Rapture on Feast of Tabernacles Full Moon Sabbath

Rapture on Feast of Tabernacles Full Moon Sabbath Parts of Helena Lehman article Since conjunctions are important celestial signs that often have prophetic import, then the Feast of Tabernacles needs to be looked at in the probability of the rapture occurring then. As a note of interest, Yahshua was and is the Lord of the Sabbath, so He rose from the dead before the Sabbath day ended on the Third Day! He died in the afternoon before sunset on a Wednesday. So He can come for His Bride on a Sabbath if He so chooses! The Heavens on October 3rd, 2020, which is the first day of the week long Feast of Sukkot or Tabernacles, and is when Venus will be in conjunction with Regulus in Leo, and Mars will be in conjunction with the Moon in Pisces/Israel. Also, since Sukkot 2020 Day 1 falls on a Sabbath, and at the time of a Full Moon, it ties in with many people's Rapture dreams. Sukkot is the Holiday of Ingathering meaning harvest. Kingdom of God would begin on a great Sukkot. The seven days of Sukkot—celebrated by dwelling in the sukkah, taking the Four Kinds, and rejoicing—is the holiday when we expose ourselves to the elements in covered huts, commemorating God's sheltering our ancestors as they traveled from Egypt to the Promised Land. The Four Kinds express our unity and our belief in God’s omnipresence. Coming after the solemn High Holidays, it is a time of joy and happiness. Chabad.org The seven-day festival of Sukkot starts on the 15th of Tishrei. From ancient times, the holiday has been associated with temporary dwellings called "sukkot" in Hebrew, and "tabernacles" in English (which is the origin of the word "tavern") – which were not however part of the original festival at all. Sukkot involved the largest number of animal sacrifices, according to the Bible. In other words, in biblical times Sukkot was The Holiday: if an ancient Israelite could only make it to Jerusalem for one of the three annual pilgrimages (the other two being Passover and Pentecost), Sukkot would be it. (Zech 14) Natural evolution or deliberate selection? We learn about the holiday’s new, formal significance from the Book of Kings (1 Kings 8:1-5), which narrates that the Tabernacle – the mobile sanctuary that Moses built in the desert to house the Ark of the Covenant - was brought to Jerusalem during the seventh month (Tishrei), and that many animals were sacrificed. This is the first known description of the formal holiday of Sukkot, though it bears note that this account was probably written over a century after the fact, during the reign of King Josiah. With that in mind, the story that the Tabernacle was brought to Jerusalem on Sukkot may or not be fanciful. It is possible that this was made up to justify a new pilgrimage holiday established as a part of Josiah’s push to centralize worship in Jerusalem. Either way, during Josiah’s reign, Sukkot became a much greater holiday, but the tiny city of Jerusalem would have been unable to house the great multitude coming to worship in the Temple at once. Unable to find lodging, the pilgrims had to erect temporary dwellings – little huts that became known as sukkot. Later these huts were given a national-historical meaning, correlating the holiday with the Exodus, as is reflected in the (late) biblical passage: “Ye shall dwell in booths seven days; all that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths: That your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.” (Leviticus 23:42-3) One problem with this connection is that the Bible tells us that the Israelites lived in tents, not booths, during the Exodus. Whatever the case, spending the week in a sukkah became a major theme in the holiday. However, that was secondary to the practice of the holiday rites during the time of the First and Second Temples. The holiday centered on the Temple and specifically on animal sacrifice therein. Altogether 70 bulls were sacrificed during each Sukkot, as well as numerous other animals. Goodly trees and joyous dancing Another important theme of the holiday, from ancient to contemporary times, were the four species that the people were to bring to the Temple. These are enumerated in Leviticus: “Ye shall take you on the first day the boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook; and ye shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days.” (23:40) Nehemiah seems to imply that these plants were to be used in the construction of the booths: ״And that they should publish and proclaim in all their cities, and in Jerusalem, saying, Go forth unto the mount, and fetch olive branches, and pine branches, and myrtle branches, and palm branches, and branches of thick trees, to make booths, as it is written.” (8:15) In fact this to this day is how the commandment in Leviticus is interpreted by the Samaritans. At any rate, from the time of the Hasmonean Dynasty, probably in the first century BCE, Jews have interpreted this vegetation to mean: A citron fruit (etrog), a myrtle branch, a date frond, and a willow branch. These