Poetry by Kay Cude
Kay Cude Art: Longing for Him, Comfort to those left behind
Category: rapture
Will any people be saved after the rapture, during the tribulation?
A friend on Facebook asked me a question. I like questions. They send me searching the Bible for a Spirit-led answer. I enjoy studying for a purpose. Here is the question:
How it can be that the bible states that most people will go to hell, yet in the tribulation, so many are saved they can’t be counted? Is the dynamic different in the Tribulation?
As for most people going to hell, yes that’s true. The Bible says that Jesus promised-
Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few. (Matthew 7:13-14)
A specific answer as to how many will be saved during the wrath known as the Tribulation period can’t be given, because we cannot quantify “many” and “few”. We know for example, that many people died in the Flood (most actually). Few were on the narrow way, (only 8 people actually. Noah and his family). We know that most were sent to destruction when four of the five cities of the plain were destroyed. Admah, Zeboiim, Sodom and Gomorrah were thriving cities full of people, and most were sent to destruction when the angels came to destroy them with brimstone. (Genesis 19:13, 24-25; Deuteronomy 29:23). Only a few were saved (4 actually, and one of those turned out to be a false convert).
Over the course of world history we can’t know how many means few and how many means many. But we notice the fact that as soon as Jesus began teaching the hard truths, most left him. (John 6:60, 66). If we look at the scene in context as a microcosm of the world population, most people throughout history have either rejected Him outright or left the faith showing they never were of Him at all.
Therefore I believe the dynamic in the Tribulation is different. I base this on the verse in Matthew where Jesus said the Tribulation will be a unique time in world history. (Matthew 24:21,
For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be.
As for why so many would be saved, it is because the Tribulation is the fulfillment of the Bible’s promises. John MacArthur says in his sermon “Tribulation Saints part 1”,
“We have prayed that some day there would be a sweeping revival across the world that would bring millions of souls into the Kingdom. It has been the prayers of God’s people through the centuries that God would bring a great harvest of souls. And He will. One day it will come. It will be the greatest movement of God’s saving power in terms of sheer numbers that the world has ever known. Now that anticipation of that should not shock us because God longs to save…”
Revival is something we always pray for, but we don’t often realize that the revival that comes might look very different than the revival we envision in our head. Usually we envision a peaceful, joyful revival that sparks cultural change and personal peace. Yet the revival ahead in the Tribulation will be in a time of blood and war and grief and widespread martyrdom.
The reasons so many will be saved are found in Romans 11:26, that all Israel will be saved, and in Genesis 12, the fulfillment of Abraham’s covenant that all (pagan) nations through Abraham will be blessed.
If you’re interested, you can hear about salvation during the Tribulation explained more fully in John MacArthur’s sermon “Tribulation Saints” parts 1 and 2, expositing these verses from Revelation 7 under discussion.
After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” (Revelation 7:9-10).
Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?” 14 I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. (Revelation 7:13-14)
Praise the Lord who saves!!
Lord, I’ve never been this homesick before
The LORD is obviously preparing the world for His Son’s return. Though this preparation has been ongoing since the Fall, since before the foundation of the world even, it seems to me to be accelerating of late.
I love bluegrass Gospel music. Posted below is the Paul Williams Trio with their song Lord I’ve Never Been This Homesick Before. Remember, we have a job to do on earth, but it is not our home and it is not our final job. We are aliens and strangers here.
The lyrics:
First Verse
There’s a light in the window
And the table’s set in splendor
Someone’s standing by the open door
I can see a crystal river
Oh I must be near forever
And I’ve never been this homesick before
Chorus
See the bright light shine
It’s just about home time
I can see my Father standing at the door
This world has been a wilderness
I’m ready for deliverance
Lord, I’ve never been this homesick before
Second Verse
I can see the family gather
Sweet faces, there all familiar
But no one’s old or feeble anymore
Oh this lonesome heart is cryin’
Think I’ll spread my wings for flyin’
Lord, I’ve never been this homesick before
Re-post: No dates! The rapture is a number-driven event
I wrote this in October 2009. It bears repeating. 🙂
“For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.” (Romans 11:25)(NAS) (Above, poster source)
Paul writing to the Romans here assuring them of the fact of it happening but reminding them that it will not happen until a certain “number” has come in. And after that, Israel’s spiritual blindness will be lifted. The NIV translation states, “full number.” The full number refers to a nautical term, that a ship cannot sail until the required number of sailors had been signed on. And ‘come in’, well, who has not heard of the old saying, “My ship has come in”?
In 1806 the British Parliament passed an act releasing ships from having to stay in port until the ‘full number’ has been reached, and allowing them to sail to certain ports with less than their ship’s required complement. In Dixon Kemp’s “Manual of Yacht and Boat Sailing and Architecture” (11th and final edition, 1913) the “full number is defined as “Complement.– The full number; the whole ship’s crew.” These two examples really have nothing directly related to the scripture in Romans, except to present original documents that show the term is indeed nautical and number-driven.
