A Rapture, of Sorts?

Disclaimer: First things first. I do not believe in what some people call a pre tribulation rapture and I’ve discovered that there is no *seven year tribulation, ergo, no mid tribulation anything.

Second the word rapture does not appear in the Bible so let me find a word that is there...

לָקַח lâqach, law-kakh'; a primitive root; to take (in the widest variety of applications):—accept, bring, buy, carry away, drawn, fetch, get, infold, × many, mingle, place, receive(-ing), reserve, seize, send for, take (away, -ing, up), use, win.

Hebrews 11:5 By faith Enoch was translated so that he did not see death, “and was not found, because God had taken him”; for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God.

Shift: Now Yeshua was keen to throw people off the trail from time to time, for instance.

John 6:53 Then Yeshua said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.

Well, anyone can tell you that scenario is not kosher at anyones table, clearly a metaphor.

Now this one is one of the best ‘fork in the road’ statements He ever delivered.

Matthew 24:36 But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only.

And here’s an interesting fact about this statement, Yeshua actually narrowed it down when He said this!

Honey is an ingredient for Rosh Hashanah dishes, honey cake, apples dipped in honey etc.

So when you read: Revelation 10:10 Then I took the little book out of the angel’s hand and ate it, and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth. But when I had eaten it, my stomach became bitter.

This tells me the new year will start off sweet but will turn bitter soon afterwards.

Now I’ve heard many ‘rapture teachers’ state that ‘the rapture can take place at any time’

The day no man knows, is an idiom for Rosh Hashanah and it’s a festival that this phrase fits perfectly. Anywhere in the world it’s one of two days, ergo...

For reference go to your main library and see Encyclopedia Judaica, Jesus died 30 C.E.

Big Notice! Rosh Hashanah takes place on the new moon and it lasts two days. But there are other two day new moon festivals that take place during the year.

Bamidbar (Numbers)10:10 Also at your times of rejoicing--your appointed feasts and New Moon festivals--you are to sound the trumpets over your burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, and they will be a memorial for you before your God. I am HaShem your God."

Now there are a few words you should pay attention to, trumpets, new moons, wedding celebrations, etc...

Each week in synagogue, we read (or, more accurately, chant, because it is sung) a passage from the Torah...

In the synagogue service, the weekly parshah is followed by a passage from the prophets, which is referred to as a haftarah.

This section is read for Shabbat Machar Chodesh and it’s the one we’re interested in.

1 Samuel 20:18 Then Jonathan said to David, “Tomorrow is the New Moon; and you will be missed, because your seat will be empty. 19 And when you have stayed three days, go down quickly and come to the place where you hid on the day of the deed; and remain by the stone Ezel. 20 Then I will shoot three arrows to the side, as though I shot at a target; 21 and there I will send a lad, saying, ‘Go, find the arrows.’ If I expressly say to the lad, ‘Look, the arrows are on this side of you; get them and come’—then, as the Lord lives, there is safety for you and no harm. 22 But if I say thus to the young man, ‘Look, the arrows are beyond you’—go your way, for the Lord has sent you away. 23 And as for the matter which you and I have spoken of, indeed the Lord be between you and me forever.”

24 Then David hid in the field. And when the New Moon had come, the king sat down to eat the feast. 25 Now the king sat on his seat, as at other times, on a seat by the wall. And Jonathan arose, and Abner sat by Saul’s side, but David’s place was empty. 26 Nevertheless Saul did not say anything that day, for he thought, “Something has happened to him; he is unclean, surely he is unclean.” 27 And it happened the next day, the second day of the month, that David’s place was empty. And Saul said to Jonathan his son, “Why has the son of Jesse not come to eat, either yesterday or today?”

28 So Jonathan answered Saul, “David earnestly asked permission of me to go to Bethlehem. 29 And he said, ‘Please let me go, for our family has a sacrifice in the city, and my brother has commanded me to be there. And now, if I have found favor in your eyes, please let me get away and see my brothers.’ Therefore he has not come to the king’s table.”

