Friday, as my manner is, I was spending time with the Lord. I hadn’t planned on asking Him anything, but couldn’t help but wonder, “Will we (meaning the Church Bride) fulfill Pentecost when we are Raptured?
“I
fulfill Pentecost when I take My Bride unto Me. It is the Harvest of the
Faithful.”
The Lord’s quick reply and strong emphasis on the word “I”
caused me to sit up straight. Of course, it is the Lord Himself who is the Finisher
of all the appointed festivals; so it will be the Lord gathering His
Church Bride that fulfills Pentecost.
There is no question that Jesus fulfilled the first three
feasts:
- Passover (Pesach) Death of The Lamb of God
- Unleavened Bread (Hag HaMatzah) Burial of Yahshua, our Jesus
- First Fruits (Bikkurim) Resurrection of Jesus
But did He already fulfill Pentecost or is it yet to be
fulfilled? I wanted to be certain that I had truly heard His voice!
The Trumpet and the Bride
Following the destruction of the
Second Temple in A.D. 70, it became physically impossible to commemorate either
the Festival of Firstfruits or the waving of the loaves at Pentecost. The
calendar date for Pentecost then became fixed at the sixth of Sivan ... the
date upon which it is remembered to this day.
Around the same time, Jews adopted
Pentecost as the time to commemorate the giving of the Law. The 19th chapter of
Exodus relates that the giving of the Law at Sinai came in the third month on
the third day of the month. This places the event at the time of Pentecost.
They call it, “the revelation at Sinai.” This revelation and the symbols of
harvest are intertwined to give full significance to the observance of
Pentecost.
In the festival, they also commemorate the symbolism of the marriage
between God, the Groom, and Israel, the bride.
. . . In its traditional aspects, Pentecost
pictures the catching away of the bride more clearly than any other festival.
We have noted before that the
blowing of the ram’s horn on Rosh Hashanah has been suggested as representing
the final trumpet of resurrection. But does it really? Is it possible that the
trumpet blast on Rosh Hashanah represents instead, a “memorial” of the heavenly
Pentecost trumpet?
“In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath,
a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation” (Leviticus 23:24).
Let us review the part Pentecost
has played at the beginning of two dispensations - Law and Grace. The rabbis
themselves say that the Dispensation of Law began on Pentecost. On that day, a
heavenly trumpet was heard at Mount Sinai. The Jews remember this as a time
when their national identity took a new direction.
. . . “And when the voice of the
trumpet+ sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God
answered him by a voice” (Exodus 19:19). . .
Here, we find the only heavenly
trumpet recorded in the Old Testament. The next such trumpet should sound on
the day of rapture and resurrection, making the day of Pentecost an interesting
possibility for that event:
“For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of
the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise
first” (I Thess. 4:16).
[excerpts from Festival
of Mystery by Gary Stearman (bold highlight added]
It has been pointed out by Gary Stearman and others how
Pentecost is a marker of transition between dispensations. How appropriate
would it be for Father God to turn His attention back to His wayward bride,
Israel, on the Anniversary of their Marriage--in the Season of Pentecost--while
simultaneously sending His Son to gather his Church Bride!
In 1979 Zola Levitt published a small book titled The
Seven Feasts of Israel. In the final section of the book, “Unto Us a Child
is Born”, Zola shares his discovery of the parallel of the Seven Feasts with
the development of a baby in utero which I believe is a prophetic picture of Israel’s
maturing and birth into the Millennial Kingdom for they will be the people
group that will have witnessed Yahshua, our Jesus, fulfill all seven festivals
on earth.
Pentecost--Harvest of the Faithful?
Continuing with Gary Stearman’s article:
The Order of the Resurrections
For the Gentile, it represents the relationship between Christ, the Bridegroom
and His bride, the church. As mentioned earlier, the resurrection of Jesus
was a literal Firstfruits offering that looked forward to the resurrection of
all the faithful:
“20 But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them
that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection from
the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But
every man in his own order: Christ the first fruits; afterward they that are
Christ’s at his coming. Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the
kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all
authority and power” (I Corinthians 15:20-24).