In Mark 13:32, Jesus told the Apostles, “But of that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.” Many Christians take this to mean that since we cannot know the day nor the hour, we should not study end time prophecies. Others say that they are simply unknowable. But these notions are incorrect. Kelley again explains, using scripture, that the ‘day nor hour’ refers to the very end, the Second Coming of Jesus after the tribulation. As for the Rapture, we are actually commanded to watch, to look, and to encourage each other as we wait. The Crown of Righteousness is reserved for those Christians who have actively longed for His appearing.
In reality, there are several things Christians can do to hasten His coming, in reaching that pre-determined number. One is to witness, and the other is to pray. If we have shared the Gospel with an unbeliever, we should pray for that person to receive it on a prepared heart and through the drawing of the Holy Spirit. The fullness of the Gentiles will come in when that last person claims the gift of grace, so witnessing and prayer are key in that process. If we never share the Good News then obviously it will take longer to reach the “fullness.” (Though God already knows when that will be.)
Since there is not a date on which God has said the Rapture will take place, praying for it to occur will not violate His precepts and it even confirms them. When we pray we are being obedient to Him who wants to hear from us. In Luke 18:1-7, Jesus told a parable about how important it is to persevere in prayer. (The Widow and the Judge). So pray for hearts to receive His Gospel and for Him to gather his sheep from the coming storm!
We are commanded to witness, (Matthew 28:19), and we are commanded to ask, to seek, and to knock, (Mt 7:7-8). Ask the Lord for His soon return, and then go out into this fine day and share the Good News. Who knows, the person you lead to Christ might just be the one destined to complete the number, and then the ship will sail!
"That Arousing Shout", the coming rapture of the church
The next event on God’s scheduled plan will be the rapture. After that the wrath will be released in the Tribulation, Armageddon will occur at the end of it upon Jesus’ return, the Millennial Kingdom will be established, satan will be bound during that time, then after 1000 years satan will be let out and there will be one more rebellion and then the eternal state will begin with New Jerusalem descending to a new hearth through a new heaven. But next up, the rapture.
It is a glorious event in which all saints should be anticipating eagerly. It doesn’t matter that the fact of the rapture was revealed by Paul via Jesus and the Spirit in his letter to the Thessalonians and not by Jesus in His incarnation. It doesn’t matter that the rapture has been imminent for almost 2000 years and has not occurred yet. All that matters is that it is promised to every believer that at one point we will be called home, sail through the air, glorified bodily and be with Jesus forever.
Here are some verses for you about the coming glorification of the saints via the rapture. I pray they encourage you.
For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. (1 Thessalonians 4:16).
by way of exposition, intimating what is to be the nature of that arousing shout — that the archangel will discharge the office of a herald to summon the living and the dead to the tribunal of Christ. ~John Calvin
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 trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. (1 Corinthians 15:51-53).
The New Testament is consistent in its anticipation that the return of Christ might occur at any moment. That pervading perspective of imminence prompts three questions. The first question pertains to whether the Tribulation will precede Christ’s coming for the church. The answer to that question is that it will not because the church is never asked to look forward to the tribulation, but they are asked to look forward to Christ’s coming. The second question revolves around how the return of Christ could have been imminent in the early church. The answer here is that no one but the Father knows when the coming will occur, so that Christians including the early church must always be ready. The third question asks why Christ’s imminent return is so important. This answer relates to the motivation it supplies for believers to purify their lives and thereby progress toward the goal of sanctification and Christlikeness. The threefold call of the imminence doctrine is to wake up and obey right now, to throw off the works of darkness, and to put on the garments of holy living. ~John MacArthur
But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. (Philippians 3:20-21)
Why is it necessary that we should have a body? Well, in our last meeting, I made reference to one of the texts that Paul uses in Romans chapter 8, which at least gives us an understanding of why, in biblical doctrine, it’s important that we have the resurrection of the body. And we’ve made the point over and over again that when we talk about resurrection, we’re not talking about living again spiritually. We’re talking about the resurrection of the body. Many theologians have said this, but it bears saying again. If we do not speak of the resurrection of the body, we should not speak of the resurrection at all. It is the resurrection of the body — now, not the present body in the sense that it will be characterized by corruptibility and all of the weaknesses of our aging body. We’re talking about the resurrection body, the spiritual body. A true continuity with this body but, nevertheless, different. The resurrection of the body that is a spiritual body connected with this body is the teaching of the word of God.
