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“Then I stood on the sand of the sea. And I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his heads a blasphemous name.
“Now the beast which I saw was like a leopard, his feet were like the feet of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. The dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority. “And I saw one of his heads as if it had been mortally wounded, and his deadly wound was healed. And all the world marveled and followed the beast.” Revelation 13:1-3 The beast John describes represents both a summary of former world empires and the final empire that will arise in the Last Days. He goes on to describe it in more detail in the following verses: “So he carried me away in the Spirit into the wilderness. And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast which was full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication. And on her forehead a name was written: Mystery, Babylon the Great, The Mother of Harlots and of the Abominations of the Earth. “I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her, I marveled with great amazement. But the angel said to me, Why did you marvel? I will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her, which has the seven heads and the ten horns. “The beast that you saw was, and is not, and will ascend out of the bottomless pit and go to perdition. And those who dwell on the earth will marvel, whose names are not written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world, when they see the beast that was, and is not, and yet is. “Here is the mind which has wisdom: The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits. There are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, and the other has not yet come. And when he comes, he must continue a short time. “The beast that was, and is not, is himself also the eighth, and is of the seven, and is going to perdition. The ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have received no kingdom as yet, but they receive authority for one hour as kings with the beast. These are of one mind, and they will give their power and authority to the beast. These will make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, for He is Lord of lords and King of kings; and those who are with Him are called, chosen and faithful. “Then he said to me, The waters which you saw, where the harlot sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues. And the ten horns which you saw on the beast, these will hate the harlot, make her desolate and naked, eat her flesh and burn her with fire. For God has put it into their hearts to fulfill His purpose, to be of one mind, and to give their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God are fulfilled. And the woman whom you saw is that great city which reigns over the kings of the earth.” Revelation 17:3-18 There is a lot going on in all the verses I have quoted. Let’s begin by addressing the composite nature of the beast John described. To do that, I will refer back to the prophet Daniel: “And four great beasts came up from the sea, each different from the other. The first was like a lion, and had eagle’s wings. I watched till its wings were plucked off; and it was lifted up from the earth and made to stand on two feet like a man, and a man’s heart was given to it. “And suddenly another beast, a second, like a bear. It was raised up on one side, and had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth. And they said thus to it: Arise, devour much flesh! “After this I looked, and there was another, like a leopard, which had on its back four wings of a bird. The beast also had four heads, and dominion was given to it. After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, exceedingly strong. It had huge iron teeth; it was devouring, breaking in pieces, and trampling the residue with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns.” Daniel 7:3-7 The four beasts that Daniel saw represent four world empires. Bible scholars have determined that based on the symbology, the lion represents Babylon and the bear represents the Medo-Persian Empire which conquered Babylon. The leopard represents Alexander the Great’s Greek Empire. The four wings symbolize the speed at which he conquered the known world and the four heads represent the four kingdoms that arose after his untimely death: the kingdoms of his generals Seleucus, Cassander, Lysimachus, and Ptolemy. The fourth beast represents both ancient Rome and the final world empire. Rome is different from the other empires in that it was never officially defeated and replaced by another empire. It is also different in the respect that it switched from a pagan system of religion to Christianity. One might say that the beast went into hibernation and will awaken again in the Last Days. This is another aspect of the Church Age. Just as God paused the timeline of Israel, he also paused the timeline of the final pagan world empire. We have already seen how Israel has been revived and is on the brink of seeing its prophetic timeline restarted. In a moment I will reveal signs that the Roman Empire is undergoing a similar resurrection. But first let’s continue the examining the beast in John’s vision in Revelation. You will note that it has characteristics of a lion, bear, and a leopard. It also has ten hours. So what we see is all of the world empires rolled into one vision. Next we have the seven heads, which we are told have a dual meaning. In one respect they represent seven kingdoms. Five are fallen. All prophecy must be viewed through the prism of God’s relationship with Israel. There are five fallen ancient empires that crossed paths with Israel – Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, and Greece. John is told the sixth head “is”, meaning that it is the empire of his current time, which would be the Roman Empire. The seventh is not yet come and will continue only a short time when it does. This seventh empire will be the ten-nation revived Roman Empire. It is the wounded head that is healed. The other thing the seven heads represent are the seven mountains upon which the Harlot sits. The Harlot represents all the pagan religions that were the belief systems of the ancient world empires. These religions rose to power on the back of these conquering empires, hence the imagery of the woman riding the beast. The final pagan world empire – Rome – is a city that was built on seven prominent hills. So what you have is an illustration of all the ancient world empires and their pagan religious systems. The cycle of pagan world empires was paused close to the same time God paused his prophetic timeline for Israel and started the Church Age. This explains the mystery of the beast that was, and is not, and yet is. When God enacts the Rapture and ends the Church Age, this will pave the way for the return of the final pagan world empire, described as the beast rising out of the bottomless pit. This empire will be a confederation of ten nations, as illustrated by the ten horns. It will also be a revival of the Roman Empire because it is a maturation of the fourth beast in Daniel’s vision. So is there evidence of a revival of the Roman Empire in our modern age? I will discuss that in my next post.