30 Then Saul’s anger was aroused against Jonathan, and he said to him, “You son of a perverse, rebellious woman! Do I not know that you have chosen the son of Jesse to your own shame and to the shame of your mother’s nakedness? 31 For as long as the son of Jesse lives on the earth, you shall not be established, nor your kingdom. Now therefore, send and bring him to me, for he shall surely die.”

32 And Jonathan answered Saul his father, and said to him, “Why should he be killed? What has he done?” 33 Then Saul cast a spear at him to kill him, by which Jonathan knew that it was determined by his father to kill David.

34 So Jonathan arose from the table in fierce anger, and ate no food the second day of the month, for he was grieved for David, because his father had treated him shamefully.

35 And so it was, in the morning, that Jonathan went out into the field at the time appointed with David, and a little lad was with him. 36 Then he said to his lad, “Now run, find the arrows which I shoot.” As the lad ran, he shot an arrow beyond him. 37 When the lad had come to the place where the arrow was which Jonathan had shot, Jonathan cried out after the lad and said, “Is not the arrow beyond you?” 38 And Jonathan cried out after the lad, “Make haste, hurry, do not delay!” So Jonathan’s lad gathered up the arrows and came back to his master. 39 But the lad did not know anything. Only Jonathan and David knew of the matter. 40 Then Jonathan gave his weapons to his lad, and said to him, “Go, carry them to the city.”

41 As soon as the lad had gone, David arose from a place toward the south, fell on his face to the ground, and bowed down three times. And they kissed one another; and they wept together, but David more so. 42 Then Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace, since we have both sworn in the name of the Lord, saying, ‘May the Lord be between you and me, and between your descendants and my descendants, forever.’” So he arose and departed, and Jonathan went into the city.

Then Jonathan said to David, “Tomorrow is the New Moon; and you will be missed, because your seat will be empty. 19 And when you have stayed three days, go down quickly and come to the place where you hid on the day of the deed; and remain by the stone Ezel.

Ezel = "departure"
a memorial stone between Ramah and Nob; scene of final farewell between David and Jonathan

19 For my husband is not at home;
He has gone on a long journey;
20 He hath taken a bag of money with him;
He will come home at the full moon.
צְרוֹר־הַכֶּסֶף לָקַח בְּיָדוֹ לְיוֹם הַכֵּסֶא יָבֹא בֵיתוֹ

כֶּסֶא כֶּסֶא keçeʼ, keh'-seh; or כֶּסֶה keçeh; apparently from H3680; properly, fulness or the full moon, i.e. its festival:—(time) appointed.

Strong's Number H3677 matches the Hebrew כֶּסֶא (kece'), which occurs 2 times in 2 verses in the Hebrew concordance of the KJV

Psalm 81:3 Blow the shofar in the new moon, in the time appointed, H3677 on our solemn feast day.

Proverbs 7:20 He hath taken a bag of money with him, and will come home at the day appointed. H3677

כֶּסֶא Kaf Samech Alef New Moon, Full Moon
Ben Yehuda’s Hebrew English Dictionary

John 2:1 On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 2 Now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding. 3 And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, “They have no wine.”

4 Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come.”

A solar eclipse can only take place at the phase of new moon, when the moon passes directly between the sun and Earth and its shadows fall ... blah blah blah
space.com

Diamond ring effect. noun, Astronomy. 1. a phenomenon, sometimes observed immediately before and after a total eclipse of the sun, in which one of Baily's beads is much brighter than the others, resembling a diamond ring around the moon.

*See: The book of Revelation There is no seven year time period recorded in the book of Revelation

NEW MOON
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0015_0_14794.html

Yom Teruw’ah: “The Day That No Man Knows!”
http://doubleportioninheritance.blogspot.com/2011/05/yom-teruah-day-that-no-man-knows_3315.html

Gary DeMarr, among others, has critiqued the Left Behind eschatology in terms non-specialists can readily grasp.

