Signs of the Rapture

What to Look For

Archives for June 2017

Tri-Faith Initiative E

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As Christians we are commanded to not be unequally yoked.  Yet ecumenical interfaith partnerships continue to thrive, in a misguided attempt to find common ground in the name of love and ‘peace and safety’.

Source: http://episcopaldigitalnetwork.com/ens/2016/09/29/omahas-tri-faith-initiatives-campus-becomes-a-reality/

In Omaha, Nebraska, Jews, Christians and Muslims are finding common ground and creating a $25 million shared community on the campus of the Tri-Faith Initiative, which claims to represent the three ‘Abrahamic’ faiths.  The development of a multi-faith campus with a synagogue, mosque and church is expected to be completed by 2019.

Dr. Syed Mohiuddin,  a spiritual leader within Omaha’s Muslim community said, “I think if people will learn to accept that we are all human beings, even if we may practice different religions or pray to God in a different way, then the world would be a much better place. This is our message here.”

Who is the liar? It is whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a person is the antichrist–denying the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also.

– 1 John 2:22-23

Every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.

– 1 John 4:3

Then they asked him, “Where is your father?” “You do not know me or my Father,” Jesus replied. “If you knew me, you would know my Father also.”

– John 8:19

Revelation 12 Sign and Daniel 12

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I had a new thought last night about a verse in Daniel 12 in relation to Revelation 12, but first allow me to review the theme of the entire chapter  of Daniel 12, which is ‘Prophecy of the End Time’.

The verse,

“And there shall be a time of trouble, Such as never was since there was a nation, Even to that time”

seems to be an obvious reference to the Time of Jacob’s Trouble, also known as the 70th Week of Daniel or The Tribulation.

The verse,

“And at that time your people shall be delivered, Every one who is found written in the book”  

seems to refer to the righteous saints, or the church, who are those who have recognized the Messiah and repented.   Delivered from what? Delivered from the “time of trouble” by means of the Rapture.  

The verse,

“And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, Some to everlasting life, Some to shame and everlasting contempt”

seems to imply that not all who “sleep in the dust” will awake, only ‘many’ of the dead.  This would fit with 1 Thess. 4:16 in that “the dead in Christ will rise first”, not all the dead, only ‘the dead in Christ’.

Now for my new thought…  The verse,

“Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament,
And those who turn many to righteousness
Like the stars forever and ever”

also seems to refer to the Rapture.  Who are the wise?  Are they not the five wise virgins, who keep oil in their lamps, waiting and watching for the Groom?  Are they not the wise men from the East who watched the skies for signs of the king, and and in faith traveled a great distance to meet and worship Him? Are they not the servants who the Master finds watching when He returns? (Luke 12:37) But more strikingly, let’s look at the verse which tells of how they “turn many to righteousness“.  The word for ‘righteousness’ in Hebrew is ‘Tzedek‘ which also happens to be the name for the planet Jupiter in Hebrew.  So could Daniel 12:3 also be read as meaning that the wise servants who encourage many to ‘Teshuva‘ or ‘Turn / Repent‘ towards the King of Righteousness, as represented by Jupiter and the ‘male child‘ or ‘body of Christ’ who is harpazo / raptured in the Revelation 12 Sign, will shine brightly like the sky (firmament) because they are Sons of the Day, Sons of Light which is how Paul described the Church in 1 Thess. 5:5.   Note that the Greek word ‘huios’ is correctly translated as ‘sons’ in 12 out of 25 Bible translations on BibleHub.com, and as ‘children’ in 12 out of 25 translations, with the one odd translation using the pronoun ‘You’.

“At that time Michael shall stand up,
The great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people;
And there shall be a time of trouble,
Such as never was since there was a nation,
Even to that time.
And at that time your people shall be delivered,
Every one who is found written in the book.
And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake,
Some to everlasting life,
Some to shame and everlasting contempt.
Those who are wise shall shine
Like the brightness of the firmament,
And those who turn many to righteousness
Like the stars forever and ever.

  • Daniel 12:1-3

The impact of this possible interpretation is even greater after reading the very next verse,

“But you, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book until the time of the end; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.”

