Hi all,
Today I continue studying Rosh haShanah by looking at what happens on earth while the Marriage Supper of the Lamb is happening in heaven, but also answer a couple questions.

What happens on earth when the Marriage Supper is going on?
Once you understand the Feast of Trumpets other references in scripture to this hiding away in Messiah become obvious. For the sake of space here are just 2 passages about the Feast of Trumpets and being hidden away, and note while the righteous are hidden in Him, the earth is going through a time of His anger:

"Neither their silver nor gold will be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord's wrath; the whole land will be devoured by the fire of His jealousy...Gather yourselves together O nation not desired before His wrath come upon you...seek the Lord all the meek of the earth who have heeded His judgement, seek righteousness, seek meekness that you may be hidden in the day of the Lord's anger." Zephaniah 1:18, 2:1-3

"For in the time of trouble He will hide me in His shelter; in the secret place of His tent He will hide me. He will set me high upon a rock. (Rock)" Psalm 27:5

These are read during the celebration of the Feast of Trumpets because they mention being hidden from the day of wrath and hidden in 'His tent' during the days of trouble. This is why Paul twice told the Thessalonians in his teaching of the Feast of Trumpets to comfort themselves, for He has not called us to the wrath to come, rather we have been delivered from wrath to receive our salvation. (I Thess 1:10, 5:9-11)

Mid tribulation or pre-tribulation?
When I shared last week that Paul stated the anti-Christ can't be revealed until the 'departure' happens first, then the man of sin will be revealed, we might think this indicates a mid-tribulation 'rapture'.

The reasoning is that Daniel 9:26-27 says 'The prince of the people who will come will make a treaty for one week (1 week of years, or 7 years)...and in the middle of the treaty (3 1/2 years) he will come into the temple and cause the sacrifices to stop...'

This is what Jesus refers to in Matthew 24:15 when He says; "When you therefore see the abomination of desolations spoken of by Daniel the prophet, whoever reads this let him understand, then let those in Judea flee to the mountains, let those on the rooftop not stop to gather his things on the way out..."

Because anti-Christ comes into the temple at the mid-point of the 7 year treaty, and Paul says the anti-Christ won't be revealed until after the departure, some believe the departure happens mid-tribulation.

When is anti-Christ revealed?
I don't believe that and here is why. Paul never states it as a 'this will happen and then immediately this will happen.' He just says the man of sin can't be revealed until the departure happens first.

Daniel identifies him as the one who makes a 7 year treaty with Israel, so that treaty reveals of who he is. The fact he comes into the temple 3 1/2 years later is merely a marker telling everyone to get out of town, as taught by Jesus in Matthew 24:16-20: 'When you see...flee to the mountains', indicating not a first ever revealing of anti-Christ, but rather seeing him in the temple is the signal to get out of town.

Remember, those first 3 1/2 years will be horrible years of economic and political turmoil, persecution, and hardship as seen also in The Revelation - anyone alive who knows scripture will know who he is from the start.

Paul said he can't be revealed until the departure comes first, so the departure and revelation of him is shortly before the signing of the 7 year treaty. The only thing the Father has ever told me about that time came years ago when I was teaching a class about the war of Ezekiel 38 and 39 and end times.

I asked Him why and when the need for a treaty would arise in the first place, and He simply said this: "It will be signed after, and as a result of, the war of Ezekiel 38 and 39." (I have a series on WW3 and the Feast of Trumpets if you want more detail)

The Days of Awe
Rosh HaShanah starts 'The Days of Awe' which are from the start of Rosh HaShanah, the blowing of the ram's horn, until the end of Yom Kippur when the Great Shofar is blown signaling the opportunity for repentance has come to a close. But here is an amazing thing if you read God's instructions in Leviticus 23:24-32: From the end of the Feast of Trumpets to the start of the fast of Yom Kippur, are 7 days. Those 7 days are a time for people to repent of people trespassed against and God who has been sinned against.

The first day of Rosh haShanah, which begins the 1st of the month, is a Sabbath, concluding on day 2 of the month. The fast for Yom Kippur begins the 9th, making a full 7 days between the end of one and start of the other (2nd-8th). This corresponds to the 7 year time of 'the Days of Awe' or what we call the Tribulation.

