LAST SUPPER RAPTURE
Arlene
In looking at the various
feast days in which we might expect our Lord to appear for the rapture, we
Christians have overlooked one particular feast, which He Himself commanded us
to observe: The Last Supper. For this reason I have looked very carefully
at this evening feast, as a possible time which would be fulfilled in the rapture.I apologize for the length of this article, but
have provided many scriptures and references to save the reader the time in
looking them up. There are some
intriguing pre-figurings and types involving this
evening before our Lord’s betrayal and crucifixion. The actual “abib”
date for Passover in the year 2005 is March 24. The Jews’ Hillel
calendar has set the date for April 23, but this would not be when the barley
for the firstfruits offering would be “abib”, or just green.
So, there is confusion at the present time about the actual date of the
Passover this spring. If it were indeed
on March 24, then that is only three weeks away.
I direct you to URL:
http://www.triumphpro.com/calendar_chaos_and_confusion.htm
for a discussion of this very important matter. Meanwhile, please indulge my serpentine
method of relating what I believe to be important types and messages about the
Last Supper -- rapture?I am not in any way dogmatic
about which feast our Lord will come…..just interested in studying them all,
and in the process, learning more about Him.
The four gospel accounts follow
at the very bottom of the article for your convenience in study.
1 Corinthians11:23 For I have received of the Lord that which
also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was
betrayed took bread: 24 And when he had given thanks, he
brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in F38 remembrance of me. 25 After the same
manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new
testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.
26 For as often as ye
eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the
Lord's death till he come.
The Last Supper of our Lord with His deciples,
occurred on the evening preceeding the Jews’ offering
of the lamb, and His own offering upon the cross as our sacrifice. In the early church this “feast” for the
Christians was observed on the anniversary of that event, or Nisan 14, and did
so until after Constantine the Great, according to Bellarmino
Bagatti. The
early Christians observed this feast in the manner in which Jesus gave us
instruction: with the washing of feet,
the celebration of the bread broken and the wine of the new covenant. The anniversary of this event, as observed
by Christians, “proclaims the Lord’s death, UNTIL HE COMES”. This was a COMMANDED FEAST for Christians to
celebrate by Christ Himself “do this in remembrance of
me”. So, just like the feasts of the
harvests, for the Jews, we likewise have our own feast. And, like their harvest feasts, will it be
fulfilled to the day, hour, and minute like their harvest feasts have and will
be? The Last Supper, coinciding with
the Jewish Passover, yet happening one evening before the Passover meal, (as
their Nisan 14 begins the evening before), yet their Passover seder meal was observed after the
sacrifice of the lamb. This paper
addresses this Last Supper, and how it may relate to end-time events, in
particular, the rapture of the church, and the events immediately following,
the time of Jacob’s trouble, the tribulation years, etc.
God’s Time Clock:
Daniel
states that the Messiah will be “cut off”, this being accomplished during the
Passover feast of our Lord’s last day, Nisan 14.
Dan
9:26
-
And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah
be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall
come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a
flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.
This, then, stopped God’s
time clock for the old covenant, as the new covenant was established the prior
evening with the LAST SUPPER,
and
this prior evening was also Nisan 14, as the Jews begin their days the evening
before at sunset.
Matthew
26:27
Drink ye all of it; 28 For this is my blood of the new
testament,
which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
The question remains, then,
when will God start up the time clock again ? When is the “end” ?? Will He start the clock exactly when He
stopped it?
Jesus was asked this very
question, and answered it:
Mt
28:20
-
Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I
have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway,
even unto the end of the world. Amen. and,
Matthew
Also, Paul
speaks of the “end”:
1st
Cor
So, the harvest is the end of the world, and yet
Jesus will be with us until “the end of the world”; that is, the harvest. Now, just what part of the harvest are “we”
who await the rapture?
There has been much about Pentecost as being the
time of the rapture. But wait, we are
called “unleavened” bread: and we are also called “a kind of firstfruits”, the first of the firstfruits
being Christ Himself:
1Cor
5:7
-
Purge out therefore the old leaven,
that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:
8. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old
leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and
truth.
Jas
1:18
-
Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should
be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
Ex
23:19
-
The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring into the house of the LORD thy God.
And notice
that He said, the “angels” will reap the harvest, whereas when He comes for us,
“the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout,,,,,,,” If we are “unleavened bread”, then we must
have some part in the week of unleavened bread, for Christ, the head of the
body, is unleavened, so if we are to join Him, then it is reasonable to say
that we should not be “leavened” bread.
1 Corinthians 10:15-17
15 I speak as to wise men; judge ye what I
say. 16 The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the
communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the
communion of the body of Christ? 17 For we being many are one
bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread.
Let us
assume, then that God will start the time clock for the tribulation, exactly
when our Lord was “cut off”, this being the evening before the Passover meal
for the Jews, and our Last Supper.
First of all, if we are “unleavened”, as Paul states, then Christ the “first
of the firstfruits”, may
come for us, a “kind” of firstfruits (unleavened
bread), sometime during the week of unleavened bread, or Passover week. This week starts on Passover and includes
seven days of eating unleavened bread, but for we Christians, begins the
evening before the betrayal and the next day of crucifixion.
