Will Yeshua’s Second Coming be known to us? or will He come as a thief in the night?

As we have studied earlier, The Feast of Trumpets is known and believed to be the Prophetic appointment when our Messiah is going to return. We already know that the New Testament proves that He died on the day of “Passover“, was Resurrected on the day of “First fruits” and the Holy Spirit was sent as promised on the day of “Pentecost“. The next or 4th Prophetic Appointment(which is yet to be fulfilled) amongst the Feasts that are given in Lev 23, is the Feast of Trumpets.

But there is a valid question raised among believers regarding this appointment. This question is Whether we can actually know when He is going to return, as in some places He told the disciples that “no one can know of what day or hour it is going to be” & other places it is equaled to a “thief in the night”. Thus, some question and even refuse to believe the Prophetic Appointment which is known as the “Feast of Trumpets” would be the day of His return. This was an interesting question that personally, I also had, as I was researching and doing my own studies. It is an important question which needs to be addressed and answered, as we have all been taught that no one can know when he is going to return.

There are a few verses in the New Testament which are used to prove the fact that the Second coming of Christ is a completely hidden event which could happen at any day. We will review a few of these verses today, and see whether there is anything that is overlooked or misunderstood.

Please note that even though the Scriptures point at the fact that Yeshua(Jesus’ true name) will return on the Feast of Trumpets, it is impossible “to know for sure” which year He will return, beforehand. But it is my understanding that we will be able to see the signs both on the Earth and in the Heavens, and we will be able to WATCH for His coming as it approaches. If you have read the study on the Feast of Trumpets, you would already know that “WATCHING” is a key message behind this Appointed time.

Examining Mat 24:36 – But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.
Reading this verse, we need to ask a critical question. What is the day and hour Yeshua is talking about? Is it the Day of the Second Coming? Or is it something else?

Let’s read verse 35&36 together. Yeshua tells the disciples “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only”. But of which day? Is He talking about the Second Coming or the day the Heaven and Earth pass?

Furthermore, in the next few verses(37-39) Yeshua says that His return will be like the days of Noah. An important thing to note about this parallel is that the people who drowned in the flood were sinners/unbelievers. The Flood overtook the people who were not ready for God’s Judgement, while Noah knew beforehand and he was ready. God even notified Noah, the day that the flood was going to start, a full week before it happened (Gen 7:4). If we are waiting for the day like Noah, ready, with eyes wide open, how can it overtake us?

Examining 2Pet 3:10 – But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
Peter seems to be telling the readers that Yeshua will be coming without warning, like a thief. As Peter does not explain his thoughts any further, let us read the similar words of Paul in 1Thes 5:2. It reads, “For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.” Paul says the same thing as Peter; Christ will indeed return as a thief in the night. But let us continue our reading to the next few verses.

In verse 4-6, Paul says “But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.”

Reading Paul’s explanation, we understand that “The Day of the Lord” will not be known by people who are in darkness. It will come as a thief to people who are not “Watching”.

These words agree with Yeshua’s words in Mat 24:37 about the Second Coming resembling the days of Noah. The judgement does not overtake the people eagerly awaiting the fulfillment of His prophecies. Furthermore, Paul’s words in 1Thes 5:1-6 agree again with Yeshua’s words written down in Rev 3:3 which read, “Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee. As we see again, He will come as a thief in the night, to all who are not ready and DO NOT WATCH.

This further agrees with the parable Yeshua gave in Mat 24:43 which says “But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.” If the man of the house watched, he would not be surprised.

Whomever does not know God’s times and appointments given in Scripture, will surely be surprised at the claims made in this post. Luke 24:27 says that Yeshua explained the things concerning himself in the Scriptures beginning at Moses and all the prophets, to the disciples. Understanding God’s Prophetic Calendar and Appointments (which are written by Moses) is an important piece of the puzzle, in figuring out and keeping watch for His return. If one does not know His Word, how can he/she be ready for its fulfillment?

