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Knowing the Times and Seasons
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Is it possible that the 7 year
Tribulation can start in 2011?
Da 2:21 And He changes the times and the seasons; He removes kings and raises up kings; He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding. 22 He reveals deep and secret things; He knows what is in the darkness, and light dwells with Him. NKJV
1 Th 5:1 But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. 2 For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. NKJV
1 Ch 12:32 of the sons of Issachar who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do, NKJV
Am 3:7 Surely the Lord God does nothing, unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets. NKJV
1 Th 5:4 But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. 5 You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. 6 Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. NKJV
INTRODUCTION
Now that I have your attention! There are some people who think this is a waste of time and some leaders even think it is a distraction. Those that think that are obviously ignorant of the full counsel of Scripture. My people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge. Lacking knowledge about the Lord's return is very dangerous. There is a crown that is given to those who love His appearing and we are commanded by almost every writer of the New Testament to be watching, sober and alert as to the Day of the Lord. I pray that each of you reading this will not get sucked into this endtime deception of minimizing His return and even mocking it saying "where is the hope of His coming?" The deception continues to grow at an alarming rate especially among the western church.
In some of the past teachings I have taught that we can know the kairos (season) but not the chronos (days, weeks etc.) However in my heart I was conflicted because of this. Over the last year the Lord has continually prompted me that we can know more specifically the time of the Lord's return. I repent and ask forgiveness for misleading regarding a "safe" position on knowing the time of His return. So many people have opted for this safe position because of all the people who have made claims to have figured it out before and were wrong. Sir Isaac Newton gave much of his life to studying Daniel 9 and even wrote a book about it. Of course there was the book 88 reasons why Jesus is coming in 1988. Again and again we have seen people try to look at the timing of the Day of the Lord and failed for various reasons. It is obviously a controversial area and I have been very resistant to wanting to step into this topic.
I have had a number of dreams and confrontations from the Lord regarding the end times but the pre-eminent authority has to be the Word of God! This teaching is going to unfold the truth of God's word regarding this issue. It will also reveal areas of deception that are in the body of Christ and that were in my life regarding this. Please ask the Lord to reveal His truth to you and to open your eyes to areas of deception. I am not presenting this as a prophetic word but as a Bible study for you to dig into.
I am encouraging each of you to be like the Bereans and study this out for YOURSELF to see if it be true! You are in error and danger if you just go along with the flow of conservative evangelical eschatology. Matt. 24:4 Jesus commands each one of us to take the personal responsibillity to make sure that you are not deceived. I exhort the same. Eschatology (end times) is not difficult to study or to understand. The Lord has given us many verses and books in the Bible to grasp the most important time of all creation. If you knew that He was coming back in 7 years and not 20 years I am sure you would adjust your priorities. I am persuaded it is sooner and not later. Study the Word for yourself and pray and the Holy Spirit and the anointing will lead you into all truth.
I. THE CONFLICT OF KNOWING OR NOT KNOWING THE YEAR, MONTH AND WEEK OF THE LORD'S RETURN
A. Consider the verses above. Dan 2:21; 1 Thes 5:1; 1 Chron 12:32; Am 3:7; 1 Thes 5:4 All of these verses speak of knowing the chronological time of the Day of the Lord. I have taught for many years that we can know the season but never wanted to venture any farther then that. The Lord kept this issue before me to study and understand this tension.
B. The opposing verses.
Mt 24:36 "But of that day and hour no one knows , not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only. NKJV
Mk 13:32 "But of that day and hour no one knows , not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 33 Take heed, watch and pray; for you do not know when the time is. NKJV
Ac 1:7 And He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority.
NKJV
Jesus was telling the disciples that "of that day and hour no one knows." He says this right on the heels of sharing the parable of the fig tree and that we can know the season. The Greek word here for "knows" is in the present perfect tense. That means that at the moment that He spoke this no one knew. It does not say no one will never know or that it is impossible to know. He simply stated that in that moment no one knew. There are a number of reasons for that. Consider this verse:
Mt 11:27 All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him. NKJV
Let me ask you, Do you know the Son? Do you know the Father? Yes, of course you do. But Jesus said no one knows the Son or the Father. It is the same Greek word here that is in the present perfect tense. In that moment when He spoke it, it was true. No one knew the Son or the Father. Because they were not born again and the Spirit had not yet been given. There were certain things that had to happen: Jesus had to die and be resurrected and then give the Spirit so that we can know the Son and know the Father. The same thing is true when it comes to the return of the Lord.
