The signs of the times look like the great events of end times are already closer than at the doors.
The events of salvation history are taking place according to the pattern given in Jewish holidays. God gave these seven holidays for his people to depict salvation history, for people to understand His plan and for the information not to perish. The events of end times even probably take place on Jewish holidays, like already the past events of salvation history have done. Also Jewish wedding ceremonies symbolize the wedding of the Lamb.
The seven great Jewish holidays are 1.)Easter/Passover/Pesach, 2.)the Feast of Unleavened Bread, 3.)the Feast of Firstfruits (barley harvest), 4.)the Feast of Weeks (wheat harvest), 5.)the Feast of Trumpets, 6.)the Day of Atonement, and 7.)the Feast of Tabernacles (which ends the harvest in autumn).
Jesus and the outpouring of Holy Spirit have already fulfilled the first four spring holidays, remaining are the autumn holidays beginning from the Feast of Trumpets.
Jesus died during Easter and was resurrected during the Feast of Firstfruits as the first fruit or first-born of the New Covenant saints.
The Feast of Unleavened Bread is related to the Jewish Easter time and lasts for seven days. One of these days is the Feast of Firstfruits. On that day the Jews used to sacrifice the unleavened bread made of the firstfruits of barley harvest in the temple of Jerusalem. This unleavened bread describes Jesus, who was the first fruit in the harvest of God and unleavened meaning clean of sin. They used barley because it is the first crop to ripen.
Feast of Weeks (firstfruits of wheat harvest) was the day when the Holy Spirit was given to the Early Church. Jews call this day Shavuot and Christians Pentecost.
The important days of Christianity have thus coincided with the Jewish holidays. We could expect this to happen in the future as well. The majority of Jews may not know these things very well because they don’t believe that Jesus would be their Messiah.
The next event in salvation history is the Feast of Trumpets, Rosh Hashanah/Yom Teruah. For Jews this means the beginning of the last week of Daniel, the last seven years of their time. The age of pagan Christians (meaning us) ends simultaneously when the world is shifting from 2000 years of Church age back to Jew age. This also means that the rapture of the pagan church will happen during this transition.
Dan. 9:24-27 tells about the 70 weeks given to the Jews, which according to common understanding have paused after 7+62=69 weeks, when the Messiah was cut off (Jesus died). The Shavuot/Pentecost (outpouring of Holy Spirit) after that started the Age of Church or age of pagan Christians. This age ends probably in the rapture of the Church, the bride. After that starts the last week of Daniel for the Jews. Also the Holy Spirit, the restrainer, leaves with the bride for some time and because of that the antichrist can reach his full power. He could be recognizable already before the rapture (2. Tess. 2:1-12).
According to my interpretation, the antichrist will rise in Middle East, in the area of Seleucid empire, which was one of the four parts of the fallen Roman empire. The most likely area for the antichrist to rise is in Turkey. By the way, the throne of Satan is located there (Rev. 2:13). The mortally wounded but then healed head of the beast (Rev. 13:3) is the resurrected Ottoman (islamist) caliphate in my opinion. The beast/antichrist rises up out of the sea, which means the pagan peoples (Rev. 13:1). Unlike that, the another beast/false prophet comes up out of the earth, which means the people believing in God. Because the another beast has two horns like a lamb, he could rise from among the Christians (Rev. 13:11). Some believe the another beast could be the Pope. He has already tried to promote dialogue between religions and could thus get even the Christians to worship Islam (Rev. 13:12).
(The president of Turkey, Erdogan, has already spoken of the Ottoman empire and seeks to establish an islamist caliphate. Some have already said that Erdogan could declare himself as Mahdi, which is the messiah for muslims. I think Mahdi is the antichrist for Christians. Erdogan has already made it through with a decision in parliament that Turkey will move from parliamentary regime to presidential one and the post of prime minister will be ceased. The next step is a referendum on this, taking place on 16th April, our Easter sunday. The result of the vote is probably already decided, like the result of the attempted coup on July 2016, of which you can think ”with the force of a flood they shall be swept away from before him and be broken” (Dan. 11:22). Erdogan is targeting dictatorship. If the end time events are going to happen in our time, he would be a good candidate for antichrist. Of course he would already have to hurry up a little bit to establish the caliphate with ten kings (Rev. 17:12-14).)
