The 70th Week of Daniel
and the Rapture
Discovered
in the Feast of Tabernacles
edited
3-1-11
In
doing a little research on an entirely different
subject matter (that of when Jesus healed the man at
the pool of Bethsaida/Siloam), I was led all the way
back to an issue (November 1999) of J.R.
Church's
magazine (“Prophecy
in the News”), and that of the cover article
entitled “Prophecies of the Feast of Tabernacles”. I
did find the answer and reference that I sought on the
pool of Bethsaida
in the article, but it became very insignificant to
what was being revealed to me in regard to the rest of
the article concerning the Feast of Tabernacles.
There
is more than one prophetic application to scriptural
“time” and the fulfilling of it found in this Feast of
the Lord (the Feast of Tabernacles). I have written on
several of these from other parts of scripture. But I have
never used the scriptures found in the Gospel of John
(chapter 7) of the event in “type” or “shadow,” in
preaching of Christ's Coming and Kingdom!
Mr.
Church sees and teaches that there is only the
possibility of the “Pre-Trib/70th week of
Daniel Resurrection/Rapture”. It is no wonder then
that whatever else that may be there was overlooked by
him (and others)! But what Mr. Church does say about
this “type”/event in Christ's life and words speaks
volumes. Mr. Church said concerning the beginning of
the Festival (of 7 days):
"With the full
moon that evening, the Temple Priests
blew trumpets, thus announcing the onset of the
Feast of Tabernacles."
Sound
a little familiar? The blowing of the trumpets- Feast
of trumpets/Rosh Hashanah to start the 70th
Week of Daniel? That day (the Feast of Trumpets) is a
Sabbath, just as scripture states. So is the 1st
day of the Feast of Tabernacles! To continue with Mr.
Church's commentary:
"The crowds
were abuzz with the latest news of kith and kin. Friends
enjoyed visiting each other again. Many were
discussing the stories about the man from Galilee". Mr. Church then
quotes John 7:11-12; ( "then the Jews sought him at
the feast, and said, Where is he?....”
Again
this sounds so familiar! So many people from the start
of the 70th Week Daniel (and of course
earlier) have been asking and wondering “Is the Lord coming on this
Feast Day, or at that Feast Day, or at all in my
life time”? Continuing
with Mr. Church:
"Jesus was the
subject of no small discussion. Would He
attend the festival? Would they get to see and hear
Him? Would
He perform some miracle? They had heard about His
miracles!
The first day
came and went with no sight of Him; the second day;
the third day; would He come at all? According
to the Mosaic Law, He was required to attend. It was hard
for the people to concentrate on the required
activities as all conversations drifted around to
the subject of Jesus."
Does
this ever sound familiar of these last 3 years (2007
to present)!
By the middle of the afternoon ON THE
FOURTH DAY (caps mine) the crowds could think of
nothing else! Where
is this Jesus of Nazareth?
SUDDENLY (caps mine), He just stood up and began to
preach. No
one had seen Him along the trails leading up to the
Temple.
No one
had seen Him enter one of the gates that led into
the Temple
area. There was no fanfare to welcome Him. HE JUST
SHOWED UP (caps and bold mine)!
Mr.
Church continued his article with the “prophetic type”
of the 7 day Feast of Tabernacles as pertaining to the
7 days or "7000 years of human endeavor" (as he
described it). And Mr. Church concluded that this
account in John's Gospel (chapter 7) is more
indicative of Christ's First and Second Advents, never
looking to the possibility of the purely prophetic
aspect (that the fulfilling of this 7 day Feast of
Tabernacles could be showing anything else). I
heartily agree that the application for this 7 day
Feast (the “type” of the seven days of Creation, given
long before Christ’s First Advent occurred) in this
passage (John 7) can, as Mr. Church says, refer to the
7000 years (one day as a thousand years, creation
account of 7 “days”). I have taught the same for a
long time, but through different scriptures. But the
events of this passage (John 7) at Tabernacles (of
what, how, and when Jesus performed them) cannot be
considered “prophetic” to His first advent at all!
Because Jesus was performing them right then and
there. This would then be “self fulfilling” at the
time. Prophecy by its nature is that which is said or
done in shadow and type to a future time, not
fulfilled at the time of saying or performing it!
Mr.
Church (because of his doctrine and belief of a
“pre-70th Week of Daniel Rapture”)
concludes that this 4th day of the Feast of
Tabernacles (in this “type” found in John 7) is that
of Christ's First Advent! But in the aspect of Christ
“just showing up” and “with no fanfare” (as Mr. Church
attributed to Christ’s First Advent), here I have to
disagree!
In
taking when Christ was born, did He just “show up with
no fanfare”?
Let’s
see if scripture has the answer...
Luke 2:8-"And there were
in the same country shepherds abiding in the field,
keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came
upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round
about them: and they were sore afraid. 20: And suddenly
there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly
host praising God, and saying,
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace,
good will toward men."