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“But as the days of Noah were, so also will be the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will be the coming of the Son of Man be. Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left. Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming.”
Matthew 24:37-42 Jesus describes the time of his Second Coming to be like the days leading up to Noah’s flood. He speaks of a society that is utterly blind to the disaster that is about to overtake them. I imagine some of them probably ridiculed Noah as he worked day after day building a massive ship in the middle of dry land. And today we have a parallel situation as more and more voices speak of the Second Coming of Jesus and the terrible time of tribulation that is drawing near. Yet most of society is completely unmoved by the warning, to the extent that they even hear it at all. We instead go about watching or favorite TV shows, debating the final season of Game of Thrones, or rooting for our favorite sports team. Jesus goes on to speak of those who will be taken and those who will be left behind in what appears to be an obvious reference to the Rapture, which I described in a previous post. Just as Noah and his family were taken up into the safety of the ark, we Christians will be taken up to the safety of Heaven just prior to the beginning of the Tribulation. I have noticed more and more Christians spreading the word of the Rapture, but sadly many people are ignoring or rejecting this message and will be left behind. But it is not just this willful blindness to the pending judgment of God that marked the days of Noah. “Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” Genesis 6:5 The culture of Noah’s day had become completely wicked. How different is our culture today than it was just a generation earlier? We have gone from mainstreaming homosexuality to actively celebrating it and we have redefined God’s definition of marriage in the process. We have completely turned away from God’s teachings on relationships and sexuality, whether it be through divorce, premarital sex or pornography. Everything about our culture has been hyper-sexualized. Men are now claiming to be women and women men. We are completely redefining God’s two genders into an infinite number of genders limited only by the imaginations of those creating them. Some are refusing to “assign” a gender to a child at birth, instead letting the child decide what they want to be, regardless of the truth of their biology. Some children are transitioning to opposite genders whether their parents agree with it or not, as government and medical officials conspire to provide them with hormone therapy and body-altering operations. But nothing is more wicked than our culture’s embrace of abortion. With millions of unborn children already dead, the debate has reached the point where virtually an entire political party in America is advocating the killing of infants only moments from birth and in some cases, immediately after birth (or after having survived an abortion procedure). We are no longer arguing over some mysterious line of when a human life begins, but actually admitting that a child is being killed, but justifying it under the guise of reproductive rights for women. What cannot be lost in all of this is the hatred Satan has for God. This hatred is focused most keenly on the pinnacle of God’s creation – human beings. All the wickedness I just described has at its core the destruction of the family unit and an end to the perpetuation of the human race. Satan champions homosexuality because it is a relationship that results in no human offspring. Satan has championed gender confusion because it leads to individuals destroying their biological ability to reproduce. Satan has championed the sexual revolution because it has severed sexual pleasure from reproduction. Satan has championed abortion because it is the ultimate destruction of humanity – mothers willingly killing their unborn children. There is no greater form of wickedness. But there is an ancient attack against the very core of God’s creation that is re-emerging, and it is one that had reached epidemic levels in the days of Noah: “There were giants on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.” Genesis 6:4 “So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. And God said to Noah, The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth.” Genesis 6:12-13 As strange as it sounds, the first verse above describes angels having intercourse with mortal women. A case could be made that all forms of mythology – Greek, Nordic, etc. – derive from this event where heavenly beings bred with human women. The corruption spoken of in the second verse is the corruption of the human genetic code that resulted from this forbidden union. The fallen servants of Satan and their offspring were carving out kingdoms on earth, conquering and proliferating their hybrid genetic code to the point where the true human DNA created in the image of God was facing extinction. That was the reason for the flood – to put an end to Satan’s attempted hijacking of creation. The line of Noah had remained true to God and as such they had not corrupted their genetic code. That is why God was able to salvage humanity through Noah and his family. We are seeing a similar corruption in our current age. It is taking shape in two forms. The first is