When a spiritual revival swept through England in the 19th century, it also revived a love for the Jewish people and prayers for their restoration. One brave mother, a product of the earlier Great Awakening revival, taught her young son to pray for Israel and the peace of Jerusalem and those who love Israel: “May they prosper who love you” (Psalm 122:6).

Daily they knelt by his bed and prayed, “O Lord, we would not forget Thine ancient people, Israel; hasten the day when Israel shall again be Thy people and shall be restored to Thy favor and to their land.”¹ On December 9, 1917, on the eve of Hanukkah, an answer to their prayers began to unfold. A phalanx of British officers led by General Edmund Allenby (1861-1936) entered Jerusalem. As a gesture of respect, Allenby stepped down from his horse and walked in. He deliberately chose to walk, he stated, because only the Messiah should ride into the Holy City.²

The grip of the Turkish Empire, which had ruled for some 400 years, crumbled, and Jerusalem was now in the hands of Britain, a nation sympathetic to their plight. Israel’s restoration had begun.The young boy who prayed with his mother by his bed grew up to be General Allenby. He not only witnessed this miracle, but also became part of the answer to his boyhood prayers.

The Stage Was Set

Earlier, November 1917, the Balfour Declaration had been issued by the British government and adopted by the League of Nations, establishing the boundaries of a new Jewish state in the Palestine area.

Thirty years and another World War later, on November 29, 1947, Resolution 181, the official UN act to partition Palestine, allotted the new Jewish state a small part of western Palestine. The resolution recognized the right of the Jewish people to a state, not just a “national home” as the Balfour Declaration stated.

My close friend, the late Mayor Ron Nachman of Ariel, Israel, told me about the night Resolution 181 was celebrated. “I was five years old, but I remember everything. The celebration, the joy, the happiness, the dancing in the street. Then the next day, the riots began.” Ron experienced the joy, followed by the terror of continuing conflict as he literally grew up with the state of Israel.

On May 14, 1948, the British mandate over Palestine expired. A proclamation was approved, declaring the establishment of the state of Israel. The United States recognized the new nation that same night. The dry bones of Ezekiel’s prophecy had come together (Ezekiel 37). “Sinews and flesh” gave the bones physical substance. The nation was restored to its physical state. But there was “no breath,” Ezekiel observed. Then God began breathing life into the Holy Land, through men and women like Ron Nachman, his family and fellow citizens.

Patterns

J. Vernon McGee once commented, “Prophecy is the mold into which history is poured.” The Hebrew mindset identifies patterns in Scripture and history. Prophecy is best understood when we recognize those patterns. On the world stage, with Israel’s re-birth, God was moving, revealing some interesting historic patterns.

Consider this:
Jesus connected His coming Kingdom to the Genesis flood saying, “But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.” Noah, whose name means “rest” or “comfort,” spent 120 years building an ark according to the Lord’s instructions. He was no doubt jeered, questioned and ridiculed as he warned people of impending judgment. His ark provided safe shelter for his family and prepared them for the task of rebuilding their world after the flood.

Jesus, the One who offers rest to the weary, made the connection to Noah (Matthew 11:28). His Kingdom will finally bring sanctuary and comfort to the world.

A New Ark

In 1897 Theodor Herzl, known as the father of Zionism, began to build a new “ark” by organizing the first Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland. Zion is the ancient name for Jerusalem.

The stated primary goal was to aim at “establishing for the Jewish people a publicly and assured home in Palestine.”³ The year 2017 marks 120 years since Herzl began to build the new ark, Israel, a sanctuary and homeland for a weary chosen people.

A 50-Year Pattern

Fifty years is significant in the Jewish calendar. The 50th year was the Year of Jubilee, when bond slaves were released, land restored and debts forgiven. A holy, life-giving year. Herzl wrote in his diary, “In Basel I founded the Jewish State…maybe in five years, certainly 50, everyone will realize it.” Resolution 181 and the historic night Ron Nachman recounted to me, was passed exactly 50 years later in 1947.

