I See Jesus Everywhere!
Christian Book-Bible Commentary-Bible Study -Apologetics
Is The Rapture Real?
14"I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— 15just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. 17The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. 18No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father."
WOW! There is a whole lot of teaching in these verses above. In the Lords great wisdom he describes himself as the good Shepard (knowing his audience realizes what sacrifice it takes to be a Shepard who cares for his lambs in the fields). A Shepard would protect, even until death, his flock from predators in the days Jesus lived in. Also, it is true that sheep do know the Shepard's voice and will follow only his voice, and not that of a stranger. A true believer in Jesus is his lamb and the believer will follow only his voice. Also, Jesus, our good Shepard, will never abandon us. Jesus, our good Shepard, did lay down his life for his sheep (the followers of Jesus). Look at verse 16 above. What is Jesus talking about here? Who are the other sheep? Jesus, in verse 14-16, is describing the only two races of people God recognizes- the Jews and the Gentiles (all other races man has divided humankind into). He is saying He is the good Shepard for the Jews and the Gentiles alike and that He willingly (verse 18) laid down His life for all persons. First for the Jews (verse 14 - the first group of sheep in the pen) and then for the Gentiles ( verse 16 - the other sheep who listen to His voice). Jesus is the one true Shepard for all persons. Look at verse 17-18. What is Jesus saying? He is speaking and prophesying of His own resurrection.
See how Jesus painted a picture to describe Himself? Would we who are trained in the Western Culture describe ourselves in this way? I know I would not.
Now that I have set the stage, I want to present the evidence I see in the Bible for the rapture of the church before the "Great Tribulation" found in the book of Revelation. This is directly taken from chapter 30 of my book, "I See Him! I See Him! God's WORD to Witness By". This is taken from a section in my book from a study I led titled "The Seven Feasts of Israel". God commanded the Israelites to keep these Feasts (Leviticus Chapter 23). When the Lord comes again to earth, we will be celebrating these seven feasts forever with our God.
May this chapter be a blessing to you and may it create a desire for you to want to study God's WORD with me on this site, by purchasing my book, and most importantly- by opening your Bible and getting to know the God of the Bible... reading and studying about Him from Genesis to the book of Revelation.
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Week 4 – Feast of Trumpets (Rosh Hashanah) - The Rapture of the Church- Leviticus 23: 23-25
Chapter 30 (from the book, I See Him! I See Him! God's WORD to Witness By)
In our study so far we have found:
1) Passover and
2) Unleavened Bread foreshadowed the death and burial of Jesus.
3) Firstfruits was the foreshadowing of Jesus’ Resurrection.
4) Pentecost brought us the Holy Spirit.
The above four festivals of Israel given by God to his chosen people are all spring early summer festivals. Jesus has fulfilled all of the first three festivals and the Holy Spirit has come on the fourth. Just as God has fulfilled the first four festivals on his exact timetable, we wait for the next three festivals to be fulfilled- starting with the Feast of Trumpets, the first fall feast.
2) The Feast of Trumpets is prophetic in that we are presently in the
church age and we are working at this time for the harvest of souls. We
wait for the harvest to be completed and the trumpet sounded.
3) In the fields are believers and unbelievers together. When the trumpet sounds, the believers
will go and worship the Lord and the unbelievers will remain here on earth. This is exactly what happened during the
history of this Festival of Trumpets. As
it was when Jesus lived on earth, when the Rams Horn (trumpet) sounded from
the temple, the Jews would stop what they were doing and go to the temple
to worship the Lord and celebrate Rosh Hashanah and the Gentiles
(unbelievers) would remain in the field and continue working.
Jesus was using
the same kind of example to explain his Second Coming to his disciples, so they
could understand what to expect at his return in the final days. His story paralleled the customs and
practices of the Jews during the Feast of Trumpets! Because of this, the apostles being Jews
themselves could relate to his story:
5) The story of Jericho found in the Book of Joshua is another parallel story that symbolizes God’s people (believers) entering the Promised Land (Heaven)!
Joshua 6: 3: 5 3And ye shall compass
the city, all ye men of war, and go round about the city once. Thus shalt
thou do six days.
4And
seven priests shall bear before the ark seven trumpets of rams' horns: and the
seventh day ye shall compass the city seven times, and the priests shall
blow with the trumpets.
5And
it shall come to pass, that when they make a long blast with the ram's horn,
and when ye hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout
with a great shout; and the wall of the city shall fall down flat, and the
people shall ascend up every man straight before him.
Wow! I see
something very prophetic here. Remember
in my earlier chapters I explained that time to God is like a day being a
thousand years and a thousand years as a day and that God uses this formula for
prophecy. By understanding and
believing that the history of the world began with Adam and Eve and that was
approximately 6,000 years ago- see what God is showing us prophetically:
1)
Jericho as Zola points out in the video symbolizes heaven! We all long to enter this Promised Land.
