Twenty two New Testament references to the rapture that correspond with the 9th of Av (part 1 -- introduction)
As we know Pentecost refers to a 50 day count, the number 5 is associated with grace and when you multiply it by 10 it is the completion of grace. The Lord was baptized on or around Pentecost and then four years later His ministry of grace was completed when the Holy Spirit was poured as the new wine into the church as the new wine skins. The church age began at that point. Now if the church age began on the same day that Israel refused to go into the good land out of unbelief, that is very significant picture. Imagine a man getting engaged on the very same day a woman he had been engaged to rejected him, that is no accident.
We are told in the Bible that God is the same yesterday, today and forever. There are very few appointed feasts in the New Testament. We are told clearly by Paul that we are not required to keep the appointed feasts given in the Law. We are, however, charged to keep the Lord’s table. That is certainly an appointed feast of the New Testament. The only other feast that we are told about is Pentecost. Jesus as the bread and wine is our Passover feast, He is our unleavened feast, He is the feast of first fruits for us, we celebrate His ascension and so He is our Shavuot, the Lord’s table is where we trumpet the soon return of the king and also it is our day of atonement where we must examine ourselves. We look to the Lord’s coming so in that sense it is also our Feast of tabernacles. So all of those feasts are wrapped up in our celebration of the Lord’s table. The feasts in the Old Testament were part of the covenant that God made with Israel, but He has divorced Israel, so the day of their judgement is also the day of our engagement.
However, the feast of Pentecost is also unique to the New Testament, it is where the church was formed, and it is where the Holy Spirit was given to us as an earnest of the promise. When you make a covenant there must be a price paid, that was paid by the Lord on the cross, there must also be the rules given, the Lord told us at His ascension to do all that He commanded, and there must be an earnest of the promise, a downpayment. The Holy Spirit was given to us as the earnest of the promise, it is our downpayment.
From this point the groom, Jesus Christ, has two years to build us a place to live in His father’s house. The Lord told us He was going to to do this and then return for us. Therefore we consider that the two thousand years since this point would be those two years. So then we expect all of this to be fulfilled by 2030. However, anyone who has studied eschatology knows that the last seven years are complicated. There is evidence that some get taken prior to these seven years, some in the middle and some at the end. I have looked at these different doctrines on this blog. In my opinion there is a strong Biblical basis to say all three will take place and no legitimate basis (in my opinion) to rule out any of these. I think about one sixth of the living saints will be raptured prior to the tribulation, five sixths will either die or be raptured during the tribulation and then Israel will be saved as a nation at the end of the tribulation. I also think all of that will be done by the year 2030, though the Jews could be on a Hebrew calendar which would take them into 2031 to the end of March. This is simply Bible interpretation and any or all of us could be wrong. But it is important to have a framework from which to work. The Jews can be taken because if the husband dies, as Jesus did on the cross, they are free to marry again. The Jews that received Jesus as the Messiah will be those who get saved prior to this two thousand year deadline.
Interestingly the three major chapters on the Lord’s return in the gospels all begin with the question when will these things be, referring to the temple being destroyed, and the destruction of the temple is the context from which the Lord tells us about the end of the age. He likens the destruction of the temple and the scattering of Israel to the beginning of the tribulation.
However, the prevailing eschatology that I am using has the tribulation starting with the rapture. So then from the viewpoint of everyone on earth the rapture of the saints will be the destruction of the church (it will be gone and whatever is left will be attacked and burnt with fire by Antichrist and his armies) and all the believers will be scattered. What is fascinating about this is that the destruction of the temple took place in 70AD on the 9th of Av. That event is part of the New Testament history and that date is the answer to “when will these things happen” that the disciples asked the Lord. But here is the thing, the 9th of Av does not apply to Gentiles, our date would be when Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, that is the same day that the flood began in Noah's time.
So then let’s learn a little about the 9th of Av. This is the date in Exodus when Moses came down from the mountain and broke the ten commandments because the children of Israel were involved in an orgy while worshipping Moloch. Pentecost takes place at the same time. When Moses broke the ten commandments 3,000 died and when Peter preached the gospel at Pentecost 3,000 were saved. They were having their orgy at the time of the feast of new wine and Pentecost is the feast of new wine. This is contrary to traditional teaching in Christianity. So the 9th of Av is really significant to Jews, but not to Gentiles who were first saved when Cornelius household was saved. The church age is the "times of the gentiles" so the 9th of Av is significant as a type, but not as a start date for the time.
