Waiting4Him

The Pre-Tribulation Rapture - A Flow of End Time Events

In the following study, we will be taking a look at how the Scriptures teach that the rapture of the Church will occur prior to the Tribulation. The rapture is the event that will take place when Jesus calls the Church to meet Him in the air. We will return to His Father's house as His Bride, having been transformed into our glorified bodies (1 Thessalonians 4:13-17, 1 Corinthians 15:51-53, John 14:1-3).

It has been my observation that when trying to determine the timing of the rapture, it can be easy to take things out of context and get hung up on one or two issues. This approach can lead to a different view. In the same regard, it can also be easy to get lost in a sea of Scripture that can lead to frustration and then to no view at all. Both approaches can miss out on the blessings promised from studying prophetic Scripture as a whole (Revelation 1:3).

Instead of tackling each issue separately, I have attempted to put together the Pre-Tribulation defense in light of the flow of end-time events; that is, from the time of the cross until eternity begins. This way, we can look at the rapture in context with the rest of the end time events. I hope that by following the flow of events, you will be able to see that the rapture occurring before the Tribulation is the only timing that makes sense scripturally.

There are a few sections in this study that don't necessarily tie in with the rapture directly. Nevertheless, they are important to connect the timeline of events that support the rapture occurring before the Tribulation begins. Also, you will find some duplicity from the Olivet Discourse study. But most of those topics I expand on in this study. I hope that you will not only come away from this study assured of our "blessed hope" (Titus 2:13) in a Pre-Tribulation rapture, but also that you will gain a better understanding of prophetic Scripture and how it fits together. So let's get started!

Christ is the first fruits of our resurrection:

We find in Deuteronomy 26:1-10, that the "firstfruits" are the first ripe fruits of the harvest that were to be given back to the Lord as a worship offering:

Deuteronomy 26:1-3, 10 "And it shall be, when you come into the land which the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, and you possess it and dwell in it, that you shall take some of the first of all the produce of the ground, which you shall bring from your land that the LORD your God is giving you, and put it in a basket and go to the place where the LORD your God chooses to make His name abide... I have brought the firstfruits of the land which you, O LORD, have given me. Then you shall set it before the LORD your God, and worship before the LORD your God.

The word "firstfruit" implies that the rest of the harvest is expected to follow later. Christ, in his resurrection to eternal life, is the first fruit of a later harvest, the resurrection of the dead in Christ, or His Church:

1 Corinthians 15:20-24 But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ's at His coming. Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power.

We will narrow down the timing of our resurrection as we go through the study. But here in 1 Corinthians 15, Paul tells us that our resurrection is at some point between Christ's resurrection and the beginning of Christ's Kingdom on Earth.

Dispensation of Grace:

As we move through this study we will find different groups of people being dealt with in different ways by God. In order to fully understand how God deals with each group, we need to first discuss one of the most important concepts in the study of prophetic Scripture: the doctrine of dispensations. A dispensationalist believes that God treats different groups of people differently at different times in history. In other words, he has a different set of rules for different times and/or people. In Ephesians, we find Paul teaching on the "dispensation of Grace":

Ephesians 2:4-9 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.

Ephesians 3:1-7 For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles-if indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you, how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already, by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ), which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets: that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel, of which I became a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effective working of His power.

Ephesians 3:8-13 To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ; to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him. Therefore I ask that you do not lose heart at my tribulations for you, which is your glory.

It is evident in the passages above, that God treated Israel differently under the Law than He does His Church under Grace. The "dispensation of Grace" is a time in human history where God has chosen to pour out His mercy for His glory. We also find that at the beginning of the dispensation of Grace, God's focus was shifted to the Church after Israel rejected Christ. At some point God will again shift His focus back to Israel:

Romans 9:22-26 What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory, even us whom He called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles? As He says also in Hosea: " I will call them My people, who were not My people, And her beloved, who was not beloved." " And it shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them, ' You are not My people, There they shall be called sons of the living God."

When God turns back to Israel, it will be during a period of judgment (Jeremiah 30). The next several sections will demonstrate the differences between the dispensations of Law, Grace, and Judgment; where the Judgment dispensation is the period of time known as the Tribulation. This will lay the groundwork in understanding why the rapture of the Church must occur before the Tribulation begins.

Christ reconciled and sanctified the Church:

Hebrews 13:12 Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered outside the gate.

1 John 1:7 ...the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.

Ephesians 5: 25-27 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.

