Dear Doves:

I posted this some time ago.  However, as time has marched on, I think it is deserving of being posted again because.....

It may contain a giant clue as to the timing of the rapture.  I am assuming that the year 2012 is the year of the event.

The Song of Solomon is a play in 8 acts.  It is prophetic to the extreme.  It was given to the Jews for them to understand its prophetic significance, but of course, they did not have the knowledge of the New Testament as do we.  In light of that knowledge, we can see the fulfillment of I Thessalonians 4:13-18 in the Song 6:12.  This verse is the rapture of the gentile girl (the Church) in the Old Testament and it occurs in Act 6 of the play.

Notice the condition of the fruit in the garden in 6:11.  The (grape) vine flourished and the pomegranate budded.  At this juncture, the rapture came.  That is mid sunner.  We can know this is the rapture because the "daughters of Jerusalem" (Israel) cry out in verse 13 "Return, return".  Israel knows what has happened and suddenly, I believe, they understand and seek out the New Testament truth at last.

Now refer to Act 7.   In chapter 7:11, here the bride longs to visit her home.  She wants to see the garden as to whether the vine flourishes, the tender grapes appear, and pomegranates BUD FORTH.  This is obviously later then the rapture time.  Now pay close attention to an element NOT in Act 6, when the rapture took place.  She wants to CONSUMMATE THE MARRIAGE HERE.  In verse 13, we have the clue as to when this is taking place.  THE MANDRAKES ARE GIVING FRAGRANCE.  In researching the mandrake, I found that it gets ripe usually in May.  However, like the tomatoes of our gardens, its strongest fragrance is August.  Here the consummation if found to be in August, specifically late August.  If the marriage is late July or very early August, that makes 3 plus weeks between the rapture and the consummation!!

It appears to me that from July 20 through August 3 or 4 or so should see the rapture take place if the year of 2012 is the correct year as I believe it is.  At August's end comes the consummation when the mandrakes are at the height of their fragrance.

It appears that we have arrived.

I am attaching the study of the Song of Solomon posted some weeks ago, but the the August clue inserted in it.

Blessings!  All Glory to God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit!

Gerry Almond

                                      THE SONG OF SONGS

In our Bible readings, most of us have read the Song of Solomon, God’s greatest love story.  It is a beautiful instructional book on love and marriage, sex and the beauty of it as God intended it to be.  But, also, it was considered too risqué for anyone under age 30 to read by the ancient Jewish nation.  It is full of descriptions of what true love is all about and it is specific in its details.

It is also a less read and even lesser preached on book.  But, there is a way to look at the message in the Song of Songs, as it can be called, that is different from the usual way in which it is seen.

IT CAN BE VIEWED AS A MULTI-ACT STAGE PLAY WITH A DEFINITE PROPHETIC MESSAGE FOR THE END DAYS.

The characters in the play as listed on a Play Sheet may be as follows:

The Shulamite Gentile Girl……………………The Bride to be
The Shepherd Lover…………………………...The Bridegroom to be
Solomon the King………………………………The Tempter
The Palace of Solomon………………………...The World System
The Daughters of Jerusalem…………………..Israel, old and new
The Little Sister………………………………..Modern Re-gathered Israel

The play opens with the abduction of a Gentile girl, a Shulamite of great beauty.  She is kidnapped and spirited away to the palace of Solomon, the King.  He has seen her beauty and he cannot resist her.  He plans to make her his own.  But the problem is, that she has no such plans.  He knows this, but he has all the world’s treasures in his palace to heap upon her and with which to tempt her.  This, he believes, will turn her head as he takes a poor, but beautiful gentile girl and heaps all his treasures upon her. 

The problem is that she is in love.  There is a shepherd out there somewhere far away that has captured her heart.  He is “absent” in person, but she can fly to him at will on what she describes as “wings of faith”. 

Now enter the drama of it all.  The more Solomon pressures her, the closer she gets to her absent Shepherd Lover, whom she must visit by faith because of His longtime absence.  Not only so, but she does not know when he will show up again.  Her love, for him, however, is without reservation.

At this point, the characters in the play may be re-listed as follows:

The Shulamite Gentile Girl………………….The True Church of Jesus Christ
The Shepherd Lover…………………………Jesus Christ the Righteous
Solomon the King……………………………The Usurper
The Palace of Solomon………………………The World
The Daughters of Jerusalem…………………Israel
The Little Sister……………………………….Israel As in 1948 Re-gathered

The True Church is in love with her Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ.  He is, in turn, in love with her before she ever even thought about it.  But He has been away almost 2,000 years dwelling at the right hand of His Father, in heaven.  The only way for her to access Him is by prayer, which must be done in faith believing.  The Usurper, Satan and his minions control the palace, i. e. the world system.  Using every means at his disposal, Satan tries to woo the True Church away from Christ, her beloved, by wealth, fame, fortune, threat, destruction, sex, pornography, strong drink, envy, lust, etc.  There is not a stone unturned in his quest to “own” the True Church.  Why?  So that he can deny the Lord Jesus Christ his Bride to be. 