Matthew 2:1-“Now when Jesus
was born in Bethlehem
of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold,
there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, Saying, Where is he that is born King
of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east,
and are come to worship him”.
The “wise men FROM
THE EAST” saw this star in the east from where
they were from, so obviously this “star” was visible
for some time before Christ's birth for the wise men
to follow it from the east!
Matthew 2:9-“When they had
heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star,
which they saw in the east, went before them, till
it came and stood over where the young child
was. When they saw the star,
they rejoiced with exceeding great joy”.
Sounds
like coming with good fanfare and not secretly to me!
If you
don't want to consider this to be when the 1st
Advent started, then what about before Jesus started
His ministry? This is the whole/sole purpose of John
the Baptists' ministry; to proclaim PUBLICALLY the
coming of the Messiah, not in secret! Therefore
neither would the Messiah be coming in secret.
What
about before Christ's baptism and anointing of the
start of His ministry?
Matthew 3:1-“In those days
came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness
of Judaea, And
saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at
hand. For this is he that was
spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice
of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way
of the Lord, make his paths straight”.
Now for
the actual anointing at Jesus’ Baptism to start His
ministry...
Mark 1:9-“And it came to
pass in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was
baptized of John in Jordan. And straightway coming up out of the
water, he saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit
like a dove descending upon him: And
there came a
voice from heaven, saying,
Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And immediately the Spirit driveth
him into the wilderness. And he was there in
the wilderness forty days, tempted of Satan; and was
with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered unto
him”.
Matthew 3:16-“And
Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out
of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto
him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a
dove, and lighting upon him:
And lo a
voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son,
in whom I am well pleased.
Matthew
4:1-“Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the
wilderness to be tempted of the devil”.
Luke 3:21-“Now when all the
people were baptized, it came to pass, that Jesus
also being baptized, and praying, the heaven was
opened, And the Holy Ghost descended in a
bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came
from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son;
in thee I am well pleased. And Jesus
himself began to be about thirty years of age, being
(as was supposed) the son of Joseph...”
Notice
(in the above passages) that the “voice” is
not heard as thunder by anyone. And they do not say
that it was only to John or Jesus that heard this.
This is some proclamation and heralding of God for His
Son!
Now
what about AFTER Christ's ministry had begun?
John 1:19-“And this is the record of
John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from
Jerusalem
to ask him, Who art thou? 20: And he
confessed, and denied not; but confessed, I am not
the Christ. 21And they asked
him, What then? Art thou Elias? And he saith, I am
not. Art thou that prophet? And he answered,
No. 22Then said
they unto him, Who art thou? that we may give an
answer to them that sent us. What sayest thou of
thyself? 23He said,
I am
the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make
straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet
Esaias. 24And they
which were sent were of the Pharisees. 25And they asked him, and
said unto him, Why baptizest thou then, if thou be
not that Christ, nor Elias, neither that
prophet? 26John
answered them, saying, I baptize with water: but there
standeth one among you, whom ye know not; 27He it is, who coming
after me is preferred before me, whose shoe’s
latchet I am not worthy to unloose. John 1:29:
The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and
saith, Behold
the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of
the world.
This is he of whom I said, After
me cometh a man which is preferred before me: for he
was before me. 34: And I saw, and bare record that this is the
Son of God. Again the next day
after John stood, and two of his disciples; And looking upon Jesus as he walked,
he saith, Behold
the Lamb of God”!
In
John 1:19-27, John the Baptist is more direct in his
announcement/proclamation that the Messiah (the Lord)
is here. And this is AFTER Christ's ministry has
started! For those who want to say that Christ's 1st
Advent didn't start until the time for the spring
Feasts of the Lord were to be fulfilled by Christ, let
me remind you of the great heralding by the people of
Jesus Christ as Messiah and KING!
This
is called "Palm Sunday" and/or Christ's TRIUMPHAL (not
too secretive is it?) entry into Jerusalem
AND the TEMPLE!
The
event (that can be seen as a “prophetic type”) is not
of His First Advent being prophetic to the 7 days of
1000 years of “mans endeavor” (as Mr. Church put it),
but rather as an application of other prophetic
scriptures since it is obvious now that at Christ's 1st
Advent He did not come "as in secret"! But those who
were looking for Him for the first three days asked "Where is he?"
(John 7:11). For this event of the Feast of
Tabernacles to be truly prophetic, then the first
three days (or first three thousand years) God's
people would have been looking for a
Messiah/deliverer! Was anybody even looking for a
deliverer for the first 2 days or 2000 years? Of
course not! No one was looking for a
"messiah"/deliverer until Moses!
Now
don't let anybody tell you any different. It is Moses
who was and still is the quintessential and premier
type of Christ in the scriptures! The record of Moses
birth, being "called out of Egypt", performing the
miracles of God, being given the Law of God,
delivering God's people out of Egypt (the world) at
Passover, et cetera, totally validates Moses as the
GREATEST type of Christ in scripture. And scripture
explicitly states this relationship between Moses and
Jesus Christ.
