Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

The Rapture / an essay
Freerepublic | 6/12/2014 | Self

Posted on 06/12/2015 8:30:49 PM PDT by MHGinTN

There is coming soon a stupendous supernatural event. Some will die because of the chaos it causes. Some will cry out to God because of what it causes them to realize. It really is coming upon the Earth, soon.

In 1217 AD a German Rabbi of great devotion, Rabbi Judah ben Samuel, was given a vision from Elijah regarding the city of Jerusalem. It went something like the following, expressed in Jubilee periods of 50 years, not actual Jubilees but periods of fifty year increments.

Six Jubilees from 1217 AD and Jerusalem will come under rule by the Turks. [In 1517 The Ottomans took Jerusalem.] Eight Jubilees will the Ottomans hold Jerusalem and then give it up to be a no man's land for one Jubilee. [In 1917 during part of the first World War campaign, the British General Allenby flew a British bi-plane over the city. Turks misunderstood the name Allenby to be a messenger of Allah and fled from the city; Allenby had sent word to the Crown that he would not fire on God's Holy city. British occupiers posted signs all around Jerusalem and in the Gaza to restrain Arabs from wandering into mine fields and free fire zones or arguing over tribal claims. Those signs read simply 'No Man's Land'.] Elijah went on to tell the Rabbi that at the end of that Jubilee Israel would once again have possession of Jerusalem, for one more Jubilee. [One of the outcomes of the 1967 Six Days War was that Israel took possession of Jerusalem rather than it being under UN controls.] At the end of Israel's Jubilee period, the Jews would make a seven year compact with someone, declaring Peace and Safety, but the one with whom they made treaty would violate the treaty midway in the seven years period, and that Jerusalem would be no more.

The Bible gives specific instructions regarding the End Times. The period is called the Tribulation, and it is seven years in length, hallmarked by The Wrath of God upon men and the Earth. It is also expressly shown as a period in which God will deal with Israel as His focus, to make an end to sin (Daniel 9). The end of this seven years has The Lord returning to set foot on the Earth, to make-over the planet and establish a one-thousand year reign of Peace and God's presence with the Earth and mankind.

One can read about the prophecies for Israel in Daniel, Ezekiel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and throughout Paul's writings in the new Testament and John's Revelation. Tribulation is a period when life on Earth will become rapidly, and with increasing ferocity, unbearable. But The Bride of Christ will not be here for the wrath poured out upon the planet and the followers of the antichrist who will be running amok for seven years. This little essay is a short message on The Rapture, offered it to friends because God has 'laid it on my heart' to speak and write of it since it is imminent and Christians as well as wannabees need to make ready for what is coming quickly.

The English word 'rapture' is derived from Jerome's Latin word, 'rapio' used to translate the Koine Greek word 'harpazo' (pronounced harpadzo) used in the New testament most pointedly in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18. But this passage in the Letter to the Thessalonians is not the only place it is used. It is also found in the Septuagint rendering of the Old Testament, a compiled Greek translation nearly three hundred years before Jesus came. Jesus quoted from the Septuagint.

Rapture is for the living. There are at least seven places in the Bible where a 'rapture' happens. I'll list them but not detail them here: Enoch walked with God and was not; Elijah was taken away in a firy chariot; Isaiah was taken to the throne room of God, but returned with a message; Jesus ascended into Heaven in Acts 1; Paul was taken twice to Heaven as he says in 1 Corinthians 12; the Church will be taken to the Father's House, 1 Thessalonians 4; the two witnesses during the Tribulation will be resurrected then raptured into Heaven; Philip was raptured to the Gaza from the Judean wilderness where he was instructed to go to evangelize the Ethiopian.

There are many voices now rising to discuss or deny The Rapture of The Church, The Bride of Christ, the Body of Christ. What is important is to be a believer in Christ as Savior and Lord. That is absolute Justification of the unrighteous by His Righteousness. Those who are His will be raptured before the Tribulation begins.

How long the Rapture before Israel's signing of the treaty with the antichrist is anyone's guess. The Bible gives not one hint to it that I have found. But if 2017 is the year the treaty is signed, we have less than three years until the seven years of Tribulation begin. The Church will be snatched away in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye (1 Corinthians 15:51-53), because believers are sealed by the Holy Spirit earnest of our inheritance, and the Holy Spirit is the restrainer of lawlessness. The Restrainer will be taken out of the way (2Thess2:7) in order that the man of Sin can emerge. We are given a foreshadowing in Ezekiel, when the Glory of The Lord had to depart the Temple before the Babylonian armies could take Jerusalem. Interestingly, Ezekiel (Ez 10&11) witnessed the Glory departing from a vantage point on the Mount of Olives.