Dan. 9:27 is commonly interpreted so that the antichrist confirms a covenant with Israel for the last week and breaks it in the middle of the week, when ”they shall take away the daily sacrifices, and place there (in the sanctuary) the abomination of desolation” (Dan. 11:31). Ezekiel tells about the war of Gog which should begin during a peaceful time for Israel, when ”all of them dwell safely” (Ezekiel 38:8). That would mean this war might begin already earlier than in the middle of the week, because after the sanctuary is defiled, the israelites will probably not feel safe anymore. Another alternative would be that the war will begin with defiling the sanctuary. Israel will anyway win the war with God’s help.
It seems that even before the Gog war there will be another war mentioned in Psalm 83, which involves the nearest neighbours of Israel. The outcome of this war should be Israel having a larger territory. After that there should be peace for a while, supposedly because of the confirmation of the covenant with the antichrist. Then would begin the Gog war. The neighbours of Israel a little bit farther away could get their motivation for this war from the fact that Israel has taken over its nearer neighbours in Psalm 83 war.
(If we think of Turkey as the state of antichrist, we can say that it already has made a covenant with Israel on 2016, when the two countries agreed on returning their relationships back to normal. The relationships were broken in Gaza 2010. Before that they had military co-operation among other things. If Erdogan was the antichrist, he would only have to confirm this covenant.)
The antichrist (Mahdi) will sit as God in the temple of God showing himself that he is God (2. Tess. 2:4). This happens in the middle of the last week when the temple is defiled. Today the Jews don’t have a temple on the Temple Mount but there is for example the Dome of the Rock, which is an islamic shrine. The third Temple of Jerusalem should thus be built until the middle of the week, if interpreted literally. If so, it should be built at the latest during the first half of the week when there is still peaceful in Israel. The Jews are already prepared to build the temple. All the movable things are ready, only the building is not there yet.
Although the Jews live in peace for some time during the first half of the week, the Western countries may not. The caliphate/beast will probably want to wipe Israel out of the world map. This will probably not succeed as long as Israel has powerful allies in the West. I think Israel is left in peace while the power of the West is run down. It’s also possible that the unrest in West urges the Jews back to Israel. There could also emerge persecutions of Jews, probably in other parts of the world, which could force the rest of the Jews back to Israel. Micah 5:2 foretells that the rest of the Jews will return. After that it would be the time of tribulation for Israel during the second half of the week.
As a result of the Gog war, the Jews probably start to believe in Jesus as their Messiah or at least God will pour out His Spirit on the house of Israel (Ezekiel 39:29). The reason for the last week to exist is that the Jews would finally start to believe in Jesus as the Messiah. But this will happen only after the fullness of the Gentiles has come in (Romans 11:25). The Jews had to fall (to abandon Jesus) for this to open the salvation and to be riches for the world (Romans 11:11-12). After that the Bible promises that all Israel will be saved and God takes away their sins (Romans 11:26-27).
I believe that the trumpets of Revelation will sound during the last week of Daniel, at least most of them. In the middle of the week the ”abomination of desolation” will be placed in the Temple of Jerusalem. The book of Daniel tells us to count 1290 days beginning from this. Blessed is he who waits, and comes to the 1335 days (Daniel 12:11-12). These days have been explained in many ways and it is true that the prophecies in Bible come true several times in history. I believe that considering the end times, this means that the Jews are informed literally and precisely when their time, the last week, will end.
It seems that on 1290th day it would be the Feast of Firstfruits which takes place during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. That day would be the rapture day for the 144000 messianic Jews. (To be messianic means to belive in Jesus as Messiah.) They would be the firstfruits of the God’s chosen people, Israel (Revelation 14:1-5). On that day the Jews also begin to count so called ”Omer”, which ends after seven weeks in the Feast of Weeks (feast of wheat harvest), which is also called Shavuot/Pentecost. (I have to mention here that in the NKJV Bible it says that those 144000 are the firstfruits redeemed from among ”men”. However, I interpret that it means among the Jews, because the pagan christians have already been raptured earlier according to the book of Revelation. The 144000 were sealed and left on the earth when the pagan christians were raptured (Revelation 7).)
