An Alternate Day For The Rapture

My thanks goes to many Bible scholars who have pointed out so many events and concepts about prophecy that I did not know for years, but now I do. In no particular order special thanks goes to John Tng, Pastor Bob, Jim Bramlett, Sherry Vance, Nando and others. Once I began to understand how to confess Jesus and verbally ask and accept the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, all manner of new ideas Biblically based began dropping into my lap, that so much came that what I got in one day would keep me going for a week. The more anyone uses what God gives him, understands and passes it on, the more they get.

This I write of, because on a recent Sunday as I was again pondering the near coming of the rapture and all the various theories and ideas, timing and when the rapture happens, suddenly a major thought popped into my head that a possible time of the year has been missed by everyone I have read of their writings so far. This does not mean I am right or close, but the pattern fits scripture and historical documents, just as the Feast of Trumpets closely fits the pattern and sequence closer than most of the other time spots in a year. Many top scholars have written many cogent arguments for a certain rapture timing or placement during the year, and we should all be grateful for their efforts to awaken us. We must not forget that Jesus said "no man knows the hour or the day". This is inviolable. Jesus however did NOT say no man would know the season, feast or event. So that leaves several possibilities that in hindsight everyone would say "Of course!" Looking ahead we are all in the dark until it happens. So on the moment of the rapture, all the arguments disappear. I am so very much looking forward to that.

This alternate time I am suggesting is the Ascension. This could be a stronger candidate than at first glance, requires some background besides the obvious time when Jesus ascended into heaven. The day Jesus was crucified and the moment He died, an earthquake caused the graves east of Jerusalem to break open and bodies of those saints came alive, Matt 27:52. Then after three days and upon His resurrection these saints rose from the graves and walked into Jerusalem. It is too bad the Bible is silent on this, as this must have caused a major uproar in Jerusalem. In those days as most of the time on earth, the noon meal was the main meal of the day. Can you imagine yourself sitting with your family eating that meal when there is a knock on the door. You go to look and there standing is your father who died 10 years ago! You might very well have nearly fainted of fright as well as the rest of your family. In he walks while all of you are in great fear and asks for some food to eat. He clearly is healthy and vibrant, and goes on to eat. Astounded, you and your family finally understand that the partaking of food proves he is not a ghost just as Jesus proved He was not a ghost when he sat and ate with His disciples. Multiply this across Jerusalem causing everything to be changed by day's end. Fortunately there are historical records, although not Scripture, in the Ante Nicene Library describing the events surrounding the saint's resurrection and their effect in Jerusalem and all through Galilee. Many witnesses have recorded these events and others surrounding this resurrection. They recorded that about 12 000 saints came alive. Two brothers, both priests were also among these saints. They were recognizable in the Temple by the elderly priests still alive who remembered them. The Sanhedren had both men simultaneously interrogated, separately, both giving identical answers. They said they saw Jesus in the underworld and accepted Him as the Messiah. So out from that first day they spread across the land until they all met on the Mt of Olives on the day Ascension. The records say that thousands of people witnessed Jesus and these resurrected saints rising together into the sky, Acts1:19. Acts only says that a cloud took Jesus out of sight. In other parts of the Bible, certain events are surrounded by a cloud of witnesses. Could this be one of them? Another thing; the Bible says nothing about these risen saints. I think one can assume that they would not be left behind on earth in those days when Jesus rose into heaven on Ascension day.

Could this be a forerunner of the rapture when we meet Jesus on that glorious day? Could this be the pattern that will be duplicated? We often find that God does have patterns He repeats. I will not be dogmatic and say this is the day, because I don't know. With tradition in various churches preaching all manner of things that are simply not true, but by historical agreement forced these beliefs called traditions onto their congregants, they have prevented many people from finding the truth. To consider when Ascension day is for this year, we must go to the Hebrew lunar-solar calendar and their Feasts, especially Passover. Since Jesus spent 40 days on the road preaching, after the 3 days and nights in His grave, those 3 days need to be added to the 40 to get 43 days counting from the start of the first day of Passover to get to the real Ascension date for any year. So from Passover 2015, which is on April 3, then that leads us to the Mt of Olives on May 16, 2015. This is not a date setting for any rapture, but to show how to get to the real date of the Ascension for any year.

I do however lean toward the Feast of Trumpets as the most likely time for the rapture, for many reasons that have already been explained by others.

Someone will be right, and I really don't care who it is, as long as I and those I love are considered worthy to be counted in the Bride of Christ on that very special and glorious day.

I hope this will make some people think a little more deeply into the mystery that God has put in front of us.

Blessings to you all.   
James