The Rapture is a real event spoken of first by Jesus in the Upper Room (John14), prophesied in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, 1 Corinthians 15:51-53, Revelation 3:10 and 4:1, and 2 Thessalonians 2:3. It is hinted at in the Old Testament and we see a foreshadowing, of Enoch taken away before the flood. The Rapture of The Church -the believers in Christ as Savior- is not the Second Coming detailed in the Olivet Discourse Jesus gave to James, John, Andrew, and Peter (Matthew 24, Mark 13; Luke 21). The Rapture is Christ returning in the Air not setting foot on Earth, to take to Himself The Church, which will return with Him in the Second Coming. The Rapture removes His Church before God's wrath falls upon humankind, while the Second Coming is Jesus coming as the warrior fulfilling promises to Israel, and Revelation cites those Raptured will be coming with Christ in the Second Coming.

Jesus opened the mystery of the Church Age teaching His faithful disciples (Judas had left to betray Him) that He was going away to prepare a place then come to take them there. In the Church Age there is no distinction between Jew and Gentile. The Tribulation is God dealing with Israel, and Jews evangelizing the world in opposition to the antichrist, the false prophet, and satan.

Salvation preached by the Jews (144,000 will be chosen by God to evangelize during the Tribulation) necessitates the Church be gone because there is no distinction between Gentile and Jew in the Church Age. Rapture ends the Church Age where God's Holy Spirit indwells believers, so they are born from above then raised up in the way that they should go (John3, Jesus speaking with Nicodemus, then Proverbs in raising up a child in the way that they should go).

To any who remain behind after the Rapture, call upon the Lord and you will be saved, spiritually. The world-wide chaos that will ensue following perhaps hundreds of millions suddenly disappearing from machines in motion will be horrendous. In this chaos people will gladly embrace a 'man of sin' to set things in order.


TOPICS: Miscellaneous; Religion; Weird Stuff
KEYWORDS: rapture; thechurch; tribulation
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 81-100101-120121-140141-157 next last
To: MHGinTN

It’s called the word of God, the Bible, the LETTER He wrote to His children.

Not trying to be sarcastic, but when you read His word, do you actually understand it?

If you believe in the Rapture, I’m sorry then the answer is no.

And, if you’ll give me a few days to get the scriptures I’ll show you the proof you seem to need. Sad that it needs to come from man, when Father said it in His letter. THAT should be enough.


101 posted on 06/13/2015 8:48:04 PM PDT by Shadowstrike (Be polite, Be professional, but have a plan to kill everyone you meet.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: Shadowstrike
FRiend, I have been studying His Word for forty plus years. But it will be interesting to see the twists Catholicism or some other ism has put in the way of believers. The truth of the Rapture has been a topic debated among believers since 100 AD. It has been sporadically debated ever since. I'm sorry you're sad that I am obeying God's push to stir this issue up because the hour is so late. Perhaps in compiling your 'proofs' you will come to see His Truth.
102 posted on 06/13/2015 9:18:54 PM PDT by MHGinTN (Is it really all relative, Mister Einstein?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 101 | View Replies]

To: Shadowstrike

BTW, you might take a look at my profile page, since you have none to show us.


103 posted on 06/13/2015 9:19:58 PM PDT by MHGinTN (Is it really all relative, Mister Einstein?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 101 | View Replies]

To: Talisker
He backed it up with what he believes is evidence. If you have a problem with that, find the courage to say so in detail, rather that taking drive-by pot shots. Otherwise you'll be mistaken for a punk.

Your point is well taken!

I should have written:

Yeah, nothing else is required: certainly not evidence which would hold up under critical scrutiny (e.g., cross-examination in a courtroom, or with a panel of unbiased experts applying Aristotelian logic).

Regards,

104 posted on 06/13/2015 11:10:23 PM PDT by alexander_busek (Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 81 | View Replies]

To: Cap'n Crunch

Ya get what ya pay for!


105 posted on 06/14/2015 4:39:49 AM PDT by Elsie ( Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 76 | View Replies]

To: SkyPilot

No one can tell if I misspell a word when I’m talking...


106 posted on 06/14/2015 4:40:43 AM PDT by Elsie ( Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 82 | View Replies]

To: Shadowstrike
and where it talks of the Air, it means in a breath.

