Edition 312: May 18^th 2016

The Fulfilments of the Fall Feasts:

The Fulfilments of the Fall Feasts:

Introduction:

There are some things where revealed knowledge must make us dogmatic and inflexible. In fact the meaning of the word “doctrine” comes from the root word “dogma.” But there are also some things where we are all still in a learning situation, or where our Lord Himself is opening up, and revealing things to us more and more in these days.

I believe that the end-time verse saying “knowledge will increase” (Daniel 12:4) is progressive, and as such, means that we are in an exciting time of the outpouring of revelation. This may mean that we were wrong or simply without revelation on some issues before. There’s nothing wrong with that, as long as we recognise it and move on.

Much of the understanding of the seven Feasts of the Lord is completely new to most people, because the Catholic church and all its offshoots has been so successful in re-characterising the church through the age, and making all things of Jewish origin, foreign to the church.

Let me tell you, that a church in these times that does not have a Hebraic slant is on thin ice.

Most regular Gentile Christians have no idea how they have been robbed of many great truths. The Feasts is one of these areas. They are rich with symbolism, prophetic meaning and importance, which the church is largely blind to.

The seven Feasts all have a prophetic meaning and fulfilments in real time. The first four, Passover, Unleavened Bread, First Fruits and Pentecost have all been fulfilled, leaving the last three, also called the Fall (Autumn) Feasts, still to be fulfilled in time and reality.

These are, The Feast of Trumpets, also called Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, also called the Days of Awe and the Feast of Tabernacles, also called Succoth.

We must bear in mind that the Feasts occur in a specific order, which can’t be changed or shifted around; simply because that’s the way the historic fulfilments occur. For example, Passover which was fulfilled by the crucifixion comes before the resurrection, represented in the Feast of First Fruits.

In this edition I will look at what the actual fulfilments will be and when they will occur. I will also look at the incredible meanings and symbolism in these fall feasts, for Jews and the church.

Mysteries and messages:

Much of the symbolism is hidden to most. God could have made it all extremely clear. But the Bible says that our Lord often spoke in parables so that the wise of the world would not understand.

Matthew 13:10 “It has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.”

It is those who are humble and obedient to His word that will understand and those who are not who won’t understand. Isn’t that just the way it is in reality?

As we look at the incredible meanings of the Fall Feasts we must bear in mind that the entire church age is referred to in the scriptures as a “mystery.” In other words it was not seen by the Old Covenant prophets.

The word “mystery” is Strong’s G3466 and means “Once hidden, now revealed”. Or revealed to inside members but hidden to outsiders.

Ephesians 3:1-5 “Have you heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you. He made known to me the mystery...which in other ages (dispensations) was not made known as it has now...”

Ephesians 3:9 “Grace has been given to me to make all people see what the dispensation of mystery is, which, from the beginning of the ages, has been hidden in God...”

In these two verses above, we see that the church age is called the “dispensation of the mystery” and was hidden to those in previous dispensations. Again, this is exactly why we need to believe in and accept what the Bible teaches about dispensations, before we can understand all these things.

Only as we rightly divide the word do we understand the divisions of doctrine and their applications to Israel or the church.

Rosh Hashanah (Feast of Trumpets):

As we go through this, note how many messages and symbols apply to us, the church, and the rapture.

This year the feast is between October 3^rd and 4^th.

●Rosh Hashanah is also called the Natzal, which is symbolic of the day of the resurrection of the righteous dead and taking up of the living righteous. Many interpreters refer to this as the rapture.

●Rosh Hashanah is also known as the time of the “Coronation of the King.”  The Rosh Hashanah meal includes the challah loaves which are round loaves, drenched in honey, shaped like crowns, suggesting Kingship and reminding us of the crowns of reward laid up for the righteous.

●Rosh Hashanah is also known as, Kiddushin Nesuin, which is the Messiah’s wedding ceremony! The Feast of Pentecost is the “betrothal” in terms of a Hebrew wedding, while Rosh Hashanah is the full wedding.

●This Feast is also known as, “The feast of which no man knows the day or hour”. This is because it’s the only one that begins on the sighting of the new moon. It is celebrated over two days to allow for any discrepancy in the moon rise and the sighting of it. As such, ancient observers would watch for the new-moon, but would not know the day and hour (within two days). We most certainly will know the time and season.

●The Feast is also known as “Yom Hadin”, the day of judgement. This looks forward to all the severe judgements of the tribulation period. But for us believers this would be a classical reference to the work of the cross of Messiah and the judgement of reward stored up for us as we enter heaven. This is also the time the antichrist is revealed and let loose on the earth. We could say that Yom Hadin represents the start of the tribulation period, with the rapture at its beginning.

●The Feast of Rosh Hashanah is also called “Yom Teruah”, meaning the awakening trumpet blast. Teruah is also translated as “shout.” Isaiah 44:23 Zephaniah 3:14 Zechariah 9:9

The “Teruah” shout is used to represent: ●An expression of joy and great exuberance. ●The shout of a King. ●It is also a battle cry. ●It is the shout to gather together the people when the camp is to be moved.

