The Rapture of the Church

I can almost hear the trumpet blast! I feel safe in stating that we are now living in the last few years before the Great Tribulation. The Seventieth week of Daniel, Jacob's time of trouble. The seven year climax in world history, that will usher in the millennial reign of Jesus Christ, is about to begin.

What about the True Church? The true followers of Jesus Christ will not be on the earth during the Great Tribulation. We are the bride and the body of Christ and as such we are not appointed unto wrath. I Thess. 5:9. The anti-christ comes on the scene as a man of peace, the white horse rider of Revelation 6:1,2. He signs a seven year peace treaty with Israel. The temple will be rebuilt and sacrificing will begin again. Exactly three and one-half years later he steps back in, rejects the peace accord and stops the sacrificing. He then sets up an image in the temple and exalts himself as God. Then the wrath of Almighty God is poured out for the next three and one-half years. Then at the end of that time Jesus returns with all the Saints, including the true church, at the Battle of Armageddon. He destroys the army's of the earth and sets up his Kingdom that will last for one thousand years.

At the present time the antichrist can't come on the scene with full power because of a restraining force that is preventing him. That man of sin can't be revealed until he that withholdeth him is taken out of the way, then the wicked one will be revealed. 2 Thess.2:7,8. There is only one thing that could prevent the antichrist from being revealed. Our Comforter the Holy Spirit and his workings with the true followers of Christ. God will remove the Church and then the Holy Spirit will work again as he did in Old Testament time. God will not take our precious gift away and leave us to face the Great Tribulation without the power that was already given to us as an earnest of our inheritance. The body of Christ can't be struck twice with the wrath of God. He did it once for all and we as the body of Christ can't be struck by God the second time. Moses, in type, struck the rock the second time instead of speaking to it like God told him to and he was then refused to go into the promised land, not because of his anger, but because he struck the rock the second time.

Jesus as the type and shadow that all the OT Feasts pointed to has fulfilled several of the Feasts already. The part that I want to drive home is that he fulfilled them on the exact day of the feast. if God sticks to the plan, and uses the "Set Times" for his dealing's with this world, the remaining feasts will be fulfilled on the appropriate feast day.

Rosh Hashanah: The Feast of Trumpets. The ancient New Years Day. "A day of new beginnings," The Feast of the "Ingathering". The Feast of Harvest. All of the meanings associated with the Feast of Trumpets are symbolic of Christ's first and second comings. Israel blew two silver trumpets all day long. Silver always means redemption in God's word. Christ came once to redeem the world of sin, he comes a second time to redeem the true church, all of the true followers of Jesus. An accurate study of God's word shows that Christ was born in September, not December. More accurately on the Feast of Trumpets, as the angelic beings proclaimed this age of grace saying, "Peace on earth, good will toward men." Many biblical prophesies are fulfilled in a multi-level way. Israel had two calendar years, a civil and a sacred year. So the Feast of Trumpets is on the first day of the First month and the first day of the seventh month. Here are some scriptures that show that Christ's first and second comings are seen as the "Former and Latter rain on the earth", but they are both in the first month. If he was referring to literal rain on the earth, both of the rains would be in two different months, spring and fall.

Hosea 6:1-3: Come let us return to the Lord, for he bath torn and he will heal us. He bath smitten and he will bind us up. After two days he will revive us. (2000 years from birth?) In the third day he will raise us up and we shall live in his sight. (during the millennial reign with Christ) Then we shall know if we follow on to the Lord, his going forth is prepared as the morning, and he shall come to us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.

The rapture is always associated with a trumpet blast. I'm not trying to set a date. No man knows the day or the hour. Even now, Rosh Hashanah is not always on the new moon on our calendars. God has always used these Feasts as patterns and he will continue to do so in the future. So unless God changes his mind, which is up to him, the Rapture will take place on the Feast of Trumpets one year soon. The two prophetical days after his birth are up in 1999. The Feast of Trumpets in the next few years are very possibly the fulfillment of prophesy regarding this Feast and then the next Feast in line is due for fulfillment. After the rapture of the true church, the antichrist will come on the scene as a man of peace, signing a seven year peace treaty with Israel, and allowing the temple to be rebuilt and the sacrificing to commence. Exactly three and one-half years later, on Passover, he will falsely imitate what Jesus truly did, he win fake his death and resurrection, then he will break his treaty with Israel. He will set up the abomination that causes desolation, spoken of in Daniel. He will stop the sacrificing and claim himself to be God. Then God will pour out his fury for the next three and a half years, and then again at the Feast of Trumpets Christ returns with all the Saints at the Battle of Armageddon. Defeats his enemies and sets up his kingdom on this earth.