So one of the great hopes of the Christian is not simply that he’s to enter heaven, but he’s to enter heaven with a redeemed body, his body resurrected, a beautiful, glorious body, Scriptures tell us, “Like our Lord’s own glorious body.” So that’s our hope. That’s why there is such a thing as the resurrection of the body, and that’s why it’s important for us to understand that. ~S. Lewis Johnson
Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.(1 Thessalonians 4:17)
I shall view our text, in order to our comfort at this time, in three lights. I look upon it, first, as a continuance—we are with the Lord even now and we always shall be. Secondly, as an advancement we shall, before long, be more fully with the Lord than we are now. And thirdly, as a coherence—for we both are and shall be with Him in a close and remarkable manner. ~Charles Spurgeon
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. (John 14:3)
Here are three words, upon any of which stress may be laid. Upon the word troubled. Be not cast down and disquieted. The word heart. Let your heart be kept with full trust in God. The word your. However others are overwhelmed with the sorrows of this present time, be not you so. Christ’s disciples, more than others, should keep their minds quiet, when everything else is unquiet. Here is the remedy against this trouble of mind, Believe. By believing in Christ as the Mediator between God and man, we gain comfort. The happiness of heaven is spoken of as in a father’s house. There are many mansions, for there are many sons to be brought to glory. Mansions are lasting dwellings. Christ will be the Finisher of that of which he is the Author or Beginner; if he have prepared the place for us, he will prepare us for it. ~Matthew Henry
waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. (Titus 2:13)
Meanwhile, we live between those two advents—the two “appearings.” At the end of verse 12 Paul refers to that time-span between the two appearings as “the present age.” So he points us to the past, when “the grace of God . . . appeared.” He wants us to live “in the present age”—exemplifying the virtues of grace in the hectic here and now. And he wants us to keep an eye expectantly on the future, as we “[wait] for our blessed hope,” the return of God, our Savior in His full resplendence—which will be the final culmination of both grace and glory.
In other words, there are past, present, and future dimensions to grace, and the present dimension is the main focus of our text. While we live between these two advents, grace takes us to school. This whole “present age” is the school of grace. ~Phil Johnson
Friends, take joy in the coming of our Lord. Though we may quicken and shudder to think of on facing Him with all our weaknesses and sins, His word has assured us that we may call Him Father, Friend, and Brother. And so we shall always be with Him.
What is ‘heaven’? Is it the Millennial Kingdom?
Sunday, I began a series looking at what the Bible says is heaven. There is more to is than just saying “if we’re redeemed we’re going to heaven.” Heaven is a term used synonymously for God. There is Paradise, where Jesus went between His death and resurrection (most likely). There’s the present heaven containing the redeemed souls. There will be a Millennium Kingdom. And then there will be the new heaven/eternity after the chapter of human history concludes. So let’s take a look at this wonderful, complex, eternal, real place called HEAVEN.
Previously I examined the terms “Abraham’s Bosom”, and Paradise. Today, let’s look at the Millennium Kingdom.
When we think of “heaven” we often think of the peaceable kingdom spoken of in Isaiah and depicted in Edward Hicks’ 62 versions of the Peaceable Kingdom paintings of the early 1830s.
Hicks’ series of images are based on Isaiah 11:6-8 and Isaiah 65:25. Here in the first line we see the correct part of the verse, commonly mis-spoken as “the lion shall lay down with the lamb”.
And the wolf will dwell with the lamb,
And the leopard will lie down with the young goat,
And the calf and the young lion and the fatling together;
And a little boy will lead them.
7Also the cow and the bear will graze,
Their young will lie down together,
And the lion will eat straw like the ox.
8The nursing child will play by the hole of the cobra,
And the weaned child will put his hand on the viper’s den.
9They will not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain,
For the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD
As the waters cover the sea. (Isaiah 11:6-9)
The wolf and the lamb shall graze together; the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and dust shall be the serpent’s food. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain,” says the LORD. (Isaiah 65:25)
But even though all seems idyllic, this is not heaven. It is not even the new earth spoken of in 2 Peter 3:13.
Here is an overview of Bible history from the Days of His Flesh to future eternity. We are in the church age at present. These illustrations are from a pamphlet by Fred Overton Seminars. Click to enlarge.
The wolf shall lie down with the lamb during the Kingdom Age, which shall last for 1000 years. This is why it’s called “The Millennium Kingdom”, due to its prophesied length of time.
You see by the chart that we are in the Church Age. At some point, when the final elect soul will be redeemed, filling the quota Jesus has set for filling His church (Romans 11:25), we will be raptured. The trumpet will sound, and we who are living will fly upward and our bodies will be glorified instantly. The souls of the dead who died during the Church Age will also be resurrected and installed into a reconstituted glorified body and together we will meet Jesus in the air. It all hapens in the blink of an eye. This is described in 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17 and 1 Corinthians 15:51-52.
The Lord removes His Bride via the “catching up” because after that He will unleash His stored-up wrath onto an unbelieving world. The 7-year Tribulation will begin. The Bride is not appointed to wrath, so we are removed. (1 Thessalonians 5:9; Revelation 3:10).
[Note to readers- I do not plan to debate the pretribulation rapture in the comments section. The pretribulation rapture is a biblical concept and can be learned of in many different studies here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here for starters!)
Of the Tribulation, Jesus said it will be the worst time on earth human flesh has ever known. (Matthew 24:21-22). This should give one pause, because He already has sent a worldwide judgment in the form of the Flood to drown everything with the breath of life, including almost all of humanity (except for Noah’s family aboard the Ark.) So the Tribulation will be worse.
