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How and why Jesus will return “as a thief”

“It Is Finished… It Is Done: One Great Appearing on the Last Great Day”


God’s Calendar of Redemption

God laid out His plan in the moedim — His appointed times. They are not just ancient feasts; they are the calendar of salvation itself. And like any journey, they have a beginning and an end.

At the cross, Jesus cried: “It is finished” (tetelestai, John 19:30). That opened salvation and launched the spring feasts:

  • Passover = the Lamb slain for sin.
  • Unleavened Bread = the removal and burial of sin — our leaven taken away in His death and burial.
  • Firstfruits = His resurrection as the firstfruits of those who sleep.
  • Pentecost = the Spirit poured out, sealing His people.

At the end of the age, Jesus will cry: “It is done” (gegonen, Rev. 16:17; 21:6). That will complete salvation and fulfill the fall feasts:

  • Trumpets = warning blast.
  • Atonement = saints sealed, wicked cut off.
  • Tabernacles = wedding feast, God dwelling with His people, the millennium inaugurated.

The feasts are a journey with a beginning and an end.
“Finished” opens salvation; “Done” closes salvation (Redemption).

Two Times He Said, “My Time Is Not Yet”

Jesus gave two markers of these two climaxes:

  • Passover (John 2:4) – “Mine hour is not yet come.” His hour came at the cross, where He shed His blood and cried “It Is Finished.” That was the opening cry.
  • Tabernacles (John 7:6–8) – “My time is not yet come.” His brothers urged Him to show Himself then, but He withheld. Yet on the last great day of the feast He cried to the thirsty (John 7:37–39). John explains this of the Spirit (fulfilled at Pentecost), but this cry also foreshadows the final “It is done” at the consummation.

Two “not yets.” Two cries.

  • Passover → Finished → salvation opened.
  • Tabernacles → Done → salvation completed (Redemption).

The Last Day: His Own Promise

In John 6, Jesus repeats four times a promise:

  • “…of all which He hath given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.” (v. 39)
  • “…that every one which believeth… may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.” (v. 40)
  • “…no man can come to Me, except the Father… draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.” (v. 44)
  • “…he that eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood… I will raise him up at the last day.” (v. 54)

Fourfold emphasis. Resurrection happens on the last day, The Greek word for final.

This is not vague. In John’s gospel, “the last day” is defined:

  • John 7:37 – “In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried…”

The last day is the last great day of Tabernacles. The moedim themselves point to it. That is when He raises His people up. Not seven years earlier. Not secretly. At the last day.

The Two Shouts in Parallel

God seals His patterns with beauty: the first cry at the cross previews the last cry at His coming.

At the Cross (Prototype):

  • Shout: “It is finished.”
  • Shaking: Earthquake (Matt. 27:51).
  • Resurrection: Saints arose (Matt. 27:52).
  • Holy City: They entered Jerusalem below (v. 53).

At His Appearing (Completion):

  • Shout: “It is done.”
  • Shaking: Heaven and earth quake (Rev. 16:18; Heb. 12:26).
  • Resurrection: The dead in Christ rise (1 Thess. 4:16–17).
  • Holy City: The saints gathered into New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:2).

One sequence, two horizons. What began in weakness finishes in glory.

Revelation 16: The Timing Proof

Notice the order in Revelation:

  • Rev. 16:15 – After the sixth bowl, Jesus still warns: “Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments.”
    → The rapture has not yet happened. Saints are still watching.
  • Rev. 16:17 – At the seventh bowl: “There came a great voice from the throne, saying, It is done.”
    → Heaven shakes, earth quakes, voices and thunders roar.
    → This is Hebrews 12:26–27 fulfilled: “Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.”

This is the Feast of Ingathering — Tabernacles — fulfilled.

Tabernacles and the Millennium

Tabernacles is called the Feast of Ingathering (Ex. 23:16). It marks the final harvest.

  • Zech. 14:16 – After the Lord’s appearing, survivors of the nations will come yearly to Jerusalem to worship the King and keep Tabernacles.
  • This feast begins the millennium, the seventh feast closing the 6,000 years and opening the 7,000th.
  • And its eighth day (Lev. 23:36) points to eternity beyond, when after the millennium Satan is destroyed and God makes all things new (Rev. 20–21).

Christ Sitting, Then Arising

  • Ps. 110:1; Heb. 10:12–13 – He sits until His enemies are His footstool.
  • Ps. 110:5–6 – Then He arises and strikes through kings in His wrath.
  • Ps. 132:7–9 – “Arise, O LORD, into Thy rest… let Thy priests be clothed with righteousness; and let Thy saints shout for joy.”

This is Tabernacles fulfilled: His arising into rest, His priests clothed, His saints shouting.

Harvest at the End

Jesus’ parable is plain:

  • Matt. 13:39 – “The harvest is the end of the world.”
  • Wheat and tares grow together until then.
  • The tares (proud, fruitless) are taken first.
  • The wheat (bowed, fruitful) are gathered last into the barn.

As in Noah’s day, the wicked were taken, and the righteous were left. To be “left” is preservation.

Hebrews 12:26–28 (KJV)

26 Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.

27 And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.

28 Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:

The Trumpet Is His Voice

The last trumpet is not a ram’s horn but the voice of Christ:

  • “A great voice, as of a trumpet” (Rev. 1:10).
  • “My sheep hear My voice” (John 10:27).
  • “Whose voice then shook the earth… yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven” (Heb. 12:26).

First shout shook the earth; last shout shakes heaven and earth.

Fill Your Lamps

If you cling to a pre-trib rescue and it doesn’t come, your lamp may run out. Your joy may collapse. You may feel betrayed.

But Jesus already told us the truth:

  • Four times He promised resurrection at the last day (John 6).
  • He pointed to Passover for His Finished and Tabernacles for His Done.
  • He sits until His enemies are subdued, then arises into His rest.

We want to be left like Noah, bowed like wheat, ready when the harvest comes.

Conclusion

From Cana to Calvary, from His brothers at Tabernacles to His cry on the last great day, Jesus has marked two appointed climaxes:

  • Passover → “It is finished” → salvation opened.
  • Tabernacles → “It is done” → salvation completed (Redemption).

This is the Feast of Ingathering, the harvest of the end, the dawn of the millennium, the shadow of eternity beyond.

And it is anchored in His own words: “I will raise him up at the last day.”

One feast journey. One shout that opened, one shout that closes. One great appearing.

So fill your lamps now. For when the King arises, His priests will be clothed in righteousness, His saints will shout for joy, and His voice will thunder once more over heaven and earth:

“It is done.”

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