Dan, we celebrate Christ's resurrection next week and I wanted to share these comments from my friend Sal at CHN.
The "Watchers" Mail List - chn-net.com
CHN EDITORIAL - March 28, 1999
‘99 "Window of Opportunity"
By Sal Smario
Greetings Watchers!
Well we have come to another window of opportunity for the Rapture, as we
arrive at Spring time 1999.
Next week, on April 2, 1999, is the Jewish celebration of Firstfruits.
That is the day of Christ's resurrection. As Christians, we have the
tradition of celebrating the Resurrection of Our Lord on Easter Sunday.
But don't let tradition make void the word of God in your life.
Since the Resurrection is the cornerstone of the Christian faith, I
thought I might pass along a bit of information about it.
As most of you know the Jewish day begins at sundown, and goes to sundown
the following day. The timing is considered from 6 PM to 6PM each day.
In order for Jesus to have risen at dawn on Sunday, the first day of the
week, and have been in the tomb for 3 full days and nights, one would have
to consider the following.
1. Dawn to a Jew is at 6PM in the evening, as his day begins and ends at
that time. The Hebrew word for sunset and sunrise is the same word.
2. At the time of Jesus, the feast of Firstfruits was celebrated on the
first day of the week (Sunday- beginning at 6 PM on Saturday) after the
first Sabbath (Saturday), after the first day of Passover.
3. In order for Jesus to have risen at dawn on Sunday morning (6PM
Saturday night), and have been in the tomb for three full days, one would
have to count backwards three days in order to arrive at the true day of
His crucifixion.
4. Doing so, one arrives at Wednesday as the day of His crucifixion, not
Friday! Lets do it. Wednesday at 6PM to Thursday at 6PM, is one day.
Thursday at 6PM to Friday at 6PM is two day, and Friday at 6PM to Saturday
at 6PM, which is Sunday dawn, is three days!
Here is a very interesting fact about Firstfruits that precludes anyone
else from ever fulfilling the prophecy of the Christ raising on
Firstfruits.
Above at #2, is the explanation of when the Feast of Firstfruits was
celebrated at the time of Jesus. Shortly after Jesus' time, a
determination was made that changed that timing. It is said that the
passage in the law had been mistranslated, and that the actual day of
Firstfruits was the first day after the start of Passover.
Because of that change, no one, ever again, could die on Passover, and
raise on Firstfruits, three days later! Jesus was the only person in
history to have done so! Don't let Tradition make void the word of God.
Something else happened on that Firstfruits day after Jesus arose and it's
recorded in Matthew, at chapter 27, verses 52 and 53. Matthew is
describing the day of the crucifixion, and the events that occurred, and
he says . . . ". . . And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the
saints which slept arose, and came out of the graves AFTER His
resurrection, and went into the holy city (Jerusalem), and appeared unto
many."
Who were these Saints which slept? Why were they raised after Him, why
were they seen and what happened to them after that?
Who were they? They're the children of Faith. There's Abraham, that
Romans 4 said, had his faith counted as righteousness. The price tag of
allowance, that let God credit his faith as righteousness, the blood of
Jesus Christ, that as a mediator, in the book of Hebrews, paid the price
for every sin, from day one to now, to future.
King David, who Romans 4 says, because he lied, he committed adultery, he
murdered, he falls short of the law, he never made it in under the Old
Testament Covenant. Because the Law said, if you keep it, you'll live in
it - if you violate it, you'll die. The only reason David is going to be
in Heaven, not because he was king of Israel, not because he kept the law,
but because God placed David in Christ, as Romans 4 says, credited David's
faith to righteousness, and brings him in on the same basis as the New
Testament Church comes in.
Moses, the law giver, is there. Not because like no other man, God would
hide him in the cleft of the rock on Mt. Sinai and let him catch a glimpse
of the brightness of God's presence, until when he came from the mountain,
his face shone, and he didn't know it shown and not because God allowed
him to talk with His Son on the mount of transfiguration. Moses sinned,
but God took his faith, as recorded in the 11th chapter of the book of
Hebrews, and credited it to righteousness.