Conclusion
As we have seen, the question of whether or not we can know of the day in which Christ will return, is an all important one. Even though we do not know the exact year, day and hour in which the Second Coming will happen, it will surely happen on the Prophetic Feast of Trumpets. He will return fulfilling God’s Word and His Appointed time of Trumpets, just as he fulfilled Passover, Firstfruits & Pentecost. Yeshua himself has given us so many signs to look out for. Not only Yeshua, but all of the prophets have given clues of what should expire before His return. And out of all of these signs and prophecies none other is more important than the “Prophetic Appointments” known as the Feast days “God Almighty has spoken of” in the Scriptures.

We need to “WATCH”, so that we are not overcome and taken by surprise, on that day. And not only watch, but sound an alarm asking people to wake up and get ready. Let us be like Noah, ready and waiting for the fulfillment of all that God has spoken of, and may He provide us with the grace to warn the people around us, of the judgement of the world, which is at hand.

The Appointed Time/Feast of Trumpets and the coming of our Lord

As Christians, we all look forward to the Second coming of Christ. In this post, we will study the Prophetic significance of the “Feast of Trumpets” and the coming of our Messiah. This study has been broken into 5 sections for your viewing ease. If you already know about any particular section, please feel free to skip through to the section that you are interested in.

1. Introduction to the Feasts/Appointed Times of God
God’s appointed times (also known as feasts) which are written in Lev 23 consist of 7 separate events which are “remembrances of God’s grace in time past” as well as “prophetic shadows of things to come”. Even though these feasts have been branded “Jewish feasts”, it is very clear that these were called “My feasts” and “LORD‘s feasts” by our Heavenly Father (Lev 23:2,4,37).

Contrary to popular belief, Yeshua(the real name of Jesus), His Disciples and even the highly misunderstood Apostle Paul, did not teach or abolish God’s Law. Just as God’s Commandments will stand till Heaven and Earth exists, The “Feasts” or “Appointed Times” of God (which are part of God’s Law), is, and will be in effect in the time to come. Out of the 7 events asked to be remembered, God has fulfilled 3 of these prophetic events in the time of the first coming of Messiah.

I highly recommend that you read the separate studies on Passover, First Fruits & Pentecost (if you have not studied this subject before) which have all been fulfilled in its time and season at the time of the 1st appearance of Messiah Yeshua.

Let us review these Appointed times, their significance and their fulfillment –
1. The Sabbath – Every 7th Day (Lev 23:3) – Remembrance of God as Supreme Creator and the one who will provide us with rest in His Millennial Kingdom

2. Passover & the week of Unleavened bread – 14th of the 1st Month is Passover / 15th to 21st is the week of U.B. ; The 15th and the 21st are Special Sabbaths (Lev 23:5-7) – The deliverance from Egypt through the Blood of a Lamb & the Deliverance from Sin/Death through the Blood of Yeshua who is named Lamb of God (Yeshua died on the day of Passover)

3. First Fruits – The day after the 7th day Sabbath, which is right after Passover (Lev 23:10,11) – The lifting up of the First fruit of all Crops to God & the ressurection of the First fruit of all who will rise again – Yeshua – who was the First to have risen from death (Yeshua rose on the day of First Fruits)

4. Feast of Weeks also known as Pentecost – The 50th day counted from First Fruits (Lev 23:15,16) – The day of Thanksgiving for God’s provision for the Harvest and remembrance of giving of the Commandments at Mt.Sinai, as well as The day of remembrance of the giving of the Holy Spirit & the start of the Heavenly harvest of souls collected unto God. – (The Holy Spirit fell on the Disciples on the day of Pentecost)
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From the 3rd Month (when Pentecost is celebrated) until the 7th Month (when the last 3 feasts are celebrated) there is a period of silence, much like the time we are living in – awaiting His 2nd coming  ——————————————————————————————————————————————-
5. Feast of Trumpets – 1st day of the 7th Month (Lev 23:24,25)
6. Feast of Atonement – 10th day of the 7th Month (Lev 23:27-30)
7. Feast of Tabernacles – 15th to 22nd day of the 7th Month ; 15th & 22 are Special Sabbaths (Lev 23:34-36)

2. The “Appointed time” / “Feast” of Trumpets
Lev 23:24,25  Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation.
Ye shall do no servile work therein: but ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD.

Reading the Scripture pertaining to this Appointment, we see that God does not give clear directions or reasons to why He wants us to celebrate this day. But God does mention what He wants his people to do on this appointment. Let’s look at these instructions a bit closer.

A) It is a Sabbath and a Holy Convocation/Assembly
As mentioned in Lev 23:24, this Feast day is supposed to be a Sabbath where no Monetary work should be done, while it is also called a Holy convocation, meaning assembly, where God’s people should gather together.

B) It is a Memorial or Remembrance
This appointed time is also the only feast to be called a Memorial/Remembrance. Not that the other feasts shouldn’t be remembrances. This feast is special, in the sense that it is a remembrance done through Shouting/Making noise/Trumpets before God, asking “Him” to remember “us”. People being brought to “remembrance” by God Almighty is a deep rooted idea in Scripture, as we see in the cases of Noah (Gen 8:1), Abraham (Gen 19:29), Rachel (Gen 30:22), Israel (Exo 2:24), Hannah (1Sam 1:19). Furthermore, God Himself told Israel to “sound a trumpet” when they go to war, so that they would be “remembered” before God, and saved (Num 10:9).

C) Not just a Memorial, but a Memorial of “Blowing of Trumpets”
The Word translated as “Blowing of Trumpets” in our English bibles is a Hebrew word called “Teruah” which can mean “Raising an Alarm”, “Shouting”, “Making Noise” and “Sound of a Trumpet”.

Strong’s Hebrew Concordance —————————————————————————————
H8643 – תּרוּעה – terû‛âh – ter-oo-aw’ – From H7321; clamor, that is, acclamation of joy or a battle cry; especially clangor of trumpets, as an alarum: – alarm, blow (-ing) (of, the) (trumpets), joy, jubile, loud noise, rejoicing, shout (-ing), (high, joyful) sound (-ing).
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Trumpets were used for a few key reasons in the Scriptures
1) To gather an assembly (Num 10:2-4, 1Sam 13:3,4, Jer 4:5)
2) As a Warning/Alarm (Num 10:5-7, Jer 4:19, Jer 6:1,17, Ezek 33:3,4)
3) As a remembrance before God, when His people go to battle (Num 10:9, Josh 6:20, Neh 4:20)
4) For other Joyous occasions (Num 10:10, 2Sam 6:15, Psalm 81:3)
5) To announce the coronation of kings – Absalom (2 Sam 15:10), Solomon (1 Kin 1:34, 39), Jehu (2 Kin 9:13), Joash (2 Kin 11:12-14)

One could question why we need to shout/make noise/blow trumpets to be remembered by God. It is not that God has forgotten us. But it is more of an act to deliberately focus His attention on ourselves. He has commanded in his Word to keep this appointment as a memorial of Blowing the Trumpets. And that is what we should attempt to do on this day.

3. The Significance of The Feast of Trumpets to us, as believers in Christ
There are a couple of reasons that this feast is important to us today.
A. The day of Trumpets is a day where we gather together to make a joyful shout as a remembrance before our Bridegroom (Mat 9:15) and our King (Psa 98:6).
B. It also signifies the coronation of Him who is prophesied to sit on the Throne of David(Luk 1:32) as the Son of David(Mat 1:1) who is named King of Kings (Rev 19:16).
C. The Shout/Noise/Blowing of Trumpets is also to raise an alarm/warn people of the impending judgement. It is a call to wake up, and be ready. In this case, we act as Watchmen. It is our duty to notify others of the coming day of Judgement (Isaiah 58:1, Jer 6:17, Isaiah 62:5-7) and we can even be held responsible for not warning people (Ezek 33:1-11). Even through the New Testament, we have been constantly asked to be watchful (Mat 24:42, 25:13, Mar 13:33-37, Luk 12:35-38). Apostle Paul says that he is innocent of the blood of men as he has preached to all, eluding to have completed a watchman’s duty(Acts 20:26,27,31)