One commentary says that the “Teruah” is the strongest word in the whole Bible indicating great exuberance and expectation.

 “Teruah” in Hebrew means a specific sort of trumpet blast. One in which the sky is shattered and broken by the sound.

 ●The Feast of Rosh Hashanah incorporates the “Tashlikh” ceremony, which speaks of “casting off” and of “new beginnings.” At the ceremony, sins are symbolically cast off, leaving the participant with a “new beginning.” This most certainly speaks to us as believers of the final enemy contained in our flesh being destroyed as we receive new resurrection bodies. (1 Corinthians 15:26)

►This ritual Tashlikh, symbolising the casting off of sins and the new beginning, is performed in the late afternoon at dusk. In those days the time period at dusk, just after sunset, and just before night was called “The twinkling of an eye!” I hope I don’t need to say anything more about that!!

●Rosh Hashanah is also called Yom Hakesh – The Hidden Day. Quite simply this means to hide away. But hide from whom? It is from Satan himself. The shofar is blown every day leading up to Rosh Hashanah, but not the day before. The theory is that this would hide the day of judgement from Satan. It most certainly speaks to the rapture as well.

Psalm 27:5 “In the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion; in the secret place of His tabernacle ...”

Isaiah 26:20-21 “Come my people, enter your chambers and shut your doors behind you; hide yourselves as it were for a little moment, until the indignation (tribulation) is past. For behold the Lord comes out of His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity; the earth will disclose her blood, and will no more cover her slain.”

Trumpet types Idioms and meanings:

We must understand that there are numerous trumpets in the Bible, used for different things. There are also different trumpet blasts, also symbolising and calling for different things.

The various types of trumpet blasts at Rosh Hashanah symbolise; repentance, sorrow, alarm, judgement and gathering.

We see the first trump, the last trump and the great trump in the Bible.

For example we see the use of silver trumpets, brass trumpets, the shofar and sometimes the call or voice of an angel is also called a trumpet blast. All have different meanings and applications, which you can only see when you look up the original words used.

The first trump was blown on the Feast of Pentecost (Exodus 19:19).

1 Corinthians 15:52 speaks of the “last trump” This is not the last trump of Revelation. The book had not been penned at the time of Paul’s reference to it. The last trump of the Revelation 11:15 is the last trump of the Old Covenant (seventieth year of Daniel)

We have a last trump for the Old Covenant and a last trump for the church age. They are not the same. People who try to merge them together don’t realise that the last trump in the book of Revelation hadn’t even been written when Paul spoke of the last trump of the church age.

Different trumpet sounds:

Rosh Hashanah sees four primary types of trumpet blasts. These are Tekiah: A long single blast signalling the coronation of Messiah. Shvarim: Three short wail-like blasts signifying repentance. Teruah: Nine staccato blasts of alarm signifying the awakening. Tekiah Ha- Gadol: The last trump blast.

The Teki’ah Gedolah, is the last of 100 shofar blasts also called the “last trump.” It most certainly refers to the “last trump.” of 1 Corinthians 51:50-52 and the end of the church age, which sees the next dispensation, Daniel’s seventieth week come into existence to complete the Old Covenant.

This would be where the rapture of the church takes place. Just as Pentecost occurred in a very short period of time, giving way to the church age, so the rapture and the next dispensation must occur together, in a very short time with little or no gap between them.

This “last trump” is perhaps the most important of the Rosh Hashanah trumpet blasts because it so clearly identifies the rapture with this Feast and no other.

►The day before Rosh Hashanah, dedicated men undergo a ritual bath of cleansing and a white linen cloth is worn. They greet each other with the words, “May you be inscribed in the Book of Life.”

Does this ring any bells? It speaks of the righteous, raptured, with their names in the Lamb’s Book of Life, now in heaven, clothed in fine linen clean and white.

The Hebrew month of Elul, in Jewish tradition, is known as the “month of preparation for Rosh Hashanah”. In this month, the diligent look forward with anticipation and reverence to the coming of Rosh Hashanah, with all its meanings. Do you know what this means? It means that we will have some time to prepare for the coming of the Lord. We are commanded to “watch, pray and be ready.”

It means the exact opposite of “no one knows the time”!

It means that we as true believers are right now in that time. We are in our “Elul” of preparing for our Messiah! What a tragedy that so many know nothing about any of these things and are not preparing and are not ready!

Do you see why it is wrong to say that no one knows the time and why it wrong to avoid all these end-time things and wrong not to watch.

Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement):

This year it is on 12^th October.

The day is referred to as, Atonement, the Great Day, and the Great Fast, the Day of Awe.

The full meaning of the Day’s of Awe are this: People will be totally awe-struck in their devastation.

Yom Kippur, almost without doubt, will see its fulfilment at mid-tribulation as the great judgement called the wrath of God begins and runs through to the end of the tribulation period.

