The Final Feasts in a Troubled Time

When we are reading about the death of Jesus and His coming again in the book of James, we learn that there is an early rain and a late rain. This is what the brother of Jesus stated:

You have condemned, you have murdered the righteous one. He doesn’t resist you. Be patient therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. Behold, the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient over it, until it receives the early and late rain. You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. (James 5:6-8).

From a farmer’s perspective, early rains and late rains are needed for a good crop. However, there is also the idea of an early harvest of crops in the first half of the year and harvest of crops in the latter half of the year. In biblical Israel, the major crops that were harvested in the first half of the year were not as many, nor as tasty, as that of the latter half.

From a Mosaic perspective, when the Israelites were to enter the Promised Land, they were given feasts to celebrate the early harvest and feasts for the latter harvest. The early feasts were known as Passover, First Fruits, Unleavened Bread, and Pentecost. The feasts of the latter harvest begin with the Feast of Trumpets, followed by the Day of Atonement and the Feast of Tabernacles. What we do know is that the feasts from Passover to Pentecost have actually occurred on the Christian calendar. We know this because Jesus died as the Passover Lamb. There was a resurrection of the First Fruits after Jesus rose from the dead. Nobody was to touch Jesus during the Feast of Unleavened Bread, but after eight days had passed, Doubting Thomas was permitted to touch Him (John 20:24-27). And, of course, on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was given to the disciples, marking the beginning of the Christian era known as the Church Age. What is particularly noticeable is that there has not been any celebration in the New Testament of the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, or the Feast of Tabernacles. Therefore, they remain to be celebrated in fulfillment of the types they represented, as was Pentecost and the other three.

Furthermore, what is especially interesting about these feasts is they embrace a twenty-one-day schedule. Since Jacob’s trouble is associated with the end-times and was spread over twenty-one years, it is seems to be more than coincidence that the feasts of the final harvest, spread over twenty-one days, have not been celebrated on the Christian calendar. Could this mean that they are spread over a twenty-one-year period rather than over twenty-one days? Technically, if having been true to the Mosaic Calendar, the feasts ought to have fallen in the same year as Passover and Pentecost; at the end of the year with the latter rain. There is no evidence of this having occurred. This leaves us with the view that they have to occur at the end of the age.

Some will argue that the feasts of the Last Days are actually spread over twenty-two days and therefore there is no correlation between the period of time Jacob fled Esau and when he reunited with him. However, if we were to take into consideration that it was a little while after the Esau meeting that God spoke to Jacob regarding his fleeing from his brother. This would have been in the twenty-second year. It just so happens that after the seven day feast of tabernacles finishes on the twenty-first day, the twenty-second day is a holy convocation, where everybody comes together to celebrate. If we allow a year for a day, this could correspond to the year Jesus’ returns at the Second Coming. Twenty-one years are taken up for the period, beginning the day of the Feast of Trumpets to the end of the Feast of Tabernacles; that is, if we were to allow each day to be representative of a year. When the dwelling in booths as part of the Feast of Tabernacles is over, the next day is a holy convocation where everybody comes together to celebrate. This corresponds to the year of Jesus’ return.

The Christian Calendar was initiated upon the resurrection of Lord Jesus Christ after He was sacrificed as the Passover Lamb. However, the Christian era did not begin until the day of Pentecost, which was the last feast of the four feast types that were part of the early harvest. The day of Pentecost ushered in the dispensation of the Holy Spirit. The fulfillment of prophetic types of the Passover, the offering of the Feast of the First Fruits (which occurred only once before), the Unleavened Bread and Pentecost were under the Mosaic Covenant. The new covenant of the Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:6) came into effect only after the baptism of the Holy Spirit had first been given on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2). This fulfilled the prophecy of first fruits resulting from the preaching of John the Baptist  and Jesus of Nazareth, which, combined, brought up three years by the time of Pentecost and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. The baptism of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost brought forth praise to God in accordance to what is required when going into the new land.

When you come into the land, and have planted all kinds of trees for food, then you shall count their fruit as forbidden. Three years they shall be forbidden to you. It shall not be eaten. But in the fourth year all its fruit shall be holy, for giving praise to Yahweh. In the fifth year you shall eat its fruit, that it may yield its increase to you. I am Yahweh your God.

(Leviticus 19:23-25)

What was given to Moses regarding the one-off fruit statute, when entering the Promised Land, was a type of what was to happen when John appeared on the scene to present the new message of the Kingdom of God. John preached repentance and the coming baptism of the Holy Spirit. Jesus preached the same message but more creatively.

I indeed baptize you in water for repentance, but he who comes after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 3:11)

 

I tell you, no, but, unless you repent, you will all perish in the same way.”

He spoke this parable. “A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it, and found none. He said to the vine dresser, ‘Behold, these three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and found none. Cut it down. Why does it waste the soil?’ He answered, ‘Lord, leave it alone this year also, until I dig around it, and fertilize it. If it bears fruit, fine; but if not, after that, you can cut it down.’” (Luke 13:5-9)

What is important to understand, after the Hebrews entered the Promised Land, they were to partake of the fruit on the fifth year, and we have a correlation in the transition from the Mosaic dispensation to what is now the dispensation of the Spirit. Furthermore, there are also the harvests of the early rain and the latter rain, which also speak of the fruits of the early harvest being not as plentiful in variety and abundance as the latter harvest. The early rain feasts were Passover, Unleavened Bread and Pentecost. These were fulfilled under the Mosaic Covenant. Once the Spirit Age came into being at Pentecost, the first church age is that of the early rain. What we do know is that three feasts, as types, after the day of Pentecost were not fulfilled, whereas we can indentify fulfillment of the feasts of Passover, First Fruits, Unleavened Bread and Pentecost. The three end-of-year feasts have yet to be celebrated on the Christian calendar. These have to do with the final harvest as depicted in the end-of-the-age parables told by Jesus.

In the days of the great harvest at the end of the age, the feast days could very well be a year for a day. If this were the case, then Jacob’s Trouble would correspond with a twenty-one-year period including the feasts prior to the return of Jesus. Because we cannot be exact to the day, working out the time from when Jacob fled from Esau to when God spoke and told him to go to Bethel, we cannot say whether this was twenty-two years completed or a period just over twenty-one years, as it certainly appears to be. One thing we do know is that the truth of the timeframe for Jacob’s trouble requires a little research to uncover. But then this is how the Spirit of God works. Because this author has known about the twenty-one-year period since the 1970s, he was not beguiled by the false prophecies that have been disproved concerning Lord Jesus’ Second Coming.

How can we then work out when this timeframe will begin? One of the things Jesus said is that we will not know the exact day, but we will know the season. Twenty-one years is not exactly the day, but it is like saying that we know the Lord is going to return because two thousand years have gone by since Pentecost, or at least will have done so by 2031. If we were to subtract the twenty-one years from 2031, we would arrive at 2010.  Only we know this is not when the Feast of the Trumpets happened because there are two notable features about this feast. In particular, these are the two trumpets.

The two trumpets are sounded as a calling and as a warning. When the trumpet is sounded, it alerts people that something is happening. When people hear the sound of the trumpets, those who understand what they represent will respond accordingly. In this case, the trumpets are used to call people together, to announce the bountiful harvest that is about to take place.  They also act as a warning, because people who do not respond to the call are going to miss out.

The gospel message is like a double-edged sword. The gospel message is a call to people to come home to the Lord God. The gospel message is also a warning, that if people do not respond, they will miss out on the inheritance that has been made available for them through Lord Jesus Christ. People who do not issue the warning are not sounding the trumpet call, and not preaching the true gospel. Any so-called gospel message proclaiming that we can sin and still be assured of our salvation is not the true gospel.

When John the Baptist prepared the way for Jesus, he preached a message of repentance and warned people that if they did not bear the fruits of true repentance they would miss out on what God has for them. John told everyone that he only baptized with water, but the One who comes after him is mightier than himself, and He baptizes in the Holy Spirit and fire. Only the truly repentant are eligible to receive the Holy Spirit and fire.

What is significant about the Feast of Trumpets is that there are two trumpets blown and not one. There are to be to this holy convocation that is to be the last harvest. The two witnesses speak of the Law and the Prophets, represented by using the metonymies “Moses” and “Elijah”. It is no coincidence that the last words in the Old Testament read:

“Remember the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded to him in Horeb for all Israel, even statutes and ordinances. Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of Yahweh comes. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.”

(Malachi 4:4-6).

In the book of Revelation, we learn there are two witnesses that will prophesy:

A reed like a rod was given to me. Someone said, “Rise, and measure God’s temple, and the altar, and those who worship in it. Leave out the court which is outside of the temple, and don’t measure it, for it has been given to the nations. They will tread the holy city under foot for forty-two months. I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy one thousand two hundred sixty days, clothed in sackcloth.” (Revelation 11:1-3)

Today there are people who claim that they are these two witnesses. Some people actually believe that the two witnesses will be Moses and Elijah reappearing before the return of the Lord, because they appeared on the mount of transfiguration with Jesus. The body of Moses was taken by God (Jude 1:9) and Elijah did not die (2 Kings 2:11). Of this, Peter says we need to take notice:

For we did not follow cunningly devised fables, when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received from God the Father honor and glory, when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” We heard this voice come out of heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain. (2 Peter 1:16-18)

What we notice in the book of Revelation is the nations will tread the holy city under foot for forty-two months and the two witnesses will prophesy one thousand, two hundred and sixty days. The double emphasis suggests that this is a seven-year period, but most commentators seem to think that this is only the one three-year-six-month period.  Whereas if taken literally, the sequential order is for the nations to tread the holy city for three years and six months, before the two witnesses are given the power to prophesy for another period of the same duration.

