Posted 12-17-00
The Jewish Temple on Mt. Zion in Jerusalem, originally built during the reign of King Solomon, stood from 950 to 587 BC, when the Babylonians, who exiled the Jews to Babylon, destroyed it. After their return from Babylon, the Jews were determined to build a new temple. Supported by the prophets Haggai and Zechariah, they laid the foundations for the Second Temple on December 13, 519 BC (24 Kislev, 3241 in the Jewish calendar). Completed four years later, the Second Temple stood more than a half millennium, until the Romans destroyed it in 70 AD.
Haggai 2 has long intrigued me, because it says to CONSIDER this date, and we are the temple of the Spirit of God. Hag. 2:15,18,19 says, "now, I pray you, CONSIDER from this day and upward, from BEFORE a stone was laid upon a stone in the temple of the LORD...Consider now from this day and upward, from the four and twentieth day of the ninth month (Kislev 24, Dec. 13 in BC 519), even from the day that the foundation of the LORD's temple was laid, CONSIDER it. Is the seed yet in the barn?" This reminds me of the parable of the wheat and tares. It ends with "gather the wheat into my barn" (Mt. 13:30). At this point in time, we would have to answer, "Christ, The Seed, Ascended to Heaven 40 days after Resurrection Day in 30 AD, but the wheat seed to be harvested on Pentecost is not yet in the barn."
Continuing, Haggai said, "yea, as yet the vine (Christ is the vine, we are the branches), and the fig tree (Israel, Joel 1:7; Hos. 9:10; Eze. 36:8; Jer. 24:5,6), and the pomegranate (Bride of Christ, Song of Sol. 4:3), and the olive tree (Israel, Jer. 11:16, with the believing Gentiles grafted in, Rom. 11:17), hath not brought forth: from this day will I bless you."
I hope that blessing is for us. If Kislev 24 (Dec. 21, 2000, first day of winter) is not the date of the Rapture, we can probably figure that we are on approach. Hopefully, when the time of the green figs, firstripe grapes and the beginning of the wheat harvest (Pentecost, May 28, 2001, USA's Memorial Day) rolls around, we will be in the Lord's barn. Agape
The new restrictions could cause the price of produce to double, the Argentine Catholic agency AICA reported Monday.
The biblical Shanat Shabbaton, or sabbath year of the earth, is in line with the passage from Leviticus 25:3-5.
That passage reads: "For six years you may sow your field, and for six years prune your vineyards, gathering in their produce. But during the seventh year the land shall have a complete rest, a sabbath for the Lord, when you may neither sow your field nor prune your vineyard. The aftergrowth of your harvest you shall not reap, nor shall you pick the grapes of your untrimmed vines in this year of sabbath rest for the land."
The Jerusalem rabbinate has requested that the passage be rigorously observed. Jewish agricultural workers will not be able to sell their vegetables and fruits, nor will produce from Israeli soil be sold.
Previously, rabbis allowed a flexible interpretation of this law. Israeli fields were rented by Arabs at a token price during the sabbath year, and Arabs were responsible for selling the produce.
The Jerusalem rabbinate has succeeded in its request that the plants of the gardens surrounding the Knesset, or parliament, not be watered during the sabbath year, since this activity is classified as "making the earth work."
http://www.ewtn.com/vnews/getstory.asp?number=10437
We can also gain some insight into the idea of the Jubilee from the name itself. It seems to be named after the sound produced by the trumpets announcing a feast day, in this case the Day of Atonement on which the Jubilee Year began. Such horns were used to announce the presence of a great personage and to call an assembly. The most common name for such a trumpet was shopar (ram’s horn). Less commonly, it was called yobel. This perhaps refers to the joyfulness of the sound (what in literature is called "onomatopoeia" - a word which mimics the sound it represents). Similar words exist in other languages, such as the German yodel (a crying out).
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I keep hearing people say that the Jubilee starts on the Day of Atonement, as in the above. I don't think that is correct. I believe it starts on Nisan 1, the beginning of their Sacred Year. Now maybe people can see it. Since Israel is going to start their Sabbatic Year in March, it will start Nisan 1, 5761 (March 25, 2001). If the 49th Sabbatic Year starts on Nisan 1, it follows that the Jubilee Year would start on the next Nisan 1. The Jubilee is announced on the previous Day of Atonement so people can prepare for the Jubilee that will start as the Sacred Year begins the following Nisan 1.