2)
It took six
days of preparation for the chosen people to enter Jericho. What happens on the seventh day for the
Iraelites? The chosen people heard
the trumpet blast and they gave a great shout and ascended into
Jericho. This fits well with God’s timetable. We have had nearly 6 full days (6,000 years)
in the history of man. Here is the math: From Adam and Eve to Abraham is 2,000
years or 2 days. From Abraham to
Jesus is another 2,000 years or 2 days.
From The Death of Jesus to present is almost another 2,000 years or 2
days. This is nearly 6,000 years of
history or six days. What is
going to happen for the believer on the seventh day? When the trumpet sounds, Jesus will give
a great shout and we that are in Christ will ascend and meet Jesus in
the air so to be with him in the kingdom of God- heaven forever! I believe the time is near when we will hear
God’s trumpet blast because of all of the prophetic signs are being fulfilled
in our lifetime.
3)
Notice that the
Ark of the Covenant where God dwelt with his people is with them at
Jericho. God is with us right now where
he dwells- in our Spirit, the holy of holies of our being.
Again, God is using true history of the chosen
people to gives us prophetic insight. When we trust the word of God, you can
see the layers upon layers God builds his words on so we can know he is the one
true God. So many times there is a story
within a story and it shows man does not have the wisdom and understanding to
write as God does. I believe it shows
that everything in the Bible is there for God’s purpose.
Is the Rapture Real?
Believers in Jesus will not agree on this subject. That is OK! It should not be something that
will cause division and strife among believers.
It is not critical to your salvation, which way you believe. As for me, it is my hope. I do look forward to a Pre-Tribulation
rapture.
1) Two men of the Bible never experienced death – Enoch (Genesis 5: 24) (Hebrews 11: 5 confirms this is true) and Elijah (2 Kings 2: 11). My God is powerful enough to do this for all believers and all at once.
2) Noah’ s ark (Genesis, chapters 6- 9). When the whole world was utterly destroyed, God protected Noah and his family from the destruction. God provided a way out of the destruction.
3) Daniels three friends are saved from the blazing furnace (Daniel 3: 16-28).
4) Daniel is thrown into the lions’ den and God protected him (Daniel 6: 16-23)
5) God provided a great fish for Jonah or he would have drowned. (Jonah 1:17)
6) God provided Lot a way out before he destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. (Genesis 19)
7) God parted the Red Sea for Moses and the Israelites to escape their destruction by Pharaoh and his army. (Exodus 14)
8) God provided a way out for his chosen people when the Tenth plague struck Egypt by the blood of the sacrificial lamb. (Exodus 11 and 12)
I believe the next two scripture readings point to a
prophetic time when believers will vanish and all that remain are the
unbelievers. When I read them I saw a
terrible time in history where evil reigns.
They describe a time it will cost you your life to be righteous. Because
of the way scripture is written with many layers of truth, this will not be the
only interpretation that can be seen. As
I meditated on God’s word, I saw these visions of truth.
the faithful have vanished from among
men. (NIV)
(Faithful Godly people have
vanished! - could this be speaking of the rapture?)
2 Everyone lies to his
neighbor;
their flattering lips speak with
deception. (NIV)
(It appears there is no one left
who speaks the truth.)
3The LORD shall cut off
all flattering lips, and the tongue that speaketh proud things:
4Who have said, With
our tongue will we prevail; our lips are our own: who is lord over us? (Do you have a Lord or are you setting your own rules?)
5For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now
will I arise, saith the LORD; I will set him in safety from him that
puffeth at him. (The Lord is the protector
of the needy (I am needy) and will set them in safety!)
Look at verse 5. It says the Lord will set the poor and the needy (believers) in safety from the one who puffeth at him. The one who puffeth wants to destroy the believers.
6The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a
furnace of earth, purified seven times. (Remember
Jesus shed his blood seven different ways or times- see beginning of chapter
29.)
7
O LORD, you will keep us safe
and protect us from such people forever. (NIV) (I am counting on this!)
Looking at verse 7, I see the believer safely in heaven. Protected forever from those who would want
to harm them. In verse 8 below, only the
wicked on earth remain and the vilest of men are exalted. It will be a scary time.
8The wicked walk on every side, when the vilest men are exalted.
1Woe is me! for I am as when they
have gathered the summer fruits, as the grapegleanings of the vintage: there is
no cluster to eat: my soul desired the firstripe fruit.
Jesus is our
Firstfruits. I cannot help but think
back to Isaiah 53: 5 “with his stripes we
are healed.”
2The good man is
perished out of the earth: and there is none upright among men: they all lie in wait for blood; they hunt every man his
brother with a net.