Philippians 3:8-9 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith;

The blood of Christ has reconciled and sanctified us, making us righteous before God under Grace. There is no need for the Church to make "reconciliation for iniquity" as will be the case in the dispensation of Judgment (Daniel 9:24). Under the Law, the Old Testament Saints had to sacrifice animals as a covering of their sin. This covering still did not reconcile these Saints to God. Until Christ died, the Saints were still separated from God as they were held captive in the heart of the earth, in a place called Hades, until the blood was shed and Christ rose from the dead.

I'd like to take a short detour from our "reconciliation" discussion, to further discuss the resurrected Old Testament Saints. This will be important later in our discussion of the twenty-four elders.

On the day of Christ's Resurrection, there were resurrected Saints appearing to people in Jerusalem.

Matthew 27:51-53 Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split, and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many.

We are also told in Scripture that Jesus lead a band of captives to heaven.

Ephesians 4:8-10 Therefore He says: " When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, And gave gifts to men." (Now this, "He ascended"-what does it mean but that He also first descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.)

It would appear that these resurrected Saints received their glorified bodies right after Christ did. They were then taken with Him to heaven, before He returned to Earth and appeared to his disciples again a week later and then stayed for forty more days until His public ascension. For more on this topic see Pastor Wayne's article "Paradise Relocated" and the prophetic parallels to "A Secret Rapture".

The important note to make here, is that "some" of the Saints were resurrected. What about the rest of the Old Testament Saints? I believe the answer lies in Daniel:

Daniel 12: 1-2 "At that time Michael shall stand up, The great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people; And there shall be a time of trouble, Such as never was since there was a nation, Even to that time. And at that time your people shall be delivered, Every one who is found written in the book. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, Some to everlasting life, Some to shame and everlasting contempt.

Notice that at the "time of trouble", or the Tribulation, that "many" of Daniel's people will be resurrected, but all will be delivered. I believe that this "many" is the rest of the Old Testament Saints that were not resurrected back at the time of Christ. We will discuss later when during the "time of the trouble" this deliverance of Daniel's people and second resurrection of Old Testament Saints may occur.

The Church is not under the Law:

Galatians 3:10-14 For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them." But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for "the just shall live by faith." Yet the law is not of faith, but "the man who does them shall live by them." Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree"), that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

Galatians 5:18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

Romans 6:14 For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

The Church is under Grace. Christ became a curse for us and redeemed us from the Law. Grace will be replaced with Judgment in the next dispensation, as is evident throughout the book of Revelation and other prophetic Scripture.

The Church is not in darkness:

1 Thessalonians 5:4-5 But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness.

John 8:12 Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life."

1 Peter 2:9-10 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.

Colossians 1:9-14 For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.

Jesus is the light of the world. His Church is in the light and not of darkness. During the dispensation of Grace, the Church is the light of the World (Philippians 2:15). Israel apparently couldn't withhold the divine light, as we see that God hid Himself in a cloud of darkness from them during the dispensation of the Law (Exodus 20:21, Deuteronomy 4:11, 5:22-23, Psalm 18:11, Psalm 97:2). Similarly, the dispensation of Judgment will be characterized as a time of darkness (Joel 2:1-2, Zephaniah 1:14-15, Amos 5:18, 1 Thessalonians 5:2-3). This would support the Church not being present during the dispensation of Judgment.

Church prevails against evil:

Matthew 16:18-19 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."

Ephesians 6:10-13 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

Ephesians 6:14-20 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints- and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.

The Church currently has dominion and prevails over evil with the help of the Holy Spirit. In the dispensation of the Law, the Law made a clear distinction between good and evil. God designed the Law to help control evil. He did this by instituting governing authorities to make sure it was followed (Romans 13:1-7). We still have governing authorities under Grace that help control evil and maintain order, but not for the purpose of keeping the Jewish Law. On the other hand, in the dispensation of Judgment, evil will be unrestrained and the believers at that time will be overcome by Satan (2 Thessalonians 2:7, Daniel 7:21, Revelation 13:7).

The work of the Holy Spirit restrains evil:

Isaiah 59:19... When the enemy comes in like a flood, The Spirit of the LORD will lift up a standard against him.

John 16:7-8 Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment

1 John 3:4-9 Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin. Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him. Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God

1 John 3:24 Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.

We see in the passages above, that in the dispensation of Grace, evil is restrained through the conviction of the Holy Spirit. In the dispensation of the Law, evil was also restrained through the Law and the conviction of the Holy Spirit working through the prophets (Zechariah 7:12). In the dispensation of Judgment, evil will be unrestrained (2 Thessalonians 2:5-10). Therefore, the restraining work of the Holy Spirit will cease during the dispensation of Judgment:

2 Thessalonians 2:5-10 Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming. The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved.