Yet for all the horror predicted to befall the unbelieving world, many people will be redeemed and come to faith in Jesus during this Great Tribulation. Many of those will not die during the judgments, and when Jesus returns in the Second Coming, they will enter alive into the Kingdom Jesus will set up for 1000 years.
During the Tribulation, massive earth changes occur. This is actually UNcreation, or a reversal back to the original state of the earth prior to the Fall of Man during Adam and Eve’s time. The Flood reshaped the earth’s form. (Psalm 104:6-9). During the Tribulation, Mountains are flattened, islands flee away (Revelation 6:12-14). Great earthquakes occur, sending the earth back to its original shape and form. Think of the Tribulation as a renovation of the earth, or a re-shaping.
During the Millennium Kingdom period, earth is renovated, but not perfected.
- Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. (Isaiah 40:4)
- The fish of the sea and the birds of the heavens and the beasts of the field and all creeping things that creep on the ground, and all the people who are on the face of the earth, shall quake at my presence. And the mountains shall be thrown down, and the cliffs shall fall, and every wall shall tumble to the ground. (Ezekiel 38:20)
- The mountains quake before him; the hills melt; the earth heaves before him, the world and all who dwell in it. (Nahum 1:5)
- And every island fled away, and no mountains were to be found. (Revelation 16:20)
- Your people shall all be righteous; they shall possess the land forever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I might be glorified. (Isaiah 60:21)
- Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy. For waters break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert; (Isaiah 35:5-6)
- No more shall there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not fill out his days, for the young man shall die a hundred years old, and the sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed. (Isaiah 65:20)
- And I will make them and the places all around my hill a blessing, and I will send down the showers in their season; they shall be showers of blessing. (Ezekiel 34:26) [Source Overton Seminars]
Jesus personally rules and reigns on earth from His Temple! If you read Ezekiel 40-48, especially Ezekiel 43:1-9, it is a description of the restored Temple and life on earth with Jesus as the center of worship. The Milennium Kingdom is the fulfillment of all His promises to Israel. Their will Messiah ruling among them, their lands are given to them, their life revolves around Jesus, who they have since recognized as THE promised King.
The animals are peaceful, there is no curse to make them have the fear and dread of man as happened after the Fall. (Genesis 9:2).
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| One of folk artist Edward Hicks’ 62 Peaceable Kingdom paintings |
However, remember that when the Great Tribulation ended at His Second Coming, there were believers alive who entered the Kingdom? These people are mortal. They live long lives. They have babies and they live long lives. As the verse from Isaiah 65:20 says above, if such a one dies at age 100, they all say what a shame he died so young.
During this period, satan and his demons are bound in the abyss-jail. They are not present on earth to trouble mortal humans who are living in the Kingdom age and of course he is not bothering the us, the redeemed/glorified either. Jesus is ruling, David is reigning, people are living long lives, and there is no satan to bother them. How perfect!
Not so fast. The mortals born during the Kingdom Age will certainly enjoy peaceful Messianic rule, a non-cursed animal realm, and no temptations by satan or his demons- but they will still possess a sin nature. During the peaceful Milennium Kingdom, sin will be present. Hidden, but present.
At the end of the Milennium Age Satan is let out of the jail along with his demons. Satan quickly draws out the venomous sin that is in people, and believe it or not, they rebel against Jesus. It’s depressing to see how fast that satan can draw people to his side again, and not just a few either. All this is recorded in Revelation 20. Here is an excerpt.
And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison 8and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea. 9And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but fire came down from heaven and consumed them, 10and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. (Revelation 20:7-10).
That is why the Milennium Age which occurs subsequent to the Great Tribulation and Second Coming is not “heaven”. It looks like it. It seems like it. But it isn’t. Sin is still present. Satan still has power to deceive. People still reject Jesus.
After the Millennial rebellion is put down, the Great White Throne Judgment occurs. This is when all the unredeemed dead of all ages are resurrected and judged according to their works. It’s the final dealing with sin. They are thrown into the Lake of Fire along with satan and his demons to begin their eternal punishment in their eternal bodies. Hell and Death are also thrown into the Lake of Fire too. The earth is melted in a fervent heat and completely remade. (2 Peter 3:10).
Remember, at the end of the Tribulation as the mortals entered the Millennium Kingdom, the earth still contained graves and bones. It still had death upon it. The Lord remakes earth completely new, and the heavens too. No taint of sin or death or hell will ever touch it again.
Tomorrow, the difference between the Present Heaven and the Future Heaven which is the Eternal State.
May these things encourage you and spark you to delve further into the wonderful promises of Jesus the Christ for His people!
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Randy Alcorn’s Eternal Perspective Ministries
Talking to Your Children about Creation, Christ, and Heaven
Theological definition of heaven
Sermon, Martyn Lloyd-Jones: Death and Heaven
Soon there will be no fence-sitters
One thing this time of blasphemy and apostasy is doing is outing the hidden haters of Jesus to declare for satan. In the end, nothing will be hidden. (1 Cor 4:5). It seems that great numbers of people are being shifted, inched, nudged, or pushed into one side or another.