It's Gary DeMar, actually. He's a "Partial Preterist". From http://www.raptureready.com/featured/ice/EndTimesFiction.html, we learn:

Preterist Gary DeMar has written a book critical of Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins' Left Behind series entitled End Times Fiction.[1] DeMar is jealous of the fact that people have responded to a fictionalized version of a dispensational prophecy scenario while rejecting his own misguided belief that these prophetic events were really fulfilled when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and Israel' s Second Temple in the first century. Apparently, in an attempt to jazz up his dusty old view, DeMar creates some fiction of his own in his book and subsequent articles about Tim LaHaye. I guess you could say that DeMar's recent book is aptly titled End Times Fiction. DeMar repeatedly represents the prophecy beliefs of Tim LaHaye as far-fetched and beyond the realm of possibility. For years, DeMar's writing approach has been to start his articles and books with generous heaps of ridicule upon dispensationalists like LaHaye and then use that as a springboard to introduce his truly ridiculous idea that almost all Bible prophecy was fulfilled a couple thousand years ago. It appears that DeMar is incapable of simply presenting his views in a straightforward and positive manner, without first setting the stage with one of his negative diatribes against those with whom he disagrees. Apparently LaHaye's successful presentation of the gospel within the context of a futurist view of the end times- that has resulted in thousands of people trusting Christ as their Saviour- has DeMar very upset.

Bizarre Views

I have documented- in the past- DeMar's strange belief that second coming passages such as Matthew 24- 25 and Revelation 19 were fulfilled in events surrounding the Roman conquest of Jerusalem two thousand years ago. This errant view is known as preterism.[2] In a desperate attempt to defend this naturalist approach to Biblical interpretation, DeMar teaches such bizarre views as the Battle of Gog in Ezekiel 38- 39 was fulfilled by the events of Esther 9.[3] DeMar believes that the new heavens and new earth of 2 Peter 3:10- 13 and Revelation 21- 22 arrived in- you guessed it- a.d. 70. We have been living for the last two thousand years in this time of heavenly bliss. Amazing! I could go on and on.

Lately, DeMar has been on a kick where he attempts to make fun of people like LaHaye and myself who believe in a national future for Israel. DeMar does not. He believes that Israel, as a nation, is finished in history, contrary to the teachings of the Old and New Testaments.[4] DeMar must close his eyes when he reads Paul saying, "I say then, God has not rejected His people, has He? May it never be! . . . God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says?" (Rom. 11:1- 2). DeMar does not know what the scriptures say when it comes to Israel' s future. His a priori preterist beliefs filter out the clear meaning of the Bible when he reads the plethora of passages that speak of Israel's future.

Dispensationalism's Future Holocaust?

On a number of occasions,[5] DeMar accuses dispensationalists in general, and Tim LaHaye in particular of somehow contributing to a future Jewish holocaust because Zechariah 13:8- 9 teaches that a third of the Jews will come to faith in Jesus as their Messiah during the tribulation. DeMar's twisted logic is similar to that used by liberals in the 2000 Republican Presidential primary when George W. Bush spoke at Bob Jones University. According to liberal thinking, Bush was identified with all that BJU was thought to represent because he did not get up and renounce things that were not politically correct. In a similar way, DeMar manufactures a sin that could only make any kind of sense if one first assumes "preterist correctness."

In DeMar' s article attacking LaHaye, "A Review of The Remnant," he says,

What many people who read LaHaye's The Remnant fail to grasp is that two-thirds of the Jews living in Israel today will be slaughtered, and for every three Jews who decide to make Israel their home in the future, two will be killed during the Great Tribulation.[6]

DeMar continues his assault on LaHaye when he asks,

Why isn't LaHaye warning Jews now living in Israel about this pre-determined holocaust by encouraging them to leave Israel until the conflagration is over? Instead, we find those who hold to LaHaye' s position supporting relocation efforts of Jews to the land of Israel that will mean certain death for a majority of them because it's a "fulfillment of Bible prophecy".[7]

There are a number of things that DeMar and his followers who read him fail to grasp. Since DeMar' s criticism is based upon the supposed logical outworking of our futurist views, I will work within that framework. Note the following: First, about three-fifths of the entire earth' s population will be killed during the course of the seven-year tribulation, many of them believers (Rev. 6:9-11).

