The Warfare Journal: Rosh Hoshanah

If you are like me, people get tired of hearing you talk about the endtimes, in which case you have probably become accustomed to hearing people say, "no one knows the day or the hour."

And yet, that phrase comes from Mark 13:32 and is followed in the next five verses with the following exclamations:

Watch!
Be on guard!
Be Alert!
Keep watch!

I dont think that the phrase, "no one knows the day or the hour", can be fully understood apart from the Jewish holiday, Rosh Hashanah. Rosh Hoshanah is the Jewish new year and it is the beginning of a ten day period of time called the "days of awe" which lead up to Yom kippur, the day of atonement. Before the use of the current calendar it was determined by watching for the new moons which came every 30 or 31 days. The new moon which falls on the Seventh month(Tishri) is Rosh hashanah. It was said of this holiday that no man knew the day or the hour in which it would occur since it was based on the moon. In order to announce the Rosh Hashanah, two witnesses would be positioned outside of the village and when they saw the new moon in the sky they would sound the shofar, a type of Jewish instrument similar to a trumpet. The sounding of the shofar was the signal which began the "Days of Awe" during which the jews would prepare for the Day of Atonement so that they would be "READY".

Does any of this sound familiar? Did you notice the two witnesses?

I believe that when Jesus says "no man knows the day or the hour", he is alluding to Rosh Hashanah.

Let's look at Matthew 24:29-30:

Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

The rapture, if you really want to call it that will occur after a series of events which will take place in the sky. The two witnesses in the book of Revelation will serve in the same way as those who watched the sky waiting for the new moon on Rosh Hoshanah, perhaps because it will take place on Rosh Hashanah.

And, just as a side note, notice the phrase, "immediately AFTER the tribulation of those days." This statement testifies as to the chronology of the "rapture" in regards to the tribulation.

Also, if you look at the book of Revelation, you will see that the fifth seal is the slaying of the saints which takes place in Revelation 7:14 whereas the sign in the sky does not occur until Revelation 8:12 and is called the fourth trumpet.

Here are a few other scriptures for your consideration:

Acts 2:20-21:

The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come. And it shall come to pass, [that] whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Just in case you have never heard the phrase Day of Lord before, Paul tells us in 2 thessalonians 2:1-2 that the day of the Lord is the time in which we are gathered to Christ at his coming.

Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers, not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by some prophecy, report or letter supposed to have come from us, saying that the day of the Lord has already come.

The Day of the Lord (Rapture) cannot occur until the sun turns to darkness and moon to blood (the fourth trumpet of Revelation) which apart from popular thought will not happen until after the persecution of the saints. We will go through the tribulation!