I've never read a translation that mentions a snowman.
Calvin mentioned snowmen quite often.
Posted on 07/10/2010 10:09:50 AM PDT by TaraP
Before you read this post I want to make one thing very clear. In no way am I saying the rapture of the Church is going to happen this coming September. Yes it is possible, but we just do not know for sure.
Jesus could choose to come for His Church next year, the year after, ten years from now. The point is this. We know He will come for His Bride the Chruch at some point during the Feast of Trumpet.
Since we do not know what year we must do what He asks and keep on the watch. Be ready at all times so that when He does come He will find you doing His will and ready to be taken at the rapture.
Why does Jesus want us to keep our eye on the biblical calendar? Jesus wants those who are watching for His return to be ready when he comes to take the church out of the world. The only way one can do that is to know what they are looking for. It is clear as day what Christians are to look for, but I would say most Christians don't have a clue as to what the sign is.
Why don't they know? I can see two reasons, first they are in a church where their pastor never teaches about the signs of the times and, second Christians are not studying the word themselves and they therefore would not know the signs. Let me help you understand a very important message from Christ. If you understand what Jesus was talking about, it will become clear to you what you and your family should be watching for.
Many people have asked me, why waste time trying to figure out when Jesus is going to come back when, Jesus himself said no man knows. Let me quote Jesus in Matthew 24:36 so you know what I'm talking about. “But of that day and hour no one snowman, no, not the angels of heaven, but my father only”. Now I want you to take notice what Jesus is really saying here in relation to the Jewish thoughts and Jewish traditions.
The phrase but of that day and hour no man knows is a common Hebrew idiom for the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah. Rosh Hashanah is one of the seven Jewish Holidays, and it is known to the Jewish people as the feast of trumpets. The Feast of Trumpets takes place in the fall. In Leviticus 23 you see these feasts are appointed times established as yearly rehearsals that taught both historically and prophetically the whole plan of God. This plan included the coming of Christ and how Christ would bring redemption to all who received him.
In short, God has given us his biblical calendar. Out of the seven biblical holidays the only ones left to be fulfilled are the fall feast which are Rosh Hashanah also known as the Feast of Trumpets, Yom Kippur, which is the day of atonement, and tabernacles. I am going to center on the Feast of Trumpets because on God's calendar this is the next in line to be fulfilled.
Knowing this information, let me get back to Jesus’ statement in Matthew 24:36 where he said “no man knows the day or hour”.
This verse has to do with the Jewish wedding. The father had to make sure the Son had everything prepared and ready for the wedding. If anyone would ask the Jewish man when is the wedding, he would say ask my father only he knows. This was the normal practice for the Jews.
That statement was a traditional response. When it came time for this wedding to take place the man would go out at midnight sound the blast by blowing the sulfur letting his bride know he had come for her. The Feast of Trumpets, or Rosh Hashanah points to the Jewish cultural evidence that Rosh Hashanah will be the appointed time of the rapture of the church. As proof of this let me now show you what has already taken place with this Jewish wedding in relation to Jesus Christ and his bride the Church.
In a Jewish wedding the Jewish woman indicates she will marry him by accepting his proposal by drinking a cup of wine he gives her. What did Jesus do with the last supper? Jesus passed a cup of wine at the Last Supper and those who drank the wine accepted being his bride.
Secondly, the Jewish man would have to pay a price to the bride's parents. What did Jesus do and what was the price he paid? Jesus paid the price for us as His bride with His own life by dying on the cross for us.
The next thing and Jewish men would do to prepare for the wedding was to give His bride a gift. What gift did Jesus Christ give His bride the Church? Jesus gave us the gift of the Holy Spirit.
The next thing the Jewish man would have to do to prepare for this wedding was go and prepare a place for both himelf and his wife to live in when they were married. Do you remember the words of Jesus Christ in John chapter 14: 3?
Jesus said, “and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there you may be also”. This is where Jesus is right now, he is preparing the home for His church the bride of Christ.
The next thing the Jewish man would do to prepare for Jewish wedding is this, he would take a host of people with Him at midnight go out shouting and blowing the shofar for his bride. The shofar is a horn. Now read what Jesus told the Apostle Paul to write in First Thessalonians chapter 4 verses 15 through 16. Paul mentions the exact timing of this event twice! In verse 15, he says that this occurs at the coming of the Lord, and in verse 16, Christ comes down from heaven with a shout with the voice of an ark angel, and with the trumpet of God.