The Six-Day War that put East Jerusalem and the Temple Mount back into the hands of the Jewish people followed the miracle of General Allenby’s liberation of Jerusalem in 1917 by exactly 50 years, in 1967. The Six-Day War was a milestone for me, when at age 11 I saw the dramatic headlines of Israel’s miraculous victory. My interest in Israel and prophecy grew as the ancient land of the Bible took on flesh and bones.

The 1967 Six-Day War is as miraculous as the story of Joshua and Jericho. In one week, both wars saw the political, military and geographical walls tumbled down by supernatural power! It was an emotional, powerful episode in Israeli history described by reporter Mordechai Twersky: “You hear the sounds of gunfire. You hear the footsteps of Israeli soldiers, as they draw closer and closer…We hear a triumphant Brigadier General Shlomo Goren, later to become the Chief Rabbi of Israel, as he recites the memorial prayer and sound the shofar, as Israeli soldiers weep with sorrow over their comrades killed in combat.”

Amidst the sounds of weeping, gunfire and shofars, the Rabbi cried, “This year in a rebuilt Jerusalem! In the Jerusalem of old!”⁴

Fast forward 50 more years to 2017. President Trump officially recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and directed the State Department to begin preparation to move the American Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem 100 years after the Balfour Declaration and 120 years after Herzl began to build the new ark, Israel, as a homeland for a weary people. God is calling His people back to the Promised Land, from all over the world, beckoning them to “the ark.”

No matter how you slice it–120 years, 100, 50 or 70–all are converging in 2018 to celebrate the anniversary of God’s chosen land for His chosen people!

Spiritual Explosion

A significant spiritual principle pervades historic events involving the Jewish people. God promised Abraham, “In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:3). Every time God fulfills prophecy concerning the Jewish people and Israel, He pours out His Spirit in a fresh way upon the church. Within seven years of the Zionist Congress, God began to move through revivals like the Welsh Revival and Azusa Street in Los Angeles. The 20th century progressed through two World Wars, “nation against nation.” The prophet Isaiah’s question, “Can a country be born in a day?” (Isaiah 66:8, NIV), was answered when Israel was recognized as a nation on May 14, 1948.

In 1949, 29-year-old Billy Graham conducted a crusade in Los Angeles that launched his evangelism ministry. Two years later, Bill Bright, also 29, launched a worldwide ministry called Campus Crusade for Christ. Right after the Six-Day War in 1967, the Jesus Movement revival captured a generation’s heart, including mine, and the modern Messianic movement was born as thousands of Jews accepted Jesus as their Messiah.

Window of Time

As we celebrate the 70th anniversary of Israel on May 14, we will have entered a historic and unique window of time, one that overlaps 2017-2018 (this is the Hebrew year 5778, which started in September 2017 and runs to September 2018). We are living in a time of unprecedented growth for the Gospel.⁵ The outpouring of God’s Spirit will continue to reach deeper and wider into the world as people hunger for the truth.

The prophet Joel made a promise that Peter repeated in his Pentecost sermon:

“And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, that I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams. And on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; and they shall prophesy” (Joel 2:28-29; Acts 2:17-18).

The Hebrew word used for pour means to “spill, mound up, intensely gush out in abundance.” The promise, however, hinges on an era–the last days. We have entered that era, a window in time when Israel is celebrated, and God is pouring out His Spirit upon the world. No more business as usual! Our sons and daughters will see visions and prophesy. The older ones of us will dream and see the future!

Jesus said this to His disciples about the fig tree, a symbol of Israel: “When its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near. So you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near-at the doors!” (Matthew 24:32). “It” refers to the end of the age and His Second Coming.

We do not know the day or hour, but we know our Lord is coming soon (Matthew 24:42). And Israel is the sign that we need to be ready. For 70 years, the fig tree has blossomed into the beautiful homeland and the ark God promised-120 years from the dream of Theodor Hertzl. We celebrate this anniversary and this season with great joy and anticipation!

“Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in His holy mountain. Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion on the sides of the north, the city of the great King” (Psalm 48:1-2).

¹ Barry Shaw, “1917 and the Liberation of Jerusalem,” Jerusalem Post, November 19, 2017. Web.
² Ibid.
³ Gotthard Deutsch, “Basel Program,” Jewish Encyclopedia. Web.
⁴ “The Six-Day War,” Jewish Virtual Library. Web.
⁵ Philip Jenkins, The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity, 3rd Ed. New York. Oxford University Press, 2011, pp. 2-3.

My belief in the rapture of the church is strengthened by an often overlooked, prophetic passage in the book of Leviticus. It is prophetic because it completely outlines and foreshadows the life, death, resurrection and Second Coming of Jesus. It is a blueprint of the Messiah, given to God’s people centuries before Jesus was born on this earth.

These words impacted the way I view prophecy, “And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: “The feasts of the Lord, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, these are My feasts”’” (Leviticus 23:1-2).

“My feasts,” the Lord said. Not just Jewish feasts, but feasts that God ordained and designed to tell the richest story of all time. The word feast in Hebrew is moed, meaning “a divine appointment.”¹ The Hebrew word for convocation is miqra, which means “a public meeting or dress rehearsal.”²

The seven feasts are dress rehearsals for the most important events in creation!

Passover, Unleavened Bread, Firstfruits, Pentecost, Trumpets, the Day of Atonement and Tabernacles tell the story of the First and Second Coming of Jesus. That is why Paul wrote, “So don’t let anyone condemn you for what you eat or drink, or for not celebrating certain holy days or new-moon ceremonies or Sabbaths. For these rules were only shadows of the real thing, Christ Himself” (Colossians 2:16-17, NLT).

The four spring feasts rehearsed His first coming. Jesus was crucified on Passover. He was buried on the Feast of Unleavened Bread. He rose from the dead on the Feast of Firstfruits, and the Holy Spirit was poured out on the first believers on Pentecost.

The spring feasts were followed by a summer harvest, then the fall feasts were celebrated, rehearsing the Second Coming. The Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement and Tabernacles are dress rehearsals for the Messiah’s return. Trumpets is also called Rosh Hashanah.

Which leads to why I believe in the rapture.

After the summer harvest, often interpreted by Christian scholars as the Church Age, the Feast of Trumpets signals the moment for all the workers to come home. “In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall have a Sabbath rest, a memorial of blowing the trumpets, a holy convocation” (Leviticus 23:24).

I love what Zola Levitt, a Jewish believer who is now with the Lord, wrote:

“The trumpet was the signal for the workers to come into the Temple. The High Priest actually stood on the southwest parapet of the Temple and blew the trumpet so that it could be heard in the surrounding fields. At that instant, the faithful would stop harvesting, even if there were crops, and leave immediately for the worship service.”³

The Feast of Trumpets foreshadows the rapture of the church!

“For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).

The Feast of Trumpets is unique because all the other feasts are celebrated later in their respective months, when the moon is bright. Trumpets occurs on the first day of the month, at the new moon, when the moon is dark except for a thin crescent. After the Diaspora, the time when Jews were scattered throughout the world, Rosh Hashanah began to be celebrated over a two-day period, so that Jews living in different time zones could view the new moon and participate. It became known as “one long day” and the Feast of Trumpets became mysterious. Another idiom for it was the Hidden Day Feast or the Feast which you do not know the day or the hour. Sound familiar?

The feasts tell the story.

After the Feast of Trumpets, which foreshadows the rapture of the church, the next feast is the Day of Atonement, or Yom Kippur, which foreshadows the Second Coming of Jesus the Messiah. The Day of Atonement recalls when Moses came down from the mountain, his face shining, and all Israel was saved. In the Second Coming, John saw Jesus appearing, His “head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes like a flame of fire” (Revelation 1). Once again, Israel will be saved as the kingdom of heaven comes to earth.

