Prophetic Mirrors
Prophetic Mirrors
But, what about Cornelius the Centurion and the May 31,1998 Pre-Tribulational Rapture of the Church? More foundation must be laid before that connection will make any sense. We have attempted to show the significance of October 4, 2005 as the date of the Second "Come Up Hither" (Revelation 11:12,15)-- or, the Pre-Wrath Rapture of the Tribulation Saints. However, the concept of being delivered from "the hour of temptation" (Revelation 3:10), doubles as a general promise of escape from the entire Tribulation Week for the watching and waiting ones at the Pre-Tribulational Rapture, as well as a specific promise of escape for the Tribulational Saints at the Pre-Wrath Rapture. "Because thou hast kept the Word of My patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth" (Revelation 3:10).
Specifically, the "hour of temptation" (Revelation 3:10) is equivalent to 15 days, if Daniel's Seventieth Week (1 week) equals 2,520 days. One hour would be 1/168 of a week or .0059523 of a week, which is 15 days. This would be the time equivalent to Tishri 1 (Feast of Trumpets or Rosh HaShanah) to Tishri 15 (Feast of Tabernacles orSukkot). If the Pre-Wrath Rapture of the Church occurs at perhaps the midnight hour on Tishri 1, then approximately 8 to 9 days (depending on how you count it) would be left in the Tribulation Week, which would then extend through Tishri 9. This would allow for the pouring out of about one vial a day during the Seven Vial Judgments-- "the vials of the wrath of God" (Revelation 16:1), which are escaped by the Tribulation Church by virtue of the Pre-Wrath Rapture. Armageddon lasts 5 days from Tishri 10 (the Second Coming of the LORD Jesus Christ) to Tishri 14-- the day before Tishri 15 (the Inauguration of the Millennial Reign of the LORD Jesus Christ on Earth). 9 days (for the Vial Judgments) plus 5 days (for Armageddon) equals 14 days, which lacks only one day to complete the "hour of temptation" (Revelation 3:10). That one day lacking is Tishri 15. [See our article, "The Appointed Times", for a more developed discussion of the concept of aligning the Seven Feasts of Israel of Leviticus 23 with the Pre-Tribulational Rapture at Pentecost, the Pre-Wrath Rapture at the Feast of Trumpets, the Second Coming of Christ at the Day of Atonement, and the Inauguration of the Millennial Reign of the LORD Jesus Christ on Earth at the Feast of Tabernacles.]
If we use the timing of the Feast of Trumpets (Tishri 1), the Day of Atonement (Tishri 10), and the Feast of Tabernacles (Tishri 15-21) with the Pre-Wrath Rapture, the Second Coming of Christ, and the Inauguration of the Millennial Reign of Christ, respectively, we arrive at the following. The Pre-Wrath Rapture-- demonstrated earlier in the article-- would be October 4, 2005. The Second Coming of the LORD Jesus Christ would be October 13, 2005. And, the Millennial Reign of Jesus would begin, October 18, 2005. Truly, the LORD meant the Seven Feasts of Israel to teach the Church, His appointed times-- not just the Old Testament annual feast schedule, but the New Testament important day schedule. God has wisely designed His Feasts for this double purpose. "The secrets of wisdom, that they are double to that which is!" (Job 11:6).
Since the Second Coming occurs "immediately after the tribulation" (Matthew 24:29), the last day of the Tribulation Week would be October 12, 2005. 2,520 days earlier would be the first day of the Tribulation Week. Inclusively reckoned, Thursday, November 19,1998 would be the beginning of the Seventieth Week of Daniel (Daniel 9:24-27). Additionally, we must ponder the fact that the "Pre" in Pre-Tribulational Rapture of the Church means before the Tribulation Week. The only question is: How much before the Tribulation Week does the LORD remove His Church? To answer this, we must ask another question.
What is a Prophetic Mirror? Let John Zachary tell us what the LORD revealed to him. "When you look into a mirror, you see the reverse image of your face. Your nose is closest to the mirror and the reflection displays the proximity of your nose to the mirror. Your ears appear further away from the mirror than your nose" ("Mysterious Numbers of the Sealed Revelation", p. 34). Perhaps you have dropped paint onto a piece of paper. If you fold the paper through the middle of the wet paint, when you open the paper, you will have a mirror image of one side of the wet paint on the other side of the paper. Though more complicated than the tool of Double Fulfillment of Prophecy, a Prophetic Mirror is invaluable in developing insightful information in the interpretation of Biblical prophecy. "For now we see through a glass, darkly [literally, into a mirror dimly]; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known" (1Corinthians 13:12).