Deuteronomy 18:15-“The LORD
thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the
midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me;
unto him ye shall hearken”.
The
scriptures state this emphatically! It wasn't Isaac,
Joseph, Joshua, or anybody else, even though they were
wonderful “types” of Christ. THE PREMIER
TYPE OF CHRIST WAS MOSES! And it was the
fulfillment of this "prophet"/deliverer/Christ that
the Jews of Jesus' time were looking for! And yes,
they (the Jews) knew and understood the scriptures of
this!
John 1:19-“And this
is the record of John, when the Jews sent
priests and Levites from Jerusalem to
ask him, Who
art thou? And he confessed, and denied
not; but confessed, I am not the Christ. And
they asked him, What then? Art thou Elias? And he
saith, I am not. Art thou that prophet? And he
answered, No. Then said they unto him, Who art
thou? that we may give an answer to them that sent
us”.
Even
though the “Jews” (the high priests) knew and were
told by John the Baptist that this Messiah/ prophet
was among them now, they wanted no part of Him/Jesus!
But even the common people recognized Jesus as "that prophet"
which was prophesied to come!
John 6:10-“And Jesus
said, Make the men sit down. Now there was much
grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number
about five thousand....14:Then
those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus
did, said, This
is of a truth that prophet that should come into
the world. 15: When Jesus
therefore perceived that they would come and take
him by force, to make him a king, he departed again
into a mountain himself alone”.
Yes,
the people were looking for that prophet/Christ! And
they knew that it was Jesus, who should be ruler/King
of Israel!
So then, we can see by scriptures that Mr. Church's
assertion that Christ's 1st Advent in
conjunction with this prophetic event in “type” just
does not ring entirely true! But in defense of Mr.
Church (especially since this article in his magazine
was published in 1999), I agreed and came to the same
conclusion! Because back then I had been taught and
was teaching the very same thing (that of a “Pre-70th
Week of Daniel Rapture")! But a lot of water has gone
under the bridge since then! A person is supposed to
learn from the past, especially from their past
failures or disappointments.
I
stated in the opening paragraphs of this article that
there is more than one prophetic “timeline” portrayed
in this account of Johns' of the Feast of Tabernacles.
The one that I'm going to refer to or point out is the
one that J.R. Church did
(that is of the so-called “1000 years-for-a-day”
theory). But I will show you why Christ's 1st
Advent itself is just an application to this theory
and timeline, for the fulfilling of other specific
scriptures (especially that of Hosea chapters 5-6). I
have written on this in other articles. Kevin Drake
has also shown this in his charts at
www.godstimeline.net.
When
looking at this 7 day Feast of Tabernacles, it is very
important to note what is and is not said. All you have
to do is just a little research (if you don't know
already) for definitions of the key elements. The
Feast of Tabernacles itself is a 7 day feast ( see
Leviticus 23). The 1st day of the 7 is a
Sabbath. However, the 7th day is not "called" a
Sabbath and you will see why shortly. After the 7th
day of the feast, there is ATTACHED to it the 8th
day which IS called a Sabbath. Here is why:
when Adam and Eve began their “dominion”
(see Genesis chapters 2-3) of the earth there was NO
SIN, no curse, and there was "peace" in their walking
and RESTING in the Lord! But they did sin and fall in
that first day! The next 5 “days” (or the next five
1000 year “days”) are in place and in this application
is found the fact of Christ's 1st Advent AT
the "midst" of the festival or “week”! But we know
that Christ's First Advent did not come exactly in the
"midst" of that “prophetic” 1000 years in what would
be construed or understood as the 4th 1000!
In other words, His First Advent was not at 3,200
years or at 3,500 years! The "latter" would have been
the exact "midst" of the week of 7000 years in
question.
No,
Christ's First Advent was at the very ending of those
1st 4000 years, which is what then makes
possible the beginning of the fulfillment of what is
found in Hosea chapters 5-6!
Hosea 5:14-“For I will be
unto Ephraim as a lion, and as a young lion to the
house of Judah:
I, even
I, will tear and go away; I will take away, and none
shall rescue him. I will go and
return to my place, till they acknowledge their
offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they
will seek me early”.
Hosea 6:1-“Come, and
let us return unto the LORD: for he hath torn, and
he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind
us up. After
two days will he revive us: in the
third day he will raise us up, and we shall
live in his sight”.
Now
this is what Christ's 1st Advent was in the
fulfillment of, and to fulfilling its completion,
which is that of the Kingdom of God is
coming to earth “IN the third day”.
What follows are the seasons to recognize WHEN
the purpose of His Comings and Advents are to take
place.
Hosea 6:3-“Then
shall we know, if we
follow on to know the LORD: his going forth is
prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us
as the rain, as the latter and
former rain unto the earth”.
Yes,
Christ's timing for His Comings to the EARTH is to
fulfill the Feasts of the Lord. Those being of the
spring (“latter
rain”-First Coming) and the fall (“former rain”-Second
Coming) feasts!