I think Jesus Christ will return at the Second Advent on Nisan 1, 5768 (Apr. 6, 2008), which is also a Sabbatic Year. If the Jewish Sabbatic Year of 5761 starts with Nisan 1, the Sabbatic Year of 5768 will start on the day of his arrival. That means that the Israelite remnant that will live on into the Millennium, plus the Israelites from Old Testament days that are resurrected and put back on Earth, will not plant crops that year. The asteroid impact on the previous Tishri 1, seven months before that, will have destroyed much. The Lord will provide for them that year.
Dan. 12:11-13 says, "from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away (Mid-Trib), and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days. Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days. But go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days." I think Daniel will return with Christ, as we will, and he will stand in his lot in Israel on the 1335th day, (Tamuz 1, 5768; July 4, 2008, USA's Independance Day).
Marilyn replied:
> Mk. 11:13 says, " he found nothing but leaves; for the time of figs was NOT YET."
I clarify further:
Indeed Mark does correctly point out that it was not the time for figs. The blooms of the fig tree always appear before the leaves in spring. When Jesus saw the leaves on the fig tree in Mark, He expected the fruit. The reason the fig tree ought to have fruit is because of the presence of the leaves. I would suggest that this tree was likely unique, because it was not the time for figs, and this tree with all these leaves would have really stood out. It was an unseasonal time for fig tree leaves. It is interesting in Genesis how Adam and Eve used these leaves to cover their shame and nakedness. I would suggest that the reason Christ cursed the fig tree for one of, or both of two reasons. One was that this fig tree was a "shameful" display of sorts (covered with leaves). Another was that it had no fruit. A sin of the Jewish nation was that they were chosen by God, had Priests (Levites and Pharisees), but did not bring forth the fruit of faith (as a nation). In the parable of putting forth leaves in 1967 by Israel (fig tree), the lack of fruit is what has initiated the generation that shall not pass.
Jesus cursed the fig tree on Mon., Nisan 10 in 30 AD. That is the day the lambs were selected for Passover. Ex. 12:3 says, "In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house." Those lambs were killed and roasted on Nisan 13 and eaten between 6 PM and midnight on Nisan 14, the Passover. Jesus too, was killed on Nisan 13 and became our Passover lamb.
Thanks for reminding me to think about the fig tree parable and the last generation.
Unger's Bible Handbook says, "The fig tree differs from most other fruit trees in that its fruit is green and inconspicuous, concealed among leaves until near the time of ripening. If the promise given from a distance by the leaves be not fulfilled on approaching (Mark 11:13), the tree is a hypocrite. Such a one our Saviour cursed."
The fig tree, Israel, was grafted back into her old rootstock in 1948. In the Six-Day War of 1967, the fig tree put forth leaves. If she has no fruit now that she has leaves, she is a hypocrite. In 30 AD, Jesus called the Pharisees hypocrites over and over. In Mt. 23:36, Jesus told the Pharisees, "Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation." They did, 40 years later, in 70 AD. Applied to modern Israel, "this generation" of Mt. 24:34 will see all the things prophesied for the end of the age come upon them by 2007 (1967 + 40 = 2007). That seems very clear. What happened in 70 portrays what will happen in 07. But what happened to the Christians before the destruction of 70 AD? If I remember right, they fled to Pella during a lull in fighting, and were not destroyed. I think this depicted the Pre-Wrath Rapture.
Concerning a Pentecost Rapture, Josephus tells us of miraculous signs they had in 66 AD. A star resembling a sword stood over the city. A comet continued a whole year. When people came in great crowds to attend the upcoming Feast of Unleavened Bread, at 3 AM on Nisan 8, a great light shone around the altar and temple for half an hour, so great as to look like daytime. At the Festival itself, a heifer being led by the high priest to be sacrificed, "brought forth a lamb in the midst of the temple." The heavy brass eastern gate of the inner court, having been shut with difficulty by 20 men and having bolts deep into a single large stone, opened of its own accord about midnight. Josephus said of Iyar 21, "before sun-setting, chariots and troops of soldiers in their armour were seen running about among the clouds, and surrounding of cities."
Josephus continued, "Moreover, at that feast which we call PENTECOST, as the priests were going by night into the inner [court of the] temple, as their custom was, to perform their sacred ministrations, they said that, in the first place, they felt a quaking, and heard a great noise, and after that they heard a sound as of a great multitude, saying, 'LET US REMOVE HENCE" (Wars. VI. VI. 3).
This sounds much like a sign of the Rapture on Pentecost. It reminds us of the events at Mt. Sinai around Pentecost too. Ex. 19:16,18 says, "it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people that was in the camp trembled....And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly."
