Unknown to the people of Israel, the eight feasts of the Lord which were instituted for them, by God through Moses, are types and shadows of the true events that were going to transpire in the life of their true Messiah, Jesus Christ, and to His Church, that is to be established in the New Testament.
These feasts or festivals are called Holy Convocations because they were instituted by God and not men. The following are the feasts:
The 'Rapture' or 'the catching away of the Bride of Christ' is amply told in the Bible even though the Word 'RAPTURE' is not used.
There have been a number of Raptures in the Bible.
Enoch, the seventh from Adam, was the first person to be raptured (Genesis 5:24).
Elijah was also raptured (2nd Kings 2:9-11).
When the Lord Jesus resurrected from the dead, He went to heaven with the resurrected saints (that had died from Adam to that moment of Jesus' resurrection – Mathew 27:51-53).
"Hell" is a topical issue that is a subject of debate by many religious denominations. Some believe that there is nothing like burning hell. To them, hell simply means the grave. However, there are others who believe that hell is a burning fire and that, that fire will burn eternally. In the midst of debate and arguments, Bible truth must be told. No one can say there is no hell fire and be true!
When John was exiled to the isle of Patmos, after he could not be boiled in oil, he saw many things in a vision for a period of two years. He was in the Spirit on the Lord's day.
One of the visions he saw was about the 144,000 Jews spoken of in Revelation chapters 7 and 14.
Many religious people have thought and taught wrongly that these 144,000 Jews are the Bride of Christ to be in heaven and that the rest of Christians outside this group will not be in heaven but in paradise. This thinking is contrary to the Bible and cannot be supported by any Scripture.
There are three comings of the Lord, and each coming is preceded by His appearing. The appearing of the Lord is the prophetic ministry that prepares His coming.
THE FIRST COMING OF THE LORD
The first coming of the Lord was prophesied by all the Old Testament prophets, from Enoch to Malachi and yet when the prophecy was fulfilled, not one denominational church or group (the Pharisees, Saducees, Zealots etc.) believed He was the Messiah to come. They believed in history. They claimed Moses was their father. They believed Abraham was their father and yet they rejected the One Moses and Abraham spoke and wrote about – The Lord Jesus Christ.