After the rapture, during the ensuing Tribulation period, there will be absolutely no hidden Christians and no hidden atheists. All will be forced to declare one way or another. (Rev 13:16). Meanwhile at the present time, we see more and more hared of Jesus on earth.
“it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.” Matthew 15:11
Matthew Henry: “Christ shows that the defilement they ought to fear, was not from what entered their mouths as food, but from what came out of their mouths, which showed the wickedness of their hearts.”
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There is a great gulf that is fixed. (Luke 16:26). In time past, in the present time, and in the end of the end, none will cross from one side to the other. One must declare for Jesus while living. (Romans 10:9). Failure to declare, (Matthew 10:32; 1 John 4:15) or deliberately proclaiming blasphemies against Jesus, (1 Cor 12:3) is the sin unto death. (1 John 5:17).
Nowadays to me, it feels like a parallel to the prophesied time as the Millennial Kingdom is about to come to a close. After the 7-year Tribulation ends, there is a period of 1000 years when Jesus physically rules on earth. (Revelation 20:4). This is known as the millennial kingdom when all the promises Jesus made to His people Israel are fulfilled spiritually and physically with the full lands being given to them and His personal attendance in a renewed Temple (Ezekiel 41). At the end of the 1000 years of Jesus’ kingdom rule on earth, where sin had been subdued and satan had been locked up, but where there still have been mortals born, satan will be let out of his abyss jail and he will deceive the nations. It takes satan but a moment to draw the wicked to himself, immediately exposing the wickedness in their hearts that had been there all along. (Revelation 20:7-9). It feels like that now, with satan accelerating his evil doings to draw more and more people to himself. The cup of heart-poison overflows in many and shows in their words and deeds.
The great shifting of peoples hearts is the movement toward Jesus or away from Jesus. When the rapture occurs, the believers from the beginning at the time from the beginning of the church age (Jesus’ ascension) the very rapturous trumpet call will be resurrected or those who are alive will be lifted up and all will meet in the air to be with Jesus. Those remaining on earth will be those who chose not to believe. There will still be time for some of them to come to faith afterward, but the Church Age ends at the rapture with the last believer filling God’s quota of His church coming to faith. (Romans 11:25).
Then the 1000-year Kingdom, then the new heaven and earth, and the eternal state with the final Judgment of all humans.
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| source |
At the end the gulf between those who believe and those who do not will be exposed and settled at the Great White Throne Judgment. (Revelation 20:11-15) when all who have ever lived will give an account and receive their final body and their punishment will begin.
Wicked hearts are surely being shown today in great numbers. The venom that is in them is spilling out of mouths that deliberately or unknowingly proclaim for satan. We see it in their hatred of Kim Davis, the Kentucky clerk who refused to issue homosexual marriage licenses. We see it in their hypocrisy against Christian football player Tim Tebow but worldly acceptance and lauding of Bruce Jenner’s depraved gender switch. We see it in the new Deist/Atheist Declaration of Sinlessness, blasphemies against Jesus, mob anger, violence. All this is in the heart, and is now coming out in torrents. They are storing up their sin for themselves.
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| EPrata photo |
We see it on blogs and comment sections, where hair-trigger anger and hatred is not even buried under a veneer of scoffing and sneering, but immediately boils over into anger and hate. There is no ‘ramping up’ anymore during a discussion. All discussions of Christian things seem to begin with a basis of anger, even among people who claim Christianity. We see venomous hearts exposed more and more and more and more.
Yet…there is One heart that is pure and undefiled, that is Jesus.
“For our heart rejoices in Him, Because we trust in His holy name.” (Psalms 33:21)
Bless His holy name, He is coming soon.
Beleaguered brethren, relief is on the way
What a blessed relief the rapture is to look forward to!!!
In his tremendous sermon delivered last Sunday, July 19, Pastor John MacArthur demonstrated once again the qualities of a superlative shepherd.
After Memorial Day he planned to go on vacation as usual. He delivered a sermon to help his flock prepare for events that may occur while he was gone. He said in his good-bye for now sermon, “Hope for a Doomed Nation” that
So as we look at our nation – and I don’t know what’s going to happen in the next few weeks when I’m not here. I’m just kind of preempting that a little bit by helping you to be able to think through whatever happens. I have to say at this point that there are many churches who aren’t helping.
One event was obviously what turned out to be the devastating Supreme Court decision to legalize homosexual marriage in all 50 states as the law of the land. We knew that the Supreme Court decision was coming out in early June, and we knew the decision would not likely swing to the moral side of the compass. So the Pastor was preparing his flock to receive bad news and retain their spiritual equilibrium (and ours too, if we listen to GTY). However, in addition to the SCOTUS decision, we also endured the Charleston church shooting, Chattanooga military base terrorist shooting, Louisiana movie theater shooting, and the Planned Parenthood videos. A lot happened while their senior pastor was away.