In
Hosea's prophecy, the scripture says “after two
days”! When you look at the chart above of the
Feast of Tabernacles, you see the 4th day
(the 4000 years) as when Christ's First Advent did
happen and that there are 2 more (1000 years) “days”
until we come to the 3rd “day” (following
the 4th)! This "3rd day of
Hosea" is called “the last day” in John’s account of this
feast...
John 7:37-“In the
last day, that great day
of the feast, Jesus stood and cried,
saying...”
Look
at what the Lord said in the bold of that 7th
day of the feast (which is equated to Hosea's 3rd
day). It is LAST and it is GREAT! Now look at what the
Lord says about Hosea's statement. It is plain to see
that the 3rd day is equated to “the last” or
7th day! This concerns being RAISED (not
only for the nation of Israel,
but ALL resurrections must happen within this GREAT
DAY!) up and living in His sight!
Concerning
being raised from the dead (and for those of you who are hoping for the
"Rapture" you better pay close attention here,
because you go NOWHERE until AFTER the DEAD IN
CHRIST ARE RAISED!), the Lord Jesus says this
(that the resurrection occurs in the “last day”)
repeatedly and Martha acknowledges this herself (see
John 11:24)!
An
interesting side note: this phrase ("the last day")
is found in the entire Bible (King James Version)
exactly "8" times, which is the exact number of days
attributed in total to the Feast of Tabernacles! But 7
of the 8 are found only in the New Testament, and only
in John’s Gospel! And the only one in the Old
Testament that stands apart (as does the 8th
day of the Sabbath) is that of Nehemiah's accounting
OF THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES!
Now
back to the "last
day" and Christ raising anybody in the
resurrection...
John 6:39-“And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me,
that of all which he hath given me I should lose
nothing, but should raise it up again at the
last day”.
It is
Jesus Christ who, in doing the Fathers will (the
Father is the One who SENT HIM), is going to do the
raising from the dead! Notice also that it is the
Father who "SENT
ME (Jesus)"! And now, look again at what Christ
said in that 4th day (the midst of the
festival/week)...
John 7:16-“Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine
is not mine, but his that
sent me.
If any man will do his will, he shall know
of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether
I speak of myself”.
This
is the very first thing Christ says when He suddenly
appears in the Temple “as it were in
secret” (John 7:10)! And what is to be the Father’s will at
the "midst of the week/festival"? To raise
him up again at “the last day”! Can you say "the dead in
Christ shall be raised"? It is called the "RESURRECTION/RAPTURE"!
But
what about the "GREAT
DAY"? What is so “GREAT” about that 7th day (“the last day”)?
Look
at this...
Jeremiah 30:7-“Alas! for
that
day is great, so that none is
like it: it is
even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall
be saved out of it. 8 For it shall
come to pass in that day, saith the LORD of
hosts, that I will break his yoke from off
thy neck, and will burst thy bonds, and strangers
shall no more serve themselves of him: 9 But they shall
serve the LORD their God, and David their king, whom
I will raise up unto them”.
This
is without a doubt talking about the Coming of the Kingdom of God and His Christ for the
nation of Israel
(and for the whole world)! To be brief in explanation
here, the reason that this day is “GREAT” and “none is like it”,
is because this is still patterned after the "Great
Sabbatical week" of creation itself! The Lord's Day
(the 7th ) is NOT limited in time as are
the other 6 days of creation by the "evening and the
morning" (see Genesis 2:1-3)! That is why (in
this account of Tabernacles in John) the 7th
day is not called a Sabbath (even though by
definition, as being the 7th day, it is)!
But it (the “day
of the Lord”) is not all peace and "rest", even
though it will contain those elements. And it (the 7th
day, the Lord’s Day) is also referred to as "even the time of
Jacob's Trouble" (see chart entitled “The Time of Jacob's Trouble”
and also "The Lord’s Day" at
www.godstimeline.net)!
In this
"greater timeline" of the “1000-year-as-a-day”
understanding (see 2nd Peter 3:8-“one day
is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a
thousand years as one day”), this 7th
day (not being “called” a Sabbath) will include
parts of Jacob's Trouble! And this 7th
day contains the 2nd and 3rd
weeks of Jacob’s Trouble, the last “week” being the 70th
Week of Daniel itself! But it (the 7th day,
the Lord’s Day) will also include the Sabbath of Rest
of the 1000 year reign of Christ, after which this
last/great day will include the short season in which
Satan is loosed out of the pit to tempt the nations
one last time!
I hope
you can see that this day (the great “last day”) in
this application of the Feast of Tabernacles (John
chapter 7) cannot be referred to as a Sabbath! Mainly
because it does not start out that way, nor does it
end that way. Now when this “last day” is
concluded with the destruction of the heavens and the
earth and the Great White Throne Judgment occurs, what
will follow is exactly what is shown! A Sabbath, which
is the 8th day! This is the ETERNAL SABBATH
OF RESTING IN OUR LORD AND GOD FOREVER (“seven” being
the Biblical number of “completion” and “eight”
representing the Biblical number of “new beginnings”)!
