Tanak Foundations-Concepts on the Natzal (Rapture)-Part 30

Now we are going to get into 2 Thes 2.1-12 and dissect these verses to see how they relate to the Natzal and find out when the False Messiah appears. Paul begins by saying, “Now we request you, brethren, with regard to the coming of our Lord Yeshua Ha Mashiach, and our gathering together unto him.” Right away we see something important. Notice we have the word “gathering” used here and this refers to the resurrection of the righteous in the Natzal (Rapture). We have seen this in Isa 13.2-3; Isa 18.3 and Psa 27.10, but there are other verses like Neh 8.1; Isa 62.10; Isa 21.5, 57.1; Zeph 2.1-2 and Rev 4.1. This is Rosh Ha Shanah, a Yom Ha Din. The word in Greek for “gathering” here is “episunagoge” and it is a verb (action), meaning to come together. It is also called “Ha Kohelet” in Hebrew meaning to gather or assemble.

In 2 Thes 2.2 he continues, “That you may not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit (prophetic spirit) or a message or letter as if from us, to the effect that the Day of the Lord (an ancient name for Rosh Ha Shanah and the Atid Lavo) has come.” We know that the last one thousand years in God’s seven thousand year plan is called the “Day of the Lord.” We have also established that the festival of Yom Teruah (or Rosh Ha Shanah) was also called “the Day of the Lord.” The word for “betrothal” is “Erusin” and this is seen in the festival of Shavuot (Jer 2.1-3). The second stage of a marriage is seen in the festival of Rosh Ha Shannah and is called “Nisuin” and it means “to elevate, be uplifted or caught up” (1 Thes 4.17). It is another name for the natzal, or rapture. It is also related to the word “nissi” meaning “banner or standard.” It is a name for the Messiah (Isa 11.10, Exo 17.8-16). We know that on Rosh Ha Shanah there will be a resurrection of the righteous (a lifting up) and a wedding (Psa 47) in heaven. Psa 45 talks about a coronation. Both of these psalms are Rosh Ha Shanah psalms in Jewish eschatology.

2 Thes 2.3 says, “Let no one in any way deceive you for unless the falling away comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction.” So let’s unpack this verse. Where it says “falling away” it is the Greek word “apostasia” and it means “to depart, remove a person from one place to another.” It can also mean “a disappearance, or caught up.” It can also mean a “spiritual departure.” The meaning is determined by the context, and the context in this portion is “the gathering” in verse 1, so this means a person moving from one place to gather in another.

We would like to quote from the book, Rosh Ha Shanah and the Messianic Kingdom To Come” by Joseph Good of Hatikva Ministries. This will give us more insight into this word “apostasia” used in verse 3. Good says on p. 125-127, “Kenneth Wuest, a noted Greek scholar, states in his word studies an interesting point that has much to do with the catching away of the living believers. He states that the phrase ‘falling away’ is a mistranslation of the Greek word apostasia and should rather be translated “departure.”

“The root verb aphistemi is found fifteen times in the New Testament. It is translated ‘depart’ eleven times. Although it is often found translated in similar meanings, ‘the predominant meaning of this verb in the New Testament…is that of the act of a person departing from another person or from a place…Liddel and Scott in their classical lexicon gives as the second meaning of apostasia, ‘a departure, a disappearance.’ Dr E. Schuyler English, to whom the author is deeply indebted for calling his attention to this word ‘departure’ as the correct rendering of apostasia in this context, is authority for the fact that…the Greek word means ‘a departure.'” Wuest further states that apostasia was at times used to denote a defection or revolt; however, this meaning “should not be imposed upon the word where the context does not qualify the word by these meanings.”

“According to Wuest, Rav Shaul (Apostle Paul) refers to “the gathering together of the saints, to the Lord Yeshua at his coming, which is the departure of the congregation from the earth” in 2 Thes 2.1. In Rav Shaul’s previous letter, “he had described that event in the words, ‘Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air’ which involves a departure from the earth.”

“Remember that the Greek word harpuzo means to catch away. Harpuzo is the word used in Rav Shaul’s (Apostle Paul) first letter to the Thessalonians. Its Hebrew equivalent is natzal, which in its root form means to deliver. A derivative of natzal is “metzal” which means to pluck away, or a radical departure.”

“Also the Greek word that is used in 2 Thes 2.1 for this gathering is episunagoge, which is the Greek equivalent for asupah and is a derivative of the word asaph and a word meaning congregation or assembly. According to Num 10.1-3, the assembly is gathered together by the blowing of a trumpet. Therefore, those that have received the Messiah and have been made nobles are gathered to the gate of the assembly by the blowing of a trumpet.” As the believers are taken from the earth with the blowing of the shofar, they are in effect hidden from the wrath of God to come in the birth-pains. The Talmudic name Yom Keseh for this festival (Rosh Ha Shanah) portrays this aspect. The name means ‘The Day of Concealment.’ It received this name from being the only festival that falls at the beginning of the month when the new moon may still be concealed.”