Everlasting and Eternal promises were made by YHWH to Israel.  These MUST have a fulfillment or else God is not God.  Satan has but one task, and that is to make just one word of the Holy Writ fail.  If he can do this, he wins.  Thus, he uses every wile, every lie, every deceit, and all means to do this.  He has destroyed the souls of men over and over with these practices and is ever more at it today.

But, here comes a plan of God that will really upset Satan’s applecart.  That plan is called the “rapture”.  The Song of Songs says it this way.  In chapter 6 and verse 10 it starts the actual rapture event by saying, “Who is she who looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners”?  This is a reference to the Bride to be.

Several times before, references to the rapture seem to be said in the Song, But each time, the Bride to be was simply not ready.  This speaks a word about the truth of the doctrine of imminency.  Her taking could have come, but she just wasn’t ready.  One time the Shepherd even put His hand through the opening of the door to free the latch, but, alas, she was asleep.  By the time she roused herself, He had departed.  Personal ease seemed more important than waiting for Him as she should have.  Read about this in chapter 5, a sad commentary on the readiness of the Bride to be. 

The question in vs. 6 came only after an appraisal of this LOVELY creature and a description of her sheer beauty.  The describer is, of course, Jesus Christ, the soon to become Bridegroom of this beautiful one.  (Her beauty is, of course, occasioned by His provision of heavenly beauty, having bought her soul by His blood on Calvary).  Then she speaks:

“I went down into the garden of nuts to see the fruits of the valley, and to see whether the vine flourished, and the pomegranates budded.  Or ever I was aware, my soul made me like the chariots of Amminadib”.  In these verses 11 and 12, is seen the rapture of the Bride to be.  An alternate reading could be “like the chariots of my princely willing people”.  Amminadib seems to not be a name, but rather refers to Someone famous for His chariots. 

Immediately the daughters of Jerusalem (modern Israel) speak in their astonishment saying, “Return, return, O Shulamite; return, return that we may look upon thee.” In this verse 13, is seen the desire of modern Israel to have the Bride to be come back.  But she asks, “What will ye see in the Shulamite?”  Their answer comes immediately saying, “As it were, the company of two armies.”

I think the two armies are the resurrected and then raptured living.  At first, it was a single army with banners in vs. 10, but now it is two armies, as it were.

So, the rapture event, which includes the resurrection of the dead in Christ and the taking of the living in Christ has here occurred.  She, the Bride to be is gone to be with her absent Shepherd Lover, who is absent no longer.  He has come in the air and with the clouds to get her out of the ”palace” of this world’s system and away from the Usurper. 

The next act, chapter 7 of the Song of Songs finds the Bride to be described by her Beloved.  He says in chapter 7 and verse 9, when I kiss your mouth, “and the roof of thy mouth, (is) like the best wine”.  She interrupts, saying, “For my Beloved, that goeth down sweetly, causing the lips of those who are ASLEEP to speak”.  (Perhaps this is a reference to the resurrected ones?)  And in verse 10 she continues and says “I am my Beloved’s and His desire is toward me”.  She is aware of her captivating power with this Beloved Groom.

So she continues by saying,  “Come my Beloved, let us go forth into the field; let us lodge in the villages. Let us get up early to the vineyards; let us see if the vine flourish, whether the tender grape appear, and the pomegranates bud forth.  There will I give Thee my love”, vss 11-12.  Notice in verse 13, an added agricultural item is that the mandrakes (tomatoes?) give their fragrance.  Just when do mandrakes give their smell?  According to extensive research, it is late in the month of August.  Here, the agricultural sign tells us the rapture must be late July or early August in order for the honeymoon walk to be in late August, approximately three weeks after the wedding. 

Here the marriage has or is occurring and the consummation is to be.  She will no longer be the Bride to be, but now the Bride.  His consuming passion for her is to be fulfilled NOW.

Finally, in Act 8, she speaks from a heart that recognizes that He is far superior to her socially, so to speak, but she realizes that He still loves her above all.  She will take her place at His side, both in the Kingdom Age and in eternity.

In chapter 8 and verse 8 the Bride speaks to her Beloved and says, “We have a little sister, and she hath no breasts.  What shall we do for our sister in the day when she shall be spoken for?”  Indeed, what shall be done for MODERN Israel, the little sister that has not been for 1,878 years and is now in the land again (in 1948)?  By comparison to the age of the Bride, she is a sub-teen.  The Bride has an answer:  “If she be a wall, we will build upon her a palace of silver; and if she be a door, we will enclose her with boards of cedar”.  I think that this is saying that Israel will have her Temple in her Kingdom after all.  We call it the Millennial Kingdom and it will be for 360,000 days or 1,000 years. 

The Usurper is shut away, the demons cannot tempt or harm, the world system is destroyed and Jesus Christ reigns supreme.  The Bride is very close by Him in this glorious reign.

Very soon now, this play will have its conclusion.  We are approaching Chapter 6 and verse 12.  Notice, if you will, the progression of the fruits of the valley.  The grapes are coming on, the pomegranates are budding (in the northern hemisphere).
Later, we find the mandrakes (late August) giving a fragrance.  Sounds right for a Summer rapture followed by a late Summer consummation of the marriage. 

YBIC

Gerry Almond