Rapture Time?- Feast of Trumpets
(Rosh HaShannah)
Rosh HaShannah, or the Feast of Trumpets, is an exciting season of opportunity to receive from the Father. It is truly a season of a new beginning. This feast occurs on the first day of the month Tishri, which is equivalent to our September-October. It is a two day feast. This year this feast starts on September 25 at 6:00 P.M. (Sunday) and ends on September 27 at 6:00 P.M. (Tuesday).
It is also Jewish teaching that the world was created on Tishri 1. This feast is 30 days after Teshuvah (A time for repentance) and 10 days before Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement)(6:00 P.M. September 15 (Wednesday) to 6;00 P.M. September 16 (Thursday). According to many Jewish teachers, the day of Trumpets involves the sounding of the Last Trump. The Last Trump is a blast of the Shofar (a trumpet made from a curved ram’s horn) that is blown on this day. When Abraham was told to sacrifice Isaac, a ram was caught in the thicket. The left horn was called the First Trump and the right horn was called the Last Trump. The First Trump was blown on the original Pentecost on Mount Sinai (Ex. 19 v. 13). It is possible that the Last Trump will be blown on the last day of a particular Feast of Trumpets in the future, when Yahshua (Jesus) returns to take us in the Rapture. This season reminds us that it is possible that He is coming for us in the Rapture on some future day on this feast and to be ready. The Feast of Trumpets could also be a warning that within the subsequent year that He could come back for us in the Rapture, as the Feast of Trumpets could mean that the trumpet was sounded already(1 Thess. 4 v.16- Yahshua Himself shall descend from heaven with the voice of the archangel and the trump of the Father and the dead in Yahshua shall rise first.) Be Watchful!
In 2 Thess. 2 v. 3, the Word says that there will be a falling away before the Day of the Lord. The phrase Day of Lord refers to the seven year Tribulation period and the Millennium period of 1000 years after the end of the Tribulation. I believe that the phrase falling away is a mistranslation of the Greek word apostasia and should be translated departure. The root verb of this word is aphistemi, which is found 15 times in the New Testament. It is translated depart 11 times. Although it is often found translated in similar meanings, the predominant meaning of this verb is the act of a person departing from another person or from a place. In the original classical Greek lexicon, this word has a second meaning, which is a departure or disappearance. Therefore, I believe the correct rendering of this apostasia, in the context of Paul’s Greek word, means a departure and not any kind of falling away. His context is not revealing any kind of apostasy, but instead, teaching concerning the coming of Yahshua for His saints.
This verse shows that the Rapture will occur before the Tribulation period. Paul described this event in 1 Thess. 4 v. 17 when he wrote, "Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught-up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air," which then proves that this event involves a departure from the earth.
Another phrase that we need to look at in the Greek is the word caught-up in this verse (I Thess. 4 v. 17). This Greek word is harpuzo, meaning to catch away. Its Hebrew equivalent is the word natzal, which in its root form means to deliver. Those who don’t go in the Rapture will face a seven year time of the wrath of the Father, tribulation and indignation. During this time, the earth will be purged from sin.
So every celebration of Rosh HaShannah points to a particular Rosh HaShannah or Feast of Trumpets in the future, when Jesus comes back for us. Also, every celebration of this feast warns us to be ready for this great event of the Rapture. This Feast of Trumpets could be the time! Please be ready! How? Repent of your sins and turn your flesh over to the Holy Spirit for Him to mortify the deeds of the flesh and make your number one prayer request to be conformed to the image of YAHshua (Jesus) (Romans 8 v. 13 and 29).