C. Reasons no one knew in the time of Jesus.
1. Jerusalem had not been destroyed (70 AD)
2. The temple had not been destroyed (70 AD)
3. The Jews had not been scattered (70 AD)
4. Israel has not been regathered as a nation (1948)
5. Jerusalem had not been regathered (1967)
6. The new moon has to be sighted to know what the first day of the month is.
D. The weight of Scripture tells us we will know within a few days of His return.
II. KNOWING THE FEASTS OF THE LORD
A. Without understanding the Feasts of the Lord we will not be able to understand His return. He is going to fulfill all righteousness and He will fulfill the Fall feasts. God always moves according to His time table and not that of the world or the church. His return is not based upon us doing something or not doing something. It is not based upon us being holy or preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom to every ethnos as some would deceptively teach. (Matt 24:14) However, let me be quick to say that we are to live holy and pure and put on our white wedding garments that are the righteous works of the Saints. And we are to fervently work while it is still day at global evangelism. BUT His return is not contingous upon us! There is a fullfilling of all righteousness and a restoration of all things and we can hasten the day of the Lord but God has still set the times and seasons and they are totally established by the Father.
Mt 5:17 "Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill . 18 For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. NKJV
Mt 3:15 But Jesus answered and said to him, "Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness." Then he allowed Him. NKJV
Col 2:16 So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or Sabbaths, 17 which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.NKJV
This is the consummation of the ages and the restoration of all things.
Ac 3:20 and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before, 21 whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began. NKJV
B. Jesus fulfilled the Spring feasts of: Passover, Unleavened Bread, Firstfruits and Shavuot (Pentecost). He fulfilled these in consecutive order, on the very day and in the same year. This is the Biblical pattern that He set on His first advent.
C. Jesus will fulfill the Fall feasts of: Yom Teruah (trumpets), Yom Kippur and Tabernacles. He will fulfill them in consecutive order, on the very day and in the same year.
D. In other teachings I have shown that He will rapture of the church will be on the feast of trumpets. Rosh HaShana (Feast of trumpets) is also known as the feast that no one knows the day or the time because it is on Tishrei 1 and Tishrei 2. The first day of the month is determined by the New Moon. The priests would look for the crescent of the new moon and when they saw it they would blow the trumpet and declare the first day of the month.
Ps 81:3 Blow the trumpet at the time of the New Moon, at the full moon, on our solemn feast day. NKJV
Col 2:16 So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or Sabbaths, 17 which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.NKJV
The priests did not know exactly what day the new moon would be spotted on. Rosh HaShana is a 2-day feast in order to cover the beginning of the month that is why this feast is the feast that no one knows the day. When the rapture happens it will fulfill this feast and set the timing for the next feast, which is Yom Kippur.
In Psa. 27:5 it is written, "For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion; in the secret of His tabernacle shall He hide me; He shall set me up upon a rock."
I was recently sent an email with this in it. Another name for Rosh HaShanah is Yom HaKeseh, "The Day of the Hiding" or "the Hidden Day." The term keseh or keceh is derived from the Hebrew root kacah, which means to "conceal, cover, or hide." Every day during the month of Elul, a trumpet is blown to warn people to turn back to God, except for the thirtieth day of Elel, the day preceding Rosh HaShanah. On that day the trumpet is not blown, and is therefore silent. This is because much about Rosh HaShanah is concealed and shrouded in mystery. The mystical aspect of Rosh Hashanah is indicated in scripture: "Sound the shofar on the New Moon, in concealment of the day of our festival" (Ps. 81:3). Satan, the accuser, is not be given notice about the arrival of Rosh HaShanah, the Day of Judgement. Hiding, because it was hidden from satan, the adversary. The Bible says that satan comes to rob and to steal (John 10:10), and to confuse (1 Cor. 14:33). Because it is the Day of Judgement, it is symbolically hidden from satan (satan did not know and understand the plan of the cross, 1 Cor. 2:7-8). This was hidden from him as well.