were ceremoniously carried by Jews participating in the Temple service and are used in prayer in synagogue on Sukkot to this day. While the four species mentioned in Leviticus probably did include date fronds and willow branches, and may have included myrtle, the “goodly trees” were certainly not citrons, as these were unknown to the Israelites during the time of the First Temple. Another important ceremony conducted during the Second Temple period was libation with water, ceremoniously brought from the Gihon spring outside Jerusalem and poured on the altar. Every night, throughout the holiday a celebration took place at the Temple compound - Simkhat Beit HaShoeva. Great torches were lit, music was played, and people danced. The Mishnah tells us that this was a very joyous event, going as far as saying that a person who has not seen it had never experienced joy. Also, every seven years (in the year following shmita), the king would ceremoniously read sections of the Torah to the people. Developing new ritual after Temple's destruction After the temple was destroyed by Titus in 70 CE, the Jewish religion went through a major change, and the heart of Sukkot - the temple sacrifices - could no longer be observed. Thus further emphasis came to be ascribed to the sukkah, the four species, and prayer. Sukkot, which in the past were only erected in Jerusalem, were arose wherever Jews were living. The main body of work we have concerning Sukkot is the Mishnah (220 CE) and Talmud (500 CE) tractate Sukkah, which in addition to elaborating the temple services, include a great deal of discussion of what constitutes a kosher sukkah - and a proper citron. While Jews were instructed to sleep and eat in the sukkah throughout the holiday, if the weather was inclement or there was some other external problem, one could forgo this observance. Halakha is quite lenient here, saying that you shouldn’t stay in the sukkah “if it makes you uncomfortable.” Thus to this day Jews in northern climates tend to eschew this tradition, while in more temperate places such as Israel, observant Jews will usually sleep, eat, and pray in their sukkahs all week. There are rules governing sukkah size: it must not be too small (at least 22 inches wide, 22 inches long, and 31” high) nor too big (not more than 32 feet high). It must have at least three sides and must be covered by a roof made of plants, traditionally palm date fronds. It must provide shade but let in rain and the stars must be visible through the frond ceiling, not that one can see them in modern light-polluted cities. Its sides may be made of any material as long as it is strong enough to withhold the wind. It is customary to build the sukkah right after the end of Yom Kippur. When praying in the sukkah or at synagogue the four species are ritually shaken in different parts of the liturgical service. Visits by patriarchs and kings Over the years, Sukkot gained new traditions not originating in the bible or in ancient rabbinic texts. For example, a tradition dating back to the time of the Gaonim is to recite prayers called Hoshanot - poems asking for different kinds of divine favor. They are recited twice a day on each of the days of the holiday. On the last day, the congregation recites the final prayer, called Hoshanah Rabah - the Great Hoshanah, walking in a circle outside the synanogue and shaking the four species in their hands. The Zohar, kabbalist literature from the 13th century, is the source of a tradition that on each day of Sukkot a biblical figure - Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron, Joseph, and David - visit the sukkah. These are collectively called the Ushpizin, which is Aramaic for visitors. In ultra-Orthodox circles, parties with music and segregated dancing are held during the nights of Sukkot. These are called Simkhat Beit HaShoeva, a throwback to the parties of the Second Temple period. In modern times, Sukkot has created an industry with special markets selling the four species and sukkah kits springing up in the days preceding the holiday. Etrog importing has become quite the cut-throat industry. In Israel the first day of Sukkot is a holiday and businesses are closed. School remains closed all week but stores reopen from the second day. Where once upon a time, Sukkot was The Holiday for Jews - today among the non-observant it's become mainly an excuse for the kids to play camping in the sukkah, and for the observant – it's just another holiday. https://www.haaretz.com/jewish/.premium-the-history-of-sukkot-1.5312225 During the seven-day holiday, Jerusalem’s hillsides were adorned with sukkot (huts with three walls and a thatched roof, open to all, festively decorated, with buffet-style food for all comers), and the sense of community was enlivened by Temple festivities which made it the most spectacular and truly important holiday of the Jewish year. Moreso than Passover? Yes. Moreso than Rosh haShannah or Yom Kippur or Hanukkah...or Purim or Shavuot..YES. It was the HAG. (That is, the major Jewish pilgrimage holiday.) The