We had a new star, Nova Velorum, on Pentecost, May 22, 1999. Are we being shown that we should consider Pentecost and not some day before it? Nu. 28:26 says, "in the day of the FIRSTFRUITS, when ye bring a new meat offering unto the LORD, AFTER your weeks be out (AFTER the 49 days, on the 50th day, on Pentecost), ye shall have an holy convocation; ye shall do no servile work." Neh. 10:35 says, "bring the FIRSTFRUITS of our ground, and the FIRSTFRUITS of all fruit of all trees, year by year, unto the house of the LORD."
Christ is THE FIRSTFRUITS. I Cor. 15:20 says, "now is Christ risen from the dead, and become THE FIRSTFRUITS of them that slept." There are ranks in the FIRST RESURRECTION (I Cor. 15:23). They are called up by trumpets. There was a trumpet sounded on the Feast of Firstfruits, Resurrection Day, in 30 AD, as at all feasts.
It seems that we are the FIRST of the FIRSTFRUITS that will now be called up at the FIRST trump (I Thess. 4:16,17) AND at the "LAST trump" (I Cor. 15:51,52). The 144,000 of Israel will be called up at the "last trump" (I Cor. 15:51,52). We are the firstfruits of wheat harvest, the firstripe grapes and the firstripe figs. All converge at Pentecost, the BEGINNING of the wheat harvest.
James 1:18 says, "Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a KIND (the first) of FIRSTFRUITS of his creatures." The 144,000 of Israel are firstfruits, but we are the FIRST OF THE FIRSTFRUITS. Rev. 14:4 says, "These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the FIRSTFRUITS unto God and to the Lamb." Jer. 2:3 says, "Israel WAS holiness unto the LORD, and the FIRSTFRUITS of his increase: all that devour him shall offend; evil shall come upon them, saith the LORD."
Ex. 23:16,19 says, "the FEAST OF HARVEST (Pentecost), the FIRSTFRUITS of thy labours, which thou hast sown in the field...The FIRST OF THE FIRSTFRUITS of thy land thou shalt bring into the house of the LORD thy God" (on Pentecost). Ex. 34:22 says, "thou shalt observe the FEAST OF WEEKS (Pentecost), of THE FIRSTFRUITS OF WHEAT HARVEST." Lev. 23:17 says, "Ye shall BRING OUT OF YOUR HABITATIONS two wave loaves of two tenth deals; they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baken with leaven; they are the FIRSTFRUITS unto the LORD."
Firstripe grapes and firstripe figs. Mic. 7:1 says, "Woe is me! for I am as (symbolic language, he is cast as a Tribulation saint) when they have gathered the summer fruits, as the grapegleanings of the vintage: there is no cluster to eat: my soul desired the FIRSTRIPE fruit" (grapes). Hos. 9:10 says, "I found ISRAEL LIKE GRAPES in the wilderness; I saw your fathers as the FIRSTRIPE IN THE FIG TREE at her first time: but they went to Baalpeor (lord of the opening, see Rev. 9), and separated themselves unto that shame." Nu. 13:20 says to see "what the land is, whether it be fat or lean, whether there be wood therein, or not. And be ye of good courage, and bring of the fruit of the land. Now the time was THE TIME OF THE FIRSTRIPE GRAPES."
As much as I try to consider other times, I keep being brought back to Pentecost. Ex. 19:13 says, "when the trumpet soundeth long, they shall come up to the mount." A trumpet sounds on Pentecost. Nu. 28:26 does say, "AFTER your weeks be out." The 50th day is AFTER the 7 weeks.
Then how do we take Isa. 18:3-6: "All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign (flag) on the mountains (nations); AND when HE BLOWETH A TRUMPET, hear ye. For so the LORD said unto me, I will take my rest (i.e., a festival day), and I will consider (nabat, look intently at, regard with pleasure, see) IN MY DWELLING PLACE like a clear heat upon herbs, and like a cloud of dew in the heat of HARVEST." This sounds like we are in Heaven on Pentecost, the harvest.
Continuing, it says, "For AFORE THE HARVEST, when the bud is perfect, and the sour grape is ripening in the flower, he shall BOTH cut off the sprigs with pruning hooks, and take away and cut down the branches. They shall be left together unto the fowls of the mountains, and to the beasts of the earth: and the fowls shall SUMMER upon them, and all the beasts of the earth shall WINTER upon them."
The word translated "sprigs" is Strong's 2150 zalzal, tremulous, i.e., a twig, sprig. It is redupl. from 2151, to shake, quake; fig. to be loose morally, worthless. Then it looks like the foolish virgins are the "sprigs" cut off. That takes place before the harvest. It must be why Rev. 22:11 says, "He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still." The chosen Bride group has been selected. The Rapture is at hand.