One of the reasons most often given to disclaim that the resurrection of the dead and the catching away of the believers is on Rosh HaShanah is the statement given by Jesus in Matt. 24:36, "But of that day and hour no man knows, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only." Because Rosh HaShanah was understood to be the hidden day, this statement by Jesus is actually an idiom for Rosh HaShanah. Thus it should be given as proof that He was speaking of Rosh HaShanah because Rosh HaShanah is the only day in the whole year that was referred to as the hidden day or the day that no man knew.
Spiritual Application. Rosh HaShanah takes place on the new moon. Col. 2:16-17 says that the new moon will teach about the Messiah. The Jewish (biblical) month is based upon a lunar cycle. The moon can barely be seen as the cycle begins. But then the moon turns toward the sun and begins to reflect the light of the sun. The sun in the sky is a picture of Jesus (Mal. 4:2), and the moon is a picture of the believers in the Messiah. The sun has its own light, but the moon's light is a reflection of the sun. When we first become believers in Jesus, we can hardly be seen spiritually, and we know very little about God. But then our lives begin to revolve around the Messiah as the moon revolves around the sun. As we begin to turn more and more toward the center of creation, we begin to reflect that light (Jesus) more and more, just as the moon reflects the light from the center of the solar system.
E. Yom Kippur There are 10 days between Yom Teruah and Yom Kippur called the "Days of Awe". It is in this time period that the 7 bowls of wrath will be poured out and the battle for Jerusalem will be finished and Jesus will enter the temple and throw out Satan and take the throne of David and establish His kingdom on the Earth. Yom Kippur is the only feast that is for the nation of Israel. It is the day of atonement--atonement for the nation. Not individual sin that was atoned for on Passover in the first advent. In His second advent He will atone for the nation when He enters the Holy of Holies and cleanses the temple and takes up His throne. It is at this point that "all Israel will be saved."
Ro 11:26 And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written:
"The Deliverer will come out of Zion,
And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob;
27 For this is My covenant with them,
When I take away their sins." NKJV
It is also on this day that the Jubilee starts.
F. Jubilee
Lev 25:9 Then you shall cause the trumpet of the Jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the Day of Atonement you shall make the trumpet to sound throughout all your land. 10 And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a Jubilee for you; and each of you shall return to his possession, and each of you shall return to his family. 11 That fiftieth year shall be a Jubilee to you; in it you shall neither sow nor reap what grows of its own accord, nor gather the grapes of your untended vine. 12 For it is the Jubilee ; it shall be holy to you; you shall eat its produce from the field. 13 'In this Year of Jubilee , each of you shall return to his possession. 14 And if you sell anything to your neighbor or buy from your neighbor's hand, you shall not oppress one another. 15 According to the number of years after the Jubilee you shall buy from your neighbor, and according to the number of years of crops he shall sell to you. NKJV
Jubilee is when all the land goes back to its original owner, everyone gets out of jail, all debt is forgiven and everyone returns to his family. This is what is going to happen when the Lord takes his throne on Yom Kippur. Immediately Jubilee will go into effect. We have a clue here as well that the Lord will return on a Jubilee year! More on that later.
G. Tabernacles This feast is 5 days after Yom Kippur and it will be fulfilled then. It is also known of as the wedding feast and feast of ingathering. It is the celebration of the great harvest of souls from the Earth and the marriage supper of the Lamb.