In Christianity the traditional teaching is that Jesus ascended 40 days after He rose from the dead. This is based on a superficial reading of Acts which says that the Lord appeared to the disciples 40 days or 40 times after the resurrection. The problem is that John tells us the second time he appeared was 8 days after the first and the third time He appeared was when they went fishing. It is hard to believe that right after Jesus appears Peter says “I’m going fishing”. Therefore at the very least it should be 48-50 days after the resurrection. Shavuot depicts Moses, a type of Jesus, ascending the mountain just like ascension day. It is the day after seven complete sabbaths after the resurrection. Therefore it is about 52-53 days after the resurrection. Jesus conception, birth, baptism, death, burial, and resurrection were all on appointed feasts. Therefore many have questioned how the ascension was not also on an appointed feast. In addition, if the ascension was two or three days before Shavuot and Pentecost was on Shavuot (traditional Christian teaching) then it doesn’t make sense that Jesus tells them to tarry in Jerusalem. They all came to Jerusalem to celebrate Shavuot according to the law, of course they will tarry till then. However, if Jesus ascended on Shavuot it explains why they were all in Jerusalem and it explains why He said to tarry till the Spirit be poured out. They had to wait another 50 days, fasting and praying. Also, it was 50 days after Shavuot that Moses came down, broke the ten commandments and 3,000 were killed. Also, on the feast of Pentecost some mocked that they were drunk on new wine. Pentecost is the feast of new wine, it is 50 days after Shavuot. However, Peter said they couldn’t be drunk because it is only 9am. At 9am (the third hour) the priests have to pour out the new wine as the first fruits to God, only after that can everyone drink. Peter was saying they can’t be drunk because the Priests have just poured out the wine, no one has had a chance to get drunk yet. So we see Pentecost as the day that the church was born, but it wasn't that day for the Gentiles.
As we know Pentecost refers to a 50 day count, the number 5 is associated with grace and when you multiply it by 10 it is the completion of grace. The Lord was baptized on or around Pentecost and then four years later His ministry of grace was completed when the Holy Spirit was poured as the new wine into the church as the new wine skins. The church age began at that point. Now if the church age began on the same day that Israel refused to go into the good land out of unbelief, that is very significant picture. Imagine a man getting engaged on the very same day a woman he had been engaged to rejected him, that is no accident.
We are told in the Bible that God is the same yesterday, today and forever. There are very few appointed feasts in the New Testament. We are told clearly by Paul that we are not required to keep the appointed feasts given in the Law. We are, however, charged to keep the Lord’s table. That is certainly an appointed feast of the New Testament. The only other feast that we are told about is Pentecost. Jesus as the bread and wine is our Passover feast, He is our unleavened feast, He is the feast of first fruits for us, we celebrate His ascension and so He is our Shavuot, the Lord’s table is where we trumpet the soon return of the king and also it is our day of atonement where we must examine ourselves. We look to the Lord’s coming so in that sense it is also our Feast of tabernacles. So all of those feasts are wrapped up in our celebration of the Lord’s table. The feasts in the Old Testament were part of the covenant that God made with Israel, but He has divorced Israel, so the day of their judgement is also the day of our engagement.
However, the feast of Pentecost is also unique to the New Testament, it is where the church was formed, and it is where the Holy Spirit was given to us as an earnest of the promise. When you make a covenant there must be a price paid, that was paid by the Lord on the cross, there must also be the rules given, the Lord told us at His ascension to do all that He commanded, and there must be an earnest of the promise, a downpayment. The Holy Spirit was given to us as the earnest of the promise, it is our downpayment.