When the earth reaches Rosh Ha Shanah, year 6001 from creation, the shofar will blow and believers will be resurrected and “gathered” to be present for the coronation and wedding of the Messiah. Wuest said that five Greek translations had it this way until about the 1600’s (more detail on that later).

Notice that 2 Thes 2.3 says that this departure happens “first” and this is the Greek word “proton.” But first of what? It is the first, or the beginning, of the Day of the Lord, which begins on the first day of Tishri, a new moon. We know that the name of this day is Rosh Ha Shanah, which is the subject of this chapter. The word “rosh” means “head” (or first), and the “son of destruction” is of course the False Messiah. The Natzal (gathering, rapture) happens first, then the man of destruction (False Messiah) is revealed, which is exactly what we have previously presented.

Tishri 1 comes and we have the natzal (rapture) and then a few days later the USA is destroyed. The Scriptures tell us that Europe is in fear and there is a meeting with ten rulers of Europe. There is an eleventh person in the room (the little horn that came up among them-Dan 7.7-8) and the ten rulers give their power to act on behalf of their respective nations to the eleventh man, and he is the False Messiah. He will make a military treaty with Israel by Tishri 10 (Yom Kippur), and Tishri 11 begins God’s countdown of 2520 days to the end of the Birth-pains and the coming of Yeshua.

2 Thes 2.4 then says, “who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship so that he takes his seat in the Temple of God, displaying himself as being God.” This will happen at the exact halfway point of the Birth-pains, or Nisan 10. This is the day that Yeshua rode into Jerusalem and entered the Temple displaying that he was the Messiah. The False Messiah is a counterfeiter.

2 Thes 2.5, says, “Do you not remember that while I was still with you I was telling you these things?” He goes on to say in 2 Thes 2.6, “And you know what restrains (meaning to “seize and hold fast to, retain”) him (Ha Satan from empowering) now, so that in his time he (False Messiah) may be revealed.”

2 Thes 2.7 says, “For the mystery (secret) of lawlessness (“anomos” in Greek meaning ‘Torah-less-ness’) is already at work, only he who now restrains (to seize, hold fast to, retain) until out of the midst (of lawlessness or Torah-less-ness) it comes (appears, arises, arrives or becomes born).” The False Messiah will come and be born in the midst of Torah-less-ness (lawlessness).

Then 2 Thes 2.8-12 goes on to say, “and then the lawless one (Torah-less one) will be revealed (arises, arrives, appears, becomes born) whom the Lord will slay with the breath of his mouth (his word) and bring to an end by the appearance of his coming (on Tishri 10, Yom Kippur, year 6008 in Jerusalem-Matt 24.29-31), the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan with all power and signs and wonders (the False Messiah) and with all deception of wickedness for those (those who do not follow the Torah and believe in Yeshua-Rev 12.17) who perish because they did not receive the love of the truth (of the Torah, the word of God) as to be saved. And for this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they might believe what is false in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth (Torah) but took pleasure in wickedness (breaking the Torah and being lawless, or Torah-less).”

The Torah is contrasted with the lie in 2 Thes 2.3-12 and it identifies what the “truth” and the “lie” is. The truth is the Torah and being observant, and the lie is “lawlessness” or “Torah-less-ness.” In other words, this passage is telling us that the recipients of this letter were not to be disturbed over any letter or teacher that says the natzal, or the gathering of verse 1, has already happened. That is because the Day of the Lord (the last 1000 years) will not start until there is a physical departure of the believers in the “gathering” (natzal, rapture) which happens on “the first” (Rosh) day of the “Day of the Lord (Tishri 1 and the beginning of the year or Rosh Ha Shanah meaning head or first of the year). After that, the False Messiah will have been born in the midst of lawlessness (Torah-less-ness) and will be revealed, the son of destruction (Num 24.24; Dan 11.45; Rev 19.20). He will sit in the Temple claiming he is “God” and “Jesus” but he is a counterfeit. He is “lawless” (no Torah because it has been “done away with”) and he will lead others who believe the same thing. This is a deception and a delusion, a “lie” contrasted with “the truth.”

This passage plainly tells us that the gathering (natzal, rapture) happens before the False Messiah can be revealed. The “mystery of lawlessness” (Torah-less-ness) was already in existence at the time of Paul, but the Lord is holding back the revelation of the False Messiah who will be born, appears, arrives and arises out of the midst of that lawlessness. This will be a specific time in the Day of the Lord, after Tishri 1 (the gathering. natzal, rapture) and by Tishri 10, Yom Kippur, year 6001 from creation, when he is revealed by making a military treaty with Israel.

We will pick up here in Part 31.

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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