Hello John and Doves,
In this letter I wrote mainly about Feast of Weeks
(also known as Feast of Harvest, Shavuot and
Pentecost). I looked again at Ascension Day possibly
occurring on this day. I also wrote about the counting
of the Omer. And I included quotes from Gary
Stearman's 2024 article in Prophecy Watcher 05.2024
magazine: "The Annual Pentecost Watch". Every
year he writes about Pentecost and he's had numerous youtube
videos on his Prophecy Watchers Youtube channel.
I also included some Jewish traditions for this day -
decorating the bride, the sky is opened briefly the night of
Shavuot. And the Jews believe that the Law was given
to Moses on this day - when they first heard God's voice as
a VERY LOUD trumpet - could that foreshadow the voice of God
- a trumpet - at the Rapture?
Then I wrote about Paul's firstfruits resurrection
order - every man in his order following Christ's
resurrection. The next feast after Jesus's
resurrection on Feast of Firstfruits would be Feast of
Weeks/Feast of Harvest - will that be the next day in order
for our Rapture resurrection?
Also, I included info on a 'Spring" Rapture and
Micah's prophecy of 'the goodmen have vanished from the
earth' at the end of the Spring harvest.
Gary brought up something very interesting 'hidden' in
Micah 7:4 - concerning an 'invasion from the north' -
showing the link in Micah to the coming Gog invasion.
Gary shows the link in Micah to the invasion from the
North - and this is connected to Ezekiel 38/39 and the
Gog and Magog War. Suggesting that soon after the
Rapture - the invasion from the North will begin.
I also linked three of Aaron's God A Minute Youtube
videos in the 'conclusion' section - he's very excited about
this Feast of Harvest being (possibly) the
Rapture.
We are approaching the end of Spring - with the Summer
Solstice on June 20. Will we have a Spring Rapture?
In this past letter to Doves, "Ascension Day 2024", I
gave my reasoning as to why Ascension Day is more than
likely on a Feast of the Lord -specifically - Feast of
Weeks, also known as Feast of Harvest and Shavuot/Pentecost
Ascension
Day 2024
Many people believe that this day is Pentecost (Acts
2) - known to Christians as the day in the Upper Room when
the Holy Spirit came upon the people - the day the Church
was 'created'. (I believe that this Acts 2 Pentecost
is actually on Feast of New Wine - I've written about my
reasons for this in previous Doves letters over the last few
years.)
If the Ascension was on Feast of Weeks/Feast of
Harvest or the Acts 2 Pentecost is on the traditional day of
Feast of Weeks/Pentecost - either way, this day is special
and is a High Watch Day for the Rapture. One, because
this is the day that Jesus rose up into the clouds and the
men of Galilee were told that Jesus would come back this
same way - in the clouds via the Rapture (the early Church
expected Christ to return sometime in this season because on
Ascension Day the angels said Jesus would return the same
way - and even today some wonder if this doesn't mean on the
same day...). And two, because the Church was created
on this day and could leave on this day via the Rapture.
When the Jewish people were still using the sighting
of the new moon to mark their months, Shavuot could land on
the fifth, sixth or seventh of the month of Sivan - the
third month. This year, on the Chabad calendar, Shavuot
is on 6 and 7 Sivan or May 12/13 - sunset May 11 to sunset
May 13).
The
Feast of Weeks/Feast of Harvest/Shavuot:
This day is
called "the festival without a date." It is a festival
of harvest. Of all of the Feasts of the Lord, this
day is the most mysterious.
Today it is
observed by the Jewish people for two days - and this
year, June 12 and June 13 are those two days.
"The Book of
Exodus 23;16 designates it as "hag HaKatzir" - the Festival of
the Harvest...The Book of Numbers 28:26 designates it as "Hag
HaBikkurim" - the Festival of the First Fruits." It is
commonly known as Shavuot.
The Chabad
calendar shows the first day of counting of the Omer on the
evening of 15 Nisan, April 23.