The Church is sealed with the Holy Spirit:

2 Corinthians 1:-21-22 Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.

Ephesians 1:13-14 In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.

Only in the dispensation of Grace do we find assurance of eternal security by the Holy Spirit, for all that are saved. That said, salvation has and always will be a faith issue for all dispensations:

Romans 9:30-32 What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness of faith; but Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, has not attained to the law of righteousness. Why? Because they did not seek it by faith, but as it were, by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumbling stone.

Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

Romans 4:13-16 For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise made of no effect, because the law brings about wrath; for where there is no law there is no transgression. Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all

The difference, in the dispensation of Grace, is that the Church was given the Holy Spirit as a pledge from Christ for the promise of salvation; those under the Law had no such assurance. During the dispensation of the Law, the Holy Spirit did dwell in select people, the judges, the prophets, and others for the purpose of delivering God's Word or doing God's Will through them (Judges 3:10, 1 Samuel 16:13, Nehemiah 9:30, Zechariah 7:12). However, these people were not sealed and therefore did not have a guarantee that the Spirit would stay with them (1 Samuel 16:14, Psalm 51:11-12, Isaiah 63:10). This did not mean that they lost their salvation.

We see in 1 Samuel 16:14 that the Holy Spirit departed King Saul. But right before his death, Saul was told, in 1 Samuel 28:19 by Samuel's spirit, that he would die and join him the next day. I think it's safe to assume that Samuel was saved. So, if Saul joined Samuel when he died, Saul was also saved even though the Holy Spirit had left him. In fact, most of the Old Testament Saints were never indwelt by the Holy Spirit, yet they were still saved. Again, salvation is all about faith. Being the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, in this age of Grace, gives us assurance of our salvation because we are sealed by Him, so we know He will never leave us.

In the dispensation of Judgment, the only people that the Bible says will be sealed are the 144,000 servants (Revelation 7). This suggests that the Holy Spirit will operate similar to the way He did during the dispensation of the Law, in that He will indwell a select few for the purpose of spreading His Word. In other words, the Holy Spirit is not there as a comforter during the dispensation of Judgment, but is only present to spread the Gospel through his sealed servants. Being a believer during the Tribulation will be exceptionally difficult, especially without the comfort and assurance of the presence of the Holy Spirit.

There is further evidence that the Holy Spirit does not indwell all believers during the Tribulation like he currently does. We see a transition at the end of the dispensation of Judgment, where God will again pour out the Holy Spirit on Israel and all flesh (Ezekiel 39:29, Joel 2:28-29, Zechariah 12:10), as He did at Pentecost for His Church (Acts 2). There wouldn't be a second outpouring of the Holy Spirit if all believers were already indwelt by Him during the Tribulation. This supports that the Church, being sealed and indwelt by the Holy Spirit, will not be on Earth during the Tribulation.

Birth pangs:

Matthew 24:5-8 For many will come in My name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive many. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.

As the dispensation of Grace comes to a close, Jesus told us that the world would experience "sorrows" or "birth pangs" leading up to the dispensation of Judgment and His return. In the natural birthing process, there are birth pangs before the baby arrives. The birth pangs usually start out slow and manageable, but become more intense, closer together, and less manageable approaching the delivery of the baby.

As the birth pangs, described by Jesus in Matthew 24, become greater and greater we will know that the end is getting closer and closer. It is obvious that the world has been having these "birth pangs" for quite some time. For the most part, they have been manageable, however anybody can see they are getting worse, but we are definitely not in the Tribulation yet.

As many mothers will tell you, most birth pangs are manageable up until a certain point called transition. This is basically the "point-of-no-return" where the birth pangs become unbearable, usually for a short period of time, as the baby is about to be born.

Likewise, there will be a "transition" to specific Judgments given by Christ Himself in the Tribulation that will become unbearable to those receiving them. These birth pangs are the physical manifestations of the earth and people groaning under the increasing sin in the world, in anticipation of redemption when Christ returns:

Romans 8:22-23 For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.

Notice the parallel of the birth pangs in Jesus' Olivet Discourse to the Seal Judgments in Revelation. The birth pangs will start in the last days on a regional scale and increase and culminate into specific worldwide judgments from God during Daniel's 70th week.