During the tribulation,
there will be people who are saved and it will cost them their heads. Revelation
20: 4 I saw the souls of them that
were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which
had not worshipped the beast, neither his image
3That they may do evil
with both hands earnestly, the prince
asketh, and the judge asketh for a reward; and the great man, he
uttereth his mischievous desire: so they wrap it up.
Corruption
in government will be everywhere, wanting their bribe money.
4The best of them is as a brier: the most upright is sharper
than a thorn hedge: the day of thy watchmen and thy visitation
cometh; now shall be their perplexity.
Sounds very evil to me, no righteous persons left!
5Trust ye not in a friend,
put ye not confidence in a guide: keep the doors of thy mouth from her that
lieth in thy bosom.
You will not be able to even trust a friend or your wife.
6For the son dishonoureth the father, the daughter
riseth up against her mother, the daughter in law against her mother in
law; a man's enemies are the men of his own house.
Cannot even trust your sons and daughters!
7Therefore I will look unto the LORD; I will wait for the God
of my salvation: my God will hear me.
8Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall
arise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD shall be a light unto me.
This
man is a believer who is all alone with no one to trust, but he rejoices in God
for his salvation- He knows he will rise again!
9I will bear the indignation of the LORD, because I have
sinned (All have sinned!) against him, until he plead my
cause, and execute judgment for me: he will bring me forth to the light,
and I shall behold his righteousness.
He
knows Jesus is his intercessor and will plead his case and he will see the Lord
and know he is righteous.
13Notwithstanding the land shall be desolate because of them that
dwell therein, for the fruit of their doings.
Desolation of the land is a good description of the tribulation.
Skipping to verse 18, we
see the God of the Bible who pardons sin. God will always have a remnant of his
chosen people (the Jews) remaining and he will turn again towards them in the
later days and he will pardon and not remember their sins any longer. He will cast their sins in the depths of the
sea:
18Who is a God like unto
thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage?
he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy.
19He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will
subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the
sea.
20Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham, which thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old.
God’s
chosen people will finally see the truth and be saved! God will have compassion for his chosen
people in the last days and like all who accept Jesus Christ as Lord, their
sins will be forgiven.
There is so much in Micah 7. So much prophesy. God is going to show his great wonders as he did when the Israelites came out of Egypt. This time, all nations will be ashamed, not just Egypt. Micah asks in verse 18, who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the sins of the remnant? (The remnant is his chosen people). Israel’s remnant will be saved in the last days.
At the second coming of the Lord, it is important that you see that he stands on earth when he comes. He comes to make atonement with his chosen people. He will not stop in the air to meet them, but he comes in the same way he ascended into heaven. People on earth will witness his return and his feet will touch the ground. Old and New Testaments bear this out:
Acts 1: 9-11 9And when he had spoken
these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received
him out of their sight.
10And
while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood
by them in white apparel;
11Which
also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same
Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as
ye have seen him go into heaven.
In the Old Testament, In Chapter 14 of Zechariah, written between 520 and 518 B.C., the prophet foresees the Lord being King over all the earth and that he will fight one final battle against all the nations at Jerusalem. When this occurs Jesus will be standing on the Mount of Olives and he will bring with him his holy ones- his saints.
Excerpts from Zechariah 14: 3Then shall the LORD go
forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.
4And
his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before
Jerusalem on the east…
Verse 5: and the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.
Saints
will be coming with Jesus! The apostle John in Chapter 19 of Revelation
confirms this:
Excerpts form Revelation
19: 11And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he
that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he
doth judge and make war.
13And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and
his name is called The Word of God. (No
doubt about it, this is Jesus! (See John 1: 1-2)
14And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon
white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.
Zechariah 14 and Revelation 19 are describing
the same event. In both instances, it is the saints who are
with Jesus. Clothing of fine linen,
white and clean are what saints are adorned in- it is the clothing of the
saints and saints are believers. These
armies of saints are already with him in heaven (verse 14) when he comes
down.
Then who are the saints with Christ at his
Second Coming?
Some important New Testament verses that point to the
pre-tribulation rapture:
Just as I see Old Testament verses pointing to the rapture
of the church before the tribulation, I see New Testament verses giving us hope
for the rapture of the church to occur first before the wrath of God comes
during the seven-year tribulation.
14For
if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which
sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
15For
this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and
remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
16For
the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the
voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in
Christ shall rise first:
I must pause and reflect
on what I just read. Most important
is verse 16. If you can see that God
is using the Seven Feasts as his timetable for fulfilling all the
prophecies of Jesus. I want you to see this could be the prophetic rapture of
the church and is fulfilled in the same way as the Feast of Trumpets. It is done in the same way the Israelites
enter their Promised Land at Jericho- with a blast of the trumpet
and a shout. It is the same as when Jesus in Matthew 24: 40
told of his coming would be as two men are working in the fields and one would
be taken and the other one left using an example his apostles would
understand. As Zola taught us in video,
in Jesus’ day, the custom was to start the Feast of Trumpets with the blast of
the trumpet. Immediately, the Jews would
stop their work and rush to the temple to worship God. The ones that remained and continued working
in the fields were the Gentiles or non-believers.