If this is the case, then this would correspond with the duration of a seven year feast of Tabernacles.

The question is though, will the treading the holy city under foot begin from the day of the Feast of Trumpets. If this were so, then seven years would not fit the pattern for the last harvest feasts.

There is a ten-day period, beginning on the day of the Feast of Trumpets, which we will consider as ten years, which would include the Day of Atonement. For the Day of Atonement was to be on the tenth day of the month.  On the Day of Atonement, there were a number of actions required. Since Jesus has already made atonement for sins, there is no need for the blood sacrifice. And if the day of Atonement were to be of significance in these last days leading up to the return of Jesus, we would expect to find something in the New Testament that indicates that this is the case. The place where we would truly expect to find this would have to be in the book of Revelation.  Interestingly enough, when we read the book of Revelation, there is text that indicates it refers to the Day of Atonement. For when we read the following passages from the book of Revelation and Leviticus, we have confirmation that this is the case:

When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them. Another angel came and stood over the altar, having a golden censer. Much incense was given to him, that he should add it to the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar which was before the throne. The smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, went up before God out of the angel’s hand.  The angel took the censer, and he filled it with the fire of the altar, and threw it on the earth. There followed thunders, sounds, lightning, and an earthquake (Revelation 8:1-5).

 

Aaron shall present the bull of the sin offering, which is for himself, and shall make atonement for himself and for his house, and shall kill the bull of the sin offering which is for himself. He shall take a censer full of coals of fire from off the altar before Yahweh, and two handfuls of sweet incense beaten small, and bring it within the veil: and he shall put the incense on the fire before Yahweh, that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is on the testimony, so that he will not die. (Leviticus 16:11-13)

As we can see, Aaron is making the yearly sin offering of the bull, but the reference to the incense certainly has overtones that correspond to the prayers of the saints in the Book of Revelation, which are like incense at the altar of God. When we consider everything that was given to Moses was a type of what he was shown to be in Heaven, this becomes profound.

For if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, seeing there are priests who offer the gifts according to the law; who serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things, even as Moses was warned by God when he was about to make the tabernacle, for he said, “See, you shall make everything according to the pattern that was shown to you on the mountain.” But now he has obtained a more excellent ministry, by so much as he is also the mediator of a better covenant, which on better promises has been given as law. (Hebrews 8:4-6)

 

It shall happen in the latter days, that the mountain of Yahweh’s house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be raised above the hills; and all nations shall flow to it. Many peoples shall go and say, “Come, let’s go up to the mountain of Yahweh, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths.” For out of Zion the law shall go out, and Yahweh’s word from Jerusalem.

(Isaiah 2:2-3)

The house of the Lord is the Heavenly Zion. This is what the book of Hebrews states:

But you have come to Mount Zion, and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable multitudes of angels, to the general assembly and assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better than that of Abel. (Hebrews 12:22-24) 

What needs to be understood is that those who become Christians no longer look to a physical temple to find the Lord God, not just because He dwells in Heaven, but, also, because He dwells with those in whom the Spirit of Christ, the Holy Spirit, dwells. 

For this is what Yahweh of Armies says: ‘Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, the earth, the sea, and the dry land; and I will shake all nations. The precious things of all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory, says Yahweh of Armies. (Haggai 2:6-7)

The Heavenly Jerusalem is to come down to Earth as part of the New Creation (Revelation 21:1-2), but not for the New Millennium. Therefore, this suggests that the Temple of God in Jerusalem will be where Lord Jesus Christ will reign for the New Millennium. Mt Zion will be from where Lord Jesus shall reign, where the Temple of Solomon was built. This is the case even though we learn in First Peter, chapter two, that the people of God are living stones that form the temple of God (1 Peter 2:4-7). The Apostle Peter appears to have taken this from the prophecy in Isaiah:

Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh, “Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone of a sure foundation. He who believes shall not act hastily. (Isaiah 28:16)

Mount Zion is the City of David that was captured by King David from the Jebusites (2 Samuel 5:7) and, of which, the prophet Jeremiah prophesied:

For there shall be a day, that the watchmen on the hills of Ephraim shall cry, Arise, and let us go up to Zion to Yahweh our God. (Jeremiah 31:6)

The suggestion that there will not be a physical temple in Zion, the city of the great King, does not fit with Scripture. It is true that the church is a spiritual abode for the Lord God, but this does not mean that Lord Jesus Christ will not sit in His Temple at Zion. Lord Jesus Christ Himself is the cornerstone upon which the rest of the Temple of God is built. There will not be a physical temple in the sense of God’s presence dwelling only in the Holy of Holies within the Ark of the Covenant, as there was in the days of Moses or Solomon, but people will go to Zion to visit Lord Jesus during the Millennium. From what we can gather from the Scriptures, during the thousand year reign of Lord Jesus Christ on Earth, there will still be people having families and the population of the planet will grow. In fact, it has been estimated that the six billion people living on the globe in 1999 could have been comfortably housed in the state of Texas, USA.[i]

After the year that the Feast of Atonement is celebrated, based upon the year for a day correlation, there will be eleven years before Jesus returns. This will be after the seventh trumpet is blown. For when the last trumpet of the seven trumpets is blown, then the mystery of the ages will be made known and the dead in Christ will rise before those who are still alive.

During this twenty-one-year period, there will be a time of great distress for Israel. This could also mean God’s people; that is, those who desire to do the will of God. Nevertheless, there is another factor that needs to be taken into account and this is the prophecy concerning Esau, and the fact that he was out to kill Jacob, because he was cheated by him.

Isaac his father answered him, “Behold, of the fatness of the earth will be your dwelling, and of the dew of the sky from above. By your sword will you live, and you will serve your brother. It will happen, when you will break loose, that you shall shake his yoke from off your neck.”

Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father blessed him. Esau said in his heart, “The days of mourning for my father are at hand. Then I will kill my brother Jacob.” (Genesis 27:39-41)

The idea of Esau receiving a blessing such as he will live off the fatness of the Earth does not seem sufficient reason for such hatred towards Jacob. In fact, as do many modern translations, the Wycliffe translation originally written (1382-1395) under the auspices of Oxford Theologian, Wycliffe, (who was loathed because he desired that the laity could have access to the truth of the Scriptures) has, “Thy dwelling shall be far from the fatness of the earth, and far from the dew of heaven above.”[ii] The idea that Esau’s dwelling will be far from the goodness of the Earth aligns with his reaction, as does the fact that he will live by his sword and serve his brother.

Based upon the translation of the King James Version[iii] that Esau would possess the fatness of the Earth, there is a theory that the Jews today are really Edomites who have broken from the yoke of Jacob. It is true that Antipater Herod, the father of Herod the Great, was Idumean (an Edomite) and also possessed Ishmaelite blood, and there is no reason that their descendants are not alive today to fulfill biblical prophecy. The last king of the Herodian dynasty, King Agrippa II, who is believed to have been in an incestuous relationship with his sister Bernice, fled Jerusalem to Galilee after he was unable to convince the Jews not to rebel against the Romans.[iv] The fact that a descendant from the lines of Ishmael and Esau attempted to kill the baby Jesus is consistent with the work of Satan, and how God uses the sins of the flesh to bring about His purpose. Ishmael was not so much born out of the promise, rather he was the result of man attempting to do what God said He would do. In having a child by Hagar, Abraham expressed doubt in God’s promise—fortunately, our Heavenly Father overlooks our impetuousness and ignorance, if we are truly repentant. But Abraham’s grandson, Isaac’s son, Esau pursued the flesh and committed sexual immorality and cared not about his birthright or what God had for Him. Instead of faith, he expressed unbelief. From all accounts, these spiritual conditions appear to have been handed down to his progeny.

The doubt expressed by Abraham, which seems to have taken root and been passed down through Ishmael’s descendants as a spiritual condition, does not mean that they cannot believe in God and be saved. Rather, what we see is doubt regarding whether God’s promise was manifested in Lord Jesus Christ through the line of Isaac. The unbelief that was passed down from Esau to his descendants was not a denial of God's existence, but rather a rejection of His promise of a Savior. The difference between the spiritual condition of the Ishmaelites and the Edomites is that the former seeks a Savior while the latter does not, instead trusting in themselves. However, the Edomites, later known as Idumeans, and figuratively as Esau and Mount Seir, were to be wiped off the map. The Edomites conspired to set the temple in Jerusalem on fire[v] when Judah was taken captive by the Babylonians (Jeremiah 52:12–13). Therefore, the Lord spoke against Edom.:

As for your terror, the pride of your heart has deceived you, O you who dwell in the clefts of the rock, who hold the height of the hill: though you should make your nest as high as the eagle, I will bring you down from there, says Yahweh. Edom shall become an astonishment: everyone who passes by it shall be astonished, and shall hiss at all its plagues. As in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbor cities of it, says Yahweh, no man shall dwell there, neither shall any son of man live therein. (Jeremiah 49:16-18)

 

Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Because Edom has dealt against the house of Judah by taking vengeance, and has greatly offended, and revenged himself on them; therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh, I will stretch out my hand on Edom, and will cut off man and animal from it; and I will make it desolate from Teman; even to Dedan shall they fall by the sword. I will lay my vengeance on Edom by the hand of my people Israel; and they shall do in Edom according to my anger and according to my wrath; and they shall know my vengeance, says the Lord Yahweh. (Ezekiel 25:12-14)

 

Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Behold, I am against you, Mount Seir, and I will stretch out my hand against you, and I will make you a desolation and an astonishment. I will lay your cities waste, and you shall be desolate; and you shall know that I am Yahweh. Because you have had a perpetual hostility, and have given over the children of Israel to the power of the sword in the time of their calamity, in the time of the iniquity of the end; therefore, as I live, says the Lord Yahweh, I will prepare you for blood, and blood shall pursue you: since you have not hated blood, therefore blood shall pursue you. Thus will I make Mount Seir an astonishment and a desolation; and I will cut off from it him who passes through and him who returns. I will fill its mountains with its slain: in your hills and in your valleys and in all your watercourses shall they fall who are slain with the sword. I will make you a perpetual desolation, and your cities shall not be inhabited; and you shall know that I am Yahweh. (Ezekiel 35:3-9).