Now for
the true prophetic “type” of this article (because of
all the aspects of what can be fulfilled in this
timeline) on the "70th Week of Daniel in
the Feast of Tabernacles", I want to remind you of the
fact that (at Christ's 1st Coming) He did
not come "but
as it were in secret" (John 7:10)! I also want
to remind you that since this wa being done at the
time of His First Advent, that it could not
be prophetic for His First Advent! Because if it was
indeed a “short-term” prophecy (like His prophecy of "Destroy this temple, and in
three days I will raise it up -John 2:19) it would be a
“self-fulfilling” prophecy and therefore not prophetic
at all!
Except
for this one instance, it is never said that Jesus
came to the Temple or
Jerusalem
for any of the Feasts of the Lord "as it were in
secret"! No, He came openly! And that is no more
apparent than at His "triumphal entry" on "Palm
Sunday" for His last observance of the Passover to
begin the fulfilling of the Spring Feasts of the Lord!
Therefore this recording by John in his Gospel (which
he wrote long after this event) shows that it would
have to be fulfilled AFTER his writing of it, in order
for it to actually be prophetic at all! It would also
have to have a future fulfilling as well, from or
after Christ's First Advent!
We
know by the scriptures that Jesus Himself will be
coming two more times! The first time is for what is
called the "resurrection/rapture"! The second time is
for His coming in GREAT power and glory at the LAST
DAY/Year of the 70th Week of Daniel, to
save Israel
(and the world) OUT OF that time of Jacob's Trouble.
And to then bring them INTO HIS/God's REST (Millennial
Kingdom/
the Sabbath of 1000 years)! Of the 2 comings that
remain (at least at the time of this writing), only
one is or could be said of Him coming "as it were in
secret"! And that is the 1st one,
which is His coming at the time of the
"RESURRECTION/RAPTURE"!
I have
quoted Mr. Church enough from his article (of 1999),
but he still has a lot of great insight left in his
article nonetheless, even concerning the sacrifices
that are to be performed during this "festival" (the
Feast of Tabernacles) and the day following (the
Sabbath and 8th day)! Let me make just one
last quote from Mr. Church concerning the sacrificing
of the "70" bullocks during these 7 feast days!
Mr.
Church says:
"The
sacrifices of the week included seventy bullocks,
one for each of the nations of the world. The feast
was not just a "Jewish Festival"; it concerned all
nations and stood for all generations from the days
of Adam to the final Messianic kingdom"!
I'm
not going to go in depth on the significance of ALL
these sacrifices that are to be offered during this
festival. Where I disagree with Mr. Church is the
conclusion of them as being "to the Messianic
Kingdom"! Agreed, the 70 sacrifices are for all
nations (including Israel)!
But they continue on to and into that "last Great
Day"! What was the sacrifice of the bullocks for
anyway? They were to represent an offering for the
sins of the people/nations of the world to the Lord as
a "peace" offering in the reconciliation of man to God
through His Son Jesus Christ! And they were to be a "sweet savour
unto the Lord". This "burnt offering"
is that of God's forgiveness of sin(s)! It is that
which only God can do. Only God can forgive sins!
It is
obvious that Mr. Church’s reasoning is to the Kingdom
of Christ,
when the 70 bullocks (representing the sins of the
nations of the world) is concluded at the Kingdom. I
disagree because man, even during and after the Millennial
Kingdom
is over, will still be sinning! It may be that Mr.
Church’s reasoning for this is that of the conclusion
of the "70 weeks of Daniel" (which will conclude at
the beginning of the Kingdom). It makes more sense for
it to INCLUDE the Kingdom (and after it) until the ETERNAL
Kingdom
(8th day), when there will be "no more
sin", and therefore no need for the forgiveness of
sins! That includes our being commanded to forgive our
brothers who trespass/sin against us! This is what I
believe the discussion of Peter and Jesus was all
about (see Matthew 18:21 below).
Matthew
18:21-"Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how
oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive
him? till seven times?" Jesus saith unto
him, I say not unto thee, Until
seven times: but, Until seventy
times seven. Therefore is the
kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king,
which would take account of his servants”.
This
is the representation of the 70 bullocks to be
sacrificed throughout the 7 days of the feast, or the
70 x 7.
As you
can see, there is a lot more to the Feast of
Tabernacles than is commonly understood, but this is
not what most of you want to hear about! The first or
primary concern of the vast majority of people that I
have come in contact with over the years (whether
personally or by email) is "When is the Rapture"?
The Second Coming of Christ to establish His Kingdom
and righteousness here on earth is NOT their main or
central desire. Now what does that say about their
heart? These people complain about sin, destruction,
and death. They complain about the rampant growth of
the growing acceptance of homosexuality within the
so-called “church”. They complain about the
governments of the world defrauding their people by
their overbearing taxations! They complain about how
man is systematically destroying the earth and its
environment, all for the love of money!
