With all the speculating again, I am wondering why more people aren't looking to Ascension Day as the Rapture Day? As some have pointed out, Eccl. 1:9 says "The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun." Even the verse gives us a clue, as the word Ecclesiastes literally means "preacher", and is included in the books commonly referred to as the Wisdom books of the Bible. Strongs gives the meaning of the word as " assembler", from the root word meaning to assemble or gather together. Now where have we seen that phrase before? 

Chapter 1, one being the number for unity, is a clue to when the members of His body, become the one Bride of Christ, as we meet in the air with the newly resurrected dead in Christ. Verse 9, is also a clue, nine being the number of finality or divine completion, and also the number representing the FRUIT of the Spirit. Does FIRSTFRUITS come to mind?These numerical meanings are from the book Keys to Scripture Numerics by the late Ed Vallowe.

    The Bible is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path, and is a cup running over with clues that are hidden in plain sight, so the foolish will not see but the wise will understand. If the above verse is a big clue, which I believe it is, then we are told that history, or His Story, repeats. We know that God is a God of order, and that He has appointed times for everything, set in place from the foundation of the world. We also know that Jesus has fulfilled in the flesh most, if not al,l of the given Feast Days of the Lord in the first advent, being the Passover Lamb, the Unleavened Bread, the Firstfruits of the Resurrection, and was probably conceived on Hanukkah and born on Feast of Trumpets, or Rosh Hashannah. More than likely His feet will touch down on the Mount of Olives on the Day of Atonement after the tribulation days are fulfilled. We know the Holy Spirit came down on the Day of Pentecost, which was the anniversary of the giving of the Ten Commandments, just as Passover, the crucifixion day, was the day kept as a memorial to the first Passover, when the angel of death passed over Egypt, killing all the firstborn. Many prophetic events can have multiple fulfillments, always to the very day, as the Lord intends for us to understand the literal significance of that day.    

   What day is missing from these feast days that have already been fulfilled? The day of Ascension is not a day commanded by the Lord to observe, but many Christians celebrate it as a memorial to the day that Christ ascended, most likely from the Mount of Olives, which was 40 days after His resurrection. This year of 2006 it will fall on May 25, a Thursday. If the earthquake which split the veil of the temple and also opened the graves, and many bodies of the saints which slept arose and were seen by many in the holy city, according to Matt. 27:51-53, then I think we will see the same events repeat before the Rapture takes place. And if it is appointed to man only once to die,  Hebrews 9:27,  then what happened to these resurrected saints? Did they die again? I don't think so, or Scriptures would be lying. Jesus ascended in a cloud, and we are told in Hebrews 12:1 that "Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses," would it not make sense that the cloud Jesus ascended in was not only the clouds of the air, but the resurrected saints who ascended with Him?

    The earthquake which opened the graves occurred the moment that Jesus cried out "It is finished",  (finality, represented by the nine) and died, which was three days before He arose. Now did the resurrected saints sit in their graves for three days? Verse 53 of Matt. 27 says they came out of the graves AFTER his resurrection. In verse 52 there is a semi-colon after the phrase "and the graves were opened", as if suggesting that some time elapsed between the earthquake opening the graves and the bodies arising. In Thess. 4: 14-17 we are told:

 

   "For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent (or preceed) them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord."

 

   So the dead in Christ will come WITH HIM, then again there is a pause, after the phrase "the dead in Christ shall rise first." Yes, I know that many will argue and say that punctuation marks were not in the original text, but I believe the Lord gave us His Word the way He intended for us to have it, punctuation marks included, as the Authorized King James Version tells us. I do not read the modern perversions such as the Not Inspired Version, but that is the subject of another letter. The word THEN is also a big clue, which I believe is telling us that there may be a time period from the day the dead in Christ are resurrected until we meet them in the air. If things repeat, then we can expect to see a huge earthquake some time around Passover through Resurrection Day this year, and the dead in Christ will be seen by many. I would not be surprised to see a time of darkness at the sixth hour until the ninth hour on Passover, but not an eclipse. We know there will be a total solar eclipse on the 29th of March, which is about two weeks before Passover on April 13, and Resurrection day will follow on the 16th. Perhaps the dead in Christ will be seen by many for a forty day period, leading up to the time when we will shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

    None of this is "Thus sayeth the Lord", but only my personal thoughts on the matter. I have had many dreams over the years from the time my older sister Patricia died, and they are always the same. The first dream came to me the day after her funeral, and in it she had somehow come back from the dead, and we asked her what Jesus was like. She said "He is so bright and shining it is hard to look upon Him." Always the dream has been the same, in that she is back from the dead, and we are not amazed at that, nor afraid, but it is as if it is expected, and we are walking and talking, even eating with her. I know other believers have had similar dreams about their departed loved ones, and I believe it is to prepare us to see them during the 40 day period leading up to Ascension Day. I would be happy to hear any thoughts from you  all about these ideas. And I look forward to meeting you in the air!