NOAH – THE FORMER RAIN
AND THE GRAPES OF WRATH
All Scripture is taken from the Son Of Man Bible (SOMB.bblx), e-Sword Bible program module for PC, Apple, Android, and Linux computers, available from www.biblesupport.com and www.wordmodules.com. E-Sword is available at www.e-sword.net. All FREE and LEGALLY FREED, under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International license. Original work available at www.unfoldingword.org. You can receive a SOMB.rtf word processing edition of the Son Of Man Bible so you can insert your colored font notes right inside the Bible text. Please email Gene if your module does not work or with any non-theological questions, or if you would like the SOMB.rtf word processing edition: anapto2 at gmail dot com.
I want you to know that what we are about to discuss is good news. We are soon to see the really bad news, but after the bad news comes the good news of the Kingdom of Yehovah. Rejoice remnant saints, he’s about to give you the Kingdom!
Matthew 24:36-39, “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 37As the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 38For as in those days before The Flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage until the day that Noah entered the ark, 39and they knew nothing until The Flood came and took them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.”
Yeshua told us to look into Noah and the Great Flood for insights on the end times. So, let’s go back about 5,000 years and check out an interesting point or two.
Genesis 7:11-12, “In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second lunar month, on the seventeenth day of the lunar month, on the same day, all the fountains of the great deep burst open, and the windows of heaven were opened. 12The rain began and fell on the earth for forty days and forty nights.”
Two keys to understanding the end times are revealed in these two verses. First, let’s get our time frame in mind. Yeshua said no one would know the day or hour of his return, but we can certainly know the season. Yeshua fulfilled the Spring Feasts at his first coming; he will fulfill the Fall Feasts at his second coming. Now take a look at the time of year when Noah’s Flood occurred: the second lunar month, on the 17th day of the second lunar month, in approximately 3122 BC. Yehovah did not give Moses our current religious biblical lunar calendar until the year of the Exodus, some 1,638 years AFTER Noah’s Flood, in 1484 BC. The ancient Hebrews in Noah’s day were using a Tishri reckoned lunar calendar. In other words, the first lunar month of the original Hebrew calendar year was Tishri, not Nisan. Yehovah told Moses to begin his year on Nisan, or Abib 1. So, when we see Noah going into the Ark in the 2nd lunar month on the 17th day of the 2nd lunar month, Noah meant the lunar month AFTER Tishri in the fall of the year, not the 2nd month in the spring of the year. What we know as the 8th month of our religious Hebrew biblical lunar calendar year, the month of Cheshvan (or Bul), on a Nisan reckoning, Noah knew as the 2nd lunar month of his perfect 360-day lunar year, Tishri reckoning. So, what am I saying? Yeshua, in Matthew 24:36-39, is pointing us to the season of his return, in the fall of the year!
So, what is the second key found in Genesis 7:12? THE RAIN BEGAN!! What rain falls in the autumn of the year in Israel? The former rain! You hear many preachers and teachers talking about how they expect a great revival in the end times, they expect another outpouring of the latter rain, but the latter rain refers to the spring of the year. It’s major fulfillment already happened at Pentecost in 30 AD. Of course, Shavuot had been happening every year for about 1,500 years by the time Yeshua resurrected, but in Acts 2:16-21, Peter made it clear that Pentecost 30 AD was a fulfillment of Joel 2:28-32. It could happen again, but I don’t believe that’s on the end times agenda. What is on the end times agenda is the former rain, the judgment rain of Noah! Final death and total destruction of rebellious mankind.
The only revival, or spiritual awakening, that I see happening in the end times, is the awakening of Yeshua’s brethren, the Jews, the Hebrews. Read all of Zechariah 12, but let’s focus on verse 10 right now, “But I will pour out a spirit of compassion and pleading on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so they will look on me, the one they have pierced. They will mourn for me, as one mourns for an only son; they will bitterly lament for him like those who lament the death of a firstborn son.”
