The evening of Monday, September 22nd, marks the beginning of the Jewish holiday, Rosh Hashanah and the beginning of the civil year.
“Rosh” is the word for “head” in Hebrew and “shanah” means year. Rosh Hashanah means “head of the year.”
So what is this year’s furor over Rosh Hashanah and the Rapture? What does a Jewish, largely secularly celebrated, holiday have to do with a Christian End Time belief?
Even though modern Jewish customs for celebrating Rosh Hashanah are largely secular and have to do with ethnic identity, Rosh Hashanah is a Biblically ordained observance beginning the Fall Feasts ordained in the Torah.
The Appointed Times in the Bible
While in the wilderness in preparation for the coming into the land promised to them by the Lord, among the many instructions given to the Israelites through Moses included set times for appointed feasts, also known as “the feasts of the Lord.”
The designated celebrations, recorded in Leviticus 23, were tied to the harvest season, which the spring feasts, including Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and First Fruits being held with the first barley harvest, the Festival of Weeks tied to the wheat harvest, and the remaining feasts — the Festival of Trumpets (Rosh Hashanah), the Day of Atonement, and the Festival of Tabernacles — were tied to the end of the harvest season.
Jesus in the Feasts
After the first coming of Christ where his crucifixion and resurrection coincided with Passover and First Fruits with the advent of the Holy Spirit on Shavout, the final day of the Festival of Weeks, it is clear that the appointed festivals were given as a foreshadowing of the coming of Christ. It is only logical to assume that there will be a similar correspondence between the fall feasts and his second coming
The Rapture and Rosh Hashanah
So what is the deal with Rosh Hashanah and the Rapture?
Rosh Hashanah is an interesting observance, Biblically speaking. The only instructions for the feast is to stay home, blow the trumpets (shofar), and make an offering.
23 The Lord said to Moses, 24 “Say to the Israelites: ‘On the first day of the seventh month you are to have a day of sabbath rest, a sacred assembly commemorated with trumpet blasts. 25 Do no regular work, but present a food offering to the Lord.’” Leviticus 23-25 NIV
As the only distinctive element of this festival is the trumpet blowing, it is also known as the “festival of trumpets,” or Yom Teruah.
There is also a reference in the book of Numbers with more specific details on the food offering.
On the first day of the seventh month hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work. It is a day for you to sound the trumpets. 2 As an aroma pleasing to the Lord, offer a burnt offering of one young bull, one ram and seven male lambs a year old, all without defect. 3 With the bull offer a grain offering of three-tenths of an ephah of the finest flour mixed with olive oil; with the ram, two-tenths; 4 and with each of the seven lambs, one-tenth. 5 Include one male goat as a sin offering to make atonement for you. 6 These are in addition to the monthly and daily burnt offerings with their grain offerings and drink offerings as specified. They are food offerings presented to the Lord, a pleasing aroma. Numbers 29:1-6 NIV
What is the significance of this day? We don’t know how Moses’s hearers took these instructions. Maybe there was a pagan celebration that they were accustomed to celebrating on that day when they were in Egypt and the Lord established an alternate observance to make it clear that they were not to participate in their old practices. I don’t know. I’m just supposing.
I’m sure you’re thinking to yourself, “I still don’t see what the connection to the Rapture is.”
The Rapture in 1 Thessalonians
The rapture is an event referenced in 1 Thessalonians. The church in Thessalonica was one which Paul had ministered to. Some false teachers had come to the church and convinced them that the Rapture, or the catching away, had already occurred and that they had been left behind.
Paul begins the letter with a warm and affectionate welcome, commending them in their faith and acknowledging the trials they had been through. Paul ends the praise with a prayer that
11 Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus clear the way for us to come to you. 12 May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you. 13 May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones. 1 Thessalonians 3:11-13
Do you see how Paul is gently turning the topic of the conversation? He is saying that Jesus will come with all his holy ones. This hasn’t happened yet.
In the next chapter, Paul encourages them to continue living in Christ and following the instructions they have been given, and then he writes the passage that references the Second Coming,
13 Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. 14 For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. 15 According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words. 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
There are a couple of schools of thought about this passage. Some people think that the church was concerned and was grieving over those believers who had died before the Second Coming, that they would not participate in the glory. You can see this assurance here. Paul writes that “the dead in Christ will rise first.” They will miss nothing.
It is the next verse that refers to the Rapture and makes it clear that Paul is referring to something more than just a person’s spirit going to heaven after death, writing, “we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.”
This is the stuff Tim LaHaye’s Left Behind series are made of, as well as scores of movies and centuries of failed prophecies.
The reason that so many of those predictions fall on Rosh Hashanah is the tying of the Rapture in Scripture to the “trumpet call of God.” As Jews who celebrated the appointed feasts, including the Feast of Trumpets, it is reasonable to connect that event with the Feast of Trumpets, known today as Rosh Hashanah.
When Jesus discusses his Second Coming in Matthew 24, a trumpet also signals the gathering of the elect,
30 “Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. 31 And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other. Matthew 24:30-31 NIV
Mark and Luke record this teaching in their gospels as well, writing,
20 “If the Lord had not cut short those days, no one would survive. But for the sake of the elect, whom he has chosen, he has shortened them. 21 At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘Look, there he is!’ do not believe it. 22 For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 23 So be on your guard; I have told you everything ahead of time.