Remember, fold the Timeline and look for opposite and symmetrical events. For instance, the Antichrist is the opposite of our LORD Jesus Christ. "I [the LORD Jesus] am come in My Father's name, and ye receive Me not: if another [the Antichrist] shall come in his own name, him ye will receive" (John 5:43). Christianity, and even the world, knows that Jesus is said to have arisen from the dead. "Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead; and that this Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is Christ" (Acts 17:3). Antichrist must also rise from the dead. Scientifically and medically dead, but not truly dead, because only the LORD Jesus has the authority over the"quick and the dead" (2Timothy 4:1). Antichrist will deceive people by his apparent resurrection. "And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast" (Revelation 13:3).
There are two pairs of events that indicate a possible Prophetic Mirror. You may compare this form of prophetic study of the Scriptures to a type of prophetic research. The Doomed Generation was the people Jesus addressed on Monday, April 7, 32 AD (Julian), who would die by the hand of the Romans by the time of the burning of the Temple on Sunday, August 5, 70 AD (Julian). The Doomed Generation was 14,000 days long. The Terminal Generation (or, the Fig Tree Generation) began on June 7, 1967, when Israel recaptured the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. It will end on the Feast of Trumpets on October 4, 2005-- 14,000 days later (inclusive).
Compare April 7, 32 AD (Julian) to October 4, 2005. The Pre-Wrath Rapture of the Tribulation Saints occurs on October 4, 2005. The 144,000 sealed "servants of our God" (Revelation 7:3), who are numbered after the Tribulation Week has already begun, are called the "firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb" (Revelation 14:4). We are searching for opposite and symmetrical events. If these 144,000 are Jewish firstfruit at the Pre-Wrath Rapture, then something on April 7, 32 AD (Julian) must correspond to these 144,000. On the very morning of that April 7th, the LORD Jesus left Bethany hungry. He came upon a fig tree. "And when He saw a fig tree in the way, He came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only, and said unto it, Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever. And presently the fig tree withered away" (Matthew 21:19). Jesus cursed not only that particular fig tree on that day, but He also cursed the Doomed Generation. To recapitulate, April 7th was the cursing of the Fruitless of Israel, while October 4th will be the blessing of the Firstfruits of Israel.
Picture our timeline. Starting from the left, we have the Cursing of Fruitless Israel on April 7, 32 AD (Julian). To the far right, we have the Blessing of the Firstfruits of Israel on October 4, 2005. 14,000 days inclusively after April 7, 32 AD (Julian) is August 5, 70 AD (Julian). 14,000 days inclusively before October 4, 2005 is June 7,1967. What is the significance of August 5, 70 AD (Julian)? Jerusalem and the Temple Mount are Lost. "And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down" (Matthew 24:2). And, what is the significance of June 7, 1967? Jerusalem and the Temple Mount are Recaptured. "Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled" (Luke 21:24).
We are about to get to the part concerning Cornelius the Centurion and the May 31,1998 Pre-Tribulational Rapture of the Church. If the Pre-Tribulational Rapture must occur before the Beginning of the Tribulation Week, then it will occur sometime before Thursday, November 19,1998. I believe that Pentecost-- also called "the feast of harvest, the firstfruits of thy labours" (Exodus 23:16)-- will be the Firstfruits Harvest of the Church. In 1998, Pentecost falls on May 31-- a Sunday.
The Apostle Peter's Pentecostal sermon quoted from Joel 2:28-32-- "this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel" (Acts 2:16). This was only partially fulfilled, i.e., "I will pour out of My Spirit upon all flesh" (Acts 2:17). The rest of the fulfillment will occur during the Tribulation Week. "And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke: the sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the LORD come" (Acts 2:19-20). Likewise, the Pre-Tribulational Rapture is the rest of the prophetic fulfillment of Pentecost.
To confirm the May 31,1998 date with a Prophetic Mirror, we must calculate the number of days from May 31,1998 to October 4, 2005 (inclusive). The span is 2,684 days. 2,684 days inclusively after April 7, 32 AD (Julian) is August 12, 39 AD (Julian). What happened on that date that could be the Prophetic Mirror image of May 31,1998? "It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings is to search out a matter" (Proverbs 25:2). "But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people" (1Peter 2:9).
Although my Macintosh version of the Online Bible - Version 2.5.3 has a "Treasury of Scripture Knowledge", (excellent), my hard bound copy has dates at the top of each page and sometimes in the chapter (probably the Anglican Bishop Usher's dates). The closest date to August 12, 39 AD (Julian) that I could find in the "Treasury of Scripture Knowledge", was Acts 10-- dated around 41 AD. Since I had access to a conservative commentary on the Book of Acts called "The Interpretation of the Acts of the Apostles" , by R. C. H. Lenski, I proceeded to investigate Acts 10. I approached the pages with great excitement and joy. "Again, the kingdom of Heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field" (Matthew 13:44).