 

As you rejoiced over the inheritance of the house of Israel, because it was desolate, so will I do to you: you shall be desolate, Mount Seir, and all Edom, even all of it; and they shall know that I am Yahweh. (Ezekiel 35:15)

Historically, the Edomites were conquered by King Saul (1 Samuel 14:47) and they remained subjects of the Israelites, and then the Judahites, up until the time Babylon conquered Judah. London Bible College Hebrew and literature lecturer, Leslie Allen wrote:

Evidently the Edomites were still in control of their native land until after 550 BC. However, by the fifth century, Arab names had appeared at Ezion-geber. In the Persian period the land of Edom had no sedentary occupation. The Edomites were displaced by nomadic Arab tribes. [vi] 

The Nabateans took over the land that the Edomites had taken from the Horites (which included Mt Seir) and what was left of the Edomite descendants settled in an area that became known as Idumea. The Idumeans infiltrated Jewish society, with the Herod dynasty resulting from an agreement with Rome, after Caesar took over the region, because they were less committed to Jewish religious beliefs. The Herodians were a party of Jews, who associated with Herod, that probably had an Idumean heritage. They were more interested in political power and presented a Jewish face—as did Herod the Great, who rebuilt the Temple to gain favor with the Jews. The Herodians showed favor towards the Pharisees, and this is evident in the texts that indicate they were united against Jesus (Mark 3:6, 12:13; Matthew 22:16; Mark 8:15; Luke 13:31-32; Acts 4:27). The Herodians would have followed Herod and sought safety away from Jerusalem when the wars against Rome began. To what extent that they have descendants who are influential today, there does not seem to be any indication in the Bible. After Rome crushed the second Jewish revolt in AD 135, the Emperor Hadrian renamed the area Palestine and turned the Jewish synagogues and shrines into temples for pagan deities after almost 1,000 villages were destroyed and more than half-a-million people killed.[vii]

The question about the impact of Esau’s descendants upon the last days has some people looking to the Palestinians and saying that these are his descendants. This is doubtful. Nevertheless, Esau’s seed could still be alive in the same way Genghis Khan’s seed has been discovered among people across Asia, who claim to be one of his descendants, or in the same way that genetics have traced the genetic markers in males that appear to relate to King Solomon. For it is worth noting, Jon Entine, the founder and director of the Genetic Literacy Project at George Mason University, points out that the DNA studies have revealed that not only are the Ashkenazi, Sephardi and Mizrahi related, some of the same markers can be found in Palestinians, too.[viii] After the Assyrian and Babylonian captivity, the people of the region became of mixed blood because of women giving birth to soldiers as part the practice of ethnic cleansing through the systematic rape of women. However, what is interesting is that the tribes of Manasseh and Ephraim were singled out as remaining in the land of Israel after the Assyrian Captivity, as well as a remnant from the other tribes.

Now in the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had purged the land and the house, he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, and Maaseiah the governor of the city, and Joah the son of Joahaz the recorder, to repair Yahweh’s house his God. They came to Hilkiah the high priest, and delivered the money that was brought into God’s house, which the Levites, the keepers of the threshold, had gathered of the hand of Manasseh and Ephraim, and of all the remnant of Israel, and of all Judah and Benjamin, and of the inhabitants of Jerusalem. (2 Chronicles 34:8-9)

This does not mean that because the Assyrians had spared them, the tribes remained separate from Judah. For we learn, Josiah, the child king of Judah, purged the surrounding lands of Israel’s tribes (Manasseh and Ephraim and Simeon, even to Naphtali), of the pagan symbols of worship that were to be found among the ruins (2 Chronicles 34:1-7). Nevertheless, the singling out of Ephraim and Manasseh (later identified as the British Empire and United States) has some bearing on end time events. For this appears to be a prophetic indicator of these two nations being where the wealth was to be concentrated, which correlates to what has occurred since the British Empire was forged, seeded at the end of the fifteenth century in the days of King Henry VII—particularly, in respect to the Oriental Spice Trade.[ix]

While we have nothing definite regarding the ancestors of Esau surviving, they could have survived. More than likely, though, there will be a pattern that will correspond with Jacob’s tribulation, where a type of Esau is fulfilled and another who fulfills the role of Laban, at least, as far as Christians are concerned. Interestingly, Gavin Finley MD has published much on the end times and is of the belief that there is an Edomite spirit that exists, which is what we will encounter in the coming tribulation. He believes that the Edomite spirit is at work today creating the wars that are taking place around the globe. Moreover, Finley predicts that there will be a great end-time revival peaking during the latter half of the last seven years of Jacob’s Tribulation. He writes:

In fact, the End-Time Revival will build up right in the latter half of those final 7 years of this age. Oh yes. This will be powering up during the grand finale of this age, the Great Tribulation period.[x]                                    

Evangelical Pastor, Charles Zimmerman, in 1972, analyzed the various views of Jacob’s age when he fled from Esau to go to Haran.  He noted one of the difficulties people have is they do not believe that Jacob could be seventy-seven years of age and not married, when Esau, his twin, married much earlier. Similarly, for some reason, certain expositors have difficulty accepting Dinah, at the age of sixteen years, would be permitted to leave the camp without a chaperone. As it happened, Shechem, the Hivite, seduced Dinah and then desired to marry her. To challenge people’s prejudices more, Jacob was a bachelor for eighty-four years before he wed both Leah and Rachel and then his youngest daughter was deflowered at the age of sixteen. Zimmerman concludes that the facts of Jacob’s life allows for the events as stated in the Bible and presents the following chronology of his life until he dies at one hundred and forty-seven years of age:

Chronology of Jacob's Life

 

Age         Event

    0         Jacob and Esau born

  40         Esau marries 2 Hittite wives

  63         Ishmael dies, age 137 yrs

  77         Jacob goes to Haran

  84         Jacob marries Rachael and Leah

  84         Reuben born to Leah

  85         Simeon born to Leah

  86         Levi born to Leah

  86         Dan born to Bilhah, Rachael’s maid

  87         Judah born to Leah

  87         Naphtali born to Bilhah, Rachael’s maid

  88         Gad born to Zilpah, Leah’s maid

  89         Asher born born to Zilpah, Leah’s maid

  89         Issachar born to Leah

  90         Zebulun born to Leah

  90         Dinah born to Leah

  90         Joseph born to Rachael

  97         Jacob returns to Haran

  98         Jacob dwells at Succoth

  99         Jacob comes to Shechem and continues 8 yrs

101         Judah marries Shuah's daughter

102         Er born (103, Onan; 104, Shelah)

106         Shechemites destroyed by Levi and Simeon

107         Benjamin. born, Rachel dies

108         Joseph sold at 17 yrs

111         Tamar married to Er

114         Tamar's incest

115         Pharez and Zaran born to Judah

120         Isaac dies at 180 yrs

121         Joseph made governor in Egypt

130         Jacob goes to Egypt

147         Jacob dies[xi]

 

When we read the above chronology, we do not see anything that would really suggest great tribulation. The time of Jacob’s trouble for various reasons is thought to range not just from periods of three-and-a-half years to seven years, but possibly even seventy years. Some looking to discover the period of tribulation may think that Jacob’s distress began when he was seventy-seven and continued until he died. Others look for a seven-year period or a three-and-a-half-year timeframe. As we have already established, twenty-two years was approximately the time Jacob fled from Esau and returned to finally settle down to live in the Land of Promise. More remarkable is the fact that the same period is reckoned for the time from when Joseph was sold to the Ishmaelites and eventually reunited with his father (Genesis 45:28). This is the story of how Joseph went to Egypt.

They sat down to eat bread, and they lifted up their eyes and looked, and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites was coming from Gilead, with their camels bearing spices and balm and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt. Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? Come, and let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites, and not let our hand be on him; for he is our brother, our flesh.” His brothers listened to him. Midianites who were merchants passed by, and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. They brought Joseph into Egypt.

Reuben returned to the pit; and saw that Joseph wasn’t in the pit; and he tore his clothes. He returned to his brothers, and said, “The child is no more; and I, where will I go?” They took Joseph’s coat, and killed a male goat, and dipped the coat in the blood. They took the coat of many colors, and they brought it to their father, and said, “We have found this. Examine it, now, whether it is your son’s coat or not.”

He recognized it, and said, “It is my son’s coat. An evil animal has devoured him. Joseph is without doubt torn in pieces.” Jacob tore his clothes, and put sackcloth on his waist, and mourned for his son many days. All his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. He said, “For I will go down to Sheol to my son mourning.” His father wept for him. The Midianites sold him into Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh’s, the captain of the guard. (Genesis 37:25-36)

Jacob heard the news of his favorite son being still alive twenty-one years after he had been informed Joseph had been killed and eaten by a wild animal.

Below is a list of key events from the time Esau sold his birthright to Jacob until the time of his father Isaac’s death. 

