Endtime prophet claim the Rapture is coming April 23

I stumbled upon one article and claim from a Christian numerologist with “strong convictions” that the rapture has come close to occur.

The prophet by name David Meade informed the U.K.’s Daily Express newspaper that on April 23, the sun and moon will be in Virgo, as will Jupiter, which represents the Messiah.

He sites his claim from his interpretation of Revelation 12:1–2. He believes that it describes the beginning of what is known as the Rapture and the second coming of Christ.

Now this is what that passage reads;

“And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of 12 stars. She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth.”

The first sign of the Zodiac is known best by her Latin name Virgo—the Virgin, a young maiden holding a leafy branch and/or a small sheaf of grain. In the Mazzaroth, the Hebrew name of this constellation is Bethulah, which also means: “Virgin, and she holds a branch in her hand.”

In the passage, the woman is represented as Virgo so according to Meade, the alignment represents “the Lion of the tribe of Judah,” marking the Rapture, the belief that Christ will bring the faithful into paradise prior to a period of tribulation on earth that precedes the end of time.

Meade said he believes the so-called Planet X, which is also known as Nibiru, will appear above the sky on the April date, causing volcanic eruptions, tsunamis and earthquakes.

Off course NASA repeatedly debunked such claims as they have done with so many failed endtimes predictions stating that the said Planet X is a hoax.

Speaking to the Express, Meade described it as “a unique once-in-a-century sign exactly as depicted in the 12th chapter of Revelation. This is our time marker.”

I believe that this will just fall among the statistics of another failed predictions.

John’s revelation here is another brilliant piece that underscore how the Jews saw and communicated concepts. They believed that the signs of the Zodiac was the handwriting of God communicating his plans and purposes.

Notice that place in Revelation that John says, “a great sign appeared in heaven.” The word John uses for sign was the term used in the ancient world to describe the constellations of the Zodiac. John’s model for this vision of the Church is the constellation of Virgo which does have a “crown” of twelve stars.

All of the twelve stars are visible ones that could have been seen by observers. It seem likely that the twelve stars also represent the twelve signs of the Zodiac, from ancient times regarded as symbols of the twelve tribes of Israel; in Joseph’s famous dream his father, mother, and the twelve tribes were symbolized by the sun, the moon, and twelve stars of constellations (Gen. 37:9). So this is quite with the Hebrews back in the days.

That vision was a replay on the birth of Christ.

In his book The Birth of Christ Recalculated, Ernest Martin says, “In the period of Christ’s birth, the Sun entered the head-position of the Woman about August 13, and exited from her feet about October 2. But John saw the scene when the sun “clothes” or “adorns” the Woman. This surely indicates that the position of the Sun in the vision was located somewhere mid-bodied of the Woman—between the neck and knees. “The only time in the year that the Sun could be in position to “clothe” this celestial Woman (to be mid-bodied) is when it was located about 150 and 170 degrees along the ecliptic. This clothing of the Woman by the Sun occurs for a 20 day period each year. This 20 degree spread could indicate the general time when Christ was born. In 3 B.C., the Sun would have entered this celestial region about August 27 and exited from it about September 15.

If John, in the book of Revelation, is associating the birth of Christ with the period when the Sun is mid-bodied to the Woman, then Christ would have had to be born within that 20 day period. From the point of view of the Magi (who were astronomers), this would have been the only logical sign under which the Jewish Messiah might be born—especially if He were to be born of a virgin. Even today, astrologers recognize that the sign of Virgo is the one which has reference to a messianic world ruler to be born of a virgin.

The birth of Jesus the Messiah was one of the striking and intriguing events of human history. God had the handwriting on the walls of the skies for ages past and wise men who could read travelled all the way to the location of his birth.

None of this connects to a future rapture of the church. The following verse where the dragon wanted to attack the child gives full support to the events that saw Herod kill all children below the age of 2 years.

True believers only one message. It is the message of hope and joy to the world based on the redemptive work of Jesus for all men. We don’t have the mandate to speak of forth coming destructions and catastrophes.

Ours is a message of grace.

Grace to you.

I will glad to hear your thoughts in the comments section.