat them. They are to eat the meat that night; they should eat it, roasted over the fire along with unleavened bread and bitter herbs… Here is how you must eat it: you must be dressed for travel, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. You are to eat it in a hurry; it is the Lord’s Passover.

“I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night and strike every firstborn male in the land of Egypt, both man and beast. I am Yahweh; I will execute judgments against all the gods of Egypt. The blood on the houses where you are staying will be a distinguishing mark for you; when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No plague will be among you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. (Exodus 12:1-13)

The Jewish holiday of Passover commemorates the Exodus from Egypt. God, seeing the blood, will then “pass over” the houses of the Israelites (Exodus 12:13), while smiting the Egyptians with the tenth plague, the killing of the first-born sons.

Passover will mark the beginning of the New Year, and the end of 2020, according to the Lord’s command: The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt: “This month is to be the beginning of months for you; it is the first month of your year. (Exodus 12:1)

Are we getting close to our “Exodus” from this Earth? Virtually anyone on the planet can agree on one thing – the year 2020 has been extreme in every way.

The Lord wants us to trust in His provision for the Body of Christ: the Rapture.

Is it possible that the long expected Rapture will take place on Passover? Could this be our Exodus?

Interestingly, in modern Judaism the Song of Solomon is read on the Sabbath during the Passover, which marks the beginning of the grain harvest as well as commemorating the Exodus from Egypt.

Jewish tradition reads it as an allegory of the relationship between God and Israel, and Christianity as an allegory of Christ and his bride, the Church.

Song of Solomon chapter 2, verses 8-14, is an amazing picture of Jesus Christ coming to snatch His Bride up and away from off the Earth in the Rapture:

Listen! My love is approaching.
Look! Here he comes,
leaping over the mountains,
bounding over the hills.
My love is like a gazelle
or a young stag.
Look, he is standing behind our wall,
gazing through the windows,
peering through the lattice.
My love calls to me:

Arise, my darling.
Come away, my beautiful one.
For now the winter is past;
the rain has ended and gone away.
The blossoms appear in the countryside.
The time of singing[j] has come,
and the turtledove’s cooing is heard in our land.
The fig tree ripens its figs;
the blossoming vines give off their fragrance.
Arise, my darling.
Come away, my beautiful one.

My dove, in the clefts of the rock,
in the crevices of the cliff,
let me see your face,
let me hear your voice;
for your voice is sweet,
and your face is lovely. (Song of Solomon 2:8-14)

Note that the bride’s beloved is pictured as being above her, as if He was coming down to get her:

“Listen! My love is approaching.
Look! Here he comes,
leaping over the mountains,
bounding over the hills.” (Song of Solomon 2:8)

He is looking at her “through the lattice” located “behind our wall”, which is exactly where Jesus is when He comes to get us. He is veiled to the rest of the world, but He is clearly visible to us.

He does not come down to get the Bride, rather He causes her to “rise up” and “come away” with Him:

“For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the archangel’s voice, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are still alive will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18)

He who testifies about these things says, “Yes, I am coming quickly.” (Revelation 22:20)

During the growing season of a farmers crop there is a first fruits growth that comes up in the field first.  This crop is to be an offering to the Lord.  It is to be tied with a red cord or a sheave to make it well known to all who are in the field that it is an offering to the Lord.  We, as Christians and Messianic Jews, are the first fruits of the field of harvest.  We are marked by the Holy Spirit as belonging to our Lord.  Jesus was the first fruit and we will follow after Him.

These who believe are the barley grain. Barley grain is a soft seed. In days of old when they wanted to separate the grain from the chaff they would put the barley on a sheet holding the four corners and would raise the sheet to the wind. This process is called winnowing. It would easily separate the two and would give them the pure grain. This is what we are like. We are soft and pliable in the hands of the Lord to be corrected and re-aligned to His ways.

But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming. (1 Corinthians 15: 20-23)

After this I looked, and there in heaven was an open door. The first voice that I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” (Revelation 4:1)

We believe we will be part of the “in-gathering” (or Rapture) with Christ Jesus during this time. We will not have to experience the wrath of the 7 year Tribulation period:

For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him.  (1 Thessalonians 5:9-10)

2) The Feast of Pentecost

About half way through the 7 year peace treaty there will be a Rapture of the Tribulation Saints by the Lord.  Before this can happen, many prophecies will occur that are in Ezekiel 36-39. There is also a direct correlation with the 7 year peace treaty, the rebuilding of the Temple, and many other things spoken in the written word of the Bible (the inspired Word of God).

After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands… (Revelation 7:9)

Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, “Who are these arrayed in white robes, and where did they come from?”

And I said to him, “Sir, you know.”