The 'counting of
the Omer is a 50 day period between Passover and
Shavuot. When the omer or "sheaf" (measure of grain)
barley offering was brought to the Temple on the second day of
Passover "from the day after the Sabbath..you are to count off
seven full weeks. You shall count off fifty days until
the day after the seventh Sabbath. and then present an
offering of new grain to the Lord. Leviticus
23:15-16.
At the
completion of the count, a new grain offering was made to the
Lord. This was a sacred/holy assembly and they were to
do no work. The priest was to bring two loaves of bread
each baked with leaven as the firstfruits to
the Lord. They were also to present lambs, a bull, rams,
etc to the Lord as an offering made by fire.
After the barley
harvest, "the grain ripened 50 days later, thus the
beginning of the harvest was marked on Shavuot with the
offering of the first fruits. This concluded
the celebration of the grain harvest, which had begun on the
second day of Passover."
"Two distinct
biblical Shavuot rituals were given symbolic expression.
The first ritual provided for the bringing of the wave loaves
of bread ("lechem tenufah") which was baked from the new crop
of wheat (Leviticus 23:17). The second ritual was the
bikkurim, the choicest first fruits, which were required to be
brought to the Sanctuary beginning with Shavuot."
(Deuteronomy 26:3)
"In the course
of time, a new theme was added to Shavuot, namely the
commemoration of the giving of the Torah on Mount
Sinai." "After the destruction of the Second
Temple by the Romans in the year 70 CE, sacrificial rites and
the bikkurim ritual involving bringing first fruits to the
Temple were abolished....The earliest source to indicate a
link between Shavuot and the Sinai experience was
post-biblical Book of Jubilees."
Shavuot
History: From the Bible to Temple Times | My Jewish Learning
Counting
the Omer:
I have often
wondered, what was the Omer counting to? Why was there
even a 'count'. This is not explained to the Jewish
people. It just takes them to another
harvest/firstfruits for the Lord. Did it count to Jesus'
Ascension or did it count to the arrival of the Holy
Spirit? There was no specific date given like for
the Feast of Trumpets - the first day of the seventh month.
IF Shavuot was
the day of Jesus' Ascension - the Omer was counting the days
to Jesus's Ascension - to the day of the "taking of
Jesus into heaven". To my mind, this should be a "Feast
of the Lord" BIG deal! (Leaving Acts Pentecost for Feast
of New Wine.)
Gary Stearman of
"Prophecy Watchers" wrote in his 5.2024 article "The Annual
Pentecost Watch", "Jesus rose before their wondering eyes,
received into a "cloud". Many believe that this even
foreshadows the moment that Christians shall be caught up to
be with Him."
When Jesus gave
the parable of the harvest - the good wheat and the tares -
his disciples knew about the Festival of Weeks/Festival of
Harvest.
It seems that no
one really knows how to count the fifty days - 'the
directions' are a bit confusing and the Jewish people ended
the counting back when the Second Temple was
destroyed.
The precise
timing of this Feast Day is a bit of a mystery - it was not on
a fixed date. But where to start the count?
Decorating
the Bride, The Sky is Opened Briefly, the Trumpet Voice of
God:
There is a
Jewish tradition on Shavuot - and that is a ceremony called
"decorating the bride". This is a celebration of the
covenant between God and Israel - a wedding "with God as the
groom, the Jewish people as the bride and the Torah as the
wedding contract."
Shavuot: The
Basics - 18Doors
Also, on Shavuot
- some Jews stay up all night and read from the Torah.
Their is a custom in Kabbalah that teaches "that the skies
open up during this night for a brief instant."
Kabballists also see "Shavuot as the wedding of God and
Israel" and they "stay up all night to "decorate the bride".
Why Do
We Stay Up on Shavuot? MNJCC Tikkun Leil Shavuot 2016
This opening of
the skies for an instant looks like the Rapture - when
Believers ascent up into a cloud.
