Posted 1-28-01
However, if the Rapture hasn't taken place, the Tribulation hasn't begun. If the False Prophet hasn't been revealed, the Tribulation hasn't begun. If the Beast (Tribulation Pope) and False Prophet haven't confirmed the covenant "with many" (Dan. 9:27) (i.e., the United Nations), the Tribulation hasn't begun. If Moses and Elijah have not arrived, the Tribulation has not begun. If the Tribulation Pope hasn't riden forth on his white horse as a prince of peace and been given a crown (Rev. 6:2), the Tribulation has not begun. If power has not been "given him over all kindred, and tongues, and NATIONS" (Rev. 13:7), the Tribulation has not begun.
II Thess. 2:1-8 (NEB) says, "now, brothers (believers), about the COMING (parousia, being alongside, presence, i.e., at the Pre-Trib Rapture) of our Lord Jesus Christ and his GATHERING (episunagoge, leading together into) OF US TO HIMSELF (the Rapture): I beg you, do not suddenly lose your heads or alarm yourselves, whether at some oracular utterance, or pronouncement, or some letter purporting to come from us, alleging that the DAY OF THE LORD (the Millennium) is already here (It can't come until after Elijah comes, Mal. 4:5). Let no one deceive you in any way whatever. That day cannot come before the final rebellion against God."
The "final rebellion against God" is not what the Greek means, any more than "a falling away" is in the KJV. The words "against God" aren't even in the Greek. This is interpretation, not translation. Under the Greek words, Green's Interlinear says, "unless shall have come the apostasy first." We need to find out what this "apostasy" really means. The Greek word "apostasia" means the departure, and was so translated in early Bibles. The "apostasia" that has to come before the wicked False Prophet is revealed is the departure, the Pre-Trib Rapture. Falling away was a better translation than in the NEB though, we will fall away from Earth. Gravity will lose its hold on us.
Continuing, the NEB says, "when wickedness will be revealed in human form, the man doomed to perdition. He is the Enemy (the False Prophet who becomes Satan-possessed Mid-Trib). He rises in his pride against every god so called, every object of man's worship, and even takes his seat in the temple of God (Mid-Trib) claiming to be a god himself. You cannot but remember that I told you this while I was still with you; YOU MUST NOW BE AWARE of the RESTRAINING HAND (i.e., the Holy Spirit) which ENSURES that he (the False Prophet) shall be revealed ONLY at the proper time (the beginning of the Tribulation, when he confirms the covenant of Dan. 9:27). For already the secret power of wickedness is at work, SECRET ONLY for the present UNTIL THE RESTRAINER (the Holy Spirit) DISAPPEARS FROM THE SCENE (when he takes the Bride of Christ to Heaven). And then (tote, AT THE SAME TIME) he will be revealed, that wicked man." Because we are here, this man's being revealed is being restrained, held back. When we disappear, he will be revealed.
Scripture agrees with Scripture. Verse 3 must agree with 7 and 8. Verse 3 literally means that the departure (Rapture) must come first, then the False Prophet will be revealed. Verses 7 and 8 agree. The Restrainer, Holy Spirit, must disappear from the scene when he takes us to Heaven at the Rapture, then at the same time, probably the same day, just as soon as the Restrainer is removed, the False Prophet will be revealed when he confirms the covenant "with many" (Dan. 9:27).
Let's work backwards. The millennial Day of the Lord starts with destruction (Joel 1:15) on the 2300th day (Dan. 8:13,14) of the shortened Tribulation. It can't begin until after Elijah comes at the beginning of the Tribulation to prophesy during the first 1260 days (Mal. 4:5; Rev. 11:3).
The Tribulation can't begin until the False Prophet is revealed when he confirms the covenant of Dan. 9:17. The False Prophet can't be revealed until the restraining hand of the Holy Spirit is removed when he takes the Bride of Christ to Heaven at the Pre-Trib Rapture.
So the order of events at the beginning of the Tribulation is the Rapture first, then the confirming of the covenant that reveals who the False Prophet is, then the arrival of Elijah. The millennial Day of the Lord arrives on the 2300th day of the Tribulation. The Holy Spirit may return on that same Pentecost to empower Moses and Elijah as God's prophets during the 1st 1260 days of the Tribulation.
In the KJV, the word "apostasia" the departure, is translated "divorcement" in Mk. 10:4, Mt. 19:7 and Mt. 5:31, "forsake" in Acts 21:21, and "falling away" in II Thess. 2:3. Apostasia means physical separation, departure and disappearance, as in a divorce, where one party leaves. Let's see what each of these passages says.