This is the point at which time Jesus will come for us, the church, just the same way the Jewish man would go out at midnight and call for his bride. This will be the next thing to take place on God's calendar at the Feast of Trumpets.
The next thing that would take place after a Jewish wedding, which came after the man went out to get his bride would be to spend seven days alone with his bride to consummate the marriage in their wedding chamber. When Jesus comes back for his bride the church, he takes the church to heaven for seven years. If you notice, this is the exact length of the seven-year tribulation.
Listen to what it says in Isaiah chapter 26:20-21 “Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast. For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.” These are the chamber's Jesus will keep his church in while the seven-year tribulation is taking place on earth.
The church, bride of Christ, will be hidden from these terrible times that will befall the earth during the tribulation.
As you can now see, everything that Jesus has done was in accordance to the traditions of the Jewish wedding which is also based on the holidays of the biblical calendar.
I want to get back to what the Apostle Paul had to say in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5:1-4 when he stated the following, “But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief”.
Paul was a Jew and he understood the signs of the times would be taking place during the times and seasons, or the Jewish holidays. In the above verse Paul eludes to the sign of peace and safety and he tells the reader they won't be in the darkness because they would be watching for these events to take place during the Jewish holiday season. When you read Genesis chapter 1 verse 14 we see the word seasons which is the Hebrew word for a pointed time.
The seasons, appointed time, Paul was referring to was the actual day that Jesus was going to return on the feast of trumpets which would take place in the fall. So when Paul told the Jews you have no need that I write and to you, being Jewish they understood exactly what Paul was talking about.
The only people who will be in the dark when Jesus comes on his feast will be those who do not have the understanding of the word of God in them, and do not have any understanding of these biblical matters.
Please take notice in relation to Rev. 3:3. In part of this verse Jesus tells the church at Sardis, which was considered a dead church to repent from their ways and to watch. Notice what happens when you aren’t watching? I quote, that part of verse 3 here, “I will come on the as a thief and the owl shalt not know what hour I will come upon the.”
Do forget, Jesus is speaking to the dead church. What is Jesus showing us in this verse? Christ is showing us He only comes to the dead church as a thief, not to an alert and alive church, they will not be caught off guard.
In Revelation chapter 3 verses 17 through 18 Jesus is now speaking to the Church of Laodicea. This is another church that is not ready and Jesus calls this church and lukewarm church. What happens to a lukewarm church?
Jesus tells us this answer in Revelation 3:16 where he says, “So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth”. Notice in those verses Jesus tells them to go and buy white raiment that “that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear.”
What most people don't understand is what this white raiment really means. Stay with me and you'll understand exactly what it is. Rev. 3:18 is another key to understanding what Jesus is showing us. I quote “I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see”.
Let's go back to the Jewish traditions for a second, and I will show you how all this is ties together. During the time that the Jewish Temple was standing when Jesus was here the first time, the high priest and the captain of the guard were known as the “thief in the night” and, this is why. There were watch posts at the Temple where the priest had to be watching. One of the things they had to watch for was that the fire on the altar would not go out. This was a Godly fire that fell on the altar and it was commanded by God that this fire never go out. The priest had to watch this fire. If her priest was found to be sleeping when the captain of the guard checked on his rounds, the captain of the guard would take his torch, which was next to the altar fire, and set the priest’s garment on fire with the torch. The priest would be awaken by the fire, he would get up run through the Temple tearing off the garments that were on fire, and the shame of the priest’s nakedness would appear.
Now you see how Revelation chapter 16 verse 15 ties into what Jesus said about the Church that was dead. Now. when you go back and read 1 Thessalonians 5:1-4 Paul says the following: “for yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night” you now know what is meant by this phrase, “as a thief in the night”.
In other words, when Jesus comes back and finds you sleeping like the priest in the Temple, and obviously not on the watch, you'll end up like the priest, running in your nakedness and in shame because you were not ready for his visitation.
I think you might be in danger of confusing spiritual devine preparation for the return with the celebrations of the symbolic return that are set according to Jewish custom and tradition. Christ may indeed be working in the heavenlies in a devine spiritual way, prepping for his bride, and preparing a “heavenly feast of trumpets” but there is no guarantee that this “prepping’ will co-incide with any of the Jewish celebrations on Earth that occur in the Fall. Christ pointed out other signs such as the rise of false Christ’s, apostacy, wars, persecutions ect as being the “spiritual signs” of his coming “Feast of Trumpets”. The physical position of the Earth around the orbit of its sun may have little to do with God’s own timing, but rather the planned completion of his spiritual prepping does!