So much so, that the rapidity of our moral collapse as a nation is dizzying. The collapse is coming from many different directions. That’s partly why it’s dizzying, our heads are swinging from this side to that to detect all the incoming. So though Pastor MacArthur’s vacation was going to be the usual length, most of the summer, MacArthur had an opportunity to return and preach for one Sunday, July 19 before resuming this week. In the face of moral collapse, heightened danger physically and spiritually for every Christian in this country, and grief over the heinousness of the Planned Parenthood videos, how can a pastor best help his flock at such a time as this?
He opened that sermon, We Will Not Bow by saying,
A lot is happening at a very rapid rate. And with all the discussion that’s been going on, I’ve been kind of eager to get to you, and maybe help to give you a perspective.
His phrase, ‘get to you’, was filled with urgency and the word ‘to’ was emphasized. You’ll hear it if you listen. It reminded me of a mama on a playground suddenly hearing her child cry because he fell down, and her instinct is to rush over and scoop him up and protect. That was the attitude in his statement, a shepherd rushing over to protect the sheep, to calm them and give them food. This in itself is encouraging.
The sermon was encouraging as much as it was informative. Toward the conclusion of it, MacArthur focused on the relief that is in store.
No matter what is occurring in the world or the United States ultimately there will be an end. The end for believers will be blessed relief from the corruptions of our flesh, the battles against the temptations of the world, and the deliverance from the presence of satan and sin. It will all end and for us, the end will be a holy blessed relief. It all can be summed up in one word: Jesus. He gives the relief and His work on the cross actuated it.
Part of that relief will be the righteous satisfaction in seeing evildoers punished. The end for those who do not love Jesus is eternal conscious torment after having been judged at the Great White Throne Judgment. I know this isn’t a palatable statement for many to read, but once we are glorified at the rapture and the end of all things plays out, we will be part of Jesus in every way. He longs for making all things right and we will too. Sinners’ sins are so terrible against our Jesus that we will want to see Him enthroned, claiming His position as dispenser of justice.
MacArthur said
But that same event brings us relief, relief. Verse 6, “It is only just for God to repay with affliction.” And implied, it is only just for God to give relief. He will give relief to His own. Affliction will end. Persecution will end. Suffering will end. That’s His promise. And it will end for those that belong to Him—those who have been afflicted by a God-rejecting, Christ-rejecting world.
And what does that relief look like? Verse 10, we’ll be glorified with Him on that day, “to be marveled at among all who have believed.” I love to think of that. We’re going to look at each other and say, “Whoa, did you turn out amazing! I never could have imagined.” I’ve told you before, I know there are many of you, that when we get to heaven, I won’t recognize. Perfection with obliterate any memory of what you used to be.
We’re just passing through, aren’t we? We’re just passing through. (John MacArthur “We Will Not Bow“)
I began this essay saying what a good shepherd John MacArthur is. I have several friends who had opportunity to hear the sermon live last Sunday. They both tweeted how blessed they were to hear it and be comforted along with many other solid believers. I write this essay because not everyone has such a blessing.
As the moral slide gains steam and hurtles down that downgrade, many discerning believers are left adrift inside their local congregations with unworthy shepherds. Some pastors are just plain unskilled at being able to comfort through scriptures. These pastors preach topically, usually three points of self-help sermons such as “Three Ways to Get Your Kids to Listen to You” or “Six Ways to Change Your Life”. Self-help is no help at all when trials come.
Other pastors are ignorant of eschatology or are unwilling to give it credence. Thus they avoid scriptures that refer to the end of all things such as the Matthew 24 or 1 Thessalonians verses, which actually are designed to comfort. (1 Thessalonians 4:18).
Other pastors are not saved and are actually agents of satan. We don’t like to believe this, but it is true far more often than most people realize. S. Lewis Johnson preached,
And so it was inevitable, Paul says, that factions would exist in the church. For there must also be factions among you that those are approved may be recognized among you. In fact, the factions and the process of being approved by the way in which we respond to the problems of the local church is really an anticipation of a separation that is to occur at the judgment seat — well, at the Great White Throne judgment.
There are people who are in ostensible fellowship with local churches that are not going to be in heaven. We know that. The Bible details that, too. Satan is very active in the Christian church seeking to overthrow the ministry of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And so, consequently, he infiltrates the Christian churches. And if it’s a Christian church that is a fruitful church there will be some there that are not emissaries of our Lord but are really emissaries of Satan. Paul talks about that in 2 Corinthians chapter 11.
And he says “not only are they sitting in the pew, they’re standing by the pulpit.” As a matter of fact, the ones standing behind the pulpit are more dangerous and more likely to upset the Church of God. And so Satan is very anxious to have one standing behind a pulpit, or standing behind this pulpit, too, for that matter.
For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? (1 Peter 4:17)
So for those who do not have the blessing of a faithful pastor, and/or are attending a church filled with false doctrine but don’t know where else to go, or are dealing with factions and disgruntled members, or who simply feel alone even in the middle of a local congregation, take heart.
