"Absence of Proof is Not Proof of Absence -4"

All:

While it is my belief and educated contention that the Rapture will be Pre-Tribulational, just before or at the beginning of the Seven-Years or 70th Week of Daniel commences, I am regularly asked by church folks, how long before the beginning of the Tribulation, my answer is "minutes", perhaps a day or two, but I cannot be explicit. By that I mean I am inclined to, based upon Christ Jesus' fulfilling of the Spring Feasts (Festivals of the Lord), precisely to the day, hour, and minute, and thus I have no reason to believe otherwise, as to Christ Jesus' fulfilling of the Fall Feasts (Festivals of the Lord). Old time prophecy teacher Hilton Sutton had an expression, "as the bombs are descending, the saints will be ascending" and for what it is worth, it resonated with me.

The next Feast to occur is Pentecost, and according to Hebrew calendars, it will be June 5, 2014. The Christian community observe Pentecost on June 8, 2014.

The best evidence supports that the next significant event will occur on the Feast of Trumpets, also know as Rosh HaShanah. After all, it is called the "The day that no man can know" - "But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only." -(Matthew 24:36). In Hebrew parlance or under-standing this day is different from all other Feast Days of Leviticus 23:24. It is governed by the sighting of the "New Moon" over Jerusalem. All other Feast Days take place on a "full moon". The Feast of Trumpet is a two-day event and it is not known until the "new moon" crescent appears low in the sky over Jerusalem. A sliver of about 3-degrees is necessary to see it with the naked eye. However, today with computers, telescopes, satellites, it is virtually impossible not to predict the date. Simply meaning, you can't miss it.

In Biblical times the timing was anything but discernible because of an absence of technology. I have five different DVD series produced on this subject "Feasts of the Lord". They are all excellent, but the series produced by Mark Biltz is superb. Mark is the producer of the "Blood Red Moon" series, which I have not seen. When it was first released five or six years ago, it was incredibly inexpensive at $29.95. I have shown it dozens of times since at church and at home. I get chills every time I watch the set. This year Rosh HaShanah on the Hebrew calendar is September 25th and 26th. A point made by Mark Biltz, and it makes sense, is that the Feasts or Festivals are "Rehearsals" of the real thing and serve to remind the Jews of their significance.

I taught this series on the Feasts of the Lord in Leviticus 23 as "object lessons", the last thirty years in churches that I was resident pastor. I opened my message using a box of children's ABC blocks from my pulpit as an illustration of getting their attention. Just as ABC children's blocks teach by object lesson, the Feasts of the Lord, observed yearly, teach the Jews their agriculture calendar, but much more, pertaining to God's Plan for the World.

The point of this detail concerning Matthew 24:36 is is that when Jesus' disciples asked the Lord about when He was coming back, his answer was spot on. Every male Jew would know precisely what that statement meant. Matthew 24:36 is an "idiomatic" expression identifying when He was coming back for His Bride Church. Some 12 allusions or "idiomatic" expressions correspond to this particular day in Hebrew culture. The following is a list of the names, themes, or "idioms" for Rosh HaShanah:

                    1.    Teshuvah    (Repentance)
                    2.    Rosh HaShanah    (Head of the Year, Birthday of the World)
                    3.    Yom Teruah    (The Day of the Awakening Blast - Feast of Trumpets)
                    4.    Yom HaDin    (The Day of Judgment)
                    5.    HaMelch     (The Coronation of the King)
                    6.    Yom HaZikkaron     (The Day of Remembrance or memorial)
                    7.    The time of Jacob's (Ya'akov) trouble (the birthpangs of the Messiah, Chevlai shel Mashiach)
                    8.    The opening of the gates
                    9.    Kiddushin/Nesu'in (The Wedding Ceremony)
                    10. The resurrection of the dead (Rapture, Natzal)
                    11. The last trump (shofar)
                    12. Yom Hakeseh (The Hidden Day)

People that argue against the absurdity of the idea of a Rapture, often say you can't find the word "Rapture" in the Bible, and try to argue from the English reading of the text. Obviously, the Bible wasn't written first in English. The Greek word is "Harpazo" but it is also found in the Old Testament. The Hebrew word for Rapture is "Natzal" listed in point 10 above.