The early church thought that His coming might be somehow timed with
Pentecost. The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible offers the
following comment:
“The Church Fathers highly regarded Pentecost. . . Many expected, because
the Ascension had taken place near Pentecost, that Christ would return in the
same season.”
Pentecost was a time of expectation for the early Church. They felt that Christ
might come for His own during this period. Why did they believe this? Was it
because of its closeness to the time of the Ascension, or was it because of
something else they had been taught? Remember, Christ’s actual Ascension took
place forty days after His resurrection. Ten days later, the Holy Spirit
empowered the church for its future role in the harvest of souls ... the fifty
days till Pentecost.
Prophecies of Summer
Biblically, the harvest of early summer is often seen to typify the
“harvest” or catching-away of the church. As we have seen, this is the
season when grain and fruit crops come to maturity. Fruit is judged and stored.
Wheat is now safe in the granaries of the land. At Pentecost, a small sample is
taken, ground into flour and baked into two loaves. They are the leavened “test
loaves” of the new harvest. Scripturally, they typify the two bodies of the
redeemed at the end of the age: Israel and the church.
Bread and fruit are the perfect picture of redemption, blessing and bounty. But
to Israel, at the time of Jacob’s trouble, the harvest will not bring
satisfaction. Instead, there will be the realization that something drastic has
happened. This, we see in the words of Micah:
“Woe is me! for I am as when they have gathered the summer fruits, as the
grapegleanings of the vintage: there is no cluster to eat: my soul desired the
firstripe fruit. The good man is perished out of the earth: and there is none
upright among men: they all lie in wait for blood; they hunt every man his
brother with a net” (Mic. 7:1, 2). Here, the prophet Micah speaks as the
voice of Israel in the latter days. The time is set at the end of fruit harvest
- late April through early June - the season that begins with Passover and ends
with Pentecost.
The summer fruits have been “gathered,” or harvested. . . From Micah’s
point of view, the friends of Israel have gone away.
As we continue, Micah’s distress
becomes more clear. He has a deep desire for the fruit that has been removed.
And what is this fruit? Verse 2, tells us that it is the “good man,” who has
“perished” from the earth. This fits perfectly with the idea of the judgment of
the fruit of trees.
“Perish’ comes from the Hebrew verb avad, meaning, “to cause to vanish!”
As the picture develops, it is easy to see that Micah’s vision perfectly
describes the conditions that will prevail when righteous mankind is instantly
transported from the earth at the catching-away of the church.
The Gathering
Pentecost is a chag, or one of the three annual pilgrimage feasts:
Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto me in the year.
Thou shalt keep the feast of unleavened bread:
(thou shalt eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded thee, in the time
appointed of the month Abib; for in it thou camest out from Egypt: and none
shall appear before me empty:)
And the feast of harvest, the firstfruits of thy
labours, which thou hast sown in the field: and the feast of ingathering,
[which is] in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labours out
of the field.
Three times in the year all thy males shall appear before
the Lord GOD. - Exodus 23:14-17 KJV
As Exodus 23 indicates, the three festivals where it was
required for all the males to assemble included:
- Pesach (Unleavened Bread or Passover)
- Shavuot (Harvest or Weeks or Pentecost)
- Sukkot (Ingathering or Tabernacles)
All the males were enjoined to
repair to the tabernacle and afterwards the temple, and the women frequently
went. The institution of this national custom was of the greatest importance in
many ways: by keeping up a national sense of religion and a public uniformity
in worship, by creating a bond of unity, and also by promoting internal
commerce among the people. Though the absence of all the males at these three
festivals left the country defenseless, a special promise was given of divine
protection, and no incursion of enemies was ever permitted to happen on those occasions.
blueletterbible.org/Comm/jfb
Looking back at Exodus 23, notice that the second feast--the
feast of harvest--was when they were to present the firstfruits of thy
labours, which thou hast sown in the field. This very well could be a
picture of the Rapture when Christ presents us to the Father as a firstfruits Harvest
offering of the field or world (Matthew 13:38). Those who are in Christ are a
type of firstfruits offering:
And not only [they], but ourselves also, which have the
firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting
for the adoption, [to wit], the redemption of our body. - Romans 8:23 KJV
Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that
we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. - James 1:18 KJV
In an article about Shavuot/Pentecost at alittlestrength.com,
Greg Lauer wrote about Pentecost being one of the three annual pilgrimage
feasts which foreshadow a gathering of people to God (and
which may include a resurrection). He asks in the article--
Q. Who exactly was
gathered to God or resurrected on the chag known as Shavuot two
thousand years ago?