Thanks for straightening THIS out!

Ya just can't TRUST them bible translators!

107 posted on 06/14/2015 4:42:21 AM PDT by Elsie ( Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 100 | View Replies]

To: Shadowstrike
Not trying to be sarcastic, but when you read His word, do you actually understand it?

Said Phil to the eunuch.

108 posted on 06/14/2015 4:43:09 AM PDT by Elsie ( Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 101 | View Replies]

To: Elsie

That’s just one reason I don’t pay.


109 posted on 06/14/2015 4:52:09 AM PDT by Cap'n Crunch
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 105 | View Replies]

To: Elsie

The more I think about ‘ya get what ya pay for’ the more I wonder. Hope I’m not reading too much into that statement, sometimes I do but I think my points will be valid none-the-less.

Anyway, are we only entitled to post if we pay? How do you know if I pay or not? Just a guess on your part? If you do pay does that mean that one is entitled to post whatever they wish and cry to a moderator when someone posts something the payer doesn’t like?

In light of some of the things I see posted here, was what I posted that egregious?

Personally I thought comparing Jack Chic tracts to these type of postings was spot on.


110 posted on 06/14/2015 5:10:52 AM PDT by Cap'n Crunch
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 105 | View Replies]

To: Shadowstrike
"In the twinkling of an eye we will be changed into SPIRITUAL BODIES." IF this is an example of your comprehension level, I am not encouraged that you will offer us something of truth. John writes, "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is." {1John3:2}

Can a 4 dimensional being see the fully a higher dimensional being? Your answer is found in Daniel Chapter five, where a hand reached into Belshazzar's world and wrote on the wall at palace party central. No one saw the arm to which the hand was attached, nor the body or where it stood, for the dimensional reality of that messenger was greater than the people in the room. But John tells us we shall see Him as He IS, for when He appears we shall be made like Him so we can see His higher dimensional state which could appear and disappear and leave a rock tomb without rolling away the stone. [Recall the angel rolled the stone away for the women, so they could see that He was no longer int here.] Jesus Himself refutes your assertion when it was raised by His disciples as they clamored that what was before them in the closed and shuttered Upper Room was a ghost. He asked for something to eat. Does a spirit eat?

Luke 24:36-43

And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.

But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit.

And he said unto them, Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.

And when he had thus spoken, he shewed them his hands and his feet.

And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, he said unto them, Have ye here any meat?

And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and of an honeycomb. And he took it, and did eat before them.


111 posted on 06/14/2015 8:14:30 AM PDT by MHGinTN (Is it really all relative, Mister Einstein?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 100 | View Replies]

To: MHGinTN
I cite Ephraem the Syrian because we have negative neybobs on these threads that insist the notion of Rapture is a nineteenth century creation.

I don't think that's it so much as dispensationalists mean something different by 'rapture' than the rest of us do. For example, to Catholics, 'rapture' is most often taken to mean "prophecy that takes place while the senses are suspended in ecstasy" (New Advent encyclopedia).

Ben Witherington explains it in a couple of Seven Minute Seminary segments on Seedbed.

112 posted on 06/14/2015 10:47:34 AM PDT by The Grammarian
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 91 | View Replies]

To: The Grammarian
I'm sorry, but this man starts with a false assertion. Matthew 24 is not a proof text for the Rapture. It is teaching by Jesus dealing with THE DAY OF THE LORD. 1Thess4:13-17, John14, 1Cor15:51-53, AND 1Thess2:1-9, these are the texts to focus upon for the removing of the Holy Spirit indwelling Believers during the Church Age. To even use the phrase 'Church Age' is to affirm there are dispensations. Jesus reinforces the truth of dispensations by telling His disciples in the Upper Room discourse that He is instituting a New Covenant. The old covenant was a performance based contract where God said to Israel 'if you will do this, I will do thus'. The New Covenant says I WILL DO and by believing in Me you shall have the Life of God's Promise. It is not a performance based covenant, it is a Proclamation of judicial absolution, that In Christ there is now therefore no condemnation. God loves us not 'id we perfrom' not 'because' we perform, but because He loves us 'anyway' ... 'For while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.' 'That ALL who believe shall have eternal life.'

