Continuing from part 1
Seven times in Rev. 2-3 when speaking to the Jewish assemblies He says: “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches (Jewish assemblies). To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God" ' (correction added). In another post in Feb. 23, 2011 (The Churches of Rev. 2-3) it was shown that those are Jewish assemblies in the Tribulation and will be given to eat of the tree of life because the kingdom on earth will consist of mortals who will through the Tree of Life become immortal.
"And you will be hated by all for My name's sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved (Matt. 10:22).
"But he who endures to the end shall be saved (Mk. 24:13). …"And you will be hated by all for My name's sake. But he who endures to the end shall be saved (Mk. 13:13). quote][/quote]
Of the earth dwellers in the tribulation it is said in Rev. 9:21): “…they did not repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts” The Greek word “sorceries” (
pharmakeia
) is where our word drugs and pharmacy comes from. In the above setting it has a meaning of to have “
an enchantment with drugs.” Does it not describe the present times?
The beginning of the Tribulation is the same time as the parable of the Ten Virgins (Israel) when they went out to meet the Bridegroom but He was delayed. The delay was the seven years of the tribulation.
The parable of the ten virgins of Matthew 25 are those (Israel) who go out to meet the bridegroom and are identical to those Israelites who hear the third call in Matt. 22:9-10. In both instances, Israel is not the bride. The elect (the one third (Zech. 13:8-9) who survive the tribulation and will be friends of the Bridegroom, whose bride is the present church.
Seven times in Scripture the Lord’s disciples are called friends by the Lord (Matt. 9:15; Mk. 2:19; Lk. 5:34; 12:4; Jo. 15:13, 14, 15). There is a very clear distinction between the present bride of Christ and Israel now, and in the tribulation which includes His 12 disciples in Lk. 12:36. In v. 32 the Lord identifies the disciples as His little flock.” To them He says in vv. 35-36: “Let your waist be girded and your lamps burning; “and you yourselves be like men who wait for their master, when he will return from the wedding.” When He encourages them to keep their lamps burning, and watching (v. 37), is He not speaking of the same identical people (I
srael) and time, as the ten virgins in the tribulation?
In contrast, Paul said the church is the bride of, and married to Christ, but never did he say we are friends of the Bridegroom or Christ.
Those waiting cannot be the bride who is returning with the bridegroom from the wedding (Rev. 19:6-9) where the bride is introduced and together they will greet the friends of the bridegroom at the wedding hall for the marriage supper (Matt. 22:9-10; 25:1-13).
Always, when a marriage supper or banquette is mentioned, it is after the wedding has already taken place which is when the marriage of the church with the Bridegroom has been concluded in heaven after the rapture. Paul said to the Corinthian Church: “…I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ” (2 Cor. 11:2).
When she accepted her Savior those in the church were betrothed to Him (2 Cor. 11:2), and married to Him (Rom. 7:1-4, and in the rapture was caught up with Him for the marriage to be concluded in the bride chamber in heaven. There the friends of the bridegroom outside rejoice at the sound of the bride and bridegrooms voice in the bride chamber (Jo. 3:29). The bridegroom’s coming with his bride in the parable of the ten virgins is the same as in Lk. 12:36 where the disciples are to be like those who wait for the Bridegroom returning from the wedding.
Following are 10 sure evidences of how the rapture of the church a different event than the judgments of Matthew 13 and 25.
1. Since the rapture is of just the church, it cannot possibly be the same as the judgments of Matt. 13 and 25 that has to do with the whole world.
2. The judgments of Matt. 13 and 25 are to determine who will go into the kingdom then on earth and be given the right to eat of the Tree of life (Rev. 2:7). The church saints were already judged in Christ on the cross. “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes” (Rom. 10:4). They have been baptized into Christ (1 Cor. 12:13), and already separated from the lost. We have already been judicially delivered from the power of darkness and translated into the kingdom of the Son of His love (Col. 1:13); and sealed until the redemption of our body in the rapture (2 Cor. 1:22; Eph. 1:13-14; 4:30). “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 cor. 5:21). And finally of the rapture: “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,” (Phil. 3:20).
3. That the kingdom of the Son is still un-established is verified by Paul. “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior” (Phil. 3:20); “And the Lord will deliver me from every evil work and preserve me for His heavenly kingdom” (2 Tim. 4:18).
4. Today, the only gospel is that of salvation through grace completely apart from the offering of the kingdom to Israel. Then will be preached the gospel of the third offer of the kingdom that was commanded in Matt. 10:5:16, Matt. 22:7-10 and Matt. 24:14 than to the entire to world.
5. They are the same as those who preach the kingdom of heaven is at hand in Matt. 10:7; and in v. 22
who endures to the end, who will not have gone through all the cities of Israel until the Son of Man comes (v. 23). They are also the same as in Rev. 2-3 where it is said 7 times "
he who overcomes," which clearly shows that the day of grace has ended at the rapture when the Holy Spirit left with the church. They are Jews who are judged by their works the same as in the wheat and tares and sheep and goats judgments of Gentiles who survive the tribulation.
6. If any part of the church is left behind as in the mid-tribulation or partial rapture teaching, then not only do we have the mixing of the present gospel of grace and the gospel of the kingdom, but also a mixing of the destination of those left behind and the earth dwellers at large. Out citizenship is in heaven but the saved who survive the tribulation will go into the earthly kingdom as those among the wheat (Matt. 13:30) or sheep (Matt. 25:32) at the Second Advent.
