PENTECOST AND THE RAPTURE by Jack Kelley

[1LoverofGod]

Question:

Most Bible scholars believe that the feast of Pentecost was fulfilled by the establishment of the church. I believe Christ must fulfill all the feasts while He is on earth like He did for Passover,
Unleavened Bread, and First-fruits. If Christ left 10 days before Pentecost, how did He fulfill the feast?

I don’t buy He did it by sending the Holy Spirit because He said ” I will pray to the Father and He will send the Holy Spirit.” I also believe the Rapture is represented in the Old Testament in Exodus chapter 19 and that will be how Christ fulfills the feast. Can you show me where I am wrong?

Answer:

I can’t show you where you’re wrong because you might be right. In fact if the rapture has to happen on a Jewish feast day, Pentecost is the most likely choice.

But consider these things. Jesus fulfilled the spring feasts in His first coming. Most scholars believe He will fulfill the fall feasts in His second coming. Where does that leave Pentecost?

According to your theory He didn’t fulfill it when He was here before and now it’s too late. And if He fulfills the fall feasts at His second coming, He won’t fulfill Pentecost then either because it comes in the early summer.

I don’t believe the rapture has to come on any feast day because the rapture is not for Israel, it’s for the Church. I believe the rapture will happen on the day the Church reaches its full number (Romans 11:25) regardless of what day that is.

I agree with you that Exodus 19 is an Old Testament model of the rapture. But like any model it is necessarily incomplete. Comparing Exodus 19 with Rapture passages like 1 Thes. 4:16-17 and 1 Cor. 15:51-54 will demonstrate this.

Here’s where they’re similar. The trumpet of God and an audible voice are present at both events and both events create a kingdom.

At Mt. Sinai the Israelites were redeemed from slavery, at the Rapture we’ll be redeemed from sin. They were consecrated, we’ll be perfected. They washed their clothes, we’ll be given clean clothes. God came to the Mt. top, Jesus will come to the air.

At Mt. Sinai Moses and Aaron went up, at the rapture we will go up. At Mt. Sinai Israel was wed to God. At the Rapture the Church will be wed to Jesus. At Mt. Sinai God dwelt with Israel and at the rapture the Church will dwell with Jesus.

And here’s where they’re different. Only Moses and Aaron could ascend the mountain. Anyone else going up passed from life to death. At the rapture we will all go up and everyone will pass from death to life.

God promised to dwell with Israel if they obeyed. We will dwell with Jesus because He obeyed. They changed themselves temporarily, God will change us permanently. Theirs was an event accompanied by great fear, ours is an event anticipated with great joy. After all Mt. Sinai was the presentation of God’s Law, and the Rapture is the manifestation of His grace.

Pentecost And The Rapture – Grace thru faith

gracethrufaith.com

 

[Ronnie]

If Christ left 10 days before Pentecost, how did He fulfill the feast?

I have no knowledge, but have found this no the Internet.

“Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.” John 16:7

“If you go back and read the Old Testament, you will discover that Pentecost was one of the Jewish feast days. Only they didn't call it Pentecost. That's the Greek name. The Jews called it the Feast of Harvest or the Feast of Weeks. It is mentioned in five places in the first five books — in Exodus 23, Exodus 24, Leviticus 16, Numbers 28, and Deuteronomy 16.”

https://www.christianity.com/wiki/holidays/where-did-pentecost-come-from.html

Fulfillment:
4) “Weeks or Pentecost (Leviticus 23:16) – Occurred fifty days after the beginning of the Feast of Unleavened Bread and [Pentecost] pointed to the great harvest of souls and the gift of the Holy Spirit for both Jew and Gentile, who would be brought into the kingdom of God during the Church Age (see Acts 2). The Church was actually established on this day when God poured out His Holy Spirit and 3,000 Jews responded to Peter’s great sermon and his first proclamation of the gospel.” Source:

 

[Andy C]

I don’t believe the rapture has to come on any feast day because the rapture is not for Israel, it’s for the Church. I believe the rapture will happen on the day the Church reaches its full number (Romans 11:25) regardless of what day that is.

