Day of the Lord and Appointed Times

So, as we go forward, 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11. This is the day of the Lord scripture as well. And look at what it says: "Now, again, this is a continuation of 1 Thessalonians 4. As we all know, there were no chapter breaks. And when Paul was writing, he didn't write 1 Thessalonians 4 or 1 Thessalonians 5. It was just a continuing epistle. So they added the chapter breaks after the fact. So this is not something that's a new something or a new deal. It's the same understanding throughout the epistle. It's not according to the chapter breaks. And let's look at what the apostle says: "But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they say peace and safety, then sudden destruction comes upon them as labor pains upon a pregnant woman, and they shall not escape. But you, brethren, Thessalonians, you faithful believers, are not in darkness, so that this day, which is the day of the Lord, should overtake you as a thief. You are all sons of the light, and sons of the day; we are not of the night, nor of darkness."

So, let me go back through this. My friends, I've said this before. When a Christian believer reads this, if they don't understand what Paul is saying here, there's really no reason to read the rest of the scripture because they don't understand what it's saying. I didn't either before I got educated as well. But concerning the times and the seasons, if we don't understand that, let's close the book and let's go get educated so that we can understand what the Apostle Paul is speaking about. Because there's only one thing that he is speaking about when he says this. But concerning the times and the seasons. Think about this. What is time? God is time. He's the one who makes time. What are His times? Well, His times is the biblical calendar. That's His times, everybody. It's not the Gregorian calendar or none of that. His time and His time is the calendar only. Paul would have, of course, understood this. This is one of the reasons he was raised up to say what he said in 1 Thessalonians 5. So again, concerning the times and the seasons, the time is the calendar, the seasons is the moed. And that is very clear if you go do your homework. In Hebrew, it's called the appointed times. It's called moedim. Even in the Greek, they got it right. This appointed times. I'm going to go through that here next when we look at the Greek as well. So again, if one's not familiar with the seasons, the divine appointments of Yeshua that the Father put in place on His calendar, then we're not going to understand what the apostle is writing about. We're just not. I'm not, you're not, we're not. We've got to be educated and have knowledge to understand what the apostle is speaking of.

So again, 1 Thessalonians 4 is telling you about the Feast of Trumpets, literally the trumpet of God. And then Paul follows that up in 1 Thessalonians 5, which is a continuation of the epistle. I'm just quoting the chapter. But concerning the times and the seasons, right after he said the Feast of Trumpets, he said, "concerning them, the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you because the Thessalonians knew what was going on with the times and the seasons. For you yourselves know, Thessalonians, that the day of the Lord," that's what he's talking about. He's not talking about the tribulation. He's not talking about any of that. He's talking about the day of the Lord, which begins on the Feast of Trumpets. So it comes as a thief in the night. Wow. What is he relating a thief in the night to? Understanding the times and the seasons and the day of the Lord. What's the day of the Lord? It starts on the Feast of Trumpets, and then there's a 10-day war with Yeshua coming down, fighting the ungodly, and really destroying anyone who does not believe in Him and keep His commandments. So that's a 10-day war to the Feast of Yom Kippur. That begins the day of the Lord, or that begins the 7,000th year, the seventh day to the eighth day. A thousand-year reign begins on the Feast of Trumpets. But the first 10 days are gloomy darkness. I mean, go read what Zephaniah said. Go read what Joel said in the Bible. This is not going to be pretty for the inhabitants on this earth. And we're going to get to that here as the apostle continues forward with the trajectory that we're on.

But my friends, this is totally amazing what Paul is writing here. He's telling you in 1 Thessalonians 4 that the Lord will come down with a trumpet. Feast of Trumpets, trumpet sound. And then the dead in Christ will rise first. Then those who remain will be caught up with Him to meet Him in the clouds before He pours out His wrath on this earth. So again, we've got to look at it. He's talking only about the day of the Lord. He's not talking about any tribulation terminology in these chapters. So, just taking what he's saying. Because there's a lot of confusion going on with what the day of the Lord is, what the tribulation is, and I'm going to explain that to you as we continue.

