Dear Doves:
 
I found the following to be encouraging:
 
http://www.godstruthfortoday.org/Library/smith/hwsmith8.html
 
Also, the above website, http://www.godstruthfortoday.org/Library/index1.html,  has some insightful articles written by Adolf Knoch providing insight on sections of scripture as I study the subject of prophecy.  You will have to scroll down to find his writings.  I have not read most of the other contributors and so am not able to recommend them.
 
Adolf Knoch was the main translator for the Concordant Literal New Testament and the writer for the Concordant Commentary on the New Testament.  Both of these are available from the Concordant Publishing Concern.  It is a good translation to lay beside others you are using.
 
I have found a number of his insights from the Greek to be especially helpful in answering a number of questions I have had as I try to study the scriptures, comparing sections to other sections.  I recommend him to be included in your studies, though not in an exclusive sense.
 
For myself, I am convinced that over the years, as I anticipated the rapture on certain dates, especially relative to the feasts of Israel and events in the life of Christ Jesus, that though I was well intentioned, on a premise level a number of my interpretations/applications ended up being inaccurate because I was really not rightly dividing, or cutting, the word as Paul exhorted Timothy in II Tim 2:15.  This is a quality of an unashamed worked.  He also told Timothy to hold to a pattern of sound words in II Tim 1:13.  Instead, I was attaching "meanings" to words that were not necessarily allowed by the context.
 
Seeing various anticipated dates for the rapture come and go was a repeatedly difficult experience.  It had seemed that the collective insights from others on various websites made a lot of sense in lieu of a coming date, and so I was really expecting to be taken away.  There were even times when I knew the time difference between Israel and where I lived, and was outside looking up at a particular hour of the day.
 
I ended up experiencing well the truth of the verse that says that "Hope deferred makes the heart sick".  My humanness could only take so much of that before I felt myself wanting to protect myself from further disappointment.  There were times when I would purge my favorites list on my computer of all prophecy websites.  However, it seemed the Spirit of God would not let me stay in that place.  Over time, I continued to study and watch.  I am sure some of you can relate to this.
 
In retrospect, I think one of the reasons dates came and went was that I was not rightly dividing the scriptures.  I think the Spirit of God kind of forced me into this understanding, and continues to press me.  It is hard (impossible without the Spirit's promptings?) to step back from thinking/theories seemingly backed by scripture only to reconsider that maybe I am not handling some portions of the Word with true understanding.  But I believe God will lead me into truth over time and so this experience ends up being just part of His schooling.
 
Proverbs chapter two begins with an exhortation to look for insight and wisdom from God as though it were buried treasure yet also crying out to Him from a sincere and burdened heart, knowing our utter dependence upon Him.  This will be a regular experience, no matter how much understanding we think we have accumulated to date on prophecy.  Do I continue to look to Him in this way even now?
 
I have observed some over the years who have certain seemingly scripture-based theories concerning prophecy yet who also seem to tenaciously hold to them even though repeatedly the dates they anticipate come and go.  Sometimes I wonder if perhaps they have grabbed too tightly to their ideas in a subtle form of pride and have ceased to continue to cry out for insight from the Spirit.  I am not saying I am not immune to this.  To constantly reevaluate one's understanding of scripture is a difficult experience.  Again, I think it is God's grace that really is the source for us to be able to do this.
 
Yes, per II Tim 3:16,17, all scripture is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness that we may be equipped and fitted for every good act.  This applies to the study and teaching of prophecy.  Yet I wonder if we might be a little sloppy in applying this verse because we do not bring the balance of rightly dividing the scriptures as well.  What I am saying is that a portion of scripture can afford insight yet not also be applied to me directly on its face.  Let me give you an example.
 