So he said to me, “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.  (Revelation 7:13-14)

So we see in the above passages this wheat harvest will be a very great harvest, of those that had robes by virtue of their Faith in Messiah, but were not yet ready when the Bridegroom came for the Bride at the First Resurrection Harvest.

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:

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

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 Tribulation 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:

 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 halfway into the 7 year Tribulation period, the Great Tribulation. 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. 

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)

Wheat is a tougher grain than barley. Thousands of years ago, farmers used a tool called a “tribulum” to separate the chaff from their wheat. Today our word “tribulation” is derived from the name of that tool. It takes a tribulum to break the seed from the chaff. It goes through a breaking process to become free and be what our Father, the God of Abraham, Issac and Jacob, would have us to be sons.

We have a God who loves us so much that He sent His only Son, Jesus, Yeshua to come in the flesh and dwell among men, teach us the way, die for us as a perfect sacrifice with all the sins of the past, present and future upon Himself, and taking the stripes upon His back, shedding His precious blood, was buried, raised, and ascended into heaven, sitting at the right hand of the Father and making intercession for us.  He did it all for us! Just as the ancient farmers used a tribulum to separate the chaff from their wheat, God will use the Tribulation to separate the chaff from the lives of the Christians at this time.

3) The Feast of Tabernacles

The final harvest will be the grapes harvest that comes from the four corners of the field.  The grapes have to be crushed to be made into “New Wine.”

The Great Tribulation will bring this about. This symbolizes the people who accepted Christ during the second half of the 7 years, known as the Great Tribulation. That group of people will have to endure the most horrendous time on Earth ever.

Then I looked, and there was a white cloud, and One like the Son of Man was seated on the cloud, with a gold crown on His head and a sharp sickle in His hand. Another angel came out of the sanctuary, crying out in a loud voice to the One who was seated on the cloud, “Use your sickle and reap, for the time to reap has come, since the harvest of the earth is ripe.” So the One seated on the cloud swung His sickle over the earth, and the earth was harvested. (Revelation 14:14-16)

From the Genesis through to the Acts of the Apostles, the descendants of Adam have witnessed the glory of the Lord. Moses and Elijah would later participate in the glory:

After six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John and led them up on a high mountain by themselves to be alone. He was transformed in front of them, and His clothes became dazzling—extremely white as no launderer on earth could whiten them. Elijah appeared to them with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus.

Then Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it’s good for us to be here! Let us make three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah”— because he did not know what he should say, since they were terrified.

A cloud appeared, overshadowing them, and a voice came from the cloud:

This is My beloved Son;
listen to Him!

Then suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them except Jesus alone. (Mark 9:2-8)

In this “Transfiguration” that happened during the Feast of Tabernacles, we see a perfect representation of the future Rapture. In the original Greek, the word was metamorphothe, which was translated into Latin as Trans Figura, the changing of appearance or of the body itself.

Notice who is present:

• The Godhead, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
• The Old Testament believers, represented by Moses as the law-giver and Elijah as the first prophet
• The New Testament believers, represented by Peter, James, and John

The Rapture representation is complete when considering the word Mark uses for the transformation: stilbein. This is the Greek word used for the glistening gleam of burnished brass or gold, or of polished steel, or of the golden glare of the sunlight. This radiance is the natural state of Jesus the Messiah. At the Rapture, we will also shine with this radiance.

Dear friends, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him because we will see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself just as He is pure. (1 John 3:2-3)

This is the perfect love of the Lord. This is what it is to be in the presence and the power of the Living God. 

The Grapes Rapture is symbolized by the Two Witnesses, Moses and Elijah, who finish their testimony and are martyred by the Beast.

Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here.” They went up to heaven in a cloud, while their enemies watched them. (Revelation 11:12)

As you can see, if you are not a believer, it would surely in your best interest to come to know Jesus as Savior early rather than later. You can claim Him now:

Jesus, I thank You that You came to save us from our sins and redeem us back to the Father God that was lost when Adam sinned in the garden.  Please forgive me of my sins and I choose to turn from them and I ask You to help me to sin no more.  I invite You Jesus to be my Savior and Lord over all of my life. I invite the Holy Spirit to live in me and teach and guide me.  Thank you Lord Jesus! Amen! 

Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth. (Revelation 3:10)  

The end is coming – sooner than we think!

Reader Comments:

As always, that was amazing!

Gino, December 26, 2020

Thank you so much for sharing this. I had been discouraged lately, thinking how everyone says the rapture is soon but feeling uncertain. Things have certainly been revving up but I thought the rapture would have happened by now. I have been praying that the Lord would send me some encouragement and confirmation that our time is truly very short, something to hold onto in these dark days. This is amazing, I never heard of this theory before.

Wendy, January 2, 2020