Some of the reasons why the Feast of Trumpets is always the most likely day in any particular year for the Rapture to take place are:
1. Yahshua (Jesus) was born, died and was buried on the Feast of Passover, resurrected during Unleavened Bread and the Feast of Firstfruits and the infilling of the Holy Ghost happened on the Feast of Pentecost. God was trying to show the Jews that Yahshua was their Messiah, by causing the most important events in the life of Yahshua to happen on the 4 Jewish Spring Feast Days. Is the Father still trying to reveal Yahshua to the Jews? Of course, He is. The next important event in the life of Yahshua is His Coming for His Bride, at the Rapture, accompanied by the sound of the TRUMPET (1st Thessalonians 4:16). The next Feast Day to be fulfilled is the fifth Feast, the Feast of TRUMPETS. The Rapture could seem to be the logical and perfect fit, just like the 6th Feast, the Feast of Atonement (Yom Kippur) could be the perfect fit for the start of the Great Tribulation and the literal 2nd Coming of Yahshua.
2. Many believe that when Yahshua said that "No man knows the day or the hour," He was referring to Feast of Trumpets, as the time of the Rapture. This is the only Feast Day when "No man knows the day or the hour." This day is the Jewish Civil New Year as opposed to the religious new year on Nisan 1 (Abib) (around March, April). The Father changed the beginning of the year to Nisan (Abib) 1 in Exodus 12 v. 1, 2 and 14 v. 4. Tishri now became the 7th month. Until the first sliver of the new moon is sighted in Jerusalem, the Jewish New Year, Feast of Trumpets, cannot begin. It could take place at any time over a 48-hour period, but nobody knows for sure the exact day or hour. Therefore, the Jews now observe Feast of Trumpets, over two days. Therefore, Feast of Trumpets became known by the Jewish idiom of "No man knows the day or the hour."
3. Numerous in-depth studies, by serious Bible Prophecy scholars, have been done over the years on the possible correlation between the Rapture of the Bride and Feast of Trumpets. Every year, the Feast of Trumpets( Rosh Hashanah), is a day of heightened expectancy, for the possible Rapture of the Bride to take place.
In Luke 21: 25--28, Yahshua speaks to us, the end-time watchers, "And there SHALL BE SIGNS in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and waves roaring; Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. And when these things BEGIN to come to pass, THEN LOOK UP, AND LIFT UP YOUR HEADS; FOR YOU REDEMPTION DRAWETH NIGH."
If you are unsaved, or in a lukewarm, or backslidden spiritual condition, you need to call out to the Lord and repent before it is eternally too late. Your time to get your heart right before the Lord, is quickly drawing to a close now. Pray this prayer, and mean it in your heart:
"Dear Father, I know that I am a sinner. I believe in my heart that Yahshua died on the tree for my sins. Right now, I repent of my sins and turn towards you, Father. Give me power and victory over my sins. It is my sincere desire to serve you from this day forward. I want to be conformed to the image of yahshua. Show me what I must do to be prepared for your Soon Return, and fill me with your Holy Spirit to do it. Thank you, Father, for saving me. In the name of our soon-coming Saviour, Yahshua (Jesus), Amen."
Jesus said, “If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee” (Revelation 3:3). He is obviously saying that to the one who watches, He will not come as a thief and that person will know the hour! (Hour -- Greek hora -- Strong’s 5610; various meanings, including, “any definite time, point of time, moment.”
Major signs were the miraculous rebirth of the nation of Israel in 1948 and the capture of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount in the miracle Six-Day War in 1967.
Doubters may mention Paul's words that the day of the Lord will come like "a thief in the night" (1 Thessalonians 5:2). But many believers have so misunderstood these verses that they are oblivious to the times, and are often absorbed by the cares of this world and their own agendas.
It is clear that Yahshua will not come as a "thief in the night" for watchful believers, because in the very same passage, verse 4, Paul tells us, "But you, brothers, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief." If we are trusting in Yahshua and looking for His coming, Paul said that even the very day does not have to surprise us!
Also, Yahshua exhorted, "If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief" (Revelation 3:3, KJV), obviously saying He will come as a thief only to those not watching! It is obvious that for those watching, He will NOT come as a thief.
The time will be revealed if we are watching.
Yahshua rebuked those who did not understand the signs of the times in His day: "O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky, but can ye not discern the signs of the times" (Matthew 16:3).
Of the end of the age, Yahshua said, "And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh" (Luke 21:28). He said we would know when it is near!
