PATTERNS

PATTERNS

                First off I would like to give credit to Mark Biltz. He is one of my favorite authors when it comes to a prophetic understanding of the Feasts of the Lord. I highly recommend his book “God’s Day Timer” a believer’s guide to Divine appointments.

                Mark starts by telling us that it is important to know that the Feast Days must follow in sequential order and he gives the Spring feasts as an example saying that the Holy Spirit could not have come at Pentecost until Messiah had ascended to heaven, and Messiah could not have ascended to heaven unless He had first raised from the dead, and He could not have risen from the dead until He had first been buried and He could not have been buried unless He had first died. So in other words, the Spring Feasts had to play out in their proper order.

                This lets us know that the Fall Feasts must also play out in order when they are fulfilled in the near future. Mark calls the Feasts of the Lord rehearsals which the Jews (and Messianic Jews) have been practicing for thousands of years. Every year they observe both the Spring Feasts and the Fall Feasts at their appointed times and just as Jesus suddenly came upon the scene 2000 years ago and perfectly fulfilled the Spring Feasts, so He will come again to fulfill the Fall Feasts perfectly.

                People like to quote Jesus’ saying “no one knows the day or the hour” of His coming, but in all likelihood Jesus was telling us that He would return on Rosh Hashanah because that was the only Feast of which they did not know the day or the hour. It was the only Feast that came at the beginning of the month and was determined by the new moon.

                The watchmen would watch for the sign of the New Moon, which could come on one of two days. When they agreed, they would report to the priests and the new month would officially begin. They would light fires on all of the hills of Israel to signal to the nation that the new month had begun.

                So when Jesus said that no one knew the day or the hour, He was most certainly referring to Rosh Hashanah. But there is more. Rosh Hashanah means “Head of the year” and is the first day of the civil calendar. But more than that, Rosh Hashanah was also known as Yom Teruah meaning “Day of Blowing.” (Numbers 29:1)

                Rosh Hashanah (known to most Christians as the Feast of Trumpets), in my opinion is the most complex of all the feasts. For instance, there are one hundred trumpet blasts on that day, each having its own meaning and the last trumpet of the day (Tekiah Gedolah) was a long blast known as the last trump. It was also known as the awakening blast and it is most likely the “Last Trump” that Paul was talking about in connection with the coming of Christ. He would not have been referring to the 7^th trumpet of Revelation since the book of Revelation had not yet been written.

                It is important to know that the Feast of Trumpets has multiple meanings and the day may be fulfilled in various ways over a period of years. Teruah means “Blowing” but it also means “To Shout.” And so, when Paul wrote in 1 Thess. 4:16, “The Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout… and with the blast of the shofar… when the dead in Christ rise first.” This is the language of the Feast of Trumpets. But there are other blasts blown throughout the day. The first blast known as Tekiah is a single long blast. Then there is Shevarim, which consists of three short blasts. There is also Teruah, consisting of 9 short blasts, which refer to the sounding of an alarm. Then as previously mentioned the last blast of the day Tekiah Gedolah, (The great blast) is the last trump and the sound of the awakening blast.” Yom Teruah is the sounding of the alarm clock to tell the dead it is time to wake up.”

                So as Mark says, “The so called Rapture is not an “any moment” event but rather a scheduled event that will happen in some year on the Feast of Trumpets. And no one knows the day or the hour because no one knows ahead of time which will be the first day of the month.

                If the pre-trib rapture people understood the Feast of Trumpets better, it may give them pause. After all, these different trumpet blasts that come prior to the last trump, announce:”The time of Trouble, The Opening of the Book and, the Coronation of Messiah.

                But another name for Rosh Hashanah is Yom HaDin which means “Day of Judgment” and during the following ten days it is believed that the doors of the heavenly court are opened and court is in session. During these 10 days also known as Days of Awe, people repent and make sure their sins are all taken care of for at the end of the ten days, we have Yom Kippur. On Yom Kippur the doors are closed and the books are closed and judgment is then meted out.

                2 Cor. 5:10 tells us that everyone is to appear before the judgment seat of Christ that we may receive His ruling on what we have done in this life, whether good or bad. Paul wrote that all of our works will be manifest, “for the day shall declare it.” What day? Rosh Hashanah.

This passage in 2 Corinthians goes on to say that after we pass through the fire all of one’s works are burned up and he has nothing to show for it. He is still saved, because we are not saved by our works, but how sad for him if he has built his life on a foundation of wood, hay and stubble rather than gold and silver and precious stones. 1 Cor. 3:12-15.

                So, let’s say that there is a seven year time of trouble, the Feast of Trumpets could sound every one of the seven years announcing the Time of Trouble, The time of judgment, the Coronation of Messiah as is stated in Rev. 11:15b: (The kingdom of this world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever.”  And then the last trump could sound announcing the second coming of the Lord to take up His 1000 year reign over the nations of the earth.

                As I have said many times, Joel, who talked almost exclusively about our time, said that the sun would be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. (Joel 2:31) And it chapter 3 verse one he says, “For behold, in those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the valley of Jeshoshaphat and I will enter into judgment with them there.:

                Well, God has restored the land of Israel to His people and we can most certainly see the nations of the world gathering against Israel. And God says: “Then I will enter into judgment with them there on behalf of My people and My inheritance, Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations; and they have divided up My land.” Joel 3:2.

