For many of us, we walk around with shutters on our eyes. We listen to what we are taught by man without ever questioning if it is true. This article is questioning the belief some have regarding a “rapture” – that is, a removal of the people of Yahuwah, before the trumpets sound.
Let’s look at what we see in Matthew 24 regarding these things.
Matthew 24
15 “Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place” (whoever reads, let him understand),
16 “then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.
17 Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house.
18 And let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes.
19 But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days!
20 And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath.
21 For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be.
22 And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened.23 “Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or ‘There!’ do not believe it.
24 For false messiahs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.
25 See, I have told you beforehand.26 “Therefore if they say to you, ‘Look, He is in the desert!’ do not go out; or ‘Look, He is in the inner rooms!’ do not believe it.
27 For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.
28 For wherever the carcass is, there the eagles will be gathered together.29 “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
30 Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
31 And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
Matthew shows us that the gathering of the people will not occur until immediately after the tribulation. We see in 1 Thessalonians 4, that the dead in the Messiah, shall rise first then we who remain shall be caught of with them.
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
13 But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope.
14 For if we believe that Yahushua died and rose again, even so Elohim will bring with Him those who sleep in Yahushua.
15 For this we say to you by the word of Yahushua, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of Yahushua will by no means precede those who are asleep.
16 For the Yahushua Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of Elohim. And the dead in the Messiah will rise first.
17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet Yahushua in the air. And thus we shall always be with Yahushua.
18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.
- Yahushua shall descend from heaven
- The trumpet shall sound
- We shall be caught up with Him in the clouds.
We learn from Revelation 12:1-2 and in Matthew 24:22 and 29 something important that many do not see.
Revelation 12:1-2 speaks of a sign seen in the heavens. A woman in scripture represents a group of people. Here this woman represents the people of Elohim. This woman however, is different from others in that she walks the appointed times of Yahuwah which are provided by the moon (Psalms 104:19), she recognizes these through light of the day, and she is guided through the 12 months of the year above her head, that is, in the stars.
When we get to Matthew 24:29 we see these signs stopping. The moon no longer gives her light – the appointed times have ceased here on earth, the sun is darkened and no longer provides any more days, and the stars fall as there is no more need for the months. The appointed time of harvest has arrived.
But in Matthew 24:22 we see something which occurs right at the start of the tribulation. The scripture tells us that the days shall be shortened for the sake of the elect, for if they were not, none would survive. We read in 2 Kings 20:8-10 that the days here were lengthened.
2 Kings 20:8-10
8 Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “What will be the sign that Yahuwah will [completely] heal me, and that I shall go up to the house of Yahuwah on the third day?”
9 Isaiah said, “This will be the sign to you from Yahuwah, that He will do the thing that He has spoken: shall the shadow [indicating the time of day] go forward ten steps, or go backward ten steps?”
10 Hezekiah answered, “It is easy for the shadow to go forward ten steps; no, but let the shadow turn backward ten steps.”
11 So Isaiah the prophet called out to Yahuwah, and He brought the shadow on the steps ten steps backward by which it had gone down on the sundial of Ahaz.
The lengthening of the days by moving the sun backward 10 degrees causes the day on the earth to be lengthened by around 20 minutes. 20 minutes over 360 days will add an extra 5 days per year. So here when we read that the days shall be shortened for the elect, it means that the length of the day shall be restored such that the year again is 360 days long and this will allow His elect, the 144,000 to meet exactly at His appointed times which He removed from Israel (Hosea 2 and Lamentations 2).
So this brings us to the appointed time of harvest. Many know this appointed time as Pentecost. A name which does not reflect the meaning of the day, but rather a way to count to it. The name is indeed used in Hos word as the appointed time of harvest and we are told it is an appointed time we should all attend. In Exodus 23 it says:
Exodus 23:14-16
14 “Three times you shall keep an appointed time to Me in the year:
15 You shall keep the Appointed time of Unleavened Bread. You shall eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month of Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt; none shall appear before Me empty;
16 and the Appointed time of Harvest (Pentecost), the firstfruits of your labors which you have sown in the field; and the Appointed time of Ingathering (booths) at the end of the year, when you have gathered in the fruit of your labors from the field.
And we also see it mentioned in Deuteronomy 16
Deuteronomy 16:16-17
16 “Three times a year all your males shall appear before Yahuwah Elohim in the place which He chooses: at the appointed time of Unleavened Bread, at the Appointed time of Harvest (Weeks or Pentecost), and at the Appointed time of Tabernacles (Booths or Ingathering); and they shall not appear before Yahuwah empty-handed.
17 Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of Yahuwah Elohim which He has given you.
The appointed time of Harvest is shown to us in many ways:
Jeremiah 51:33
33 For thus says Yahuwah of hosts, the Elohim of Israel:
“The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor
When it is time to thresh her;
Yet a little while
And the time of her harvest will come.”
Joel 3:13
13 Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, go down; For the winepress is full, The vats overflow— For their wickedness is great.”
Hosea 6:11
11 For you also, O Judah, a harvest is appointed, when I restore the fortunes of my people.
Matthew 13:24-29
24 Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field;
25 but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way.
26 But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared.
27 So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’
28 He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’
29 But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them.
30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.”
…..
36 Then Yahushua sent the multitude away and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field.”37 He answered and said to them: “He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man.
38 The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one.
39 The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels.
40 Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age.
41 The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness,
42 and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
43 Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!
Matthew 24:40-41
40 Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left.
41 Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left.
Mark 4:3-9
3 “Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow.
4 And it happened, as he sowed, that some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds of the air came and devoured it.
5 Some fell on stony ground, where it did not have much earth; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of earth.
6 But when the sun was up it was scorched, and because it had no root it withered away.
7 And some seed fell among thorns; and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no crop.
8 But other seed fell on good ground and yielded a crop that sprang up, increased and produced: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.”9 And He said to them,“He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”
Mark 4:26-29
26 And He said, “The kingdom of Yahuwah is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground,
27 and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he himself does not know how.
28 For the earth yields crops by itself: first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head.
29 But when the grain ripens, immediately he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”
Luke 10:1-2
1 After these things Yahushua appointed seventy others also, and sent them two by two before His face into every city and place where He Himself was about to go.
2 Then He said to them, “The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.
John4:34-38
34 Yahushua said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.
35 Do you not say, ‘There are still four months and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!
36 And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.
37 For in this the saying is true: ‘One sows and another reaps.’
38 I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors.”
Revelation 14:14-16
14 Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and on the cloud sat One like the Son of Man, having on His head a golden crown, and in His hand a sharp sickle.
15 And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to Him who sat on the cloud, “Thrust in Your sickle and reap, for the time has come for You to reap, for the harvest of the earth is ripe.”
16 So He who sat on the cloud thrust in His sickle on the earth, and the earth was reaped.17 Then another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle.
18 And another angel came out from the altar, who had power over fire, and he cried with a loud cry to him who had the sharp sickle, saying, “Thrust in your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth, for her grapes are fully ripe.”
19 So the angel thrust his sickle into the earth and gathered the vine of the earth, and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of Elohim.
20 And the winepress was trampled outside the city, and blood came out of the winepress, up to the horses’ bridles, for one thousand six hundred furlongs.
So there is a long list of scriptures which talk about the harvest. Yes. One harvest has passed at the appointed time of first fruits, when the barley is harvested. The second harvest has yet to begin at the appointed time of harvest where the wheat is harvested.
The Calendar of Scripture 