The Father said, "Surely the sovereign Lord does nothing without revealing it to His servants the prophets" (Amos 3:7, NIV). He said "nothing," and He did not exclude Yahshua's return. Take Him at His word.
the Father not only knows the end from the beginning, He tells us that He makes it known! "I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come." (Isaiah 46:10). He has already made it known! I personally believe it has been hidden in His Word all along, to be unlocked in His timing. There is nothing wrong with seeking! No doubt, it pleases the Father.
The Father said, "I have even from the beginning declared it to thee; before it came to pass I shewed it thee" (Isaiah 48:5, KJV).
Yahshua said the Holy Spirit "will teach you all things" (John 14:26). He said "all things." Did Yahshua make a mistake, forgetting to exclude when He will return?
Friends confide in one another. Abraham was called God’s “friend” (Isaiah 41:8; James 2:23). “And the LORD said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do” (Genesis 18:17). Now, because of Jesus’ atonement, we are called friends of God: “I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends” (Yahshua, John 15:15). The Bible also says that Yahshua was crucified so that the blessing of Abraham, part of which was friendship with God, would come upon the Gentiles -- us (Galatians 3:14).
Ecclesiastes 1:9 says “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun” (NIV). Many Bible students believe that ancient events and dating in the Bible are shadows and clues that foretell the coming of the Lord, even the timing.
There are other such passages. God clearly promised that we would know at least approximately when Christ will return, and even "the day" will not surprise those watching, as the Holy Spirit reveals to us through Paul!
Biblical precedents:
In addition, there is ample precedent for the Father revealing specific times in advance.
He gave Noah advance notice of when the flood would be (Genesis 6,7).
He told Abraham how long the Israelites would be in Egypt (Genesis 15:13).
He revealed to many the very day of Elijah's rapture (2 Kings 2).
He told Jeremiah how long the Babylonian exile would be (Jeremiah 29:10).
He told Daniel exactly when Messiah would come the first time (Daniel 9:25-26).
Obviously, leaving us clueless now would violate the Father's own established pattern as revealed in His Word!
Also obviously, we are not left clueless. There are many signs. Let us remain watchful and ready, and be found doing the Master’s work.
Also, as the Rapture is a new beginning and a time of tremendous promotion, every season of Rosh HaShannah is a wonderful anointed time where the Father can bring about a new beginning in your life and promote. You need to take advantage of the time of Teshuvah to prepare for this time of Rosh HaShannah.
We need to also expect the Father to take us higher and higher in His anointing during this season of Rosh HaShannah. No telling what higher spiritual level that He can bring you to if you submit to His time of self-examination and conforming to the image of Yahshua.
If you need a new beginning in your life, this is a wonderful time to receive. We talked earlier in previous messages (New Beginnings #'s1-3)about the beginning of the year on Nisan 1(our March—April time period). This season of Rosh HaShannah is another attempt by the Father to give people a new beginning. This time is the civil New Year to many Jews, as opposed to the religious New Year of Nisan 1. Again, this is another opportunity to give people a new beginning that they might have missed at the beginning of the religious New Year. Tishri 1 was the beginning of the year until the Father changed the first month of the year to Nisan or Abib. (Please see Exodus 12 v. 1, 2 and 14 v. 4).
As you can see, it is so important to adapt to the Father's seasons and to do what is necessary at the right time, in order to receive His blessings that are reserved mostly for the particular season that you are in. Be aware! This could be the time of His "Rapture" or the Catching Away).
I am not predicting that Yahshua will come back on this Feast of Trumpets but I believe that this Feast could be fulfilled sometime in the future by His Coming in the Rapture for His saints! Please be watchful, ready and help get your family ready, as each Feast of Trumpets points to His return! Please read my message on "Steps to be Rapture Ready!" on the first page of my website, by clicking on "Messages." You don't want to be around for the Great Tribulation (Please read my message "Tribulation Preview" also by clicking on "Messages" on the first page of my website to see more of the great suffering that will take place during this seven year period of time.)