                Friends, we don’t know what is going to happen this fall. Nobody knows. But we have seen over the past 3 years, blood moons on God’s appointed times and eclipses and we are about to see a major eclipse over America on Elul 1, followed 40 days later by the sign of the virgin in the heavens who gives birth to a man child who is caught up to heaven, and a Dragon with seven heads and ten horns then pursues the woman into the wilderness. We then see this same beast in the very next chapter and it is the global beast of the antichrist. WE are watching the formation of that beast right now.

                But just coincidently, the New World Order has designated the years 2018 through 2025 as a 7 year period for establishing a global government… plans that include the extermination of Christians and Jews and about 90% of earth’s population.

                It matters not whether we are religious or secular. Everyone senses the coming of an unprecedented time. The financiers warn of a coming collapse of the money system. The technocrats are preparing electronic marks for the forehead or the hand and a cashless society into which only those who cooperate will be allowed. We stand on the brink of a world war. The sun is acting up, the weather is creating pandemonium in many places, there are ever increasing earthquakes and volcanoes, famine and disease, millions of mass animal, fish and bird deaths and water turning to blood in random places. There are weird sights and sounds and talk of an alien invasion of some kind.

                 Many Protestant churches are falling away from the faith and going back to Rome even as the Pope announces global religion, global government and global finance.

                Anyone who has a modicum of understanding of prophecy simply has to stand up and take note of what is happening in the world right now. This fall may pass by without incident and everything return to normal, but I don’t think so. Personally I believe that we are going to begin to see the beginning of the literal fulfillment of the Fall Feasts this fall. We don’t know which of the events the Feast of Trumpets will signal this year, but at the very least we could be heading into the “Time of Trouble” also known as the Tribulation.

                I think this is a time for repentance… a time for coming out of the world and to serve Yeshua in the way that a King deserves to be served. If we are a Christian, then we have been bought with a price. We no longer belong to ourselves. IF we want to be His disciples we must deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Him. True Christianity has never been intended to be a casual lifestyle that we add to our already busy lives. It is literally a death to the kingdom of Satan and a new birth into the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ.

                We are strangers and aliens here. Our real home is in heaven where we are seated with Him by faith. We have been given a new spirit and it is in that spirit that Christ dwells by His Holy Spirit. We have been quickened unto eternal life and we are in this world to learn how to live by that spirit and not the flesh. Our spirit has been saved, but the saving of our soul takes place as we learn to live by the spirit.

                Paul says it in Romans 8:6 “For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace.”

                As these awesome events approach, should we not ask if we are really living in the spirit, or if we are just playing church? Should we not seek God with all of our hearts? Should we not tune in to His agenda and make that our priority rather than our own agenda?

                How Christians can live in this time and yet have not the slightest interest in God’s prophetic agenda is beyond me. Do we really think that God gave us all of this detailed information to be ignored?  What does it show us about our respect and worship of our sovereign God when we turn a blind eye to His patterns and warnings?

                Many people wave it off saying, “I’m just going to trust Jesus. I don’t need to know all of that stuff.” No you are not trusting Jesus, because if you did you would respect and study with open eyes and humble hearts all that He has given us concerning His soon coming. I see God weeping for those who call themselves His followers. So many people have never really come out of the world. So many people have no more than a casual dalliance with Jesus, but on their own terms. They feign to dictate the terms of their relationship, what they think of as important to read and that which they deem unimportant.

                So few people treat Yeshua as their King. They treat Him more like a mascot, a talisman, a bumper sticker slogan, a good luck charm.

                Do we really think that Yeshua is going to rapture the whole bunch of us to the throne of God unwashed and unpurified? Do we think that Jesus is going to marry foolish virgins… lukewarm followers… half-hearted Christians in name only?

                Like the Bible says, “The day will reveal it.” And when we are talking about the Day of the Lord, we are not always talking about the rapture. The Day of the Lord is everywhere spoken of as a day of darkness and terror and gloom.

                Revelation 13 describes the Tribulation under the antichrist and it says: “And it was given to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them; and authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation was given to him and all who dwell on the earth will worship him, every one whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain… here is the perseverance and the faith of the saints. Rev 13:7, 8, 10b.

                The Day of the Lord also speaks of the coming of our Lord and our gathering to Him as we see in 2 Thess. 2:1-4 where we are told that that day will not come until there comes a falling away ( Apostasy) first and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction.”

                So, at the very least we are going to see the great falling away, the beginnings of which we are now seeing, but there will be an even greater falling away when the great delusion takes place. I have my own ideas what that delusion will be and it will be overwhelming to all but the very elect.

                Protection is only offered to those who dwell in the secret place of the Most High, who have made” the Lord, my refuge, even the Most High, your dwelling place.” Ps 91: 1, 9.

                I hope this has been helpful to you. Jesus didn’t give us His Word to scare us, but to prepare us. But neither does He soft peddle it when it comes to judgment and wrath, for when He comes as King of kings and Lord of lords, He is going to bring sin and Satan’s kingdom to an end and we must decide which side we are on and then live the life. Selah.