When you stop to analyze what I have just shared here, note the connections, the typology themes, concepts, ideas, and idiomatic expressions, it becomes blatantly clear how we in the western world, suffer from a cultural deprivation standpoint against the Hebrew world. There is tremendous value in gaining insight to the Hebrew Roots of our faith. I'm not saying at all that we have to become Jews in order to understand our roots. I am saying that we have been cheated out of much of our understanding of our faith when we become victims of "Replacement" Theology or "Supersessionism". I could share several pages, like a dozen, of info about each of these 12 points, that expands the depth and meaning of each. Collectively, they paint an expansive mural of God's plan of Redemption.

Do not misunderstand me on this point. The coming of the Lord Christ Jesus is presented in the New Testament as an "IMMINENT" hope and expectancy. That the coming of the Lord is "imminent" simply means that our Lord may come at any time. Nothing needs to be fulfilled before He comes. It may be today, and such an expectation is well supported by an abundance of Scripture.

It is extremely important to remember Jesus was speaking first and foremost to His followers. In Hebrew hermeneutics the text may have as many as four levels of understanding. The fourth level is known as the "sode" or prophetic meaning. Proverbs 25:2 reads, "It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honor of kings is to search out a matter."

In my 'Bible Understanding' series of posts I have not reached the point that explains the "PARDS", an acronym for Hebrew hermeneutics. The Proverbs 25:2 passage is a "hint" to us that God has seeded the text of the Holy Writ with what I refer to as "Diamonds & Nuggets".

When Rosh HaShanah rolls around every fall, I have heighten expectations. The Rapture is "imminent" for all believers despite that I have, and you now have, greater understanding and appreciation for this particular "Rehearsal" of what could and might be the day of your wedding! As I stated earlier about the precision by which Christ Jesus fulfilled the first or Spring Feasts, it becomes doubly important and predictive of my confidence level that the Lord will fulfill the latter or Fall Feasts with equal preciseness. I have five 3-ring binders on the "Theme of the Bride".

Are you aware that the Bible contains over 800 passages that refer to the "Theme of the Bride" found as early as Genesis and concludes in Revelation? I spent one entire year, ten hours a day, in my study of this topic. I conducted revival meetings and non-traditional evangelism services, doing free presentations of my seminar: "Mining the Diamonds and Nuggets of the Bible"

My approach or premise is built on the thinking that "information leads to transformation which in turn leads to incarnation". By the way, this idea is Biblical and not "allegorical" as so many have been duped into believing.

As I stated, we have an abundance of Scripture to hang our hats on that the Rapture is Imminent. That includes the belief that the Rapture will be Pre-Tribulational, not Mid-Trib, not late Pre-Wrath, and not Post Trib. The fact is what the title of this series states, "Absence of Proof is Not Proof of Absence". Remember, the Apostle Paul himself stated that the Rapture is a "Mystery".

Why do you think God said what He said in Proverbs 25:2? Did you expect God to state explicitly, "I'm going to Rapture you (the believer) on such and such a date, and I want you to pack your bags, and be at the station when the train comes in. Don't be late! You miss the train and your ticket is null and void - cancelled. In the mean time while you are sitting there counting on your fingers, saying to yourself, he didn't tell me it was going to be Pre-Trib or Pre-Wrath or Mid-Trib, or Post-Trib; what am I going to do; who should I believe; my pastor, those people over at the rapture bible prophecy forum; or C.I. Scofield, or Darby? Or maybe, I should dig into the Word for myself, and learn something besides the thought that it will all pan out!

As I stated we have an abundance of Scripture to hang our hats on that the Rapture is Imminent. I do not see a contradiction in "Imminence" and "Understanding of the Hebrew Idiomatic Expressions." There is so much to share and so little time to share it all. Let's look at the passages that speak to "Imminency":

1. John 14:1-3 - "And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself, that where I am, there ye may be also."

2. Romans 13:11 - "And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than we believed."

3. 1 Corinthians 1:7 - "So that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ."

4. 1 Corinthians 11:26 - "For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till He come."

5. 1 Corinthians 15:51-52 - "Behold I show you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed."

6. 1 Corinthians 16:22 - "If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema. Maranatha ("Our Lord Cometh!")."

7. Philippians 3:20 - "For our conservation (citizenship) is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Savior the Lord Jesus Christ."

8. Philippians 4:5 - "Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand."

9. Colossians 3:4 - "When Christ who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in Glory."

10. 1 Thessalonians 1:10 - "And to wait for His Son from heaven, whom we raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come."

11. 1 Thessalonians 4:17 - "Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and thus we shall always be with the Lord."