The Rapture is theologically sound because The Restrainer is taken out of the way BEFORE the lawlessness can come in upon the Earth in full. The mystery of lawlessness was already working when Paul wrote his letters. BUT for the man of sin, THE lawlessness to be reveal the believers in whom dwells the Holy Spirit will be removed, Raptured from the Earth, Departed from their standing against the lawlessness. 2 Thess2:3

Thanks for the ling, but no thanks. Conflation such as that man is using causes confusion or abandonment from searching in a Berean Way.

113 posted on 06/14/2015 11:58:17 AM PDT by MHGinTN (Is it really all relative, Mister Einstein?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 112 | View Replies]

To: The Grammarian

And you do not see how Ben is completely discombobulated in his stumbling explanation? Shall I enumerate, or are you sold on the errors Ben offers. ... And don’t quote me his CV, what he is saying is in error, so how much grist after his name means nothing to the leaven he is offering.


114 posted on 06/14/2015 12:03:51 PM PDT by MHGinTN (Is it really all relative, Mister Einstein?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 112 | View Replies]

To: daniel1212

Zing


115 posted on 06/14/2015 12:13:41 PM PDT by MHGinTN (Is it really all relative, Mister Einstein?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 112 | View Replies]

To: alexander_busek
I should have written: Yeah, nothing else is required: certainly not evidence which would hold up under critical scrutiny (e.g., cross-examination in a courtroom, or with a panel of unbiased experts applying Aristotelian logic).

LOL, yeah, just like all religious beliefs are, including yours.

Right?

So what religion have you found that does all that? Because I'm sure you wouldn't be a part of anything less.

Right?

116 posted on 06/14/2015 12:58:09 PM PDT by Talisker (One who commands, must obey.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 104 | View Replies]

To: MHGinTN
John Fletcher uses the term 'dispensations' as well, but that doesn't mean that that 1700s-era Anglican Methodist was a premillennial dispensationalist.

Also, as to Matthew 24, Darby's Synopsis of the New Testament says of it that it specifically refers to "the last days, the last three years and a half before the judgment which will be suddenly poured out at the coming of the Son of man"--the dispensationalist's tribulation--and that Jesus will "gather all the elect of Israel from the four corners of the earth" before Jesus gathers the Gentiles together too. Sounds like Darby is using it as a prooftext for a post-tribulation rapture, to me. Likewise, websites like PreWrathRapture.com say that the idea of a 'pre-wrath' rapture depends on their interpretation of Matthew 24.

117 posted on 06/14/2015 1:00:11 PM PDT by The Grammarian
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 113 | View Replies]

To: The Grammarian; SkyPilot
Se post # 74, where Sky Pilot posted a very useful chart which details from Bible passages the differences in The Rapture and the Second Coming.

Sky, this is so far the second time I've used that handy chart. Thanks again

118 posted on 06/14/2015 1:04:41 PM PDT by MHGinTN (Is it really all relative, Mister Einstein?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 112 | View Replies]

To: The Grammarian
Matt 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21 do not pre-figure the Rapture of the Church. In the Church Age there is no distinction between Jew and Gentile. Jesus in the Olivet Discourse answered the specific question asked of Him by His Jewish Disciples, regarding the Temple and Jerusalem, possibly because they were still trying to fathom how the throne of David would be accomplished if this great city is destroyed.

We can reason this because the Discourse starts with them pointing to the Temple and the magnificence of Jerusalem and Jesus responds to this specific focus. In the Rapture passages, God offers to the believers a comforting prophecy, not to assure them they will not be persecuted, but to assure them that they have not missed the Departing of the Bride before THE WRATH of God is poured out upon the lawlessness.

119 posted on 06/14/2015 1:10:23 PM PDT by MHGinTN (Is it really all relative, Mister Einstein?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 117 | View Replies]

To: The Grammarian
"... that Jesus will "gather all the elect of Israel from the four corners of the earth" before Jesus gathers the Gentiles together too." This cannot be referring to the Church since during the Church Age there is no distinction between Jew and Gentile. Likewise the separating of sheep and goats has nothing to do with The Church. When Jesus comes back to set foot on the Earth, his elect come with Him down from Heaven. The elect have to be taken into Heaven before the Second touch down don'tchaknow. If they are taken away anytime after the Tribulation begins then this would violate the clear Biblical doctrine of immanency, which omits there being any signs of the event to occur. The parables Jesus gave, like the one of the virgins and the oil in their lamps, support the snatching away suddenly.
120 posted on 06/14/2015 1:15:29 PM PDT by MHGinTN (Is it really all relative, Mister Einstein?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 117 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 81-100101-120121-140141-157 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson