Posted on 06/29/2016 2:32:25 PM PDT by pastorbillrandles
Matthew Henry, Adam Clark, John Foxe, and many other 18th and 19th Century Commentators posited that the “Plague of Locusts” in Both Joel and Revelation 9, were armies of moslems.
They were, at the time, going out on a limb, as the islamic empires were in decline and pretty much contained in the Middle East and Africa.
What seemed like a “stretch” back then makes perfect sense now.
I hear you look at the prophecy of Joel- it is definitely today
Story Flow of the Book of Revelation
“. . . Let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him. Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing” (1 Thessalonians 5:6-11).
“Be on guard, that your hearts may not be weighted down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of life, and that day come on you suddenly like a trap; for it will come upon all those who dwell on the face of all the earth. But keep on the alert at all times, praying in order that you may have strength to escape all these things that are about to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man” (Luke 21:34-36, NASB).
“Take heed, keep on the alert; for you do not know when the appointed time is. It is like a man, away on a journey, who upon leaving his house and putting his slaves in charge, assigning to each one his task, also commanded the doorkeeper to stay on the alert” (Mark 13:33-35, NASB).
“Therefore, be on the alert—for you do not know when the master of the house is coming, whether in the evening, at midnight, at cockcrowing, or in the morning—lest he come suddenly and find you asleep. And what I say to you I say to all, ‘Be on the alert!’” (Mark 13:35-37, NASB).
from:
Bible Study Course Lesson 5
Is There Hope for Human Survival?
Many of these threats to human survival play prominent roles in prophecies in the Bible
Does your last sentence imply that Christians will go through the tribulation?
no we are not appointed to wrath...
Interesting article Pastor Bill
I think part of Europe falls to Islam. Reason being is the legs of the image of Daniel chapter 2, are East to West of the Roman empire. So five toes out of each. I could never understand how Islamic countries could join that close with non-Islamic countries. But maybe it’s 5 in Europe and 5 in the middle east.
I just finished up your book a Sword on the land and I thought it was really Well done very scholarly and well researched. God bless you Pastor
Rev 16:12 And the sixth angel poured out his vial... 15 Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.
Jesus comes "as a thief" after the bowls of wrath are poured out, not before!
1 Thess 5:1 But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you.
2 For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.
3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
4 But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.
5 Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.
6 Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.
7 For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.
8 But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.
9 For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,
This salvation from wrath our Jesus will accomplish when he returns on his white horse at the battle of Armegeddon!
That’s been plain to me since I began studying Prophecy in the mid 1990’s.
A lot of Christians don’t understand that God will not let His Children go down in a house that will burn due to his Judgement, even those who are “misbehaving”.
What happened to Enoch will happen very soon “like a thief in the night” to His Church.
Bill,
Why is his reign only half of the tribulation? Doesn’t he initiate the covenant at the beginning of the seven years? If he is the White Horse rider, that would put him at the first seal. Much of the action that he’s involved with occurs in the first half of the Tribulation.
I pretty much agree with Fruchtenbaum that the AntiChrist may probably be known by most dispensationalists prior to the rapture — assuming a short gap between the Rapture and the Treaty.
Read Rev 16:12-15 for the timing of the "thief in the night". Hint: It doesn't happen before the 6th bowl!
I believe the tribulation is only 3 and a half years. There is an overlap but a difference between the tribulation and Daniel’s seventieth week. Any thoughts by anyone out there?
Yeah “hints” from Freepers who ignore 2 Thessalonians and all of the other Harpazo verses before Revelation.
We’re gone before Rev. 4. Believe what you want...
i once believed as you do, but found that scripture plainly reads otherwise, and I could not keep explaining away the plain reading to fit that theory.
I meant 2 Thess 2, which incidentally indicates that our being gathered to Christ happens after the beast is revealed, and after the great falling away. Thus, it is not “imminent”!
quote-
I pretty much agree with Fruchtenbaum that the AntiChrist may probably be known by most dispensationalists prior to the rapture — assuming a short gap between the Rapture and the Treaty.
I have seen some comments attributed to some of the 1st Protestant Reformers that stated the papacy was the ‘seat of Antichrist’ and the Pope(s), Antichrist.
They said that before the world had ever heard of the Roman Pope Gregory (Gregorian) Calendar.
Daniel 7:25
And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.
Rome’s papacy and pope(s) have changed times and laws.
And the 1st Reformers didn’t really know about the ‘times’ part yet when they made their comments because the calendar wasn’t created until some of the Reformers had already died.
Not an ecumenical positon at all!
How is He coming as a thief in the midst of the Tribulation. It would be just the opposite. That’s like a San Jose merchant being surprised that a thief stole from his store during the anti-Trump demonstration. No surprise at all.
After the security agreement is signed insuring peace to Israel, one can count the years and days. No surprise there either.
The Day of the Lord (ie Daniel’s 70th Week) will be so cataclysmic that it shouldn’t surprise anyone that the Lord is about to come. However, Daniel is so precise that we can know the exact day when the Tribulation ends.
I don’t see how a mid-Trib or pre-wrath rapture is a surprise to anyone.
A thief comes to take. In John 14 the LJC promised to return and take the believing church to where He had been preparing a home for us. He will take us from the hour which will try the whole earth.
The Reformers were pretty much lost when it came to eschatology. Luther wanted to dismiss athe Book of Revelation. And for someone to call the Pope the AntiChrist is akin to conservatives calling Obama the AntiChrist. There was really no support for that viewpoint.
Today, Presbyterians, Lutherans, and Reformed theology have strayed quite a bit. Most don’t believe in a literal return of Christ. Instead, they will minimize the Second Coming with an argument that Jesus already reigns in our hearts.
They will then add that we need to institute His kingdom on Earth and make it a better place through being tolerant, instituting liberal social justice policies, ecumenism, etc.
Pastor Bill and most of the posters on this thread are fortunately dispensationalists who expect a literal return of Christ and a literal millenium.
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