Because I have been watching for Jesus for a number of years, an unintended habit I have developed is to have a high watch day(s) right in front of me yet to also think about what high watch date might be next if that immediate one (or more) do not take place.

Like a number of others watching, I am anticipating April 8, the 10th day of Nisan, when Joshua took the people into their promised land, when Jesus rode into Jerusalem, and also when the one year anniversary of the solar eclipse takes place.

Following this there is also the Feast of Firstfruits which I believe coincides with Easter Sunday this year.

A little further out is the 15th day of the 3rd month when the Children of Israel arrived at the base of Mt. Sinai, with God then appearing to them on about the 17th during a loud, long trumpet blast as Moses was called up to Him.  Paul seems to describe the rapture event in similar terms in Thessalonians.

Recently, I came across something interesting regarding this latter option.  I saw a clip of a Bible teacher, Michael Rood, who has understanding of the Jewish culture, expressing that per the ancient Jewish calendar, when Israel became a nation in 1948, instead of it being the month of Iyar (the second month) that year, it was actually Sivan (the third month).  He expressed that this took place right at the end of the 50 day Omer count and so was at the Feast of Weeks.  I went back on the Hebcal to see if he was correct.  In 1948 an Adar II had been added.  I am thinking in his mind this was not to be done.  If valid, Passover that year took place after the Equinox yet this way of starting a new year is not clear to me.

However, what is clear to me is that Abba likes to do things on the self-same day, like when He made the covenant with Abraham and timed the Children of Israel's escape from Egypt to that very date (Exodus 12:40,41).  It resonates with me that Michael Rood might be correct, with the nation of Israel becoming a nation in one day on the very anniversary as to when the original Children of Israel were gathered before God at Mt Sinai.

This is significant to me in that it makes the end of the 7 week count of weeks after Firstfruits the anniversary of Israel becoming a nation in 1948.

I express all of this to make this point and I will explain a little more below:  an event in the life of Jacob that may point to the timing of us going home took place in his life when he was 77 years old.  From 1948, Israel will turn 77 years old this year, per Michael Rood's insight, at the end of the 7 week count of weeks after the Feast of Firstfruits.

The event in Jacob's life was when he left home and before he met Rachel (Genesis 28).  He had a vision of heaven being open and the angels ascending and descending on a ladder set up on the earth and reaching into heaven.  God was standing at the top of the ladder and affirmed that indeed the land was given to Jacob and his descendants.  Jacob called that place Bethel (the house of God).  He describe the location as being the place of a gate to heaven.  The fact that God emphasized that the land was given to Jacob's descendants would point to future miracle of Israel becoming a nation in one day on the Feast of Weeks in 1948.

I am thinking that the reference by Jacob to a gate of heaven corresponds to what John saw in Revelation 4:1.

I learned of Jacob being 77 through the Youtube "God a Minute".  Jacob's son, Joseph, appeared before the Pharaoh at age 30, before the 7 years of plenty and before the following 7 years of famine.  After 7 years of plenty and 2 years of famine, Joseph made himself known to his brothers at the age of 39, and his father, Jacob, came down to be with Joseph.

At that time of Jacob finally being with Joseph, Jacob tells the Pharaoh that he is 130 years old.  Joseph had been born 39 years prior or when Jacob was 91.  14 years prior to that was when Jacob initially met Rachel and agreed to work for her for 7 years.  Jacob, having been fooled by Laban had to work 7 additional years for Rachel though he was able to marry her after the 7 day wedding week of Leah.

It was at the end of those 14 years that Joseph had been born.  Jacob then approached Laban telling him he wanted to go but Laban talked Jacob into working an additional 7 years (which God made a shemitah of a 6 years plus a 1 year for God told Jacob he could leave at the end of the 6).

The details of the above are all in Genesis.  Aaron of the God a Minute Youtube pulled together all of the clues from the following: 30:25,26, 31:41, 41:46,47,53, 45:6,11, 47:9.

So, tying together this insight from Aaron and also from Mr. Rood, my point is that "Jacob" was 77 when the doorway to heaven was opened/revealed to him.

When is this Feast of Weeks (Shavuot) this year?

Well, it is not simple.  (heavy sigh)

If I count 7 weeks from the Feast of Firstfruits on April 19/20, I come to June 7/8.  FYI, It is my belief that this is not Pentecost which will take place 50 days later.  The focus here is the prophetic fulfillment of the count of 7 weeks only, or the Feast of Shavuot.

The popular Jewish calendar will start the count of 7 weeks starting right after Passover or on the first day of Unleavened Bread.  Their count of 7 weeks ends on about June 1st this year.

However, I am thinking that in performing the count of 7 weeks, I am not to include new moon days as I add up 7 complete weeks, AND I do not reference the Gregorian calendar for sabbaths.  Basically the 7 complete weeks end on the 15th day of the 3rd month, which is on the full moon.  This thinking of mine is echoed in the scriptures (see Exodus 19:1)  That takes place on June 11.  

If I was another watcher reading this, I would be a little discouraged at this point thinking in terms of something being so very far away.  However, keep in mind that Jesus needs to fulfill the 40 day sign of Jonah to Ninevah, before their complete destruction.  Might this correspond to the 40 days Jesus spent on earth after His resurrection and before His final ascension?

I lean towards Jesus fulfilling the 40 day sign of Jonah to Ninevah prior to the 15th day of the 3rd month because of what God told Moses at the burning bush on Mt Sinai.  It is found in Exodus 3:

12And He said, “Assuredly I will be with you, and this shall be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall [e]worship God at this mountain.

At that time Moses did not know about all the future miracles that God would perform through him, including the ten plagues.  Yet I find it interesting that of all that God intended to do through Moses, the one thing God told Moses would be THE sign that God was with Moses was the gathering of the Children of Israel at the base of that very same Mountain, Mt Sinai.  Think of all of the plagues and what that would have been like for Moses.  Surely he would know that God had indeed sent Moses.  Add to that the parting of the Red Sea.  Yet THE sign God mentions was the gathering at the base of a mountain where the people were to meet God.

I wonder if the above is a type/shadow of an affirmation from the Father to Jesus of the Plan conceived within the Godhead, that Jesus would be successful as a complete people would also be gathered before the Father's throne at the base of a heavenly Mt. Zion.

When?  When Jacob turns 77 on the Feast of Weeks this year?

Watching, watching.