Verse 16 says this time
it will be Jesus descending with a shout, with the voice of the
archangel and with the trumpet of God. This
time, it is the believers who will go to be with the Lord to worship in heaven
and the non-believers will remain for the tribulation. We know this must
be the rapture and not the Lord’s Second Coming because of what the
apostle Paul continues to say in verse 17 below:
17Then 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.
Verse 17 is the
Rapture! Jesus has not touched the
ground on earth,
as he will at his Second Coming when his feet will land on the Mount of Olives
as foretold in Zechariah 14 when he comes for his remnant and sets up his
kingdom. But instead we have gone up
in the air to meet him! This reminds
me of Enoch and Elijah who never died.
Verse 17 definitely is speaking of people who are still alive,
going to be with Jesus in the air, and it will last forever!
18Wherefore comfort one
another with these words.
The scripture above does
comfort me. It gives me hope I will not
be here for the tribulation. Let us look
at other scripture that may point to the rapture.
1 Corinthians 15: 51-52 51Behold, I shew you a
mystery; We shall not all sleep (die!), but we shall all be
changed,
Look at the scripture
above. God is showing us a mystery. We will not all die, but we all will
be changed. I again see the
rapture. What will be the change? I believe we will be changed in a split
second and receive our heavenly bodies that will never know sickness or death
again.
52In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump:
for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible,
and we shall be changed.
Again, the trumpet
will sound! Just as the Festival of
Trumpets is pointing to- the rapture of the church where those in Christ will
be gone to worship the Lord at his temple and celebrate in heaven. Those who
are not of Christ will remain here on earth (the fields) for the tribulation.
It is well known that
those who believe in the Pre-Tribulation Rapture of the church do so by the
scripture below.
Revelation 4: 1 1After this I looked,
and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was
as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither,
and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter.
The first three chapters of Revelation deal with the church. The start of chapter 4 starts with, “come up here” and you never hear about the church again. This event takes place with the trumpet again, but this time the apostle John describes it as being able to speak. From this point the “Great Tribulation” begins. This very well could point to the rapture of the church before the tribulation begins.
1 Thessalonians 5: 4- 6 4But ye, brethren, are
not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.
5Ye
are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are
not of the night, nor of darkness.
6Therefore
let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.
Even though the Bible
commands we do not predict the day of his return, he does tell us to watch for
the signs and season of his return
Revelations 3:3 3Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold
fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on
thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.
Summary: The most important reason I believe in the
rapture before the Tribulation is- God is a God that always provides a way
out for persons of faith when he was going to bring destruction and
judgment.
1) He provided a way for the
Jewish people at Passover through the blood of the lamb.
2)
God provided a way out for Noah, Daniel, Jonah, and Lot.
3) In the tribulation period, some
of the judgments are a lot like the plagues given against Egypt during the
Israelites captivity, only much worse.
The Jewish people were spared the torments that Egypt was afflicted
with by God. I have hope we will be
spared in the same way by what Jesus did on the cross and his shed blood.
4) God provided a sacrificial Lamb
that was given to all believers as a way out from eternal damnation
for our sins. Jesus took our quilt and
our punishment as his own.
John 3: 16-18 16For God so loved the
world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him
should not perish, but have everlasting life.
17For
God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world
through him might be saved.
18He
that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned
already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son
of God.
Another reason I believe that there is a pre-tribulation rapture is because of this study on the Seven Feasts of Israel. Prophetically, the Seven Feasts of Israel is God’s timetable when all the feasts must and will be fulfilled. The first four feasts have been prophetically fulfilled, all in their proper order. With the Feast of Trumpets and two more festivals after it approaching and none yet prophetically fulfilled, we know it is not the time of Jesus’ establishing his kingdom on earth yet. The Feast of Trumpets must be fulfilled first before the next two Feasts are celebrated by their fulfillment. The next feast we will study, The Day of Atonement, will be the fulfillment when Israel will recognize their Messiah- the Suffering Messiah, the one they had pierced. I have faith the last three festivals will be prophetically fulfilled before, during, and after the Great Tribulation and all in their proper sequence.
In God’s prophetic timetable, I believe it is late summer and we are approaching fall and the end of the summer harvest. It is day six and we are approaching day seven when Christ returns. We could be nearing the end of the Church Age or the time of the harvesting of the Gentiles. We are to harvest souls- Jews and Gentiles alike, for the Lord’s Kingdom. Share the good news with someone that God is love and he has provided a way out. Through his Son Jesus Christ so we all can have eternal life!
God loves you and so do I!
Copyright © 2008 Ken Kreh, Author
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