I have long thought the rapture would be on Rosh Hashanah, but I know we're very close and Rosh Hashanah has come and gone. One of my reasons for that position was that I could not see any other event that fits that moed (I like the Hebrew term better than 'feast'). Now that the first week of October is behind us, I have again been giving the matter some thought.

The phrase "last day" is used eight times in scripture: Neh 8:18 (speaking of Tabernacles); John 6:39, 40, 44, 54 (Jesus says the resurrection will occur in the "last day"); John 7:37 (see vs. 2, speaks of the "last day" of Tabernacles, which here is also called "the great day of the feast"); John 11:24 (Martha states her belief that Lazarus will be raised in the resurrection on the "last day", and Jesus goes on to state "And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die." [rapture?]); John 12:48 (the judgment [following the resurrection] of the unjust dead).

It seems to me that the moeds must involve a personal act of Jesus in our redemption, and they must be known for what they are. I had always thought Yom Kippur was the second advent of Jesus, but am now thinking Rosh Hashanah may prophesy this event. There is a great trumpet in Matt 24:31(which is not the rapture); there was Joshua’s seventh trumpet when the walls of Jericho fell down; and with the trumpet in Exo 19, I have always focused on Moses going up, but the fact is, the Lord also came down. If Rosh Hashanah is the second advent, then Yom Kippur would be the sheep and goats judgment, and there are ten days between to do the other clean-up that will occur. I believe Tabernacles is the millennium, and the eighth day is the creation of the new heavens and new earth.

So that leaves a big question: where is the rapture? It is a Christian event, and I think it may be the last day of Tabernacles.

We know that Jesus fulfilled the first four moeds on the actual dates, and we keep them today symbolically in the church: Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us (communion wine); let us keep the feast with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth (communion bread); but every man in his own order, Christ the firstfruits, afterward those that are his at his coming (baptism); Pentecost (covenant - where we live). Moreover, each of those first three happen instantaneously and simultaneously when a person is born again: the old spirit man dies, is cleansed of sin, and is resurrected as a new creation (Rom 6:3-7; II Cor 5:17).

At the rapture, all of the righteous up until that point will experience the final three moeds simultaneously: Jesus will come and claim his own (Trumpets); we will go before the judgment (bema) seat of Christ (Atonement - and the crimson thread is already white!!); and we will enter our eternal state (Tabernacles - resurrection, eternal dwelling). Further, Tabernacles is seven days plus one, and the one (the eighth day), is a new beginning.

Lev 23:24 says this: "Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation." This is the commandment concerning Rosh Hashanah, to be observed on the first day of Tishri, exactly as it has been ever since the law was given. However, in the KJV and the NKJV, the word ‘day’ is italicized, meaning it has been added by the translators for purposes of clarification. If it is removed, the phrase reads: in the first of the month.

The word translated as ‘first’ is the Hebrew (OT:259) 'echad (ekh-awd'); a numeral from OT:258; properly, united, i.e. one; or (as an ordinal) first. So we see that the word can be used as the number one, but it can also refer to one event or entity having more than one part. The word is used in this manner in Judges 20:1 speaking of one congregation, and Numbers 13:33 - one bunch of grapes. My very favorite use of the word is found in the Shema: Deut 6:4 "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one (echad) LORD." It totally thrills me to consider that every time a Jewish person says the Shema he is also professing the triune God.

I think it may be possible that the echad of Tishri refers to the entire month, but it could also refer to the combined total of the holy days: Tishri 1 through 22, beginning with Rosh Hashanah and ending with the ‘last day’ of Tabernacles, the ‘great day of the feast’, the day when the moeds of Tishri are fulfilled in the lives of each individual believer up to that point.

All that to say this: I think we may meet Jesus in the clouds on the last day of Tabernacles, the great day of the feast, which according to the calendar, falls this year on October 25.

HOWEVER, there is an error in the Jewish calendar.

Deut. 16:1 says, "Observe the month Abib, and keep the passover unto the LORD thy God: for in the month of Abib the LORD thy God brought thee forth out of Egypt by night." In Hebrew, the word observe means preserve, or keep, and that is the Jewish understanding of the word. Abib is another name for Nisan, the first month on the sacred calendar. From this verse we see that God particularly wanted the Jewish people to observe Passover at the correct time, and we know further that since Passover is the first annual moed, if it is kept at the proper time those that follow will also be observed in the correct seasons. This is important because those moeds are appointments that God has with man and they are dated. This commandment is the basis for the lunisolar calendar that the Jews have been using (at least) since the law was given. In their calendar, the months are determined by the phases of the moon, but the years are determined by making adjustments parallel to the seasons of the solar year.

In our Gregorian calendar, we are familiar with the concept of leap years: every fourth year February has an extra day and years ending in hundreds are leap years only if divisible by 400. Even so, from time to time fractional adjustments must be made to keep time ticking along accurately. Sometimes on New Year’s Eve a minuscule adjustment is made to the atomic clock.

