The Jewish holiday of Shavuot has started. We talked about this holiday in the last couple of posts and what it signifies and how it has become different from the Christian holiday Pentecost even though, originally, they were one and the same.

Those Jews today who celebrate this holiday recognize it as the day God gave their Torah to them, so the Ten Commandments are read and/or recited. In many synagogues, the Book of Ruth is also read. We talked before that this is one example of inclusion which this feast commemorates. Yet, many today do not see this same connection to the reading of this book. Most eat dairy products on this holiday, yet most have no idea how this custom came into being.

God gave the Israelites seven feasts to commemorate: Passover (Pesach). Feast of Unleavened Bread (Matzah), Feast of Firstfruit (Bikkurim), Pentecost or Feast of Weeks (Shavuot), Feast of Trumpets (Rosh Hashanah), Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), and Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot). There are several noted historical events that have occurred on these days over history. In the last several posts, we talked about those regarding Shavuot or Pentecost. Yet, there is also an ultimate fulfillment of each of these feasts:

Passover (Pesach): Christ was crucified

Feast of Unleavened Bread (Matzah): Christ was in the tomb (until Firstfruit)

Feast of Firstfruit (Bikkurim): Christ rose from the dead

Pentecost or Feast of Weeks (Shavuot): God gave the Holy Spirit to those who accept Christ as their future hope

Each of these occurred in our past (Jn 19:31, 1Co 15:20, Ac 2) and we can see a similar pattern for the other three to be fulfilled in our future.

Feast of Trumpets (Rosh Hashanah): The beginning of the Tribulation Period (God remembers his covenant with Israel; Da 9:27)

Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur): God returns and forgives Israel (Zc 12:10, 13:1)

Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot): God now dwells with his people and reigns as King of kings over the whole Earth (Zc 14:16).

While these scriptures are not confirmatory in and of themselves, when you combine them with the intent God set forth for these feasts, they are definitely supportive (An Appointment with God). Yet some of these feasts do not continue once Christ returns. Why is this? Because their ultimate fulfillment is no longer needed. Let’s investigate this further.

Three of these holidays will not be celebrated once Christ returns because their purpose has been fulfilled: the Holy Spirit has been given permanently (Shavuot), Christ remembered his covenant with Israel and the Tribulation is now a thing of the past (Rosh Hashanah), and Christ has returned with forgiveness for Israel (Yom Kippur).

What about the other four? Well, their work is still continuing and will therefore be celebrated during Christ’s reign:

Passover (Pesach), Feast of Unleavened Bread (Matzah), and Feast of Firstfruit (Bikkurim) represent Christ’s sacrificial death, burial, and resurrection, respectively. Because people will be born during this time of Earth’s history, it is important for them to understand the payment Christ did for them, so these holidays are still important. And what about Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot)? Well, God will be residing among us reigning as King of kings, so it is important that we recognize this holiday and celebrate it enthusiastically. Actually, God will require this feast to be celebrated (Zc 14:16). Without Christ, we would not have such a wonderful life to embrace and live.

God is truly a magnificent God, isn’t he?

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Visit Books & Words to Inspire by Randy C. Dockens

At Christ’s second coming, He will remove all sin from the land of Israel, including idolatry, evil spirits and false prophets (Zc 13:1-2). Yom Kippur is the prophetic Jewish holiday of this event. Those false prophets who continue will be turned over for destruction and even if they feign to be otherwise, the evidence of their true nature will give them away (Zc 13:3-6). However, only one-third of the Jews will even live to see this day (Zc 13:7-9) because when the entire world turns against them (Zc 12:3), most will be killed but when the remnant calls upon the name of the Lord, he will answer (Zc 12:9) just as Jesus promised (Mt 23:39).

Christ will first touch down on the Mount of Olives (Zc 14:4), the same place of his ascension (Ac 1:11-12). The mount will split forming a valley east and west (Zc 14:4) which forms a way of escape for those fleeing Jerusalem (Zc 14:5). This day of Christ’s return will be a unique day (Zc 14:6-7) with it being neither a day of light nor dark but something in between.