  • Daniel 12:4

Daniel 12:4 is the verse that states that knowledge of the meaning of the 70th Week of Daniel will be sealed UNTIL the ‘time of the end’.  By logical deduction, any interpretation before the ‘time of the end’ would have to be incorrect, because the knowledge was sealed.  It is only in the last few years that those who ‘watch’ have become aware by means of astronomy software that a literal reading of Revelation 12 will happen in the skies on September 23, 2017:

“Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars. Then being with child, she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth.

And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born. She bore a male Child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And her Child was caught up to God and His throne. Then the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days.”

  • Revelation 12:1-6

 

Revelation 12 Sign a Birth Story of the Church

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Here is a relatively short, fresh, sober article published 3 days ago by Pete Garcia, an independent prophecy student who makes some very good points.

http://www.omegaletter.com/articles/articles.asp?ArticleID=8461

Apparently John Darby, William Kelley, William Blackstone and  H.A. Ironside  all held a similar view of Rev. 12 as being a Pre-Tribulation Rapture sign.

Garcia’s article references this interview with Michael Svigel, who is a Department Chair at Dallas Theological Seminary >  http://mydigitalseminary.com/pre-tribulational-rapture-interview-michael-svigel/

In the 2013 interview Svigel said, “I argue that the symbol of the male child in Revelation 12:5 is best identified as the body of Christ, the church, and the child’s catching up to God and His throne is best identified as the catching up of the body of Christ elsewhere described in 1 Thessalonians 4:17.”

So here we have a reputable, contemporary opinion that the Revelation 12 speaks of the Rapture which is portrayed as a ‘birth story’ of the Church.  The Church wasn’t ‘born’ at Pentecost 2,000 years ago, it was conceived at Pentecost.  In keeping with the premise that the Church is the Body of Christ, the “Immaculate Conception” happened before the birth of Christ.

Even more interesting now?

Is Jesus Coming Back in 2017?

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It is only recently that I’ve ever so slightly modified my belief on the subject of whether it is possible to know when Jesus will come back.   Don’t worry, I too believe that no man can “Know the day or the hour”.

Let’s take a look at the first book in the Bible.  In Genesis 1:14, most English translations are similar to the NKJV >>

“Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years;”

  • NKJV
  • NASB
  • ASV
  • NIV is actually closer to the mark in this instance, “sacred times”

The original Hebrew word in Gen. 1:14 translated as ‘seasons’ is ‘moedim’ which is most accurately translated as ‘appointed times’ for God’s Holy Feast Days which He defines in Leviticus 23.  You’ll find the same use of the Hebrew word ‘moedim’ in Lev. 23.

Today, God’s Holy Feasts are commonly referred to as the ‘Jewish Feasts’ which isn’t entirely correct, as they are His feasts…He set the times and defined how the Hebrews were to observe these sacred times, which Leviticus describes as “Holy Convocations”.   Once again, let’s look at the original Hebrew word for ‘convocation’,  which is ‘miqra’… Strong’s H744 defines miqra as a sacred assembly and a rehearsal.    So each of the moedim are rehearsals for the final, main event.

The first 4 of the 7 moedim defined in Leviticus 23 have already been fulfilled by God Himself to the very day…because they are HIS appointed times.

  1. Passover : Jesus died on Passover. ( fulfilled )
  2. Feast of Unleavened Bread : Jesus’ sinless body (unleavened bread) was entombed on this Feast Day. ( fulfilled )
  3. Feast of First Fruits : Jesus was the first to rise from the dead incorruptible. ( fulfilled )
  4. Feast of Weeks aka Pentecost or Shavuot : 50 days after Passover, the disciples received the Holy Spirit just as Jesus promised them.  ( fulfilled )
  5. Feast of Trumpets : associated with the Rapture.  In Hebrew this day is also known as Yom HaKeseh or The Hidden Day.  ( unfulfilled )
  6. Day of Atonement : associated with the remnant of Jews recognizing that Yeshua (Jesus) is in fact their Messiah. ( unfulfilled )
  7. Feast of Tabernacles : associated with the Second Coming, when God will dwell with us, ruling from the throne of David in the new Jerusalem. ( unfulfilled )

So, all that being said, based on the original Hebrew, if we are in agreement that God created the sun, moon and stars as signs for His appointed times or Holy Feast Days, then the following is worthy of serious consideration at the very least…

In the Hebrew, what we call the zodiac, the Jews would call the Mazzaroth. This word only appears one time in the Bible, in Job 38:31-32

“Can you bind the cluster of the Pleiades,
Or loose the belt of Orion?
Can you bring out Mazzaroth in its season?
Or can you guide the Great Bear with its cubs?