On Rosh HaShanah it says God judges mankind and 3 books are opened: The Righteous, the Unrighteous, and the Intermediates. People will get saved by the millions in the day of His wrath and many will die martyr's deaths. The Intermediates or Undecided's will have this time to make their decision. The Days of Awe start the time of "Jacob's Trouble" leading up to 'the day of the Lord', or what we know as the Tribulation and 2nd coming. (Rosh HaShanah 16:b-17a)

Besides giving the Intermediates an opportunity to repent, the end result is the closing of the time of man's government on earth. This is why Revelation 12:12 observers Satan is angry because he knows he has just a short time left, and 11:18 says the nations are angry because the time has arrived for them to be judged.

Here is just one example from Isaiah 13:9-13: " Behold, the day of the Lord comes, cruel with wrath and fierce anger to lay the land desolate; and He will destroy the sinners out of it. For the stars of heaven and the constellations will not give their light; the sun will be darkened in His going forth, and the moon will not shine. And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity, and I will cause the arrogance of the proud to cease and will lay low the haughtiness of the evil. I will make a man more precious than fine gold...therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth will move out of her place, in the day of the wrath of the Lord of the armies, in the day of His fierce anger."

We recognize the same signs that Joel prophesies about, Jesus mentions in Matthew 24, and Peter quotes at Pentecost: During the time of the day of the Lord, the sun, moon and stars will be darkened and a great earthquake(s) will move the earth out of place. (I have a series about The Natural Disasters of The Revelation, with a handout/PDF if interested in learning more about the double meteor strike during this time, etc)

Also note He said in that day He will put the value of a single person above that of fine gold. This indicates in that time human life will be cheap - we see this spirit in the world today where abortion is legal and even children have bombs strapped to them and human life is not valued as divine. So this is an end-times 'benchmark' to watch for - things like euthanasia, abortion, wanton killings - all indicate society not valuing human life as God-given and therefore highly valued - that is one thing the King will restore.

While the righteous dead have been raised and the living righteous have been changed and are hidden with Messiah, the earth will be in the Days of Awe. The Intermediates will have yet a little more time to repent through all the judgments coming on the earth.

Next week we will look at who is qualified to go 'up' in the 'rapture', the whole body or just some, and how exactly it happens. Blessings,

John Fenn

www.cwowi.org and email me at cwowi@aol.com

Hi all,
I hope my series on the Feast of Trumpets is pulling verses together that before had been pieces of a puzzle that didn't seem to fit, but now do. Today we'll continue putting the pieces together, for within the Feast of Trumpets is the coronation and wedding of Messiah...

The wedding of Messiah
Revelation 19:1-14 shows us the Marriage Supper of the Lamb in heaven and the return of Jesus:

"And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters....saying, Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to Him; for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His wife has made herself ready. And to her was granted to wear fine linen, clean and white, for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. And he said to me, Write 'Blessed are they who are invited to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb..."

"And I saw heaven opened and behold, a white horse; And He that sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war....and the armies in heaven who followed Him on white horses were clothed in fine linen, clean and white..."

The key to notice is the fine linen, clean and white which is given to those in heaven participating in the Marriage Supper AND worn by those accompanying Jesus at His return - they are the same people.

We who participate in the Marriage Supper return with Him because Jesus is returning to set up His government on the earth, and I Corinthians 6:3, Hebrews 2:5 and 6:5, and Revelation 20:6 tell us those who take part in the first resurrection (Feast of Trumpets) will reign with Christ for 1000 years on the earth in a forced righteousness age, governing by the gifts of the Spirit.

The coronation and wedding of Messiah in the Feast of Trumpets

The concept of 'Ha Melech' which means 'the King', and the coronation and wedding of Messiah are wrapped up together in the Feast of Trumpets. The dead in Messiah and those alive who are changed, are changed and hidden with Messiah for a reason. That reason is those in Messiah have been His betrothed and now the Groom is coming for His bride for the wedding which takes place in heaven.

The Marriage of Messiah - Understand the betrothal
A marriage supper then lasted 7 days as it does sometimes today in Jewish weddings. The 7 day celebration is a prophetic type of a future Marriage Supper, with each day standing for a year, therefore a 7 year celebration in heaven. So we shouldn't read Revelation 19 which is right before Christ returns, as if it had just happened and we were all getting a quick snack before accompanying Him at His return.

