Re: Garry B (17 May 2020)

Day of the Rapture is Found

 

Garry: 

 

You and others have consistently said that "the Feast of Pentecost has been fulfilled".   What if Pentecost has not been fulfilled?  What if Pentecost has two parts?  Our position in Christ has two parts.  So far, we have only received the "deposit" of the Holy Spirit at the first Pentecost.  But wait, does Paul not emphasize that part two will come as the redemption of the body.  Will that not complete the promise of the body of Christ?

 

Colossians 2:16, as you have noted,  is my point.  Go look at Moses' words spoken in Leviticus 23:10-11.    We will see "a shadow of things to come" in the priestly offering typologies.   Jesus confirms these types as comprising the redemption story. 

¹⁰ Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest:

¹¹ And he shall wave the sheaf before the Lord, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it.

What is the shadow?  The shadow is a metaphor.  The metaphor is the wave sheaf offering of grain.  The Temple priests were taking a sample of the harvest and waving it up to the Lord as thanks for the first fruits of the harvest looking forward to the full grain harvest 50 days later (Pentecost).  

 

What is the metaphor?  Is it the grain seed represented by Christ?  Is it not His resurrection? 

 

 Jesus said, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.  (John 12:24)    Jesus was the grain seed that had to die in order to produce much fruit.   What is much fruit?  Is it not the true Church, the body of Christ?

 

So, Jesus's resurrection was the shadow of things to come in the wave sheaf offering of first fruits at the festival of first fruits. He died once for all and all who believe on Him will have everlasting life in Him.  Jesus was resurrected on this festival day during the Feast of Unleavened bread.

 

Let's extend the concept and look for the shadow of things to come in the Pentecost harvest Feast.   Go to Leviticus 23:15-17.  We should be able to see "a shadow of things to come" again in this harvest typology.  These three verses speak to the Feast of Pentecost and the priestly duties on this day.

¹⁵ And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be complete:

¹⁶ Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the Lord.

¹⁷ Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals; they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baken with leaven; they are the firstfruits unto the Lord.

What is the shadow?  This time it is two loaves of bread which are the shadows.  What is the metaphor of the two loaves of bread waved up to the Lord?  Do we see the metaphor in the "coming down of the Holy Spirit".  No.  We are looking for a "lifting up" just as we saw in the first fruits "lifting up" wave sheaf offering.

 

What, then could represent the metaphor of the two loaves "going up" to the Lord?  Go look at 1 Corinthians 15:20-23

²⁰ But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.

²¹ For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.

²² For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

²³ But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming.

Paul tells us that there are "orders to the resurrection".  Three to be exact, but I will only focus on the first two here:  Christ and the Church.

 

Look at 1 Corinthians 15:51-52 and 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 below.  We should see two groups of believers in Christ.  These are "they that are Christ's at his coming" from verse 23 above.

⁵¹ Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,

⁵² 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.

¹⁶ For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:

¹⁷ Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

Do you see the two groups: (1) dead in Christ, and (2) the living in Christ?   Can you see the metaphor of the two loaves of bread which have originated from Christ's atoning death as the grain seed which would produce much fruit.  They are both "lifted up" to God, just like Jesus' lifting up at His resurrection.

 

One loaf of bread represents the resurrection of the dead in Christ and the other loaf represents the "catching out" of the living in Christ.  This is the second order of the first resurrection.   The resurrection/rapture prophecy is represented in the metaphor of the two loaf wave offering.

 

There are two parts to our redemption: (1) deposit of the Holy Spirit, (Ephesians 1:14) followed by (2) the redemption of our bodies.(Philippians 3:21)   The Holy Spirit "sealed us unto the day of redemption". (Ephesians 4:30)

 

Paul says in Romans 8:23: And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.

 

We await the final stage of Pentecostal fulfillment.  The Fall festivals are for the Jews and the ultimate formation and salvation of the nation of Remnant Israel during the seven years of Daniel's 70th week. (Revelation 12:17, 14:12, 20:4-5)

 

Blessings, Greg

 

P.S.  I know the basis of the belief that Pentecost was fulfilled at the giving of the law at Sinai and the giving of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.  

No, it was not.  Nothing could be farther from the truth.  Moses instructed Israel not to observe the Spring harvest feasts until they came into the Promised Land.  Moses says:

"Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall  bring a sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest unto the priest." (Leviticus 23:10)

Moses would not have violated God's timing commandment and celebrated a harvest feast in the wilderness.  If you want to make a comparison of the events surrounding the giving of the law, about 53 days into their wilderness wanderings, then you must consider Moses' final admonition to Israel before his death.  Moses said:

"I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:"

During the giving of the law, because of Israel's disobedience, about 3,000 were killed by the Lord.  At the 30 A.D. Pentecost about 3,000 were saved.  Paul makes this imminently clear.  He says in Galatians 3:13-14:

^"13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:

¹⁴ That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith."

Again in Romans 8:2-3 Paul says:

^"2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

³ For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:"

There was no Pentecost celebration associated with the giving of the law.  The law represents death and we have the proof  of 3,000 deaths. (Exodus 32:28)  The first Pentecost celebrated the feast of the harvest which looked forward the Sprit of life in Christ and ultimately the second order of the First Resurrection at Pentecost.  The Spirit of life in Christ represents eternal life and we have the proof of 3,000 believers being saved at the 30 A.D. Pentecost. (Acts 2:41)