Because, Jesus Christ lived the righteousness for us all, died for the
sins of us all, and God placed the sins of Moses and David and Abraham and
all of them into Christ.
During the three days that Jesus spent in the tomb, he preached to the
souls of all the dead, and those captives that accepted the covenant of
the covering of Christ were raised.
Remember in Isaiah 61, one of the duties of the Christ was to set the
captives free.
Why were they raised after Him? The were raised after Him because Christ
was the First fruits of resurrection, and because the prophecy of Isaiah
61, to set the captives free had to be fulfilled.
Why were they seen? So there would be a record of the fulfillment of the
prophecy.
What happened to them?
They fulfilled the prophecy in Psalm 68:18 - "Thou hast ascended on high,
thou hast led captivity captive . . .". Also verified in Ephesians 4:8:
". . . when He ascended up on high, He led captivity captive, and gave
gifts unto men . . ."
What this is telling us is, that when Jesus ascended, he took with Him
those captives that He had set free by the blood He had shed.
Well, that's all very interesting, but what does it have to do with
Firstfruits and the window of opportunity that opens on that day.
Paul revealed the mystery of the Rapture to the Corinthians, and he told
the Thessalonians that the Antichrist could not come on the scene and be
know until after the catching away of the Church. He also told them that
the dead in Christ would rise first, then after that, we that remain alive
would be caught up together with them.
The entire picture painted by the episodes recorded in Matthew 27, Psalm
68, Corinthians 15, Thessalonians 4 and Acts 1, is the picture of the
Rapture.
In God's plan, resurrections concerning Messiah, occur on the feast (set
time) of Firstfruits, and the catching away of the resurrected, Jesus and
the captives, was on Ascension day, 40 days later.
If this is the picture of the Rapture of the Church, we were given it as a
sign, so that we would know and be alert to our redemption as it drew near.
We call this time of year the "window of opportunity" for the Rapture,
because we don't know if God's calendar and mans calendar are on the same
date - most likely not. What we do know is that all of this occurred
within 40 days of the feast of Firstfruits. That feast occurring in the
Spring.
Are we going to see "many" dead in Christ raise on Firstfruits, and will
they be seen only in the Holy City? Will that be the sign that the
Rapture of the Church is only 40 days away?
I believe that we will! God always warns His people! In every instance
throughout scripture, God gave a warning before every major move He made
against His people. This sign, of the dead in Christ rising is a sing for
both His people.
To the Christians, it is a sign that the age of the Church is coming to a
close, and to the Jews, the Rapture is the sign to know that Jesus was the
Messiah, and they missed Him again, and the time for the last week of
Daniel's seventy weeks is upon them.
I don't believe God would miss an opportunity like that - warnings to both
covenants about their impending fate, all prophesied far in advance in
both the Old and New Testaments!
What's my point in all of this?
Simply this: We have been watching the Mideast for the clues to the
"Biblical Time" that we occupy in present time, because we have a
landscape on the stage of history at the present time that reflects the
prophecy of Daniel to a tee.
But, the events on the stage seem to have come to a standstill. Don't be
fooled by that! We don't know what is going on behind the scenes. And,
we know form scripture, that He will come for us when we least expect it.
Not that we are not watching, but that we are watching, and nothing is
happening -or at least it seems that way. Seems to me that this might be
a perfect time, so we Watch!
What am I watching for? First, to see if any reports begins to show up
about former known dead being seen. Will they be seen in the holy city,
Jerusalem only? I don't know. But that is where I will be watching the
closest. But, the reports can come in from anywhere.
If this is the year, I fully expect it to begin with that sign, so stay
alert! I believe the "window of opportunity" for the occurrence of the
Rapture of the Church for 1999 has begun, and won't close until at least
two weeks after Pentecost.
God bless, and thanks for listening.
Were Watching Lord!
Luke 37:12
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