There are some who believe that the holiday of Shavuot is linked (eschatologically) with the “rapture” of the church, that is, the doctrine that the followers of Yeshua the Messiah will be “caught up” (ἁρπάζω, harpazo) and suddenly taken away before the time of the Great Tribulation and the Great Day of the LORD (1 Thess. 4:17; John 14:3; 1 Cor. 15:51-52). They reason that since Shavuot marked the day of great and dramatic revelation, with signs of fire and the sounds of a heavenly shofar blast, an appointed time when Moses first ascended to receive revelation from Sinai and later the Holy Spirit descended upon the followers of Messiah from Zion. Shavuot therefore marks the fulfillment of Passover that culminates in the rapturous goal of our redemption… Both Jew and Gentile are “waved” together before the LORD (as symbolized by shtei ha-lechem, the two loaves), representing the “one new man” of kallat Mashiach, the “bride of Messiah,” or the assembly of those called out from every tribe and tongue to be a part of God’s heavenly kingdom.
Though of course no one knows the day or hour of the return of Yeshua our Messiah (see Matt. 24:36; Acts 1:7), there are various clues given in Scripture about the conditions of the world before His return, and Yeshua himself gave us parables warning us to be looking for Him (Matt. 24:2-14; 25:1-13). Moreover just as Yeshua faulted the scribes and the Pharisees of his day for failing to discern “the signs of the times” (Matt. 16:3) and for missing the “time of their visitation” (Luke 19:44), so he warned his followers to keep watch for his coming (Matt. 24:42-44). The Apostle Paul likewise said that the Lord would come secretly, “as a thief in the night”– not in great power and glory at the end of the age — though his followers would be awake for the hour to come (see 1 Thess. 5:2-6). Moreover, Paul forewarned of the rise of worldwide godlessness (2 Tim. 3:1-7) and even of the worldwide apostasy of the “institutionalized” church we see today (1 Tim. 4:1-3). Other Scriptures foretell of the coming One World Government, the rise of the Messiah of evil (Antichrist), the persecution of the national Israel (a nation miraculously restored to the promised land), the rebuilding of the Temple, the coming Great Tribulation, and so on. “When these things begin to take place, straighten up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near” (Luke 21:28).
There are some who reason (by analogy) that just as Enoch (חֲנוֹךְ), the father of Methuselah (מְתוּשָׁלַח), escaped from the judgment of the great flood when God “took him” up from the earth (Gen. 5:22-24), so the followers of Messiah will be “taken up” before the time of global judgment and the great Day of the LORD. And just as Noah was shut inside the ark for seven days before the great flood descended (Gen. 7:10), so the people of God will be covered within the ark of God’s grace just before the time of the Great Tribulation. “For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through Yeshua the Messiah” (1 Thess. 5:9).
Hebrew Lesson:
