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.
Ker PING
Justification is an irrevocable legal proclamation. Sanctification is upgrading of software.
pingpong ... this might help along the discussion which we were having about Justification and sanctification.
Daniel Steele’s basic premise was Amillennialism vs Premillennialism. His material ie always geared to proving Dispensationalism wrong, leaving everybody to think his view, Amillennialism, the only alternative. Not true, there is also Preterism, Postmillennialism, and Historic Premillennialism, none of which figures into Steele’s scenario.
People that believe like Steele, are not necessarily Amillennialist, they become Preterists and Postmillennialists.
Nor is there one kind of Premillennialism. as Steele assumes in virtually everything he has written. He conveniently never mentions Historic Premillennialism. “Historic” because it is the view represented in the oldest writings of church history - the ECF. The ECF were to a man Premillennialist, but not the kind Steele rails against, they were neither pretrib nor dispensationalist.
Yeah, nothing else is required: certainly not evidence.
Regards,
The Transfiguration was the glorification of the human body of Jesus. On this occasion His body underwent a change in form, a metamorphosis, so that it shone as brightly as the sun. At the time of the Transfiguration, Jesus’ earthly ministry was coming to a close. He had acknowledged that He was the Messiah and predicted His death and resurrection. Now He was to reveal, to a select few, His divine glory.
The Bible gives this account:
Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother brought them up on a high mountain by themselves, and was transfigured before them. his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with him . . . A bright cloud overshadowed them; and suddenly a voice came out of the cloud, saying, ‘This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear him!’ And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their faces and were greatly afraid. But Jesus came and touched them and said, ‘Arise, and do not be afraid.’ And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only (Matthew 17:1-3,5-8).
Jesus Himself
First, there is the Lord Jesus in His glorified body.
There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light (Matthew 17:2)
He will rule in His coming kingdom in His glorified body.
Moses
Moses, in his glorified body, represented the saved that will enter God’s kingdom through death.
Elijah
Elijah never died. He represents those believers who enter the kingdom of God by the translation or the rapture of the church.
I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed - in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality (1 Corinthians 15:50-53).
Jesus’ Disciples
Peter, James, and John in their natural bodies depict those Jewish believers who will enter the coming kingdom.
The Various Nations That Will Make Up The Kingdom
The multitude of people, left at the base of the mountain, represent the various nations who will enter the kingdom of God in their natural or non-glorified bodies.
In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his place of rest will be glorious. In that day the Lord will reach out his hand a second time to reclaim the remnant that is left of his people from Assyria, from Lower Egypt, from Upper Egypt, from Cush, from Elam, from Babylonia, from Hamath and from the islands of the sea. He will raise a banner for the nations and gather the exiles of Israel; he will assemble the scattered people of Judah from the four quarters of the earth (Isaiah 11:10-12).
The Transfiguration is significant because it was the glorification of the body of Jesus. Those with Him saw Jesus in His glory. The appearance of Moses and Elijah testified that Jesus was the one of whom the law and prophets spoke. The approving testimony of God the Father further confirmed the identity of Jesus.
In the Transfiguration of Jesus we have the various elements of the coming kingdom represented. There is the glorified King, those who will come into the kingdom through death, those who will come into the kingdom through the transformation of their bodies at the rapture of the church, those Jewish believers who will enter into the millennial reign of Christ in their earthly bodies, as well as the people from the various nations who will also enter into the millennium in non-glorified bodies.
Is that true? Can you provide a reference? Seriously, I would like one if you do please.
You don’t many catholics. I believe.
Count me in....
It’s going to be awesome.
Who cares what Luther said?
Except Catholic of course, cause he lives in their heads 24/7.
I agree with you.
But, as you have noticed, while this site is conservative, it is not necessarily Christian...
and many on this site despise any hint of dispensationalism.
So much simpler when you look at it according to the resurrection of the dead preceding those living. 2 Thessalonians 2 continues the discussion of the resurrection from 1 Thessalonians. The resurrection does not occur until the man of lawlessness (a true libertarian) is revealed.
The first resurrection is declared with no ifs, ands, or buts, in Revelation 20. So, only those who are murdered for their faith are resurrected upon the return of the Messiah and they rule with Him for a thousand years. As it says in the Bible, “The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed.” vs 5.
Occam’s razor. Simple, logical, and the spoken word of God.
This is a wonderful post for demonstrating Protestant hypocrisy. You see, this isn't how "tradition" works in the Catholic Church. Tradition (big "T") in the Catholic Church isn't some amorphous, changing set of beliefs. It is the Deposit of Faith given by Christ to the Apostles for understanding Scripture in building His Church.
Had this article been posted by a Catholic with reference to the Catechism, the Protestant Posse would have demanded chapter and verse from the Bible. But it was posted by one of their own so they totally overlook the fact that the premise here is an abiblical vision that is only relevant because it comports to the personal beliefs of the author. Now that's tradition!
Enjoy!
HMMMmmm...
I was reading it KERPing; not ker-PING!
We see snippets from time to time on FR!
This’ll be gone soon!
Even a veiled reference is a no-no!
“The explanation requiring the fewest assumptions is most likely to be correct.”
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