A little background is necessary to appreciate Acts 10. The Church had already experienced Pentecost in 32 AD, but officially the Church was reaching out to the Jewish people. Though Philip the Evangelist had already reached an Ethiopian eunuch for the LORD Jesus (Acts 8), this "man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians" (Acts 8:27) was already a proselyte to the Jewish religion before his introduction to Christ. After Saul of Tarsus unleashed the first persecution of the Church, causing the martyrdom of Stephen (Acts 6-7), the Church began to spread the Gospel. "Now they which were scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose about Stephen travelled as far as Phenice, and Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the Word to none but unto the Jews only" (Acts 11:19).
During this time of obedience to Acts 1:8-- "But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto Me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth"-- Cornelius comes into sharp focus in Acts 10. Cornelius was not just a Roman soldier, he was a centurion. As an officer, he commanded 100 men. "He belonged to the Italian cohort which was stationed in Caesarea at this time; thirty-two such cohorts were stationed in the different provinces of the empire. They were made up of Italian volunteers and were considered the most loyal Roman troops. A legion consisted of ten cohorts plus auxiliary troops. Each cohort had six centuries and the same number of centurions." (R. C. H. Lenski, pp. 393-394). Lenski dates this passage about the "summer of 38" AD (p. 394). Remember, my August 12, 39 AD (Julian) date for Acts 10 is based solely on the Prophetic Mirror as a tool of interpreting Bible prophecy.
The Holy Spirit told Luke to describe Cornelius as a "devout man, and one that feared God with all his house" (Acts 10:2). Lenski points out that Cornelius and his family were "proselytes of the gate", i.e., "were still Gentiles and were regarded as such by all Jews, were considered as standing only at the gate of the pale of the Jewish Church and were debarred from passing beyond the court of the Gentiles in the Temple" (pp. 394-395). In other words, Cornelius was the next best thing to being a Jewish proselyte without being one. He was still considered a Gentile.
Cornelius had a daytime vision where an angel commended and instructed him to send for Peter in Joppa (Acts 10:3-6). He dispatches two servants and a soldier to get Peter (10:7-8). Meanwhile, the LORD was working on Peter's Jewishness by giving him a vision three times, in which Peter was commanded to eat things a good Jew new to be "unclean". With the command came the instruction: "What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common" (10:15). Peter meets Cornelius' representatives with God's instructions to "go with them, doubting nothing: for I have sent them" (10:20). Peter comes to Cornelius' house with the knowledge that he "should not call any man common or unclean" (10:28). Peter profoundly declares what he has discovered about God and Cornelius. "Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: but in every nation he that feareth Him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with Him" (Acts 10:34-35).
Peter outlines clearly the mission of the LORD Jesus that "through His name whosoever believeth in Him shall receive remission of sins" (Acts 10:43). I believe that Cornelius was already a Saint of God-- as far as God was concerned. The problem was convincing Peter and the rest of the, then Jewish, Church. Peter remembered the 3,000 souls that were saved after his sermon on Pentecost. These were all Jews. A new bold approach was being hatched in the understanding of Peter that the Gentiles would be saved as they were. The proof was forthcoming.
"While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the Word. And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost. For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God. Then answered Peter, Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we?" (Acts 10:44-47). If the Holy Spirit would fall upon the 120 gathered in that upper room, what was the difference with those gathered in Cornelius' house? When the Holy Spirit filled the 120 in Acts 2, they were already converted. Now they were useful and powerful. When the Holy Spirit fell upon the Gentiles gathered in Cornelius' house it was obvious that they were already "accepted with Him [Jehovah Jesus]" (10:35). The Gentiles were now on an equal footing with the Jews in the Church that the LORD Jesus Christ was building.
What is the significance of April 12, 39 AD (Julian)? It was the Second Pentecost Where the Gentiles Began Their Ascendancy. "I say then, Have they [Israel] stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their [Israel's] fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy" (Romans 11:11). The Church was now to move into the domain of the Gentiles. Just look at Church History.
Conversely, what is the significance of the May 31,1998 Pre-Tribulational Rapture of the Church? It will be the time when the LORD will begin to remove the blindness from Israel. "For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this Mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in" (Romans 11:25). Removing Israel's blindness is a process beginning at the Pre-Tribulational Rapture of the Church on May 31,1998 and culminating with a Nation Born in a Day (Isaiah 66:8) at the Second Coming of the LORD Jesus Christ on October 13, 2005. That process of removing Israel's blindness begins when "the fulness of the Gentiles [are] come in" (Romans 11:25) to Heaven at the Pre-Tribulational Rapture on May 31,1998. By definition and design, that process of removing Israel's blindness must occur AFTER June 7,1967 to be consistent with Jesus' words concerning the fulfillment of the "times of the Gentiles" (Luke 21:24b).
This removal of the blindness from Israel will enable her to begin her return to the LORD. "In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth" (2 Timothy 2:25). Soon Israel will begin to return to the calling to which Jehovah called Israel. "And ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation" (Exodus 19:6). May 31,1998 is the Second Fulfillment of Pentecost Where Israel Will Begin their Ascendancy.