But as we continue right now, "But concerning the times and the seasons, concerning the calendar and the feast days and the Feast of Trumpets, on the feast days, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. For you yourselves know perfectly well that the day of the Lord comes, what? As a thief in the night. So those who don't understand the times and the seasons, thief in the night, is what Paul is saying. For peace and safety, and then sudden destruction comes upon them as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. Every biblical prophet went through that understanding. Isaiah 66, the book of Jeremiah, everybody talks about the pregnant pain, the labor pains, the tribulation, and they shall not escape." That's very important what Paul says. If we don't understand the times and the seasons, we're not going to understand the day of the Lord. Peace and safety. Ain't life grand? Everybody's good. Then labor pains upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape, according to the Apostle Paul, because why? They don't understand. There's no knowledge. Everybody's got their Jesus. Everybody's celebrating the wrong way. No one knows what's going on. The Jewish people don't have Yeshua. They have no clue either. And here we go. Here we go with the destruction part of it. This is the day of Adonai. Now, this is not the tribulation. This is the seven-year tribulation, the day of the Lord. That's where it is. If one's not familiar with that, Feast of Trumpets, just like Paul said in 1 Thessalonians 4, He returns on the trumpet of God. Amen and amen. He pours out His wrath for 10 days, and that's when they will not escape. It's not the tribulation He's talking about. If one's not familiar with that prophetic understanding, you've got seven years of tribulation. Paul's never mentioned that in this chapter or the next chapter or the other book either. We've got to understand seven years. It starts on the Feast of Trumpets. It ends on the Feast of Trumpets. Seven exact years. And then the day of the Lord. So seven years, trumpets, the trumpets on the Shmita cycle. And then the day of the Lord for 10 days of gloominess, darkness, sword, fire, destruction, seven bowls on the 10 days of awe will be poured out according to the book of Revelation. My friends, we've got to understand this to get people educated with this, because we're going to get further into it, and you're going to see it's a continuation of what the apostle is warning about.

So again, "concerning the times and the seasons, you have no need that I should write to you. For you yourselves know perfectly well that the day of the Lord will come upon those unbelievers and the people without knowledge as a thief in the night. For when they say peace and safety, then sudden destruction comes upon all of them who has no knowledge of this, and they will not escape, because there will be labor pains upon a pregnant woman. But you, faithful believers, all of you out there, and all of the Thessalonians back then, are not in darkness, so that this day, what day? The day of Antichrist? No. The day of Adonai, the day of Yeshua, 10 days of awe, should overtake you as a thief. You are all sons of light, all of you, and sons of the day, but the ones who don't understand this, we are not of the night nor of the darkness."

So, here's the confirmation in both translations as far as the languages are concerned. When we look at the Hebrew, of course, that's the moed, is what it's called. The set appointed times, which is what Yeshua has fulfilled on His first coming events and what He will fulfill on His second coming events. If one doesn't have that understanding, that's okay. I'll try to explain it to the best of my ability. Passover, He was crucified. Every gospel account will tell you that. Unleavened Bread, He was put in the tomb. Every gospel account will tell you that. The Feast of Firstfruits is the resurrection. Paul himself called Yeshua, he didn't call him Easter, he called him the Feast of Firstfruits, he called him the firstfruits of mankind. So let's get this straight. So He fulfilled that as well. Why? Because He had to. He must, as the Jewish Messiah. 50 days later, it's called Shavuot in the Bible. In the Greek, it's called Pentecost. And there you go. That's when He poured His Holy Spirit out upon all of mankind. So my friends, Yeshua had to do this. No doubt, to be the Jewish Messiah, to be the Son of God, He had to fulfill these prophecies in the Bible. They're divine appointments from Yah for His Son Yeshua to fulfill at His first coming events and His second coming events. It's really just totally remarkable and fascinating and amazing what the Father has done. But we have got to have knowledge about this. And if we don't, thief in the night is what Paul will tell all of us.

So again, He fulfilled the first four to the exact day, hour, and detail of the ceremony. Leviticus 23, Exodus 12, foreshadows on forward, and go read the gospel accounts. That's why it's totally amazing when Christians read the Gospels, they can't understand this because it's right there in front of you. You know, when you read the Bible, when you read the Gospel accounts, and that lets all of us know, all of you know, and all of me know that the Christians aren't reading the Gospel accounts. They're just going to church with a lemon cake and a coffee and getting a motivational speech. And ain't life grand? And we're going to see how that goes as this trajectory of this world keeps falling into the tribulation here whenever God appoints it. So, we've got to understand that.

But the Hebrew, and the Greek, when we look at the Greek language, I can't pronounce the Greek, I don't really study the Greek, I'm just proving a point here. It's the set appointed times. So the Greek got it right in the New Testament. It's the set apart times. My friends, what does that mean to us? It means that our Savior is set apart. He wants us to be set apart, and He wants us to know the set apart times. And according to Paul, if we do not, it's going to be bad. I mean, just trust what Paul says. Don't listen to me. I'm just reading it to you and trying to explain it to the best of my ability.

