MidnightCall Magazine
In this issue:
- Hear theWord of the Lord — By Thomas Lieth
- FirstThessalonians 3 and the Rapture — By Dr. Ron J. Bigalke Jr.
- Popular Prophecy:CheckingDogmaTwice — By Wilfred Hahn
News From Israel MagazineIn this issue:
- Why Jerusalem is Jewish — By Arno Froese
- ON THE HORIZON:
- Analysis: Birthright Needs to Transform on Larger Scale
- Israel Praises Turkish Authority for Preventing Hezbollah Attack
- Relationship with American Jews Is Changing
- A Festival of Discrimination—Funded by the EU
- The Cyrus Cylinder
Rapture at 2011?
Dear Sir,
I became interested in prophecy early on, and have listened to several preachers on the subject and read a good many books that have been written on Bible prophecy.
Now please do not think that I am a “crackpot” or that I have lost my mind because of what I’m going to reveal to you that God has recently shown me.
You will have to agree that the Rapture of the Church, the Great Tribulation and the Second Coming of Christ are just out ahead of us because you often say these things are coming soon.
I know the Bible says we cannot know the day or the hour of His coming, but it does say we can know when it is near, even at the door. I know there have been many date-setters in the past, but I believe that what I’m going to say is backed up and based on the Word of God. There is no way that I could have thought this up within myself; therefore, I believe that God has given this truth to me for some great and good purpose.
What I have to say concerns the fulfillment of Daniel’s 70th week, as set forth in Daniel 9:24.
Here is what the Lord has shown to me, and I believe it will surely happen just as He said.
When the state of Israel becomes 63 years old, which takes place in the year 2011, then God will add the last 7 years to them and this will complete Daniel’s 70th week.
This is the period of time that covers the Great Tribulation, and will accomplish all the things that are stated in Daniel 9:24, even to the second visible coming of Jesus Christ back to earth.
Now then, as you have taught that Jesus could come at any time, then the Rapture would have to occur sometime in the year 2011 before Israel’s 63rd birthday on May 14, 2011. This does not set a day or an hour.
This does give us the approximate time of the visible coming of Christ, which would take place in the year 2018, sometime close to Israel’s 70th birthday in their land.
Something else I find very interesting is that if you add 70 years to May 14, 1948, it comes out at May 14, 2018.
-T. Parrish, NC
Answer: Your analysis of Israel’s 63rd anniversary and Daniel’s 70th week sounds interesting, but I cannot see any direct revelation that would lead me to the conclusion that the Rapture would take place in the year 2011. As you probably have read several times in Midnight Call, the reason I reject any date setting for the coming of the Lord is because that theory would lead me not to wait for Jesus today, which in turn, is contrary to the constant admonition of Scripture to be ready now.
Yes, I have often written that His coming is very soon, but that from scriptural perspectives. Read Revelation 1:3,which says,“for the time is at hand,” or the second to last verse of Revelation, “Surely, I come quickly.” That was written almost 2,000 years ago, but is just as valid today as it was for believers two millenniums ago. We are waiting and are ready for the coming of Jesus today.