Autumn is when harvest occurs and when the dying back of plants and nature occurs. A spiritual autumn denotes the rise of great apostacy; it was just this sort of rise of evil in the world that Christ describes as a backdrop to his coming. Christ may well come at a time of relative prosperity and temporary peace on the Earth(they were eating and drinking, marrying and divorcing, buying and selling when the flood came and took them all away, such as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be when the Son of Man comes), though at a time of great moral evil and wickedness...say in the middle of July, or in the spring...who knows. God’s spiritual wedding feast and “Feast of Trumpets’ doesn’t necessarily have to occur on calculated dates in September, but rather when HIS timing is right. On the other hand, if the rapture occurs in September....BONUS!
It would only be a *Deception* if it was not backed by Holy Scripture....
So some Christians are more saved than others? The ones looking for oily horses drowned in the gulf will get saved first, apparently.
Patent nonsense, but that won’t stop these threads from inundating FR on a daily basis.
Thought you all might be interested!
*PING*
IF anyone thinks it is possible for a thief to rob them they WATCH. Christ return comes as a thief because very few are still WATCHING for His return. Sugar daddy, the pretender shows up first, the serpent, the dragon, the instead of Jesus, all those names associated with none other than the devil himself, and all but the elect believe it is Jesus.... coming for to take them away. But this guy is not in flesh, he is supernatural, bearing the appearance of Christ on the cross, or whatever appearance that will draw the whole world except for the elect to bend a knee unto him... he is called ‘death’.
YES!
Read the *letters to the 7 Churches*....
BTW: Did Jesus tell you: Please don’t inundate Christians on Freerepublic with threads on my return?
Ping!
I've never read a translation that mentions a snowman.
Calvin mentioned snowmen quite often.
With all do respect to the tone of this post, will you be disappointed when there is no ‘rapture’? If so, it’s all Darby’s ‘fault’, you know :)
Watching and being ready for His return goes w/o sayin’, but likely no ‘rapture’ i.e.; being whisked off to some other place, with our cars crashing, our mowers left running til out of gas, planes flying and crashing with only muzzies, mormans and catholics left aboard, etc etc etc. You get the picture...
tag for later
BTW, Strong's Concordance supports your assertion about the Hebrew meaning of "Seasons" in Genesis 1:14. Strong’s reports the Hebrew means: 1) appointed place, appointed time, meeting a) appointed time 1) appointed time (general) 2) sacred season, set feast, appointed season b) appointed meeting c) appointed place d) appointed sign or signal e) tent of meeting
One caveat to what you shared. Not only do we not know the day or the hour, but it looks like He may come when we least expect it. Therefore be also ready: for in such an hour as you think not the Son of man comes. Matthew 24:44; Luke 12:40.
FYI, and for the benefit of others who may share a similar issue, I used to worry a lot about missing His coming. I figured if there was a way for me to screw it up, I would. I’ve since been set free from that fear, however, by the truth that we’re saved by grace and will be changed and forever with Him also by grace. Jesus said, Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Luke 12:32. (Again, this is the "thief" part of His coming FOR his Church, His Bride, which the unlearned and unstable wrest and fail to distinguish from the later "lightning from the east to the west" part of His coming WITH His Church, His Bride, who is also, His Army.)
The Jewish insights are fascinating. Are you Jewish?
Watch all the theft committed by charlatans in the last days and all the last days before the real last days.
Rapture- The word is not mentioned in the world..Maybe *Darby* thought of the word itself- But scripture speaks of the Church being *Taken out* Catching away of the bride of Christ, the harpazo.
In short, it is a supernatural event that comes directly after the resurrection of the dead in Christ in the near future. After their resurrection, those who are still alive and in Christ are changed in the blink of an eye and are given their immortal bodies.
I think, *just an opinion that’s all*, is that the Governments of the world will say the *Dis-Appearance is due to Alien interference and radiation....
Then both the resurrected and the changed are caught up together to meet the Lord in the air. The resurrection of the dead is central to the Christian faith as Paul explains in 1 Corinthians 15:12-24.
The longer the real last days are delayed, the longer charlatans can freely predict the last days. They got it made.
And when the real last days happen, well, it will all be moot anyway.
Are you Jewish?
Only in the *Spiritual Sense* :)
My parents are not Jewish....
You lost me here. If the the Feast of Trumpets started at the sighting of the full moon, what does it matter about the new moon?
Thought you might be interested in reading this post!
Blessings and Shalom to you!
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