Countdown

This is a reshash of something we talk about frequently, but given the lateness of the hour and the urgency, thought I would cover it again.

2 Peter 3:8 (NASB)

But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day.

Exodus 20:11 (NASB)

For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and made it holy. 

Jesus was crucified and was resurrected somewhere close to the Hebrew year 4000. (4 days).

It has been nearly 2000 years since Jesus ascended.  2012 - 33 ad = 1979, but this is based on a 365.25 Gregorian solar calendar + leap years and all that.

The Hebrew calendar is a 12 month x 30 day = 360 day annual calendar.  Picking up 5 1/4 days over 1979 years, we are actually 2008 years down from the cross.

4000 years 'til Christ + 2008 years = 6000 +/- years.

Revelation 20:1-7 (NASB)

20 Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. ² And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; ³ and he threw him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he would not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed; after these things he must be released for a short time.

⁴ Then I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand; and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. ⁵ The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed. This is the first resurrection. ⁶  Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years.
⁷ When the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison,

Christ will reign for a thousand years on earth.  This "last" day of earth history will be a long Sabbath day of rest.  A seventh day.

This tells us we're close.

Matthew 24:32-34 (NASB)

³² “Now learn the parable from the fig tree: when its branch has already become tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near; ³³ so, you too, when you see all these things, recognize that He is near, right at the door.³⁴ Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.

The fig tree = Israel.  When you see it rebud and blossom again = May 14th, 1948 - Israel becomes a nation again.  v34 - This generation will not all die, before all of this prophecy is fulfilled.

2012 - 1948 = 64 years.

Psalm 90:10 (NASB)

 As for the days of our life, they contain seventy years,
Or if due to strength, eighty years,
Yet their pride is but labor and sorrow;
For soon it is gone and we fly away.

There's not much time left.  If you believe in the seven year pre-trib wrath business, then 64 + 7 = 71, we're in OT.

The time from about 1500 B.C. and God's covenant with the Hebrew people unto the cross, is commonly believed to be God's exclusive time for the Jews.

Matthew 15:24 (NASB)

But He answered and said, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

In Matthew 28:18-20, Christ opens up the doors to everyone, in the great commission.  This time of the Gentiles, is the time of today.

John 4:39-45

 (NASB)

The Samaritans

³⁹ From that city many of the Samaritans believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, “ He told me all the things that I have done.” ⁴⁰ So when the Samaritans came to Jesus, they were asking Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days. ⁴¹ Many more believed because of His word; ⁴² and they were saying to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this One is indeed the Savior of the world.”
⁴³ After the two days He went forth from there into Galilee. ⁴⁴ For Jesus Himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country. ⁴⁵ So when He came to Galilee, the Galileans received Him, having seen all the things that He did in Jerusalem at the feast; for they themselves also went to the feast.

Christ stayed and ministered to the Gentiles for two days.

Hosea 6:1-2 (NASB)

“Come, let us return to the Lord.For He has torn us, but He will heal us;He has wounded us, but He will bandage us. “He will revive us after two days;He will raise us up on the third day,That we may live before Him.

Christ was raised on the third day.  The bride of Christ (the church) will be raised (harpazo=raptured) on the third day.  A day = 1 thousand years.

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In Leviticus 23, God lays out seven important holidays.  3 in the spring.  1 in the summer.  3 in the fall.

Christ fulfilled the first three in first appearing.  He will fulfill the last three in His second coming.

1.  Passover =  Christ died on passover, as the once for all perfect lamb.
2.  Unleavened Bread = Leaven is yeast.  Yeast is alive.  Christ was dead, unalive, unleavened.  The feast was on the Saturday after Passover, when the Jews ate unleavened bread.
3.  Leavened Bread = Easter Sunday morning.  Christ was alive again = leavened.  The first fruits of those who have fallen asleep Romans 8:29-32.

4.  Pentecost = "pente" = 50.  50 days after passover the Jews were at Mount Sinai, getting the Ten Commandments, as God initiates the covenant.  The church was born in Acts 2, on pentecost.  This is the birthday of the Hebrew covenant and the birthday of the New Testament Christian Church covenant.  What a better time to be raptured by the groom than on our birthday.  Lots of symbolism here.

5. Rosh Hoshanna, The Jewish Near, The Feast of First Fruits, The Feast of Trumpets = September/October when the Harvest comes in.  "No one ever knew the day or the hour when it would begin, but it would begin with a shout, with a trumpet".  Sound like 1 Corinthians 15, or 1 Thessalonians 4 or Matthew 24?  Could this be the rapture or could it be the second coming when Christ comes to square off with Satan.  See Zechariah 14.

6. The Day of Atonement.  Sounds like judgement day, see Revelation 19-21.

7. The Feast of Tabernacles.  See Revelation 22 - God's dwelling place will be with men (His tabernacle).

Bottom line, every year around Pentecost or Rosh Hoshanna look up, your redemption draws near.

Given the Israeli and U.S. plans for war.  Troop movements.  Reserve troops being called up.  Blood moons.  Super moons.  Earthquakes.   Tsunami's.  Nuclear disasters.  Tornadoes.  Financial collapse threats.  Pandemic threats.  Recession/Depression.  Saber rattling.  Nuclear weapons development and testing.  Terrorism and all of the Isaiah 9 parallel's with America's impending destruction, you might get the strong idea that something's up.  At least you should.  See John 3 and Christ's instructions to Nicodemus or His instruction to Pharisees in Matthew 16.

The next Pentecost is 20 days away.  Rosh Hoshanna is 133 days away.   No one knows the day or the hour, but you can wake up and smell the coffee.  The bread is in the oven and you can smell it.  Get ready for the wedding feast of the Lamb.  The Bread of Life, born in the House of Bread "Bethle-hem", is coming. I think they may just be putting ice in the tea glasses.

John 3:12 (NASB)

If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?

Matthew 16:1-3 (NASB)

The Pharisees and Sadducees came up, and testing Jesus, they asked Him to show them a sign from heaven. ² But He replied to them, “ When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’ ³ And in the morning, ‘There will be a storm today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ Do you know how to discern the appearance of the sky, but cannot discern the signs of the times?

 Look up you're redemption is drawing near.

Luke 19:13 

^... Do business / Occupy / Rule-- till I come; (don't quit)

Matthew 28:18-20 (NASB)

And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “ All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. ¹⁹  Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

John 1:50 (NASB)

Jesus answered and said to him, “Because I said to you that I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? You will see greater things than these.”

C.S. Lewis - The Weight of Glory

In the end that Face which is the delight or the terror of the universe must be turned upon each of us either with one expression or with the other, either conferring glory inexpressible or inflicting shame that can never be cured or disguised. I read in a periodical the other day that the fundamental thing is how we think of God. By God Himself, it is not! How God thinks of us is not only more important, but infinitely more important. Indeed, how we think of Him is of no importance except in so far as it is related to how He thinks of us. It is written that we shall “stand before” Him, shall appear, shall be inspected. The promise of glory is the promise, almost incredible and only possible by the work of Christ, that some of us, that any of us who really chooses, shall actually survive that examination, shall find approval, shall please God. To please God...to be a real ingredient in the divine happiness...to be loved by God, not merely pitied, but delighted in as an artist delights in his work or a father in a son—it seems impossible, a weight or burden of glory which our thoughts can hardly sustain. But so it is.

Phillip Yancey - Disappointment with God

Dorothy Sayers has said that God underwent three great humiliations in his efforts to rescue the human race. The first was the Incarnation, when he took on the confines of a physical body. The second was the Cross, when he suffered the ignominy of public execution. The third humiliation, Sayers suggested, is the church. In an awesome act of self-denial, God entrusted his reputation to ordinary people. 
Philip Yancey, Disappointment with God (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Books, 1988), 147.

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