4. The Sound of a Trumpet and the coming of the Lord
The sounding of the Trumpet has always been connected to the “Day of the LORD”, which is when He comes to establish His Kingdom (Joel 2:1, Zep 1:16-18, Isa 27:13) The Blast/Sound of the Trumpet is directly connected with the Second coming of our Messiah. (Mat 24:30,31, 1Cor 15:52). He is said to come with a “Shout” and the sound of a “Trumpet”(1Thess 4:16) which makes all the more sense with the Hebrew word “Teruah” which can mean “Shouting”, “Making Noise” and “Sound of a Trumpet”. All of these verses point at the “Feast of Trumpets” to be the time of His Second Coming.

5. Calculating which day the Feast of Trumpets will fall on
As per the Commandment, this feast is supposed to be celebrated on the first day of the 7th Month. An unassuming reader may think that the 1st day of the 7th Month means 1st of July. But this is not how the Biblical Calendar works. The Standard Calendar which is used today by everyone, is a Solar Calendar which means that it depends solely on the Sun. The Biblical Calendar is a Luni-Solar Calendar, which means that it depends on the Sun and the Moon both. While the Western standard calendar does not depend on the Moon to calculate the start of Months, the Biblical Calendar months are based on the Lunar cycles.

The connection between the Moon and Month can be seen in 1Kings 8:2 when reviewing it in Hebrew. “And all the men of Israel assembled themselves unto king Solomon at the feast in the month(H3391 – yerach – a lunation, that is, month) Ethanim, which is the seventh month(H2320 – chôdesh – the new moon).

1Kings 6:1 is a second instance where “Yerah” (Month) and “Hodesh” (New Moon) is again translated as month in both instances in the English versions. The first sighting of the Moon, which is the Sliver of the Moon, establishes that a New Month or New Moon cycle has started.

Accordingly, the 1st day of the Seventh Month would be the day the Sliver of the Moon is sighted for the 7th time since it was first sighted in the Month of Passover. The Seventh Biblical Month usually falls somewhere between the months of September/October. But there is no way to know when it will fall for sure, as it all depends on the sighting of the Moon.

Some would think, that having to sight the moon in order to proclaim a month, to be a very primitive act. In the age where technology is at our fingertips, this may seem so. But this is why these objects were made by God in the first place. He knew that everyone from a farmer to an astronomer could figure the times and seasons according to His system, with little effort. Technology can vanish tomorrow, but His system will remain to the end.

Conclusion
The Appointed Time which is known as the Feast of Trumpets, could also be called an appointed time of Shouting/Making Noise/Raising an Alarm. The key fact or highlight of this Feast, is that it acts as a “Memorial” or “Remembrance” before God Almighty. As the Appointments of “Passover”, “First Fruits” & “Pentecost” were fulfilled in the time of the first coming of Messiah (on those exact days), The Feast of Trumpets will be the start of His work when He comes again. This feast signifies the day when we will be remembered amongst the nations, by God. This will be the day He comes to collect His Bride as promised. The Trumpets have further significance, as it is with this noise “Kings were coronated”, and it is with this noise Messiah Yeshua will return as the “Son of David”, a king who will judge the earth. The Day of Trumpets is also a reminder to all of us who have come to know the truth, to act out our duty as watchmen who sound the trumpet, to raise an alarm and warn others to the day of impending Judgement. It is an event that we watch for, and await with much patience and readiness. Let us Shout out to our King and our Bridegroom, to remember each of us, when He comes back! And let us be awake and ready for His return.