Revelation 19 is informational, a view of what has been happening in heaven while other things have happened on earth, and understood in the context of the Feast of Trumpets, we know it to be a 7 year celebration that has been going on, not a box lunch eaten quickly right before His return.

We are right now in the time of betrothal. We aren't yet 'married' to God. The consummation of the marriage will occur when we depart and celebrate the marriage supper of the Lamb in heaven when the Groom comes to get His bride.

When a prospective groom wanted to propose to a young lady he would go to her home and talk to her father. He carried 3 things to her home: A large amount of money in order to pay the price for the bride, the 'bride price', a betrothal contract called the Shitre Erusin, and wine.

IF the father agreed, the young lady was called out, and if she agreed, she drank the cup of wine. The contract was signed, the price of the bride was paid, and they were now betrothed, requiring a divorce to break off the engagement - but they didn't consummate the marriage until the 7 day wedding celebration.  

What Jesus said
The groom would then say this to the bride: "In my father's house are many rooms, and I am going to prepare a place for us, that where I am you may be also."

Jesus used the betrothal ceremony words in John 14:1-2 to his disciples. "In my Father's house are many places to live*, and I go to prepare a place for you that where I am, you may be also." (*The word 'mansion' is not in the Greek and was inserted by King James translators so King James would think he would have a mansion in heaven. It is the Greek word 'abode' or 'places' used also in 14:23)

In the regions even today where homes are made of mud-brick, they are easily added on to, and this is what the groom would do until the day his father declared enough preparation had been made, the rooms for the bride and groom were complete, and then he would give the order for the groom to go get his bride.

In ancient days the groom's response to when he thought the father would give permission would be: "No man knows the day nor hour but my father", which Jesus again pulled from the context of betrothal in Matthew 24:36 (Sketches of Jewish Social Life, Edersheim)

Once under contract as the betrothed, she would spend her time getting to know her groom and how to become a wife. This is a beautiful type of our discipleship in Christ, knowing Him better each day and preparing ourselves to one day be with Him at the Marriage Supper celebration. All these things are part of the Feast of Trumpets, so every reference in the gospels and epistles reference this feast.

Now I see it
The disciples would have understood Jesus' use of the betrothal ceremony in John 14 when He said He is going to prepare a place for us, they would have understood the 'no man knows but my Father' in Matthew 24, but we miss it because we don't know the Feast of Trumpets.

And when Paul said in I Corinthians 6:20, "You have been bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's", and repeated it in 7:23. They would have understood his references to the betrothed being bought with the bride price, and her expected faithfulness to the groom.

This is also addressed in the betrothed context in James 4:4: "You are like unfaithful wives, flirting with the glamour of this world, and never realizing that to be the world's lover means becoming the enemy of God!" A betrothed woman was considered married as a divorce was required to break the engagement as you'll recall with Joseph and Mary in Matthew 1:19 (Phillips translation)

All these references to being betrothed, to being bought with a price, to being faithful, all tie back to the Feast of Trumpets and the Groom coming for His faithful and pure bride. And like an infomercial on TV, 'But wait, there's more...'

The Lord's Supper therefore...

And now we understand the double meaning of the Lord's Supper as well because of the cup of the covenant drunk by the bride at the betrothal ceremony. 

Drinking the cup of covenant meant she not only accepted his proposal of marriage, but she would eagerly look for and prepare herself, looking towards the day he came to get her for the marriage celebration. Paul said when we receive the Lord's Supper we do so in remembrance 'until he comes', which is a reference to the Feast of Trumpets as Messiah comes for His bride. (I Corinthians 11:26)

Therefore we not only celebrate the Last Supper as a Passover event, marking His death, but we do so also looking for His return, and we do so as the betrothed bought with the price of His blood, committing each time we partake of the Lord's Supper to forsake all others, saving ourselves in faithfulness to Him alone, until the Marriage Supper of the Lamb!

It all ties together with the Feast of Trumpets
Now we see the many references to this amazing Feast of Trumpets in scripture. From Jesus using words from the betrothal ceremony about preparing a place, to His reference to no man knowing the day, to Paul's references of being bought with a price, to the cup of covenant, to the Last Supper, the Last Trump, to John seeing the Marriage Supper of the Lamb in heaven that has been going on for 7 years ever since the bride was changed...wow...but what is happening on the earth while the Marriage Supper is happening in heaven?

