Any number of "tie ins" are associated with so many days. Arguments can easily be made for any number of days. No doubt one of them has to be right! As such, every day that passes and is left behind, we certainly draw one day closer to our highly anticipated redemption. For the number of days which garner our speculations is indeed dwindling. I wonder, as like in childbirth as the Lord orchestrates the physical technicalities that begin the process of birth, does Lord also prepare the unborn and disclose their eventual departure from the womb??? Perhaps this facilitates the babe to assume the birth position and then drop into place! No doubt the Lord is in contact with the unborn child. Perhaps this is also why even the youngest of children seem to demonstrate an innate knowledge of the Lord and spiritual life! Perhaps this also a tie in for the teaching that we all need the faith of a child! Expanding on the work of Zola Levit. New thought here, any ideas? TR Refreshing to get more feedback. TR I thought this author's take on the understanding of "imminence" was thought-provoking. I grew up thinking that the rapture could happen on any day at any time and we would just *poof*!!! As I have studied the end times, prophecy, and the rapture, I feel that I stand more on the "God has a set date for this" idea. I truly believe that he has already chosen that day that he will call us home and I just don't have quite all the understanding or puzzle pieces yet to know that exact date. I have high watch dates for various reasons and wait to see the convergence of tribulation signs adding up to the point where it's crossed those "labor pains" and "birth" is imminent. Let me know what y'all think of the author's article: http://www.thepropheticscroll.org/home/50-editions/general/644-edition-499a.html Indeed when God set the Sun and Moon in the sky, the greater and lesser lights it was for the purpose of time keeping. God, like the workings of His universe and the human body is very precise. We are also told that much had already been decided even before the foundations of the world were laid. God had a plan, executed his plan, and keeps his plan on schedule. Indeed the Lord knows in advance what He has already decided and declared. Indeed prophetically speaking no declarative sign is associated with the Rapture. As such we indeed agree to imminence in that sense. But we can legitimately track the later events involving Israel as a harbinger of the days assigned to the Gentiles. That's just a logical leap! I am not ready nor have I been to unequivically claim the Rapture to occur on any given day! Feast day or not! Again, the Church and the Rapture were a mystery to the Jewish mindset. Differing dispensations dealing with differing people groups. If indeed were the Rapture to occur on a well established Jewish holiday or Feast Day, would it not be immediately recognized as such. Would not the nation of Israel be able to immediately identify and relate to it?! Rather they would embrace the AC for 3 1/2 yrs! Father God is the husband of Israel, and Jesus is the husband of the Church. Again, the Rapture will indeed speak to the nation of Israel like so many other events in their history, but only in HINDSIGHT! First the Church is taken out of the way, then Father God deals with Israel. This is an established given. The Rapture itself will be used to mark the remaining days of Israel and man, seven years. So why then do we join the Rapture and Israel at the hip with the Rapture falling on a Jewish Feast Day? What purpose does this serve? This is my opinion does require a leap of faith of sorts, theologically speaking. A looser application of the term imminence can easily be summed up like this. Time is on the side of the Church, our side! TR Thought-provoking... Yes. I guess years ago I used to care, yhwhtalmidah, about getting to the bottom of a concept such as "imminence" as related to the Rapture, but by having used my most defensible view of this and soooo many other topics on so many occasions to elegantly forecast and argue logical Rapture dates, I have been hurt by such sharpening of my concepts. The fact is we're still here, so what did I know and what difference have the nuances made? Change an assumption and inadvertently affect a conclusion. Yeah, okay, imminence is a clue among hundreds or thousands of others. But I've spent time considering both sides of the argument and so far ----> meaningless, or at least grossly inconclusive. I think I'll just wait until afterward up there, and then if still interested, which I may not be, I could proclaim, "Oh yeah. So and so was right on. Oh well." Please though, I think for others to have the opportunity to examine for themselves the nuances conceivable, it is great that we can pose such questions and find great websites to poke up alternatives so easily. Maybe there's a better explanation ---> I'm just old now and willing / wanting / to remain set in my thoughts and assumptions. Okay, forget all that high brow prattle. Here's an honest admission, the clincher for me relative to that article today, but ask me again next August. The next Feast of Trumpets is in September and is simply too long to wait!! (Phew! What a catharsis for me -- to honestly and finally get today's deeply felt bias out on the table!!) :mail: :unsure: :yes: Wow, my whitestone that was a pen full :mdrmdr: according to Acts 17:31 “because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.” I bring this up, not that it speaks to the rapture of the church but it states that God fixed the day.... He has everything perfectly planned out.... Having given birth a few times, I knew the baby would, eventually come as soon as the nine months came, but I did not have the exact day available to me, I could feel and see the physical preparation of my body (the convergence of signs), to allow the birth process....when the time did come, it came suddenly, without warning, the birth pains started and I knew, it was different from the preparation labor pains and they did not stop, but intensified until the baby was born. I say all that to say, even though I hold to an imminent return, God has fixed that day! The convergence of preparation is upon us, soon. Nothing new here, my two cents. :prayer-hands: TR, I understand your questioning Jesus and the rapture of the church having a connection to a "Jewish" feast day, but I still don't think they can be separated based on Jesus' past actions. Jesus died hours before the feast of Passover, thus fulfilling the requirement of being our Passover lamb. He fulfilled the feast of unleavened bread (see: http://nct-blog.ptstn.org/2015/10/14/how-did-christ-jesus-fulfill-the-feast-of-unleavened-bread-feasts-4/ ). Jesus rose to life again on the feast of First-fruits. And he sent the Holy Spirit to the church on the feast of Pentecost. I still see the connection, not just between God and the feasts (thus the Jews being the "bride of God"), but also between Jesus and the church. His death, burial, and resurrection plus his promised gift of the Holy Spirit all happened on feast days. Why then would we say the last three feasts don't have a connection to Jesus, the rapture of the church, and other unfulfilled prophecy? Mywhitestone... I know!!!! I don't want to wait until Sept 2020 either... I would love to be way off in my thinking and see us going up during Hanukkah because that's less than two weeks away. I would love to see us going up in the spring of 2020 if not during Hanukkah... but if FoT is following the pattern of feast fulfillment, then I am praying that we all hang on until Sept 2020 and hoping that it is the rapture! I love everyone's input and speculations... not a theologian here, but still trying to discern what I study... thanks for reading and responding... even if you think I'm bonkers! :rose: :heart: Indeed good points you bring up. Following that line of thinking then, Pentecost would most certainly be the most likely as it is only a partial fulfillment. And being the middle candle in the Menorah! Again, many days stand as likely candidates. As such, I refuse to be dogmatic about picking only one! Point is, I'm trying to default to God's sovereign will. Whatever day He chooses I'm good with. I can just imagine the Rapture occurring on a non Feast day and seeing bewilderment and disappoint mixed with unspeakable joy! I'm with you, I'm no theologian either. God didn't make me smart, just one of many believers. The fact that we have been given that Blessed Hope to begin with is reason for thanksgiving! TR With all that being said, I'm excited by the prospect for this Christmas because of the overlapping of Hanukkah and Christmas! God could be killing two birds with one stone, as it were! Pardon the analogy. TR Definitely okay with Hanukkah being a rapture watch date, plus Pentecost... these both come well before feast of trumpets... and don't get me wrong, I would LOVE the rapture to be today and tomorrow at the latest... I wish it truly was and would happily be bewildered and then completely overjoyed at being wrong in my personal interpretation... because it would mean being in heaven with Jesus 9-10 months sooner! I just keep praying for the strength to continue each day I wake up still on earth. :wacko: :scratch:
