God has provided many signs to alert us to the times we are living in and not the least of these alerts are seven yearly feasts known as the Feasts of the Lord. They outline the plan of salvation and they also act as a prophetic calendar which are a rehearsal of God’s end time plan. It consists of 12 thirty-day months and every 13 years a 13th month is added. But this calendar is just the framework for seven yearly appointed times when God makes a special effort to meet with His people, those who have covenanted with Him. These appointed times are called The Feasts of the Lord. Four of them occur in the Spring of the year: Passover, Unleavened Bread, First Fruits, and Weeks (Pentecost). The last three occur in the Fall, in fact in the seventh month of the year; Trumpets, Day of Atonement, and Tabernacles. These seven feasts remind God’s people of the most important aspects of our covenant with Him –

1. Passover – we have failed to meet God’s standards and need a Redeemer to help us, One who is without sin who is willing to pay the price for our sin which is death.
2. Unleavened bread – to walk in this covenant relationship we need to embrace God’s holiness and purge worldly sin from our lives.
3. First Fruits – we must put God first in all that we do as our Redeemer did.
4. Pentecost – we are to bear fruit for the Lord but we need a heavenly endowment of power to do it so, God will send a Comforter to be with us forever.
5. Trumpets – we are watchmen for the lord and are always to be on alert against the enemy. God also warns us of His soon appearing to make sure we are ready.
6. Day of Atonement – we need to remember there is a day of judgment coming and we are responsible to prepare our lives. Only we can do it through repentance and belief.
7. Tabernacles – to remind us that God is faithful and He is coming to dwell with His people. He will rule on the earth for a thousand years to show all what God’s Rest looks and feels like.

These feasts are not only times of remembrance and preparation but they also act as a prophetic clock telling the time of God’s moving to fulfill His plan. When Jesus came to earth the first time, His ministry fulfilled the first four Feasts exactly on the appointed time of each feast.

1. He was ‘cut off’ on the cross at the exact time the Passover Lamb was being offered in the Temple.
2. He had no sin and was the ‘unleavened bread’ for three days in the tomb.
3. On the third day, He arose as the ‘first fruit’ offering to God.
4. 50 days later, He sent the Holy Spirit on Pentecost as He promised.

Now, if He fulfilled the first four Feasts exactly with His first coming, it is probable that He will fulfill the last three Feasts with His second coming. This is even more likely as we have been warned by the rare Biblical Blood Red Moon Tetrad occurring on the Feasts of Passover and Tabernacles in the last two years, 2014 and 2015 ( only the eighth one since Jesus was hanging on the Cross 2000 year ago). This is further accentuated by the fact that the next year was a Jubilee year just as the year Jesus began His earthly ministry so long ago.

Only God knows for sure when Jesus will come again but, He alone has set His calendar and shown these heavenly signs and Feast days to warn us to be ready. As the Feast of Trumpets will occur in September this year, it once again is warning of trouble in the world and in Israel, and once again is alerting us to get ready for the rapidly approaching judgment.

Remember, after the Feast of Trumpets there were only 10 days to get right with God before He opens the Book of Life in heaven. Scripture declares, “Seek the Lord while He may be found”. Once the Books of judgment are opened in heaven on the Day of Atonement, your destiny is sealed. I pray we will all be ready.

This year, the next feast day to occur will be the Feast of Weeks, or Pentecost, on June 9, 2019. You remember Pentecost was when the Holy Spirit descended upon the 120 disciples who were faithful to wait in Jerusalem according to Jesus’ command –

“And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me;” – Acts 1:4

That endument with the power of the Holy Spirit launched the Church Age to begin the harvest of souls for the Lord. It has been going on for 2000 years but, it will come to an end. Scriptures promise the return of the Lord, as the angel promised the disciples as they watched Jesus rise into the clouds –

“And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.” – Acts 1:10,11

John the Revelator saw His second coming on a white horse and His name was called The Word of God and John heard Him say –

“And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work. “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.”- Rev. 22:12,13

 But, the Feast of Pentecost is not fulfilled yet. It will have a ‘former’ and ‘a later’ fulfillment, one to begin the harvest and one to end the end the harvest.

“Be glad then, you children of Zion, And rejoice in the LORD your God; For He has given you the former rain faithfully, And He will cause the rain to come down for you—The former rain, And the latter rain in the first month.” – Joel 2:23

Joel describes a time of great peril happening just before this outpouring. He then describes how this outpouring will come –

“And it shall come to pass afterward That I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your old men shall dream dreams, Your young men shall see visions. And also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days.” – Joel 2:28,29

This is the part of Joel’s prophesy that Peter claimed on that first Pentecost, the ‘former rain’, but, it goes on.

“And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: Blood and fire and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD. ” – Joel 2:30,31

These events happen at the second coming of Jesus, the time of the ‘later rain’ . James also alludes to this later outpouring –

“Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain.” – James 5:7

Both Joel and James are speaking of the harvest of souls for the Lord and the Lord, as a farmer, is waiting for the precious fruit of the earth! Perhaps it is beginning to fall already as souls are being reached for Jesus among people groups that have been hereto hard to reach, such as Muslims.

Notice, the later rain will come in the first month, the month of Nisan. And remember, we are specifically told to pray for it –

“Ask ye of the LORD rain in the time of the latter rain; so the LORD shall make bright clouds, and give them showers of rain, to every one grass in the field.” – Zec. 10:1

Continue praying, don’t give up. Remember, on Pentecost, when the former rain came, they had been seeking and praying for 50 days. God will honor His word in due time, don’t give up. He is not going to pour out this latter rain because we are so good, but because we are not so good and we need it for the days ahead!