Thanks Yohanan! I read something quite interesting the other day, how Jewish rabbi Berger and others are building a special golden crown for their messiah to give to him when he arrives and uniting the 70 nations around this project. Other rabbis have said he will arrive next month before the Israeli elections. https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/118238/bin-exclusive-construct-messianic-golden-royal-crown/ But in Rev 6:2 it says "I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was GIVEN a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest." I had always just assumed it was talking about a transfer of authority, but perhaps it could be a very literal thing as well? Glad you asked, ReadyOrNot. This is what I think. Jesus must start His reign on 10 Nisan in some Jubilee year. 10 Nisan was the day He rode into Jerusalem in the so-called Triumphal Entry -- Palm Sunday. Heather R, a Bible researcher of former RITA Now fame, has developed a compelling multi-scriptural argument about the second Triumphal Entry, a.k.a. the Second Coming, on a future Nisan 10. She has also produced a very thorough analysis demonstrating that the celebration of the 70th Jubilee, the period we are currently in, begins in the month of Nisan 2026. Seven years hence. The Torah calendar, one of many Jewish calendars by the way, shows the 10th of Nisan in 2026 as 30 March -- again, slightly over seven years from now. (Other calendars might shift 10 Nisan that year over a few days one way or the other. I'll not quibble over a few days.) So the date for the Tribulation to start, i.e., per Daniel 9:27, and counting 2,520 days to 10 Nisan 2026, yields this year's May 7 as the start of the Tribulation. And of course we'll have to be outta here before that. :yahoo: :yahoo: :yahoo: So.... will we really depart within the next sixty days or less? Could it be? I'm a little afraid to hope, but not deterred from hoping again even after all my previous "trapture" pain of missed dates in the past. Can anyone else relax and hope with me? Will someone please shout "Maranatha?" Yes, I follow Heathers studies too! I think it's quite compelling what she has laid out which makes me even more hopeful and excited for a very soon rapture. But like you, I'm apprehensive to hope too much as I've been so bitterly disappointed in the past. I still have a lot of hope though, as even if it isn't this year, surely it must be soon. :yes: The bitter disappointments seem to be in keeping with this watching. I have gone through some myself but have learned over time not to get too caught up (pun intended) in it. I know that I know that I know that Jesus is watching over me, and He is watching over you and all the rest of His followers, so even though those times I was so certain we would be out of here have come and gone, I hang on ever so tightly to Him. He knows how much we all want to be with Him and when those bitterly disappointing times come the very best thing we can do is NOT give up and to cling even tighter to Him. He is there to cry out to and He will give us comfort. That is one of the reasons He sent us the Holy Spirit. Not just to guide us, but to comfort us as well. One thing that always helps ease the disappointment is knowing there are many others who are coming to Him. Those people are our fellow brothers and sisters and one of them may turn out to be a very dear friend once we are in His Kingdom. I haven't been watching for the Lord's return for as long as some others here - I spent many years in the Presbyterian Church of Australia, which is largely amillennial and post-trib, so these things were never even discussed. I had a knowledge of the Lord's return in respect to the Second Coming, but it wasn't until 2008 that I began to put time and energy and effort into studying the Scriptures in respect to the rapture itself. What I've noted since 2008, as much as anything else, is the placement of pieces upon the chessboard. Things long since forgotten, or now marginal in our news cycles (e.g. the rise of ISIS in the Middle East) have produced the fruit God intended. I stated when ISIS first came to prominence that I believed God was drawing the nations into an alignment ripe for judgment - and that's even more true now than it was then. This was before Syria, Iran and Russia were solidly entrenched into that war; before Lebanon and Hezbollah began rattling their sabres again, and certainly before the exponential increase in technologies such as AI and cloud computing that we've seen since 2008 - all of which I believe play a meaningful role in end-time events. So when you ask me if I believe the time is close... I'm not going to point you to astral alignments or the theories put forward by man, but rather, to the Scriptures, and ask you instead to tell me - could you, even ten years ago, have conceived of everything written in the Scriptures coming to pass? I should think not... because not only are we now on the cusp of Rapture, but of Tribulation. All of the things spoken of in the Scriptures now make sense to us in a way that they didn't to our grandparents. You can imagine what they'd say: Christ will return to Israel? What Israel? A mark in the hand or forehead that you can't buy without? Oh, so they'll get tattoos? Russia will be turned around from Syria? What are they even doing there? All the world will stand against Israel? Didn't the whole world just make them a nation again? And on and on it goes... Yes, we are on the verge of the return of Jesus Christ. How soon? Forever. In the light of eternity... I can wait another day.
I cannot imagine that God will continue to tolerate the glee over abortion. I cannot see that He will abandon Israel to the baying of her enemies at the door. Nor can I see that He will fail to keep His promise - that this very generation will be the one that sees Him coming in the clouds. Whether that timing would be today, or tomorrow, or this year, or next... I do not know. But this I do know: that the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and the trumpet call of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first; and after that, we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them to meet with the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.
Until He comes.