A. First name
"No," last name "Body."
The next gathering of people to God
on the agenda is the resurrection of the dead in Christ and the translation of
believers alive at the time in the Rapture, and the point I'm driving at is the
fact that the Rapture must be the event that ultimately
fulfills the Feast of Pentecost. [end of alittlestrength.com/shavuot
excerpt]
What I am trying to say is that, we have every reason to
LOOK UP for the imminent catching away of the Bride of Christ, yet do not be
surprised if we must endure until the NET IS FULL. It has been said, and it has
been shown to me as well in my prayer time, that we are in a SEASON
of Pentecost. It is possible that since the Holy Spirit came in Acts 2 approximately
2,000 years ago, it has continued to be the Season of Pentecost.
In his Shavuot
article, Greg Lauer shares his belief in this continued Season of
Pentecost:
Israel's prophetic countdown stopped
on Shavuot two thousand
years ago, with the hand on God's
stopwatch pointing to that feast.
And that hand has been pointing
to Shavuot ever since.
As soon as the Church is complete
and the Rapture takes place and God is ready to turn His attention back to His
people, Israel's prophetic clock will begin moving once again, ticking on
toward the next appointed time on their countdown (Yom Teruah, which will
be fulfilled by the physical return to earth of their Messiah).
Please don't miss this: That means
it makes absolutely no difference whatsoever whether the
Rapture occurs on the Fourth of July, Groundhog Day, or Cinco de Mayo. Or next
Tuesday. On God's stopwatch that is monitoring Israel's prophetic countdown, it
will still be Shavuot, just as it's been for the last two
thousand years of earthly time. . . I firmly believe that the remaining
three moedim—Trumpets, Atonement, and Tabernacles—will all be
fulfilled on their literal earthly dates, just as were Passover, Unleavened
Bread, and Firstfruits. . .
The
Rapture not only completes the fulfillment
of Shavuot, but it will do so while occurring
on some unknowable day in real, earthly time.
When the moon is in
eclipse,
it is a bad omen for
Israel.
If its face is as red
as blood, [it is a sign that]
the sword is coming
to the world.
Talmud Sukkah 29a
Pentecost and the Blood Moons
There have been numerous signs in the heavens pointing to
the end times, but I just wanted to list a few here for us to consider:
- 2014-2015
Blood Moon Tetrad
- September
2017 Revelation
12 Sign (Feast of Trumpets)
- August
21, 2017 Great
American Solar Eclipse No. 1
- January
31, 2018 Super Blue Blood Moon & Supermoon
Trifectas
- July 24, 2018 (Century’s Longest Blood Moon)
- December 21, 2020 “Once-in-a-Generation Great
Conjunction”
- March
5-6, 2021 the asteroid named after the Egyptian god of
chaos--Apophis--sailed very closely by earth
- April
8, 2024 Great
American Solar Eclipse No. 2
- April
13, 2029, the asteroid Apophis will pass less than 20,000
miles from our planet's surface per NASA
- September
11, 2029 Revelation 12 Sign repeats
The Revelation 12 Sign of the Woman took place during the Feast
of Trumpets in 2017. This was primarily a sign to Israel of the coming of
Jacob’s Trouble, The Tribulation, and by default an announcement of the coming
Rapture of the true Church. It will be on a future Feast of Trumpets
that Jesus Christ will set foot on the Mount of Olives and thus begin
fulfilling the Autumn feasts of the Lord.
