Hello
John and Doves,
In
this letter I look at what we know about Ascension Day and
my thoughts on it being the Feast of Harvest and a possible
Rapture day. And I look at the grain and fruit
harvests of Israel. And I include a list of calendars
and specific dates. I do not know which calendar is
correct.
When is
Ascension Day?
In
Acts 1:3, Luke tells us that after Jesus' resurrection, "He
presented Himself to them (the apostles He had chosen) and
He proved to them that he was alive. "appearing to
them over a period of forty days."
There
are different translations concerning this 'forty days' -
"for forty days", "by the space of forty days", "during
forty days", "over a period of forty days", "over a span of
forty days"
The Greek word 'oi' is used 11 times
in the book of Acts. With various translations: 'by',
'through' being the most common. Even in the book of
Romans, this word is often translated as 'through",
'by'. So, 'by forty days', 'through forty days'.
So, it looks like His apostles saw
Jesus 'through' a forty day period. But when did those
forty days really start?
The traditional count starts with
Resurrection Sunday:
"Beginning on Resurrection Sunday,
He "showed Himself alive by many infallible proofs"
Acts 1:3 The first time was to the disciples when
Thomas wasn't with them. Eight days later, Thomas was
with the disciples and Jesus appeared. And the third
time He appeared to them was when Peter and 6 other
disciples were fishing in Galilee. John 21:14 says
Jesus showed Himself to His disciples the third time
then. Afterwards Jesus met them on the mountain in
Galilee. (Jesus met with His half-brother James after
the mountain visitation.) Then He met once more with
the all the apostles as told in Acts 1. Just before
His Ascension.
So, on the evening of Resurrection
Day, He met with the ten disciples (minus Thomas), then He
met with the eleven (including Thomas) then He met with 7
disciples when they were fishing, then He met the disciples
and many others on the mountain in Galilee, then He me with
James. And His final visitation was just before His
Ascension on the Mount of Olives.
This occurred over a period of 40
days.
When Does the Forty Day
Count Start:
But - is the day of the Resurrection
really the start of the forty days? I do not believe
that it is. I have two main reasons for questioning
this traditional count.
1) The Ascension of the Son
of God is a BIG deal. It's not some random thing that
happened on some day. It's part of the story of Jesus;
it's part of the story of Salvation; it's part of the
Redemption story - from His death as the Passover lamb
(Feast of Passover), to His lying in the tomb as Unleavened
Bread (Feast of Unleavened Bread), to His resurrection as
the Firstfruits (Feast of Firstfruits) of those that had
died; and His bodily Ascension as a Harvest/Rapture (Feast
of Harvest/Shavuot). Jesus was the firstfruits of the
barley and the wheat harvests - Feast of Firstfruits and
Feast of Harvest. Fulfilling the first four Feasts of
the Lord on the exact appointed days. The Lord's Feast
Days tell the story of Redemption - from Jesus' shed blood
to His return, the Great Judgment and the holy journey to
worship the Lord in Jerusalem every year on Feast of
Tabernacles during the thousand years of peace. The
alpha and omega - the beginning and the end.
Gary Stearman wrote, "In the Jewish
calendar, the Feast of Weeks is the festival of the harvest,
which is always a metaphor of souls saved and brought into
the household of God." Jesus ascended into the
household of God. ("The Annual Pentecost Watch" by
Gary Stearman, Prophecy Watchers magazine May, 2024)
Is this a shadow of the Rapture?
It was an appointed day - a day I
believe that was prophesied in the Festivals of the Lord
given in Leviticus 23. After Jesus fulfilled Passover,
Feast of Unleavened Bread, Feast of Firstfruits, the next
would be Feast of Weeks (Shavuot).
2) Luke tells us that on Ascension
Day, the people that witnessed Jesus' ascension were a
"sabbath's day's journey" from Jerusalem. In Acts
1:12 "Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the mount
called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem a sabbath's day
journey."
Luke included this note about 'a
sabbath's day journey' because according to Jewish Law on
a Shabbat OR a High Holy Day/Feast of the Lord, Jews were
limited in how far they could travel. Could Luke
have been referring to a Sabbath day when he noted the
distance the people had to walk to return to
Jerusalem? Yes, but - through out the book of Acts
and Luke, Luke notes Sabbath days - Acts 16:13 "On
the Sabbath we went out the city gate..." Luke 6:7
"The Pharisees and the teachers of the law...watched Him
closely to see if he would heal on the Sabbath."
Luke 6:1 "On Sabbath Jesus was going through the
grainfields..." Luke 4:31 "The He went
down to Capernaum, a town in Galilee, and on the Sabbath,
He taught the people." Luke 14:1 "One Sabbath, when
Jesus went to eat in the house..." Acts 17:2
"...Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath
days he reasoned....." Luke 6:6 "On another
Sabbath He went into the synagogue.." Acts
13:42 "...the people invited them to speak further
about these things on the next Sabbath." Luke
13:10 "On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching..."
Luke 23:54 "It was Preparation Day, and the
Sabbath was about to begin." Acts 18:4 "Every
Sabbath He reasoned in the synagogue..." Acts 13:44
"On the next Sabbath almost the whole city..." Acts
13:14 "On the Sabbath they entered the
synagogue..."
It's quite apparent that Luke was
very mindful of the Sabbath days - reporting them in his
accounts of the events he knew about. If the the
Ascension had occurred on a Sabbath Day there is little
doubt that Luke would have recorded it as a
"Sabbath". He did not - so to mention that the Jews
were following the Jewish travel law - the only other
choice is this was on a Feast of the Lord - and the Feast
following Feast of Firstfruits is Feast of Weeks
(Shavuot).
IF Jesus ascended on Shavuot/Feast
of Weeks (also known as Feast of Harvest) then Pentecost -
the giving of the Holy Spirit came later. And this
seems to hold true as Peter talked about the men not being
drunk on new wine as it was too early in the day to be
drunk - the wine had just been put in jugs/vats after the
beginning of the grape harvest = new wine. The grape
harvest started in June in Israel.
The Prophet Micah may have given
us a clue to the timing of the Rapture - look to the times
of the harvest of the fruits - "Woe is me! For I am
like one gathering summer fruit at the gleaning
of the vineyard; there is no cluster to eat, no early
fig that I crave. The godly man has been
snatched from the earth..." The fig harvest starts
in August - Micah 7: 1 -2 IF this refers to the
Rapture - it happened before Micah went to look for grapes
and early figs in August.
For the grain offering during the
Feast of Weeks or Feast of Harvest, wheat was harvested
during the "end of April to the end of May" and from it
the two loaves could be presented to the Lord.
Harvest
Seasons of Ancient Israel - GCI Archive
In Deuteronomy 16:9,10:
"Seven weeks shalt thou number unto thee: begin to
number the seven weeks from such time as thou beginnest to
put the sickle to the grain. And thou shalt keep the
feast of weeks unto the Lord they God..." They were
to begin to number the weeks when they began to "put the
sickle to the standing grain" - the barley.
"From the day after the Sabbath, the
day you brought the sheaf of the wave offering, 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.
This was in reference to the barley
for the sheaf/omer offering on Feast of Firstfruits.
The barley harvest began in late March/April.
Any late May to early June date for
the start of the wheat harvest would result in the first
fruits of the wheat harvest being baked into two loaves and
brought before the Lord. This is done at the start of
the harvest - Shavuot/Feast of Weeks/Feast of Harvest.
This needs to match up with the counting of the seven weeks
from the barley harvest.
Look for a date of Shavuot that
matches with the first gleanings of the wheat harvest - late
May, early June and the counting of the seven weeks.
Pentecost "floats" on the Jewish
calendar. It's called 'the festival without a
date'. Shavuot means "weeks".
A Few Possible Calendars:
On the Essenses Calendar,
Passover is April 1/2. Resurrection Day would have
been about April 16. Forty days later is May 26.
Second Passover is May 1/2. Pentecost
(Shavuot) is June 1/2 (15 Sivan)
Essene
Calendar
On the Torah Calendar,
Passover is March 24/25. Resurrection Day would
have been about March 27. Forty days later is May 6,
2024. May 6 has passed. Second Passover is April
22/23. Shavuot (Festival of Weeks) - Bikkurim
- First Fruits is May 14/15. Torah
Calendar
On the Creator's Calendar,
Passover is May 6/7. Resurrection Day would be May 9,
forty days later is June 18. Second Passover is June
5/6. The traditional Feast of Weeks is
June 29/30.
Spring
2024 - 2025 - The Creators Calendar
How does anyone know without any
doubt which calendar is correct - if any of these? There
have been many letters to Doves on which calendar is the
correct calendar.
Forty days after the April 8 total
solar eclipse is May 18. We know this with a simple
calculation. It is the day before Pentecost on the
Christian calendar. It could be the end of a forty day
warning for the U.S. Will the Believers see judgement
on America? Will our Rapture day be after this - for
example on Jesus's Ascension Day/Shavuot?
Also, Gary Stearman wrote in his
article "The Annual Pentecost Watch" (referenced above),
"Jesus rose before their wondering eyes, received into a
"cloud". Many believe that this event
foreshadows the moment when Christians shall be caught up
to be with Him."
The Rapture, occurring on Feast of
Harvest, ascending into the clouds like Jesus, makes this
particular day a high watch date. And, to me, it makes
a lot of sense to have Jesus's Ascension on one of the
Lord's Feast Days. IF the Rapture is on Jesus'
Ascension Day and IF it is correct that He ascended on a
Feast Day - then the Rapture will occur on the Lord's
prophetic/appointed day list. That makes sense to my
finite thinking.
As shown with the calendars above
there is quite a bit of difference - take your pick for
dates. I'm looking at the harvest times to bring the
Feast Days into focus. And Ascension Day on Harvest
Day (Shavuot) at the wheat harvest in late May or
early June and Pentecost on the New Wine Harvest during the
grape harvest seems highly probable. The Essene date
of June 1/2 or the Chabad date of June 11/13 seem a better
fit for the start of the wheat harvest.
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem!
Maranatha!
Chance