prophet Zechariah who lived during the rebuilding of the Second Temple (Ca. 500 BCE) prophesied the Kingdom of God would begin on a great Sukkot. Night would be turned to Day. In this symbolic spirit, a giant 75-foot tall "People's Menorah" with eight huge bowls for oil atop its branches, lit the paths of Jerusalem, so even the full moon was unnecessary to see the way back and forth. During the celebration, among other festivities, which signaled the change of season from summer to fall, water was turned to wine by the High Priest who poured a flask of each on the main altar asking God that the winter rain be turned to a bounteous havest, including the grapes of the future vineyards. (Remind you of what Jesus did at Cana? Pehaps you may better understand what the subtext of his supposed "miracle" was all about...but that subject is better left for another time). But what is so special about Sukkot to make a claim for its place as the ultimate Jewish holiday? And why would one of our most significant prophets have conceived of it as the endpoint in time before God's Presence united with His Creation on earth? From the p’shat (literal) description of traditional rituals there is little imagery yielding secrets of mystical enchantment. Still, Sukkot involves our performing some very unlikely forms of reverence for God. The practice is to take a cluster of three tightly banded-together species of tree leaves, one a willow, one a myrtal, and the central one, a palm frond (in Hebrew a "lulav") as well as a fourth species of agricultural fruit of a tree, a citron called an "etrog," and while holding them in a certain prescribed manner, shake them vigorously in six different directions. Additionally, we are commanded to spend time in the sukkah (booth), dwelling in it as if it were a home for the period of the seven days, even overnight. Here, I get to play "This is what Jews do." We unabashedly, despite the fact there are others, truly profoundly knowledgeable scholars and sages, show no restraint in delivering our own "tayrahs" (interpretations) when we sense they originate from a genuine REMEZ, a hint at the deeper, second level of Torah. So, here goes: First, unlike the Zohar's Kabbalistic envisioning of Sukkot as a Seven-day wedding between God and his own female aspect, the Shechina, the latter separated in her nurturing role as a matron of the earthly realm, to be conjugally joined in the sukkah home of rejoicing... I shall propose an altogether different REMEZ: Rosh ha-shannah begins a period of CREATION. It is a celebration of the beginning of the future home of mankind, the earth and all else. TEN DAYS later is Yom Kippur. God examines the Bride to see if she is pure enough to be His Bridal People. She must not have lost her virginity to other gods. She must have been true to the precepts of righteousness as Covenantally expressed to Abraham, "Then I will make you numerous as the stars in the sky..." FIVE DAYS later, having passed the test of virginal purity, the BRIDAL PEOPLE build their homes for God's PRESENCE to come among them as their groom. HOW DO THEY SHOW THIS JOY AND READINESS FOR GOD'S ARRIVAL? They wave their palm frond lulavs and hold up their perfume etrogs in a dance of erotic enticement expressing their joy that the fecundity of the land shall be manifest in bounteous grain, grape and fruit harvests, and that their own progeny shall be numerous as the stars, just as the Covenant promised. AND, they build special homes, each open to their neighbors, also to spirit ancestors from the past, and most importantly, to the PRESENCE of God who upon entering unites their very existence to His in a spiritual marriage. May you cleave to God this Sukkot and feel the Creative juices flowing. HAG SUKKOT SAMEACH! https://www.haaretz.com/jewish/.premium-10-things-you-probably-dont-know-about-sukkot-1.5336709 T.W. Tramm article OCTOBER 2 marks the beginning of the seven-day Feast of Tabernacles, or “Sukkot” (Lev. 23:33-44). Commentators agree that Sukkot foreshadows the Millennial Kingdom when the Lord will literally dwell, or “tabernacle,” among men. However, similar to other biblical festivals, various themes and rituals of Sukkot are suggestive of the harvest of believers we call the Rapture. For instance— • Sukkot is called the Feast of Ingathering (Ex. 34:22). The Rapture is a gathering of believers to the Lord (2 Thess. 2:1) • Sukkot is the last festival of the harvest season. Thus, the shofar blast announcing Sukkot is the “last trump” (1 Cor. 15:52). • Sukkot is the name of the place the Israelites first camped after departing Egypt (Ex. 12:37). The departure from Egypt is a type of the Rapture. • Sukkot is one of two harvest festivals that coincide with the full moon (the other is Passover). Since the moon is symbolic of the Church, the full moon may picture the “fullness” of the Gentiles at the end of the age (Rom. 11:25). Furthermore, Scripture links the full moon to the return of the goodman of the house (Prov. 7:19, 20). The goodman is a typological picture of Jesus returning to settle accounts at the end of the age (Mark 13:35). • Solomon, a type of Christ, dedicated the Temple to the Lord on Sukkot. When the 120 priests sounded their trumpets, the glory of the Lord filled the house (2 Chron. 