Is
their primary desire that of wanting the Lord to come
and make right of these wrongs by the establishing of
His Kingdom and ruling in truth and righteousness with
a rod of iron? Unfortunately, what I see and hear most
is "When is the Rapture so I
can escape all these things? Let the world
continue in its steady decline of sin and death. I
just want out of here”! Well, if this
is your primary desire and not that for your neighbor
(who may be left behind to continue with and in the
sins of this world) then here comes what you have been
seeking. By this point you should have figured it out.
I have
previously laid out what the structure of the Feast of
Tabernacles is and what is represents prophetically.
And with its recording in John's Gospel (along with
the chart at the top of this article), I'm going to
start at the beginning of John chapter 7...
John 7:1-“After
these things Jesus walked in Galilee:
for he would
not walk in Jewry, because the Jews sought to kill
him. Now the Jews’ feast of tabernacles was at
hand. His brethren therefore said unto him, Depart
hence, and go into Judaea,
that thy disciples also may see the works that thou
doest.
Jesus
was in Galilee and would not walk in Jewry (in Judea) because of the
religious Jews. Why? Because
the chief priests and rulers sought to kill him! His
brethren or family (the brothers and sisters of Jesus
were from Nazareth of Galilee) tell Jesus to go into Judea for the Feast of
Tabernacles and show these works to the disciples.
Why?
John 1:4-“For there is
no man that
doeth any thing in secret, and he himself
seeketh to be known openly. If thou do these
things, show
thyself to the world. For
neither did
his brethren believe in him. Then
Jesus said unto them, My time is not yet come: but your time is alway
ready. The world
cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I
testify of it, that the works thereof are evil”.
In
effect, in the application of this "type" to our
present time, they which are not yet saved are saying
“Show openly yourself TO THE
WORLD by your works (the "Rapture") to your
disciples. And then we will believe”!
Isn't this very much like those of the world who are
also now saying "Where is the
promise of His coming"? Have Him show us and the
world a sign by showing this work to His
believers/disciples”.
At the
time of the "Rapture" there will be those who later are
to be (but are not yet saved when the Rapture
occurs) part of His family, but are not yet called to
be so (remember the parable of the 10 virgins in
Matthew 25 where the foolish virgins represent those
who are not yet saved when the Rapture occurs but
later will be saved during the Great Tribulation),
which is why the world cannot hate them (see John
15:15 below)! But after the "Rapture", the open show
of His works (those around the world disappearing
right before their eyes, “in a moment, in
the twinkling of an eye”) will be evident! But
note that it is not that of His coming which is still
“as in secret”!
They will be looking and asking for the work/event
(Rapture), and then (for them) the following
will be true...
John 15:15-“Henceforth I call you not servants; for the
servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have
called you friends; for all things that I have heard
of my Father I have made known unto you 18: If the world hate you, ye know that it
hated me before it hated
you. If ye were of the world,
the world would love his own: but because ye are not
of the world, but I have chosen you out of the
world, therefore the world hateth you.
Those
who are left behind and later get saved will be HATED
by the world!
Now, let us
return back to John chapter 7...
Jesus
has sent His unbelieving brethren to the time and
timing for this feast to begin. His Disciples
(believers) and non-believers (brethren) are both
there when this 7 day feast is to begin! And they are
both there for the duration of the 1st, 2nd
, 3rd and into the 4th day of
this feast.
What does this mean to
our present time and the 70th Week of
Daniel?
Simple: there will be both
believers and unbelievers together before and after
the 70th Week begins. And they are waiting
for when Jesus Christ will come to perform this work
(raising the dead and "rapturing" many in the moment
and twinkling of an eye)!
Now
Jesus sent them ahead of Him to the "feast of
Tabernacles" and before the feast begins.
Verse
8-“Go ye up unto this feast: I go not up yet unto
this feast; for my time is not yet full come.
When he
had said these words unto them, he abode still
in Galilee”.
Get this and
understand it. When this period of 7
days/years (representing, in “type”, the 70th
Week of Daniel) begins, Jesus is NOT coming before it!
Why?
Because His time is “NOT YET FULL COME”! THERE IS AN
APPOINTED TIME! HIS COMING IS NOT HAPHAZARD
AS MANY CHRISTIANS BELIEVE!
Now, HOW
is Jesus going to get there, since He will not
walk/travel in Judea (“Jewry”-Jerusalem
is in Judea!)?
Answer: only by
“SUPERNATURAL” means!
The
fact that Jesus sent his brethren ahead of Him
indicates HOW He will come at the "Rapture"!
It is that He comes alone! He will come alone
and bring only the souls of those to be "raised" FIRST
to their glorified bodies. But He brings nobody bodily
with Him that will be expecting to be returning with
Him, unless you want to make the case of the 2
witnesses. However, they (the two witnesses-Moses and
Elijah) remain here on earth after the Rapture and do
not return to heaven with Christ! Not only is His
coming at the Rapture by “supernatural” means, but He
is alone and "as
it were in secret"!
