I know only God knows the date and exact time of the rapture. But for those of us who love the rapture we can’t help trying to figure out the date based on clues in God’s Word. I’ve spent several hours trying to pin down a rapture date, which is virtually impossible. We can come up with a time window, a range of dates, that have a high probability for the rapture occurring during that time. God loves numbers and they mean something to God. The number seven signifies completeness in God’s economy.
In Genesis it says God created the heavens, the earth, and all living things on the earth in a literal period of six 24 hour days. On the seventh day God rested. God wasn’t tired so why did He rest? In a double meaning of the Scriptures God was modeling human history for us, telling us the end from the beginning. God’s seventh day of rest represents the seventh day of human history, the 1,000 days we know as the Millennium, when Jesus will rule the earth from Jerusalem. The saints will rest in the peace of God.
2 Peter 3:8 – But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
I have pondered the above verse for a long time trying to figure it out without much success. It makes sense now. God also loves the number 1,000 and for each day of creation God has allotted man 1,000 years on earth so here we have the answer to the riddle. One day is 1,000 years and vice versa. The creation account in Genesis has a parallel meaning that reveals the extent of human history and its end. God has literally shown us the end from the beginning. God has allotted 6,000 years of human history before the last 1,000 years of the Millennium. From creation to Abraham was two days, or 2,000 years. From Abraham to Jesus was two days, or 2,000 years.
The last two days, or 2,000 years is from Jesus until the end of human history, which we know as the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. God cannot violate His Word so the 1.000 year God days will be a full 1,000 years long. The days can go over but they can’t be less that 1,000 years. God is usually precise with His timing so the trick is to figure out where to start marking time. We start counting the last 2,000 years of human history from the death of Jesus on the cross because His shed blood established the New Covenant of salvation by faith and ushered in the church age, the time of the Gentiles. Historians think Jesus died on Passover in 33 AD. 2,000 years later is 2033 AD.
Jesus will not set up His Millennium kingdom before that date. If God chooses the earliest possible date then the rapture would occur exactly seven years before that, My best guess for the earliest possible rapture date is Passover on 2026. We may have only six years left before a peace agreement is signed by Israel starting the clock on the last 7 years of human history. The time known as the tribulation. The rapture will also occur around that time and the Spirit of God, which is currently restraining Satan, will be removed.
I’ve come up with a possible rapture as early as Pentecost in 2026 and as late as Pentecost in 2061. Pentecost is 50 days after Passover and is the date the church age actually started because the Holy Spirit came down from God to indwell the disciples of Christ so they could begin witnessing to the nations. This holiday starts at sundown on the sixth day of third month in the Hebrew calendar (Sivan). Pentecost is also known as the Feast of Harvests and marks the completion of the harvest. This feast marks the harvest of grain meant to feed the people of Israel but, in a double meaning, could it also represent the completion of the soul harvest by God before He brings His judgement on the earth?
The rapture marks the completion of God’s harvest of souls for the kingdom of God. Is this just a coincidence or does God plan to rapture the church at the end of the Jewish Feast of Harvests? By studying God’s Word, prayer and keeping our eyes on events in the Middle East believers will have a good idea when Jesus is coming back for us. We’re all told to watch for His coming and “occupy until He comes”. All Christians will know through the media the exact date of any peace deal signed by Israel. All believers will know the significance and should gather with their families and praise God for His great mercy.