Keeping in mind that acknowledged distinctions (like the church and the nation Israel) and legitimate differences do indeed exist in the scriptures, we recall Paul made it abundantly clear that John was specifically assigned by our Lord as an apostle to the circumcised (congregations of Jewish believers).  During John’s commission, the same Lord expressly assigned Paul as an apostle to the gentiles (Gal. 2:9).  The implication of this difference in assignments means that John’s biblical writings were intended for Jewish believers and their congregations—writings that include The Revelation.

DIASOPRAL JEWISH BELIEVRS IN THE BOOK OF REVELATION

Without going into all the technical interpretative details, it can be shown, quite compellingly, that Jesus’ letter to His messenger at Sardis (Rev. 3:1-6) was intended for a Jewish leader of a messianic congregation in the present generation.  In addition, a portion of the letter was addressed to discerning ‘overcomers’ who are Jewish believers that will live through the tribulation.  Hence, the letter is for the rapture/tribulation generation of Jewish believers in the Diaspora—a portion of that generation belongs to Jesus’ church while the other portion is composed of Jewish believers that will enter alive His messianic kingdom.

The reason for focusing on the Sardian letter is that the messenger is told to “wake up” twice—not a command intended for one spiritually dead—confirming the letter was, and is, written prophetically to a believer.  The consequence of any church believer remaining “dead” is that he will not know the hour that Jesus is coming for him at the rapture (Rev. 3:3).

Two points are critical here: one, Jesus suggested clearly and unequivocally by implication that He intended His church to know the “hour” of the rapture; and two, the word “hour,” in context (cf. Rev. 3:10) cannot mean a literal, 60-minute time interval.  If such a time interval were intended in Revelation, it would contradict Jesus’ own words in His Olivet Discourse (Matt. 24:44).

TIMING OF JESUS’ SECOND COMING: THE AGREEMENT OF TWO PROPHETS

Jesus, the New Testament prophet

The chilling suggestion Jesus made in Rev. 3:3 was that a believer’s undiscerning state of spiritual unresponsiveness (Jesus referred to the state as being “dead”) would result in ignorance about the timing of the rapture.  Could it be that all the conflicting views about the rapture’s timing exist because of such a state permeating the believing population?

Nevertheless, Rev. 3:3 makes it patently obvious that Jesus expected His church saints to know the hour of His coming for them in the rapture.  Further, He used the term “hour” in such a way that a general period of time was indicated, and not a specific moment.

Acknowledging this leads us to our Lord’s prophetic discourse with four of His disciples just days before His death.  His disciples asked, “. . . what will be the sign . . . for the end of the age?” (Matt. 24:3).  Jesus answered this query by telling a parable—the parable of the fig tree.

In the parable, the fig tree was a symbol for Israel’s Levitical priesthood.  Moreover, Jesus related that within the generation that saw Israel’s priesthood reviving, He would return to earth to inaugurate His messianic kingdom.  His return is commonly referred to as His second coming, or the second advent.

Now priests began serving when they reached thirty years of age.  For example, Jesus began His public ministry (a high priest of the Melchizedekian order) at about thirty years of age.  By the time of Moses, a biblical generation had become (and still remains) about seventy years long (Ps. 90:10).  So from the year of Levitical-priesthood revival to the end of that generation—i.e., the year of Jesus’ second coming—would be the generation’s 70-year life-span less the thirty years for its priests to come of age, or about forty years.

Much convincing evidence exists establishing that the Levitical priesthood was revived in Israel in 1978.  So if our analysis is correct, one might look for Jesus’ second coming forty years after 1978, or in the year 2018.

Moses, the Old Testament prophet

One of any Jewish year’s final Torah readings covers a most revealing prophetic portion from Deuteronomy, particularly Deut. 29:22-30:14. The subject of this prophecy is the land, aka Palestine.

