Once the Church is in Heaven as the immortal government of God, the result of the gathering, someone has to continue the Lord’s earthly ministry. As the new-born saints of God still on the earth, Israel now takes over that mantle for the rest of the final 1,000-year Day.
      We now know the answer to the question the disciples asked of Jesus just before He ascended (Acts 1:6). “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”  The Church had to first fulfill its commission under the early rain outpouring. That commission shall then be reassigned to the revived Jews under the latter rain outpouring.
        The newly rechristened Jewish saints shall minister God’s truths to all the people left behind at the rapture, as well as those born during the last Day. We know that God  desires all people to be saved, even at this stage in His prophetic plan of redemption.
      We also know that the rest of the people still have the natural, fallen nature of sin. They still have a will, which means they still have a choice as to whom they will worship and serve. As always, this choice must be made by faith and not by sight.
      This pivotal shift was foreshadowed in the unique relationship between the prophet Elijah and his protégé, the prophet Elisha as recorded in 2 Kings 2. The school of the prophets were following their elder statesman, Elijah. They knew that the time of his ministry was about to end, so they followed Elijah to Gilgal, then Bethel, and then Jericho. Elijah told Elisha to remain behind with the others while he crossed over the Jordan River. Elijah point-back refused to be left back. So the elder prophet relented and allowed Elisha to follow him.
      There was one problem. The river was raging with the seasonal floodwaters. Elijah removed his mantle, a type of cloak symbolizing his position as God’s anointed prophet, and slapped the water with it. The water miraculously held back, making a dry path for the two to cross through to the other side.
        Elijah then turned to his protégé and said, “Ask! What may I do for you, before I am taken away from you?” Quick on his feet, Elisha asked for a double portion of his elder’s spirit. He had asked for a hard thing, but Elijah responded that if the younger man saw his elder taken up to heaven, Elisha would receive the double portion. 
         Suddenly a chariot of fire separated the two prophets and Elijah was taken up by a whirlwind into heaven. In the process, Elijah’s mantle fell back to the earth. Elisha picked it up, walked back to the swollen Jordan River, smacked the water with the mantle as Elijah had done and the river dried up again so he could pass over and join the rest of the school of the prophets. The chapter then goes on to record the miracles Elisha did using the double portion anointing allotted to him.
         End-Time Lesson: Elijah is a type and shadow of the Church, taken to heaven in the literal whirlwind of the rapture. Elisha is a type and shadow of the revived Jews who witnessed this timely event. When they shall see Jesus and His Body, the Church, taken back to heaven, this shall trigger their acceptance of the Messiah.
          Heb. 11:6 reminds us that it is impossible to please God without faith. “For he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” Because the reborn Jews do so, they receive the Church’s mantle to preach the Gospel and be lights in the world. They receive the latter rain outpouring of the Holy Spirit. They will need this to fulfill their calling. They will need it for what comes next—the hour of trial (Rev. 3:10) and the snare of that Day (Lk. 21:35). That is, the wrath of that Day and the battle for Jerusalem.
         As with Elijah, those “left behind” on the earth, including the revived Jews, will not see Elijah (who symbolizes the Church) again. Nor will the people see Jesus or His Church again. This pulls down the high place on God’s prophetic highway that the Church must come back down to the earth, as is taught in the two most popular man-made end-time views. Why would we need to come back to rule when we are seated in God’s third heaven, ruling and reigning with Christ from the place of all authority both in heaven and on the earth? Why would we need to, given the fact that God has already revived the Jewish remnant and commanded them to take over the earthly commission?
         Equally important is that salvation and one’s relationship with Christ is always a faith issue. If Christ and His Body were to come back to earth and are visible in our glorified bodies, faith would not be required. Faith is believing without having seen first. Which brings us to one final important detail in the prophets’ saga.
         It is interesting to note that before Elisha picked up Elijah’s mantle, he took off his clothes and tore them into two pieces. The number two in Scripture symbolizes that standard of truth and witness. Why did he do this? So he could take up the mantle, the clothing of his new assignment. Elisha’s action symbolized putting off the old man and putting on the new man (Eph. 4:24; Col. 3:10).

     As with any lengthy saga, sometimes the author will insert a preview to guide the reader through the next plot change. So before we see what happens after the Church is caught up to Heaven and the revived Jews receive the latter-Day rain, let’s take a brief look at what the Old Testament prophets said about this pivotal shift.
       To understand the timely shift, we will take a look back at a timely prophetic event from the Old Covenant. It answers the question as to how people can be saved after the rapture even though the Church is seated as the heavenly court before God’s throne.
       Zechariah affirms the latter-Day outpouring of the Spirit. “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son” (Zech. 12:10; see also Ezek. 39:21-29). This is what we see in Rev. 12—the Jewish remnant has seen the error of their ways and has embraced the Savior.
       Zechariah 14:9 declares, “And the Lord shall be King over all the earth. In that Day it shall be—the Lord is one, and His name one.” Verse 11 adds, “The people shall dwell in it; and no longer shall there be utter destruction, but Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited.”
         Without giving away too much, the Revelation will show us how the Antichrist is destroyed and Satan is incarcerated. We will see how God’s righteous kingdom shall be restored on the earth, bringing the godly one-world order as originally conceived in Genesis 1. We will see this shortly in the Revelation.
       End-Time Lesson: Daniel’s vision of the invasion and Israel’s escape to their prepared place ends with this statement as the result of the Church being raptured and seated as the heavenly court that ensures the Antichrist’s defeat. “Then the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven [that is, the nations of the earth], shall be given to the people, the saints of the Most High [the revived Jews]. His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey Him” (Dan. 7:27).