Let's say we are all living at one house.  When the mail is delivered, just because I live at the house does not give me the right to then open every letter and read it as though it was written to me.  As I am passing out the various envelopes I notice one from the IRS.  It has your name on it, not mine.  (I am only too glad to give it to you.)  Now, I may, at that same time, have a matter pending before the IRS.  With your permission, I might even read your letter.  It will possibly be very insightful because as the IRS handles and decides on your matter I can see how the IRS will likely relate to me and decide my matter.  Now, they may decide that you no longer owe taxes to them.  I cannot thereby conclude the same will be decided for me.  My situation is still unique compared to yours.  And yet, though our situation is unique, I might still be "corrected" in that I learn that I failed to provide a key piece of information to the IRS and will have to send what is required.
 
Here is one of the premise level changes I am making in my thinking as I attempt to interpret portions of scripture.
 
When Christ came the first time, the focus of his teachings and ministry was Israel, not the nations outside of Israel.  He presented to them that the Kingdom of heaven was near.  I believe this is the same kingdom that Daniel saw in his future.  It is a kingdom of God sourced from heavenly reality yet clearly based upon the earth.  The rock hewed without human hands that crushed the image of the man centered kingdoms in Daniel 2 becomes a vast mountain and fills the earth.
 
Per Romans 15:8, Christ was sent to the circumcision to confirm the patriarchal promises.  His response to the Greek woman from Syro-Phoenicia in Mark 7 validates this.  It was not until she appealed to Jesus on the basis that the nations could only look to blessings from God through Israel that Jesus then healed her daughter.  Jesus was clearly sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.  The woman acknowledged Israel's privileged place and so she did not presume to eat from the children's table.  Yet she also knew that the blessing of God for Israel was to spill over to the nations, and thus they could still look to Jesus in the same way a puppy can freely eat the crumbs and scraps from the table.
 
However, Israel, via the leadership, rejected the Messiah and the kingdom.  This was according to the counsel of God.  The rejection did not happen at the cross but I believe happened earlier in Christ's ministry.  In Matthew 13:14-15, Jesus quotes from Isaiah, explaining to the disciples why he was now teaching in parables.  The nation rejected him and now he was focusing on the individual God-hearers.  The rejection culminated in his crucifixion.
 
At the cross Jesus asked the Father to forgive them.  I believe that on this basis, the Father gave the nation a second chance within a 40 year judgment period.  The disciples were empowered with the Holy Spirit at Pentecost to fulfill the second presentation of the kingdom to the nation of Israel.  The disciples had already received the Spirit of God prior to this in John 20:21-23!  This is not the birth of the church as is commonly taught.
 
The book of Acts is an account of Israel's second rejection.  At the end of Acts, Paul quotes from Isaiah, the same portion that Jesus quoted from at the first rejection.  The earth-based kingdom for Israel was then placed in abeyance at the end of Acts.  Today, with Israel back in the land, and with Israel having regained Jerusalem, and with the Sanhedrin in place, and with the red heifer having met the requirements of the law, it is clear to us that God is getting ready to shift back to Israel and relating to the nations exclusively through her.
 
But not yet.
 
Acts is insightful for us today.  Because something else was taking place during the progressive 2nd rejection, and that is the unique ministry of Paul.
 
In Acts 13, as the second rejection unfolded, the Spirit instructs that Paul and Barnabbus are to be separated from the others for a unique work to which the Spirit had called them.  In the Greek, this word 'serparation' is stronger and should be translated 'severed' or 'cut off'.
 
Notice when Paul met Jesus.  It was outside of the land of Israel, and after Jesus ascension.  God's relating to Paul was total grace.  A new dispensation is in process.  I do not think that when Paul later referred to himself as the chief of sinners that he was being melodramatic.  He saw clearly that the basis God was relating to him was grace, which was to be the heart of what Paul was to proclaim to the nations directly.  To the nation of Israel, God was relating to them on the basis of their obedience to his revelation.
 
Also note that Jesus told Paul to enter the city and he would receive further instruction as to what he was to be doing.  I believe that this set a precedent for Paul.  Jesus would continue to reveal to him over time as he fulfilled what he had been instructed to do.  Can you relate?  He was not taught everything up front.  It took time for him to transition from teaching Israel foremost to eventually going directly to the nations foremost.
 