Now, I
want to bring up a very good question. Why would we
think that this recording of the Feast of
Tabernacles could be prophetic of the last 7 years
of what is called the 70th Week of
Daniel?
Because
on that Last Great day (the 7th day/year)
Christ is seen just "STANDING UP and cried" or shouted
the call to salvation in Him! This WILL BE DONE AT and
BY HIM at His 2nd Coming! And this is
scripturally correct to believe that His coming in
"GREAT power and Glory" will be at the end of that
LAST day/year of Daniels 70th Week (Rosh
2014). And it (the end of the 70th Week)
will be followed by Christ bringing in His Kingdom of
that 1000 year SABBATH REST! With that said, look at
His coming to the feast recorded by John.
Verse
10-“But when
his brethren were gone up, then went he also up unto
the feast, not openly, but as it were in
secret”.
Jesus
arrives! But not openly as to be able to be seen
coming into Jerusalem
and then into the Temple, but “as it were in
secret”! Nobody
at the Feast of Tabernacles knew of His coming! He
just “shows up” as Mr. Church also said! This is
indicative of HOW
Christ will come to His “temple” at
the Rapture (the “temple” is NOT one of block and
stone in Jerusalem, but rather the “temple” of
His BODY-the believers themselves-His
disciples/believers/the Church)! See the article
entitled “Rebuilt Temple?”
at www.godstimeline.net for further study of the “temple of God”.
Now,
as to WHEN
He comes...
John 7:14-“Now about
the midst of the feast Jesus went up into the
temple, and taught.
Christ
shows up “about
the midst of the feast”! This is a 7
day feast, meaning He came on day 4, just as Mr.
Church concurred!
Now
remember, this is a “type” of a further spiritual
truth! Therefore, those days are representations
of years in accordance to the 70th Week
of Daniel!
Therefore, in what
“year” of the 70th Week of Daniel can we
expect the Lord to come into His “temple” of
believers to raise and “rapture” them?
Answer: in the 4th
year of Daniel's 70th Week!
What
would the 4th year of Daniel's 70th
Week be called?
Answer: the “midst” of
it or the “midst
of the week” (see Daniel 9:27 where this very
same thing is said in regard to when the “abomination of
desolation” occurs)! This is identical to what I
and Sherry Vance have been teaching since 2006 (and
later by Kevin Drake since May of 2009) and as shown
throughout his numerous charts and commentaries! The
70th Week of Daniel runs from Rosh Hashanah
2007 and ends the day before Rosh Hashanah 2014,
therefore the 4th year or the “midst” of
that seven year period (called the “week”) is
that whole year from Rosh 2010 to Rosh 2011. Please
see the chart entitled “The Time of Jacob’s Trouble”
and the article “An Overview of
God’s Timeline” at www.godstimeline.net
for further details.
Don’t
just accept the fact that He comes in the 4th
day of the feast; there must be a scriptural reason
for Him doing so. Why doesn’t He come the day before
the feast begins? Why the “midst”?
There
is a very simple reason why Christ cannot come until
the “midst”
of Daniel’s 70th Week to resurrect the “dead in Christ”
and “rapture” the living believers. The reason is that
He must remain in heaven acting as our “advocate”
(see 1st John 2:1) against the accusations
of Satan (the “accuser
of the brethren”-Revelation 12). Satan is
present before the throne of God accusing the brethren
of sin and arguing that the saved do not belong in
heaven (Satan does not have an understanding of the
vicarious atonement and salvation provided for us by
Christ). As long as Satan is present as the “accuser”,
Christ cannot leave us defenseless against his
accusations, therefore the very soonest that Christ
can descend from heaven to come for the
resurrection/rapture is the “midst” of
the 70th Week of Daniel (the “midst” of
the 70th Week being that whole year between
Rosh 2010 and Rosh 2011-see the article entitled “The 70th Week &
Days of Daniel” at www.godstimeline.net for the specific timing of the
resurrection/rapture).
Revelation
chapter 12 states that Satan is removed from his role
as the “accuser”
in the “midst”
of Daniel’s 70th Week and is then thrown
out of heaven to the earth to empower his antichrist
(the breaking of the first “seal”-Revelation
6:1). The “advocacy” of Christ on our behalf is the
reason why Christ comes “as it were in
secret” in the “midst” of the feast, which is a
“type” of Christ coming for the resurrection/rapture
in the “midst”
of the 70th Week of Daniel!
Notice
that when He does come in the “midst” of
the festival/week, that Jesus went into the Temple
and taught! He did no crying/shouting at all when He
showed up (all done very quietly)! But look at the
next day of the feast when Jesus is mentioned...
John 7:37-“In the
last day, that
great day of the feast, Jesus
stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come
unto me, and drink. He that
believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out
of his belly shall flow rivers of living water”.