From this point the groom, Jesus Christ, has two years to build us a place to live in His father’s house. The Lord told us He was going to to do this and then return for us. Therefore we consider that the two thousand years since this point would be those two years. So then we expect all of this to be fulfilled by 2030. However, anyone who has studied eschatology knows that the last seven years are complicated. There is evidence that some get taken prior to these seven years, some in the middle and some at the end. I have looked at these different doctrines on this blog. In my opinion there is a strong Biblical basis to say all three will take place and no legitimate basis (in my opinion) to rule out any of these. I think about one sixth of the living saints will be raptured prior to the tribulation, five sixths will either die or be raptured during the tribulation and then Israel will be saved as a nation at the end of the tribulation. I also think all of that will be done by the year 2030, though the Jews could be on a Hebrew calendar which would take them into 2031 to the end of March. This is simply Bible interpretation and any or all of us could be wrong. But it is important to have a framework from which to work. The Jews can be taken because if the husband dies, as Jesus did on the cross, they are free to marry again. The Jews that received Jesus as the Messiah will be those who get saved prior to this two thousand year deadline.
Interestingly the three major chapters on the Lord’s return in the gospels all begin with the question when will these things be, referring to the temple being destroyed, and the destruction of the temple is the context from which the Lord tells us about the end of the age. He likens the destruction of the temple and the scattering of Israel to the beginning of the tribulation.
However, the prevailing eschatology that I am using has the tribulation starting with the rapture. So then from the viewpoint of everyone on earth the rapture of the saints will be the destruction of the church (it will be gone and whatever is left will be attacked and burnt with fire by Antichrist and his armies) and all the believers will be scattered. What is fascinating about this is that the destruction of the temple took place in 70AD on the 9th of Av. That event is part of the New Testament history and that date is the answer to “when will these things happen” that the disciples asked the Lord. But here is the thing, the 9th of Av does not apply to Gentiles, our date would be when Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, that is the same day that the flood began in Noah's time.
So then let’s learn a little about the 9th of Av. This is the date in Exodus when Moses came down from the mountain and broke the ten commandments because the children of Israel were involved in an orgy while worshipping Moloch. Pentecost takes place at the same time. When Moses broke the ten commandments 3,000 died and when Peter preached the gospel at Pentecost 3,000 were saved. They were having their orgy at the time of the feast of new wine and Pentecost is the feast of new wine. This is contrary to traditional teaching in Christianity. So the 9th of Av is really significant to Jews, but not to Gentiles who were first saved when Cornelius household was saved. The church age is the "times of the gentiles" so the 9th of Av is significant as a type, but not as a start date for the time.
In Christianity the traditional teaching is that Jesus ascended 40 days after He rose from the dead. This is based on a superficial reading of Acts which says that the Lord appeared to the disciples 40 days or 40 times after the resurrection. The problem is that John tells us the second time he appeared was 8 days after the first and the third time He appeared was when they went fishing. It is hard to believe that right after Jesus appears Peter says “I’m going fishing”. Therefore at the very least it should be 48-50 days after the resurrection. Shavuot depicts Moses, a type of Jesus, ascending the mountain just like ascension day. It is the day after seven complete sabbaths after the resurrection. Therefore it is about 52-53 days after the resurrection. Jesus conception, birth, baptism, death, burial, and resurrection were all on appointed feasts. Therefore many have questioned how the ascension was not also on an appointed feast. In addition, if the ascension was two or three days before Shavuot and Pentecost was on Shavuot (traditional Christian teaching) then it doesn’t make sense that Jesus tells them to tarry in Jerusalem. They all came to Jerusalem to celebrate Shavuot according to the law, of course they will tarry till then. However, if Jesus ascended on Shavuot it explains why they were all in Jerusalem and it explains why He said to tarry till the Spirit be poured out. They had to wait another 50 days, fasting and praying. Also, it was 50 days after Shavuot that Moses came down, broke the ten commandments and 3,000 were killed. Also, on the feast of Pentecost some mocked that they were drunk on new wine. Pentecost is the feast of new wine, it is 50 days after Shavuot. However, Peter said they couldn’t be drunk because it is only 9am. At 9am (the third hour) the priests have to pour out the new wine as the first fruits to God, only after that can everyone drink. Peter was saying they can’t be drunk because the Priests have just poured out the wine, no one has had a chance to get drunk yet. So we see Pentecost as the day that the church was born, but it wasn't that day for the Gentiles.