Let’s talk about End Times. Despite many people’s wariness, the order of certain important future events can actually be determined. Not the date of rapture, for instance, but placing all Scripture in context, and using verses literally as much as possible, gives a way to figure out the order of some significant future events. Each event then is a sign that tells you, “x” event comes next. That helps you endure the trek toward the end.
John, who wrote Revelation, has certified early in the
first chapter that it is profitable to read it.
He wasn’t asserting it was a bag of frustrations, like most people do who
avoid it:
Blessed is he
who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things
which are written in it; for the time is near.
Didn’t he say to “keep those things within it?” He must’ve expected that it makes sense to us
to say, “keep those things.” True, the answers are not all in one place, meaning
it takes a great acquaintance with Old and New Testaments to pull these things
off, but Scripture sprinkled all around will hint and yield results.
My initial portion of this study is based on these Scriptures:
1. Daniel
9:27 He will confirm a
covenant with many for
one ‘seven.’ In the middle of the ‘seven’ he will put an end
to sacrifice and offering. And at the temple he will set up an abomination
that causes desolation
2.
II Thessalonians 2:1-4 Now, brethren, concerning
the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him…
for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first,
and the man of sin is revealed, the son of
perdition, 4 who opposes and exalts
himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he
sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.
3.
Matthew 24:15-16, 22, 29-31 So when you see standing in the holy
place ‘the abomination that causes desolation… 16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the
mountain …“If those days had not been cut short, no one would
survive…“Immediately after the distress
of those days ‘the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’ “Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the
peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming
on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. 31 And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they
will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens
to the other.
4.
Revelation 11:1-2 I was given a reed like a measuring rod and was told, “Go and
measure the temple of God and the altar, with its worshipers. 2 But exclude the outer court; do not measure it, because it has been
given to the Gentiles. They will trample on the holy
city for 42 month
What do we learn from these verses? In Daniel, we learn that an unnamed man will
make a Covenant with “many” for a time period of one ‘seven.’ In that same verse, we learn who the two
parties are. The receiving party for the
Covenant were the Jews, because the terms ‘sacrifice and offering,’ and
‘temple’ are Jewish terms in the Bible. The grantor of the Covenant was the man
of sin, since after a time he shows that he hates the Jews enough to stop their
sacrifices. Not only that; he also
commits blasphemy against God, setting up an ‘abomination’ in the temple, which
has to refer to an idol. The idol is
likely him, or a statue of his image, since we learn in II Thessalonians 2
above that he ‘sits as God in the temple of God.’ Truly sticking the middle
finger at God. We can easily guess what that does for his future.
We also can conclude that when he had the Jews agree to make
a Covenant with him, he pretended to be their friend. Or else they would not
have agreed to Covenant with him. The Covenant is agreed to for a term of time. That length of time is a neutral word meaning
‘seven.’ It could never be for seven
weeks; that would be meaningless. It’s
likely to be seven years, because Scripture makes a reference to a portion of
it. In Revelation 11 above, the Gentiles have the run of the temple for 42
months, or 3-1/2 years. Consider further that ‘in the middle’ of the ‘seven,’
is the time that the man of sin breaks the Covenant and shows himself as their
enemy by desecrating their treasured temple. He, being a Gentile, will be the
guy that will lead the offense over the temple for the 42 months, from the
middle of the ‘seven.’ So we see the
Covenant has to be 7 years, but broken up into two halves; in the first
half he pretends to be friends of Jews, but the second half starts with him desecrating
the temple and blaspheming God—which goes on for 3-1/2 years.
Think about him starting out as a “friend” of the Jews. Then,
all of a sudden, he desecrates their temple.
Would it not be fair to conclude that when he did that, he ‘revealed’
himself for what he really is, a hater of Jews?
I think so. Then, looking at II
Thessalonians 2 again, it definitely seems to be speaking of the Coming of the
Lord for his saints, the one-time event called the rapture. Look
again. It CLEARLY says that that
fabulous Day will not come until AFTER the man of sin is revealed.
So II Thessalonians 2 says that Christians can’t get raptured until the man of
sin is revealed, right? But did we agree
on the idea that that ‘revealing’ would be in the middle of the seven-year
Covenant? Therefore, if the seven
years are ‘the Tribulation,’ such as most futurists affirm (look at the
disasters Jesus prophesies in Matthew 24), the saints cannot leave the earth,
or get raptured, until at least half of the tribulation is past. Thus there
is no ‘pre’tribulation rapture, no rapture before the tribulation.
Jesus helps out in Matthew 24 above. Verse 15 is right at the
point where the abomination, or idol, being set up, halfway through the 7
years. He warned that the Jews hearing of that should get away as fast as they
can—presumably the man of sin will begin killing them as fast as he can. He is
no longer loyal to them.
Jesus broadens who the man of sin will want to kill by
saying, “If those days had not been cut short, no one
would survive. Since that
man is acting on behalf of Satan, and since Satan hates Jews and Christians (actually,
he loves killing anybody), both Jews and Christians will be killed by the
millions. Plus, there are wars (which given modern weapons will kill millions),
as Matthew 24:6 says:
6 And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars
Truly, combining
those elements would come close to “no one would survive.”
After all that
martyring for the Lord, then Jesus mentions a cosmic disturbance, and THEN He
details the rapture. The Greek
word ‘parousia,’ a rapture word, is used. As you can see in Matthew 24:31 above,
He says angels will blow the trumpet and gather His children from the clouds,
favorite rapture events. No one in his right mind can say that Matthew 24:29-31
is not the rapture. It Is!
Let me further say
that we cannot conclude that the rapture happens right after the man of sin is
revealed, as you might argue a mid-tribulation rapture. No, if that were the
case, Christians would rapture immediately after he’s revealed, and before the
man of sin can kill more than a few of them.
No, the rapture is not immediately after the man of sin is revealed; it
is after “the distress of those days,” as you read above. Sadly, there has to be a period of time after
the man of sin is revealed before the rapture, since the man of sin’s bloodletting
goes on so long that it appears “no one would survive.” Further
about the day of rapture is that the tribulation, designed as 7 years, is ‘cut
short’ so as to have some Christians (and some saved Jews) still around lest he
kills everyone. So, probably short of 7
years a bit, comes a cosmic event (our rapture sign), and then the glorious
Return of Our Lord. This is His second
coming, the rapture.
One more time,
to summarize: There are wars among
nations. The man of sin makes a deceptive covenant to protect the Jews for 7
years. In the middle, or after 3-1/2 years of the 7, he reveals how he really
feels by desecrating the temple and setting up an abomination to God. Some Jews
flee. But he kills Jews, and Christians,
in massive numbers and in great violence, for over 3 years more. When it seems loss of life among God’s beloved
would be total, Christ comes to pick up His Bride, His real church, both dead
and alive—the rapture. His Second Coming.
Those of you
who argue in favor of pretribulation rapture, have to assume all sorts of weird
things. A big problem of yours: Jesus’
first coming (Advent) was at His birth, right?
You tell us that Jesus, in the future, comes from heaven to earth in a
rapture before the tribulation, so I feel it’s safe to assume you’re
saying that that would be His second coming.
Then, strangely, you have Him coming to earth yet again (you assert Matthew
24:15-31 is this event, which you call “Not a rapture,” despite how v. 31 looks).
Supposedly He will take up just the Christians and Jews who got saved in the 7
years, and to perform Judgment. I think
it’s fair to assume you mean that’s His 3rd coming? What, you say? No? He doesn’t come 3 times? Well, it sure
looks like you’re doing 3 times. So your
biggest problem, to me at least, is to explain how that middle coming is not
a coming. Because we both know that the
Bible clearly says He comes twice, not 3 times. It’s in the Apostles’ Creed as
well:
…on
the third day he rose again from the dead; he ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of God the Father
almighty; from there he will come to
judge the living and the dead.
That’s twice,
right?
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