Mk. 10:4: "Moses suffered to write a bill of DIVORCEMENT, and to put her away." She departed.
Mt. 19:7: " Why did Moses then command to give a writing of DIVORCEMENT, and to put her away?" Being put away means that she would leave.
Mt. 5:31: "It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away (apoluo, let depart, loose away, send away) his wife, let him give her a writing of DIVORCEMENT."
Acts 21:21: "they are informed of thee, that thou teachest all the Jews which are among the Gentiles to FORSAKE (depart from) Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise their children, neither to walk after the customs."
II Thess. 2:3: "that day shall not come, except there come a FALLING AWAY (departure, disappearance, Liddell - Scott - Jones Lexicon of Classical Greek) FIRST, and that man of sin be revealed (SECOND), the son of perdition."
In II Thess. 2:3, "apostasia" has to do with physical departure, the saints departing from this world, as a divorced person departs. In the Old Testament, to journey, move, depart is "nasa," as in Ex. 19:2: "they were DEPARTED from Rephidim." I think of this when I hear of NASA's space shots. We are going to "nasa" out of here at the Pre-Trib Rapture without a vehicle. By the power of the Holy Spirit, we will simply be caught up to meet Christ in the air (I Thess. 4:17). Agape
Your understanding of the basic principle of "two raptures" is very similar to that which I have seen to be Truth. It is sad that so many of our brothers and sisters have chosen to "run while they read" allowing the "enemy man" to sow tares amongst the good wheat of God's Word. Even though the basic principle remains the same there are more than a few differences between our points of view. I'll share some points for you to consider, not necessarily the most important. I am part of a ministry that has consistently taught "two raptures" for over fifty years....
Knowing the day and hour. The overall context of Matthew 24 and Luke 21 deal with the signs of Christ's coming. That is why so many assume the passage dealing with knowing the day and the hour refer to the same. Jesus shared those words to contrast that which we could not know with that which the light filled Christian should in fact know. The problem is that most of us don't have enough oil to keep the light shining. It is a simple grammatical rule that a conjunction ties together two related subjects.
Matt. 24:35,36 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. (KJV)
What day and hour was Jesus speaking of? The day that heaven and earth pass away. Why did he include this statement? To show us a situation that truly was not known in contrast to that which He was sharing with His disciples and us which we could and should know, the time of His coming.
The Lord spoke through His prophet Amos (3:6) that He would do nothing without first revealing it through His servants the prophets. Prophets are not only those who foresee the future but more importantly those who speak and teach the Truth.
When shall that day be?
One thing that I am personally confident of, just as you are of the significance of Pentecost to the Lord's return, is that what we call the "Great Tribulation" will begin synonymously with the taking of the Bride of Christ and that on only one possible day out of the year, the 10th of Nisan. This has been our teaching for well over fifty years. What you call the "pre-wrath rapture" we call the "rapture of the Harvest Company." With that we are in perfect agreement that Tishri 1, the Day of Trumpets, will see its fulfillment. The interesting parallel fact is that the time between the two dates, beginning in whatever year the Bride is taken, is exactly 1260 days. We have always held that the Tribulation shall be 3 1/2 years long.
What is so significant about the 10th of Nisan? In Exodus 12 we see that the lamb was to be set apart on the 10th and watched over for four days. Then on the 14th the lamb was sacrificed as was our Passover Lamb Jesus. It was on the 16th of Nisan that Jesus rose from the dead, changed into a body glorified. He is rightly called the "Firstfruits from the dead." But there will also be another "Firstfruits" as described in Revelation 14.
Rev. 14:3-5 And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth. These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb. And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God.
This 144,000 are the heavenly equivalent of the earthly representatives found in Rev. 7. These are the Bride, the "man child" of Revelation 12, verse 5. "And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne." As Jesus the "Firstfruit" ascended to His Father on the 16th of Nisan, the day of the waving (up and down) of the "Sheaf of Firstfruits", so will the Bride, the Firstfruit Company, return from Heaven to be those messengers who will counsel those willing to be the nucleous of the "Glorious Church" during the Great Tribulation....
Perhaps the most striking of all patterns is found in Joshua, chapter 4. This is the description of Israel's crossing into the "Promised Land." After forty years in the wilderness the time comes for Israel to claim the promise. As the priests step down into the Jordan (the great descender) symbolizing death, the river dried up and Israel (ruled by God) crosses over without touching the water (death) and all of that on the 10th day of the first month (Nisan).
1Cor. 10:11 Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world (ages) are come.