Then let
us look at the start of this week. That
would be the Last Supper. Jesus
instructed the deciples to prepare the meal in an
“upper room” (in the air)? For your convenience I have included at the
bottom of this study, all four gospel accounts of this Last Supper, to which I
refer here…………….. He told His deciples to follow a
“man carrying a pitcher of water into a certain house”, and there to inquire
about the householder’s upper room, where they would “prepare the feast”. This
water is for-shadowed by the marriage feast at
This Last
Supper was prepared the night before the actual Passover feast of the Jews, because
Jesus knew He would be sacrificed as the Lamb of God the next day. And the sequence of the meal itself was
changed into a “betrothal” sharing of the cup of wine, and not following the
sequence of the Jewish Passover seder
meal, because He made a “new covenant” at this Last Supper. The
marriage custom at the time Christ was on the earth had this sequence:
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Jewish Wedding |
Messiah's Wedding |
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Jesus
passed the cup of wine at the Last Supper and when we drink we accept being
His bride |
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Jesus
Christ paid the price for us as His bride with His life |
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Jesus
Christ gave us, His betrothed, the Holy Spirit (note: this was the giving of the betrothal gifts, the
“earnest” of the Spirit-- this was not a type of the wedding feast itself…..) |
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Jesus
Christ said, "I go to prepare a
place for you." |
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The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout,
with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: |
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The
Lord and his bride, the church, shall spend 7 years alone to consummate the
marriage, during the 7 years of tribulation |
This Last Supper included the sharing of the betrothal
cup of wine, and hence Paul says we are betrothed to Him. Now,
this meal was given as a remembrance of Christ’s death “until He comes”.
1st Cor.
And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken
for you: this do in remembrance of me.
1Cor
After the same manner also he took the cup, when
he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do
ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.
The
breaking of the bread was to be in remembrance of the breaking of His body for
us. And there is the story about the
two deciples after His resurrection, who met Him on the road, and “recognized” Him, when He broke
the bread:
Luke 24:13-35
13 And, behold, two of them went that same
day to a village called Emmaus, which was from
Is this
how we will “recognize” our Lord at the rapture, after He breaks the bread of
the communion feast? Note that He
“vanished” out of their sight, pre-figuring a rapture………..
Jesus set
an example for our admonition, that we should serve one another; He Himself
washed the feet of the deciples at the Last
Supper. In warning the
Re
3:20
-
Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any
man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with
me.
Here He refers to “a supper” – did He mean our
meeting with Him in the air to celebrate the marriage feast? rapture ?
WHAT
ABOUT THE “
There are
several references or “types” of
Job
referred to
Job 34:20
In a moment shall they die, and the people shall
be troubled at
In Acts,
prisoners were set free at
25 And at
Also,
there was a “
Also, Paul
in Acts 20:7, “WHEN THE DECIPLES CAME TOGETHER TO BREAK BREAD, preached to
them, READY TO DEPART (RAPTURE?) ON THE MORROW, AND CONTINUED HIS SPEECH UNTIL
“
So, when there
is a shout at
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1st Corinthians 11:23 For I have
received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord
Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: 24 And
when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is
my body, which is broken for you: this do in F38 remembrance of me. 25 After the same
manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new
testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of
me. 26 For as often as
ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come. IN OTHER WORDS, THIS
SUPPER WAS A “FEAST” THAT WE WERE TO OBSERVE (THE ONLY “CHRISTIAN” FEAST THAT
WAS COMMANDED BY OUR LORD…..” AND WE
WERE TO KEEP THIS FEAST UNTIL “HE COMES”….. 1CoR
5:8
- Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven,
neither with the leaven of malice and
wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. We know that the
Jewish feasts were fulfilled to the day and hour and minute of God’s “set
time” for their rehearsals. What about
our feast? Will it be “fulfilled”; is
it a “set time”? First of all, did
Jesus ever refer to this feast being “fulfilled”? Yes, He did: He said He would not drink the cup of His
wine until it be FULFILLED in His Father’s
Kingdom. Luke So, here we have a
Christian “feast” that the Lord Himself says will be “fulfilled” in the
Kingdom of His Father, and He says that in our keeping of this remembrance
feast, He will be absent from us “until it be FULFILLED”. He is referring to this very feast, this
Last Supper, that will be “fulfilled”. Will He fulfill this commanded feast for
us, in the timely way that the Jewish feasts have been kept? He
said to the deciples in Matthew 26:2, “Ye know that AFTER
TWO DAYS (2000 years) is the feast of the Passover……..” (the
rapture?) In the book of John,
and his account of our Lord’s words to His “betrothed” at this Last Supper,
we read about how He is the vine and we are the branches, a beautiful
metaphor of how we are to maintain our closeness with Him; that this is
bridal talk is clear from the Psalm: Ps
128:3 - Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house: thy children like olive plants round about
thy table. Also, by closely studying
His prayer in the ohn And that place is
where He promised He would go to prepare for us: Joh 14:2 - In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. Joh 14:3 - And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. ARE THERE “TYPES” THAT
APPEAR IN THIS LAST SUPPER STORY, and the betrayal events directly afterwards
that night, WHICH WOULD POINT TO
“FULFILLMENT”, “RAPTURE”, THE “COMING OF THE ANTICHRIST”, ETC.,???? As we will discover,
this Last Supper feast is filled with types and symbolism and HUGE HINTS
by our Lord about the end times.
