Jesus told us what events would occur
before He appears in the sky to rapture the saints delivering them from the great
tribulation. Unfortunately many Christians have ignored or not understood the
ramifications of what Jesus told us which may unfortunately be to their demise.
Here is what Jesus said.
25 And there shall be signs in
the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of
nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring;
26 Men's hearts failing them
for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for
the powers of heaven shall be shaken.
27 And then shall they see the
Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Luke 21:25-27
Let’s summarize what is being said.
1.
Signs in the sun,
moon, and stars.
2.
Distress/anguish/perplexity
of nations.
3.
The sea and waves
roaring.
4.
Powers of heavens
will be shaken.
5.
Men’s hearts
failing because of fear.
Notice that all of these things occur
before the coming of the Son of man in the clouds—And
then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud. And at what events
does the Son of man appear in the clouds? We all know it is the rapture.
And then shall appear the sign
of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn,
and they shall see the Son of man coming
in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. Mt 24:30
Then we which are alive and
remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be
with the Lord. 1 Thes 4:17
The Lord Jesus appears in the clouds at
the rapture. Therefore all of the things mentioned above occur before the
rapture. Let’s discuss these pre rapture events and what they may involve.
Signs in the sun, moon, stars may
involve the appearance of a second sun, the coming of the winged
destroyer—Nibiru, alien/demon encounters, moon anomalies, meteor showers, days
of darkness, etc.
Distress/anguish/perplexity of nations
may involve wars, financial collapses, plagues, famines, pole shifts, and
natural disasters.
The sea and waves roaring may involve
tsunamis, super storms, and tide anomalies.
Powers of heavens will be shaken may
involve the disruption of the cycles of the sun, earth, and moon.
Scripture tells us that when these
things occur they will cause great fear to arise in the hearts of men and as a
result some men’s hearts shall fail; meaning that the person will either faint
or die.
Unfortunately 99% of all Christians fail
to understand that they will see these horrific things occur, whatever they
turn out to be, because they erroneously believe that the rapture will happen
before any of the “bad” things of the end times occur. Unfortunately they are
wrong, the scriptures above are clear, they will happen before they see the Son of man coming in a cloud at the
rapture.
Let’s consider a parallel passage from
another gospel—Matthew 24.
4 And Jesus answered and said
unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.
5 For many shall come in my
name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.
6 And ye shall hear of wars
and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must
come to pass, but the end is not yet.
7 For nation shall rise
against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and
pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8 All these are the beginning
of sorrows.
Those passages describe the first 4
seals of Revelation--New World Order takeover, WWIII, financial collapse, plagues, death of 1/4 of world's population. The next verse describes seal 5--the persecution of Jews and Christians at the hands of the antichrist.
9 Then shall they deliver you
up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations
for my name's sake.
And after the seal 5 great tribulation
we see the sixth seal and the rapture.
29 Immediately after the
tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not
give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the
heavens shall be shaken:
30 And then shall appear the
sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth
mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming
in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
31 And he shall send his
angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his
elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
Therefore as you can see there are going
to be many fearful things that occur before the rapture. And when those fearful
things occur most Christians unfortunately will be caught off guard and most
likely unprepared, which in turn will leave them in a very perplexing
situation. Can you live without electricity, grocery stores, running water,
police protection, loss of income, etc. Unfortunately that is what we may be
faced with in the future.
No one knows for sure when the really
bad things are going to occur. Therefore you must be ready at any time. Are you
spiritually, mentally, and physically prepared? You must prepare, before it is
too late.
A prudent man foreseeth the
evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished. Prov 22:3
Please accept my gift to you and
download a FREE copy of The Coming Epiphany; Your Guide to Understanding End Times Bible Prophecy, which will help
you to prepare for what is ahead.
A reader asked me to comment about Rev 3:10. Here is an excerpt from The Coming Epiphany about that.
What About
Revelation 3:10?
Some
pre-trib adherents make further claims, citing Revelation 3:10 as evidence that
God will not only keep the Christian from His wrath, but will also keep them
from the hour of temptation—that is, the entire 70th Week: “Because thou hast
kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of
temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon
the earth.” However, a careful examination of the Greek used in this passage
actually shows that the passage supports the view that believes that the
rapture will occur at the sixth seal.
Robert
Van Kampen, in The Rapture Question
Answered Plain & Simple, has made a thorough analysis of this verse.
Let us examine a few excerpts from that section.
When the underlying Greek
text is studied carefully, comparing Scripture with Scripture, we will discover
that the “hour of testing” refers specifically to that time associated with
antichrist’s persecution. . . . More importantly we will see that the Greek
words underlying our English translations argue that this terrible time of
testing cannot be the wrath of God, but must be the wrath of satan. . . . If
the Greek word peirasmos, as used in
the Revelation 3:10 passage, is compared to its use in other New Testament
passages, we will see that the “hour of testing” cannot refer to the wrath of
God but, quite the opposite, to the wrath of satan. . . . They all say the same
thing: satan is the source of all peirazo,
not God. Like the logical argument, the biblical argument from scripture
demonstrates that the “hour of testing” in Rev. 3:10 cannot refer to the wrath
of God but, by definition, must be the wrath of satan.[1]
Another
phrase in Revelation 3:10 that we need to consider is “will keep thee from.”
The Greek phrase used here is tereo ek. Van
Kampen has this to say about that phrase:
Tereo ek, is used in conjunction, can only refer to guarding or
protecting those who persevere while they are within the sphere of danger, and
then bringing them safely out from the midst of that danger. Thus the meaning
of the text is clear. Tereo ek should
be translated, “a watchful protection within the sphere of danger, with a safe
deliverance out from the midst of it.[2]
Combining
the analysis of the Greek into a translation of Revelation 3:10 yields a
rendering that shows that the Christian will not be spared from the great
tribulation, but will be rescued out of it:
Because thou hast kept the
word of my patience, I also will rescue
you out of the midst of the hour
of satan’s temptation, the great tribulation, which shall come
upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.
So the
analysis of the Greek in Revelation 3:10 does not support a pre-trib view, but
supports a pre-wrath view of the rapture.
[1]
Robert Van Kampen, The Rapture Question
Answered Plain & Simple, (Grand
Rapids , Mich.
[2]
Ibid., 177.
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