We are sojourners on this hostile planet. But that will end. Relief is on the way. Praise Jesus.
In the fulness of time…
One of my favorite attributes of God is His sovereignty. One of my favorite doctrines is the Doctrine of Providence. And one of my favorite themes which neatly expresses them is the phrase, “In the fullness of time…” Here are just a few New Testament examples showing God in charge of all things, including events He wants to occur at a certain time.
Galatians 4:4, “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law,”
Mark 1:15, “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!“
Romans 5:6, You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.
1 Timothy 2:6, who gave himself as a ransom for all people. This has now been witnessed to at the proper time.
Let’s go back to Galatians 4:4, the fulness of time. In the John MacArthur Commentary on Galatians, we read,
The fulness of time refers to the period of preparation in God’s sovereign timetable of redemption. When the Law had fully accomplished its purpose of showing man his utter sinfulness and inability to live up to God’s perfect standard of righteousness, God ushered in a new era of redemption. When He sent forth His son, He provided the righteousness for man that man could not provide for himself.
On a spiritual level, we can intuitively understand this is what is meant by the fulness of time, even if our lesser scholarly minds don’t articulate it as well as Dr MacArthur. But in Providential terms, widening our look at the sweep and scope of all redemptive history, the phrase “the fulness of time” takes on even greater and deeper significant implications regarding the sovereignty of God and His divine Providential outworking of all things to His glory. MacArthur again,
When Jesus was born, everything was right for the coming of the Messiah. First of all, the time was right religiously. During the Babylonian captivity, Israel once and for all forsook the idolatry into which she had often fallen. Despite their many other sins and failures, including national rejection of their own Messiah, no significant number of Jews has ever again turned to idolatry.
Also during the Exile, Jews developed synagogues, which they used as places of worship, as schools, and as courts. In addition to that, they at last had the completed Old Testament, assembled by Ezra and others after the return from Babylon. Those features facilitated the proclaiming of the Messiah’s gospel among the people of Israel.
Second, the time was right culturally. Christians who propagated the gospel during the first several centuries had a common language with those to whom they witnessed and with whom they worshiped. Alexander the Great had thoroughly established Greek culture and language throughout the known world, and these continued their dominating influence long after Rome succeeded Greece as world ruler.
Third, the time was right politically. Rome had instituted the pax Romana (Roman peace), which provided economic and political stability. The apostles and other early preachers and teachers cold travel freely and safely throughout the empire and do so on the magnificent system of roads built by the Romans.
Each of those factors was in some unique way a key to the spread of the gospel. God’s timing was perfect.
It is such a comfort to understand everything is in God’s hands.
I have traveled extensively in Italy, including Rome. I’ve rented a car and over several visits, I’ve driven all up and down the peninsula, from Milan and Lake Como to Rome to the Adriatic to France. North, south, north, east, and west. You’ve heard the adage, “All roads lead to Rome”? They really do.
The Miliarium Aureum (golden milestone) was a monument, probably of gilded bronze, erected by the Emperor Caesar Augustus near the temple of Saturn in the central Forum of Ancient Rome. All roads were considered to begin from this monument and all distances in the Roman Empire were measured relative to that point. On it were perhaps listed all the major cities in the empire and distances to them. According to Schaaf, the phrase “all roads lead to Rome” is a reference to the Milliarium Aureum, as the specific point to which all roads were said to lead. Today, the base of the milestone might still exist in the Roman Forum. (Wikipedia)
The Umbilicus Urbis Romae —”Navel of the City of Rome”—was the symbolic centre of the city from which, and to which, all distances in Ancient Rome were measured. It was situated in the Roman Forum where its remnants can still be seen. (Wikipedia)
I’ve been to the Forum and seen the marble mile markers, strolled on the Via Appia, seen the hardiness of the roads, the ancient cobblestones still there, still level, still providing passage for all manner of vehicular and pedestrian traffic. I’ve driven down the smallest of roads on the tallest of Apennines and come to a crossroad and there will be a sign. Rome, that way.
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| All roads lead to Rome. EPrata photo |
I can just imagine what a delight it was for Christians moving between cities and between regions to walk or ride a horse or donkey bearing the Good News from town to town. It is a delight today, back then it was a marvel. Yet those Roman roads under the Roman peace allowed for a fast dispersal of the Good News, the tidings of a Risen Christ and salvation for sinners.
And the note about Alexander the Great, and his empire and the Greek language? We do not for a moment believe that was an accident, do we? We know for a fact that the Greek empire was foretold 600 years before Christ came, as we read in Daniel 2 about King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of the statue of succeeding empires. The Greek kingdom was foretold as the second after the King’s own empire of Babylonians and after the empire of Medes and Persians. The Roster of empires goes: Babylonian, Media-Persia, Greek, Roman, Revived Roman, or Antichrist’s Empire.
