THE RAPTURE
It is our Lord's will that His bride, who
is the true church, be comforted. (Titus 2:13-15; John 14:1-3). He will call us Home before the Great Tribulation (2 Thess.
2:1-12).
St .Paul tells us that we are to keep the faith
and to love His appearing 2 Timothy 4:7-8.
A great division exists in the minds of Christians.
Will the church go through any part of the "Great Tribulation" or will Christ call us out before that terrible time? This
is readily made clear by the following issue IF understood!
The ISSUE is our failure to correctly identify the nation
Israel and Jew's in God's program AT THIS PARTICULAR TIME PERIOD, who GO THROUGH The Great Tribulation, and the church, consisting
of Jew's and Gentiles, who are the bride of Christ AND RETURN WITH HIM at the end of the Great Tribulation, at the last day
called the the great and terrible day of the Lord at the Battle of Armageddon (Rev.19:11-16).
Salvation comes to Jew's during the Tribulation (Rev.7:1-8).
They are NOT members of the church. If the true church
were still on earth, they would become a part of His bride, the true church! But they are of a new Israel to be delivered
by our Lord at Tribulations end (Joel 2:30-3:21; Rev.19:11-16). A nation formed in a day! (Isaiah 66:7-9).
THE CHURCH IS NOT APPOINTED TO WRATH!
Romans 5:9
"Much more then, being now justified by
his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him."
1 Thessalonians 1:10
"And to wait for his Son from
heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come."
1 Thessalonians 5:9
"For God hath not appointed us
to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,..."
Nor are we appointed to Judgment.
"Because you have kept the word of my patience, I also
will keep you from the hour of temptation, which will shall upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth." Rev.3:10
"Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing
of the great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ,who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from ALL INIQUITY, and purify
unto himself a people of his own, zealous of good works. THESE THINGS SPEAK...with all authority..." (Titus 2:14-15: Emphasis
mine).
I believe the best inference of Scripture is that the
Rapture will occur BEFORE the beginning of the Tribulation. The most important reason I believe this has to do with the issue
of imminence. Over and over in Scripture we are told to watch for the appearing of the Lord. We are told "to be ready" (Matt.
24:44), "to be on the alert" (Matt. 24:42), "to be dressed in readiness" (Luke 12:35), and to "keep your lamps alight" (Luke
12:35). The clear force of these persistent warnings is that Jesus can appear at any moment.
WE WHO ARE SAVED LOOK FOR HIS COMING DAILY! WE WAIT, IN
FAITH, FOR HIM. PATIENTLY! 2 Thess.3:5
AND WE WILL INHERIT HIS PROMISES TO US. Heb.6:12
AND NO MAN WILL TAKE OUR CROWN AS WE AWAIT HIM AND NOT
THE "TRIBULATION" OF 7 YEARS AND THE APPEARANCE OF anti- christ. Rev.3:11;
ISRAEL AFTER TRIBULATION
Jeremiah 31:
31 "Behold, the days come, saith the LORD,
that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:
32 Not according to the covenant that I made with their
fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although
I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD:
33 But this shall be the covenant that I will make with
the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts;
and will be their God, and they shall be my people."
