Tanak Foundations-Concepts on the Natzal (Rapture)-Part 25

Isa 18.4-7 says, “For so the Lord said to me, ‘I will take my rest (rest is “m’nuchah” which is also a term for the Messianic Kingdom and the Olam Haba in Heb 4.1-11), and I will look from my dwelling place like a clear heat in sunshine, like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.’ For before the harvest, when the bud is perfect and the sour grape is ripening in the flower, he will both cut off the sprigs with pruning hooks and take away and cut down the branches. They will be left together for the mountain birds of prey and for the beasts of the earth; the birds of prey will summer on them, and all the beasts of the earth will winter on them. In that time a present will be brought to the Lord of Hosts from a people tall and smooth, and from a people terrible from their beginning onward, a nation powerful and treading down, whose land the rivers divide (the meaning of Mesopotamia) to the place of the name of the Lord of hosts, to Mount Zion.”

What present is being brought? Some teach this is talking about the Ark of the Covenant being brought from Ethiopia. However, the area being talked about here is “Cush” of Mesopotamia. We don’t believe this at all. We believe the Ark is already in Jerusalem beneath the Temple Mount. We have shown this in another teaching on this website called “Temple 201-Where is the Ark of the Covenant?”

So, again, what is being brought? It is the Basar (gospel) being brought back to the Jewish people. This is the “real gospel” not the Replacement Theology gospel that is being taught today. Most Christians who will read this statement will not have any idea what we are talking about. Why? Because they have been taught this “other gospel” of Replacement Theology and that is all they know.

This true gospel follows the pattern of Yeshua. He ministered in Israel for three and a half years first because he was sent to the “lost sheep of the house of Israel” not to the non-Jew. After he is resurrected he sends out his talmidim into the nations and the non-Jews. Paul said the basar was “to the Jew first, then the non-Jew” (Rom 1.16). We will have the same pattern in the Birth-pains with the 144,000. They will go to Israel first and carry the basar message because they have a double anointing. Paul said he was “born out of time” in 1 Cor 15.8 because he saw that his ministry to the non-Jews was like the 144,000 in the last days.

In the first three and a half years of the Birth-pains Israel is going to have all sorts of things happen and the 144,000 will minster in Israel. At the mid-point Israel has believed in Yeshua for six months, since the defeat of Gog and Magog (Russia). Israel will flee into the wilderness on Nisan 10 when the False Messiah claims to be God and desecrates the Temple. They will be there for the remaining three and a half years and be out of the picture (Rev 12.1-17). Then the 144,000 are sent to the non-Jews in the nations, just like in the first century, but can’t be stopped (Mic 5.7-9). So, we are going to look at another portion of Scripture that alludes to the 144,000 and is directly linked to Rosh Ha Shanah and the timing of the resurrection of the righteous.

In Isa 6.1-13 we will see something very similar to Rev 4, which is a Rosh Ha Shanah passage. We have the Lord high and lifted up and the court is seated, so we know it is Rosh Ha Shanah. Angels take burning coals and Isaiah’s sins are forgiven. He hears the voice of the Lord asking, “Whom shall I send and who will go for us?” He is looking for a shaliach like in Isa 18.2. Isaiah is seeing a vision that alludes to the 144,000 and he volunteers to go. We see what the 144,000 will be doing in this passage (v 9-10). Isaiah asks, “How long” and he is told in Isa 6.11-13. This is a picture of the commission of the 144,000.

The last ten kings of Judah tell us about what happens in the Birth-pains, and we discussed this at the end of our teaching on Second Kings. Isaiah sees this vision just as King Uzziah dies and it is before Uzziah’s son Yotham begins to reign. Uzziah is the last king before the last ten kings of Judah, that means in the eschatological sense, Uzziah is a picture of the days leading up to the Birth-pains, so this vision is right at the beginning of the Day of the Lord (Rosh Ha Shanah) and Isaiah’s commission alludes to the commission of the 144,000 which also occurs at the beginning of the Day of the Lord (Rev 14.4 as “first fruits”).

The rise of the False Messiah is directly linked to the fall of Babylon (USA). The fear caused by the destruction of Babylon (USA) in one hour creates a panic in Europe where it is feared that the same fate will fall on them unless they act immediately. The False Messiah is the one to keep your eye on when it comes to when the Natzal (Rapture) occurs. The Scriptures are full of information about the False Messiah and you can go to our teaching called “Torah and New Testament Foundations-The False Messiah” on this website for more information.

The fall of Babylon is discussed in Rev 18.1-19 and we see fear and panic in verses 9-19. Rev 17.11-12 says, “And the beast that was, and is not, is himself also an eighth, and is one of the seven, and is going into perdition (destruction). The ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have received no kingdom as yet, but they receive authority for one hour as kings with the beast.” The beast is the seven-headed beast of Rev 13.1 called “Leviathan.” We will develop these concepts out later.

Dan 9.26 says, “The people of the prince who is to come” and that “prince” is the False Messiah. He is of the people who destroyed the city of Jerusalem and the Temple. We know that the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple and Dan 9.27 says, “He (the prince who is to come) shall confirm the covenant with many (Jews) for one week (a shavuah of seven years) and in the midst of the week (1260 days into the Birth-pains, the exact halfway point of Nisan 10) he will cause the sacrifice and the oblation (in the temple) to cease, and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed is poured out on the one who makes desolate.”

Now, Rome is Europe and we know the False Messiah will come out of Europe. The merchants who were made rich by Babylon in Rev 18.11-19 is seen as Kittim in a book called “The Book of Isaiah” from Judaica Press, Vol 1 on Isa 23.1. Kittim were merchants who dwelt with Babylon, and Kittim was how you said Rome, or “Europe.” This is confirmed in Dan 11.30 where it says, “Ships from Kittim will come against him.” They are talking about Gaius Popillius Laernas who was a Roman ambassador. He was sent to Antiochus Epiphanes IV (a picture of the False Messiah) in ships. Laernas told Antiochus to abort his attack on Alexandria. He drew a circle around Antiochus and told him to decide what he was going to do before he left the circle. Antiochus withdrew but would come back later. This verse confirms that Kittim is Rome (Europe). The fear and panic by the merchants of Europe (Kittim) over the destruction of Babylon (USA) is what catapults the False Messiah into power.

Rev 17.11-13 tells us that the ten horns are not the heads of their countries (v 12), but they will give their power and authority to the beast, not knowing he is the False Messiah. There must be a meeting where the main powers in Europe gather to discuss what to do after the USA is destroyed. The False Messiah is in that meeting and he has a plan, but they must act quickly. So the main powers (ten of them) give him power to confront the crisis because there is no time to go pack to their individual governing assemblies to ratify what he wants. So, they do it and this vaults him into power.

In Part 26 we will pick up here.

Posted in All Teachings, Articles, Idioms, Phrases and Concepts, Prophecy/Eschatology, The Festivals of the Lord, The Tanak, Tying into the New Testament

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