Allow me to put your mind at ease, we’re not getting into astrology, it’s just a matter of history that groups of stars have names. What’s interesting is that these names are almost the same in all cultures, and have been so for thousands of years, nearly 4,000 years.

A literal reading of Revelation 12 describes a ‘Great sign’ in the heavens that includes the sun, moon and stars…the same celestial bodies described in Genesis 1:14

Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars. 2 Then being with child, she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth.

3 And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. 4 His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born. 5 She bore a male Child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And her Child was caught up to God and His throne. 6 Then the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days.

Perhaps you’ve already heard, its’ an astronomical fact that this upcoming Feast of Trumpets (Sept. 22-23) a literal rendition of Revelation 12 will occur in the heavens.  Virgo (the Virgin) will be clothed in the sun, the moon will be at her feet, and above her head will be 9 stars from the constellation Leo (the Lion of Judah) plus 3 “wandering stars” or “astra planeta” right next to Regulus.  Regulus, being the brightest star in Leo is known as ‘ The King Maker’, and the 3 wandering stars being Mercury, Mars and Venus.  2,000 years ago nobody knew what a planet was, they only knew they were bright like stars, but behaved differently, moving across the sky independent of the Mazzaroth.

From a vantage point in Jerusalem, around 3:00 pm in the afternoon all elements are perfectly aligned, then Virgo starts to dip below the horizon just as the sun is setting which is significant because the Jews mark the beginning of the new day at sunset, not sunrise.  So on the Feast of Trumpets, which is a 2-day Feast carrying over into Saturday, Virgo displays the Revelation 12 ‘great sign’ alignment as the day turns from today to tomorrow.  Using free downloadable software called Stellarium, it has been confirmed that this astronomical alignment has never happened before, and doesn’t happen again in the foreseeable future.  Fellow students of Bible prophecy have checked future dates for several hundreds of years forward.

The male child in Rev. 12 is “caught up” to God and his throne.  The original Greek for “caught up” is ‘harpazo’, which as you know is the Rapture.  Paul refers to the Church in the ‘male’ form in 1 Thess. 5:5 while speaking of the Rapture. He calls us “sons of light” and “sons of the day” …yes yes yes, I know that the word huios can be translated as ‘children’, but the primary definition ‘sons’ seems to fit more appropriately when taking Rev. 12 into consideration, because Jesus was not raptured/harpazo’d, the Greek word used in Luke 24:50 for the ascension is anaphero not harpazo.  Also, in Rev. 2:27 Jesus gives the Church a ‘rod of iron’ to rule over the nations during the Millennium of Peace.

Interesting?  That is only the second half of the story. The first half of the story began in November 2016 when the planet Jupiter, known by many cultures as ‘The King Planet’ and called ‘Tzediq’ or ‘Righteousness’ in Hebrew, began to move into the constellation Virgo (the Virgin).  So we have a picture in the stars of the King of Righteousness appearing within the Virgin.  Sound familiar?  Over the next couple of months Jupiter moved down into Virgo’s womb area and went into retrograde, appearing to be moving back and forth within her belly, where the planet will remain for 9 months, 2 weeks and 10 days, which is normal gestation for a human child.  This brings us roughly to September 10th, 2017 when Jupiter will begin to exit Virgo’s womb area from between her legs. Two weeks later, on Friday September 22nd, 2017 is when Feast of Trumpets begins, the first of the Fall Feasts. This also happens to be the Autumnal Equinox, when the Sun shines directly on the Equator and the length of day and night is nearly equal.

Am I saying that this Feast of Trumpets is definitely the Rapture? … No.  But I’m not ruling it out either.  The slight modification that I’ve made to my current understanding is that Jesus will most likely return on Feast of Trumpets one year soon, the only feast day where the day and hour has historically been unknown, due to the fact that it is the only feast day which falls on the first of the Jewish month of Tishri, the proclamation of which has been entirely dependent on two witnesses seeing the first sliver of the new moon.  Taking all the other End Times Signs into consideration, it certainly appears that this could be the one.

Maranatha!

R. Price
Yeshua.org