In Acts we have an account of Paul gradually seeing the fullness of what he was appointed to proclaim to the nations.  You can see this progression in his epistles as well as you line them up chronologically.  The climax/culmination of his message from God is seen in his last prison epistles: Ephesians, Colossians, and Philippians.  As the body of Christ today, these three books should be our foundation as we interpret the rest of the scripture.
 
In Galatians 2 Paul explains that he went to Jerusalem to submit to them the evangel he was heralding to the nations.  It was distinct enough from what the disciples were proclaiming to the circumcision that this became necessary.  Paul was presenting that the nations had a place now on the same level as Israel, and did not have to relate to God through Israel but could do so directly.
 
The blessings the nations were to receive through Christ were not earthly but spiritual (Eph 1:3).  Why?  Because God in his wisdom had a celestial kingdom to establish along side the earthly kingdom that Israel will receive in our future today.  In the plan of God the body of Christ is not the reciever of earthly blessing.  That is only for the born-again Israel and for the nations as they submit to God through Israel.
 
Paul was sent away from that meeting with the disciples support and with the understanding that they would be for Israel and Paul for the nations.  This must be kept in mind as I read, for example, writings of John, Peter, and James, verses writings of Paul.
 
So, as I read the scriptures, it is important for me to distinguish the audience and who wrote it.  Was the author commissioned by Jesus to the nation of Israel or to the nations apart from Israel (which would only be Paul).  Paul is our "appointed-by-God" apostle proclaiming Jesus message to us.  He says so repeatedly through his writings.  This is why I also think that Paul did not write Hebrews.  Hebrews was written to members of Israel who had embraced the Messiah but now found that the earthly kingdom they anticipated was put in abeyance through no fault of their own.
 
Notice that when the future heavenly Jerusalem descends to the earth, that Paul's name is not on any of the foundation levels.  He is the apostle to the nations as he repeated explained.  The twelve disciples are for the nation of Israel.
 
As I read portions of scripture that explain future events, do the future events concern the true born again Israel or the body of Christ?  If you read Peter, you will see that his writings are directed, in part, to the future Israel who will be enduring the suffering of the tribulation under the beast and false prophet.  If you read John's epistles, you will notice that his writing are directed, in part, to the future Israel who are alive at the coming of Jesus after the tribulation.  Failing to make this distinction is a cause of much confusion in various theories of end time events unfolding.
 
Because the body of Christ did not begin at Pentecost, but I believe started in seed form in Acts 13, I am convinced that the feasts of Israel are prophetic yet to be directly applied to Israel.  These feasts can still be examples and insightful to me today as I witness the Holy One unfold his wonderful plan at the end of this eon.  I believe that things Jesus did in the New Testament (with his body) may have application to me as a member of His body.  I have to be very careful at this point.
 
Again, I can gain insight into the unfolding of the plan of God, and experiencing a deepening in my trust of Him, as I witness what He is about to do with Israel and how He may have already begun to relate to them via the feast's pictures.   In the same way that the 40 years of judgment in Acts was a transition time with two dispensations overlapping (one gradually disappearing and another gradually unfolding) so I believe we are in such a 40 year transition time where God, relating to the world through the body of Christ with a message of conciliation, is closing, culminating in the rapture, and with God relating to the nations via Israel gradually unfolding, with a message of refining and corrective judgement, though very intense.
 
As I look at the life of Jesus, I notice a particular event that to me seems to be a clue as to when we might be raptured as his body.  That clue is his first ascension, right after his resurrection, which was pretty much done in secret from the disciples.  We will see.  I personally do not want to wait for this at this time but that is my theory.  I believe Pentecost is for the nation of Israel.
 
Please search this out.  I hope that this will serve as a catalyst to dig deeper into the word, to pour out hearts out to God for further wisdom, and to alleviate some confusion.
 
Your bother,
 
Douglas Henney