So again, let's, as we continue forward, he says, "Therefore, my brethren, do not sleep as others do, but let us watch and be sober. For those who sleep sleep at night, and those who get drunk get drunk at night. But let those who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation. For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Yeshua, the Messiah, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him. Amen. Therefore, comfort each other and edify one another, just as you are doing."

My friends, he's only talking about one thing. When he says, "For God did not appoint us to wrath," everybody's like, "Oh, that's the tribulation." No, he's not talking about the tribulation in these scriptures. He's talking about the day of the Lord. That's it. He's not talking about any tribulation in here. He never mentions tribulation in here. The seven-year tribulation, the time of Jacob's trouble. He said this: "For God did not appoint us to wrath." What wrath? The day of the Lord. Those 10 days of awe that people don't understand that are very important. Christianity cannot show me or you this. They just do not have it in their theology, and that's why it's so dangerous. They just don't have it. They can explain this to you. When you ask somebody about the second coming of Yeshua, that's a Christian believer, they can't, they don't even know this terminology. They can't even understand this because they weren't taught this. I wasn't either. But we've got to humble ourselves. We've got to lower our pride, lower our egos, Christians and Jews, and understand what is the proper theology and eschatology, because we look like a bunch of idiots out here, in my personal opinion, because no one knows what's going on. Christians and the Jewish people don't know anything about what's going on with the time that we're living in right now. And this is super important. I love both parties, but it's time to get real with both parties and say, "Hey, listen. Let's provoke them to jealousy." If you love them, if you love them, if you don't love them, then okay, let them go ahead. But if you do love them, then we've got to understand to teach them the right way once we get that education and once we give that knowledge or share with them or whatever term you want to use there.

But my friends, Paul is not talking about any seven-year tribulation in this process. He's only talking about the day of Adonai, the day of the Lord. Look at what he says in 1 Thessalonians 4:13. He's talking about the Feast of Trumpets. That's the day of the Lord. He's talking about the day of the Lord through that. He's talking about the day of the Lord in 1 Thessalonians 5. He's not talking about anything with the seven-year tribulation period. And then he says, "For God did not appoint us to wrath." He's talking about the day of the Lord wrath, the 10 days of awe. And if people don't understand that, that's those 10 days between the Feast of Trumpets and the Feast of Yom Kippur. And that goes into a lot of things that we're going to discuss over this feast season. I mean, the Feast of Trumpets, we're going to go through a lot of this stuff, not all Paul. We're going to go through all of these idioms that's going to be on here. One of them is called the hidden day. Yom HaKaseh, is what it's called in Hebrew. Why is that important? Because you want to be hidden in the day of the Lord, not the day of Antichrist. I mean, so many people have the spirit of fear with the Antichrist. I've never seen such in my life as believers in Yah. We've got the spirit of fear as the church, the spirit of fear as the Jewish people. We don't understand. We think it's the redemption now. Everybody wants to be raptured now. Why? Don't you realize the harvest is plentiful out there and the laborers are few? Don't you realize that you're going to be here during the seven-year tribulation? Paul's going to show you that as we continue to go forward. It's time to get in the game. Get in the game with your spiritual gifts and with the Great Commission and let's do our part in God's kingdom instead of letting you be raptured. What a selfish person that would be. What a selfish person that would be. Y'all never was very like that. Yeshua wasn't like that. No one's like that in the Bible. They all wanted to do their part in God's kingdom. And we have to do the same things, my friends. We've got to have that same apocalyptic mindset that Yeshua had, that Paul had, that the disciples had. Surely the biblical prophets had. Goodness gracious. Go read the biblical prophets. You think they were concerned? No. They wanted to do their part and they wanted to uplift everybody, instead of being selfish and, "Hey, I want to get out of here because I'm so holy." No. The Christians are not holy right now who are celebrating Christmas, Easter, and Sunday Sabbath. They're not holy at all. So, while even if there is a pre-trip rapture, they would not be raptured because they're going to be put through the fire, and we're going to go through that scripture as well.

So again, this is all nonsense what people are teaching out here. Nonsense that all this pre-trip stuff and get me out of here and, "Oh, I'm so holy." No, you're not. If you're celebrating Christmas, Easter, and Sunday Sabbath, you're just not. You're in paganism. You're in replacement theology. And you will be put through the fire in the seven-year tribulation to get purified, to get on the calendar and on the days, the Sabbath and all these beautiful divine appointments that Yah and Yeshua wants you to be on and wants me to be on, wants the one new body and the one new man to be on. So when He says, "For God did not appoint us to wrath," He is pointing to the day of the Lord. I think that's pretty obvious. He's not pointing to any seven-year tribulation because He doesn't mention the tribulation.