In this reading, Moses predicted seven things about the land. Moses
1. highlighted a specific future generation of exiled Jews,
2. referred to “the foreigner who comes from a distant land” that likely would have administrative responsibility for the land,
3. revealed the condition of the land as a “waste,”
4. stated that a nations-wide awareness prevailed regarding the land’s horrible waste condition,
5. identified to the international community of inquisitive theologues that the cause of Palestine’s waste condition was religious,
6. said the land would be bereft up to a specific day, “this day,” of that specific future Jewish generation which he had just highlighted (the very day including every just-described condition inured), and
7. disclosed that God would keep secret from the Jews His role in land matters between the Jews’ exile from the land and their restoration to the land. (Note: God revealed some of His land plans in portions of the New Testament.)

From recent secular history, we may identify when that future generation of exiled Jews, which Moses highlighted, ended. The end-date for that generation was May 14, 1948 when the Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel became effective.  (The beginning date for that generation would have been around 1878, using the 70-year length for a generation’s life-span.)

The reason for the May 14 end-date of that generation is that the next day, May 15, 1948, the resident foreigner went back to his distant land because his administration of the land had ended. Also, immigrant Jews from many nations began to return from God’s exile to take up residence in, as well as administration of, the land. So Moses’ somewhat detailed seven-point description about the land projected until “this day” no longer held true after May 14, 1948; that’s why we may understand that generation came to an end on the day of May 14.

Further, from recent history, the “foreigner who comes from a distant land” was the British who administered the land under the Palestine Mandate from April 1922 until May 14, 1948. The venue for the nations’-wide attention to Palestine was first the League of Nations, succeeded by the United Nations. The condition of the land had been described in the Palestine Mandate, Article Six, as “waste,” as well as in a status report from British land administrators to the Council of the League of Nations.

Finally, the New Testament revealed the secret kept from Moses’ generation.  Jesus announced a time when worship from the Father’s true worshippers would not be land related (John 4:21-24).  However, when Jewish land administration was restored in 1948, a new Jewish generation that would eventually enjoy spiritual revival for all its living members and restoration of God’s kingdom administration before that new generation’s end-date of 2018.

For further insight, we note an event that some from the new Jewish generation will experience “after many days” of a certain year, “in the latter years” of that new generation. A Russian coalition led by its president will invade the land. The description of the event, the land, and its inhabitants is as follows: “. . . the land that is restored from the sword, whose inhabitants [per the NASB] have been gathered from many nations to the mountains of Israel [formerly, Palestine] which had been [emphasis mine, implying "no longer is"] a continual waste; but its people were brought out from the nations, and they are living securely [in the land], all of them” (Ezek. 38:8). This description fits precisely the generation that we concluded from Moses’ prophecy began on May 15, 1948, and that will end 70 years later, in 2018.

Both Moses’ prophecy and Ezekiel’s above-cited prophecy (Ezek. 38:1-39:29) about the land and the land’s inhabitants of the generation begun in 1948, harmonize perfectly by each closing with the prediction of complete restoration of the Jews to the land and their inauguration into New Covenant living. The Jewish generation beginning in 2018 will be born as citizens of the messianic kingdom under Jesus’ rule. Jesus and Moses each predicted—using different, verifiable historical markers—that His [second] coming would take place in the year 2018. God’s two great prophets were in agreement.

What seems providential is that the Torah portion from which teaching takes place on September 8, 2007 is actually “after many days” of the Hebrew year 5767 (Gregorian-calender year 2007)—almost at year’s end, in fact—and “in the latter years” of that 1948 generation—in the 59th year to be exact (cf. Ezek. 38:8). Perhaps within days of the Torah reading, Putin might lead Russia, Iran and a few other nations in battle array on the mountains of Israel.

God will likely restore administration of His kingdom to Israel sometime near the battle’s-end of the invasion event (cf. Ezek. 39:7). The church’s administration of the kingdom will be terminated by the rapture. All this could happen around Sept. 13-14, at the Feast of Trumpets. So stay close to your young children or grandchildren on the Feast days (aka Rosh Hashanah), particularly at the moments when the last trumpets sound in Jerusalem.

We will now explore further the timing between Jesus’ second coming and the rapture of His church.

TIMING OF THE RAPTURE

The most direct way to determine the “hour” of the rapture that Jesus referred to in Rev. 3:3 is to construct a schedule highlighting some of the occurrences culminating in the year 2018 with His second coming. The following tentative schedule on the next page places in proper sequence some of the biblical events with their respective beginnings and endings that will transpire leading up to Christ’s return:

• Fall 2007, the Russian coalition that invaded Israel is defeated by God (Himself), the church is raptured on Rosh Hashana (the “hour” of the rapture), a spiritual revival breaks out in Israel among Jews that recognize Jesus of Nazareth as Israel’s Messiah and Savior, the believing remnant accepts the New Testament scriptures as the authentic Word of God, God restores kingdom administration to Israel, and Israel begins seven months of burying coalition dead.
• Spring 2008, burying of dead coalition forces is completed, and seven years begin for the burning of coalition weapons left in Israel.
• Fall 2011, the seventieth week of Daniel begins (aka the tribulation), and 144,000 Jews are sealed to begin fulfillment of the Great Commission.
• Spring 2015, burning of the weapons is completed, the great tribulation begins, and Jews flee Jerusalem when the abomination of desolation stands in the holy place of the rebuilt temple.
• Fall 2018, the sign of the Son of Man appears in the sky, Jews in Iraq flee, the great tribulation and the Great Commission are completed, and Christ returns on Sukkot.

TWO VITAL QUESTIONS

At this juncture, two critically important questions must be answered.  One, “Why has God elected to keep the exact day and hour of the rapture a secret?”  And two, “How has God arranged to keep the day and hour secret if His Word suggests the rapture might occur on Rosh Hashana 2007?”

QUESTION ONE ANSWERED

Jesus revealed that no one except the Father, not even the angels of heaven, would know the precise 24-hour day and 60-minute hour of the rapture (Matt. 24:36-44).  At the rapture, Satan is one of the angels of heaven.  Jesus explained the reason behind keeping the rapture a secret from Satan by using a one-sentence common-sense illustration about “the head of the house.”

Jesus’ illustration revealed that if Satan (the “head of the house”) were to know the precise moment of the rapture, he would be on the alert and take steps to prevent Jesus (the One coming unexpectedly, like a thief in the night) from breaking into his house.  Since the rapture is an intricate event that will take place simultaneously for resurrected and living saints world-wide at the same instant, it would not take much on Satan’s part to disrupt the maneuver—much like he did in the disputation with Michael over the disposition of Moses’ body.

Moreover, the rapture establishes at least three things.  One, Satan’s remaining time in heaven suddenly becomes quite short—something Satan would strive mightily to deter since his domain will become sharply constricted to earth and then finally to the abyss for the millennium.

Two, Jesus breaks into Satan’s “house,” or space, proving a great embarrassment for him as a ruling sovereign.  Remember, Satan is the prince of the power of the air—the exact location where the rapturees are scheduled to assemble, demonstrating to all creation Satan’s utter inadequacy as a prince.

And three, resurrection of deceased church saints, and God’s bestowal of immortality upon living believers without them undergoing physical death, prove, in a very public fashion, Satan’s complete impotence since he is the one having the power of death.

Recall that Satan took definite and overt steps to interfere with Christ’s birth, His babyhood, and the initiation of His public ministry in Israel.  So it is well within the nature and character of Satan to attempt obstructions and interferences with God’s plans for removing His Son’s bride from earth.  However, with respect to the rapture, God has chosen to counter any such satanic attempts to interfere by simply keeping the event’s timing a complete secret.  No leaks!  And that is why we—and even the angels of heaven—are kept ignorant of the exact day and hour of the rapture.  

QUESTION TWO ANSWERED

If the rapture were to occur on Rosh Hashana 2007, wouldn’t Satan know the exact day thereby thwarting God’s secrecy plan?  Interestingly, the answer is Satan would still not know the exact day.  Here is why.

In his classic treatment of biblical prophecy, messianic Jewish scholar, teacher, and author Dr. Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum convincingly argued the rapture “. . . will be the fulfillment of the Feast of Trumpets” (Fruchtenbaum, Arnold G., The Footsteps of the Messiah. Tustin, California: Ariel Ministries Press, 1983. 101).  A decade-and-a-half after Dr. Fruchtenbaum’s exhaustive tome was published, Dorothy A. Miller provided the uninformed with an informative chapter about the feast of the trumpets (Miller, D.A., Forbidden Knowledge, Or Is It? updated expanded ed., Fountain Valley, California: Joy Publishing, 1998. 89-99).  Miller enlightened us: “Today, this feast is called Rosh HaShanah [Hashana] by the Jews” (Miller, p. 89).