Matthew 24:4-5&11, Mark 13:5-6, Luke 21:8 - Many false christs

Revelation 6:1-2 - 1st Seal - One ultimate false christ, the Antichrist

Matthew 24:6-7 , Mark 13:7-8, Luke 21:9 - Wars and rumors of wars

Revelation 6:3-4 - 2nd Seal - War worldwide

Matthew 24:7-8, Mark 13:8, Luke21:11 - Famine, pestilence and troubles in various places

Revelation 6:5-8 - 3rd & 4th Seal - Scarcity and death worldwide

Matthew 24:9&13, Mark 13:9-13 - Persecution and martyr of some saints

Revelation 6:9-11 - 5th Seal - Martyrs of Saints worldwide

Matthew 24:7, Mark 13:8, Luke 21:11 - Earthquakes in various places

Revelation 6:12-17 -6th Seal- Wrath of the Lamb worldwide earthquake

Though similar, there are some major differences between the birth pangs before the Tribulation and the Judgments during the Tribulation. One difference already pointed out, is that currently the birth pangs are regional, but in the dispensation of Judgment they will have worldwide consequences.

An observation I've made in the past several years, is that many of these birth pangs are starting to have some global effects, especially economic ones, but not to the point that we have scrapped our national economies for a global one yet. In other words, the birth pangs are not only increasing in frequency and intensity, but they also appear to be affecting larger parts of the world than before. I believe this is a sign that we are rapidly approaching the Tribulation period. This is because the recent larger scale birth pangs will eventually lead to the establishment of the global political and economic system of the antichrist, which will rule over the whole world (Revelation 13).

Another difference between the birth pangs and Judgments is that, during the dispensation of Judgment, there will be no restraint on evil. As if the consequences of unrestrained evil weren't enough for mankind to destroy themselves, God will also pour out His Wrath on them (Revelation 6:17). This will make the situation unbearable to the point that the vast majority of people living through the Tribulation will be killed in a short amount of time.

During the dispensation of Grace, evil is still being restrained and God is controlling the birth pangs, but the consequences of sin and natural disasters fall on the just and the unjust, just like the blessings of the rain do (Matthew 5:45). However, we find that when catastrophic events take place during this age, God's grace and mercy are still evident in most cases with the outpouring of aid and the Gospel to those places that cannot recover on their own. In some cases, without these disasters, the Gospel would never get in, especially to dictatorial type countries.

Also, for many, the birth pang events are the wake-up call some need to make a decision for Christ. However, in just the past few years, the outpouring of aid is becoming less and less because of what has been termed "disaster fatigue". This is due to the increase of the natural disaster birth pangs, in addition to the economic birth pangs that have struck most parts of the world as of late. This is another sign that we are rapidly approaching the Tribulation period. During the Tribulation, rampant evil and increasing despair will trump compassion for most that are in the midst of the turmoil of God's Judgment.

The rapture of the Church:

Now that we've concluded our study of the dispensations, we can begin to discuss where the resurrection and rapture of the Church fits. Remember that after the cross, Christ became the "first fruits" of our resurrection, which means that our resurrection will occur in like manner at a later time. The resurrection of the Church, widely known as the rapture of the Church, is the transition event between the dispensations of Grace and Judgment. The following verses describe this event:

John 14:1-3 "Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.

1 Thessalonians 4:14-17 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.

1 Corinthians 15:51-53 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 incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

Philippians 3:20-21 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.

What is the purpose of the rapture of the Church? Many believe it is a form of escape from God's Wrath. This has lead to all sorts of opinions on when God's Wrath starts in the Tribulation, which has lead to various views on the timing of the rapture itself. While it is true that God has promised that the Church will not be subject to His Wrath (Romans 5:8-9, 1 Thessalonians 1:9-10 & 5:9-10), escape from God's Wrath is not the main purpose of the rapture.

Think about the horrible persecutions and torture experienced by millions of Christians since the time of Christ. Those stoned to death by unbelieving Jews, torn apart by lions under Nero, or hacked to death by Muslims in this present day, could attest that their experience was not any less severe than what believers will physically endure in the Tribulation. Again the difference between now and the Tribulation is that God will be pouring out His Wrath on top of unrestrained evil, while today God is pouring out grace while keeping evil in check through the restraining work of the Holy Spirit.

That said, God has promised the Tribulation Saints that the Holy Spirit will speak for them in the hour after they are arrested (Mark 13:9-11). The period of time that the Holy Spirit helps the Tribulation Saints appears to be limited and for a purpose. This was discussed a few sections back, in regards to the Old Testament work of the Holy Spirit.

