Dear Doves,

     I recently discovered your site and have been enjoying it thoroughly.
I have been reading the posts concerning the possible timing of the Rapture
on the Jewish Feast of Firstfruits.  My interest was peaked because I have
been studying the feast days in the light of Bible prophecy for the past few
years.  I believe that we can get a lot of insight from what has previously
occurred on the holy days of the Bible.  "Therefore do not let anyone judge
you by what you eat or drink or with regard to a religious festival, a New
Mon celebration or a Sabbath day.  These are a shadow of the things that
were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ."  Colossians 2:16-17
(NIV).  So, I could not resist adding my 2 cents to the discussion.

I think that God may reveal the date of the Rapture 7 days before it
occurs.  Jesus compared the last days to the days of Noah.  "No one knows
about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only
the Father.  As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of
the Son of Man.  For in the days before the flood, people were eating and
drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the
ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and
took them all away.  That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.
  Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left.  Two
women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other
left."  Matthew 24:36-41.  Now if we look at Noah's story in Genesis 7, we
see that God gave Noah a 7 day advance notice of the flood.  "The Lord then
said to Noah, 'Go into the ark, you and your whole family, because I have
found you righteous in this generation .. Seven days from now I will send
rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the
face of the earth every living creature I have made.' And Noah did all that
the Lord commanded him .. And after the seven days the floodwaters came on
the earth."  Genesis 7:1,4,5,and 10.  It is possible, therefore, that God
will reveal the timing of the Rapture to some of His children 7 days in
advance.  I say "to some" because out of the 8 people who made it onto the
ark, only Noah was given the heads up.

Seven days before Jesus was resurrected on the Feast of Firstfruits, He had
a triumphal entry into Jerusalem.  On what we currently celebrate as Palm
Sunday.  His disciples began to praise Him in loud voices and the Pharisees
asked Jesus to rebuke them.  He tells them that the stones would cry out if
they kept quiet.  "As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over
it and said, 'If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring
you peace - but now it is hidden from your eyes.  The days will come upon
you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you
and hem you in on every side.  They will dash you to the ground, you and the
children within your walls.  They will not leave one stone on another,
because you did not recognize the time of God's coming to you."  Luke
19:41-44.  It is interesting that Jesus held the people and leaders
accountable for not knowing the significance of that particular day.  He
expected them to know who He was 7 days before His Resurrection.

I think that there is another pattern of a 7 day advance notice in the book
of Joshua.  The city of Jericho was the first city that the Israelites
conquered in the promised land.  "Then the Lord said to Joshua, 'See, I have
delivered Jericho into you hands, along with its king and its fighting men.
March around the city once with all the armed men.  Do this for six days.
Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams horn in front of the ark.  On the
seventh day, march around the city seven times with the priests blowing the
trumpets.  When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have all
the people give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and
the people will go up, every man straight in."  Joshua 6:2-5.  (I have to
mention that Zola Levitt sees the Rapture prefigured here because the
sounding of trumpets, loud shout, and people going upward tracks the verse
in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17: "For the Lord himself will come down from
heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the
trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.  After that, we
who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the
clouds to meet the Lord in the air.  And so we will be with the Lord
forever.")   One of the things I have noticed is that the world is also put
on alert, but when nothing more happens, the world relaxes and goes back to
life as normal.  Think about it - Noah and his family enter the ark, but
nothing happens immediately after.  The Israelites circles Jericho, but
nothing happens immediately after.  Jesus enters Jerusalem with pomp and
circumstance, but nothing happens immediately after.  It makes me wonder if
something will happen 7 days prior to the Rapture which should put us on
alert.

I also think that the Feast of Firstfruits will play a major role during
the Tribulation period.  I am of the school that thinks that Jesus will
fulfill the feasts of Trumpets, Atonement and Tabernacles at the end of the
Tribulation.  If that happens to be the case, then the mid-point of the
Tribulation will occur during the spring feasts.  I am not sure about the
timing of things, but I do see some parallels in Revelation and the feast
days.  In Chapter 7, 144,000 are sealed on earth and a great multitude is
seen in heaven holding palm branches.  Is this Palm Sunday?  If the locusts
of Chapter 9 track the same 5 month life span of regular locusts, they will
begin to strike in the spring.  Since they are not allowed to hurt anyone
who has the seal of God, do they begin to attack on Passover?  The two
witnesses of Chapter 11 are killed during the mid-point of the Tribulation
and are raised from the dead 3 ½ days later.  Is this on Firstfruits?  The
Jewish people also flee to the desert during the mid-point and are protected
for 3 ½ years.  This is strongly reminiscent of the time Moses and the
Israelites fled to the desert during the time of Firstfruits.  I even see
Firstfruits hinted at in Revelation 1:5 where Jesus is called the "firstborn
from the dead."  A few verses later, John states that he was in the Spirit
on "the Lord's Day."  I believe that the Lord's Day is not just any Sunday,
as many commentaries surmise, but is the anniversary of Resurrection Sunday.
  The Apostle John would definitely remember this day.  He is the one who
ran into the empty tomb.  It is also interesting to note that John sees
Jesus as a "Lamb, looking as if it had been slain."  Revelation 5:5.  This
is a clear connection to Passover, because He is literally the Passover
Lamb.  Since He is already slain, Passover is over.  Does this bring us to
Firstfruits?

If the Rapture is to occur on the next Firstfruits, then I do not think
that it is a coincidence that the Jewish and Christian holy days track each
other this year.  The 7 day period prior to Firstfruits will be clearly
delineated by Palm Sunday.  Perhaps something of importance will happen on
Palm Sunday.  Perhaps some of us will even get a "heads up" from the Lord
about the Rapture.  But, regardless of whether this is going to be the time,
we are told to keep watch for his coming.  So I encourage you all to keep
watch always.  "Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness,
which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day - and not
only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing."  2 Timothy
4:8.

Maranatha!

-- Lisa Taylor