THE RAPTURE – PART 8
January 8, 2009
http://www.tribulationperiod.com/
UNVEILING THE MYSTERY OF THE PRE-MILLENNIAL RAPTURE
The 1st Resurrection, Catching Out of the Saved, or the Rapture – Part 8
Please read my previous BLOGs (THE RAPTURE – PARTS 1 TO 7) prior to reading the following BLOG.
Can We Actually Know the YEAR of Christ’s Coming?
Please Consider the Following!
I Corinthians 15:51,52 – Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, [52] In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
Revelation 10:7 – But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.
Revelation 11:15,18 – And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and
ever. [18] And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.
When Jesus spoke to his first church during the Olivet Discourse, he made it clear that no one on earth, at that time, was able to know the season of the year, the month of the year, the day of the year, or the hour of the year he would be returning to establish his kingdom.
Matthew 24:36 – But of that DAY and HOUR knoweth no man, no, not the angels
of heaven, but my Father only.
Matthew 25:13 – Watch therefore, for ye know neither THE DAY nor THE HOUR wherein the Son of man cometh.
Mark 13:32 – But of THAT DAY and THAT HOUR knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.
Acts 1:6,7 – When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore AGAIN the kingdom to Israel
? [7] And he said unto them, It is not for you to know THE TIMES (phases of the moon that marked the months of the year in their calendar and the time of the feasts) or THE SEASONS (spring, summer, fall, and winter) which the Father hath put in his own power.
All of these Scriptures clearly state that we can never know the hour or day of Christ’s coming, the month of it, or the season of the year he would arrive. But the Greek word for year was “eniautos,” which simply means year, and this word was most assuredly well established, and commonly used by Jesus, at the time of the writing of the New Testament, but it was never used by Jesus when he referred to the time of his coming. It would have been madness for men to guess at the year of his coming until Israel came back into the land after the destruction of the temple in A.D. 70, and there is no way under heaven it can be positively known at present. It can only be guesstimated at best.
But when Israel is attacked from the north, and only one third of its population survives to flee to a place of safety, the year of his coming will be more than speculation, I believe it can be known at that time to occur at some point in the last 1260 days that follow the attack, most likely in the final year of that period. If I am still alive when Israel is attacked from the north to begin the last 1260 days of the tribulation period, and I am still on this planet in a body of flesh and blood, then I will believe the rapture will occur during the last year of that period, but until that time anything I guesstimate as to the year of his coming is pure speculation.
Revelation 12:6 – And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days (1260 days).
Zechariah 13:8 – And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the Lord, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein.
I Thessalonians 5:3,4 – For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. [4] But YE, brethren, are NOT in darkness, that THAT DAY should overtake you AS A THIEF.
God’s children are not to be completely unaware, shocked, or surprised when sudden destruction arrives to pre-herald the Lord’s coming. We are not children of darkness, we are children of light, but if we do not study prophecy or have no interest in it, we are unable to read the signs of his coming because we are not enlightened. Children of light will not experience the wrath of the seven vials
of God’s wrath, but they will still be on this earth during the trumpets of his judgment.
I Thessalonians 5:4-9 – But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. [5] Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. [6] Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.
[7] For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are
drunken in the night. [8] But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation. [9] For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,
Luke 21:34 – And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so THAT DAY come upon you unawares.
Revelation 3:1-4 – And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write; These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars; I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead. [2] Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God.
[3] Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee AS A THIEF, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.
[4] Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy.
I don’t know for certain, but when we BEGIN to see the beginning of
the woes on
the blowing of the fifth trumpet, we can know the year we will be taken out when the seventh trumpet sounds, because it will be less than a year between the two trumpets. I am of the opinion the saved will still be here in the woes, but taken out as the third one begins. I believe Luke 21:25-28 contains both the woes and the wrath of God, with the sounding of the seventh trumpet separating the two. The sixth seal marks the beginning of 1260 days of Tribulation, which intensifies into the woes on the fifth trumpet and the wrath of God on the pouring out of the first vial.