But that was not all.  Miller also informed us that, “. . . the Jews attached an additional day of observance to this feast” (Miller, p. 89).  Hence, Rosh Hashana 2007 (the Feast of Trumpets) will actually take place on two consecutive days—September 13 and 14—in the year 2007.  Furthermore, the “last trump” that the apostle Paul referred to as an integral part of the rapture event (1 Cor. 15:42) will be sounded in Jerusalem’s several synagogues at various hours on both those days since neither day falls on the Sabbath.  Only the Father knows which will be the biblical “last trump.”

Note: blowing of the trumpet on the Sabbath is considered work, and work is prohibited on the Sabbath.  When one of the two feast days falls on a Sabbath, trumpet blowing is suspended for that day.  The year 2006 was a good example.  One of the feast days was October 23—a Sabbath—and no trumpets were sounded.  So 2006 was not a possible rapture year because Satan could then have known the exact day the rapture would happen.

Therefore, one can readily see that Satan cannot possibly know the exact day and the exact hour of the rapture.  Nor can anyone else.  The Father alone has that information and His secret continues to be well guarded (unintentionally) through the historic day-adding choice made by Israel’s sages.

CONCLUSION

In May 1970, Harold L. Lindsey gave the world what has become a multimillion-copy bestseller: The Late Great Planet Earth.  Therein, Lindsey invoked a correct biblical analysis leading to the incorrect deduction that “. . . within forty years or so of 1948, all these things [things including the second advent of Christ] could take place” (Lindsey, Hal with Carlson, C.C., The Late Great Planet Earth. Bantam ed. New York: Bantam Books, 1981. 42-43). Lindsey’s incorrect deduction (becoming somewhat uncomfortably apparent after Christ didn’t return in 1988) was based on interpreting the fig-tree symbol in Jesus’ sermon-on-the-Mount-of-Olives parable as “a[n] historic symbol of national Israel” (Lindsey, p. 43).  As Fruchtenbaum correctly pointed out in his 1983 edition of Footsteps, “. . . the usual symbol of [national] Israel is the vine” (Fruchtenbaum, p. 445).  So Lindsey’s fault was not in his methodology or his reasoning, but in the simple misinterpretation of a parabolic symbol.In a 1977 nine-volume series published by The Zondervan Corporation, British-born biblicist Arthur C. Custance provided the correct interpretation of the fig-tree symbol.  Custance suggested, “. . . use of the fig tree [was] to symbolize Israel’s religious history” (Custance, Arthur C., “The Fig Tree and Israel’s Religious History.” The Doorway Papers. Grand Rapids: The Zondervan Corp., 1977, vol. VI, 70).  According to Custance, the fig tree is a suitable symbol for Israel’s “ceremony and regalia of formal worship” (Custance, p. 70).

In his study (issued privately as early as 1961), Custance went on to state, “When we begin to hear, as even now we do hear occasionally, of a concern on the part of the Israeli government for the rebuilding of the Temple, the reestablishment of the priesthood (emphasis mine) and the restoration of their ceremonial worship in Jerusalem—then I think we may indeed say, ‘The coming of the Lord draweth nigh’” (Custance, p. 72).  Had Hal Lindsey been privy to Custance accurate interpretation of the fig-tree symbol, he also might have suggested that we watch for revival of the Levitical priesthood.

Jesus likely expected His post-1948 bride to know from His teaching, and that of the Old Testament prophets, the year in which the rapture will occur.  But, the exact day and hour of the rapture’s timing is shrouded in secrecy to prevent satanic obstruction.  Revival of the Levitical priesthood began in 1978—some seventeen years after Custance first voiced this prescient conclusion: “The coming of the Lord draweth nigh!”  His conclusion has particular relevance today.

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