An interesting perspective from T.W. Tramm’s Facebook page
A FASCINATING QUESTION to ponder is, which phase will the moon be in when the Rapture occurs?
Will it be a new (dark) moon as at the beginning of the biblical month?
Will it be a fully lit moon as at the middle of the month?
Will it be somewhere in-between, i.e. the waxing or waning phase?
Let’s consider the scriptural support for a full-moon Rapture.
In Proverbs, the full moon is when the goodman returns:
“The goodman is not at home, he is gone a long journey: He has taken a bag of money with him; He will come home at the full moon” (Prov. 7:19, 20).
The picture of the goodman being away on a long journey reminds us of the parables in which Jesus is the householder and the time of return, or reckoning, denotes the end of the age (Matt. 20; 25: 14).
In Song of Solomon the Shulammite/Gentile maid, representative of the Church, is compared to the moon:
“Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon .... Return, return, O Shulamite; return, return, that we may look upon thee” (Song 6:10, 13).
The moon is emblematic of the Church in that the full moon, as bright and beautiful as it is, has no brilliance of its own. It relies entirely upon the sun, a symbol of Christ, for its light (Ps. 84:11; 19:4, 5). Without the sun, the moon has no light. Likewise, man has no light of his own. We were created in the image of God to reflect His brilliance and glory (Gen. 1:27). When we turn to face the majesty of God, when we surrender to Him and seek Him with all our hearts, we reflect His glory (Matt. 5:14).
Another way the full moon is associated with Jesus’ return is the harvest festivals:
“Sound the trumpet at the new moon, and when the moon is full, on the day of our festival” (Ps. 81:3).
There are three main harvest festivals on God’s calendar: Passover (Unleavened Bread), the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost), and the Feast of Tabernacles (Ex. 23:14–17).
Because Passover and Tabernacles begin at the middle of the biblical month, they always coincide with the full moon.
Pentecost is a different story. Due to the way the festival is traditionally calculated—commencing the seven-weeks countdown from the day after Passover or, alternatively, from the regular Sabbath during the week of Unleavened Bread—the summer harvest festival does not typically coincide with the full moon.
However, it is interesting to note that when we count the seven weeks from the Sabbath ending the week of Unleavened Bread, as some believe is correct, Pentecost does regularly coincide with the full moon. For instance, this year the seven-day Festival of Unleavened Bread ends May 4. Counting the seven weeks from the “day after the Sabbath” ending the week of Unleavened Bread (May 5), we arrive at June 24–25, the calculated Day of Pentecost and the full moon (Lev. 23:11, 15).
Is it possible the above reckoning is what God intended, so that all three harvests land on the full moon? It would make typological sense as the “harvests” of humanity at the Rapture and Second Coming will be reaped when the respective congregations, the Church and Israel, reach a state of “fullness” (Rom. 11:25).
Scripture is clear that no one knows the day of Jesus return (Matt. 24:36). However, as the full moon of June, referred to in the Farmer’s Almanac as the “Honey Moon” rises, there is a growing sense of anticipation that it could be soon.
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NOTES:
1. Calculating or speculating possible dates for the Rapture is not the same as knowing. No one will “know” the day of Jesus’ return until it happens.
2. John Gill on Proverbs 7:20:
“He hath taken a bag of money with him …. for his journey, since it was not a few pieces of money he put in his pocket to defray expenses, but a bag of it he carried in his hand, it shows that he should be out a considerable time; [and] will come home at the day appointed; and not before …. it is to be understood of the full moon, as Aquila and the Vulgate Latin version render it; when it is light all night, and so a proper time for travelling home again. Gersom takes it to mean the beginning of the year, when the holy blessed God, parabolically speaking, sits upon a throne to judge the world in righteousness: the Targum calls it the day of the congregation; some fixed festival day, when the congregation meets together; and at such a festival, or appointed time, this good man had fixed for his return, and when, and not before, he would. This she says to remove all fears from the young man of being surprised and caught by her husband. There is an appointed time for Christ's second coming, when he will certainly come, and not before; and which is supposed to be at a great distance of time: and therefore wicked men and seducers, and such as the apostate church of Rome make use of to encourage themselves in their wickedness, in hopes of impunity, put the evil day far away from them; but in the appointed time Christ will come, and call his servants to an account, good and bad.”
3. Rationale for reckoning Pentecost from the day after the Sabbath ending the week of Unleavened Bread: