The true Church is the ‘salt of the earth’ (Matthew 5:13) and as long as it remains on earth, the world will be preserved, no matter what the enemy is upto!
‘For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work ; but the one (Holy Spirit) who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way.’ ( 2 Thessalonians 2:7)
The ‘secret power of lawlessness’ has been trying to establish the ‘new world order’, out of the chaos it orchestrates. Its agents were suspected to be behind the World wars and Revolutions that have been fought and are even thought to be behind some of the recent disasters and pandemics. If these happenings were the judgements of God, no righteous man would have perished and no wicked man would have escaped for ‘the Lord knows how to rescue godly men from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment until the day of judgement.’ ( 2Peter 2:9) Since we see no distinction being made between the two, these happenings are therefore not the judgements of God but rather natural calamities or manmade disasters which can affect both the righteous and the wicked alike. That was what Jesus had to say about the events that happened around him during his days on earth: “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them – do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.” ( Luke 13:2-5) So whether the happenings around us are natural or induced, they constitute the ‘birth pains’ Jesus spoke about : “There will be earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places …” (Luke 21:11) “All these are the beginning of birth pains.” ( Matthew 24:8) These birth pains will increase in frequency and strength as the time approaches. But until the Church is raptured, it stands in the way of total destruction of the world. Once the Church is raptured, the world will be vulnerable to the onslaught of Satan and the judgements of God will be unleashed against him and on those who worshipped the one God had condemned. “When he ( the Holy Spirit) comes he will convict the world of … judgement … because the prince of this world now stands condemned.” ( John 16:11) and “whoever does not believe stands condemned already.” ( John 3:18) But those who believe are the ‘salt of the earth’. Bible says that the LORD had made a ‘covenant of salt’ with the Levites. ‘It is an everlasting covenant of salt before the Lord for both you and your offspring.’ (Numbers 18:19) Therefore they were reminded to add salt to all their offerings. ‘Do not leave the Salt of the covenant of your God out of your grain offerings; add salt to all your offerings.’ ( Leviticus 2:13) We who are ‘a royal priesthood’ (1 Peter 2 : 9) have been reminded to have salt in ourselves : ‘Salt is good but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? Have Salt in yourselves and be at peace with each other.’ ( Mark 9:50) It is time that the Church realises this truth about its ability to preserve the earth and stand its ground in the midst of this plague to bring about a great deliverance for which the Gentiles would thank the LORD, the God of heaven. Amen.
Tag: End times
18. Why a pre-tribulation Rapture ? (Part 3 of the Rapture series.)
We found from Scriptures that Rapture is not a myth but the truth because the concept of the righteous escaping the judgement of God has a strong Scriptural precedent. Infact Paul instructed the Church to encourage one another with these words: ‘According to the Lord’s own word … we who are still alive and are left will be caught up … in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Encourage each other with these words.’ ( 1 Thessalonians 4:15-18) We also found from Scriptures that this promise is for those who have entered into a blood covenant with God through the sacrifice of Jesus and have received the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Now to conclude this exegesis, it would be encouraging to consider the three scriptural reasons for a pre-tribulation Rapture :-
1. Rapture will take place because the person of the Holy Spirit will not leave behind the Church, the bride of Christ in whom he took residence on the day of Pentecost, when he is taken out of the way for the man of lawlessness to be revealed. The only reason why the Antichrist is being held back from coming on to the world stage before the appointed time is because the person of the Holy Spirit is present on earth: ‘ … the day of the Lord … will not come until the rebellion (Greek: apostasia means turning away, rebellion) occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction … you know what is holding him back so that he may be revealed at the proper time. For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way.’ ( 2 Thessalonians 2:1-7) The mission of the Holy Spirit can be better understood from other parallels in Scripture. For instance, the Bible says that the physical presence of God prevented the Egyptian army from vanquishing the army of Israel on the banks of the Red sea, prior to the crossing over. ‘By day the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud … and by night in a pillar of fire … Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left it’s place in front of the people … The pillar of cloud moved from the front and stood behind them, coming between the armies of Egypt and Israel. Throughout the night the cloud brought darkness to one side and light to the other side; so neither went near the other all night long.’ ( Exodus 14:19-20). Likewise, the Holy Spirit stands in between the forces of darkness and of light and he has prevented the kingdom of darkness from vanquishing the Church. But the moment the Holy Spirit is taken out of the way, together with the Church, this world will be subjected to Satan and he will set up his end time kingdom but it will last only for 7 years because God will judge his kingdom and will destroy it during the tribulation. Another parallel in Scriptures that reveals the mission of the Holy Spirit is the story of Eliezar who was sent under oath by Abraham to find a bride for his son Issac and upon finding Rebecca, she was entrusted to his care and he brought her safely to Isssac. ‘So the servant took Rebecca and left. Now Issac had come from Beer Lahai Roi … And as he looked up , he saw camels approaching. Rebecca also looked up and saw Issac. She got down from her camel and asked the servant, “Who is that man in the field coming to meet us?” “He is my master,” the servant answered … Issac brought her into the tent … and he married her.’ (Genesis 24:61-67) The reason why the Holy Spirit wouldn’t leave behind the Church, the bride of Christ, when he is taken out of the way, is because he was entrusted with the bride of Christ and he has to take her to Christ who will come in the air to receive her, just as Issac came out to the fields to receive Rebecca. That is why the Scripture says that both the Spirit and the bride eagerly await the coming of the groom. ‘The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” (Revelation 22:17)
2. Rapture will take place because it would be the justice of God to the righteous: ‘Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked? … Be it far from you to do such a thing – to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike … Will not the judge of all the earth do right? (Genesis 18:23-25) In all acts of judgement described in the Bible, we have never seen the righteous becoming victims of his wrath, ‘for God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. He died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him.’ (1 Thessalonians 5:9-10)
3.Rapture will take place because it would be the greatest witness to the world: What would the day be like when countless believers are found missing? The realisation of the truth will sink into the hearts of those who never believed and countless will believe and will turn to the Lord. Infact more Gentiles will be saved during the tribulation than now. ‘After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language … These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.’ ( Revelation 7:9-15) There is a interesting parallel in the book of Revelation about the response of the unsaved to the rapture of the two witnesses who can be said to be ‘dead in Christ’. ‘Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them,”Come up here.” And they went up to heaven in a cloud, while their enemies looked on. At that hour there was a great earthquake and a tenth of the city collapsed … the survivors were terrified and gave Glory to the God of heaven.’( Revelation 11:12-13) yet there will be many who will refuse to repent of what they had done and glorify God but will curse him. (Revelation 16:9,11,21) The purpose of Pre-tribulation Rapture is not only to keep the righteous out of judgement but also to get the wicked to believe and repent. Amen.
15. The three prophetic wars.
Numerous wars have been fought since Jesus spoke these words about the end of the age : “You will hear of wars and rumours of wars but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen but the end (meaning the end of this earth and final judgement following the Millennial rule of Christ ) is still to come. Nations will rise against nations and kingdoms against kingdoms … All these are the beginning of the birth pains.” ( Mathew 24:6-8 ) However, the Prophets did specifically predict certain wars that will take place which will eventually usher in the Kingdom of God. These wars are collectively called the ‘prophetic wars’. ( Isn’t it strange that the Bible didn’t specifically predict the first and the second world wars nor does it predict the third world war but categorised them under ‘wars and rumours of wars’ and not under the ‘prophetic wars’ !)
The first impending prophetic war is the one which has come to be known as the ‘Ezekiel 38 war’. ‘The word of the Lord came to me, saying: “Son of man, set your face against Gog, of the land of Magog ( the Islamic nations of southern Russia that were once part of the Soviet Union? ), the prince of Rosh (‘Rosh’ in Hebrew means ‘head’ or ‘leader’ and therefore it has been translated as ‘chief prince’ in some translations but it could also be the proper name of a predominant ethnic group called ‘Rus’or ‘Rhos’ from which the name ‘Russia’ was derived), Meshech or Mosoch ( Legend has it that King Mosokh or Meshech, the son of Japheth founded the city of Moskva or Moscow. Josephus, the Jewish historian said that the people of his day known as the Moschevi and Thobelites were founded by Meshech and Tubal respectively [Antiquities I.6] Wilhelm Gesenius, the world class Hebrew scholar and lexicologist also identified Meshech as Moscow, the capital of modern Russia) and Tubal or ‘Tobal’ (William also identified Tobolsk, the second oldest settlement in Asiatic Russia and the historic capital of the Siberian region as the city founded by Tubal, the son of Japheth. The name of this patriarch is still preserved in the river Tobol and the City of Tobolsk in Russia is still a monument to him. His conclusion was that these people make up the modern Russian people) and prophecy against him and say: … I will turn you around, put hooks in your jaws and bring you out with your whole army … Persia ( Iran), Cush ( upper Nile region south of Egypt which would include Sudan and Ethiopia?) and Put ( the region to the west of Egypt which would include Libya, Tunisia, Algeria ?) will be with them … also Gomer ( Turkey?) with all its troops and Beth Togarmah ( the region of Anatolia which is now part of modern day Turkey?) from the far north with all its troops – the many nations with you … you will invade a land that has recovered from war, whose people were gathered from the nations to the mountain of Israel, which has long been desolate and now all of them live in safety … ‘ (Ezekial 38:1-8) It is interesting to note that the names of many prominent Arab and Islamic nations were not mentioned, probably because they would be the ones who would sign a peace treaty with Israel ie Egypt in 1979, Jordan in 1994 and recently UAE , Bahrain, North Sudan and Morocco signed the Abraham Accords in 2020. We can expect many more nations to follow suit in the coming years. However, some are suspicious of the Abraham Accords assuming that it could be the covenant the Antichrist will make with the nation of Israel but this fear has no rationale because that treaty wouldn’t happen until the Church is raptured and the Holy Spirit is taken out of the way for the Antichrist to be revealed. Furthermore, some assume that the war mentioned in Ezekial 38-39 is the ‘battle of Armageddon’ mentioned in Revelation 16: 14,16 but they are two different battles altogether because Ezekiel spoke about a coalition of nations from the north and south coming against Israel, who ‘will go up, advancing like a storm … will invade a land of unwalled villages … a peaceful and unsuspecting people … to loot, to carry off silver and gold, to take away livestock and goods and to seize much plunder’ ( Ezekiel 38: 9-13) whereas John wrote about the nations of the world being gathered from the east and the west against Israel for the second prophetic war : ‘The sixth Angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates and it’s waters was dried up to prepare the way for the kings of the East … Then I saw … the spirits of demons who go out to kings of the whole world to gather them for the battle on the great day of God Almighty … to the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon … to make war against the rider on the horse and his army’. (Revelation 16:14,16, 19:19) Armageddon is located 60 miles north of Jerusalem on Mount Megiddo, facing the valley of Jezereel to its east and it has been the site of many military struggles in Israel’s history because of its strategic location. The plain of Megiddo ( 2 Chronicles 35:22) is about 200 square miles in area and some historians estimate that more wars have been fought here than any other locations in the world. It seems to be an appropriate setting for the final struggle between good and evil.
The context of the prophecy in Chapters 38,39 is the return of the people of God to the mountains of Israel as prophesied in Chapter 36 and that they shall be one nation in the land and no longer be divided into two kingdoms as prophesied in Chapter 37 and the measuring of the rebuilt temple as prophesied in Chapter 40. In between these two events is the war that would result in the total regathering of Israel and the construction of the temple.(Though the nation of Israel was established on the 14th of May 1948, only a fraction of the Jewish diaspora have been gathered from the nations and the temple is yet to be rebuilt. ) It is in this context, we need to read this prophecy : ‘When Gog attacks the land of Israel, my hot anger will be aroused, declares the Sovereign Lord … I will summon a sword against Gog on all my mountains … so I will show my greatness and my holiness and I will make myself known in the sight of many nations … I will now bring Jacob back from captivity … I will gather them to their own land, not leaving any behind … I will pour out my Spirit on the house of Israel, declares the Sovereign Lord.’ ( Ezekiel 38:18- 39:29) There is however an ambiguity concerning the timing of the ‘Ezekiel 38 war’ because some believe it will happen before Rapture while many others believe it will happen after Rapture, at the start of the tribulation. There are also those who believe it will happen halfway into the tribulation and still others who believe it will happen towards the end of the tribulation, assuming it to be the ‘battle of Armageddon’ and ‘Gog’ to be the Antichrist. Apparently ‘Gog’ is the leader of the invasion and the Bible says he will be killed and will be buried in the valley of Hamon Gog towards the east of the Dead Sea whereas the Bible says that the Antichrist and the false prophet who will lead the ‘battle of Armageddon’ will be captured and will be thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulphur. ( Rev 19:20-22). There is still a mention of ‘Gog’ again at the end of the thousand year rule of Christ, when Satan will be released from his prison and he will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth – Gog and Magog – to gather them for battle. Here Gog is not referred to as a person but as a place and Satan who is leader of the hordes, was thrown into the lake of burning sulphur where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. (Rev 20:7-10) Some call it the ‘war of Gog and Magog’ and it is the last of the three prophetic wars.What is common to these three prophetic wars is that they all are against Israel and the camp of God and He fights to deliver His people.
The world is increasingly getting polarized and the stage is being set for these prophetic battles and the nations of the world are aligning themselves in keeping with these prophecies. The only thing that needs to happen before these events is the Rapture and it will come unexpectedly upon us. “Be careful or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties of life and the day will close on you unexpectedly like a trap … Be always on the watch and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen and that you may stand before the Son of Man’ ( Luke 21: 34-36) Amen.