The Jews are going to see Yeshua in person when he returns, and many of them will recognize him as their Messiah and get saved at that moment. Did not Paul say there is still hope for the salvation of the Jews? Please read all of Romans chapters 9, 10, and 11, but let’s look especially at chapter 11, verse 26, “Thus in this manner (by grace through faith in Yeshua) all Israel will be saved, just as it is written: “Out of Zion will come the Deliverer. He will remove ungodliness from Jacob.” There is your end time revival, or spiritual awakening. Now, look back at verses 21-22, “For if Yehovah did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. 22Look, then, at the kind actions and the severity of Yehovah. On the one hand, severity came on the Jews who fell. But on the other hand, Yehovah’s kindness comes on you, if you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you also will be cut off.” How many non-Jewish people are continuing in Yehovah’s kindness by obeying Yehovah’s commandments, laws, and Torah instructions regarding the 7th-day Sabbath, or His annual Feasts? How can you believe you are walking in Yehovah’s kindness when you are in outright rebellion against His very Word? You are self-deceived. As a non-Jewish wild-olive branch you can be broken off, just like the Jews were broken off their very own natural olive tree. If you want to see revival, a spiritual awakening, repent right now, today, of your wicked ways and rebellion against Yehovah’s Torah. Yehovah promised healing if his people will repent, 2 Chronicles 7:13-15, “Suppose that I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send disease among my people, 14then if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves, pray, seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land. 15Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers that are made in this place.” Yehovah will honor his promise if we will honor him by repenting of our wickedness and evil rebellion against him and his word.
Oh, there is a harvest coming alright, it’s a harvest of the wicked grapes into the winepress of Yehovah’s wrath! I hope you’re not one of the rebel grapes. Revelation 14:14-20, “I looked, and there was a white cloud. Seated on the cloud was one like a Son Of Man. He had a golden crown on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand. 15Then another angel came out of the temple and called with a loud voice to the one sitting on the cloud: “Take your sickle and start to reap. For the time to reap has come, since the harvest of the earth is ripe.” 16Then the one who was sitting on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was harvested. 17Another angel came out from the temple in heaven; he also had a sharp sickle. 18Still another angel came out from the incense altar, who had authority over lightning. He called out with a loud voice to the one who had the sharp sickle, “Take your sharp sickle and gather in the clusters of grapes from the vines of the earth, for their grapes are now ripe.” 19The angel swung his sickle to the earth and gathered the grape harvest of the earth. He threw it into the great wine vat of Yehovah’s wrath. 20The winepress was stomped outside the city, and blood poured out from it up to the height of a horse’s bridle, for 300 kilometers.”
Verses 15 and 16 reveal the harvesting of the saints, the wheat company believers, into Yehovah’s barn of salvation. Verses 18 and 19 reveal the harvest of the lost, the damned, the rebellious sinners, the grape company of unbelievers. They face a horrible end in the Lake of Fire, where they will be annihilated, exterminated, caused to go extinct from life, for eternity. The fire burns forever, but the lost are totally destroyed to nothingness, like with a bug zapper. No chance at eternal life after that.
Read all of chapters 14 and 19, but it is stated again in 19:15, “Out of his mouth goes a sharp sword with which he strikes down the ethno-linguistic nations, and he will rule them with an iron rod. He tramples in the winepress of the fury of the wrath of Yehovah Almighty.”
A terrible end is coming for the lost, rebellious humans of this world. Yehovah is sick of sin and is ready to make an end of it. Unfortunately for sinners, they go to hellfire with their sin, but their final destruction is instantaneous annihilation, extermination, and extinction. The end of life total destruction of your spirit, soul, and body lasts forever. Repent today of your sins and do not be a partaker of the judgment of the grape company of rebels. Your only chance at eternal life is to make the right choice now, today, by turning to Yeshua as your Savior, before he returns to send sinners into the Lake of Fire. You may not be tormented for all eternity, but you will give up your opportunity for life eternal in the presence of your Creator. Just the thought of being sentenced to non-existence for all eternity should put the fear of the Almighty in your spirit right now. That thought should cause you to run to the feet of Yeshua and beg his forgiveness and ask him to save you today.