I’m going to mess with some of your theology, some of the ways people have been taught about the way things happen but please bear with me, try to put away pre-conceived idea’s about what you may have been taught about Christ's return. I hear people say all the time, nothing else has to be fulfilled, Jesus could come at any moment. I beg to differ, the Lord says his word will not be broken, every word will be fulfilled. I believe there are several more things to be fulfilled before the Father will release Jesus to come and take his Church home. I’m going to do a lot of jumping around, old testament into new testament and back and forth, please try and think of this as a timeline, a story if you will of a way things may possibly work out. I don’t claim that I am infallible I am open to hearing other points of view, as long as they are based on sound Biblical teaching. Like the Berean Christians mentioned in Acts 17, I like to search out the scripture to see if what I am being taught is true.
From here I am simply going to quote a series of scriptures.
Matthew 24: 2-4 Jesus speaking says: 2 “Do you see all these things?” he asked. “Truly I tell you, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.”
3 As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”
4 Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you.
Matthew 24: 21 For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again.
2 Thessalonians 2: 6 And now you know what is holding him back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time.
Daniel 12:1 “At that time Michael, the great prince who protects your people, will arise. There will be a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then.
Revelation 12: 7 Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back.
2 Thessalonians 2: 1 Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers and sisters, 2 not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by the teaching allegedly from us—whether by a prophecy or by word of mouth or by letter asserting that the day of the Lord has already come. 3 Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction.
Daniel 7: 25 He will speak against the Most High and oppress his holy people and try to change the set times and the laws. The holy people will be delivered into his hands for a time, times and half a time.
Matthew 24: 11-13 and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. 12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13 but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.
Matthew 24: 9 “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. 10 At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other,
Luke 21: 14-19 But make up your mind not to worry beforehand how you will defend yourselves. 15 For I will give you words and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict. 16 You will be betrayed even by parents, brothers and sisters, relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death. 17 Everyone will hate you because of me. 18 But not a hair of your head will perish. 19 Stand firm, and you will win life.
Matthew 13: 24-30 “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. 25 But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. 26 When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.
27 “The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’ 28 “‘An enemy did this,’ he replied.
“The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’
29 “‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’”
Matthew 13:40 and 49-50 “As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. 41 The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil.
49 This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous 50 and throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Luke 17: 26-37 “Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. 27 People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all. 28 “It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. 29 But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all. 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.” 36 two men shall be in the field, the one shall be taken, and the other left.'
This is one of the scriptures that those that hold to the pre-trib rapture like to point to as the time the Church is gathered to the Lord. I submit to you it is the separation of the wicked and the saints but it is the wicked that are taken away, not the saints. I’m going to read those verses again, but this time I’m going to include verse 37. When those that hold to a pre-trib rapture read these verse’s they always conveniently leave out verse 37. Again this is Luke 17: 33-37: 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.” 36 two men shall be in the field, the one shall be taken, and the other left. 37 “Where, Lord?” they asked.
He replied, “Where there is a dead body, there the vultures will gather.”
Does that sound like someplace the Lord is going to take us if he is rapturing us out of here?
Proverbs 10: 30 The righteous will never be uprooted,
but the wicked will not remain in the land.
Isaiah 26: 20-21 Go, my people, enter your rooms
and shut the doors behind you;
hide yourselves for a little while
until his wrath has passed by.
21 See, the Lord is coming out of his dwelling
to punish the people of the earth for their sins.
The earth will disclose the blood shed on it;
the earth will conceal its slain no longer.
Zephaniah 2:1-3
1 Gather together, gather yourselves together,
you shameful nation,
2 before the decree takes effect
and that day passes like windblown chaff,
before the Lord’s fierce anger
comes upon you,
before the day of the Lord’s wrath
comes upon you.
3 Seek the Lord, all you humble of the land,
you who do what he commands.
Seek righteousness, seek humility;
perhaps you will be sheltered
on the day of the Lord’s anger.
Daniel 12: 11-12 “From the time that the daily sacrifice is abolished and the abomination that causes desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days. 12 Blessed is the one who waits for and reaches the end of the 1,335 days.
Revelation 14: 11-13 There will be no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and its image, or for anyone who receives the mark of its name.” 12 This calls for patient endurance on the part of the people of God who keep his commands and remain faithful to Jesus.
13 Then I heard a voice from heaven say, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.”
“Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them.”
Revelation 6: 9-11 When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained. 10 They called out in a loud voice, “How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?” 11 Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the full number of their fellow servants, their brothers and sisters, were killed just as they had been.
Luke 17: 24 For the Son of Man in his day will be like the lightning, which flashes and lights up the sky from one end to the other.
1 Corinthians 15: 51-52 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— 52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.
Revelation 11: 15 The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, which said:
“The kingdom of the world has become
the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah,
and he will reign for ever and ever.”
Everything I just read is straight from the word of God, nothing has been added to, or taken away from it.
(The seventh trumpet mentioned in Revelation 11 is the LAST trumpet mentioned in the word of God.)
Those that hold to a pre-trib rapture theory, how do you explain Revelation 6: 9-11? If in the pre trib rapture when the dead in Christ rise, what of these saints whose souls are still “under the altar”?
I give credit to Pastor David Lankford on the portion mentioning Michael the arch-angel as the restrainer, I had never heard it taught until I heard him speak of it.
I do not believe the scripture supports a pre-trib rapture. I know the scripture does say we will be “caught up” with the Lord, nothing in scripture indicates that it will be before the tribulation. I am also aware the scripture says that we are not appointed to suffer God’s wrath. What is upon is not God’s wrath, it is the unleashing of the evil one before Christ’s return. From the scriptures just shared it is clear many believers will pay for their faith with their lives. And many are doing so NOW. Although Revelation 3:10 does make provision for the Philadelphia Church saying they will spared from “the hour of trial” that will come upon the whole world to test those who live on the earth. There is also provision made for the “woman” of Revelation 12, who scripture would indicate are the children of Israel. The Lord will make provision for some believers, and as stated above some will pay for their faith with their lives. My desire in all of this is that believers be prepared for whatever comes, and that they will not lose heart if they are not “caught up with the Lord” before things get really bad. And things are getting worse by the hour now!
The Syrian Orthodox Church that traces its lineage to the time of Paul the Apostle does not and has not ever taught the rapture doctrine. These are some of the earliest Christians, who trace their lineage to the time of Christ walking the earth.
SIR ISSAC NEWTON 1642-1747 spoke this prophecy:
"ABOUT THE TIMES OF THE END,A BODY OF MEN WILL BE RAISED UP WHO WILL TURN THEIR ATTENTION TO THE PROPHECIES,AND INSIST UPON THEIR LITERAL INTERPRETATION ,IN THE MIDST OF MUCH CLAMOR AND OPPOSITION".
I am not “infallible”. I make mistakes and just want people to be prepared “for such a time as this”.