On the first day of Omer count, the Jews brought the firstfruits of barley harvest, the unleavened bread, in the temple to sacrifice it (Leviticus 23:10-14, it tells here only of ”flour”, not barley, but we know barley ripens first). These firstfruits of barley harvest, the unleavened bread, would be those 144000. To be unleavened means to be clean from sin. Under the eyes of God you can be clean from sin only by believing in Jesus as your Saviour.
This barley, which is used to bake unleavened bread, probably also describes the rapture of pagan Christians. Barley is cheaper than wheat (Revelation 6:6) and ripens earlier. So the pagan Christians who are raptured earlier would be barley, and the Jews raptured later would be wheat. The Jews are more valuable because God has chosen them to be the people of which Jesus was to be born.
Although barley is food for poorer people, bread baked of it is unleavened unlike wheat bread. The people described with barley are clean from sin because they believe Jesus cleans them with His sacrifice (John 15:3, 1. Corinthians 5:6-8). They believe Jesus is their Saviour and they belong to Him. Wheat bread is leavened because the Jews are not clean yet because they don’t belive in Jesus as their Saviour and Messiah yet. (Maybe that’s why they need the Atonement Day/Yom Kippur when Jesus visibly comes on Earth, so that the last one of Jews too would be clean from sin and all Israel would be saved (Romans 11:26).) According to this logic, Jesus himself would be both unleavened barley and more valuable wheat because He was a Jew.
The 144000 messianic Jews surely believed in Jesus already when the pagan Christians were raptured, so they could have been raptured themselves already then. They could have been the firstfruits of barley already then. However, they were sealed and left on Earth for the last week of Daniel, perhaps to tell others what it’s all about (Revelation 7). Just like Jesus, they would also be wheat besides of being barley, but not leavened wheat bread.
On 1335th day would be the end of the Omer count. That would be the Feast of Weeks/Shavuot/Pentecost, wheat harvest day. On that day the Jews used to sacrifice the firstfruits of wheat harvest, the leavened bread, in the temple (Leviticus 23:15-21). On the same day the Jews also celebrate the Feast of the Torah and the Ten Commandments, revelation of the Law on Mount Sinai and confirmation of the (Old) Covenant. New Testament tells that on this same day of celebration, the disciples of Jesus were given the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:1). When it comes to End times, this feast day would be the rapture/resurrection day of the Jews (Revelation 14:14-16 reaping).
Revelation 15 tells about the people standing on a sea of glass mingled with fire. They have the victory over the beast and his mark, and they sing the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb. Mentioning Moses here could mean that these people could be the raptured/resurrected Jews. This group cannot be the pagan Christians because they have been raptured already before the time of the mark of the beast, already before the antichrist reaches his full power.
It’s notable that only after the rapture of these people standing on a sea of glass, the bowls of the wrath of God are poured out (Revelation 15). Common interpretation has been that the bowls are poured out during the end or last half of the last week, but this clearly isn’t the case. They are poured out after the end of the last week, after the rapture of the Jews. God has not appointed the Christians to wrath (1. Thessalonians 5:9), but not the Jews either, they are after all His people (Isaiah 26:20). I have to mention that at this point of time there might also be other people who have the victory over the beast than just the Jews, but they probably belong to other cereal than wheat in the grain harvest (Isaiah 28:23-29).
The last week of Daniel ends in the rapture/resurrection of the Jews. After that begins the time of the wrath of God. Daniel tells that at that time Michael shall stand up, the angel who stands watch over the Jews, and there shall be a time of trouble such as never before (Daniel 12:1). This is the time of the wrath of God. ”And at that time your people (the Jews) shall be delivered, every one who is found written in the book”, which apparently means the rapture of the Jews. On the other hand, in Matthew 24:21 Jesus says that the great tribulation begins already in the middle of the last week, when the abomination of desolation is seen standing in the holy place (in the temple) (Matthew 24:15-21). This great tribulation lasts apparently until the visible coming of Jesus on earth (Matthew 24:29-30). I would interpret that this means a 3,5 years tribulation for the Jews during the last half of the last week, and after that a probably even worse tribulation for those who have been left on the earth during the bowls of the wrath of God.
(Full article is in Finnish)