The First coming of Son of Man was to the Jewish people, and he was 'cut off', rejected by the Jews, as foretold in Isaiah and Daniel and elsewhere (Ez, Zachar, etc). The Second coming of the Son of Man will also be to the Jews, the Jewish evangelizers, the 144,000, or at least those remaining alive at His touchdown on Earth the Second time.
Jesus need not set foot on earth to call out His bride, and in fact that is perhaps why He himself alluded to the Bride and the bridesmaids and the trimmed and untrimmed lamps. He visited Saul on the road to Damascus without 'touching down' on the Earth.
Many site the days of Noah incorrectly, on purpose, trying to claim the unrighteous were taken, not Noah. But the essence of the Rapture will be the same as in the days of Noah, when God shut the Noah family up in the Ark BEFORE the rains came and the waters rose eventually drown all but those taken into the Ark.
And then they try to use the days of Lot, but there too the Angels came and directed Lot and his family out of Sodom BEFORE the targeting happened. The Lord delivered His chosen BEFORE the bad things arrived. At the end of the Trib period, the tares will first be removed and then a harvest of new saints will happen, new saints formed during the tribulation and the pouring out of the wrath on that terrible Day of The Lord.
So the Lord will come and take His Bride out BEFORE the Tribulation arrives. And this taking out will change the balance of power on Earth in a mighty way, allowing the forces of evil such as Islam to rampage unopposed, until Israel fights back (Psalm 83 war). The 'Pale Horse' BTW can be translated as the green horse ... green in any flag of note today?
The Rapture is depicted by Paul and Jesus as delivering from the tribulation. The Second Coming (a Jewish reference since He will be making His second arrival ON EARTH) will be bringing his saints as an army in clean linens and His vesture will be dipped in blood. The bridegroom would not come for His bride with his vesture dripping blood. But He would have the dripping of blood when coming as conquering King and Lord of Lords, to serve Judgment upon the earth.
When folks demand that we stop explaining these things, it is a sure sign to me that the 'plane is over the target'. The Rapture could happen any moment, between NOW and 2017. I suspect it is sooner rather than toward 2017, because it is the chaos following the Rapture which I believes make it so easy for an evil leader to get the world to agree to his enactments.
And we should also note that because the world will believe a great lie (regarding the snatching away no doubt, since those left behind will say 'good riddance to those pesky myth-mongers called 'Christians'), God will send them strong delusion. But those 144,000 evangelists will not be afraid of martyrdom for His namesake, because they will have been selected by the Holy Spirit and will know precisely when the Second Coming is to arrive, in 7 years split into two 3 1/2 year periods.
Meant to ping you.
Very well said. Thank you for your insights, dear brother in Christ!
Matt 24:39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.It appears that the ones taken did not know about the impending judgment.
(as in the collective presence of The Holy Spirit in believers, raptured out from the populations)
This may well be the proper definition of the “restrainer”...but in the times before Christ and the coming of the Holy Spirit and the church...what or who was the Restrainer then? What kept the antichrist from arising before the birth of Christ?
You see I think the “restrainer” might have been something or someone more singular, not just the collective presence of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of believers. It may well be the Holy spirit, who like the wind, comes and goes as he wills acting singularly separate from us. Perhaps it is a special ark angel....like the one that contended with the Demon that controlled Persia who had to get help from Michael the ark angel so he could give Daniel a message.
Thus if the restrainer is not “the Holy Spirit filled church”, it starts to explain why so many believers are said to be killed and imprisoned in the book of Revelation, and why the beast system is said to be allowed to “wear them down”, as well as stating...Revelation 14:12 Here is the perseverance of the saints who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus. 13And I heard a voice from heaven, saying, “Write, ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on!’” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “so that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow with them.”
If the Holy Spirit is the restrainer, it doesn’t necessarily follow that when he steps out the way that he will abandon Christians and the church should the rapture not immediately follow. The two witnesses are raised up as a living hindrance to the beast system and will blunt at least for 3.5 years all that the Antichrist system would do. Many miracles may occur, there may be places of Goshen as the plagues fall. The 144000 will be witnesses and a comfort to those living at the time for those trying to stay out of the Beast System’s grasp! And at some point, the dead in Christ will rise and then a lifting away of those who believe who are still alive...some think before the first of the full wrath of God starts to fall(the great tribulation), some think at the 1335th day...but a rapture will happen.
My point in all this is to suggest that we pray to the Lord that he come quickly, while at the same prepare our selves to be able persevere should our preconceived notions of the end times not go the way we thought they would. The antichrist will be in charge for a time but his control will be uneven at times especially when God calls forth his judgments! God will not abandon us if things go sideways. A pre-trib rapture would be great...and that is fine....but be prepared for the long haul if it doesn’t. Persevere in the Lord and be strong!