I was inspired to take another look at the 2014-15 Blood
Moon Tetrad. Remember that the blood moons occurred on Passover and Sukkot
both years? The first of these feasts is Pesach or Passover and the last one is
Sukkot or Tabernacles. The first and the last--Alpha and Omega. Jesus Christ is
The Alpha and Omega. He began the fulfillment of the feasts and He will be the
Finisher of those feasts. As Greg Lauer points out in his article, the feast of
Pentecost (which is the center feast between Passover and Sukkot) is
when God hit the PAUSE button.
 |
| In the menorah pattern the 4th stem represents Pentecost. The Hebrew letter dalet ד represents Door and the no. 4. MENORAH HIDDEN MEANINGS Jesus IS the Event Horizon |
And remember all those supermoons and what a pastor shared about them:
The US embassy was officially opened in Jerusalem on May 14,
2018, coinciding with the 70th anniversary of the Israeli Declaration of
Independence with the Century’s Longest Blood Moon appearing 74 days
later on July 27, 2018. When I saw the number 74 I couldn’t help but think how
on Israel’s 74th Anniversary it will conclude her 73rd
and final year before Jacob’s Trouble assuming Psalm 90:10’s definition of a
generation is what we should go by when considering Jesus’ statement:
Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass,
till all these things be fulfilled. - Matthew 24:34 KJV
. . . The 2015 Jupiter-Venus
Conjunction capped off the Blood Moon Tetrads of 2014-2015 and the 2020 Great
Conjunction capped off the 2020 Tetrad of Penumbral Blood Moons pointing
to 2021 being a Year of Chaos.
This duplication of similar
celestial signs could be indicating a completion of the Church Age of Grace and
the coming of THE time of great chaos--Jacob’s Trouble and the Age of the Antichrist
or what New Agers are referring to as the Age of Aquarius. (Related
information: Unsealed’s article The
Christmas Star, The Prophetic Crescendo, And The Great Reset and my
article 2020
Dark Winter and the “Once-in-a-Generation Great Conjunction”.) Excerpt from
2021
Year of the Rapture and Chaos.
Our Brother Greg may be accurate in his conclusion, but my expectation remains for a 2021 Rapture because of other significant markers pointing to this year (see related articles below) and especially because Summer of 2021 concludes a Sabbatical Cycle. Lu Vega has said that when the 7-year last Week of Years per Daniel is to start, it must start with a new Sabbatical Cycle. He proposes a possible Autumn 2022 start for Daniel’s 70th Week (October 18, 2022, on his chart), because his research shows that the Revelation 12 Sign will be repeating on September 11, 2029; HOWEVER, Lu agrees that a 2021 Rapture would be in order with his findings suggesting the Great Escape or Rapture might occur at Pentecost 2021 (see his Postscripts #434).
In line with Pentecost being obviously "omitted" in the 2014-2015 Tetrad, Lu writes:
When will the Rapture take place?
There is no clear association to this scenario as being associated with Pentecost but the LORD does identify His position within the ‘Menorah’ of the Churches of Asia, as being in the ‘midst’ or the middle; that of the 4th Center Servant Stem. Using deductive logic, it can be than asserted that the LORD’s position at the time of the calling of the Apostle John as the ‘Church’ representative to assemble and gather at His Throne Room is directly then associated to the 4th Stem of the Menorah, that is to say Pentecost. This typology is consistent with Pentecost being the 2nd of the 3 required assemblies or gathering Feasts of YHVH, and thus in the middle. Thus this study strongly suggests that the Rapture or the call to ‘Come Up’ would not be attributed to any of the Tetrad’s 4 Total lunar Blood Moon Eclipses that mark off the LORD’s First and Last of the required feasts solely based on this prophetic pattern that is implied.
This is to say that perhaps the Rapture takes place on Pentecost in the ‘midst’ of Passover and Sukkot in a yet future year to be determined. [written by Lu in 2011 as Postscript #26]
So is our Brother Greg correct that the Rapture can be on
whatever day of the year and still fulfill Pentecost? Or will Jesus literally harpazo
His Bride this Summer at Pentecost?
I agree with Greg that the remaining three moedim—Trumpets,
Atonement, and Tabernacles—will all be fulfilled on their literal earthly
dates, just as were Passover, Unleavened Bread, and Firstfruits; yet it is my
great hope that Jesus will come for His Bride at or around Pentecost this Summer
for it will be the
end of the Sabbatical cycle
and time for the Judgment
of the Fruit of Trees!
And he spake to
them a parable;
Behold the fig
tree,
and all the trees - Luke 21:29 KJV
Related articles:
Planet
X, Passover, and Pentecost 2021
April 26, 2021--This morning I watched George of The Return of the King's newest video and WOW! So encouraging!