It has been found that the Arabian fault extends from the Afar Triangle (where the Arabian, African, and Somalian plates meet) up to the Gulf of Aqaba and through the Jordan River basin (called the Great Rift Valley) northward. In addition, there is a fault zone, called the Palmyra Belt of Faults and Folds extending from the Jordan River north of the Sea of Galilee to the Euphrates River. All throughout this area are subterranean riverbeds. When Christ returns to the Mount of Olives, it triggers a massive earthquake which causes all these faults in this area to separate. A fault scarp between Geba (about 5 miles north of Jerusalem) to Rimmon (about 35 miles south of Jerusalem) is formed which causes the area east to become a plain (Zc 14:10). The rift in the mount of Olives will go westward to the Tyropoean Valley in Jerusalem (Zc 14:10-11) and eastward also forming a scarp face and allow a subterranean river to flow from beneath the temple mount in Jerusalem toward the Dead Sea (Zc 14:8; Ek 47:1-12). Also, the Palmyra Belt of Faults will separate causing the Euphrates River to then flow into the Jordan River causing the remainder of the Euphrates River to dry up (Rv 16:12). Therefore, even more fresh water will flow into the Jordan River from the Euphrates and from other subterranean rivers now exposed from the scarp face and will flow into the Dead Sea making it vibrant for fish and vegetation (Ek 47:9-10) and water will then flow out of the Dead Sea to the sea of Aqaba and another part of the Jordan will then flow along the newly developed scarp face into the Mediterranean Sea (Zc 14:8).

Christ immediately goes to the Petra area to save the people there and then goes up to Jerusalem destroying the enemy as he goes. Christ will fight all the enemies of Israel that have come against them, and God will cause a plague to strike them and they will fight among each other, and in the end, Jerusalem will be victorious (Zc 14:12-15). He banishes the Antichrist and Satan who has possessed him to the Abyss (Rv 20:2-3), and then begins the process of setting up his kingdom, which will be a 45-day period (Dn 12:11-12). During this time several events will occur: the angels will be judged. ( 1Co 6:3, Mt 25:41), the survivors will be judged (Mt 25:31-46), assignments for the saints will set in motion (Dn  12:13, Jr 30:9, Mt 19:28), nations, property, and laws will be established for the next 1000 years (Zc 14:17-21), and the temple will be built (Ek 43:6-7; Zc 6:12-13).

Our future will be a glorious one. This is something you don’t want to miss. I hope you don’t. Join us. He is waiting for you. It is just a simple decision of faith on your part, but it opens up so much to a glorious future.

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Visit Books & Words to Inspire by Randy C. Dockens

Perhaps you consider this a strange question because God is always with us, so he always shows up. While true, there are grander times, so to speak, when we expect God to do something on a grand scale. When does he show up to do that?

Let’s look at a few Biblical examples and then see if we can apply what we learn from those.

God first showed up at Creation, right? Do we know when that occurred? The short answer is No, but some people have tried.

Here are five individuals who have attempted to do just that. Of course, there are some assumptions that must be made which many who make such predictions seldom seem to point out. Yet, surprisingly, they all came to the same general conclusion as they used the Bible as their main source of predictability.

James Usher was an Archbishop of the Church of Ireland in the 17th century. He arrived at the date of 4004 BCE for the year of Creation, and this seems to be the date most used by Christian scholars (but typically not Jewish scholars).

Then there is Sir Isaac Newton, English mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist, theologian, and author, who also lived in the 17th century. He predicted the year of Creation to be very close to that predicted by Usher: 4000 BCE.

Then Johann Kepler, the famous German astronomer who lived in the 16th century, predicted 3992 BCE.

Then there was Venerable Bede who was a monk in Northumbria, Scotland who lived in the 8th century, and who dated Creation to occur in 3953 BCE.

Then there is Yose ben Halafta, a Rabbi in Sepphoris, Israel, in 2nd century who derived the year of Creation to be 3761 BCE, and this is the year the Jewish calendar typically goes by.