12. Hebrews 9:28 - "So Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appar a second time, apart from sin, for salvation."

13. Hebrews 10:25 - "Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching."

14. James 5:8 - "Be ye also patient, stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh."

15. 1 John 2:28; 3:3 - "And now, little children, abide in him, that, when He shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before Him at His coming..... And every man that hath this hope in the purifieth himself, even as He is pure."

16 Jude 21 - "Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life."

17. Revelation 22:20 - "He which testifieth these things saith, surely I will come quickly, Amen, Even so, come, Lord Jesus." This is also confirmed in Revelation 3:11; 22:7,12.

The above list of twenty passages quoted indicate, believers are to be constantly waiting and looking for and expecting His coming and His appearing. We are to look for and eagerly await the glorious appearing of our great God, even our savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. -(Titus 2:14) It is interesting that we are not to be looking for the man of sin (the adversary or the Antichrist) to be revealed. We are not told to be looking for the 144,000 Jewish evangelists that will be sealed by God during this time of Daniel's 70th Week. We are not to be looking for "The Abomination of Desolation" to be set up in Jerusalem. This fact is overwhelmingly obvious to those of us who believe in the Pre-Tribulation Rapture!

We are told to be looking for Christ Jesus Himself. I am reminded of something that came to mind. As a young teengager of 13 and 14 I would get to travel to my aunt and uncle's home in Indianapolis, Indiana for my Christmas vacation. My dad would drop me off at the Pennsylvania Railroad station in Pittsburgh on his way to work in the morning. I would get my ticket and then went out onto the platform area of the station. I would peer into the distant early morning fog and station steam to watch with excitement for the headlight of the locomotives as the train would snake its ways through the station's approach tracks. I could see for nearly a mile before the train came into its spot for unboarding/boarding of passengers. In those moments, I knew I would be off on a 400 mile train ride and a boy's day of fun, riding all alone by myself.

None of the Tribulation events will take place prior to the removal of the church, otherwise the Rapture would not be "imminent". If the Rapture were not to take place until some time during the last 3-1/2 years (as the Pre-Wrath and Mid-Trib view contends), then this would destroy the doctrine of an imminent return of Christ Jesus. We would know that before the Rapture could take place, the Treaty (Covenant) would need to be made with Israel at the beginning of Daniel's 70th Week (Daiel 9:27) and "Abomination of Desolation would need to be set up at the middle of Daniel's 70th Week -(Matthew 24:15). We would look for these events to happen before we could even begin to expect Jesus Christ to come back for His church.

Was Paul looking for the "Imminent" return of Christ? Paul expected that Christ would come for him because he considered himself to be part of the growing group that would be alive on Earth at the time of the Rapture. Notice Paul includes himself by using the personal pronoun "WE" - "WE which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent (precede) them which are asleep.." "The WE which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air..." -(1 Thessalonians 4:15,17). Of course we now know that Paul was not part of the group mentioned in verse 16 (also described as "them who are asleep" -vs 15). But because of his belief in the iminent return of Jesus Christ, Paul believed he might be found among the believers living on Earth at the time of the Lord's coming for His church.

Notice also Paul's use of the pronoun "WE" in 1 Corinthians 15:51-52, "Behold I show you a mystery, WE shall not all sleep, but WE shall be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and WE shall be changed." Notice that church age believers are divided into two groups: 1. The dead that shall be raised and 2. Those alive at Christ's coming who will not sleep (who will not die physically) but who will be changed. Paul believed he might be part of this second group, although we now know that Paul was actually part of the first group. Paul, living in the first century, expected that he might be among the generation of believers who would not see physical death. How much more ought we to have this blessed expectation.

In my next post on this series we will look at some 200+ passages that can be examined under the premise of God's words of Proverbs 25:2.

That passage of Proverbs 25:2, is confirmation that Scripture has more in it, that is not said, yet just as important as what is said. If you choose to be a person of myopic vision, then God will facilitate that perception. However, if you choose to be a person that believes the Bible contains "diamonds and nuggets' for you to discover, you are bound to have your eyes opened to evidence that produces a different verdict!

To be ready, just in case, mark your calendar for September 25/26th, 2014. I am not saying that this is the date of the Pre-Tribulation Rapture, but it has a lot of Biblical evidence supporting it. Never forget that "Absence of Proof is NOT Proof of Absence!

God bless,

Pastor Bob