Hi Doves,
I have heard it taught that the Feast of Tabernacles is both for a historical remembrance of the time the Israelites were in the wilderness and also as a prophetic picture of the 7-year 70th week of Daniel.
What if???
What if the 7 day feast is also a prophetic picture of the 7 thousand years of earth history. What if the dead in Christ are raised on the 4th day – that would equate to the time when Jesus was raised from the dead 2000 years ago or 4000 years from Adam. There were a number of believers raised with Christ at that time. This could also be the day we are changed and get our spiritual bodies along with the dead in Christ. Then 3 days later. at the end of the 6th day (or 6000 years) both groups get raptured. This 3 days of gap between the dead in Christ being resurrected and us going up in the rapture seems to fit the verse in 1 Thessalonians 4:16 where it says. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. (The next verse starts with the word "Then" indicating a gap between the 2 events)
Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.
This gap would also, I believe, initiate the "Midnight Cry" warning of the arrival of the bridegroom. The change to a spiritual body for the true believers may also be a sign to the foolish virgins that because they didn’t get a spiritual body, they didn’t have the oil of the Holy Spirit and at that time it would be too late to get any.
I was hoping for the rapture to be on the Feast of Trumpets this year as 1 Thessalonians 4:16 mentions the last trumpet – perhaps it is just pointing to the autumn feasts in general with tabernacles being one of them.
Maybe in heaven a trumpet is blown every time someone gets saved and when the last person is saved, this side of the tribulation, maybe that is the last trumpet. (When the fullness of the gentiles is come in. Romans 11:25)
Soon find out I guess…
God Bless
Philip N