Dear Doves,
Dating the Rapture has been based on many mathematical algorithms in the past and certainly during the recent decade. What is the best way to predict that date? What procedure is given credence by our Lord Himself? What procedure has the backing of the Old and New Testaments?
In answering these questions, I found that personally prefer the Feast of Trumpets as the day for the Rapture. It is one of the feasts that God Himself provides His people in the book of Leviticus. Jesus Himself fulfilled the first four feasts to the day during His first appearing and resurrection. He has endorsed this method of dating by His very life, death and resurrection.
Other means of dating the Rapture seem less likely, given the personal endorsement of the Feast days by Jesus Himself. Given that day as my preference, I found that a recent author and contributor to this site made a detailed analysis of that date in connection with the Rapture and wrote it up in his book.
Daniel W. Matson’s book Signs of the End – A Discovery of Biblical Timelines (2008) concludes the date of the Rapture will be on the Feast of Trumpets, Tishri 1 (which this year is September 8-10). He supports this conclusion in several parts of the book:
1) Chapter 8 The Tesuvah Correlation and the Days of Awe “Rosh Hashanah is the day of resurrection. It is the day that Christ’s Kingdom begins—the long-awaited Messianic Kingdom. So, it first begins in heaven with the Rapture of the Church.” pg 100.
2) Chapter 18 The Sequence of Upcoming Events The chart on pg 195 “Ezekiel’s War and the 70th Week shows the Rapture in 2010 at Feast of Trumpets. The chart on pg. 202 “The Time of Jacob’s Trouble” shows the Rapture of the Church at Rosh Hashanah, Trumpets.
3) Epilogue. “Though this book has narrowed the Rapture down to the Feast of Trumpets 2010 it would behoove all of us to pay attention to any Feast of Trumpets henceforth.”
I wish to thank Daniel for his excellent book and to alert all believers to be watching on the Feast of Trumpets this year on September 8-10 and in future years if 2010 is not the right year. I think 2010 is indeed the right year and discussed the reasons from another book The Language of Prophecy by Helena Lehman in a past post.
YBIC,
Robert