The feast of harvest is Pentecost. That is when there are the firstfruits of wheat, the firstfruits of figs and the firstfruits of grapes.
There is one more problem to iron out, Rev. 17:12. It says, "the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received NO KINGDOM AS YET; but receive power as kings one HOUR with the beast." Rev. 3:10 seems to explain this HOUR. It says, "Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the HOUR of temptation (pierasmos, trial, i.e., the Tribulation), which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth."
In Rev. 13:1, all 10 kings are crowned at the same time that the Beast comes to power. That is the 1st day of the first 1260 days (v. 5). Therefore, the 10 kings are crowned as the Tribulation begins, but do not yet have a kingdom. They are probably to rule as subordinate rulers (under the Beast) of the OWG, or UN, even though the 10 regions of the world have not been completely set up as kingdoms under those same 10 kings.
We know that the Rapture has already happened when these 10 are crowned. Rev. 17:14 says, " they that ARE WITH HIM (the Lamb) ARE called, and chosen, and faithful." They have been called up to Heaven when Christ said, "COME UP HITHER" (Rev. 4:1), and the events of the Tribulation are "HEREAFTER," starting in Rev. 6. Rev. 13:6 shows that we are in Heaven at the beginning of the Tribulation. It says, "he (the Beast) opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and THEM THAT DWELL IN HEAVEN."
Rev. 13:1 says, "I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast (great red dragon) rise up out of the sea (nations, Rev. 17:15), having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads THE NAME OF BLASPHEMY" (Pontifex Maximus).
Zech. 5:4 explains one way he sweareth falsely. It says, "I will bring it ('the curse,' the asteroid) forth, saith the LORD of hosts, and it shall enter into the house of the thief (the False Prophet), and into the house of him (the Beast) that SWEARETH FALSELY BY MY NAME: and it shall remain in the midst of his house, and shall consume it with the timber thereof and the stones thereof." Isa. 9:15 says, "The ancient and honourable, he is the head (the 6th); and the prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail" (and the Satan-possessed 7th head).
Isa. 57:1-3 says, "The righteous perisheth (abad, ESCAPES), and no man layeth it to heart: and merciful men are TAKEN AWAY, none considering that THE RIGHTEOUS IS TAKEN AWAY FROM THE EVIL TO COME. He shall enter into peace: they shall rest in their beds, each one walking in his uprightness. But draw near hither, ye sons (Beast and False Prophet) of the sorceress, the seed of the adulterer and the whore" (harlot church, Rev. 17:5).
To me, Pentecost still seems like the most likely time for the Pre-Trib Rapture.
II Thess. 2:1-8 says, "Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him (the Pre-Trib Rapture), That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ (lit., the Day of the Lord in almost all major MSS) is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day (the 1st day of the millennial Day of the Lord) shall not come, except there come a falling away (departure, i.e., the Rapture) first, and that man of sin be revealed (when he confirms the convenant), the son of perdition (the False Prophet); Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? And now ye know what withholdeth (the indwelling Holy Spirit in the Bride group) that he (the False Prophet) might be revealed in his time (the Tribulation). For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he (the Holy Spirit) who now letteth will let (lit., hinders will hinder), UNTIL he be taken out of the way (at the Rapture). And then (on Pentecost/Feast of Weeks) shall that Wicked (False Prophet) be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming."
So it seems that the False Prophet will be revealed the same day we are caught up. What do you think?
PS: The day, Nisan 10, that Jesus cursed the fig tree was the same day he purified the temple. That fits in with the Rapture too. We are the spiritural temple of the Spirit of Christ. Mt. 21:12-15 says that after coming to Jerusalem, "Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves. And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves. And the blind and the lame CAME TO HIM IN THE TEMPLE; and he healed them. And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying in the temple, and saying, HOSANNA to the son of David; they were sore displeased." HOSANNA means "oh save."
The fig tree was dried up the very next day, as if the Tribulation had started. There will be no rain after the Rapture and during the ministry of the two witnesses. Famine will result (Rev. 6:5,6). Agape
Further i also believe the pre-trib rapture to be in 2001.
Crusifixion day - Aprl 3 - 33AD
Pentecostal day 6 siwan - May 24 - 33 AS
+ 2000 prophetic yaers a 360 days makes - 720000 days for the church
(Christs body)= Sep 6 - 2004 AD
minus 1260 days - makes 25.march 2001 = 1. Nisan 5761
> > According to Gauss formula 16 mar 597 BC was 2.Nisan (a month later than Adar), and the astronomical the Babylonians followed an intercalculated leap-month calendar this year.