Do we believe that God looked down and said, “Oh good, Alexander is instituting Greek everywhere, that will be sooo helpful when my servants spread the Good News.” Of course not! God is in control of history, because He writes it. He determines the times, and He providentially organizes when the time is right and full for the next part of His plan to come to fruition.
Understanding God’s sovereignty, His Divine Providence, and His timing encourages us. Because, the world today could otherwise be very unsettling and to unbiblical eyes, even look chaotic.
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| Young boy lured to gay lifestyle |
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| A major advertisement, where Lesbians enjoy Chobani yogurt after perverted sex |
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| Dangerous killers on the loose could “literally be anywhere”, elude capture |
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| Police Officer (representing civil authority) shot dead in clearly marked patrol car (New Orleans) |
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| 400 year dormancy of Sinabung Volcano ends with a bang |
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| Escapes zoo animals on the loose; tiger kills 1, injures 1 |
It looks like the world is coming upside down, with civil authority under attack, perversity is the norm, zoo animals hunt humans, and unexpected or scientifically abnormal natural disasters.
Yet God, in the fulness of time, causes or allows each of these things to happen and in the background unknown to us, each event furthers His glory and ushers the moment when we will hear the joyous words,
COME UP HERE!
Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. (1 Thessalonians 4:17)
God’s timing is always perfect.
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| In His timing, we will fly! EPrata photo |
The Lord is not slow…the rapture will happen
On one of my older posts, I received yet another comment telling me that I am delusional. Why? Because I believe the Lord’s word that He will return for His bride in the rapture and then render wrath onto the sinning world.
“Aw, they’ve been saying that since the first Christians!” the commenter said. I agree. The Lord told us early on that He will return and take us to where He is. He is preparing a place for us and He will bring us there in His timing.
The passage in 2 Peter 3:1-10 says,
The Day of the Lord Will Come
1This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, 2that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, 3knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. 4They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” 5For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, 6and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. 7But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.
8But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you,a not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. 10But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.
And it’s true, they are saying it. What is also true is that we still believe it. Our Lord does not lie. No lie can pass His lips.
Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible explains about the mockers–
Now therefore let us see how this point stands, both on the believer’s part and on the part of these seducers: the believer not only desires that he may come, but, having a promise that he will come, a promise that he himself has made and often repeated, a promise received and reported by faithful witnesses, and left upon sure record, he is also firmly and fully persuaded that he will come:
on the other hand, these seducers, because they wish he never may, therefore do all that in them lies to cheat themselves and others into a persuasion that he will never come. If they cannot deny that there is a promise, yet they will laugh at that very promise, which argues much higher degrees of infidelity and contempt: Where is the promise, say they, of his coming?
III. We are also forewarned of the method of their reasoning, for while they laugh they will pretend to argue too. To this purpose they add that since the fathers fell asleep all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation, v. 4. This is a subtle, though not a solid way of reasoning; it is apt to make impressions upon weak minds, and especially upon wicked hearts. Because sentence against them is not speedily executed, therefore they flatter themselves that it never will, whereupon their hearts are fully set in them to do evil (Eccl. 8:11);
thus they act themselves, and thus they would persuade others to act; so here, say they, “The fathers have fallen asleep, those are all dead to whom the promise was made, and it was never made good in their time, and there is no likelihood that it ever will be in any time; why should we trouble ourselves about it? If there had been any truth or certainty in the promise you speak of, we should surely have seen somewhat of it before this time, some signs of his coming, some preparatory steps in order to it; whereas we find to this very day all things continue as they were, without any change, even from the beginning of the creation.Since the world has undergone no changes in the course of so many thousand years, why should we affright ourselves as if it were to have an end?”
Thus do these scoffers argue. Because they see no changes, therefore they fear not God, Ps. 55:19. They neither fear him nor his judgments; what he never has done they would conclude he never can do or never will.
IV. Here is the falsehood of their argument detected. Whereas they confidently had said there had not been any change from the beginning of the creation, the apostle puts us in remembrance of a change already past, which, in a manner, equals that which we are called to expect and look for, which was the drowning of the world in the days of Noah. This these scoffers had overlooked; they took no notice of it. Though they might have known it, and ought to have known it, yet this they willingly are ignorant of (v. 5), they choose to pass it over in silence, as if they had never heard or known any thing of it; if they knew it, they did not like to retain it in their knowledge; they did not receive this truth in the love of it, neither did they care to own it.
Note, It is hard to persuade men to believe what they are not willing to find true; they are ignorant, in many cases, because they are willing to be ignorant, and they do not know because they do not care to know. But let not sinners think that such ignorance as this will be admitted as an excuse for whatever sin it may betray them into.
Henry, M. (1994). Matthew Henry’s commentary on the whole Bible: complete and unabridged in one volume (p. 2439). Peabody: Hendrickson.
The Lord will return for His Bride. The Lord has made me ready by His grace. Since then I seek to live a holy life among the priesthood of believers and as a witness to the very ones who scoff at His soon return. So the question is, are you ready?
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| EPrata photo, with Pixlr post processing |
the-end-time.org 