The Rapture of the Church: Birds of a Feather Flocking Together

Most people are familiar with the old adage, “Birds of a feather flock together.”

It is a testament to the fact that people tend to associate with others who share the same mindset or possess common interests.

In Scripture we also find numerous examples of shared experience amongst the various characters found within the pages of God’s Word.

These shared characteristics are often referred to as Biblical Types. They teach us lessons regarding various aspects of Christian Theology. They also demonstrate the Sovereign control that God possesses over the events of World History (Isaiah 46:10).

All of World History ultimately relates to Jesus: “For of him, and through him, and to him are all things…” (Romans 11:36). It should therefore come as no surprise that the Old Testament is filled with Prophetic Types of Jesus Christ. These are people whose actions or behavior in some way point to or reflect the character or actions of Jesus Christ in the New Testament.

Old Testament Prophetic Types of Jesus Christ

With Abraham, we find in his willingness to offer his son Isaac. a foreshadowing of our loving Heavenly Father, who also willingly offered up His own Son, Jesus.

It is of special interest to note that Abraham offered up Isaac upon Mount Moriah. This was the same mountain top upon which Jesus would later be crucified.

In the life of Boaz, we see Jesus depicted as our Kinsman-Redeemer. By definition, a Kinsman-Redeemer is, “someone who redeems that which was lost.”

Boaz took the widowed Gentile Ruth to be his bride. In like manner, Jesus will take both Jew and Gentile alike to be His Bride at the time of the Rapture of the Church.

When we consider the Old Testament Prophet Hosea, we again see a type or foreshadowing. This points not only to Jesus, but also to God the Father.

For just as Hosea paid the price to redeem his unfaithful wife, so too did Jesus pay the price for our redemption. Just as Hosea forgave his wife for her unfaithful behavior, so too does God the Father forgive us of all of our sins and unfaithfulness.

With Jonah, we find his spending 3 days in the belly of the great fish an illustration of Jesus’ spending 3 days in the grave after His Crucifixion (Matthew 12:40).

The person who is perhaps most commonly associated with being a Prophetic Type of Christ is Joseph.

In Joseph we see a man who, like Jesus, is represented in Scripture without the mention of any apparent sin in his life.

Like Jesus, Joseph spent time in Egypt. He was also rejected by his brethren (Genesis 37:20) and sold for a few pieces of silver (Genesis 37:28, Matthew 26:14-16).

Moses the Archetypical Type of Christ

Many students of the Bible promote Joseph as the ultimate archetypical type of Christ in the Old Testament. In actuality, the person in Scripture who is most like and typical of Jesus is Moses.

The reasons for this are many:

1. Just as Jesus is the dominant person presented within the New Testament record, so too was Moses the person who displayed the greatest impact within the pages of the Old Testament.
2. Jesus and Moses shared similarities in their lives right from the moment of their respective births. For the ruling civil authorities at the time of both Jesus’ and Moses’ births tried to have them both killed (Exodus 1:16, Matthew 2:16).
3. Just as Jesus the “Good Shepherd” leads His followers in their journey through this world on their way to Heaven, so too did Moses lead the Hebrew people out of the Wilderness and up to the Promised Land.
4. Just as Jesus is presented as the believer’s great intercessor (Romans 8:34), so too was Moses the great intercessor for the Nation of Israel (Exodus 32:7-14).
5. Jesus was rejected by the Hebrew people after presenting Himself as the fulfillment of the Mosaic Law (Matthew 5:17-18). In like manner, Moses was rejected by his people when he first attempted to bring them the written Law of God on Mount Sinai (Exodus 32:18-19).
6. Jesus demonstrated the ultimate expression of love by being willing to experience separation from God while He bore the sins of the world on the Cross at Calvary (Matthew 27:46). Likewise, Moses was willing to be eternally separated from God for the sake of his Hebrew brethren (Exodus 32:32
7. God’s Word directly testifies to the fact that Moses was indeed a “type” of Christ, as it refers to Jesus as being a Prophet “like unto” Moses (Deuteronomy 18:15).

Moses, Mount Sinai, and End-Times Prophecy

Concerning Biblical end-times prophecy, it is fitting that types and illustrations of Jesus’ 2nd Coming should be found in the life of Mose

The member of the Godhead who came down to Mount Sinai was likely Jehovah, the 2nd Person of the Trinity. We now recognize Him as the Pre-Incarnate Jesus Christ.

We can easily ascertain this because Moses was said to have talked with Him “face to face” (Exodus 33:11), and no man hath seen God (the Father) at any time (I John 4:10-12).

On the same day that Moses and the Hebrew people arrived at Mount Sinai, Jehovah God came down from heaven and told Moses to tell the people to prepare themselves by washing their clothes over the next 2 days. Jehovah then proclaimed that He would come back down to them and visit them again on the 3rd day (Exodus 19:11). This visitation would be announced by the sound of a long loud blast of a trumpet (Exodus 19:13,19).

The Third Day and the Return of Jesus

This event can readily be seen as a foreshadowing of Jesus. As the 2nd Person of the Trinity, He came down from Heaven to become the God Man at His Incarnation.

After His departure back to Heaven (Acts 1:9,10), we are told that He would remain in Heaven for a period of 2 days, after which He was to return on the morning of the 3rd day (Exodus 19:16, Hosea 6:2).

In that “a day with the Lord is like 1,000 years for man” (II Peter 3:8), Jesus’ return to Heaven for “2 days” would represent 2,000 years. After this, He would come back to visit mankind, heralded by the sound of a trumpet (Exodus 9:16, I Corinthians 15:52).

It would therefore seem that a possible time frame for Jesus’ 2nd Coming could be 2,000 years after His Crucifixion. Many believe the Crucifixion occurred in the year 30 A.D.

This would make the timing of Israel’s restoration to fellowship with God as prophesied by Hosea and Zechariah (Hosea 6:2, Zechariah 12:10, 14:4), to be around the year 2030 A.D.

Daniel’s 70th Week and the Tribulation

We must also take into consideration the fact that before Israel is restored to fellowship with God, the last 7 years of Daniel’s prophecy regarding the end time events must also occur. This would mean that the initiation of God’s program to bring about Jesus’ 2nd Coming, could begin at any time now.

Many theologians believe that the Rapture of the Church triggers Daniel’s 70th or final week. This week consists of the 7-year Tribulation Period.

This occasion is commonly associated with the sounding of “the last trump”, as prophesied by the Apostle Paul in his first letter to the Church at Corinth (I Corinthians 15:52).

While Jesus stated that no man would know the day or hour of His return (Matthew 24:36), He did not say a word about the month or year.

If Moses’ interactions with God at Mount Sinai were a type of future events concerning Jesus, then a possible conclusion follows. The return of Jesus to the Earth to set up His Millennial Kingdom could occur by the year 2030.

If the trumpet blast from Mount Sinai represented the trumpet blast at the Rapture of the Church, then this event could occur as early as 2023. Daniel’s missing 70th week consists of 7 years known as the Tribulation. These events would have to occur immediately prior to Jesus’ physical return at His 2nd Coming (Zechariah 12:10).

The Last Trump and the Jewish Feast Days

Regarding the season in which the “last trump” will sound, we should remember an important pattern. The major events of Jesus’ life occurred on Jewish Feast days.

His Crucifixion was on Passover, His burial on the Feast of Unleavened bread, His resurrection on the Feast of First Fruits, and the beginning of His Church was on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-21).

Most Prophetic Prognosticators believe the “last trump” initiating the Rapture will occur during the Feast of Trumpets. This Feast ends with a long blast of a trumpet. However, this may not be the case.

For Jesus told us that His return would not necessarily be at an obvious time, for He stated in the Book of Matthew:

“Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour that ye think not the Son of man cometh.”

Matthew 24:44

Mount Sinai, Pentecost, and the Rapture

We would do well to consider that the trumpet blast at Sinai occurred 50 days after Passover. There were 47 days of journey from Egypt to Sinai, followed by God’s re-appearance on the 3rd day after their arrival (Exodus 12:6, 19:1

Therefore, this trumpet blast might not be associated with the Feast of Trumpets. It may instead be associated with the Feast of Pentecost, which occurs 50 days after Passover. Like God’s appearance at Sinai, Pentecost was also denoted by fire and smoke (Exodus 19:18, Acts 2:3,19).

To this we must also consider another factor regarding the timing of Moses’ foreshadowing of the events of the 2ndComing as possibly occurring around the Feast of Pentecost.

It would make perfect poetic sense for God to call the Church home on the same day that it had been initiated (Acts 2:1). This would make the Church a precise theological insertion into the History of the Children of Abraham and the Promises given to them through Abraham (Genesis 15:1-21).

Biblical Types and Prophecy

Through the examination of Biblical Types, we are better able to understand many Biblical truths. Our eyes can also be opened to explore possibilities concerning the timing of the Rapture and the Physical 2nd Coming of Jesus to set up His Millennial Kingdom.

We should therefore be forever grateful for the fact that God incorporates the usage of Biblical Types within His Word.

Biblical Types help inform God’s people about what He is and may possibly be doing in our world. They also reveal His Sovereign Control of History. In addition, they can provide keener insights into Biblical Prophecy when we realize that “Birds of a feather do indeed flock together.”

Related Studies from Paradigms Tossed

Continue exploring biblical types, the Rapture of the Church, and the prophetic patterns surrounding the return of Jesus Christ through these related studies:

Hosea 6 Prophecy and the Year 2030: Prophetic Timeline 4
This study examines Hosea 6:1–2 and the proposed two-day, 2,000-year period preceding Israel’s restoration and the coming Millennial Kingdom.

2030 Prophetic Time Table 5 – The Examination of the Passover Lamb
Explore Jesus Christ as the perfect Passover Lamb, His identity as Jehovah in the Old Testament, and the prophetic patterns connected with mankind’s 6,000 years of self-rule.

Predicting the End of the Age
A related study examining whether believers should watch for the return of Christ and how biblical signs, the Rapture, and Daniel’s 70th week fit into end-times prophecy.

Is Jesus Jehovah of the Old Testament?
Examine the biblical evidence for the pre-incarnate Christ appearing throughout the Old Testament and the relationship between Jehovah and Jesus Christ.

2030 and Biblical Prophecy: Is It Really “Just a Coincidence”?
Consider several proposed prophetic timelines and patterns that point toward God’s sovereign control over history and the fulfillment of His prophetic purposes.