The Feast of Trumpets begins what is called 'The Days of Awe' on the earth. And that is what we'll cover next week - Until then, Blessings,

John Fenn

www.cwowi.org and email me at cwowi@aol.com

  

Hi all,
Last week I showed the consistency of Paul's teaching of the Feast of Trumpets throughout the scripture, as well as some oral history of the Jewish faith which contributes to our understanding of the Feast of Trumpets.

After telling the Thessalonians twice in his first letter we are to be delivered from the wrath to come by the trumpet call from heaven, and to the world Jesus would come for His disciples like a thief in the night, but TO US He would not come as a thief, they wanted more detail. Paul provided that detail in II Thessalonians.

Paul continues his teaching about the Feast of Trumpets
"But relative to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together with Him, we beg you brethren, not to allow your minds to be quickly unsettled or disturbed or kept excited or alarmed, whether by some pretended revelation by the Spirit or by letter...to the effect that the day of Christ has arrived.

Let no one deceive you, for that day won't come except there come the "falling away" (Greek; apostia) first, and then the man of sin will be revealed, the son of doom (perdition), who exalts himself so proudly and insolently against and over all that is called God and worshiped, even to the point of taking his seat in the temple of God and proclaiming himself that he is God.

Don't you remember when I was with you I told you these things? So now you know what withholds and restrains him from being revealed, so that he may be revealed at his appointed time. For the mystery of iniquity is already at work, until He who restrains him is taken out of the way, and then he will be revealed."

II Thessalonians 2:1-7

What is the falling away?
Paul is building on his first letter, where he said the archangel would sound the trump (shofar) and the dead in Christ would rise and those alive would also join them with the Lord in the air. With that understanding he says anti-Christ can't be revealed until there is a 'falling away' first.

Paul used the word 'apostia', which does in fact mean falling away. But not falling away from the faith. In ancient times this word was used to describe the visual effect of ships leaving port and 'falling away' out of view as they passed over the horizon. It came to mean any departure, a falling away from view as a traveler walked, rode, or sailed away out of sight. (The Amplified Bible notes this meaning in the margin, though not with full historical usage explained).

So Paul is saying there is a 'departure', a 'falling away from view' that must take place before anti-Christ can be revealed.

Consistency proven
Now read it as they would have understood it in Paul's time, putting what he said to Corinth and I & II Thessalonians together, and you will see the consistency of thought in what he taught the churches:

"Behold! I show you a mystery. We will not all die, but we will all be changed. In a moment, in the blinking of an eye, at the Last Trump; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead in Christ will rise first, and we who are alive will be changed...

...and we wait for His Son from heaven, who has delivered us from the wrath to come...For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the Trump of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; so shall we ever be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words...

Now brothers and sisters, we beg you by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, that you not be shaken in mind nor troubled as if the day is at hand...the day will not come until the departure comes first, and then the man of sin will be revealed....now you know what is restraining him from being revealed. Then, when he is taken out of the way, the man of sin will be revealed." (I Corinthians 15:51, I Thessalonians 4:16-18, II Thessalonians 2:1-7)

Doesn't that make sense? The question is, what or who is the "He/he" who is removed?

The Holy Spirit has always been on earth
Some would say the Holy Spirit, but that isn't correct because the Holy Spirit is the agent of salvation and it is by the Holy Spirit that God is everywhere. To remove Him from the planet not only removes any chance of salvation during the Tribulation, and we know millions get saved during that time, but it would also mean God vacates the planet and is no longer everywhere. So it isn't the Holy Spirit who is preventing anti-Christ from being revealed.

The body of Christ however is portrayed as masculine - the body of Christ. We are also the bride of Christ -Ephesians 5:25-32 and Revelation 19: 6-9, but everywhere else we are the body of Christ - masculine. Also, Jesus said in Matthew 5:13 we are the salt of the earth, meaning we are seasoning and preservative for the planet. Once the preservative is removed, the earth goes rotten.

We could say it is he, the body of Christ, which is 'taken out of the way that the man of sin may be revealed' and I believe that is what Paul is saying. But for the sake of discussion, let us draw a line between the two and say it this way: The Holy Spirit in believers will depart with them, closing His work in the body of Christ at that time while opening His work to the rest of the people of earth in the closing years of man's government on the planet.

The 2 sets of believers
In our untrained minds we think all believers across the centuries are the same, but in God's mind He makes a distinction between the believers from the cross until the departure, and the believers who come to Him after the departure.

Jesus said in Luke 21:24 of the destruction of Jerusalem in the year 70: "And they will fall by the edge of the sword, and be led away captive to all nations, and Jerusalem will be trodden down by the Gentiles until the time of the Gentiles is completed."

So in Jesus' mind, there is a 'time of the Gentiles'. Paul echoed this in Romans 11:25-26: "For I don't want you to be ignorant of this mystery brethren; that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the full number of the ingathering of the Gentiles has been fulfilled. Then all Israel will be saved."

In the Lord's mind there is a distinction between the times of the Gentiles, where the gospel will be preached in all nations and all peoples will be given the chance to partake in the covenant given to Israel, and the final focus on Israel after the fullness of the ingathering of Gentiles has happened.

Why 1967 is so important
The times of the Gentiles according to Jesus, draws to a close when Jerusalem is no longer 'trodden down by Gentiles'. Jerusalem was controlled by Gentiles from the year 70 when Rome destroyed the city, until 1967 when Israel took control of the city.

This is why the blindness on the Jews concerning Jesus as Messiah has started to lift ever since the mid-1960's and continues to gain momentum. As the time of the Gentiles winds down, correspondingly, the blindness on Israel lifts. So in the Lord's mind, He makes a distinction between people from all nations coming to Him between the cross and rapture, and those who come to him between the rapture and His return.

We - the Gentile believers that come from all nations - are the body of Christ, the Bride of Christ, the salt of the earth. Those saved in the Tribulation are not. They aren't invited to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. They are saved, but those saved from the cross to the catching away hold a special place in the heart of the Lord, for we were the wild olive branches grafted into the covenant of Israel by faith.

(If you've listened to my series on the 10 virgins of Matthew 25, you'll remember the 10 virgins/bridesmaids are not the Bride and it is incorrect to assign that parable to mean the body/bride of Christ - the bride is not found in the parable, it is about bridesmaids, the bride already being with the Groom in the marriage feast)

Now we must ask 2 questions: What happens in heaven with the body of Christ and who is going in the departure (what does the Feast of Trumpets have to say about that?) and what happens on earth after the 'departure' and revealing of anti-Christ (and what does the Feast of Trumpets have to say about that?).

One of the themes of Rosh haShanah, the Feast of Trumpets, is the wedding of Messiah, so I will answer the first question next week. Until then, blessings,

John Fenn

www.cwowi.org and email me at cwowi@aol.com

Hi all,
Last week I shared about the 'Feast of Trumpets' that celebrates the resurrection of the righteous dead and the changing of the righteous living at the sound of the 'last trump'. This feast occurs at the new moon which is a type of the hiding away of the righteous with Messiah. I will get into more detail, but first...

What if we could get inside the head of the apostle Paul? What if we could go back to the first century, understand his Jewish upbringing, his vast knowledge in the Jewish Oral Law and Rabbinical teaching, to understand what he believed? That is what I'm trying to do here. Paul was chosen by the Lord to write most of the New Testament, so his perspective is now scripture.

How was Paul trained?
Besides learning the Word, our Old Testament, Paul was trained in the oral history & traditions of his faith passed down through the generations, which is called the Talmud. Part of the Talmud is called the Mishnah, which is the oral word (oral Torah). This is the oral history of the Jewish people and teachings of Rabbi's through the centuries. Paul was educated in all these things.

You may not realize it, but the Oral History/word is woven throughout our New Testament, so at least some of it but not all, is taken to be as solid as scripture. I'll give you 2 examples here and 1 later:

1) Genesis 12:1 says: "Now the Lord had said to Abram, Get out of your country, and from your family, and from your father's house, to a land that I will show you."

That is all the scripture says - the Lord told him. But Steven in Acts 7:2-3 said this: "The God of glory appeared to our Father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, and said to him: Get out of your country, and from your family, and come to the land that I will show you."

How did Steven and his listeners know the Lord appeared to Abraham when He told him to leave his country? They knew through the oral history, the Mishnah - which had been passed down since Abraham concerning the events of his life, and that part of the oral history became scripture.

2) Matthew 2:23 says of Joseph moving his family: "And he came and lived in a city called Nazareth, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene."