5). The Temple is a type of the Body of Christ, or Church (Eph. 2:20-22). • Grapes and apples are harvested in the autumn, around Sukkot. In Song 2 the passages depicting the Shulammite maid, a type of the Church, in the presence of her beloved shepherd, a type of Christ, mention apples and grapes (vv. 3-5, 13). • The Gentile Ruth, a type of the Church, married the Jewish redeemer Boaz, a type of Christ, after “all” the grain was harvested (Ruth 2:21, 23). Thus the typological wedding of Ruth and Boaz may have occurred around Sukkot (Ruth 2:21, 23; Deut. 16:13). • Sukkot is when the last grain is brought into the barns, grapes are crushed, and figs and olives are harvested (Deut 16:13). In Scripture, grain represents the Church, grapes represent nonbelievers, and figs and olives are symbolic of Israel (Matt. 3:12; 13:24-30; Rev. 14:18-20; 19:15; Matt. 24:32-34; Jer. 24:1, 2; Rom. 11:17-25; Jer. 11:16). • In Luke 17 judgment comes upon the world when people are “planting” (v. 28). Autumn, the season of Sukkot, is a popular time for planting as the weather is cool but the soil is still warm enough to stimulate root development. • In John chapter 7 Jesus attends Sukkot in partial secrecy, not openly manifesting Himself to everyone as His time had not yet fully come and not even his brothers believed in Him (vv. 5, 6). Similarly, the Rapture is a limited appearance of the Lord at a time when many don’t believe. • A popular view is that the wave offering of leavened loaves at Pentecost pictures the raptured Church presented before the Lord (Lev. 23:17). However, because leaven represents “sin” in Scripture, one can argue that the loaves cannot represent the transformed/raptured saints who will at this time not inhabit bodies defiled by sin (Rev. 7:14). The Pentecost wave offering may therefore represent the beginning of a spiritual harvest that culminates in a physical transformation around Sukkot. • In Revelation 7, immediately after the Rapture, a vast multitude is seen in heaven celebrating Sukkot with palm branches (Rev. 7:9-17; Lev. 23:40). The next festival alluded to is the Day of Atonement as an angel is seen performing the high priest ritual involving much incense (Rev. 8:3, 4; Lev. 16). Next, trumpets begin to sound, announcing a series of judgments upon the earth (Rev. 8, 9). It’s interesting that these allusions to the fall feasts occur in the reverse order of their respective positions on the calendar. Could the fulfillments follow this same pattern? Having highlighted how various Sukkot themes are evocative of the Rapture, understand we are NOT predicting that the catching away will occur at Sukkot. The point is that it could. The Rapture could also occur on another biblically significant date, or on a day not specially marked on our calendars (Matt. 24:42-44). Scripture says we see only in part and that God’s thoughts are not our thoughts (1 Cor. 13:12; Isa. 55: 8, 9). Is it possible, though we have a general blueprint for the finishing of God’s redemptive plan via the fall festivals, that the execution and timing may look different than we imagine? Of course it is. “With God all things are possible” (Matt. 19:26). In view of this fact, and Jesus’ numerous warnings that He is coming like a thief—on a day and at an hour no one can predict—it’s best to keep an open mind and to keep watch always. . . . NOTES: 1. Scripture designates three annual harvest festivals during which every Israelite male is to make the pilgrimage to Jerusalem to appear before the Lord: Passover/Unleavened Bread, Weeks, and Tabernacles (Ex. 23:17; Deut. 16: 11-12; 16, 17). 2. The moon as a symbol of the Church: In Song of Solomon the Gentile/Shulammite maid, symbolic of the Church, is compared to the moon: “Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon .... Return, return, O Shulamite; return, return, that we may look upon thee” (Song 6:10, 13). The spiritual parallel between the Church and the moon is that the full moon, as bright and beautiful as it is, has no brilliance of its own. It relies entirely upon the sun, which is a picture of Christ (Ps. 84:11; 19:4, 5), for its light. Without the sun, the moon has no light. Likewise, man has no light of his own. We were created in the image of God to reflect His brilliance and glory (Gen. 1:27). When we turn to face the majesty of God, when we surrender to Him and seek Him with all our hearts, we reflect His glory (Matt. 5:14). 3. Jesus comes like a thief: In his first letter to the Thessalonians Paul explains to the Church how they will be caught up into the clouds at Jesus’ return (1 Thess. 4:16, 17). Addressing the timing of this event, the Apostle says there is no need to discuss “times and dates” because it’s understood Jesus is coming “like a thief in the night”—on a day and at an hour no one can predict (1 Thess. 5: 1, 2).