III. WHAT YEAR WILL THIS HAPPEN?
A. Now I know some of you are getting nervous here but please consider in prayer and the Word what I share here.
B. Jesus said in Matt 24:34 that this generation will not pass away.
Mt 24:34 Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place. 35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away. NKJV
The word pass away is used three times here. 1. This generation will not pass away. 2 Heaven and earth will pass away. 3. My words will by no means pass away. Each one of these statements takes faith to believe. It takes faith to believe that heaven and earth WILL PASS AWAY--the very arena that we live in is only temporal and it will pass away. It takes faith to believe that the Word of God will NEVER PASS AWAY. But it takes more faith to believe that there is a generation that WILL NEVER PASS AWAY UNTILL ALL THESE THINGS TAKE PLACE--THE LORD RETURNS! It is easy to believe that someday down the road there will be generation that will never pass away until the Day of the Lord. Paul mentions it as well in 1 Thess 4:15 and 1 Cor 15:52-53. Many are starting to believe that we are that generation. If we are that generation then we can be certain that He is going to give us more and more understanding as to the closeness of the return because we are children of the light and that Day will not catch us unaware. 1 Thess 5.
I am fully persuaded that we are not only in that generation but that the Lord is revealing the timing to us of His return. I have already showed that the Lord will fulfill the Fall feasts. So we already know that the rapture will happen within a 48-hour period during the Feast of Trumpets at the end of the 7-year tribulation. We know it is the last trumpet. So it will be the seventh trumpet at the end of the 7-year tribulation. We will obviously know when there is a peace agreement and the temple is rebuilt. We also will know that there are 3.5 years left when the abomination of desolation happens as Jesus spoke in Matt 24:15 and Paul mentions in 2 Thess 2:3 and Daniel mentions in Dan 9 and Dan 12 where he also gives us the number of days. There is a generation that will see and know these things! We are that generation!
A generation is 70 years according to Moses.
Ps 90:10 The days of our lives are seventy years NKJV
The question is when does the 70 years start? I have said in the past either 1947 or 1948. (Same Hebrew year. Nov. 29th 1947 is when the U.N. passed the resolution for Israel to become a nation and May 14, 1948 is when it happened) The other year is 1967 when Israel got all of Jerusalem back under their authority. That gives the season of sometime between 2018 and 2037.
There is another important fulfillment that we can look for as well. It is the Jubilee year.
Lev 25:8 'And you shall count seven Sabbaths of years for yourself, seven times seven years; and the time of the seven Sabbaths of years shall be to you forty-nine years. NKJV
The Jubilee year came from the seven Sabbath years. They started counting the Sabbath years from when Joshua entered the promised land and then again when Ezra entered the promised land. So the principle is that we need to count the Sabbaths from when Israel entered the promise land the last time. That was 1948, which would give us 1998 and nothing happened. But Jerusalem was not yet in all under Israel until 1967. So 50 years on 1967 is 2017 to 2018
We can see that 2018 is the end of a jubilee year and the year of the end of the generation when the mandate went out for Israel to become a nation. So we know that He will come and rapture us on Yom Teruah (Sept. 11, 2018) and set up His throne on Yom Kippur possibly in the fall of 2018--Sept. 18, 2018. Then we know that the peace agreement would have to be signed on Yom Kippur (because it is a treaty with the nation of Israel) which is October 7, 2011! So let's watch and pray and see what happens this fall of 2011.
CONCLUSION
We are commanded to watch and pray. I want to encourage each of you to do that. It is also critical to study the feasts of the Lord and to understand the calendar of God. He does not move according to our Gregorian calendar, which is from Babylon. (confusion) Everything He does, He does according to His feasts and His calendar. The more you understand them in the light of the Word of God and current events the more you will understand the time you are living in. He also is not returning based upon the condition of the church. It is the very tribulation period that will purify the bride and make her ready as well as the angels that will preach the everlasting gospel in the end. All of this will happen very quickly. Like a woman in birth. The clock is ticking it will not stop.
This is my own conjecture. We are to watch and pray. I think you should be watching for a war in the middle east. I am praying about Zech. 9 read it prayerfully. If this war breaks out and turns hard against Israel then the Lord will intervene and we will see Zech 9 and many other passages fulfilled that speak of the destruction of Damascus. It could be at this point that the peace agreement is made with the temple being rebuilt on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. If this agreement is settled on Yom Kippur Oct. 7, 2011 then you will know beyond a shadow of doubt that the 7 year clock is ticking. It is interesting how much Obama is pushing for a peace agreement in these days.
Until He comes, Clint
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