We see today that the evil present, while still restrained, is still awful and destructive. This evil along with the natural consequences of our sin, is called "tribulations" in God's Word. The following passage shows that the "tribulations" the Church will endure under grace are different than the wrath God will pour out on his enemies during the Tribulation:

2 Thessalonians 1:4-10 ...so that we ourselves boast of you among the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that you endure, which is manifest evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you also suffer; since it is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you, and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, when He comes, in that Day, to be glorified in His saints and to be admired among all those who believe, because our testimony among you was believed.

The purpose of the rapture really goes back to the doctrine of dispensations. Grace and Judgment cannot work concurrently. Scripture clearly tells us that the Tribulation will be a curse and a punishment for the iniquity of Israel and God's enemies in preparation for the Kingdom Age. In other words, God will be cleansing the earth of His enemies in order to start His Kingdom with only believers. We will see this again later when we touch on the "Sheep and Goat Judgment", which is at the end of the Tribulation.

Jeremiah 30:4-8 Now these are the words that the LORD spoke concerning Israel and Judah. "For thus says the LORD: ' We have heard a voice of trembling, Of fear, and not of peace. Ask now, and see, Whether a man is ever in labor with child? So why do I see every man with his hands on his loins Like a woman in labor, And all faces turned pale? Alas! For that day is great, So that none is like it; And it is the time of Jacob's trouble, But he shall be saved out of it. ' For it shall come to pass in that day,' Says the LORD of hosts, ' That I will break his yoke from your neck, And will burst your bonds; Foreigners shall no more enslave them.

Jeremiah 30:9-11 But they shall serve the LORD their God, And David their king, Whom I will raise up for them. 'Therefore do not fear, O My servant Jacob,' says the LORD, ' Nor be dismayed, O Israel; For behold, I will save you from afar, And your seed from the land of their captivity. Jacob shall return, have rest and be quiet, And no one shall make him afraid. For I am with you,' says the LORD, 'to save you; Though I make a full end of all nations where I have scattered you, Yet I will not make a complete end of you. But I will correct you in justice, And will not let you go altogether unpunished.'

Daniel 9:24 " Seventy weeks are determined For your people and for your holy city, To finish the transgression, To make an end of sins, To make reconciliation for iniquity, To bring in everlasting righteousness, To seal up vision and prophecy, And to anoint the Most Holy.

Micah 7:8-9 Do not rejoice over me, my enemy; When I fall, I will arise; When I sit in darkness, The LORD will be a light to me. I will bear the indignation of the LORD, Because I have sinned against Him, Until He pleads my case And executes justice for me. He will bring me forth to the light; I will see His righteousness.

Isaiah 26:21 For behold, the LORD comes out of His place To punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity; The earth will also disclose her blood, And will no more cover her slain.

God is going to bring Israel through the Tribulation as a punishment for their iniquity. God will also use the Tribulation as a means to turn the Jewish people back to Him, as He will be turning His focus back to them:

Zechariah 13:8-9 And it shall come to pass in all the land," Says the LORD, " That two-thirds in it shall be cut off and die, But one-third shall be left in it: I will bring the one-third through the fire, Will refine them as silver is refined, And test them as gold is tested. They will call on My name, And I will answer them. I will say, 'This is My people'; And each one will say, 'The LORD is my God.'"

Though God will be pouring out His Wrath and destroying His enemies, He will still give people a chance to be saved. We see in the passage above, that one-third of the Jews will be saved during the Tribulation. In a few sections, we will see that even during Judgment, God will continue to spread the Gospel message throughout the Tribulation.

We find in Revelation 7, that a multitude of people from all nations will come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ during the Tribulation. However, being in the dispensation of Judgment, these people will not be given the blessings and promises that the Church has been given during the dispensation of Grace, including the seal of the Holy Spirit. We will discuss this in more detail in the "5th Seal martyrs".

Previously, we discussed that Christ has reconciled and sanctified the Church, making us righteous. Also, we saw that the Church is not under the Law because Jesus became a curse for us. If the Church will be under God's curse during the Tribulation, then Jesus being made a curse for us becomes null and void.

Neither is the Church going to be punished for its iniquity, as will be the case for Israel. This is unscriptural, as Christ shed his blood to sanctify His Church (Ephesians 5:25-27). Clearly, God has to remove the Church before the dispensation of Judgment begins, because the blood of Christ has already made reconciliation for our iniquity when He became a curse for us.