There
are several things to notice of this day when Christ
is mentioned next! First, it is the 7th day
of the feast or it would prophetically be the 7th
year of the 70th Week of Daniel! We know
this because it is in the LAST DAY! Secondly, it is
said to be “that
GREAT DAY of the feast”. In other words, the
GREAT DAY of Daniel's 70th Week when Christ
comes with GREAT POWER and glory! Thirdly, there is NO
MENTION of the "temple" at all! Why? Because
there will be neither the temple of block and stone,
NOR believers from the Great Tribulation left alive at
the end of the 70th Week (they have all
been killed by this time by the antichrist)! This is
why Jesus Christ asks of His coming...
Luke 18:7-“And shall not God avenge his own elect, which
cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with
them? I tell you that he will avenge them
speedily. Nevertheless when the
Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the
earth?
This
is a parable, but look at the truth of this. God/Jesus
will avenge His elect who cry unto Him day and night
for vengeance (see Revelation 6:9-11). These are those
souls under the altar who are asking how long before
He does this! But when He does avenge them at His
Coming, will he find “faith” on the earth? The question is
rhetorical! The answer is no; He won’t find faith on
the earth at His 2nd Coming, hence the need
for the call of salvation IN HIM at the time of His
coming, which He will be crying/shouting to the world
(to those who have not yet taken the “mark” of the
“beast”) as
He is coming to execute His wrath upon those who have
taken the mark/worshipped the beast! This last great
day is showing the 2nd Coming of Christ and
His call to Salvation is to a world in which there is
no one left “of faith” (no believers left alive) to
SAVE JACOB (ISRAEL) OUT OF IT! And by doing so, Jesus
will BRING THEM INTO HIS REST, which is typified by
the "8th day of a Sabbath" (the 1000 year
Sabbath)! Amen?
When
you take a look at the two “timelines” in the chart at
the bottom of this article, you will see that what we
have been preaching/teaching of this (since 2006) is
IDENTICAL to what is seen here in this “type” in the
account of John's of the Feast of Tabernacles! How can
that be? To my recollection, I have never used John's
7th chapter in anything of what I have
previously taught!
Now
last night, my mother asked me "How do we know when this
70th week represented by this "type" is to begin?"
I told
her that the 70th Week must then be seen as
to belong to or pertain to other passages of prophetic
scripture as to give it the reference of time! And as
such, we must be able to see the historical
fulfillment of those prophetic scriptures. I told her
that this period of time (Daniel's 70th
Week) is also referred to as "the time of
Jacob's trouble" (this reference is found in
Jeremiah 30:7)!
I then
told her about the "time of Jacob's trouble" as seen in
“type” in the life of Jacob himself!
Then I
told her of the Sabbaths of the Lord and the
Sabbatical cycles that were proclaimed as a statute by
the Lord for Israel/Jacob to keep! And that this 70th
Week is and must be seen in the same regard to the
Sabbatical cycles and their Sabbath days, meaning that
since the 70th Week is to conclude before
the Sabbath day/year, it must begin on a Sabbath
day/year! The Feast of Tabernacles itself shows forth
a whole Sabbatical cycle, starting from the day after
the 1st day (being a Sabbath) for 6 days to
the 7th and concluding in a Sabbath day!
I
asked my mother "Can you
visualize that the 70th Week must begin
on a Sabbath? And then (7 years later) the following
year must also be a Sabbath”? She said yes! I
told her that is exactly what the account in John 7 of
the Feast of Tabernacles shows us (by the definition
of them given by God)!
Even
though I'm very much in awe at accidentally
discovering this on the 9th of September
2010 (Rosh Hashanah no less!), it is still nothing
that I didn't already know from other prophetic
scriptures! I have been preaching this (and so have
others) for a long time! So now you have IN SCRIPTURE
the "day"/year of the "resurrection/rapture"! It is in
the "4th day" or “MIDST” of the Feast of
Tabernacles shown in prophetic "type" in John's
Gospel, corresponding to the fulfilling of it in the
"4th year" or MIDST of the 70th
Week of Daniel! And it belongs to or pertains to the
last 7 years of "the time of Jacob's Trouble"!
NOW
YOU HAVE THE VERY TIMELINE OF THE 70th WEEK
OF DANIEL IN A SINGLE PASSAGE OR "TYPE" IN GOD'S WORD,
INCLUDING THE APPROXIMATE TIME OF THE RESURRECTION AND
RAPTURE. AND
YOU ALSO NOW KNOW HOW TO RECOGNIZE ITS BEGINNING AND
CONCLUSION BY THE SABBATH DAY/YEARS TO THE SABBATICAL
CYCLE THAT IS PLAINLY SHOWN!
To
find out the rest of the details concerning this and
how one can determine when this 70th Week
of Daniel started, you are at the right place! Check
out the chart entitled "The Time of Jacob's Trouble"
and the charts of the 1st, 2nd,
and 3rd weeks of Jacob's trouble at www.godstimeline.net. And also view the chart entitled “The
70th Week & Days of Daniel” to find out
why we believe that the
Lord’s return for the resurrection/rapture is very
near in early 2011.
In
looking for Christ's Coming and Kingdom,
Phil
Rogers