Second, one of the main purposes of the tribulation (the 70th week of Daniel) is to bring the nation of Israel to faith in Jesus as their Messiah. Jewish believer Arnold Fruchtenbaum explains this purpose for His people during the tribulation as follows when commenting on Ezekiel 20:34- 38:

God intends to break the power of the holy people in order to bring about a national regeneration. . . . In this passage Ezekiel draws a simile with the Exodus . . . What is important to note here is that after God gathers the Jews from around the world, He will enter into a period of judgment (tribulation) with them. The rebels among the Jewish people will be purged out by this judgment. Only then will the whole new nation, a regenerate nation, be allowed to enter the promised land under King Messiah.[8]

Even though DeMar, as a postmillennialist, believes in a future time when a mass of individual Jews will be converted,[9] he rebels against the historical means that God has chosen to bring about this end for His people- Israel.

Third, since all unbelieving Jews will be purged out and killed by the end of the tribulation- regardless of their geographical location on planet earth- it is inconsequential as to whether they are in Israel or hide away in a remote place. At the second coming all unbelievers will be killed and prevented from going into the millennium (Matt. 13:36- 43, 45- 50; 25:31- 46). So it is just a matter of days, weeks, or months until all unbelievers (Jew or Gentile) will be removed from the earth in preparation for the start of the Messianic kingdom.

Fourth, related to the previous point, the only ones (Jew or Gentile) who will survive the tribulation will be those who have become believers in Jesus as their Messiah. Yet DeMar says, " we find those who hold to LaHaye' s position supporting relocation efforts of Jews to the land of Israel that will mean certain death for a majority of them." The only ones that will be killed, whether in or out of the land of Israel, will be unbelievers. The focus of Zechariah 13:9 is on the elect remnant, which says, " And I will bring the third part through the fire, refine them as silver is refined, and test them as gold is tested. They will call on My name, and I will answer them; I will say, ' They are My people,' and they will say, ' The Lord is my God.' " Yet DeMar attempts to turn the emphasis of this passage upside-down with his focus upon the unbelieving element.

Fifth, many modern orthodox Jews- uninfluenced by Tim LaHaye- believe that Zechariah 13:8- 9 is still a future event.[10] Why isn't DeMar warning them about the coming holocaust if he is so concerned for the welfare of modern Jewry? Are these Jews creating an attitude of "prophetic inevitability?" [11] A consistent application of DeMar's logic to this Jewish understanding of Zechariah would mean that the Jews, along with dispensationalists, are the facilitators of their own demise.

Sixth, DeMar asks "Why isn't LaHaye warning Jews now living in Israel about this pre-determined holocaust by encouraging them to leave Israel until the conflagration is over?" [12] (If DeMar is so concerned with a future Jewish holocaust in Israel, perhaps he could help develop an organization to raise money to assist Jews wanting to leave Israel.) LaHaye is not doing that because these events cannot take place before the rapture, which has not yet occurred. I agree with DeMar that there should be a warning. However, it will not be given to the Jews living in the land of Israel until the middle of the tribulation. In fact, Matthew 24:15- 16 says of that time, "Therefore when you see the abomination of desolation which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. "The parallel passage in Revelation 12:6 says, "And the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God, so that there she might be nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days." The woman represents Israel, or even more precisely the elect Jewish remnant, which are the Jewish elect that will obey Christ' s warning to head for the hills " when you see the abomination of desolation." This remnant will be divinely protected by God in the wilderness (just as LaHaye portrays in The Remnant) until Christ returns physically to Jerusalem and sends His angels to gather His elect (Matt. 24:31) for His approaching kingdom.[13]

Conclusion

Far from making LaHaye look foolish, DeMar is the one who is generating end times fiction with his zany tales. I am convinced that at least part of the motivation for DeMar' s cruel criticism of LaHaye is out of jealousy. DeMar desires the limelight that God has given to LaHaye. So instead of honing an appealing case for his own preterist views, he desperately resorts to an attack in order to tear down LaHaye. Since his thoughts on Bible prophecy were not deemed important enough to have been included in the front-page story that Time magazine recently did on LaHaye,[14] DeMar wrote an article in which he concocts a conspiracy theory to explain why he was excluded.[15] More end times fiction! Instead of providing positive biblical argumentation for his views of the past, which really are fictional, DeMar tries to hitch his wagon to the success of LaHaye. DeMar's desperation demonstrates that when it come to biblical interpretation he has been left behind. Maranatha!

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