Gary Stearman
wrote that "Most remarkably, it is a type of catching-away of
the Church." The two loaves waved before the Lord are
leavened - that represents the Gentile Church - the Church is
the bride. On Shavuot, the Jewish people "commemorate
the symbolism of the marriage between God, the Groom, and
Israel, the bride,. They view Mt. Sinai as an enormous
ketubah, or weeding canopy. The two tablets of the Law
that Moses brought down from the mountain represent the
marriage contract." From Passover to Shavuot became "the
time of God's courtship with Israel". Thus Shavuot
became the marriage day. This day "pictures the catching
away of the bride more clearly than any other festival."
Also, there was
a trumpet heard at Mt. Sinai - this was God's voice.
Jews believe that this was the first mention of a 'trumpet
blast' in the Torah. In I Thessalonians 4:16 "For the
Lord himself shall descent from heaven with a shoult, with the
voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the
dead in Christ shall rise first." Is that 'trump of God'
actually God's voice as was heard at Mt. Sinai? At Mt.
Sinai the people were so afraid of God's voice.."And all the
people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise
of the trumpet (loud blast of the ram's horn) and
the mountain smoking, and when the people saw it they removed
and stood afar off. And they said to Moses, "You speak
with us, and we will hear, but let not God speak with us, lest
we die." Exodus 20:18-19
The "noise of
the trumpet" was the voice of God - is this the "trump of God"
in I Thess - at the Rapture? Will this 'trumpet' of God
occur on some Shavuot in the future? Will the first and
last 'trumpet blasts' occur on the same day - Shavuot?
The
Firstfruits Order:
Jesus was the
firstfruits of those risen from the dead. He rose on the
Feast of Firstfruits. In I Corinithians 15:20-24 we are
told about an order to the resurrections. Christ first -
"after they that are Christ's at His coming."
1 Corinthians
15:20 - 23: "But Christ has indeed been raised
from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen
asleep. For since by man came death, by man
also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam
all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But
every man in his own order: Christ the
firstfruits, afterward they that are Christ's at His coming."
I have written
before about Gary's thoughts on what Paul wrote:
Paul - was
"an Israelite of the tribe of Benjamin, had been schooled in
the Scriptures at the feet of Gamaliel. Without a doubt,
he was intimately aware of the tiniest details of the Jewish
calendar. Therefore, when he speaks of Christ
as the "firstfruits" in the context of an order of
events, he knows that the next event in
that order is Pentecost (Feast of Weeks/Feast of
Harvest/Shavuot). But of course, this was NOT
the Pentecost at which the Holy Spirit was given to the infant
Church. No, that signal event had already taken place
over twenty-five years before Paul wrote these words. He
must be referring to a future Pentecost which would conclude
the harvest - Christ's resurrection being the "firstfuits"
and our resurrection coming at the end of the harvest.
Might this possibly occur on a future Pentecost (Feast of
Weeks, Feast of Harvest/Shavuot)?" When Paul
used the word "order he intended the reader to see the order
of the Jewish festival cycle. It is at least
possible he was suggesting that the resurrection could take
place on a future Pentecost (Feast of Weeks, Feast
of Harvest/Shavuot)."
Gary referred to
the Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible, "The Church
Fathers highly regarded Pentecost (Shavuot)...Many expected
because the Ascension had taken place near Pentecost, that
Christ would return in the same season." "Pentecost was
a time of expectation for the early Church. They felt
that Christ might come for His own during this period.
Why did they believe this? Was it because of its
closeness to the time of the Ascension, or was it because of
something else they had been taught."
Were they taught
that Jesus' Ascension took place on Shavuot??
Spring
Rapture and Micah:
Gary wrote,
"Biblically, the spring harvest is often seen to typify the
"harvest" or catching-away of the church." As we have
seen, this is the season when grain and fruit crops come to
maturity." The summer solstice occurs on Thursday June
20 in Jerusalem. So spring officially ends with the summer
solstice. So a Spring Rapture would be before June 20,
2024.
I have written
about the prophet Micah many times before - he goes out to
gather the summer fruits - but there are none. And the
goodmen have
perished out of the
Earth. The Hebrew word for 'perished' is abad - it can
also mean "to make vanish".