Some more interesting scripture regarding the rapture comes from the apocryphal book of 2 Esdras. This book was in the Septuagint version of Jesus' day and was in even the first edition of the King James. It was taken out of canon in the 1885 because of the pressure from the Puritans. Remember that the date of the writing of this book was around 556 B.C. which is important. In chapter 5 Esra begins, "Now concerning the signs; lo, the days are coming when those who inhabit the earth shall be seized with great terror, and the way of truth shall be hidden, i.e. the Rapture, and the land shall be barren of faith. unrighteousness shall be increased beyond what you yourself see, and beyond what you heard of formerly. And the land that you now see ruling shall be a trackless waste, and people shall see it desolate....",then in chap 6:18 he goes again, but from a different point of view.

"The days are coming when I draw near to visit the inhabitants of the earth, and when I require from the doers of iniquity the penalty of their iniquity, and when the humiliation of Zion is complete. When the seal is placed upon the age that is about to pass away, then I will show these signs:" Scene in Heaven at the rapture, "the books shall be opened before the face of the Firmament, and all shall see my judgement together. Children a year old shall speak with their voices, and pregnant women shall give birth to premature children at three or four months, and these shall live and leap about". Now, the scene on earth at the time of the rapture, "Sown places still suddenly appear unsown, and full storehouses shall suddenly be found to be empty, the Trumpet shall sound aloud and when all hear it, they shall suddenly be terrified At that time friends will make war on friends like enemies, the earth and those who inhabit it shall be terrified". then we have the tribulation period, then at the end when Jesus returns with us, as the armies of heaven : "they shall see those who were taken up, who from their birth had not tasted death, and the heart of the earth's inhabitants shall be changed and converted to a different spirit. For evil shall be blotted out and deceit shall be quenched, faithfulness shall flourish, and corruption shall be overcome, and the Truth, which has been so long without fruit, shall be revealed".

Then in chapter 9 he explains again "Measure carefully in your mind, and when you see the that some of the predicted signs have occurred, then you will know that it is the very time when the Most High is about to visit the world that he has made. So when there shall appear in the world earthquakes, tumult of peoples, intrigues of nations wavering of leaders confusion of princes then you will know that it was of these days that the Most High spoke from the days that were of old, from the beginning"...Again Ezra pleads with the angel and he answers, Chap 13:29. "the days are coming when the Most High will deliver those who are on the earth ", The Body of Christ at the Rapture, "And bewilderment of mind shall come over those who inhabit the earth They shall plan to make war against one another, city against city, place against place, people against people, and Kingdom against Kingdom. When these things take place and the signs occur that I showed you before, then my Son will be revealed". Christ's return at Armageddon.

Then in Chap. 14: 1 1, "For the age is divided into twelve parts", Twelve thousand years, 10, 000 B. C when Atlantis was destroyed and a new age began, "and nine of it's parts have already passed, as well as half the tenth part, so two of its parts remain, besides half of the tenth part". 2500 years after the angel spoke these things, the two times and other half of the tenth, are already passed The time is at hand now.

Chap. 16:74 says, "Listen, my elect ones, says the Lord, the days of tribulation are at hand, but I will deliver you FROM them. Do not fear or doubt, for God is your guide. You who keep my commandments and precepts, says the Lord God must not let your sins weigh you down or your iniquities prevail over you ". Whenever he comes, only God knows, I can only say that everything is ready. Nothing else has to be fulfilled Prophesy seems to be culminating to a final climax and we are going to have a front row seat. All the true followers of Jesus need to be excited and anxious for his return We have no need to fear or worry.

We as the body of Christ are not appointed unto wrath I can almost hear that Last Great Trump of God

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