1.       Esau sells his birthright Genesis. (Genesis 25:31-34)

2.       Jacob’s mother helps him obtain the blessing. (Genesis 27:5-25)

3.       Isaac blesses Jacob. (Genesis 27:27-29)

4.       Esau beseeches Isaac for his blessing. (Genesis 27:34-38)

5.       Isaac prophesizes over Esau. (Genesis 27:39-40)

6.       Esau decides to kill his Jacob. (Genesis 27:41-42)

7.       Isaac blesses Jacob again as a company of peoples/land of Abraham. (Genesis 28:1-4)

8.       Esau married Ishmael’s daughter. (Genesis 28:9)

9.       Jacob has a dream gate to heaven on the way to Haran.

(Genesis 28:10-15)

10.    Jacob vows the tenth. (Genesis 28:20-22)

11.    Jacob works one month for Laban for nothing.

(Genesis 29:14-15)

12.    Jacob serves seven years for Rachel (Genesis 29:18-21)

13.    Jacob is deceived by Laban and has to serve him another seven years for Rachel. (Genesis 29:22-27)

14.    Jacob makes a deal with Laban to provide for his family. (Genesis 30:27-34)

15.    Jacob works out how to outsmart Laban. (Genesis 30:35-42)

16.    God tells Jacob return to the Promised Land.

(Genesis 31:1-3,13)

17.    Jacob reveals how he knew to outsmart Laban and grow in wealth. (Genesis 31:4-11)

18.    Rachel steals her father’s teraphim. (Genesis 31:19)

19.    Jacob flees from Laban. (Genesis 31:17-21)

20.    God warns Laban. (Genesis 31:24)

21.    Laban searches for the teraphin Rachel stole.

(Genesis 31:31-35)

22.    Jacob states how he has been cheated for twenty years. (Genesis 31:38-42)

23.    Laban claims ownership of what Jacob had. (Genesis 31:43)

24.    Laban and Jacob agree to make a covenant. (Genesis 31:44)

25.    Laban swears by the god of Nahor and his father, Jacob swears by the God of Isaac. (Genesis 31:53)

26.    Jacob meet by angels. (Genesis 32:1-2)

27.    Jacob fears Esau and strategizes and prays to God for help. (Genesis 32:7-12)

28.    Jacob named Israel (Genesis 32:22-30)

29.    Jacob says that meeting Esau his brother is like seeing the face of God. (Genesis 33:4-10)

30.    Jacob explains his rate of travel. (Genesis 33:13-14)

31.    Jacob goes to Succoth. (Genesis 33:17)

32.    Jacob goes to Shechem and erects an altar

(Genesis 33:18-20)

33.    Jacob’s sons kill the males of Shechem. (Genesis 34:1-29)

34.    Jacob believes he will once more be living in fear.

(Genesis 34:30)

35.    God tells Jacob to go to Bethel where he fled from Esau .(Genesis 35:1)

36.    Jacob tells his household to put away any foreign gods they might have. (Genesis 35:2-4)

37.    God speaks to Abraham and confirms His covenant.

(Genesis 35:9-12)

38.    Terror falls upon the inhabitants of Canaan. (Genesis 35:5)

39.    Jacob and Esau bury their father Isaac. (Genesis 35:28-29) 

Many may think that Jacob’s trouble has to do with what happened at Shechem, because his sons’ actions made him odious to the inhabitants of the land of Canaan, where he lived.

Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have troubled me, to make me odious to the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites. I am few in number. They will gather themselves together against me and strike me, and I will be destroyed, I and my house.” (Genesis 34:30)

This time Jacob had nothing to fear, as he did when Esau was out to kill him, or when Laban sought him. For we read that after the event at Shechem, where his sons killed the males of the city:

They traveled, and a terror of God was on the cities that were around them, and they didn’t pursue the sons of Jacob. (Genesis 35:5) 

When Esau was out to kill his brother, Jacob fled. On his first night as a fugitive, Jacob made his vow to God to tithe, asking to be protected and blessed. The story of Jacob, the fugitive, finishes just after he is named Israel and meets up with Esau again. We could argue that Israel was still called Jacob after God had told him his new name; therefore, Jacob’s trouble extended through all of his life, both when he was running from Esau and when he had lost his son Joseph, to whom he had given a coat of many colors. However, what we notice is there are two periods during which Jacob is troubled and both these periods are around twenty-one to twenty-two years; in both cases, the distress being relieved on the twenty-second year. We can determine these periods for both epochs of his life by subtracting Jacob’s age, when the distress began, from his age at the time the distress ended. Ninety-nine years minus seventy-seven years equals twenty-two years (99-77=22), and one hundred and thirty years minus one hundred and eight years equals twenty-two years (130-108=22).

Esau hates Jacob and intends to kill him. Rebekah heard of this plan and warned Jacob, suggesting that he go and see her brother in Haran. In the previous chapter (“The Days of Jacob’s Trouble”) we read the narrative of Jacob’s journey to safety. As has already been shown, Haran is some one thousand kilometers away (approx. 600 miles). In those days, Shechem to Haran was possibly some three months journey at the time, depending on the mode of transport and what one did on the way. Jacob’s time as a fugitive, spent in fear of his brother Esau, lasted for twenty-one years. During the twenty-second year Jacob settles down in the Promised Land, after the event at Shechem; when the terror of God fell on the people and he had nothing to fear.

Since there is to be a twenty-one-year period that has been identified as “Jacob’s Trouble” that is to take place at the time of the end, we would have to wonder what else is there in the Bible that could possibly fit the same period. We know about the time Jacob mourned for the loss of Joseph; this lasted the same time as when he was on the run from Esau. The chronology of Jacob’s life provided by Charles Zimmerman tells us this. Jacob was 108 years old when Joseph disappeared.  He was 130 years old when he went to Egypt. In terms of age, Joseph had to have been sold into slavery just as Jacob was about to have his 109th birthday. Likewise, Jacob must have just turned 130 years of age when he met up with Joseph in Egypt. This actually gives us twenty-one years of distress and not twenty-two. The twenty-second year is the year of relief and rejoicing.

The following is the schedule of feasts for the latter rain harvest: 

EVENT	DAY	SIGNIFICANCE
Days of Trumpets	1st	Law and the Prophets
Day of Atonement	10th	Sin is overcome
Feast of Tabernacles	15th	Perfection of Saints
Holy Convocation	22nd	Rejoicing

 

 (fig. 8) 

Coincidently, the number of days for the latter rain feasts are to be celebrated over twenty-two days and Jacob twice experiences a troubled heart for a period of twenty-one years, with joy coming in the twenty-second year. The fact that we are told Jacob’s Trouble is going to be a time of tribulation, never before experienced, can only refer to the last days. Whether this is to be a three-and-a-half-year period is very difficult to determine from events in Jacob’s life. When researching the record of Jacob’s life to find out what this trouble might have been, we discover a correlation exists between the number of days for the latter rain feasts and number of years in which Jacob was troubled; the feasts possessing the same number of days as Jacob’s troubles do in relation to the number of years. These were when Jacob was a fugitive and when he was troubled over the loss of Joseph. What we do know is that the time referred to as Jacob’s Trouble is yet to come:

Their children also shall be as before, and their congregation shall be established before me; and I will punish all who oppress them. Their prince shall be of themselves, and their ruler shall proceed from among them; and I will cause him to draw near, and he shall approach me: for who is he who has had boldness to approach me? says Yahweh. You shall be my people, and I will be your God. Behold, Yahweh’s storm, his wrath, has gone out, a sweeping storm: it shall burst on the head of the wicked. The fierce anger of Yahweh will not return, until he has executed, and until he has performed the intentions of his heart. In the latter days you will understand it. (Jeremiah 30:20-24)

This refers to when Israel was in Babylon. However, what is important to note, even though this refers to the Babylonian captivity, not everything was fulfilled, as has been the case with much prophecy; for it is written in the last sentence, “In the latter days you will understand it.” We know that those latter days mentioned by Jeremiah are upon us, but the trouble has not begun. On numerous occasions people have thought they were experiencing the days of Jacob’s Trouble, but there is not to be another period like it. The prophecy speaks of a woman in labor, but implies that men will be struggling in a similar manner. People are to be scattered and brought back. They will be secure in the protection of the Almighty. For this will all end with the Messiah, who is represented as “David their king, whom I will raise up”. Hence, we know that this is an end-times prophecy.

This prophecy is usually seen in the light of physical trauma. Did Jacob suffer physical assault himself? He was threatened by Esau and intimidated by Laban, but he was not physically assaulted—for God was with him. And this is the truth that God is saying in this prophecy: Lord God Almighty will be with those who seek to abide in His ways.

The one thing we do know about Jacob is that he had to strive against Laban’s designs to cheat him. Jacob also strove with God. Although, as Jacob continued into the land of Promise, we learn he was distressed at the thought of encountering Esau (Genesis 32:7); in reality, he had nothing to worry about. The Promise to us all is that we can enter God’s rest. Some see this rest as being available only at the time when Jesus returns. Others take this to be “today” as per what the Scriptures literally state. For this is what we read in the book of Hebrews:

For he has said this somewhere about the seventh day, “God rested on the seventh day from all his works”; and in this place again, “They will not enter into my rest.”

Seeing therefore it remains that some should enter therein, and they to whom the good news was before preached failed to enter in because of disobedience, he again defines a certain day, today, saying through David so long a time afterward (just as has been said),“Today if you will hear his voice, don’t harden your hearts.”