Restrainer taken with the Church:

Previously, we saw that the restrainer in 2 Thessalonians 2:5-10 is the Holy Spirit:

How will the Holy Spirit be taken out of the way of evil? Believers have been sealed and are indwelt by the Holy Spirit till the day of our redemption (Ephesians 1:13-14). If the Holy Spirit is taken, then so must the Church. As the saying goes "if you take the restrainer, you take the container". The rapture event will accomplish the restrainer being taken out of the way. For a more thorough discussion on the passage in 2 Thessalonians, I recommend Pastor Wayne's commentary here.

The Church's work of spreading the Gospel given to others:

The great commission to spread the Gospel was originally given to Jesus' disciples. It spread greatly under Paul, and then gradually increased through the 1800s. But it was after the advance of travel and technology that the Gospel started to spread like wildfire around the time of Billy Graham's ministry in 1949. So we see that the Church has been fulfilling the call to spread the Gospel for the last couple millennia. Interestingly, before the Tribulation begins, John, a member of the Church and among those who were directly instructed to spread the Gospel, is called up to Heaven by the voice like a trumpet:

Revelation 4:1 After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, "Come up here

John being called to Heaven by the voice of a trumpet, is thought by many, to be a picture of the rapture of the Church, because it parallels the trumpet call of the Church in 1 Thessalonians 4:14-17 and 1 Corinthians 15:51-53. Also, the Church is not directly mentioned again after Revelation 3. Instead, as we will see in a few sections, the Church is represented among the elders in heaven during the Tribulation period. After the Tribulation, the Bride of Christ, who is clearly the Church, will be coming out of heaven at the end of the Tribulation among the armies of heaven (Revelation 19:7-8&14).

If the Church is taken to heaven before the Tribulation, then who will continue the work of the great commission? We saw a few sections back that a great multitude will be saved during the Tribulation. Who will share the Gospel with them? Scripture shows that the great commission will be fulfilled during the Tribulation through 144,000 sealed servants, the two witnesses, and an angel. Isaiah 61 indicates that these "servants of God", in the manner of Christ's ministry (Luke 4:18-19), will preach "good tidings", which is the good news of the Gospel.

Revelation 7:2-4 Then I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God. And he cried with a loud voice to the four angels whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea, saying, "Do not harm the earth, the sea, or the trees till we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads." And I heard the number of those who were sealed. One hundred and forty-four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel.

Isaiah 61:1-6"The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, Because the LORD has anointed me To preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, And the opening of the prison to those who are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn, To console those who mourn in Zion, To give them beauty for ashes, The oil of joy for mourning, The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; That they may be called trees of righteousness, The planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified." And they shall rebuild the old ruins, They shall raise up the former desolations, And they shall repair the ruined cities, The desolations of many generations. Strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, And the sons of the foreigner Shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers. But you shall be named the priests of the LORD, They shall call you the servants of our God.

Revelation 11:3-7 And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy one thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth." These are the two olive trees and the two lamp stands standing before the God of the earth. When they finish their testimony, the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit will make war against them, overcome them, and kill them.

Zechariah 4:11-14 Then I answered and said to him, "What are these two olive trees-at the right of the lamp stand and at its left?" And I further answered and said to him, "What are these two olive branches that drip into the receptacles of the two gold pipes from which the golden oil drains?" Then he answered me and said, "Do you not know what these are?" And I said, "No, my lord." So he said, "These are the two anointed ones, who stand beside the Lord of the whole earth."

Revelation 14:6-7 Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth-to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people- saying with a loud voice, "Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come; and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water."

It appears that these servants, the two witnesses and the angel will be replacing the Church in their role of spreading the Gospel during the Tribulation period.

All believers will be taken in the rapture:

The rapture is an event for those that are "in Christ" (1 Thessalonians 4:14-17) and are "counted worthy":

Luke 21:36 Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man."

So what does it mean to pray, to be counted "worthy" to escape the Tribulation? The following verses show that salvation will save you from God's Wrath. In other words, praying to escape the Tribulation is to pray for salvation, which will, in effect, save you from God's Wrath.

Romans 5:8-9 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.

1 Thessalonians 1:9-10 For they themselves declare concerning us what manner of entry we had to you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.

1 Thessalonians 5:9-10 For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him.

Clearly, we don't have to do anything to make ourselves worthy outside of praying for salvation. For somebody to have to "do" something, outside of making the decision to accept the free gift of salvation, would be "works". Our salvation is based on grace through faith; not works.

Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.

Interestingly, Paul wrote the following to the church of Corinth, which at the time was a backslidden church:

1 Corinthians 15:51-52 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 incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

When God's Word says the dead in Christ are taken (1 Thessalonians 4:16), it only makes sense that all in Christ, "spiritually ready" or not, will be resurrected in the rapture. It doesn't make sense for those in Christ who had died, not being spiritually ready, to be resurrected and taken in the rapture, but not those still alive that are also not spiritually ready. All of us have a tendency to wander off in our spiritual walk with Christ. That is why we are commanded to watch so that we keep our focus on Christ and don't become backslidden.

