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Psalms
97:1-12 The LORD
reigns; Let the earth rejoice; Let the multitude of isles be glad! Clouds and
darkness surround Him; Righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne. A fire goes before Him, And
burns up His enemies round about. His lightnings light the world; The earth
sees and trembles. The mountains melt like wax at the presence of the LORD, At
the presence of the Lord of the whole earth. The heavens declare His
righteousness, And all the peoples see His glory. Let all be put to shame who serve
carved images, Who boast of idols. Worship Him, all you gods. Zion hears and is glad, And the daughters of Judah
rejoice Because of Your judgments, O LORD. For You, LORD, are most high above all the earth;
You are exalted far above all gods. You who love the LORD, hate evil! He
preserves the souls of His saints; He delivers them out of the hand of the
wicked. Light is sown for the righteous, And gladness for the upright in heart.
Rejoice in the LORD, you righteous, And give thanks at the remembrance of His
holy name.
Father God we thank you for all that you do for us each
day. We give you praise and glory. Please open our ears so we can hear, our
eyes so we can see, our mind so we can understand, and give us a heart to know
the truth. In Jesus name we pray, Amen!
Revelation ( Pre-Tribulation Rapture) NKJV
Last
week we were introduced to Heaven. We had a glimpse of God’s Throne Room and
who is in the Throne Room with Him. The view is a grand view that we as human
beings cannot come close to comprehending. We learned about God’s brilliance, 4
beasts, 24 elders, golden crowns, thunder and lightning from God’s Throne,
voices, white robes, and the seven lamp stands.
This
week I was planning on continuing with the description of God’s Throne Room,
but I got caught up in the timing of the Rapture and several things were
revealed to me so I thought I’d share them. I will continue with God’s Throne
Room next week.
I
would like to remind all that starting with Chapter 4 through 19 it is all
about the events of the seven year Tribulation. Here’s a few key things revealed
in scripture that supports Pre-Tribulation Rapture.
Point
one; if you remember at the end of each of the messages that Jesus gave to the
seven churches he stated, "He who has an ear, let
him hear what the Spirit says to the churches". Jesus is speaking
to the churches, not an individual. That is because the churches are still on
the earth, meaning His children. The seven candle sticks represent the churches
that we studied in chapter one. Revelation
1:20 The
mystery of the seven stars which you saw in My right hand, and the seven golden
lampstands: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven
lampstands which you saw are the seven churches. Now let’s go to Chapter 13 and see
what is said pertaining to those that became believers during the Tribulation
after the Rapture. Revelation
13:9 KJV If any man
have an ear, let him hear. This
is being addressed to those that have become believers during the Tribulation
that are still on earth, not to the churches because the church, God’s children
are in Heaven.
Point
two; we are ambassador’s for Christ and when a kingdom prepares for battle
aren’t the ambassadors called together to prepare for battle? Corinthians tells
us we are ambassadors. 2
Corinthians 5:20 Now then,
we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we
implore you on Christ's behalf,
be reconciled to God.
Since we are ambassadors for Christ and knowing we will be with Him at His
Second Coming/Armageddon, then by means of the Rapture we are called home to
prepare for battle. Revelation
19:14 And the armies in heaven,
clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses.
Point
three; What is the Churches name for God, “Our Father”. In chapters 4-19 not
once is God called Father. He is referred to as God, Lord, Almighty and all the
other names known in the OT, but not by Father which is used throughout the NT.
When referred to Father in the NT it is always by His Children or referring to
Him being the Father of the Born Again Saints. There is only one reference in
Chapter 14, and that being Father of Christ in, Revelation 14:1 Then I
looked, and behold, a Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with Him one hundred and forty-four thousand, having His
Father's name written on their foreheads. Why isn’t Father found in Chapters 4-19, because the
Church is in Heaven with Him. These on earth are those that accepted Christ
after the Rapture; they are people that have been witnessed to that have never
heard the Gospel message and in turn received Jesus as there Saviour. These
people will be ushered into the New Millennium.
Fourth;
the Holy Spirit is removed from earth at the time of the Rapture and all evil
will run rampant, which makes total sense and is supported with scripture. Last
week’s lesson ended with verse 5 talking about the Spirit of God. In this new
vision of John’s, where is the Spirit of God? Before the Throne of God! Revelation 4:5 And from the throne proceeded lightnings,
thunderings, and voices. Seven lamps of fire were burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of
God. The Holy Spirit
will be removed from earth. Presently He is the restrainer of Satan’s evil
forces for God’s Children. Second Thessalonians support this fact, 2 Thessalonians 2:6-8 And now you know what is restraining, (The Holy Spirit.) that he (Satan) may be
revealed in his own time. 7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work;(Satan is already at work.)
only He who now restrains (Holy Spirit) will do
so until He is taken out of the way.
8 And then the lawless one (Satan/anti-christ)
will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and
destroy with the brightness of His coming.
Fifth;
I want to go back to verse 4:1 & 2 and show the symbolizism that has been
revealed to me. Revelation
4:1-2 After these things I looked,
and behold, a door standing
open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, "Come up here,
and I will show you things which must take place after this." 2 Immediately
I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne set in heaven, and One sat on the throne. This is a new vision depicting
another era of time in God’s Plan that is taking place in Heaven. John is
actually living the events of the Rapture and end time events so that he can
record them. John was protected from death for this purpose by Jesus, because Jesus
had a special place in His heart for John, and was referred to as the Beloved
One. We need to go back to the Gospel of John for verification of this fact. I
will make comments in green parenthesis.
John
21:17-23 A third
time He asked him, "Simon son of John, do you love
Me?" Peter was hurt that Jesus asked the question a third time. He
said, "Lord, You know everything. You know that I love You." Jesus
said, "Then feed My sheep. 18 "I tell you the
truth, when you were young, you were able to do as you liked; you dressed
yourself and went wherever you wanted to go. But when you are old, you will
stretch out your hands, and others will dress you and take you where you don't
want to go." 19 Jesus said this to
let him know by what kind of death he would glorify God. Then Jesus told him, "Follow Me." (Jesus is
having a conversation with Peter and revealed what type of death Peter would
endure and that he should follow Him.)
20 (Peter now
turns and asked, “What about him?” referring to John.) Peter turned around and saw behind them the
disciple Jesus loved—the one who had leaned over to Jesus during supper and
asked, "Lord, who will betray You?" 21
Peter asked Jesus, "What about him, Lord?" 22
Jesus replied, "If I want him to remain alive
until I return, what is that to you? As for you, follow Me." (Jesus is telling Peter in a way to worry about himself
and that He would take care of John and the other Apostles. What Jesus is
actually saying here is that John would remain alive until He came to him on
the island of Patmos, which at that time he would experience the end time
events to record. If you read verse 23 the Apostles understood Jesus to say
that John would live till the end of time.) 23 So
the rumor spread among the community of believers that this disciple wouldn't
die. But that isn't what Jesus said at all. He only said, "If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is
that to you?"
I hope
this is all starting to make sense to you and I haven’t lost you. I will make
an attempt to tie all this together at the end. So how does all this tie in
with the Rapture? Let’s compare Revelation 4:1, 2 with some other scripture. I
underlined the phrases and numbered the phrases that are parallel to each
other.
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Revelation
4:1-2 After these things (after the church age)
I looked, and behold, a door standing
open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking 1
with me, saying, "Come
up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this." (after the church age) 2 Immediately
2 I was in the Spirit; 3 (A
change came about with John.) and
behold, a throne set in heaven, and One
sat on the throne.
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1
Thessalonians 4:15-17 15 For this
we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the
Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. 16
For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice
of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God 1. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we
who are alive and remain shall
be caught up 2 together with
them in the clouds 3 (We will have to undergo a change for us to go up in the air.) to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall
always be with the Lord.
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1
Corinthians 15:50-52 Now this
I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor
does corruption inherit incorruption. 51 Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all
sleep, but we shall all be changed 3
52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an
eye, 2 at the last trumpet.
For the trumpet will sound, 1 and
the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 3
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Do you see the similarity
in these three sets of verses? Does it make sense? John was protected from
death until he could experience this part of God’s plan. John’s second vision
starts with Chapter 4, he was taken up into Heaven to see what the end times
would be like and his being taken up into Heaven represents the Rapture because
God will not subject his Saints to the trials of the Tribulation. If God was to
subject His Saints to part of the Tribulation or all of it, John would have
remained on earth during this vision like he did for Chapters 1, 2, and 3. He
is living the Tribulation in a Spiritual way.
Romans 1:16 For I am
not ashamed of the gospel of Christ,
for it is
the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes…...
Romans
3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Romans
6:23 For the wages of sin is
death, but the gift of God is
eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
John
3:3
Jesus answered and said to him, Most assuredly, I say
to you,
unless
one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."
Bill
Wiesbrock
Last
Week’s Trivia: Who
was Ahishar?
Answer: Ahishar was the man who had the heavy
responsibility of being superintendant of Solomon’s palace. 1 Kings 4:6.
This
week’s Trivia: Who
was Ahithophel?