Josh. 4:19 And the people came up out of Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and encamped in Gilgal, in the east border of Jericho.
Jesus is doing a wonderful work and there is much more to come. ...May the Lord richly bless you.
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Bear in mind that whatever THE year our Lord returns, about 2 weeks previous thereto will be the great day of Trumpets, "when the last trump shall sound" - at which instant a vast, innumerable company shall be seen to take aloft in scornful defiance of gravity! ...THEN begins emptying the "7 vials of wrath" to be poured forth upon the inhabitants of earth.
Nisan 10 was when Jesus, the Lamb of God, the Head of the Body of Christ, was set aside for the Passover sacrifice. It does not necessarily apply to the church, the Bride of Christ.
It seems that the Rapture will be on a feast day, a "mikraw (Heb.), something called out, an assembly, a rehearsal). Heb. 12:22-24 says, "ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, To the general assembly (panegurei, FESTAL assembly, Thayer) and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, And to Jesus."
Believers are called wheat (Mt. 13:30) and "a kind of FIRSTFRUITS of his creatures" (James 1:18). The wheat harvest BEGINS on Pentecost, "the feast of harvest, the firstfruits of thy labours, which thou hast sown in the field (world)." The 2 loaves baked with leaven "are the FIRSTFRUITS unto the LORD" (Lev. 23:17). Ex. 23:19 says, "The FIRST of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring into the house of the LORD thy God." If these Raptured ones on Pentecost are the "FIRST of the firstfruits," none were taken to Heaven previously on Nisan 10. Neh. 10:35,36 says of Pentecost, "bring the firstfruits of our ground, and the firstfruits of all fruit of all trees, year by year, unto the house of the LORD: Also the FIRSTBORN OF OUR SONS."
I think Song of Sol. 2:10-14 describes Christ's coming for his Bride at the Pre-Trib Rapture. Winter is past, the rain of Nisan is over and gone. Since it is a time of no rain, the former rain of Tishri and the latter rain of Nisan eliminates 6 feasts, 3 in Tishri and 3 in Nisan. The only feast left is Pentecost. It is the time of green figs and firstripe grapes. During Passion Week, "the time of figs was NOT YET" (Mk. 11:13). Grapes begin to ripen in the latter part of May and the beginning of June. That fits Pentecost.
> > What you call the "pre-wrath rapture" we call the "rapture of the Harvest Company." With that we are in perfect agreement that Tishri 1, the Day of Trumpets, will see its fulfillment. The interesting parallel fact is that the time between the two dates, beginning in whatever year the Bride is taken, is exactly1260 days. We have always held that the Tribulation shall be 3 1/2 years long.
Why? seeing that the 70th week of Dan. 9:27 is seven years. Lev. 26:27,28 says, "if ye will not for all this hearken unto me, but walk contrary unto me; Then I will walk contrary unto you also in fury; and I, even I, will chastise you seven times (years, Rev. 12:6,14) for your sins."
The 1st 1260 days (Rev. 11:3; 13:5) is when Moses and Elijah prophesy during the reign of the Beast. Then, Mid-Trib, the False Prophet takes over and desecrates the temple. He kills Moses and Elijah. After 3.5 days, they are resurrected, the Lord says, "Come up hither," and they ascend to Heaven as the male child of Rev. 12:5 that will help rule the nations with a rod of iron.
Israel flees Jerusalem when the temple is desecrated. From Mid-Trib, Rev. 12:6,14 tells us that there will be another 1260 days, during which time the Messianic Jews will be protected in the wilderness from the face of the serpent, who is indwelling the False Prophet after being kicked out of Heaven Mid-Trib.
This latter 1260 days is the Great Tribulation that is to be shortened for the elect's sake (Mt. 24:22). This 1260 days start with the desecration of the temple (Mt. 24:15). Dan. 8:13,14 shows us that the first 1260 days, when the Jews can sacrifice, plus another 1040 days, when the Jews cannot sacrifice, equal 2300 days. That is the shortened Tribulation that ends with the Pre-Wrath Rapture and the outpouring of God's Wrath on the Feast of Trumpets.
> > As Jesus the "Firstfruit" ascended to His Father on the 16th of Nisan, the day of the waving (up and down) of the "Sheaf of Firstfruits", so will the Bride, the Firstfruit Company, return from Heaven to be those messengers who will counsel those willing to be the nucleous of the "Glorious Church" during the Great Tribulation.
The Bride does not return until the Second Advent. Rev. 19:14 says, "the armies which were in heaven followed him."
