A Basket of Summer Fruit
Amos 8:2 And he said, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A basket of summer fruit. Then said the Lord unto me, The end is come upon my people of Israel; I will not again pass by them any more.
I heard someone applying this verse to the rapture. I didn't know whether I should be disappointed that there are not more people who are watchman that have actually studied the Bible or to be happy that people relatively new to the Bible are watchmen. Anyway I realized we should do a quick review of basic understanding of the end times.
The book of Revelation presents three harvests: Barley at the start, Wheat in the middle and Fruit at the end.
The Barley harvest is before the tribulation, this is because you don't need a tribulum to harvest barley. A tribulum is a big heavy roller that they use to crush wheat separating the kernels from the chaff. It is this instrument that we use to harvest wheat where we get the term "tribulation" from. So Barley represents the saints raptured before the seven year tribulation, and the "tribulation saints" represent the wheat harvested during the tribulation. Then at the end of the seven years we have the fruit harvest. This is where we get the imagery of Armageddon with the grapes of wrath being trod and the blood up to the bridles of the horses. So this verse in Amos is a reference to the Jews as a nation being saved, and they are saved last. We see that in Rachel's wedding to Israel, we see this in the harvest symbology and we see this in this verse in Amos where the Lord says He won't pass by them any longer. They were skipped in the rapture and they were skipped when the tribulation saints were saved.
Once you understand that you can see that Ruth signifies the tribulation saints. She is a Moabite (Just like Lot and his two daughters). She comes to Israel at the time of the Barley harvest, that is at the time of the rapture. The apostasy means you have departed from the Lord just as Naomi and her two sons departed from Israel. At the time of the rapture her two sons die because they led these ones astray but Naomi and Ruth return, two poor widows who survive by gleaning the harvest, another picture of the tribulation saints.
Esther is a picture of the victorious bride that is raptured before the seven year tribulation. The seven year period is known as the 70th week which begins on Nisan 1. Purim is two weeks before Nisan 1. Esther is victorious over Haman, a type of the antichrist, but the war against him doesn't begin until after she is made queen.
Enoch is a type of the raptured church, they walk with God for 365 days a year and then they are not. This is how the gospel of Luke ends. This gospel depicts Christ in the glistening robe which is similar to what Barley looks like. Mark depicts him in the purple robe which is what wheat looks like and Matthew depicts him in the scarlet robe which is what grapes look like.
Elijah depicts the ministry before the rapture and his being caught up in the whirlwind depicts the saints raptured before the tribulation. He crosses over the Jordan because the rapture is before Israel crossed the Jordan. They crossed the Jordan on the 10th day of Nisan, that wouldn't be the day of the rapture necessarily but rather the day that Elisha, representing the tribulation saints, starts his ministry.
Elijah calling down fire is another picture of the rapture because Israel was caught between two opinions, they didn't know whether to listen to the False prophets or to Elijah. The false prophets were in two camps and they represent the apostasy. About half of them are slain right after the rapture event.
In Joel we learn about the latter rain and the former rain. The former rain was the revival that took place at the time of Pentecost with Peter and the 12 apostles. The latter rain is the revival that takes place after the rapture and it takes place during the first month, the month of Nisan. Therefore the rapture is before the latter rain which Joel tells us takes place in the month of Nisan.
Lazarus being raised from the dead is a picture of the rapture. He apparently is raised prior to the month Nisan. His name is equivalent to the Hebrew Eleazar, the servant of Abraham from Damascus that goes and gets Isaac's bride, Rebekah. He is in the grave four days when he is raised and there is a prophecy that Damascus will become a ruinous heap. Since Damascus is the oldest continually inhabited city on earth it is similar to the prophecy about Methuselah, when he dies the end comes. Jesus said the end would be like the days of Noah so if you see Damascus become a ruinous heap you should see that as a four day warning of the rapture. Likewise, in Luke it says Lazarus lay at the rich man's gate and in Jerusalem there is a "Damascus gate". At that gate there is a Catholic church. It is called the Church of St. Stephen recognizing the martyrs who have died in Christ. At the same time that Lazarus dies the rich man also dies. So if you see the Pope die at the same time Damascus becomes a ruinous heap that should be a double confirmation that the rapture is in four days.
Then when Samson pushes out the pillars it is a picture of the church, the pillar and base of the truth, being removed and causing the world's economic temple to collapse. They say that this takes place during a sacrifice to Dagon. We can interpret Dagon to be the Catholic church because the hat the pope wears is the same hat that the priests of Dagon wear. However, this is not a holy day of the Catholic church. According to Elijah calling down fire God called the assembly and all the religious leaders from around the world are there. This would indicate it is the funeral of a pope which takes place four days after he dies. In the gospel of Luke Lazarus doesn't rise from the dead because the gospel concludes with the rapture.
In Mark and Matthew the rapture is at the start of the gospel. In Mark as soon as Jesus is baptized he is thrust out into the wilderness, just as the tribulation saints will be. In Matthew they first have to see that Jesus was the son of Abraham and the son of David before they can appreciate the rapture event.