13. The day of the Lord.
The Bible refers to the ‘day of the Lord’ as the ‘day of his coming’, when he will visibly establish his Kingdom on earth. But there seems to be some ambiguity about which day the Bible refers to as the ‘day of the Lord’. Could it be the 1) day of Christ’s secret coming in the air to receive his Bride at Rapture (1 Thesslonians 4:15-17) or the 2) day of his second coming in the clouds when all men will see him (Matthew 24:30) or the 3) day when God creates a new earth and new heaven and the Holy City, the new Jerusalem comes out of heaven and God makes his dwelling with men? ( Revelation 21:1-3 ) Most passages seem to allude to the second coming of Christ while others seem to allude to the period of the tribulation as a whole. However, there are certain events that must precede the day of the Lord and that would help us to ‘find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of God was pointing’ ( 1 Peter 1 :11), ‘as men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit’. ( 2 Peter 1:20)
The prophecy by Joel is an ideal text to start with, because he clearly predicted the events that would precede the day of the Lord, most notably the predictions about the sun, moon and stars, which we can consider as the most prominent harbinger that would herald his coming : ‘I will show wonders in the heavens and on earth, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.’ ( Joel 2:31) ‘For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. The sun and moon will be darkened and the stars no longer shine. The Lord will roar from Zion and thunder from Jerusalem and the earth and sky will tremble.’ ( Joel 3:14-16) This was prophesied by the Prophet Isaiah too, when he said : ‘See, the day of the Lord is coming – a cruel day, with wrath and fierce anger … The stars of heaven and their constellations will not show their light. The rising sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light.’ (Isaiah 13:9-10) ‘The moon will be abashed, the sun ashamed for the Lord Almighty will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem …’ (Isaiah 24:23) All this is in agreement with what Jesus taught would precede that day: ‘There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. Men will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken. At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.’ ( Luke 21:25-27) And John, while writing down the Revelation of Jesus, wrote: ‘I watched as he opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake. The sun turned black … the whole moon turned blood red … the stars in the sky fell to earth … the sky receded like a scroll … every mountain and island was removed from its place … for the great day of their wrath has come and who can stand?’ ( Revelation 6:12-17) All the above references allude to the second coming of Christ and not to his secret coming in the air to receive his bride because that is likened to the ‘thief in the night’ ( 1 Thesslonians 5:2, Revelation 3:3) and that day obviously wouldn’t be preceded by anything significant that would herald his coming.
The other events that would happen on this day, at the second coming of Christ, further distinguishes this day from any other : ‘On that day , when all the nations of the earth are gathered against her ( The battle of Armageddon – Revelation 16:12-16), I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock for all the nations … On that day I will strike every horse with panic and every rider with madness … On that day the Lord will shield those who live in Jerusalem … On that day I will set out to destroy the nations that attack Jerusalem … I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on the one they pierced … On that day the weeping will be great … On that day a fountain will be opened to the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and impurity … On that day, I will banish the names of all idols from the land and they will be remembered no more …’ (Zechariah 12:3 – 13:2) ‘A day of the Lord is coming when … I will gather all the nations to Jerusalem to fight against it … Then the Lord will go out to fight against those nations as he fights in the day of battle. On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives will be split into two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south … Then the Lord your God will come and all the holy ones with him. On that day there will be no light, no cold or frost. It will be an unique day without daytime or nighttime – a day known to the Lord. When evening comes, there will be light. On that day living water will flow out from Jerusalem, half to the eastern sea (Dead sea) and half to the western sea (Mediterranean sea) … The Lord will be King over the whole earth. On that day there will be one Lord and his name the only name.’ (Zechariah 14:1-9) ‘In that day the mountains will drip new wine and the hills will flow with milk and all the ravines of Judah will run with water. A fountain will flow out of the Lord’s house and will water the valley of acasias’ ( Joel 3: 18) ‘In that day the Lord will punish the powers in the heavens above and the kings on the earth below. They will be herded together like prisoners bound in a dungeon and they will be shut up in prison and be punished after many days ( at the end of the 1000 years)’. ( Isaiah 24:21-22, Revelation 20:7-15) All the above references further alludes to the second coming of Christ and not to the end of the ages when the first heaven and first earth will pass away giving way to the new heaven and new earth.
However, certain passages makes no distinction between these three days because the focus was on holy living and not eschatology. For instance, Peter wrote: ‘But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare. Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people we ought to be ? We ought to live godly lives as we wait eagerly for the day of God to come. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.’ ( 2Peter 3:11-13) Amen.
Other references you can read: Isaiah 2:11-21, Zephaniah 1:14 -18, Malachi 4:1-3
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