| Topic: |
Religions > Bible |
| User: |
"Melchizedek" |
| Date: |
07 Aug 2006 03:44:27 PM |
| Object: |
IMMINENCE OF THE RAPTURE |
IMMINENCE OF THE RAPTURE
The timing of the Rapture is unknown. Paul writes in his letter to the Thessalonian church:
(1 Thessalonians 5:1-6 NASB)
The Day of the Lord
1 Now as to the atimes and the epochs, brethren, you bhave no need of anything to be written to you.
2 For you yourselves know full well that athe day of the Lord 1will come bjust like a thief in the night.
3 While they are saying, ?aPeace and safety!? then 1bdestruction 2will come upon them suddenly like clabor pains upon a
woman with child, and they will not escape.
4 But you, brethren, are not in adarkness, that the day would overtake you 1blike a thief;
5 for you are all asons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of bdarkness;
6 so then let us not asleep as 1bothers do, but let us be alert and 2csober.
In the previous chapter, Paul was comforting those in the Thessalonian church who feared that those who are dead in Christ will not
be Raptured (1 Thessalonians 4:13-15). Paul said that they will be resurrected (1 Thessalonians 4:16) and will precede those who are
alive in Christ. Finally, those who are alive in Christ will be "caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the
air?, (1 Thessalonians 4:17). So we can deduce from (1 Thessalonians 5:1-2) that Paul is talking about the Rapture. The Rapture can
happen at any moment. Jesus will come like a thief in the night. Jesus Himself said, "Therefore keep watch, because you do not know
on what day your Lord will come?, (Matthew 24:42). Jesus also said that no one knows the day or the hour of the Lord's coming. No
man, no angel and not even the Son, Jesus Christ knows, but only the Father.
(Mark 13:33-37 NASB)
33 ?Take heed, akeep on the alert; for you do not know when the appointed time 1will come.
34 ?aIt is like a man away on a journey, who upon leaving his house and 1putting his slaves in charge, assigning to each
one his task, also commanded the doorkeeper to stay on the alert.
35 ?Therefore, abe on the alert?for you do not know when the 1master of the house is coming, whether in the evening, at
midnight, or bwhen the rooster crows, or cin the morning?
36 in case he should come suddenly and find you aasleep.
37 ?What I say to you I say to all, ?aBe on the alert!? ?
Such continual vigilance and anticipation, through all generations of believers who were looking for Jesus to return, has served as
true incentive to live with urgency and minister with passion.
A similar situation is common in everyday life. A man goes away from home on a long trip. He leaves instructions with his servant
and tells the watchman also to be on the lookout for his return. Jesus likened Himself to the traveling man. He may come back at any
hour of the night. His people, serving as night watchmen, should not be found sleeping. So He left this word for all His people:
?Watch!?
Paul in (1 Thessalonians 5:1) didn't need to tell about date-setting for it is pointless because the Lord will come like a thief in
the night at an hour unexpected just like in the days of Noah when they were eating, drinking, partying, and sinning (Matthew
24:37-38). Those people lived for today, but for the wrong reasons. Instead of living for God they lived for themselves and it was
until the rain started that they realized they were wrong. Paul says that we have the light which is Jesus Christ and we should
always be watchful, alert, and of self-control lest we be caught unaware when that day comes. Since the Rapture is Pre-Tribulation,
it causes Christians to lead holy lives in expectation and preparation that the Lord will come at any moment! When the church loses
focus of this then it becomes carnal and spiritually dead. Other Rapture views say that the Pre-Trib Rapture gives believers a false
security, but on the contrary it makes believers lead right lives before God. Live for God now, not when you realize it is too late
and you have to live during the dreadful seven year Tribulation.
Who goes?
(John 3:2-3 NASB)
2 this man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, ?aRabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one
can do these 1bsigns that You do unless cGod is with him.?
3 Jesus answered and said to him, ?Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one ais born 1again he cannot see bthe kingdom of
God.?
This Kingdom is preceded by a translation of the living saints.
This is a prerequisite, in order that those accounted worthy to inherit the Kingdom, and rule the nations with Christ, may be
gathered. In reference to the dead saints, a Pre-Millennial resurrection is promised by which to attain this object; and with such a
resurrection (i.e. at that time) a translation of the living saints is also connected in (1 Thessalonians 4:17), ?the dead in Christ
shall rise first (or away);378 then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds (or, in
clouds)379 to meet the Lord in the air.? 380 The same is repeated in I Corinthians 15:51?52, in union only with the resurrection of
believers: ?Behold, I shew you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed.? 381
The Rapture is Biblical and it is the first stage of the 2nd Advent.
The Rapture Video Series: Media Player [96 kbps]
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| User: "Fred A Stover" |
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| Title: Re: IMMINENCE OF THE RAPTURE |
08 Aug 2006 03:26:10 AM |
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"Melchizedek" <Melchizedek@as-if.com> wrote in message
news:8zNBg.3772$bD3.3138@bignews4.bellsouth.net...
IMMINENCE OF THE RAPTURE
The timing of the Rapture is unknown. Paul writes in his letter to the
Thessalonian church:
"As the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be"
(Matt 24:37): "For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the
earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have
made will I destroy from off the face of the earth. And Noah did according
unto all that the Lord commanded him" (Gen 7:4-5).
.
"Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come" (Matt
24:42): "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" (Rev. 3:3).
--
http://www.geocities.com/alphadiego66medina@sbcglobal.net/
Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as
a little child, he shall not enter therein. (Mark 10:15)
"Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his
servants the prophets" (Amos 3:7)."
"Behold, I will send you EL YH [LORD God] the prophet before the coming of
the great and dreadful day of the Lord" (Mal 4:5)
"Why then say the scribes that ELYH [Elijah] must first come" (Matt 17:10)?
"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" (Rom
11:25).
.
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