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Box 159, Carnation, WA 98014. ----------------------------------------------------------------- For more information, contact Return to God, P.O. Box 159, Carnation, WA 98014-0159; email: glenna@halcyon.com. ----------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------- "The End Times - Examining Scripture from a Hebraic Perspective Reveals God's Plan" by Darab Raisdanai (an article from Return to God Magazine, Volume 1 Number 3, page 9). Darab was born in Germany and his parents are from Iran. He was raised in Iran and came to the United States in 1975. He was raised as a Moslem but by the grace of Yeshua, is now a believer in Yeshua as Lord and Messiah of Israel. He is married and has four children. His wife Ann is from Vietnam and converted from Buddism to Yeshua. They became believers four years ago and committed their lives to Yeshua in Congregation Adat HaMashiach. In 1995 they helped form Kehilat Mayim Chaim, a Messianic Congregation in Redmond, WA. To contact Kehilat Mayim Chaim: P.O. Box 2435, Redmond, WA 98073. ----------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------- More than ever before, many feel that they are living in the "end times", the period prior to Yeshua's (Jesus') return to earth. What signs indicate that we are living in the "end times"? When will the rapture (catching away of believers) occur in relation to other end times events? Yeshua said we would not know the day or the hour, yet God's plan can become clear if we interpret Scripture with a Hebraic perspective. THE END OF THE AGE In the twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew, the disciples asked Yeshua, the Messiah, about the sign of His return and about the end of the age. What did they mean by "the end of the age"? According to Rabbis, the six days of creation represent a six thousand year period called the Present Age and the seventh day of rest (Sabbath) represents a one thousand year period that will be the Coming Age (commonly referred to as the Millennium). They make the correlation between days and thousand year periods from Psalm 90:4: For a thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by... The first six thousand years (Present Age) was divided into three segments: the first two thousand years is called 'Desolation', the second two thousand years beginning with the giving of the Torah is called 'The Days of Instruction', and the third two thousand years, beginning with the day Messiah presented Himself as King, is called 'The Days of Messiah'. If we consider either the Jewish Calendar or the days of Messiah Yeshua, we are at the very end of the Present Age. Yeshua spoke of signs that would alert us to the nearness of the time that He referred to as the beginning of tribulation. Matthew 24:4-8: Jesus answered: "Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive many. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains." And in the gospel of Luke 21:28: When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near. This redemption is of the body, as indicated in Romans 8:22-23: We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. Today we can clearly see the signs that Yeshua described. These signs, together with the Jewish Calendar and the days of Messiah Yeshua show us that we're at the end of the Present Age. The rapture and the tribulation are very near! The Messiah will return to earth soon. We can understand more about these events by studying Jewish practices that are symbolic of Yeshua and His work. JEWISH WEDDING SHOWS GOD'S PLAN In the book of John chapter 3, John the Baptist introduces Yeshua as the Bridegroom and himself as the friend of the Bridegroom. Yeshua is the Jewish Bridegroom and the Jewish and Gentile believers are the Bride. It is obvious that the wedding is going to be a Jewish wedding according to the traditions of ancient Israel. A written contract will initiate the betrothal and continues by payment of the bride price (Yeshua's sacrifice) and cup of wine (at the Last Supper) for confirmation of the agreement. The bride receives her gifts (the Holy Spirit). The bridegroom departs for his father's house to prepare a place (a wedding chamber) for the bride. Yeshua spoke the same words that a Jewish bridegroom would speak to his betrothed in John 14:2: "In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you." The father of the bridegroom is in charge of preparation for the wedding ceremony and he makes the decision of when his son can return and get his bride. Yeshua reflected this in Mark 13:32 when He said: "No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father." When everything is prepared and all the guests are invited, the bridegroom departs for the house of his bride. However he does not go to her house but remains at a distance and sends for his bride. Yeshua will fulfill this as described in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17: For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. After the bridegroom and his bride return to the bridegroom's house, they will spend seven days in the wedding chamber. The seven days in the wedding chamber is a picture that shows us that the church (the bride) will be with the Lord during the seven years of tribulation. At the time of the resurrection, the bride enters the wedding chamber and is hidden from the tribulation. In Isaiah chapter 26 verses 19 and 20 we read: But your dead will live; their bodies will rise. You who dwell in the dust, wake up and shout for joy. Your dew is like the dew of the morning; the earth will give birth to her dead. Go, my people, enter your rooms and shut the doors behind you; hide yourselves for a little while until his wrath has passed by. ISAAC PICTURED MESSIAH'S REDEMPTIVE WORK Through Abraham and Isaac, God has revealed His plan of redemption. Isaac was a picture of the Messiah. God commanded Abraham to sacrifice his son. According to the Rabbis, Isaac was thirty years old when Abraham led him to the altar. However God did not allow Abraham to carry out the sacrifice, but instead God provided the sacrifice. God Himself would offer His Son as the acceptable sacrifice for all (Genesis 22:14). Even though Abraham and Isaac went up together, Abraham returned by himself. Isaac is not mentioned until we read about his bride Rebekah coming to him (Genesis 24:62-67). As was pictured by Isaac, Yeshua offered Himself as our sacrifice, was buried, resurrected and ascended to the Father, He will return again to receive His bride. ROSH HASHANAH: FEAST OF TRUMPETS, RESURRECTION, CORONATION AND WEDDING OF THE MESSIAH Rosh Hashanah, the Feast of Trumpets also reveals God's plan. Rosh Hashanah is the fifth of seven feasts that God gave to His people. Yeshua fulfilled the first four and He will return to fulfill the remaining three. It is not a coincidence that Rosh Hashanah is the day in which the resurrection is anticipated and is known to be the last trumpet, where the first trumpet is understood to be on Shavuot (Pentecost) which took place at Mount Sinai. Jewish eschatology teaches that on Rosh Hashanah after 6000 years are complete, will come the Day of the Lord. On that day the Shofar (ram's horn trumpet) will sound, the righteous will be resurrected and will attend the coronation of the King. After the coronation they will enter the wedding canopy. The days between Rosh Hashanah and the next feast, Yom Kippur (Atonement) are called the awesome days and are a picture of the tribulation. According to Jewish eschatology the gates of heaven are opened on Rosh Hashanah and closed on Yom Kippur. This bring us to the book of Revelation chapter 3:7-11: To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: These are the words of him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open. I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name. I will make those who are of the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews though they are not, but are liars -- I will make them come and fall down at your feet and acknowledge that I have loved you. Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come upon the whole world to test those who live on the earth. I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown. Note the two words here that relate to Rosh Hashanah: 'open door' (as the gates of heaven are opened on Rosh Hashanah) and 'crown' (as in a coronation). By considering these words and knowing that Rosh Hashanah is also known as the Feast of Trumpets we proceed with Revelation chapter 4:1-4: After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, "Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this." At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian. A rainbow, resembling an emerald, encircled the throne. Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads. As John hears the shout and a trumpet, he is told about seeing things after 'this', 'this' being his ascension to heaven. The twenty-four elders who are crowned are in heaven representing believers before and after Yeshua's first coming, and the setting described by chapters four and five, indicate the Day of Atonement. BELIEVERS ESCAPE JUDGEMENTS OF THE TRIBULATION Yeshua was very clear about those who are faithful escaping the entire seven years of tribulation. In Luke 21:34-36 He said: "Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you unexpectedly like a trap. For it will come upon all those who live on the face of the whole earth. Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man." Note the words 'all' and 'whole'. Yeshua did not use 'some' or 'part'. If the wrath of God is coming upon the whole world and all that is in it, to escape it all, then we must be out of the world. In this case the following passage becomes clear: 1 Thessalonians 5:9-10: For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. SEVENTY WEEKS PROPHECY CONFIRMS SEVEN YEAR TRIBULATION In the book of Daniel, God speaks of Israel in chapter 9:24-25: Seventy 'sevens' are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy. Know and understand this: From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven 'sevens,' and sixty-two 'sevens.' It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble. The "sevens" are weeks of years (each week consists of seven years). We are living in the time between the end of the sixty-nine weeks and the beginning of the seventieth week. The last seven years starts when the Antichrist in Daniel 9:27 confirms a convenant: He will confirm a covenant with many for one 'seven.' In the middle of the 'seven' he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on a wing of the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him. 2 Thessalonians 2:3-7: Don't let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God's temple, proclaiming himself to be God. Don't you remember that when I was with you I used to tell you these things? And now you know what is holding him back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time. For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way. The Antichrist can not come on the world scene and confirm an existing treaty until the ones through whom the Holy Spirit is restraining him are removed (through rapture). This makes sense because the believers are the voice and witness against the spirit of Antichrist, and with their God-given wisdom and knowledge, they are able to identify the work of the lawless one. The tribulation will last seven years, that is seven times three hundred sixty days (prophetic year), totaling two thousand five hundred and twenty days. From the time when Antichrist confirms the covenant until Yeshua's return on the Mount of Olives, is going to be two thousand five hundred and twenty days. In that case one who witnesses the treaty, or anytime after that event, can know the day and hour of His coming for judgment. We know the Holy Scripture is infallible, so the "day and hour" we can not know about is the rapture preceding the tribulation. TWO GROUPS OF BELIEVERS AT THE RESURRECTION According to the Scripture, Elijah the prophet was to appear before the Messiah (Malachi 3:1 and 4:5-6). John the Baptist came preaching before Yeshua, but he was not Elijah himself. Yeshua confirmed that John was performing the office of Elijah, and Elijah himself was to come in the future (Matthew 17:10-13). Elijah as friend of the Bridegroom did not die but was snatched away (2 Kings 2:11-12). Why was Elijah taken up in such a manner? The answer lies in following passages; Matthew 17:1-3: After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus. Yeshua demonstrated for His disciples then and now, that after the six thousand years there will be two groups of believers at the resurrection. Moses represents the dead in Christ, and Elijah those who remain alive. From this we are able to see and understand the resurrection and the catching away of believers as the disciples did. 1 Corinthians 15:51-52: Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed -- in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. By resurrecting Lazarus, Yeshua also taught us about the two groups of believers in the book of John chapter 11:25-26: Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die." ENOCH WALKED WITH GOD, AND HE WAS NOT, FOR GOD TOOK HIM The Holy Spirit provides us with another look at those that are snatched as believers out of the judgment in the book of Jude 1:14-15: Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men: "See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones to judge everyone, and to convict all the ungodly of all the ungodly acts they have done in the ungodly way, and of all the harsh words ungodly sinners have spoken against him." Enoch was the seventh from Adam and seven represents rest and completion. The name Noah also means rest. It is interesting that Yeshua likened the days of His return to the days of Noah. Enoch was snatched away while Noah was preserved through the judgment of the flood. READING SCRIPTURE FROM A HEBRAIC PERSPECTIVE CLARIFIES THE END TIMES From Jewish eschatology, as well as from events happening in the world today, we see that we are very near to "the end of the age". The Jewish Wedding ceremony, the Feasts of Israel and Daniel's seventy weeks prophecy appear to indicate that the rapture or catching away of believers will occur prior to the tribulation (pre-tribulation rapture). We also see from Scripture that there will be two groups of believers at the resurrection: those who are dead who will be raised and those who are alive. By knowing the rich background of the Jewish heritage of Scripture, we can better understand God's plan for the end times. Scripture quotations are from the New International Version.