The final Feast of Tabernacles foreshadows the millennial reign of Christ, and the people celebrate and recognize what God has always intended: to dwell—or tabernacle —with His people. There are many places in Scripture that give us evidence of the rapture, and the timing has been discussed and disputed among the best of Bible scholars and teachers. But nowhere do we see such a clear portrayal of God calling His people home as we do in the prophetic story told by the Feasts of the Lord. One of the best books I’ve read on the feasts is The Feasts of the Lord by Marvin Rosenthal and Kevin Howard who wrote, “Each feast is part of a comprehensive whole. Collectively, they tell a story.” They certainly do tell “the greatest story ever told,” the story of God’s love, redemption and promises to His people:

“In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet… the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall all be changed” (1 Corinthians 15:51-53).

¹James Strong, Abingdon’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (1894, reprint, Nashville, TN: Abingdon, 1986), 83, ref.4150, Hebrew and Chaldee Dictionary.

²Strong, Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance, 94, refs.4744, 7121, Hebrew and Chaldee Dictionary

³Zola Levitt, The Seven Feasts of Israel (Dallas, TX: Zola Levitt Ministries, 1979, 2012), 12.

Eschatology: Noun / es-kə-ˈtä-lə-jē: A branch of theology concerned with the final events in the history of the world or of humankind. – Merriam-Webster Dictionary

I recognize the look on the faces of some “Millennials” and “Gen-Xers” when prophecy and current events are discussed.

Their eyes either glaze over, as if to say, “Heard that … too often.” Or they become uncomfortable and clearly communicate, “I don’t want to hear this.”

They might smile and say, “Yeah, come quickly, Lord,” but what they are really thinking (I’ve been told) is, “Hey, I’m young, starting a family or career or just getting out on my own. I’m still figuring out my faith, and what all this means.” If they were raised in church in the past three decades or so, many feel like they grew up with the expectation of the Lord’s imminent return, and they just don’t quite buy it anymore. Many still believe and want to be ready; they just don’t want to listen to “the end is near” for the rest of their lives.

And many people who long and wait for the Rapture of the church are so weary and broken down by life, their attitude is, “Just get us out of here.” The Late Great Planet Earth was a best-selling book in the 70s that ignited a passion for prophecy in many young people, including me. A movement was started with other like-minded literature. But unfortunately, some Late Great veterans have helped foster a mindset and an eschatology (the study of prophecy) that has engendered fear, gloom and doom, and discouragement, as if the world is just simply falling apart and we need to get out of here. I think some even resent it when “prophecy enthusiasts” seem almost giddy about some natural disaster or war that seems to be another piece of the prophetic puzzle falling into place. They need encouragement and hope for themselves and their loved ones.

I believe it is time for the church to pivot, to turn around our thinking.

Not change what we believe, but how we view it; and how we present the hope of the Lord’s return. The world is not falling apart. The world is falling into place!

Jesus said to us, “Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near” (Luke 21:28). He didn‘t just say, “ Look up.” He also said, “Lift your heads.” Christians have had their heads down too often for too long.

We need to realize that we believe in an eschatology of hope and victory.

God is doing great and mighty things among His people and in the world. There is a great harvest coming in which are we are called to participate.

I feel for young people whose lives are just getting started, as they hear a constant drumbeat of danger, troubles and a hostile world. No wonder some ask, “What have we got to look forward to and why should we even have kids?” I believe this last out pouring of the Spirit will be multi generational. As the prophet Joel predicted, and Peter repeated in the book of Acts:

“And in the last days … I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams” (Joel 2:28; Acts 2:17).

We need the energy, passion and vision of the younger generations and the wisdom of the older. But we also need to view and present what God has revealed to us through His Word with hope, victory, compassion and joy. Remember, The world is not falling apart. The world is falling into place! Lift up your heads!