Hi all,
Today I continue studying Rosh haShanah by looking at what happens on earth while the Marriage Supper of the Lamb is happening in heaven, but also answer a couple questions.
What happens on earth when the Marriage Supper is going on?
Once you understand the Feast of Trumpets other references in scripture to this hiding away in Messiah become obvious. For the sake of space here are just 2 passages about the Feast of Trumpets and being hidden away, and note while the righteous are hidden in Him, the earth is going through a time of His anger:
“Neither their silver nor gold will be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord’s wrath; the whole land will be devoured by the fire of His jealousy…Gather yourselves together O nation not desired before His wrath come upon you…seek the Lord all the meek of the earth who have heeded His judgement, seek righteousness, seek meekness that you may be hidden in the day of the Lord’s anger.” Zephaniah 1:18, 2:1-3
“For in the time of trouble He will hide me in His shelter; in the secret place of His tent He will hide me. He will set me high upon a rock. (Rock)” Psalm 27:5
These are read during the celebration of the Feast of Trumpets because they mention being hidden from the day of wrath and hidden in ‘His tent’ during the days of trouble. This is why Paul twice told the Thessalonians in his teaching of the Feast of Trumpets to comfort themselves, for He has not called us to the wrath to come, rather we have been delivered from wrath to receive our salvation. (I Thess 1:10, 5:9-11)
Mid tribulation or pre-tribulation?
When I shared last week that Paul stated the anti-Christ can’t be revealed until the ‘departure’ happens first, then the man of sin will be revealed, we might think this indicates a mid-tribulation ‘rapture’.
The reasoning is that Daniel 9:26-27 says ‘The prince of the people who will come will make a treaty for one week (1 week of years, or 7 years)…and in the middle of the treaty (3 1/2 years) he will come into the temple and cause the sacrifices to stop…’
This is what Jesus refers to in Matthew 24:15 when He says; “When you therefore see the abomination of desolations spoken of by Daniel the prophet, whoever reads this let him understand, then let those in Judea flee to the mountains, let those on the rooftop not stop to gather his things on the way out…”
Because anti-Christ comes into the temple at the mid-point of the 7 year treaty, and Paul says the anti-Christ won’t be revealed until after the departure, some believe the departure happens mid-tribulation.
When is anti-Christ revealed?
I don’t believe that and here is why. Paul never states it as a ‘this will happen and then immediately this will happen.’ He just says the man of sin can’t be revealed until the departure happens first.
Daniel identifies him as the one who makes a 7 year treaty with Israel, so that treaty reveals of who he is. The fact he comes into the temple 3 1/2 years later is merely a marker telling everyone to get out of town, as taught by Jesus in Matthew 24:16-20: ‘When you see…flee to the mountains’, indicating not a first ever revealing of anti-Christ, but rather seeing him in the temple is the signal to get out of town.
Remember, those first 3 1/2 years will be horrible years of economic and political turmoil, persecution, and hardship as seen also in The Revelation – anyone alive who knows scripture will know who he is from the start.
Paul said he can’t be revealed until the departure comes first, so the departure and revelation of him is shortly before the signing of the 7 year treaty. The only thing the Father has ever told me about that time came years ago when I was teaching a class about the war of Ezekiel 38 and 39 and end times.
I asked Him why and when the need for a treaty would arise in the first place, and He simply said this: “It will be signed after, and as a result of, the war of Ezekiel 38 and 39.” (I have a series on WW3 and the Feast of Trumpets if you want more detail)
The Days of Awe
Rosh HaShanah starts ‘The Days of Awe’ which are from the start of Rosh HaShanah, the blowing of the ram’s horn, until the end of Yom Kippur when the Great Shofar is blown signaling the opportunity for repentance has come to a close. But here is an amazing thing if you read God’s instructions in Leviticus 23:24-32: From the end of the Feast of Trumpets to the start of the fast of Yom Kippur, are 7 days. Those 7 days are a time for people to repent of people trespassed against and God who has been sinned against.
The first day of Rosh haShanah, which begins the 1st of the month, is a Sabbath, concluding on day 2 of the month. The fast for Yom Kippur begins the 9th, making a full 7 days between the end of one and start of the other (2nd-8th). This corresponds to the 7 year time of ‘the Days of Awe’ or what we call the Tribulation.
On Rosh HaShanah it says God judges mankind and 3 books are opened: The Righteous, the Unrighteous, and the Intermediates. People will get saved by the millions in the day of His wrath and many will die martyr’s deaths. The Intermediates or Undecided’s will have this time to make their decision. The Days of Awe start the time of “Jacob’s Trouble” leading up to ‘the day of the Lord’, or what we know as the Tribulation and 2nd coming. (Rosh HaShanah 16:b-17a)
Besides giving the Intermediates an opportunity to repent, the end result is the closing of the time of man’s government on earth. This is why Revelation 12:12 observers Satan is angry because he knows he has just a short time left, and 11:18 says the nations are angry because the time has arrived for them to be judged.
Here is just one example from Isaiah 13:9-13: ” Behold, the day of the Lord comes, cruel with wrath and fierce anger to lay the land desolate; and He will destroy the sinners out of it. For the stars of heaven and the constellations will not give their light; the sun will be darkened in His going forth, and the moon will not shine. And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity, and I will cause the arrogance of the proud to cease and will lay low the haughtiness of the evil. I will make a man more precious than fine gold…therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth will move out of her place, in the day of the wrath of the Lord of the armies, in the day of His fierce anger.”
We recognize the same signs that Joel prophesies about, Jesus mentions in Matthew 24, and Peter quotes at Pentecost: During the time of the day of the Lord, the sun, moon and stars will be darkened and a great earthquake(s) will move the earth out of place. (I have a series about The Natural Disasters of The Revelation, with a handout/PDF if interested in learning more about the double meteor strike during this time, etc)
Also note He said in that day He will put the value of a single person above that of fine gold. This indicates in that time human life will be cheap – we see this spirit in the world today where abortion is legal and even children have bombs strapped to them and human life is not valued as divine. So this is an end-times ‘benchmark’ to watch for – things like euthanasia, abortion, wanton killings – all indicate society not valuing human life as God-given and therefore highly valued – that is one thing the King will restore.
While the righteous dead have been raised and the living righteous have been changed and are hidden with Messiah, the earth will be in the Days of Awe. The Intermediates will have yet a little more time to repent through all the judgments coming on the earth.
Next week we will look at who is qualified to go ‘up’ in the ‘rapture’, the whole body or just some, and how exactly it happens. Blessings,
John Fenn