We will touch on the Judgment Seat of Christ in a few sections, but one thing to note from that event is that people will appear at that Judgment and lose rewards based on what they didn't do for Christ. Yet they will be saved because of the foundation Christ laid, "spiritually ready", or not.

1 Corinthians 3:10-15 According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one's work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one's work, of what sort it is. If anyone's work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.

For an excellent article by Jack Kelley about this article click here.

The innocent will be taken with the believers:

As we have just seen, it is clear that all born again Christians will be taken in the rapture. But what about those people that can't comprehend the Gospel? Children and many mentally handicapped people do not have the capacity to make a personal decision for or against Christ, yet they are born with a sin nature (Psalm 58:3, Romans 3:10). However, they are still innocent in God's eyes, because they can't differentiate right from wrong. Deuteronomy 1 shows us that there is an age of accountability, where children have no knowledge of good and evil:

Deuteronomy 1:35 & 39 'Surely not one of these men of this evil generation shall see that good land of which I swore to give to your fathers...'Moreover your little ones and your children, who you say will be victims, who today have no knowledge of good and evil, they shall go in there; to them I will give it, and they shall possess it.

Paul tells us in Romans 7 below, that only those who know or can grasp an understanding of the Law are considered unrighteous. They become responsible to it, but then willingly break it anyway. Paul also points out that he "was alive once" before he knew the Law, but then he died when he understood what sin and the Law were. This is evidence that those who cannot comprehend the Law are not dead in their sin until they can understand what sin is. Obviously children under the age of accountability are in that category, as well as many of the mentally handicapped.

Romans 7:7-12 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, "You shall not covet." But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead. I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me. Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good.

We also see that Adam and Eve were considered innocent until they ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 3). The tree served the same purpose as the Law, in that when God's commandment was deliberately broken, innocence was gone and they understood the difference between good and evil. At the point Adam and Eve lost their innocence, they became dead in their sin.

At some point in a person's life, if they reject Christ, instead of repenting of their sin and accepting Him as Savior, they will be blotted out of the Lamb's book of life. It goes to reason, that everybody is initially included in the Lamb's book of life, if they can later be blotted out. It only makes sense that a person can be blotted out only after they reach the age of accountability, and are able to choose to reject Christ. Scripture is clear that everyone not blotted out of the Lamb's book of life will be a part of the new heaven and earth:

Revelation 3:5 He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.

Revelation 21:27 But there shall by no means enter it (the New Jerusalem) anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb's Book of Life.

Jesus told us we have to become like children to enter the Kingdom. By this He meant that we should have faith like a child. Jesus also told us not to forbid the children from coming to Him; meaning we shouldn't do anything that would prevent them from accepting Him by the time they reach the age of accountability. So why then would Jesus forbid any child below the age of accountability from entering into heaven, especially when He says that children are of the kingdom of heaven?

Matthew 18:1-5 At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, "Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" Then Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, and said, "Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me.

Matthew 19:13-15 Then little children were brought to Him that He might put His hands on them and pray, but the disciples rebuked them. But Jesus said, "Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven." And He laid His hands on them and departed from there.

It seems pretty straightforward that children are not held accountable for their sin, and they will go to Heaven if they die before reaching that age of accountability. David believed without a doubt that he would join his dead child in Heaven some day:

2 Samuel 12:19-23 When David saw that his servants were whispering, David perceived that the child was dead. Therefore David said to his servants, "Is the child dead?" And they said, "He is dead." So David arose from the ground, washed and anointed himself, and changed his clothes; and he went into the house of the LORD and worshiped. Then he went to his own house; and when he requested, they set food before him, and he ate. Then his servants said to him, "What is this that you have done? You fasted and wept for the child while he was alive, but when the child died, you arose and ate food." And he said, "While the child was alive, I fasted and wept; for I said, 'Who can tell whether the LORD will be gracious to me, that the child may live?' But now he is dead; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me."

Does this mean that all children and the mentally handicapped will be taken in the rapture? Children were not spared in the judgment of the flood or other judgments of God in the OT, so why would they be taken in the rapture? Because Scripture shows that being kept from the Wrath of God is a salvation issue:

1 Thessalonians 5:9 God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Since we have determined that children under the age of accountability currently have salvation, then being in the dispensation of Grace, all these children would be kept from the Wrath of God, along with the Church.