If the Babylonians added a 13th month, how was their year always a regular 360-day year, as many assume in their calculations?
> > A prophetic year, or more correct the prophetic year of the Bible, does not contains as many days as the number of days in the historic, or calendar- or tropical years do. On the contrary it contains precisely 360 days, no more nor less....These 2590 prophetic iniquity years for Israel, contains with other words, a prophetic time-period of precisely 2590 x 360 = 932400 days, equivalent to 2552,772074 calender years of 365,25 days each, or alternatively if 75 days less then 2553 biblical historical years.
If the Babylonians didn't always go by 360-day years, why should we? Also, why, after establishing the Jewish calendar, would God change and set prophecies of a long time in the future by the Babylonian calendar? The Jews were not scheduled to stay in Babylon forever.
I don't go by 360-day years. I think the Bible is consistent, and I just don't think that God made it that hard for anyone to figure out what he meant. Sir Robert Anderson tried using the 360-day year when figuring the Crucifixion date. After much research reading everything I could find, books, periodicals and old handwritten manuscripts from the 1700s, in the library of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles at their La Mirada campus, I disagree with him and a 33 AD date. I think the Crucifixion was in 30 AD, and that Ezekiel's 40 days, that stood for 40 years of "the iniquity of the house of Judah" (Eze. 4:6), were fulfilled in 70 AD, exactly 40 years after Judah refused her Messiah. Also, the Talmud (Sanh. 1:1, 7:2) says that the right of capital punishment was taken from the Jews 40 years before the destruction of the temple in 70 AD. That makes 30 AD the 1st year that the Crucifixion could have taken place.
I think the day counts given in Daniel and Revelation are literal days and that when dropped into the right place in the present Jewish Calendar, they fit exactly as stated. For instance, there are exactly 2300 days, counted by Jewish inclusive reckoning, from the Feast of Weeks/Pentecost in 2001 to the Feast of Trumpets in 2007. The Feast of Weeks is a perfect time for the 70th week of Daniel to begin. We know from many scriptures that the millennial Day of the Lord begins with the Day of God's Wrath on the Feast of Trumpets (Mal. 2:3; Hos. 9:5,6; Joel 1:15; 2:1-3). Because that Jewish year of 5768 is a leap year, there are exactly 7 Jewish months between that Tishri 1 and Christ's return on the following Nisan 1 (Eze. 39:12,13).
> > Accordingly the accession year of Nebuchadrezzar extended from Nisan 1 = March 24 606 BC until Nisan 1, 605BC, and his first regal year began Nisan 1, 605 BC
This is interesting. I didn't know the Babylonians used Nisan 1 as the beginning of their Regnal Year as the Jews do. So they used both the Jewish 13th month and the Jewish Regnal Year.
> > Crusifixion day - Aprl 3 - 33AD
I think it was Thur. Nisan 13, 3790 (Apr. 6, 30 AD). I figure that Jesus was born Tishri 1, 3757 (BC 5). He was about 30 when baptized near Tishri 1 in 26 AD. That year, the temple had been being built 45 years (from BC 10/19), for from the next Passover, it was 46 years. The 1st Passover was in 27 AD, the 2nd in 28 AD, the 3rd in 29 AD, and the Crucifixion at the 4th Passover was in 30 AD.
Tiberius began to reign as Co-Rex with Augustus in 12 AD. Tiberius became Sole-Rex in 14 AD, but was sole ruler over Judah from 12 AD as Augustus concerned himself with other parts of the empire. Tiberius' 15th year was 26 AD, when Jesus was baptized. Everything dovetails exactly. I think the wise men visited the young child in a house in BC 3, then Herod died near the eclipse of Jan. 10, BC 1.
> > = Sep 6 - 2004 AD minus 1260 days - makes 25.march 2001 = 1. Nisan 5761
I also think the Rapture will be in 2001, but most likely seems to be Pentecost, Sivan 6, 5761 (May 28, 2001). Look at Song of Sol. 2:10-14. It is spring, but the latter rains of Nisan are over and gone. It is the time of green figs and firstripe grapes, which come on at the end of May or early June.
Take a look at Heb. 12:22-24. It says, "ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, And to Jesus." The general assembly is in Greek, panegurei, a festal assembly (Thayer). If this is the Rapture, which I think it is because we are to refuse him not (v. 25), the Rapture seems to be on a feast.
Since the former rains are in Tishri and the latter rains in Nisan, the only feast that fits is Pentecost. Agape
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Updated 12-17-00