7. As to the partial rapture teaching, if part of Christ's bride is left behind then there has to be two raptures to have a complete bride. Would He come again for those He left behind the first time, or leave them until His second coming to establish the kingdom? If the Holy Spirit left with the church so the Anti-Christ could be revealed, then they would be left to go into the kingdom as mortals and not be changed as the first ones were to have a spiritual body like Christ. They would have to be part of those who would be given access to the tree of life and retain the same bodies as we now have. It can easily be seen that the partial rapture teaching instead of enlightening the Lord's people, only brings endless confusion.
8. Those who are left after the rapture are those who have heard but rejected the gospel, and those who have never heard or understood it. In either case they are unsaved Jews and Gentiles; nonbelievers. Consequently, there has to be a period of time to evangelize those who have never heard or understood the gospel in order to have a citizenry for the kingdom.
9. The church is to be changed to reign as co-rulers with Christ in the kingdom. They must be made like Him (Phil. 3:21), and have the very mind of Christ (1 Cor. 13:12), but no such thing is so much as hinted at in the Judgments of Matt. 13 and 25.
10. If we are to have a spiritual body for heaven, and those admitted into an earthly kingdom are given to eat of the tree of life (Rev. 2:7) to live, then it is not possible to that they are the same. Those in the earthly kingdom can and will reproduce to replenish the earth. We will have a spiritual body like Christ.
And this is the mystery of the rapture; a whole generation of saints will be changed from mortal to immortal and caught up to meet the Lord in the air and translated to heaven. There can be no reasonable denial that this event is as Paul says: a mystery.
The Post-Tribulation people admit that there will be a rapture and the church will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air and taken to heaven, but say we immediately return with Christ to earth. But where is the time required for the judgment seat of Christ of 1 Cor. 3:15 to determine our rewards and rank in the kingdom, and to be made ready to reign with Him (1 Cor. 3:12-15; Rev. 19;7-9). ).
Because of the erroneous translation of assembly to Church in Matt. 16:18 we have been taught that the Lord spoke of the present church and the rapture in His earthly ministry.
It is said that Jo. 14:3 speaks of the rapture where the Lord said to His disciples: “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.” They are reading something in the passage that is not there. He says nothing about the rapture or when He would come for them. If He is speaking of the rapture, them Paul was wrong when he said the rapture was a mystery; unrevealed before him. Do we believe Paul or not? It was to him that this mystery Dispensation of Grace was given and begun.
The coming glory for the church is our revelation with Him when He is revealed to earth dwellers and at the marriage supper of the Lamb when the Lord introduces His bride to Israel the friend of the Bridegroom. The scene when the Bridegroom has returned to earth with His bride as in the parable of the Ten Virgins where it is said:
"Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage supper of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready. “And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine lined is the righteous acts of the saints. Then he said to me, “write: ‘Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb” (Rev. 19:7-9)!
The presenting of His bride dressed in her righteous acts is the end result of (1 Cor. 3:12-15).
Concerning the teaching that some Christians will be left behind because they were not worthy (Lk. 21:35-36). Would the Lord desert part of the last living generation of His bride to endure the perils of the tribulation, and that without the Holy Spirit? The thought is not only incredulous, it is impossible. Paul says that if anyone has not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His (Rom. 8:9).
It could truthfully be said that the teaching that some Christians will be left to go through the tribulation because they are not worthy in reality is a Protestant purgatory, where they must suffer for their unworthiness. It is an outright denial of what Christ has accomplished for us; a teaching that our standing before God is through our own righteousness instead of Christ's imputed righteousness.
When speaking of the church, Paul said that God has “…sealed us and given us the Spirit in out hearts as a deposit” (2 Cor. 1:22). In Eph. 1: 13 he says we were “…sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.” Again he says in Eph. 4:30: “…do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption,” which would be the rapture. Being sealed by the Holy Spirit is our assurance and guarantee, that as a believer we have been separated from the lost and preserved by the present indwelling Holy Spirit.
Paul said of the bride of Christ and their deliverance before the Day of the Lord:
“For when they say, “Peace and safety! Then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they will not escape. But you brethren, are not in darkness so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. “…For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him (1 Thess. 5:3; 9-10).
My answer to the question specifically, how long is the period between the rapture and the beginning of the tribulation? It is the same as when Paul in 1 Cor. 15L52 said about our change: “…in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye.” The word “moment” used by Paul is the Greek word “atomos,’ where our word ‘atom,’ comes from.
When the restraining Holy Spirit is taken out of the way (2 Thess. 2:7) at the rapture is when the lawless one “went out conquering and to conquer” (Rev. 6:2). The above Scriptures establish the sure truth that when He is taken out of the way, we are also removed because Paul said we are sealed by Him, until the day of our redemption.
Therefore, it is evident, if those being admitted into the kingdom are afterwards given the Holy Spirit, then, He was not indwelling believers during the tribulation. And that is because the “Restrainer” left with the church in the rapture. It is taught by some that the church is the restrainer of 2 Thess. 2:7, but the church who is the bride of Christ is feminine, and the Restrainer is a “He” in capital. Besides, the church cannot even restrain herself.
To make my case for the Rapture I have taken up much space, but like most fundamental teachings, the case cannot be covered with a simple verse or two. For anyone who might be interested, I have written a book “Understanding the Biblical Rapture” and would be happy to send it as an attachment (over 57.000 words) complete to anyone who is interested at no charge; just an email address is all that is required. See my profile for my email address.
In His grace
pilgrim