Agree with this 100 percent.

 

[Ronnie]

Could be that God’s acts and events coincide with the Jewish calendar for his own purposes and will.

 

[1LoverofGod]

Could be that God’s acts and events coincide with the Jewish calendar for his own purposes and will.

I don't believe the Rapture has anything to do with anything Jewish, except for the Jewish Messiah, because I believe in dispensationalism and we are in the church age. The church age ends with the Rapture of the church, then the dispensation will change because God turns His attention back to Israel in the 70th week.

The Olivet Discourse was Jewish and Jews can understand the language of Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21, as well as The book of Revelation is written with some Jewish idioms.

The signs Jesus gave are for the Jews during the Tribulation but the church can only use those signs to see how close we are to the 70th week, thus we have an idea how much closer we are to the Rapture.

The Rapture is signless so we watch and be ready because we don't know when the Master will return.
The Rapture is as it is written, that no one knows the day or the hour, Imminent.

I think it hurts the remnant church more to focus on certain dates because when they come and go for some, especially the weak in the faith get Rapture burn out and could give up watching and won't be ready when Jesus appears to take home his Bride.

I believe Jesus fulfills the Feasts. Pentecost was fulfilled when the Holy Spirit came upon the 120 disciples and the church was born. Remember the first disciples were Jewish and they observed Pentecost, but will the Holy Spirit coming upon them, the Church began with those Jewish disciples.

As for the first-fruits, Jesus fulfilled the first-fruits when he rose from the dead as first fruits of many to follow. The church are part of the first -fruits because the church has the first resurrection of those who died in Christ.

Jesus was actually the first-fruit because He was the first to be raised from the dead and was the sacrifice offering to The Father in our behalf

 

[Margery]

I so agree with you Rose!

I think it hurts the remnant church more to focus on certain dates because when they come and go for some, especially the weak in the faith get Rapture burn out and could give up watching

 

[mattfivefour]

This is a little off topic in that I am not focusing necessarily on the Rapture, but we must take note of the fact that the sacrifice of Jesus, the removal of sin, the resurrection of Jesus, and the coming of the Holy Spirit/beginning of the Church all happened on feast days. In order they are: Passover (Pesach), Unleavened Bread (Chag HaMotzi), First Fruits (Reshit Katzir), and Pentecost (Shavu'ot). These are the spring feasts, representing the first harvest (cereal grains such as barley, flax and wheat) and the start of the grape and olive growing season.

The remaining three feasts occurred in the fall-- Yom Teruah (Feast of Trumpets), Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement, also known as the start of the Great Days of Awe), and Sukkot (the Feast of Tabernacles.) Respectively, these three feasts represent 1) the end of the grape harvest and the start of the ingathering of the olives, 2) the preparation of the ground for the new agricultural year, and 3) the planting of new seeds for new crops to grow in the new year.

Think about that for a moment and consider those three feasts and what they represent, in light of the major events to come. Would it be unreasonable, then, to consider the possibility that...

1. ...the Feast of Trumpets could represent the Rapture, when the trump of God calls the Church up, followed by the start of Jacobs sorrows-- God's wrath expressed in the seven seals, the seven trumpets, and the seven bowls.
2. ...the Day of Atonement, beginning the Great Days of Awe, could represent the moment of Christ's return at the end of the Great Tribulation, when those Jews still alive "will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn (Zechariah 12:10)."
3. ...and the Feast of Tabernacles could well represent Jesus Christ coming to live with humankind on earth, ruling from Jerusalem, where He will reign for a thousand years as new generations of humans grow up on this planet..until the final rebellion, the final victory, and the creation of a new earth under new heavens, where God will dwell with us forever.

Just some thoughts that have been percolating in my head. God is a God of purpose...and order. The fact He tied the initial major events of His plan of salvation to the four Jewish Spring feasts leads me to believe that it is not unreasonable to think that He might very well tie the remaining parts of His plan of salvation to the three fall feasts.