The Jewish calendar is very complex and very different from ours, and it is not a 360 day calendar made up of twelve months of thirty days each. Their calendar consists of a nineteen-years cycle. Of those years, twelve are regular years having 353-355 days and seven are leap years having 383-385 days. In leap years an entire month, Adar II, is added between Adar and Nisan. This is done when the vernal (spring) equinox falls later in the year than Nisan 16.

In ancient times the calendar was adjusted by direct observation as confirmed by the Sanhedrin. But in 70 A.D. Jerusalem fell to Rome and the Jews began to be scattered throughout the world. This meant that, as time went on, the Sanhedrin was no longer able to proclaim the new moon every month and the principles of the calendar and intercalation were in danger of being forgotten. This led Rabbi Hillel II to produce a method of calendar calculation that was adopted in 358/359 A.D. and is still in use today.

The lunar part of Hillel’s calculation is accurate to one day in 14,000 years, and the solar adjustment is accurate to 6 & 2/3 (6.66) minutes per year. (I do not view those minutes as evil, but rather an illustration of man tinkering with the things of God. Having said that, it’s quite an interesting number!) Today it has been 1647 years since the Jewish calendar calculation began to be used. If those 1647 years are multiplied by 6.66 minutes, divided by 60 minutes then by 24 hours, we find that the Jewish calendar inaccuracy is currently at 7.61 days. The Jewish dates are currently falling 7.61 days later in the year than they should.

This calendar discrepancy is not a major issue to the Jewish people. They are well aware that it exists, but they believe that Messiah is coming soon, before they end up keeping Passover in the wrong season, and when he comes he will restore the Sanhedrin and they will correct the calendar. They actually view this discrepancy as proof of the soon coming of Messiah. (As a side note, on October 13, 2004, acting under Mosaic law, a group of Jewish rabbi's in Israel established a group they are calling the Sanhedrin. We shall see what we shall see.) My personal belief is that Messiah will correct the calendar himself and it will literally be astronomical according to the echad day of Zech 14:7-8.

There is a very interesting fact concerning this calendar discrepancy. Given the sign of the fig tree and a forty-years generation, it is very interesting to observe the date of the recapture of Jerusalem. June 7, 1967 occurred on Iyar 28, eight days before Pentecost (which is being incorrectly observed on a set date rather than fifty days after Firstfruits) on the Jewish calendar. But when the calendar discrepancy is taken into account, we see a correlation between Sivan 6, Pentecost, and the date of the recapture of Jerusalem. This may be a confirmation from God that the actual dates are significant in the beginning of the final generation and that the 7.61 days is the actual amount of the calendar discrepancy. (As an added note, the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center on 9/11/2001 adjusts to Rosh Hashanah. It wasn’t the fulfillment of any prophecy, but it sure is an interesting date.)

As recorded in Acts 2, the church age began on Pentecost in 30 A.D. during the third hour of the day (between 9:00 and 10:00 a.m.). 1937 years later the Jews marched on the old city of Jerusalem, where at 9:50 a.m. Brigadier General Rabbi Goren blew the shofar at the wailing wall, brought to a close the times of the Gentiles, and caused the fig tree to burst forth in leaves, not only on the anniversary of the beginning of the church age, but during the exact same hour of the day! GLORY TO GOD!!

It appears that actual calendar dates do have significance in the fulfillment of prophecy. 'Times' means 'years' and the times of the Gentiles were fulfilled on June 7, 1967. This means that the Jewish calendar would at that time take on a renewed significance because the last three moeds of Lev. 23 are about to be fulfilled.

Lev. 23 uses the Hebrew word moed (appointment, set time or season) in the law regarding these festivals. Deut. 16:1 commanded the Jews to "preserve the month Abib." It seems to me that God takes these dates seriously, and if He does, so do I.

(My sources for the information on the Jewish calendar are primarily the Jewish Encyclopedia and a book called Bircas haChammah - Blessing of the Sun, ArtScroll Mesorah Series, Rabbis Nosson Scherman/Meir Zlotowitz, General Editors.)

It should be understood that the phases of the moon have not been considered at all when making adjustments for the discrepancy in the Jewish calendar. It is a solar adjustment only. This may reflect that the fulfillment of the final moeds for Christians may occur on a similar but different schedule, but the fulfillment for the Jewish people will occur on the correct dates when Jesus returns to the earth. To consider the adjustment on the Jewish calendar, simply place your finger on the Jewish date of the moed and back up one week.

All of that to say this: We could be having the most exciting day of our lives this coming Tuesday, when the calendar says it is the first day of Tabernacles! If not, I will continue to search the scriptures to find out what I have missed. But whether He comes this next week or not, I am on HIGH ALERT and will remain so for the remainder of my days on this earth.

I look forward to your comments. God bless you all. deborah

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