Here is the trouble - there is no prophecy in our Old Testament about Messiah being from Nazareth. But it was part of the oral history that Messiah would be known as a Nazarene, and became scripture.

What Paul understood happens during the Feast of Trumpets
All Paul had learned from the Old Testament scriptures, the Oral Word, and revelations from the Lord after his salvation made the man who became the apostle Paul. Knowing all these elements to his brilliant mind, let us look at the Word and Oral Word to gain the understanding Paul had about the Feast of Trumpets.

In Judaism as shared in part last week, there are 3 shofars: The First Trump, the Last Trump, and the Great Trump (Shofar). According to a Rabbinic writing called Pirke deR-Eliezer among others, the left horn of the ram caught in the bush when Abraham was set to offer Isaac is the First Trump, and was blown at Mt. Sinai. The right horn, the Last Trump, will be blown at the new moon at Rosh haShanah to awaken the righteous dead and transform the righteous living.

The Great Trump, or Great Shofar, will be blown at the conclusion of Yom Kippur to welcome the in-gathering of people whose sins were forgiven as the gates of Jerusalem swing shut and the time for repentance ends: This is a type of the return of Christ.

Here again are the names of the feast called the Feast of Trumpets: Rosh haShanah (Head of the Year), Yom Teruah (Day of Awakening Blast), Yom haDin (Day of Judgement), and Yom haZikkaron (Day of Remembrance).

The Awakening Blast - Yom Teruah
I shared last week Paul taught Rosh haShanah or the Feast of Trumpets, when he said the dead in Christ will rise and the living changed at the Last Trump - his use of 'last trump' forever links the 'rapture' with Rosh haShanah. But I Corinthians 15:51-53 isn't the only place he teaches this.

Here is the Temple exhortation spoken for centuries at Rosh haShanah to the people, and you can see the reference to the righteous dead in the opening words and spiritually asleep as well.

"Awake you sleepers from your sleep, and you slumberers arise from your slumber. Examine your lives, repent and remember your Creator. Those of you who forget the truth in the vanities of the times and live all year with vanity and emptiness, look into your souls, change your ways and lives, let each of you forsake his evil path and his thoughts which are not good..." (Rambam, Hilchot Teshuvah)

Paul in Ephesians 5:14-17: "Therefore it says; Awake you who sleep, and arise from the dead, and Messiah shall give you light. See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be unwise, but understanding in what the will of the Lord is."

Clearly Paul referenced and paraphrased this Rosh haShanah exhortation when he told the Ephesian believers to live uprightly because a future awakening blast was coming...This means as we look at his letters to the Corinthians, the Ephesians, the Thessalonians - we understand Paul taught Rosh haShanah and the Last Trump to the first century believers, and his teaching became our New Testament scripture.

What he told the Thessalonians
Paul told them in I Thessalonians 1:10: "And to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus, who has delivered us from the wrath to come."

Notice his reference to Rosh haShanah and the Last Trump in 4:14-18, which is what he told Corinth:
"For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so those who have died in Jesus will God bring with Him. For this we say to you by the Word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain to the coming of the Lord will not come before those who have already died. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; So we will forever be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words."

And look at what he wrote immediately after this
"But of the times and seasons brethren, you don't need me to write you. For you know perfectly well the day of the Lord comes as a thief in the night. For when they will be saying, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction will come upon them, as birth pangs, and they will not escape.

But you brethren are not in darkness that the day should overtake you like a thief. You are children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness....For God has not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us that whether we wake from death or are alive, we will live together with Him. Therefore comfort yourselves and edify one another with these words..." (5:1-11)

Notice for the 2nd time in this letter he tells them God has not appointed us to the wrath to come. He also says the day will come as a thief in the night to unbelievers, but not to us. Consider the word picture of a thief in the night. It is a picture of someone asleep in their home, and a thief breaks in to take what doesn't belong to him.

THAT is how the world will view this catching away. They will understand Jesus as a thief taking what doesn't belong to Him - their child, their spouse - but in fact He is coming for those He bought and paid for.

And this brings us to what happens on earth during Rosh haShanah - what is the 'wrath to come'? And to Paul's 2nd letter to the Thessalonians and Anti-Christ...until next week then, blessings,

John Fenn

www.cwowi.org and email me at cwowi@aol.com