outright manipulation of the genetic code. It is currently being pursued under the benevolent guise of eliminating genetic predispositions to disease and birth defects. But it will be impossible to limit it to that once perfected. What will result will be everything from vanity enhancements – preferred eye color, hair color, etc. – to attempts to extend the human lifespan indefinitely. The temptation will be to splice in elements of non-human DNA if the benefits are profound. We already see such Chimeric dabbling in certain scientific tests to grow human replacement organs in animal hosts. The second form of corruption facing us is Trans-humanism. This phrase refers to a coming convergence of human biology with man-made technology. From bionic limbs to microchip implants to enhance memory and increase intelligence, the union of human and machine appears to be rapidly approaching. There is talk of minds that will be connected directly to the Intranet and even the possibility of downloading your mind so that it can later be uploaded into a humanoid robot with the possibility of living forever. It is my belief that the infamous Mark of the Beast will be an implantable microchip. But it will be much more than a credit card embedded in your hand or forehead. It will be something that actually recodes your DNA, transforming you into a being in the image of Satan rather than the image of God. That is why there is no redemption for those who take the mark. This brings us full circle to the very act that brought about the Fall of Man – the desire to be as God. In our desire to make our own laws to live by and then modify our DNA to live forever, we are actually fulfilling Satan’s desire to be like God. We are becoming his creations and no longer God’s. But just as God did with the flood, he will cut Satan’s plans short, only this time he will do it with seven years of intensifying destruction until Jesus returns to claim his rightful throne. “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.”
Matthew 24:14 The above words were spoken by Jesus when his disciples asked for a sign of his Second Coming. This is one of several signs that Jesus gave. This sign carries no ambiguity whatsoever. Once the gospel is preached in all nations, the end will come. We have reached the point where the gospel has reached all nations. It started with the disciples of Jesus spreading the gospel throughout the Roman Empire. When the Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity, the Roman Empire, which had previously persecuted Christians, became a powerful vehicle for spreading the message of Christ. This led to the Holy Roman Catholic Church which kept Christianity alive even as barbarians tore the Roman Empire apart. The Protestant Reformation led by Martin Luther and others corrected the course of Christian doctrine after centuries of corruption had turned the Catholic Church into an oppressive political force. As the great European Empires rose and started to explore and colonize the world, they took Christianity with them. Innovations in transportation and communications technology facilitated the spread of Christianity. From steamships to jet planes, from the printing press to the Internet, the ability for Christians to spread the gospel has increased exponentially. There is no corner of the world beyond the reach of the gospel. Even closed societies like North Korea and Islamic Republics like Iran have been unable to stop the message of Christ from finding its way into their nations. The Church Age was intended to last as long as it took to fully spread the gospel. When the Soviet Union fell and Communist China opened its economy to America, there was an opportunity for one final great push of Christian evangelism to an enormous group of people who had been living in restrictive, largely atheist countries. But now we are seeing a contraction in Christianity. China is cracking down on Christianity. The rise of Islamic extremism is growing, wiping out Christian communities in the Middle East and threatening those in Africa and Southeast Asia. Even the great missionary nations in Europe have seen Christianity turn to a fading tradition, replaced by secularism and an influx of Muslim immigrants from the war-ravaged Middle East. And America, the greatest Christian nation the world has ever seen, is seeing a waning influence of Christianity in its culture. The fact that we have now reached this turning of the tide in Christianity appears to be an indication that the Church Age is drawing to a close. The gospel has been spread throughout the world and now, as Jesus said, the end will come. The fact that this is happening even as Israel has been restored as a nation and the end times prophecies related to it are falling into place create a convergence of prophetic fulfillment that goes beyond coincidence. In my next post I will discuss another sign of which Jesus spoke that further substantiates this convergence. I recently saw an old video of actor Peter Dinklage (Tyrion Lannister from Game of Thrones) giving a speech to the 2012 graduating class at Bennington College. It was a wonderful speech, combining an excellent mix of realism and inspiration. You can find it on YouTube if you are interested in seeing it. But one thing that struck me was when he said one of the greatest gifts his parents gave him was forcing him to make his own way once he graduated from college.
That statement is so profound and yet it flies in the face of how society treats young people today. More and more we are coddling young adults and keeping them in perpetual adolescence (and in some cases childhood). Such an approach does them no favors in the long run and carries grave implications for society in general – as we are starting to see. The fact is, the values we are imprinting on young people and the attitudes we are indulging are the blueprint for the demise of a civilization. They run counter to everything that make individuals and societies stable and prosperous. The prosperous society in which we live was settled by courageous individuals who braved a long ocean voyage to find freedom in a new land. It was founded by people who risked everything to stand against the greatest world power of their time. Its boundaries were established by pioneers who loaded their families and few worldly possessions into wagons to stake their claim in the wilderness. It was built by immigrants who left the world they knew to come to a new country seeking nothing but an opportunity to prosper. And all of this has been and continues to be defended by men and women who storm beaches, race across battlefields, sail to the ends of the earth and fight in the skies. The Greatest Generation that fought and won World War II did not just magically appear. They were raised by parents who gave them the tools to fulfill their collective destiny. And this blueprint for greatness has not been lost beyond our reach. Too many of us have simply refused to follow it. Courage, hard work, perseverance, and self-reliance – these are the traits that have built this prosperous society and all successful societies before it. They are the traits possessed by all those who have built every major corporation, created every life-changing invention, and achieved every crowning moment of human endeavor. Today we have politicians falling all over themselves to offer free things to young adults (although nothing is truly free, it is just a matter of who pays for it). We have parents who are indulging their children to the point that they are stunting their maturity and destroying their prospects of achieving the greatness locked inside them. It’s not that this generation of young adults is somehow intrinsically different from those that came before it. What is different is how they were raised. Instead of fostering courage, we have cultivated fear in young people – fear that Climate Change will destroy the planet, fear that a political party will oppress you, fear that the police will kill you if you have the wrong skin color, fear that the patriarchy will keep you down. In place of hard work we have put entitlement. You have a right to free health care. You have a right to free education. You have a right to free child care. You have the right to a job. You have the right to a guaranteed income if you can’t find a job to your liking. Perseverance has given way to immediate gratification. Everyone wants to run the company or reach some other pinnacle of success in their chosen field immediately, or at the very least before they are thirty. If they can’t reach that goal then it is not their fault, but rather racism, sexism or homophobia. When failure inevitably comes, they can’t deal with it because they’ve been raised in a bubble of self-affirmation filled with participation trophies. Self-reliance has been replaced with demands for dependency. Every previous generation has managed to find their way in the world and raise a family, often leaving the next generation better off than them. But somehow this generation of young adults feel that they are incapable of carrying out their role in this cycle without a massive social safety net. So now they cry out for Socialism, not fully understanding what it is, drawn in by the siren call of free stuff but blind to the rocks of disincentivization and oppression that have destroyed every previous society that has tried it. The fact is, these traits of success work in conjunction with one another. It takes courage to be self-reliant. It takes courage to believe that your hard work will pay off. It takes courage to persevere and pick yourself back up each time you fail. It is hard work to stay brave. It is hard work to persevere and keep trying over and over again. It is hard work to rely on yourself instead of seeking handouts from others. It takes perseverance to keep working hard. It takes perseverance to stay brave. It takes perseverance to remain self-reliant. Self-reliance is the heart of courage. Bravery is not something that someone can give to you. It comes from within, either through belief in yourself or a belief in God. Self-reliance fuels hard work and perseverance because when your fate is determined by your own efforts and not contributions from others, you will be more likely to work harder and keep trying to improve your station in life. This nation cannot survive a system of upbringing that continues to reinforce dependency, immediate gratification, entitlement and fear. If we continue to imprint future generations with those values, our society will fail. If you truly love your children, you must let them find their own way, even if their road starts off in a difficult place. But you must also be sure to teach them the values of courage, hard work, perseverance, and self-reliance. A successful society is one comprised of successful individuals. We must give each generation the tools to succeed and then give them the freedom to use them. The sequence of events in the Revelation lend to a Pre-trib Rapture. First, there is the ascension of John into Heaven:
“After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this.” Revelation 4:1 The description of a voice like a trumpet calling John up to Heaven bears similarities to Paul’s description of the calling up to Heaven during the Rapture. And John is not the only human in Heaven. He sees 24 elders before the throne of God (presumably the patriarchs of the 12 tribes of Israel and then the 12 apostles of Jesus). And after he witnesses the Lamb (Jesus) open the six seals that begin the Tribulation (the first being the unleashing of the Antichrist as depicted as a rider on a white horse), he sees this: “After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb! “All the angels stood around the throne and the elders and the four living creatures, and fell on their faces before the throne and worshipped God, saying: Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom, Thanksgiving and honor and power and might, Be to our God forever and ever, Amen. “Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, Who are these arrayed in white robes, and where did they come from? And I said to him, Sir, you know. So he said to me, These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” Revelation 7:9-14 I believe John is seeing resurrected Christians in this scene. The elder says that they have come out of the great tribulation. The Greek interpretation of “out of” in this verse does not necessarily mean to come out of the Tribulation as it is already underway, but can be interpreted as being taken out of the way of the Tribulation, as the Greek “out of” has both a time and space component to it. This view of being spared from enduring the Tribulation is bolstered by Jesus’s message to the Church in Philadelphia: “Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.” Revelation 3:10 Jesus’s messages to the early Christian churches carry a dual purpose. They describe conditions that will be mirrored at the end of the Church Age. Each message contains either a warning or a promise of reward resulting from the behaviors exhibited by the early Christian churches that will manifest again as the world enters the End Times. The Book of Revelation is a book of prophecy for the Last Days, therefore to think that the messages to the seven churches only apply to the literal churches of John’s day is not congruent with the context of the book. So to summarize, the Pre-trib Rapture view is supported by three significant Biblical truths: 1. The Church Age needs to give way to a return to Daniel’s prophetic timeline for Israel to complete the final appointed seven years. The Rapture ends the Church Age. 2. The Holy Spirit must be temporarily removed from Earth to enable the Antichrist to ascend to power so that he can confirm the covenant with Israel to begin the final seven-year countdown. Since the Holy Spirit resides in all Christians, all Christians must be removed to open the way for the Antichrist to rise. The Rapture removes the Holy Spirit from the Earth. 3. The Tribulation is God’s appointed time to judge the wicked on the Earth and to turn the hearts of the Jews to accept Jesus as their Messiah. Its purpose is not to test the faith of Christians. There will be later converts to Christianity who will get caught up in the horrors of the Tribulation and their faith will be tested, but that is ancillary to the true purpose of the Tribulation. I think there are many well-intentioned Christians who simply hold different interpretations of the scriptures that lead them to “Mid-trib” or “Post-trib” views of the Rapture. I find it sad that they have denied themselves the great hope and comfort of being spared from the Tribulation that Jesus himself conveyed through his message to the church in Philadelphia. I believe that all true Christians will be Raptured, regardless of whichever view they hold regarding the timing. But God’s intent is that we live in the hope of being spared from wrath, not living to prepare ourselves to live through it. I do think there are others who hold these views for less than honorable reasons. I think there are some who promote “Mid-trib” and “Post-trib” views to make a profit by peddling survival equipment to Christians who are led to believe that they will have to find a way to live through the chaos of the Tribulation. I think there are other Christians who have fallen into a trap of pride, whereby they feel they have to prove something to God by suffering through the Tribulation. It is almost as if they view the Rapture as too easy of a way out. One almost gets the impression that they would be disappointed if they missed out on the Tribulation. To those people I say be careful what you wish for. And to those who would say it is better to be prepared for the worst, I would say there is nothing that will prepare you for the horrors that will be unleashed in the Tribulation. No amount of “prepping” will be sufficient to cope with the devastation coming our way. And if you think you can face Roman Coliseum-style persecution, I would ask you to reflect on the stands you are currently taking to show your Christian faith. Perhaps your faith is that strong. But if you are the type of person who can’t bring yourself to stop shopping at your favorite store that actively undermines Christian values, I’m guessing you might find it hard to resist the Mark of the Beast. My point is, rather than fear the worst, let us put our faith in God to deliver us from the wrath to come. There is abundant proof that God spares those he loves from the wrath he unleashes on the wicked. Noah and his family were delivered from the Flood. Lot was delivered from Sodom. The Jews were spared from the plagues God set upon Egypt. In the words of Paul: “For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Thessalonians 5:9 We will be spared from the wrath of the Tribulation. A convergence of signs is pointing to the likelihood that the time of tribulation is coming soon, which means our great escape may be drawing near. In the next post I will delve into the other signs that Jesus said would mark the approach of his Second Coming. “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.”