For if Joshua had given them rest, he would not have spoken afterward of another day. There remains therefore a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For he who has entered into his rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from his. Let us therefore give diligence to enter into that rest, lest anyone fall after the same example of disobedience. For the word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and is able to discern the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

There is no creature that is hidden from his sight, but all things are naked and laid open before the eyes of him to whom we must give an account. (Hebrews 4:4-13) 

In the World English Bible (which is the translation used here), we read the words, “give diligence to enter that rest”. Other translations have “strive to enter that rest”. Thayer’s Word Lexicon informs us that the Greek word spoudazó means: to exert oneself, endeavor, give diligence.[xii] Some Bibles use the word “labor” as if in travail, giving birth to a child; the inherent idea being: to make haste and get this laborious task out of the way; overcome the problem and find relief.  Striving is applicable here, for this is a struggle, an endeavor that requires forceful effort. Something which sounds like Jacob’s encounter when he said that he saw the face of God and lived.

The idea of labor, as in a woman giving birth, is associated with entering God’s rest and being born into the Kingdom of God.

This idea of great exertion is associated with Jacob’s Trouble. Just before Jeremiah mentions Jacob’s Trouble, we read:

“Ask now, and see whether a man does travail with child: why do I see every man with his hands on his waist, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness? Alas! for that day is great, there is none like it” (Jeremiah 30:6-7a)

When Jesus was speaking of the Kingdom, He made mention that men of violence attempt to take the Kingdom of Heaven by force (Matthew 11:12). In the book of Luke, we find similar expression: 

“The law and the prophets were until John. From that time the Good News of God’s Kingdom is preached, and everyone is forcing his way into it. But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away, than for one tiny stroke of a pen in the law to fall. (Luke 16:16-17)

Even though the promised Kingdom is available for all to enter, those who enter, can only do so, if they comply with God’s requirements. The kingdoms of men might be taken by force. The Kingdom of God is restricted to those who will do everything they can to enter, but in order to enter, one has to be like Jacob and strive against the forces that would attempt to prevent anyone from entering. By implication, these forces are not of this physical world. Then there is the case of the angel that guards the way to the tree of life that was placed at the entrance to the Garden of Eden. The parallels are too similar to be coincidental. Especially when one understands that the truths of eternal life are purposely hidden with all manner of obfuscation to keep the arrogant and worldly-wise from seeing these truths; scoffers are readily caught in the sieve, their pride keeping them out of the kingdom; for only the humble make it through the eye of the needle (Matthew 19:24).

Adam was cast out of the Garden of Eden. For Adam to return he had to pass the angel with a flaming sword, placed at the entrance to the Garden. This either meant that Adam had to subdue the angel, or he had to believe that if the angel killed him, God would raise him from the dead. Jacob fought the angel and would not give up until he was blessed. Jacob did what Adam did not do and consequently obtained the blessing. When we read the account of Jacob, we see that in the end he had nothing to fear because God was on his side; for he was doing what God required. God requires us to enter His rest, but we need to be prepared to die if we are to enter. In other words, we have to exert ourselves like a woman in travail when giving birth. Nothing else matters. Otherwise, we will not be able to enter the Kingdom of God.

When looking at these end-days, there are some issues we need to contemplate. For there seems to be a dual application to this idea of Jacob’s Trouble, one in respect to salvation and, the other, in respect to judgment. The issue of salvation has to do with our relationship with God and whether we are prepared to overcome the world. The issue of judgment has to do with the world in which we live. Nevertheless, there is going to be a number of issues we may have to deal with in these end-days. We will need to identify the Esau element and then the Laban element. Possibly a third element was represented by Jacob’s sons; for not only did they cause distress to Jacob at Shechem but also in selling Joseph to the Ishmaelites. The significance of the Ishmaelites cannot be overlooked, for these are the people from whom Islam has originated, who also desire to reign over this world, and have no qualms about taking people into slavery.

Esau married Ishmaelites. The two are not just related physically as seed of Abraham, but, also, later on, the bond between the two was strengthened, due to Esau’s marriage to the daughters of Ishmael. King Herod also came from both Ishmaelite and Edomite ancestry. He sought to kill the baby Jesus. Therefore, we can see that the descendants of Ishmael (Islamic Arabs) and Esau (Edomites) are not necessarily pro-Christian. Historically, these two are intent of taking over people by force. Whether the Edomites have anything to do with the Knights Templar, we do not know, but Ishmaelites have set out to establish a Caliphate and rule the Earth by force. Of course, those who are Labanites today, are represented by the idolators of the world. These are those who acknowledge God and belong to the religions of tradition and have no reluctance when it comes to committing idolatry, for they are covetous, worldly, and utilitarian in their thinking.                      

Jacob sees the ladder to Heaven and vows to tithe. In the twenty-first year of his sojourn, God speaks to him and tells him to return to his homeland. Laban is envious of Jacob. On the way back, Jacob wrestles with the angel of God and he obtains the blessing. The blessing belongs to the blessed—and the blessed are the ones who enter life (Ps 84:12; 32:1-2; Rom 4:7-8; Dan 12:12).

Omitted in the account of Jacob is the person to whom he tithed the tenth. There was no Levitical priesthood to receive his tithe. Therefore, we can only assume that he tithed to the Melchezidek priesthood that existed in Salem. Abraham tithed to this priesthood and partook of the bread and the wine (Genesis 14:18-20). Isaac must have done the same. Therefore, the fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob had to have all been aware of the Melchezidek priesthood, which is the eternal priesthood of Lord Jesus Christ. To suggest that they did not is to belie what is written in the book of Hebrews:

By faith, he [Abraham] lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a land not his own, dwelling in tents, with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise.

(Hebrews 11:9)

The ladder Jacob saw going from Earth to Heaven is the ladder we all have to climb. Climbing the ladder is not a matter of works. Climbing the ladder is a matter of faith. Most people fail to climb it because they lack faith. Faith only comes from putting God to the test and giving Him the glory for what He has done by acknowledging Him before men (Mal 3:10; Lk 12:8; Rom 4:20). Nevertheless, faith without works is dead (James 2:20). But as we saw with Jacob, he exercised faith and did as he was shown in respect to using the different kinds of rods, made from poplar, almond and plane trees, when looking after his flocks. Finally, when God told Jacob it was time to leave, he did. Laban came after him, but God was looking after Jacob. God warned Laban that he was not to harm Jacob.

When we are talking about the end-days, we are talking about the feasts of Israel. The fulfillment of these feasts are not something that shall be happening over a twenty-two-day period; for these feasts are no longer under the Mosaic dispensation, but the dispensation of the Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:4-9). The feasts are represented by the period of Jacob’s trouble.  The correlation points to these feasts being a day for a year.  Every day will represent a year.  Consequently, twenty-two days of the feasts will represent twenty-two years. The twenty-second year will be the return of Lord Jesus Christ to rule on Earth. This is the day after the Feast of Tabernacles has ended; a time of feasting where everybody comes together rejoicing in a holy gathering unto the Lord. The correlation fits remarkably.

Even though there is a correlation based upon the number of days for the feasts, being twenty-one, and the years for Jacob’s times of distress, being twenty-one, surely there has to be a more substantial reason why the days of the feasts would be years, other than a coincidental numerical correlation. Actually there is. For when the Israelites were spying out the Promised Land and, instead of exercising faith, they became recalcitrant through unbelief, the testing of the people was to be a year for every day spent as spies looking at the Promised Land (Numbers 14:34). Ezekiel was also commanded to typify his prophecy by laying on his side with every day to represent a year (Ezekiel 4:5-6). We will see how remarkably accurate the year-to-the-day prophecies turned out to be, with Israel being ratified as a nation in November of 1947; thirty years after the Balfour Agreement virtually declaring the nation has been born, only not yet mature enough to be independent—compare Acts 15:16. (Note too, David was not appointed King until he was thirty years old—2 Samuel 5:4. Levites originally had to be thirty years old before they could serve in the temple—Numbers 4:3).

The twenty-one years of Jacob’s Trouble, and correlating twenty-one days of final feasts that celebrate the greater harvest for each year, are a time of testing and a time of punishment. They are time of punishment for those who shrink back and fail to exercise faith towards God. But for those who exercise faith towards God, these are a time of exhilaration. For as a woman gives birth, so shall the Kingdom of God on Earth be birthed at the return of Lord Jesus Christ, as Lord of Lords and King of Kings. Those who belong to Israel according to the flesh and identify as Jews will be persecuted more than those who put their trust in Lord Jesus Christ.

The beginning of the end-time harvest feasts is announced with trumpets at the Feast of Trumpets. The blowing of the trumpets is a call for all to assemble. The trumpets are blown to tell the Israelites that the day of the Lord—the Day of Atonement—was at hand (Joel 2:1; Zephaniah 1:14).  Now this is what the Lord said to Moses regarding the trumpets.

Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, “Make two trumpets of silver. You shall make them of beaten work. You shall use them for the calling of the congregation, and for the journeying of the camps. When they blow them, all the congregation shall gather themselves to you at the door of the Tent of Meeting. If they blow just one, then the princes, the heads of the thousands of Israel, shall gather themselves to you. When you blow an alarm, the camps that lie on the east side shall go forward. When you blow an alarm the second time, the camps that lie on the south side shall go forward. They shall blow an alarm for their journeys. But when the assembly is to be gathered together, you shall blow, but you shall not sound an alarm.

“The sons of Aaron, the priests, shall blow the trumpets. This shall be to you for a statute forever throughout your generations. When you go to war in your land against the adversary who oppresses you, then you shall sound an alarm with the trumpets. Then you will be remembered before Yahweh your God, and you will be saved from your enemies.