> > whatever THE year our Lord returns, about 2 weeks previous thereto will be the great day of Trumpets, "when the last trump shall sound" - at which instant a vast, innumerable company shall be seen to take aloft
The time between Tishri 1, the Feast of Trumpets when God's Wrath is cast on Earth and the return of Christ on the following Nisan 1, is 7 Jewish months (Eze. 39:12,13). Therefore, it is a Jewish Leap Year.
I feel sure that Christ will return on Nisan 1, the 1st day of the Jewish Regnal and Sacred Year, Regnal because He is King of kings, Sacred because He is Lord of lords.
Hos. 6:3 says, "the LORD: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth." His 1st coming was on Tishri 1, the time of the former rain. His 2nd coming is on Nisan 1, the time of the latter rain.
The date of Nisan 1 is set in Eze. 29:17, "in the first month, in the first day of the month." Then v. 21 says, "In that day (Nisan 1) will I cause the horn (king) of the house of Israel (Christ) to bud forth, and I will give thee the opening of the mouth (Logos, Word) in the midst of them; and they shall know that I am the LORD."
PS: You mentioned something in your files about Russia being the 10 kings. I think the 10 kings will rule over regions of the world under the One World Government leaders, the Beast and False Prophet.
The following was on The Cutting Edge Ministries:
...the New World Order Plan has divided the world into 10 Super Nations (See NEWS1002), and has nearly completed the reorganization. Briefly, the entire world has been reorganized into 10 Super Nations, as listed below:
10 SPHERES OF INFLUENCE --NATIONAL REORGANIZATION
l. North America
2. Western Europe
3. Japan
4. Australia, South Africa, and the rest of the market-economy of the developed world
5. Eastern Europe, including Russia
6. Latin America
7. North Africa and the Middle East
8. Tropical Africa
9. South and Southeast Asia
10. China
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It was in the book "Mankind At The Turning Point."
The signs will probably not be so obvious that the unbeliever will recognize them, but the believer can if he is watching. Lu. 21:25,28 says, "there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars (astrois, constellations); and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea (i.e., nations, Rev. 17:15) and the waves roaring... And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh."
The Rapture will come as a trap for some. Lu. 21:34-36 says, "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. For as a snare (pagis, trap) shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to ESCAPE all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man." Best of everything, health and otherwise. Agape
God impressed on my spirit that the Fig tree parable is unlike any other parable He gave to his apostles. He commands us to know its meaning yet He doesn't explain its meaning in detail like He did all the others.Truly, the Spirit of God reveals its meaning to this endtime generatiion I believe only to those who are truly seeking Him out. Its meaning becomes so obvious once it is explained to a true spirit filled beliver.
Also Marilyn, I never understood the Kingdom parables(ten virgins, man without a wedding garment,the slothful servant) until I read a book by Dwight Pentecost who in clear detail explain that these parables refer to not the saved/unsaved but to alert vs backslidden Christians. I thank God for servants like Dwight pentecost and yourself for alerting Christians in a vert clearly detailed way ,the nearest of our departure. May Christ continue to uphold you, your husband Ed, and your powerful ministry this year of our Lord 2001. Perhaps He gives knowledge of His coming to the heathen without their awareness of it. A popular movie in the 1970's entitled : 2001 A Space Odessey made quite an impression on me at the time but now I consider its title in an entirely new light. Your brother in Christ
In my early years, before WW II, during which my Dad was a Safety Engineer at an ordinance works, he was a principal and teacher. Before the war, he taught math and science. After the war, he taught electronics. I was in his General Science class, studied harder than in any other class I ever had. He'd ask all others in the room a question, and if they didn't know it, he'd ask me. I'd just better know the answer. Boy, I really worked hard for my grade. The principal and teacher wasn't about to play favorites.
I'll always be grateful that he taught me to outline to study, also to organize my material even if it was put in paragraphs. That led me into writing to study. Things come much clearer to me when I write them down than in leaving the ideas floating around in my head. The dialog with others and the freedom to edit using the computer are great for me. I doubt that I would get as far otherwise. I now like to use Bible Plus to print out a verse, then start looking up words and inserting their definitions. I couldn't use Bible Plus on my Mac. If someone nice hadn't given me this PC, I'd never been able to use Bible Plus. I hope everyone with a PC downloads it, it's free. The link is on my Link page.
The Lord sure knows how to prepare us for what is coming later. I couldn't have known what I'd be doing now, but he knew. And I enjoy it. Agape
Pro and Con 680 Or Return
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Updated 1-28-01