1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 “Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed – in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” 1 Corinthians 15:51-52 The above verses come from Paul’s messages to the churches in Thessalonica and Corinth. They speak of a miraculous event whereby believers in Christ, both alive and dead, will have their bodies transformed into perfect eternal forms and be brought up to Heaven to be with Jesus. This event is commonly called “The Rapture”. There is some controversy among Christians as to when this event occurs, and from this dispute come the terms “Pre-trib”, “Mid-trib”, and “Post-trib” Rapture. “Pre-trib” Rapture means that the Rapture will occur just prior to the seven-year tribulation period leading up to the Second Coming of Christ. “Mid-trib” Rapture means that the Rapture will occur in the mid-point of the entire seven-year tribulation period. “Post-trib” Rapture means that Christians will have to go through the seven-year tribulation period and will be caught up to meet Jesus as he is returning to reign on Earth. I believe in the “Pre-trib” Rapture. The “Mid-trib” and “Post-trib” Raptures do not properly account for the fact that the Church Age needs to end so that God’s set timeline for his chosen people, the Jews, can resume. There are still seven years left on that timeline. It was put on pause when the Jews denied Jesus as their Messiah. There are some Christians who mistakenly believe that Israel and the Jews play no further role in God’s prophecies. They believe in Replacement Theology, whereby the promises God made to Israel were transferred to the Church as a result of the Jews having rejected Jesus as their Messiah. This is just wrong. The role of Christians is to reign with Christ in his Millennial kingdom. The kingdom itself will have at its core the nation of Israel and the Jews will live and multiply to the point where they cannot be numbered, fulfilling God’s promise to Abraham. What was transferred was the governance and priesthood of the kingdom. Had the Pharisees and Sadducees of Jesus’s day accepted him as Messiah, they would have reigned with him and served as priests in his kingdom. But because they denied him, those roles will be filled by those in the Church. If God had truly meant to bring a final end to Israel’s role in his plan, he would not have left seven unfulfilled years for Israel in the timeline he revealed to Daniel. God knew that the Jews would reject Jesus, so he used the Church to spread the Gospel to the entire world. As we drew near the point where the mission of spreading the Gospel was reaching completion, God turned his attention back to Israel and brought them back to their land. The resurrection of Israel as a nation is one of God’s greatest miracles and should not be dismissed out of some ill-conceived need by some in the Church to have themselves called the new chosen people of God. There is room enough in God’s heart for all of us, Jew and Gentile alike. The Gentile Church has been grafted into the vine of Israel. We comprise a symbiotic relationship. Our Savior was a Jew from the royal line of Israel. Gentiles have carried his message throughout the ages and paved the way to re-establish the revived nation of Israel that he will return to rule. Do you really think that God would allow the title King of the Jews to remain forever as a mere term of mockery? The Jews of Israel will one day truly call Jesus their king. Getting to that point requires completing the final seven years of Daniel’s timeline. The resumption of the final seven years is marked by the Anti-Christ confirming some kind of covenant or treaty with Israel. But the Anti-Christ cannot be revealed until the Holy Spirit is taken away, as Paul describes: “Now brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. “Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming.” 2 Thessalonians 2:1-8 The restraining force to which Paul is referring is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is manifested on Earth in all those who believe in Christ. It filled the followers of Jesus on the Day of Pentecost and has resided in the Church from that day forward until now. It is the force that has empowered believers to spread the Gospel to the ends of the Earth. And as Paul described, it has held in check Satan’s ambition to elevate the Antichrist to power. Satan has flashed glimpses of what the Antichrist will look like. From Nero to Napoleon to Hitler we have seen characteristics that the infamous Apocalyptical leader will possess. But each time such a figure has emerged, the Holy Spirit has intervened to end their reign. But the fact that the Holy Spirit will be taken away so that the Antichrist can finally take the stage means that the Church must be taken away (i.e. Raptured). God simply would not remove the Holy Spirit and leave the Church behind. But what of those who turn to Christ during the seven-year tribulation? Are they to be left on their own without the aid and comfort of the Holy Spirit? Consider the following verse: “Then another angel, having a golden censer, came and stood at the altar, He was given much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God from the angel’s hand. Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it to the earth. And there were noises, thunderings, lightnings, and an earthquake.” Revelation 8:3-5 On the surface this sounds like another judgment being unleashed on Earth during the Tribulation. But I believe this is actually the return of the Holy Spirit to fill the new Christians who have emerged during the Tribulation. Here is how the arrival of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost was described: “And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” Acts 2:2-4 Admittedly the descriptions don’t match exactly, but there are similarities. Also, keep in mind that on Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was only filling a single house were followers of Jesus had gathered. During this second manifestation there will be new believers spread across the planet, which I would think would cause a much more dramatic arrival of the Holy Spirit I will continue to discuss the Rapture in the next post. |
Joseph Blaikieis a Christian writer whose books include "Why You Don't Believe in God and Why You Should" and "You are Never Too Far Gone for God". To learn more about Joseph Blaikie visit: Amazon.com: Joseph J. Blaikie: Books, Biography, Blog, Audiobooks, Kindle 
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