24 “But in those days, following that distress,
“‘the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light;
25 the stars will fall from the sky,
and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’
26 “At that time people will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. 27 And he will send his angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens. Mark 13:26-27
And Luke writes,
30 “It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed. 31 On that day no one who is on the housetop, with possessions inside, should go down to get them. Likewise, no one in the field should go back for anything. 32 Remember Lot’s wife! 33 Whoever tries to keep their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life will preserve it. 34 I tell you, on that night two people will be in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. 35 Two women will be grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other left.” Luke 17:30-35
When is the Rapture?
This is just a brief overview of some of the main passages in the Bible that reference the Second Coming of Christ. One of the debates addresses what Michael Heiser refers to as whether you’re a “joiner” or a “splitter.” Just from the verses I’ve included here, you can see what he means. The passage in 1 Thessalonians seems to be saying that believers go up to meet Christ in the air and then return to earth. (Heiser also argues about what a mess End Time teachings can be because they don’t take all the passages regarding it into account. I will just say that I’m sure the Jews thought the same about the coming of their Messiah, which we see as Jesus’s First Coming. All of those prophecies fit together in his life even though it was difficult to foresee how it would occur.)
So when is the Rapture? No one knows. Jesus said himself that only the Father knows the day and the hour. (Matthew 24:36) We are given some of the signs. For example, Mark records Jesus as saying the light will decrease and the stars will fall from the sky. Are this weekend’s meteor shower a sign?
- September 21, 2025: Space debris? Meteor shower? Lights appear in the West Texas sky
- September 22, 2025: Locals Stunned as Meteors Stream Across West Texas
I doubt it.
YouTube Prophets, TikTok and the Rapture
But there is a huge hub6ub on Tiktok about the Rapture because a YouTuber said he saw Jesus who told him that the Rapture was going to be on this year’s Feast of Trumpets.
I will just be honest. Considering that I know for a fact that most, if not all, of the “viral” videos are manipulated media by masses of sock puppet accounts, just as artificial and constructed as any sitcom on TV, my guess is this is just the latest “campaign” strategy for the account owners and promoters to run. The initial “prophecy,” the Tiktoks, the placed stories … I don’t believe it.
In this story the woman said she has given everything away.
She explained in a viral video: “As many of you know, the Rapture’s on Tuesday. I’ve given away all my earthly possessions to the heathens that I know will not be coming with us, the chosen ones.”
“I’ve already transferred the deed to my house. I just need to give this car away,” she said to over 1.1 million people.
The social media personality claimed that ‘none of this material stuff’ will matter when she ‘gets raptured’, adding: “I just wanna say it’s not too late for you to be a part of the Rapture.”
Real name Gehl, she even made a follow-up video which gave tips about the Rapture out to believers.
The video itself says its satire. Like I said, just one more push of nonsense exploiting and mocking the Christian faith.
- September 22, 2025: All the ‘Biblical signs’ pointing to the Rapture coming TOMORROW as believers spread fears the end is nigh
- September 22, 2025: How is The World Going to End Tomorrow, According to Conspiracy Theorists?
- September 22, 2025: Why do people think the Rapture is this week? How a pastor spurred the latest social media trend
Here are the Bible verses that support both sides of the recent religious debate. - September 22, 2025: Is the ‘Rapture’ happening tomorrow? Pastor claims rapture, ‘end of world’ Sept 23
- Video: Pastor claims Jesus told him the Second Coming was on September 23rd, 2025
How to Prepare for the Rapture
We won’t address the illogic of selling your house or quitting your job for the Rapture. It’s not like you can use the money to buy a ticket.
If you want to be ready for the Rapture, you have to be able to answer the question, “Who is Jesus to You?”
If Jesus does show up tomorrow, what are you going to have to say to him? Seriously.
Are you right with God?
If not, this is how to find God.
Biblical Information on the Rapture
If you are interested in learning theologically sound information about the Rapture, I would direct you to the website of my former Bible study teacher, David Bower. His 2011 series, “What Happens Next?” is essentially what he was teaching the first time I walked into the Exploring the Bible class at Second Baptist Church in January 2008 when he called it, “End Times and Current Events”
David has been writing on his site since 2011 and written a variety of posts on the Rapture and End Times since, but if you start with this, you will have a good basis for understanding what the Bible actually says about the Rapture and the End Times.
David Bower’s Guide to the End Times
David has written many great teachings, but they can be a little difficult to find. Besides the fact that they are spread out over 14 years, it looks to me like his website has been sabotaged in the search engines. Only a fraction of his most recent posts will come up in search.
I am sure that just as my work has been stolen and sabotaged to hide the theft, that David’s has as well.
Because of that, I’ve compiled a resource page, David Bower’s Guide to the End Times, with a compilation of his posts related to the End Times. His main series are grouped together and posts on End Times related topics are categorized.
I hope you find it useful. If you do, be sure to share one of his articles and send him a note to let him know.
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