        Isaiah 62 describes Israel’s new position in God’s redeemed family. It was foreshadowed in the book of Esther by Mordecai, Esther’s uncle who raised her and was placed as second in command in the empire. In short, the passage tells us that God will not rest until Israel’s new-born righteousness goes forth as a bright light revealing God’s saving grace. Sound familiar? [Mt. 5:14-16]. 
          All the nations of the world shall recognize that Israel is called by a new name—the saints of God for they have finally accepted Jesus as the Savior and Messiah. Her covenant relationship with God is restored as promised to King David (2 Sam. 7:16), for his earthly throne is established forever and Jerusalem becomes the praise of the earth (Is. 62:7).
          Zechariah affirms that Israel will take over the earthly mantle of preaching the gospel to all the world. In fact, all the nations of the earth will be called to worship at the Feast of Tabernacles, and if any nation refuses to send a delegation, their country will suffer the just reward of their decision—a plague of no rain.
          We highly recommend reading Ezekiel 39:21-29. It summarizes God’s purpose in allowing the 3½-year war, both for the nation of Israel and the nations of the world.

    We’ve mentioned several times that the scriptural end-time scenario includes the Church, the Jews, and the Gentiles. A crucial part of the prophetic Day Code refers specifically to the Jews: Hosea 6:1-3.
      “Come, and let us return to the Lord; for He has torn, but He will heal us; He has stricken, but He will bind us up. After two days He will revive us; on the third day He will raise us up, that we may live in His sight. Let us know, let us pursue the knowledge of the Lord. His going forth is established as the morning; He will come to us like the rain, like the latter and former rain to the earth” (vs. 1-3).
      For the two great Days of the Church age, the Today and Tomorrow as Jesus described it, the Jewish people were cut off because they rejected Christ at His first coming. Michael was ordered, in effect, to stand still. The time of Jacob’s Trouble came to a devasting crescendo at the Siege of Rome, when the Temple was destroyed in 70 AD and the Jewish people were scattered across the nations in the Diaspora.
         This passage is an excellent example of how we can determine whether God’s Word is referring to great prophetic Days as God counts prophetic time or regular 24-hour earthly days. The passage doesn’t make sense if it refers to regular 24-hour days. Why would Israel be torn and stricken for only 48 hours, and then suddenly revived on the third day? It only makes sense when we apply great Days, each lasting 1,000 years. We saw this with Jesus’ strange prophecy about journeying to Jerusalem for Today, Tomorrow, and a third Day of perfection.
        End-Time Lesson: Ignoring God’s prophetic timetable has caused much of the end-time confusion in the Church. The foundational apostles and even some of the early Church Fathers understood what we call the Day Code. You can check out some of these quotes on our website, under the Resources tab. We are meant to see the Day approaching (Heb. 10:25), which means we can know the timing of Christ’s return when we understand the times and the seasons.
           FYI: Jesus didn’t say in the Olivet Teaching on these last Days that we cannot know when He is coming. What He said we cannot know is the what the unknown day and hour will be like when heaven and earth pass away and God creates the new heavens and earth. Only the all-knowing God the Father, who sees the past, present, and future all at once, can know what that eternal, perfect Day of eternity future shall be like after He creates the new heavens and new earth.
           We have to be careful not to treat the headers and subheadings that were added by mankind to the scriptures as equally inspired. We also have to pay attention to the conjunctions, such as the word “but” in vs. 36. We must remember that the chapter and verse numbers were likewise added to the scriptures by mankind after the fact. They were not divinely inspired; in fact, they often separate chapters that obviously go together and continue the same thoughts. Not recognizing all this is what has led to the false doctrine that we cannot know being so widely accepted even though the Scriptures literally say otherwise.
          The reason so many people ignore God’s prophetic Day plan is because those who prophesied certain dates that have come and gone, ignored the two crucial aspects: both the chronos time in term of great Days and the corresponding kairos signs that are seen during that time. Like the two companion views of our two eyes, we need the full perspective to see clearly. Like a pregnant woman, we can know the general time fame, but we also need to see the corresponding signs to know when the birth is about to happen.
          Which brings us to another rough place smoothed out by Rev. 12. It has to do with a major corresponding sign of the last Days. That is, the outpouring of God’s spirit upon mankind. The first outpouring happened at Christ’s first coming, as Peter so rightly pointed out in the first sermon of the Church Age (at Pentecost, Acts 2). This outpouring of the Spirit during this Church age is what is commonly called the early rain.
          But notice that Hosea said Jesus would come like the rain, the later and former rain to the earth. This means there are two distinct comings, and only two. There can be no secret coming. With His first coming Jesus brought the former rain to empower the Church to be His witnesses and carry on His earthly ministry. When Israel accepts Jesus as the Messiah and finally has “the testimony of Jesus Christ,” they shall receive the latter outpouring. It, too, shall empower them to be His earthly witnesses.
           Interestingly, the land of Israel had two growing seasons for two different types of crops. The early rains nurtured the first harvest. The latter rains shall nurture the second harvest.
          Our earthly assignment to preach the Gospel in all the earth ends at the rapture. Our former earthly assignment shall fall to Israel. Our new heavenly assignment of ruling and reigning with Christ begins and lasts forever!  
          The first harvest resulted in the Church being resurrected to heaven and seated as the immortal government. The second harvest shall result in the Jewish believers and any others born during the millennial reign to be resurrected at the end of the Days. Either way, both shall live with God and Christ for all eternity!