Strong's Hebrew:
6. אָבַד (abad) -- to perish
Micah goes on to
describe a post-Rapture world. And it happened end of
Spring, early Summer.
Gary and
Micah 7:4:
In Gary's
article he wrote about Micah 7:4 - "the day of thy watchmen
and thy visitation cometh; now shall be their
perplexity." What is this visitation? Jewish
translations of this verse often say, "The day of your
visitation from the north has come."
The Jerusalem
Bible translates Micah 7:4 as "...among them, the best is like
a briar, the most honest a hedge of thorn. Today will
come their ordeal from the North, now is the time for their
confusion."
Micah - Jerusalem
bibleJerusalem bible
Gary went on
"Because of this fact, some ancient Jewish expositions of this
passage link it with Ezekiel's prophecy of Gog's invasion of
Israel. This interpretation stems from the fact that the
word "watchman" in Hebrew contains the root word for "north"
or "northern". Thus "watchman", is built around a word
which carries the meaning of both "watch' and "north."
Hence, ancient expositors see in this verse an invasion from
the north. One of the most graphic of all latter-day
prophecies is Ezekiel's narrative of God's invasion of
Israel. It comes form the north."
"What makes
Micah's prophecy most interesting of course, is that it links
the rapture of the Church with Ezekiel's prophecy of the
northern invasion. First, there is the gathering up of
the fruitful righteous. They are "made to vanish" from
the face of the earth. Then comes a time of horror when
Israel realizes that she is wouthout friends upon earth.
Israel's difficulties begin in earnest, as society becomes
totally degenerate....the sequence begins at the summer
harvest."
We Are
Approaching The End of Spring, Song of Solomon, Ruth and
Boaz:
Jesus tells us
that when "these things begin to come to pass, then
look up and lift up your heads" - why?
Because the Believers will rise up into the clouds like Jesus
did on His Ascension Day? Then Jesus says that we will
know "that summer is now at hand. So likewise ye, when
ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of
God is nigh at hand." Luke 21:28-32
Many people look
to the Song of Solomon as pointing to a Spring Rapture.
And then there is Ruth, the Gentile bride of the Jewish Boaz -
Ruth went to the lie at Boaz's feet on the night of Shavuot -
the Festival of Harvest. Both of these Books point to a
Spring Rapture.
Conclusion:
Gary summed
Shavuot up with this: "It is associated with harvest,
marriage, and the taking of a Gentile bride. Its date is
variable, picturing the unpredictability of Christ's coming
for His own." It's also associated with the 'opening of
the sky for a brief instant' and it comes before Micah's
goodmen of the earth that have been snatched away.
Gary ended his
article with this: The Rapture..."will be the biggest
historical event since the Lord's own ascension into the
heavens. And it will certainly be the trigger that sets
in motion an increasingly cataclysmic series of judgments."
Aaron on God A
Minute Youtube channel has presented several very interesting
videos on Feast of Firstfruits (Shavuot) - he's even done his
own calculation for this date as June 16th - Father's
Day. But he said June 23rd could possibly be this day -
depending on how one starts the count. This might be the
year of the Rapture - He sees Feast of Weeks as EXTRA special.
run time 16:34
run time 12:44
Again, I
want to emphasize how important the harvest seasons are
prophetically.
Whether or not
Ascension Day took place on Shavuot - does not diminish
anything above that is written about Shavuot being a high
possibility for the Rapture - certainly a High Watch Day imo.
My next High
Watch Day would be Feast of New Wine (what some consider to be
the Acts 2 Pentecost.
Pray for the
peace of Jerusalem~
Maranatha~
Chance
The below linked
letter has several calendars with dates - there are only two
which still have future Shavuot dates -
The Creator's
Calendar has Feast of Weeks/Shavuot: June 29/30 - (this
is past the Summer Solstice so no longer Spring)
Chabad
Calendar has Feast of Weeks: June 11 -13 (this
is Spring still) And it's the days Israel will
celebrate Shavuot.
Aaron's
calculations April 16 or April 23. April 16 is still
Spring)