Hello, Dennis:

You asked an interesting question in your 7-3-22 letter regarding the season of the Rapture in regard to dispensations. This reply is a bit lengthy, but perhaps my personal research on the subject will help you. First of all, we probably can’t know the exact date of His death and resurrection, but most scholars put the birth of Jesus at about 4 BC and His death at approximately 29-30 AD. Furthermore, a dispensation is not always exactly 1000-2000 years. The real time clock for determining the countdown to the Rapture is the rebirth of the nation of Israel.

Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21 all record the time when the disciples were showing Jesus the Temple and admiring its magnificence. Matthew records three specific questions that the disciples asked Jesus, but His answers are similar in all three accounts. The questions were: 1. When will these things be? (asking when the temple would be destroyed), 2. What will be the sign of your coming?, and 3. What is the sign of the end of the world (age)? Remember that Jesus was talking to a Jewish audience. They did not yet know that the church age would come into existence. This time period would be the interlude between the 69th and 70th week of Daniel’s prophecy and known as “Jacob’s Week of Trouble.” It is NOT the Church’s week of trouble!

The temple was destroyed in 70 AD, and this answered the first question regarding the temple destruction. Since Jesus has not yet returned and the end of the age has not yet come, we need to look further for His answers to these questions. In all three accounts Jesus told them at the end to learn a parable of the fig tree. After listing all the signs such as wars, rumors of wars, famines, pestilences, etc., Jesus said that the generation that saw the budding of the fig tree, and in Luke’s account ALL the trees, then that was the generation that literally would not pass away until  all things were fulfilled. What are “all things’? All things are the answers to the three questions of when would the temple be destroyed, what would be the sign of His coming, and when was the end of the age.So what is the fig tree? It is one of two trees that symbolize Israel, the olive tree and the fig tree. Hosea 9:10 and Jeremiah 24:5-8 describe Israel as a fig tree. Likewise ALL the trees would describe the nations surrounding Israel.

It is interesting to note that a generation is considered to be 70-80 years, according to Psalm 90:10. The international average life expectancy for males/females is 73.2 years. Some nations are lower, and others higher, but the average is about 73 years. The nation of Israel was literally born in a day on May 14, 1948. Lebanon gained independence in 1943, Syria in 1946, and Jordan in 1946. Lebanon is symbolized by the cedar tree, Syria the olive tree, and Jordan the oak tree. All these nations “budded” in one generation. And that generation is rapidly reaching its end point.

Our national and world news constantly show that we are definitely living in perilous times. We are also living in days like those of Lot and Noah. There is widespread violence, perversion of all types, pestilences, wars, lawlessness, and every kind of evil everywhere. Surely it can’t be long until Jesus returns.

Personally I always look to the time of the Feast of Trumpets or Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, as a high watch time. Jesus fulfilled the first three feasts with His death, burial, and resurrection. The fourth feast of Pentecost was fulfilled by the coming of the Holy Spirit which began the church age. The Feast of Trumpets was the fifth of the Jewish feasts, and five is the number of grace, very relevant to the church. It is the only feast that begins on a new moon, which could symbolize our being “hidden” with the Lord in His bridal chamber. Before the modern scientific age the people had to rely on the first sighting of the new moon and word of mouth to know when to begin the feast. Therefore it was a two-day celebration since “no man knew the day nor the hour” it began. One hundred trumpets were blown during this feast, and the last trump was one long, loud blast. This feast is also known as The Day of the Awakening Blast, The Hidden Day, the Day of the Opening of the Gates, The Day of Remembrance, The Day of the Coronation of the King, and The Wedding of the Bridegroom!

Mark Biltz, a Messianic Jewish pastor, says that this coming Rosh Hashana on September 25-27, is a high watch time.  We are not only at the end of a Shmitah year but also at the beginning of a Jubilee year and of the Hakhel. The explanation of all this is too long to go into here, but he has excellent videos on this subject.

One last point to consider which I have never heard anyone address. Jesus told His disciples to pray that the flight of the Jews to escape the abomination of desolation set up by the antichrist in the temple would not be on the sabbath or in the winter. The desecration of the temple by the antichrist occurs at the midpoint of the Tribulation, 3 1/2 years after the Rapture. If the Church goes to be with Jesus in the fall season, then 3 1/2 years later would be spring in Israel. Could Jesus be answering His own prayer request by the Rapture occurring in the fall?

In conclusion, we are very close to the return of Jesus for His Church. We most definitely are in the season and this generation will soon reach its termination point. Keep listening and looking up. That trumper is just about to sound!

Blessings,
Candy