Leonardo DaVinci in his painting of the Last
Supper cannot come anywhere close to that tapestry/painting which our Lord
Himself gave to us in His words and descriptions of that evening meal. But first, let’s look at another wedding
feast described in the New Testament, as a type of this feast of our
Lord. The first “type” of a
wedding feast is that mentioned as the first of His miracles (which
manifested His GLORY). John 2:1-11 1 And the third day there was a marriage
in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was
there: 2 And
both Jesus was called, and his disciples, to the marriage. 3 And
when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith
unto him, They have no wine. 4 Jesus saith
unto her, Woman, what have I
to do with thee? mine hour is
not yet come. 5 His mother saith unto the
servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it. We first notice that this marriage
feast takes place on “the third day”; that is, after 2000 years. And Jesus and His deciples
were “called” Re
17:14 - for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with
him are called, and chosen, and faithful. Next, Jesus refers to His mother as “woman” Why didn’t He
call her “mother”……a woman in the Bible refers to a church whether apostate
or faithful. So, in effect, He is
saying, by using His mother as a “type”……..“church,
what have I to do with thee (now), for MY HOUR is not come yet.” Which leads us directly to this issue of “my hour”……what
hour? Did Jesus speak of “His hour”, that evening????? YES HE DID !! Mt
26:40 - And he
cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep,
and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour? Mt
26:45 - Then
cometh he to his disciples, and saith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest: behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of
sinners. Mt
26:55 - he went forward a
little, and fell on the ground, and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. Mr 14:37 - And he
cometh, and findeth them sleeping, and saith unto Peter, Simon,
sleepest thou? couldest not thou watch one hour? Lu
22:14 - And when
the hour was come, he sat
down, and the twelve apostles with him. Joh 7:30 - Then
they sought to take him: but no man laid hands on him, because his hour was not yet come. Mr 14:41 - And he
cometh the third time, and saith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest: it is enough, the hour is come;
behold, the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. And
Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified. Now is
my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour. Joh 13:1 - Now
before the feast of the passover, when Jesus
knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father,
having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end. Behold, the
hour cometh, yea, is now
come, that ye shall be
scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone: and yet I am not
alone, because the Father is with me. Joh 17:1 - These
words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to
heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee: wow !!! Is this “the
hour” that He told “the woman” at the Joh 2:11 - This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Above, in John 17:1, Jesus asks His Father to “glorify
your Son”, so the marriage in Ro
9:23 - And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of
mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory, That ye would walk worthy of God, who hath
called you unto His kingdom and glory. But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of
Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with
exceeding joy. Now unto him that is able to keep you from
falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, WHAT ELSE IS THERE
ABOUT A PARTICULAR HOUR????? Are we not often told
about an “hour” which SHOULD be known by His Christian church??? YES WE ARE….. Mt
24:42 - Watch
therefore: for ye know not what hour your
Lord doth come. Mt
24:44 - Therefore
be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh. Mt
24:50 - The
lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh
not for him, and in an hour that
he is not aware of Lu
12:39 - And
this know, that if the goodman of the house had known what hour the
thief would come, he would have watched, and not have suffered his house to
be broken through. Lu
12:40 - Be ye
therefore ready also: for the Son of man cometh at an hour when
ye think not. Lu
12:46 - The
lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh
not for him, and at an hour when
he is not aware, and will cut him in sunder, and will appoint him his portion
with the unbelievers. Notice that no man
could lay hands on Him until “His hour” had come: Joh 7:30 - Then
they sought to take him: but no man laid hands on him, because his hour was not
yet come. Joh 8:20 - These
words spake Jesus in the treasury, as he taught in
the temple: and no man laid hands on him; for his hour was not yet come. Now, this particular
“hour” is mentioned to two of the churches which He addresses in the book of
Revelation: these churches are to
focus upon a particular “hour”, and that hour would be the hour that He
comes, and the hour just preceeding the hour of
temptation (tribulation). Re
3:3
- Remember
therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If
therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee
as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I
will come upon thee. Re
3:10 - Because
thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation,
which shall come upon all the world, to try them
that dwell upon the earth. So, this “hour” must
be a very important hour or there wouldn’t have been such a big deal made
about it in the Scriptures, so we should well take careful heed of this
“hour”. WHAT HAPPENED IN THIS HOUR? TYPES, TYPES, TYPES !! Starting with His deciples, as you can see from the above verses,
He admonishes to “WATCH” with Him.
FOR ONE HOUR! This was “His
hour”, and He wanted them to be awake for it, but they kept falling
ASLEEP. Now, how many times in the
Scriptures are we told to “wait, and WATCH”, and be AWAKE………. |