“Also in the day of your gladness, and in your set feasts, and in the beginnings of your months, you shall blow the trumpets over your burnt offerings, and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings; and they shall be to you for a memorial before your God. I am Yahweh your God.” (Numbers 10:1-10)

The blowing of the two trumpets that are made of silver (representing the knowledge of God) also represents the two witnesses of Elijah and Moses. Both Elijah and Moses had knowledge of God. Moses represents the law and Elijah represents the prophets. The message that has to be brought forth, at the time of this feast, has to be one of repentance and prophecy. John the Baptist preached the law and the prophets, for he preached repentance and prophesied of the One who was to come after him. In the one man, there was the dual witness. John the Baptist was the one whom God had given charge to feed the sheep prior to the coming of Jesus. In this respect, he was the servant who had been given the end-time message to Israel. The days were coming when the Mosaic covenant would be replaced by a new covenant concerning the blood and body of Lord Jesus Christ. John was the harbinger of this message. Although, many people do not think that John the Baptist’s message travelled far, we know that Apollos from Alexandria, Egypt, was preaching it at Ephesus (Acts 18:24-25). In those days that was quite a distance, indeed, and suggests that John the Baptist’s influence had certainly extended around half of the Mediterranean, and possibly throughout the East to India, as well, where seven churches were later founded by the Apostle Thomas in present day state of Kerala, on the South West horn of the subcontinent.

On the tenth day of the month is the Day of Atonement. The Day of Atonement is considered the end day when repentance is completed, having begun with the first day of the month, the Feast of Trumpets and people present themselves on the tenth day to be united with God.  This is what Moses was told to do on the Day of Atonement:

Aaron shall come into the sanctuary with a young bull for a sin offering, and a ram for a burnt offering. He shall put on the holy linen coat. He shall have the linen breeches on his body, and shall put on the linen sash, and he shall be clothed with the linen turban. They are the holy garments. He shall bathe his body in water, and put them on. He shall take from the congregation of the children of Israel two male goats for a sin offering, and one ram for a burnt offering.

Aaron shall offer the bull of the sin offering, which is for himself, and make atonement for himself and for his house. He shall take the two goats, and set them before Yahweh at the door of the Tent of Meeting. Aaron shall cast lots for the two goats; one lot for Yahweh, and the other lot for the scapegoat. Aaron shall present the goat on which the lot fell for Yahweh, and offer him for a sin offering. But the goat, on which the lot fell for the scapegoat, shall be presented alive before Yahweh, to make atonement for him, to send him away for the scapegoat into the wilderness.

Aaron shall present the bull of the sin offering, which is for himself, and shall make atonement for himself and for his house, and shall kill the bull of the sin offering which is for himself. He shall take a censer full of coals of fire from off the altar before Yahweh, and two handfuls of sweet incense beaten small, and bring it within the veil: and he shall put the incense on the fire before Yahweh, that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is on the testimony, so that he will not die. He shall take some of the blood of the bull, and sprinkle it with his finger on the mercy seat on the east; and before the mercy seat he shall sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times.

Then he shall kill the goat of the sin offering, that is for the people, and bring his blood within the veil, and do with his blood as he did with the blood of the bull, and sprinkle it on the mercy seat, and before the mercy seat. He shall make atonement for the Holy Place, because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions, even all their sins; and so he shall do for the Tent of Meeting, that dwells with them in the middle of their uncleanness. No one shall be in the Tent of Meeting when he enters to make atonement in the Holy Place, until he comes out, and has made atonement for himself and for his household, and for all the assembly of Israel.

 

He shall go out to the altar that is before Yahweh and make atonement for it, and shall take some of the bull’s blood, and some of the goat’s blood, and put it around on the horns of the altar. He shall sprinkle some of the blood on it with his finger seven times, and cleanse it, and make it holy from the uncleanness of the children of Israel.

 

When he has finished atoning for the Holy Place, the Tent of Meeting, and the altar, he shall present the live goat. Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions, even all their sins; and he shall put them on the head of the goat, and shall send him away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who is in readiness. The goat shall carry all their iniquities on himself to a solitary land, and he shall let the goat go in the wilderness.

 

Aaron shall come into the Tent of Meeting, and shall take off the linen garments, which he put on when he went into the Holy Place, and shall leave them there. Then he shall bathe himself in water in a holy place, and put on his garments, and come out and offer his burnt offering and the burnt offering of the people, and make atonement for himself and for the people. The fat of the sin offering he shall burn on the altar.

 

He who lets the goat go for the scapegoat shall wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp. The bull for the sin offering, and the goat for the sin offering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the Holy Place, shall be carried outside the camp; and they shall burn their skins, their flesh, and their dung with fire. He who burns them shall wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp.

It shall be a statute to you forever: in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall afflict your souls, and shall do no kind of work, the native-born, or the stranger who lives as a foreigner among you: for on this day shall atonement be made for you, to cleanse you; from all your sins you shall be clean before Yahweh. It is a Sabbath of solemn rest to you, and you shall afflict your souls. It is a statute forever. The priest, who is anointed and who is consecrated to be priest in his father’s place, shall make the atonement, and shall put on the linen garments, even the holy garments. Then he shall make atonement for the Holy Sanctuary; and he shall make atonement for the Tent of Meeting and for the altar; and he shall make atonement for the priests and for all the people of the assembly.” (Leviticus 16:3-33) 

The key feature of the Day of Atonement is the sin offering that is made for the people after the high priest has made atonement for his own sins by sacrificing a bull.  Atonement for the people involved the offering of one goat and the sins being ceremonially placed on another goat, which was then taken and led into the wilderness. The idea was to illustrate to the people that while a sacrificial offering has paid for their sins, their sins are totally taken away. While this happened when Jesus died and rose from the dead, the Passover does not express this sentiment. The Passover illustrates that those who enter the door of the house of God have had their sins covered by their faith. The Passover requires every person to participate in the eating of the Passover meal. The sacrificial offering of the Day of Atonement does not require the same participation of the people in the act.

The first reason why the atoning sacrifice does not require the participation of any of the people except the high priest is this ceremony signifies how God takes away the sin of the people. The high priest is the only person who is required to make atonement for his own sin. This is because the high priest has to be sinless if the offering brought before the Heavenly Father is capable of redeeming Adam and his descendants from the captivity of Lucifer. This sacrifice is designed to demonstrate that God Himself is righteous (Romans 3:26). The only person, who could deliver an acceptable offering that could be effective, would have to be someone who had never sinned and possessed the inherent power to overcome death.

The significance of this event being part of these end-of-year feasts for the Christian is that we are speaking of the latter rain and the return of Lord Jesus Christ to receive a bride that is without spot, blemish or any such thing. This is a reference to being perfect. Unfortunately, too many people are under the impression that Lord Jesus Christ is coming back for a bride that is tainted with blemishes. The Day of Atonement tells us that this is not the case. The Apostle Paul agrees, writing:

Christ also loved the assembly, and gave himself up for it; that he might sanctify it, having cleansed it by the washing of water with the word, that he might present the assembly to himself gloriously, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without defect. (Eph. 5:25b-27)

The assembly is really the “called out ones” that form the church of Lord Jesus Christ. The called out ones are those who have responded to the call of Lord Jesus Christ and have opened the door of their hearts to let Him come and sup with them. The book of Revelation has this to say concerning the Laodicean Church:

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, then I will come in to him, and will dine with him, and he with me. He who overcomes, I will give to him to sit down with me on my throne, as I also overcame, and sat down with my Father on his throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies. (Revelation 3:20-22)

The Laodicean Church is representative of the last church age before the return of Lord Jesus Christ. Here we learn that not only does Jesus call out to the people of the church assemblies and knocks on the doors of their hearts, but those who respond and overcome the world—through the power of the Holy Spirit—these ones will sit down with Jesus on His throne. The Bridegroom and His Bride, the King of Kings and His Queen, the Lord of Lords and His Lady, together, will reign over the nations. This has nothing to do with biological gender. The ones we are speaking of here are those who overcome the world by faith in Lord Jesus Christ.

Importantly, what we need to understand, there is a difference between the Bride and the male-child. The Bride gives birth to the male-child. These are one hundred and forty-four thousand people who are true Jews; that is, they are circumcised of heart, not according to the flesh, but according to the law of faith. These are separate from the Bride. They are caught up to Heaven, but not in the sense of being raptured up into the clouds; rather, these saints walk with God, similar to Enoch walking with God for three hundred years,[xiii] before he was taken (Genesis 5:22-24).

Maybe it is just coincidence but in the 1730s, some three hundred years ago, the Great Awakening occurred. This was a time of unprecedented revivals and spiritual awakening within Britain and America that has continued in various places around the globe ever since. We identify this move of God in a chronological sense with what Lord Jesus said concerning the church at Philadelphia:

To the angel of the assembly in Philadelphia write: “He who is holy, he who is true, he who has the key of David, he who opens and no one can shut, and who shuts and no one opens, says these things: “I know your works (behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one can shut), that you have a little power, and kept my word, and didn’t deny my name. Behold, I give some of the synagogue of Satan, of those who say they are Jews, and they are not, but lie. Behold, I will make them to come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you.” (Revelation 3:6-9) 

Enoch walked with God for three hundred years and then he was caught up to Heaven. People believe that Enoch is a type that represents the resurrection of saints and the rapture of those who are alive, who are caught up to meet Jesus in the clouds, as He returns to Earth. The fact that Enoch is the seventh generation from Adam is believed also to be a type of the Seventh Church Age, when those who walked with God, and who are walking with God, receive the redemption of their bodies (Romans 8:23). What occurred during the 1730-1740s during the Great Awakening is expected by some to occur during the 2030-2040s. For the open door that occurred during the Great Awakening, if this correlates to the open door of the Philadelphian Church Age, is never to shut, at least not until Lord Jesus returns, which is the end of the Laodicean Church Age; the age where the final feasts are celebrated that occurred in the seventh month of the Mosaic calendar. In the Christian calendar, the Holy Spirit appears to have designated these final feasts (the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and the Feast of Tabernacles) for the Seventh Church Age.

The Feast of Tabernacles is about living in the presence of God through faith. Those who are completely cleansed from sin, who have been totally circumcised of their flesh (Colossians 2:11), so that there is none left for the enemy to tempt, these are the ones who will be the Bride. They will be perfect before God, having been washed clean by the Word and set free from sin by the Spirit of God. These people will be able to walk on Earth as the sons of Light. Nobody will be able to touch them. Interestingly, among the Dead Sea Scrolls there was found a book of prophecy known as The War of the Sons of Light Against the Sons of Darkness. The Sons of Light win. When the final days come, the Sons of Light will be walking on Earth as fulfillment of the types prophetically embedded within the instructions given to Moses, who was told, “See, you shall make everything according to the pattern that was shown to you on the mountain” (Hebrews 8:5).

The Feast of Tabernacles is not just a one-day feast; it goes for seven days. The other feast that lasts as long is the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The day after the Passover, the Feast of the Unleavened Bread began. This was a time when people ensured that what they did the day before was not like what many people call a New Year’s resolution; a declaration that sounds good at the time, but in reality is not something the person really intends to do. The Passover requires a commitment of faith (cf. 1 Jn 1:7; Rev. 12:11) on behalf of each individual, who eats the Lamb and walks through the door that has had blood smeared upon its lintel and doorposts.

With the blood of the Lamb of God covering those who make the decision to walk by faith and partake in the promises of God, hypocrisy is the only thing they need fear. Jesus warned that unless a person’s righteousness was more than that of the scribes and Pharisees of His day, a person could not enter the Kingdom of God (Matthew 5:20). These scribes and Pharisees, of whom Jesus spoke, were those who honored God with their lips but had hearts far from Him. Unless one is truly seeking God and desirous to do His will, sin will catch one out. Often people fall away because they believed a lie in all sincerity; but if the truth be known: they were not totally committed. For those who are committed take seriously the significance of the days of Unleavened Bread. We learn that the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost) is not celebrated until the forty-third day after the commitment to eating unleavened bread is finished. In reality, we have a type of the wilderness experience being set before us. Lord Jesus spent forty days and nights in the wilderness, whereas between the last day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the day of Pentecost on the fiftieth day, there are forty-two days (Jacob experienced two periods of suffering for twenty-one years, a total of forty-two years). Of course, when Jesus was baptized, the Holy Spirit came upon Him and led Him into the wilderness for forty days. In respect to the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the people were being taught to keep away from the hypocrisy that is so prevalent among humans and look forward to the Feast of Weeks. Jesus’ disciples somehow did not readily understand the truth about the leaven. We read:

Jesus said to them, “Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”….

   “How is it that you don’t perceive that I didn’t speak to you concerning bread? But beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”

Then they understood that he didn’t tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees. (Matthew 16:6,11-12)

Christians in the days of the Apostle Paul were no different to Jesus’ disciples, even though, in all likelihood, they had been baptized in the Holy Spirit. If they had received the Holy Spirit, they were not listening to what the Spirit was saying. The Apostle writes:

Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast leavens the whole lump? Purge out the old yeast, that you may be a new lump, even as you are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, has been sacrificed in our place. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old yeast, neither with the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. (1 Corinthians 5:6-8)

The reality about life is such that the belief systems people attract to them-selves will prevent them from following the truth. Sin is the very reason most people consider teachings that are not in line with the Ten Commandments. Those who weaken their will by deciding to participate in sin are not walking in the righteousness of God. They are not free from the world. However, somewhat surprisingly, as promulgated by many personal trainers and motivation professionals, if a person can hold fast a resolution for a week, the likelihood that the resolve will last for a month increases. Those who can develop a daily resolve for a month have a higher probability of continuing in that behavior for a lifetime. Well, the day of Pentecost is fifty days from the Passover. Seven Sabbaths are to be counted from the first day of the Feast of the Unleavened Bread. The next Sabbath is actually seven days after the Passover and falls on the twenty-first of the month. Forty-two days after the feast of Unleavened Bread, Pentecost is to be celebrated the following day. Those who are steadfast for the forty-two days between the last day of Unleavened Bread and the day of the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost)—when speaking of individual walks in the Lord—have a strong likelihood of continuing towards the days of the latter rain and the accompanying feasts of Trumpets, Atonement and Tabernacles.

God sees everyone’s heart; therefore, those who decide to fake it, do not make it. Motivational professionals often teach that people should fake something daily, so they can make it happen on a habitual basis. When it comes to the Lord, only those who are genuine can truly make it to the end. Many are the teachings that lead people astray. But the Lord knows who is genuine and who is not. For only the genuine will be set free from their sin and understand God’s purpose for themselves. The rest will not understand God’s ways because of their hypocrisy. Isaiah states:

For Yahweh has poured out on you a spirit of deep sleep, and has closed your eyes, the prophets; and he has covered your heads, the seers. All vision has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one who is educated, saying, “Read this, please”; and he says, “I can’t, for it is sealed:” and the book is delivered to one who is not educated, saying, “Read this, please”; and he says, “I can’t read.” The Lord said, “Because this people draws near with their mouth and with their lips to honor me, but they have removed their heart far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment of men which has been taught; therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvelous work among this people, even a marvelous work and a wonder; and the wisdom of their wise men will perish, and the understanding of their prudent men will be hidden.” (Isaiah 29:10-14)

The Feast of Passover is about making a personal commitment to the way of God. The Feast of Unleavened Bread lasts for seven days and this is a means of helping people ratify that personal commitment. The Feast of Pentecost is a time where faith is put in action and, because the words of righteousness and truth are experientially understood, the people now prepare themselves for the greater harvest. The Feast of Trumpets is a call to demonstrate a person has a continued commitment to the Way of God (cf. Acts 9:2; 16:17; 18:25-26; 19:9,23; 22:4; 24:14,22; John 14:6 ), which is what is espoused when people conform to what is written in the Ten Commandments.  The Day of Atonement is a solemn declaration by God that He will ratify the commitment of faith that people make and ensure that they are free from sin. The Feast of Tabernacles is a demonstration by the people that they understand, it is no longer they who live, but God who lives in them (Galatians 2:20); for they are the people of God and they have been abundantly blessed.

The Israelites were to perform these feasts as part of their yearly harvest festivals. These feasts typify what is to come in reality. They are a pattern of things to come that God has already ordained in Heaven. The feasts up until, and including, Pentecost have already been fulfilled in the real sense. This was demonstrated by the death of Jesus, the Passover Lamb (Matthew 27:40-50). This was confirmed by the resurrection of the dead after Jesus’ resurrection (Matt. 27:52-53; 1 Cor. 15:23; Eph. 4:8). This was evidenced by Jesus remaining untouched until the eight day after the Passover (Jn. 20:17; 20:26-27; Lk. 24:39-40) and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2). There were no other feasts fulfilled that year, as would have been expected if the latter feasts were to be fulfilled in the same year as the preceding feasts, under the Mosaic Covenant. Instead, the feast of Trumpets, Atonement and Tabernacles are still waiting fulfillment. Because these latter rain feasts are at the end of the year and represent the greater harvest, instead of being fulfilled one day for a day, these shall be fulfilled as one year for each day (cf. Num. 14:34; Ez. 4:6). From the Passover to Pentecost, fulfillment of these types was under the day-is-one-day model, because—note well—the age of the Spirit had not yet come into effect. This happened on the day of Pentecost. Until that time, the old covenant given to Moses was still in effect, even though its ordinances had been nailed to the Cross (Colossians 2:13-15). However, once the age of the Holy Spirit begun (cf. Acts 2:17; 2 Cor. 3:6-9), we can accept that the final feasts could be conducted within a different timeframe, because we are in a different era. Moreover, we know the feasts have not happened yet and, at the time of the end, there will be a time of Jacob’s Trouble. As we have already come to understand, Jacob’s Trouble spanned two twenty-one-year periods at different times in his life—the significance is emphasized by the fact, both times his troubles spanned the same length of time. Jacob’s Trouble spanning twenty-one years twice, and the similarity of the timeline scenario for the Feast of Tabernacles’ twenty-one-day period, indicates that these last feasts span twenty-one years. The twenty-second day of the Feast of Tabernacles, when there is a day of celebration, and the twenty-second year of Jacob’s sojourn throughout the Promised Land, corresponds to the day of the Lord and beginning of the one-thousand-year reign of Lord Jesus Christ on Earth.

When considered further, Jacob meeting up with his son Joseph, now the ruler of Egypt (a type that is representative of the world within the Bible), this was on the twenty-second year. The two times of distress that Jacob endured, both ended on the twenty-second year; with the joy of discovering that he was able to, one, return to the Promised Land and, two, the son to whom he had given the coat representing greatness, was now the ruler of the kingdom of plenty. Surely this double emphasis cannot be disregarded. Jacob’s Trouble has to be at least twenty-one years duration.

The latter rain begins with a trumpet call. In Isaiah we read these words:

It will happen in that day, that Yahweh will thresh from the flowing stream of the Euphrates to the brook of Egypt; and you will be gathered one by one, children of Israel. It will happen in that day that a great trumpet will be blown; and those who were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and those who were outcasts in the land of Egypt, shall come; and they will worship Yahweh in the holy mountain at Jerusalem. (Isaiah 27:12-13).

Israelites, according to the flesh are being brought back to the land of Israel. When this is happening, the trumpet will be blown—the last trump (1 Corinthians 15:52)—and those given over to the world, will make outcasts of those who do not belong in the world, for they are not of the world. Lord Jesus said to the Father regarding those whom He loves:

But now I come to you, and I say these things in the world, that they may have my joy made full in themselves. I have given them your word. The world hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not that you would take them from the world, but that you would keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in your truth. Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, even so I have sent them into the world. (John 17:13-18)

The Feast of Trumpets will be the beginning of a worldwide call for all to come and worship the Lord and prepare for the Second Coming. Many believe that this began May 14, 1948, when Israel was publicly declared a Nation to the whole world, and the Latter Rain Movement was spawned at a revival in Canada, with a revelation that God was going to restore the tabernacle of David (Acts 15:16). Others are of the view that in 1967 not only were boundaries that prevented access for Israel to expand broken down during the war, but also within Christian churches, denominational boundaries were broken down through the charismatic movement; this being the beginning of the latter rain, from which the last generation of seventy years will usher in the Second Coming in the year AD 2037.  While God knows the end from the beginning, this does not mean that everyone’s life is predetermined and we are robots without freewill. Freewill is a factor that can alter timelines more than expected. However, as has already been demonstrated in part so far, these latter feasts correspond to Jacob’s Trouble.

The Feast of Trumpets is the only feast that is celebrated at the beginning of the month. Importantly, the Feast of Trumpets was at the beginning of the month that Israel’s latter-day harvest for the year was celebrated. The beginning of each new month depended upon the appearing of the Moon at the right location. No one could be certain when each month would begin because of the variation that occurred between the rotation of the Earth, its circuiting of the Sun, and the Moon’s trajectory around it. The Earth’s rotation around its axis and circuit of the Sun, since the flood, has been out of synchronization with the Moon’s trajectory. We understand this in part because the Jewish month of Nisan begins on different days during March or April and, because of this, Easter is not celebrated on the same day every year. When Jesus said that no one knew the hour or the day of His return, this in all probability was a reference to the fact that when the Feast of Trumpets is celebrated on the Christian Calendar, just like in the Jewish Calendar, there would be uncertainty. But once the Feast of Trumpets was established, the following twenty-one days (or years at the final harvest) would be certain. Whether we will know that the Feast of Trumpets is occurring may be a little difficult, but we may know it has occurred, because the required elements will have been made known. These could be the appearing of two witnesses representing Moses and Elijah or because a massive revival begins somewhere and spreads across the globe.

The Feast of Trumpets will begin with an emphasis on repentance from dead works and faith towards God. For the tares and the wheat will grow together, but on the Day of Atonement, the Evil One will no longer have the claim that he possesses currently, because people think they can still continue in their sin and be saved by grace. Instead, individuals will begin to overcome the world because of their hatred of evil. From days of the first church era, because of sin, when people began to lose their first love, the evil one was able to continue accusing the brethren of Lord Jesus Christ (Hebrews 2:11-12) before the Throne of God. But on the day of Atonement, which is to be celebrated as part of the latter rain, the Evil One will no longer have access to Heaven. Even though Lucifer fell, as lightning into darkness, when he himself sinned, because Christians sin, he still has access to Heaven to accuse the brethren (Rev. 12:10; 1 John 2:1-2). Nevertheless, on the Day of Atonement, the Ancient Serpent, Lucifer will be thrown out of Heaven for good and come down to Earth to vent his wrath upon believers, like never before.

I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation, the power, and the Kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ has come; for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them before our God day and night. They overcame him because of the Lamb’s blood, and because of the word of their testimony. They didn’t love their life, even to death. Therefore rejoice, heavens, and you who dwell in them. Woe to the earth and to the sea, because the devil has gone down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has but a short time.”

When the dragon saw that he was thrown down to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child. (Revelation 12:7-13)

Although this is not yet the great tribulation, we are now coming to the time when all who call themselves Christians will be persecuted as in the days of Smyrna. Concerning Smyrna, we read:

Don’t be afraid of the things which you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested; and you will have oppression for ten days. Be faithful to death, and I will give you the crown of life. (Revelation 2:10) 

It is possible that which is described above could start the day the Feast of Trumpets begins and continue for ten years; for the continuation of the words from Revelation, chapter twelve, state:

Two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, so that she might be nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent. The serpent spewed water out of his mouth after the woman like a river, that he might cause her to be carried away by the stream. The earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the river which the dragon spewed out of his mouth. The dragon grew angry with the woman, and went away to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep God’s commandments and hold Jesus’ testimony. (Revelation 12:14-17)

The time will be challenging and very Orwellian, as the Evil One uses his servants to smash the Word of God and bottle up the truth, so people will be deceived, and out of fear for their own lives, they will accept the mark of the beast, in order that they can buy and sell and participate in the ways of the world.

People believe that they will not receive the mark of the beast because they will reject it. What is not understood is that people are already being prepared by the tattoo phenomenon. Celebrities were used to promote having tattoos as being cool—now “clean skin” is a term that is used as a badge of disgrace. Celebrities will also make receiving the mark of the beast just as fashionable as tattoos until the critical mass has been reached, whereupon peer influence will have sorted out the “sheeples”[xiv] from those who are individually minded and rebel against the establishment. Ironically, many people, who call themselves Christians, being disinclined to rebel against authority, will succumb to receiving the mark of the beast. If you don’t think this will happen, just look at the number who succumbed to taking the CoVID-19 series of mRNA injections from fear of getting a non-existent disease or losing their job or not being able to travel. The Certificate of Vaccination I.D. for Artificial Intelligence has been designated the preferred means for connecting everyone to the internet using a mini computer made out of graphene oxide, which is the size of a grain of sand and responsive to radio frequencies—the radio frequency identity (RFID) chip.

The one significant matter that has not been mentioned yet that corresponds to the description of Jacob’s Trouble being associated with the travail that a woman experiences when giving birth is found in the book of Revelation.

His tail drew one third of the stars of the sky, and threw them to the earth. The dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child. She gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron. Her child was caught up to God, and to his throne. The woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, that there they may nourish her one thousand two hundred sixty days. (Revelation 12:4-6)

The issue of this male-child[xv] we will address in a later chapter. There is a difference between the birth of the male-child and the travail associated with Jacob’s Trouble. While the travail of Jacob’s Trouble has to do with the last days until the Second Advent (presumably sometime between 2040-2054), even though a crowning event of utmost importance, the birth of the male-child is still only one of the major significant events that will take place within this epoch. From what we are able to ascertain, the bringing forth of the male-child will be a longer pregnancy than nine months. What is written in the Bible suggests there will be at least ten years from the beginning of the Feast of Trumpets to the day that the Devil seeks to devour the male-child.

***

---

[i] “People in Texas,” Improbable Research, accessed July 30, 2016, http://www.improbable.com/teach/lessons2002/people-in-texas.html.

[ii] Wycliffe Bible, copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble.

[iii] The preface of the KJV claims it is NOT a LITERAL translation.  For example, the translators explicitly said that they did not translate the same word in the original the same way in the English but did attempt to capture the sense of the original each time: “An other thing we thinke good to admonish thee of (gentle Reader) that wee have not tyed our selves to an uniformitie of phrasing, or to an identitie of words, as some peradventure would wish that we had done, because they observe, that some learned men some where, have beene as exact as they could that way. Truly, that we might not varie from the sense of that which we had translated before, if the word signified the same thing in both places (for there bee some wordes that bee not of the same sense every where) we were especially carefull, and made a conscience, according to our duetie.” Daniel B. Wallace, “Fifteen Myths About Bible Translation,” Daniel B. Wallace Blog, accessed August 12, 2017, https://danielbwallace.com/2012/10/08/fifteen-myths-about-bible-translation.

[iv] “Agrippa II,” New World Encyclopedia, accessed August 2, 2016, http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Agrippa_II.

[v] Book of 1 Esdras 4:45.

[vi] L. C. Allen, The Books of Joel, Obadiah, Jonah, and Micah (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1976), 130.

[vii] “Palestine,” Encyclopaedia Britannica, accessed August 2, 2016, https://www.britannica.com/place/Palestine.

[viii]Jon Entine, “Jewish Researcher Attacks DNA Evidence Linking Jews to Israel,” Genetic Literacy Project, May 13, 2013, https://www.geneticliteracyproject.org/2013/05/13/jewish-researcher-attacks-dna-evidence-linking-jews-to-israel.

[ix] “British Empire Timeline,” British Empire, accessed August 2, 2016, http://www.britishempire.co.uk/timeline/timeline.htm.

[x] Gavin Finley, “End-Time Revival,” End Time Pilgrim, accessed June 15, 2025, https://old.endtimepilgrim.org/end-timerev.htm.

[xi] Charles L. Zimmerman, “The Chronology and Birth of Jacob’s Children by Leah and Her Handmaid,” Grace Journal 13, no. 1 (Winter 1972): 3–12.

[xii] Joseph Thayer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1989), 585.

[xiii] Coincidently, or is it, 300 years ago is when the 1726  François Arouet, to become known as Voltaire, is sent into exile from his home in France. In England he increases his admiration for British institutions, as Britain became a world power. The Great Awakening began in the 1730s, which has powered revival ever since the Philadelphian Church. Most notably, Lord Jesus said to this church group that they will be given an open door which no one can shut.

[xiv] Term used to describe people who blindly follow the propaganda and do not give any thought as to how they are being influenced to obey the dictates of their masters in academia, the media and the government.

[xv] The term “male child” is hyphenated (male-child) to distinguish the particular 144,000 that are birthed by the bride from any other reference to a male child.

> Understanding The Apparent Failure Of Biblical Prophecy