Many who try to predict when Christ will return abide by the notion that the six days of creation are symbolic of God working in 1,000-year intervals. They believe each day of creation to be an actual 24-hour day but believe the creation week to be a template for the time for the Earth to exist. This is based upon two scriptures (2Pt 3:8 and Ps 90:4) which state, “with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day,” and “a thousand years in your sight are like a day.”

If literal, then Earth will exist for 6000 years and then the Millennial Kingdom will represent the final 1000-year interval because it is symbolic of the Sabbath, a day of rest after Creation was accomplished. This thereby gives the total time of Earth’s existence to be 7000 years to match the creation week.

So, after 4,000 years following Creation, Christ was born, died, and rose again. Then after an additional 2,000 years, Christ will return and set up his earthly kingdom. If we take into account that Christ will return after 6000 years (meaning his second coming), then we have to take away 7 years for the length attributed to the Tribulation Period and then add a year since there is no year 0, to come up with a year of Christ appearing in the sky for the Rapture Event that ranges, based upon the five years for Creation which was just presented, from 1990 CE to 2233 CE – quite the span:

Usher: 6000-4004+1= 1997 – 7 = 1990 CE (a year in the past)

Newton: 6000-4000+1= 2001 – 7 = 1994 CE (a year in the past)

Kepler: 6000-3992+1= 2009 – 7 = 2005 CE (a year in the past)

Bede: 6000-3953+1= 2048 – 7 = 2041 CE (18 years from now)

Halafta: 6000-3761+1= 2240 – 7 = 2233 CE (210 years from now)

This indicates that, while, in general, it looks like they came up with roughly the same year for creation, when looking at more specific details, they are vastly different.

Knowing that the Rapture has not yet occurred, this means three of these dates are already incorrect. Of the remaining two, it means the Rapture could happen from 18 to 210 years from now. What does this mean? Either you believe the first three predictions of Creation were incorrect and the Rapture is close or far away, or it means we cannot go by dates – which the Bible has already told us (Mt 24:36).

Yet, what this can do for us is allow us to put a historical timeline together to help us see when various occurrences happened in history. This allows us to compare what happened in the Bible with other known extra Biblical events. This is very useful for our understanding of our history.

Also, knowing these dates can help us have a better understanding of the order of Biblical events. For example, if we break the timeline into 500-year gaps of time, we can memorize the following:

~4000 BCE– Creation (4004 BCE)

3500 BCE – Jared, father of Enoch (3544 BCE)

3000 BCE – Noah (2948 BCE)

2500 BCE – Shem (2446 BCE)

2000 BCE – Abraham (1996 BCE)

1500 BCE – Moses (1491 BCE)

1000 BCE – David (1060 BCE)

500 BCE – Return from Babylonian Captivity & Dedication of 2nd Temple (516 BCE)

0 – Birth of Christ (2 BCE)

500 CE – Bible Ratified (397 CE – Council of Carthage)

1000 CE – Schism (1054 CE) & Crusades (1095 CE)

1500 CE – Protestant Reformation (1517 CE)

2000 CE – World Economic Forum (1971 CE)

Now let’s look at some of these more specifically and see how God showed up. But before we do that, we need to understand that God didn’t show up and say, “I’m God. Listen to me.” No, he demonstrated various characteristics of himself and presented himself by using many different names to suit the occasion of what was going on at the time. God is multidimensional and has presented himself and his different characteristics over time. In hindsight, we can see that he had these characteristics even before he officially presented or announced a specific characteristic of himself. We want to see how God presented himself differently in each example we are going to go through. We will see that he rarely presents himself the same way twice and adapts how he will reveal himself to the situation at hand.

We now want to go through several examples of how God showed up and presented himself for the occasion. We’ll investigate the first example next time. I hope you join me to see how he showed up during the time of the Biblical Flood. Until then, God bless!

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Visit Books & Words to Inspire by Randy C. Dockens