Some believe that Yom Kippur will be fulfilled at the start of the tribulation. That would leave Rosh Hashanah with all its incredible types and meanings out in the cold.

Some believe that Yom Kippur will be fulfilled by the closing of the seven-year tribulation. This would leave the Feast of Tabernacles to be fulfilled by the Millennium only. I don’t have too much of a problem with that – we will see won’t we?

Technically, it’s not a feast but a fast.

Yom Kippur pictures the full restoration of Israel with Yeshua, our Messiah and will see the fulfilment of Romans 11:26 “Then all Israel will be saved.” “All” in this verse is “all” of the remnant and not every single, last Jew.

This is the holiest day of the Hebrew year and observed with a 25-hour period of fasting. It points to severe judgement and repentance. Jews believe that God writes the names of many Jews in His book of life at Rosh Hashanah, but only seals it on Yom Kippur.

►The last service on Yom Kippur is called Neilah, which means the “closing of the door.” It was God Himself who closed the door of the Ark once Noah and his entourage were inside. In the parable of the 10 virgins the door is closed to the five foolish virgins. There is no more room for repentance – it’s over. The grace of God has run its course.

If Yom Kippur points to the mid-tribulation wrath- judgements, then the shutting of the doors revealed in the Neilah could be interpreted as a mid-tribulation rapture. It’s possible, but it doesn’t add up with other factors.

Neilah means the grace of God has limits to it! There is a limited time in which repentance can be done and made. (Hebrews 12:17)

The Feast of Tabernacles (Succoth):

This year it is on October 17^th.

It is also called the “Feast and Season of our Joy.” It is also called “the Feast of Ingathering and the Feast of the King.

Being the last of the feasts, its fulfilment will be in the last great purpose of God revealed in the dispensation of the Millennium. It will be when, in physical reality, the “word will become flesh and dwell (tabernacle) amongst men.”

All the other feasts culminate in this great conclusion.

This is a true feast of celebration and joyful activity. The Succoth (a temporary tent dwelling) which is built in the homes of the participants symbolises our temporary dwelling on and in the world.

The saved, remnant Jews and saved Gentiles will be united forever in the Millennium.

Many signs:

In these remaining fall feasts we see the next major events in world history encapsulated into these amazing convocations. They are rich with symbolism and meaning for the Jews. They have many messages for the church, currently in “mystery” form, as a separate distinct entity from Israel.

As you have seen, there are so very many indicators, pointers and symbols that we can apply to the church and a pre-tribulation rapture.

I would encourage you to read the previous edition entitled “The logic of a pre-tribulation rapture” if you have not done so.

There will be a lot more on these themes in the next edition, entitled “The marriage, the bride and the rapture.”

Summary of main pointers to a pre-tribulation rapture:

In these fall feasts we see: Natzal, a type of the rapture. The “last trump” which parallels with the rapture discourse in 1 Corinthians 15:51-52. We see what the term “no one knows the day or hour” really means, which our Lord was referring to. We see the terms, “shout and shouting”, and “the shout of the King”, which Paul was referring to in 1 Corinthians 15:51-52. We see the “casting off” and “new beginnings” which can also speak of the rapture. We see the meaning of the term “twinkling of an eye” to which Paul must have been referring in 1 Corinthians 15:51-52.

By the way, Paul says that our Lord will “catch us up in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye”. The word “moment” in the original is “atomo” meaning an atomic second, or even less than a second and it will occur in the evening just between dusk and nightfall (the twinkling of an eye.)

This rapture meeting occurs in the air. Our Lord does not come down to the earth until the Second Coming, which is specifically described as occurring slowly, as He left the Mount of Olives, with every eye watching Him.

If every eye will see Him return at the Second Coming, it implies it will be in the day time. We have seen that the rapture will take place at “the twinkling of an eye”, which is evening. (See further above.)

There is absolutely no way you can make the rapture and the Second Coming the same event – a post trib event!

The signs will speak:

As I’ve said so many times, it’s not this date or that, or calendar, or feast or calculation. It’s when all the signs collectively fall into place together, and then we can look at it all with a much greater degree of certainty.

Without all the signs in place forget about any dates.

We wait and watch for the alignment of all the signs, all the symbols, dates, calculations, calendars, all collectively and together. We will see it coming!

Finally:

I’ve just touched on some of the meanings and symbolism of these remaining feasts. It’s a beautiful study, going into these details in depth.

What I find absolutely incredible is the fact that world history from the cross onwards is so succinctly shown in these feasts. I wonder how people can ignore this. I wonder what degree of blindness there is amongst people, not to see these spectacular truths.

Many, like the Catholics, Anglicans, denominational churches and others, just “tear” it all out of their Bible and get rid of these major, symbol-rich events and signs.

Others in their incredible ignorance and deception would say, “It’s all coincidence”!

I took the background picture at a waterhole in the beautiful Etosha Game Reserve, Namibia and the lion at a friend’s private game reserve called Mabula in South Africa. Merging them together adds interest.

Shalom and grow in grace!