There is support for children being taken with the Church in the book of Joel. Joel is all about the Day of the Lord. The Day of the Lord is widely held to begin with the rapture of the Church. We see a parallel passage in Joel 2 to the throne room in Heaven in Revelation 4-5. There is an assembly of elders, priests, and the Bride in the throne room. The Church is the Bride of Christ as we will discuss in more detail as we move through the study. The Church is also represented among the elders who are also priests, which will be discussed shortly. Interestingly, both children and babies are included in this assembly:

Joel 2:16-17 Gather the people, Sanctify the congregation, Assemble the elders, Gather the children and nursing babes; Let the bridegroom go out from his chamber, And the bride from her dressing room. Let the priests, who minister to the LORD, Weep between the porch and the altar; Let them say, "Spare Your people, O LORD, And do not give Your heritage to reproach, That the nations should rule over them. Why should they say among the peoples, ' Where is their God?'"

That being said, we must recognize that there will be children born during the Tribulation period.

Matthew 24:15-19 "Therefore when you see the 'abomination of desolation,' spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place" (whoever reads, let him understand), "then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house. And let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes. But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days!

It is interesting that Jesus specifically mentions nursing babies in Matthew 24, but not children, yet both are mentioned in Joel 2:16. The average weaning age in the world is three years old and even older in some third world countries. It is safe to say that the whole world will be in worse shape than even third world countries are today.

Assuming the rapture happens within a year or so of the beginning of the seven year Tribulation, most children at the time of the "abomination of desolation" would be younger than age three to four and therefore no older than the average weaning age. Though this doesn't prove that all children will be taken at the rapture, it certainly supports it.

http://www.trackingbibleprophecy.com/rapture.php

Bema Seat Judgment:

The Bible shows four different times that people are judged by Christ: the Bema Seat before the Tribulation, the Sheep and Goat Judgment at the end of the Tribulation, the Tribulation Saint Judgment after the Tribulation, and lastly, the Great White Throne Judgment after the 1000 year reign of Christ. (See chart - "Resurrections and Judgments"). We will discuss all four Judgments in this study.

Luke 21:34-36 "But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly. For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man."

After the rapture, the Church will stand before Jesus during what has been termed the "Bema Seat Judgment". "Bema" is the Greek word for judgment. In the ancient Olympics, judges awarded ivy crowns, called stephanos, to the winners of the various events at the "Bema", or the judges' stand. They still do this at the Olympics and other athletic events today, using medals instead of crowns. Similarly, the Church will receive crowns as rewards for our good works:

1 Corinthians 4:5 Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the hearts. Then each one's praise will come from God.

2 Corinthians 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

At the Bema Seat Judgment our works will be put through a refining fire:

1 Peter 1:6-9 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith-the salvation of your souls

1 Corinthians 3:10-15 shows that Christ has laid the foundation for our crowns. Our good works that survive the fire will be our rewards, that will adorn our crowns with "gold, silver" and "precious stones". The following verses describe the specific works these crowns are rewarded for:

The Crown of Life - Reward for faithfulness, even unto death:

James 1:12 Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.

Revelation 2:10 Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.

The Incorruptible Crown - Reward for living set apart for the Lord and from the world:

1 Corinthians 9:24-25 ... Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown.

The Crown of Rejoicing - Reward for sharing the Gospel that leads to others accepting Christ:

1 Thessalonians 2:17-20 But we, brethren, having been taken away from you for a short time in presence, not in heart, endeavored more eagerly to see your face with great desire. Therefore we wanted to come to you-even I, Paul, time and again-but Satan hindered us. For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming? For you are our glory and joy.

Philippians 4:1 Therefore, my beloved and longed-for brethren, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, beloved.

The Crown of Glory - Reward for leading and ministering to other believers:

1 Peter 5:2-4 Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly; nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock; and when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away.

The Crown of Righteousness - Reward for those who have devotion to watching,
as they fervently anticipate the return of Jesus:

2 Timothy 4:8 Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.

Another purpose of the refining fire, will be to become a purified Bride for Christ:

2 Corinthians 11:1-2 Oh, that you would bear with me in a little folly-and indeed you do bear with me. For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ

The works that are left from the refining fire will become our wedding garments and awards:

Revelation 19:7-9 Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready." And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Then he said to me, "Write: 'Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!'"

On a side note, I wonder if the idea of purgatory (where people have to suffer in a hell-like place to be counted worthy to go to heaven) came out of these passages that teach about the refining fire. This fire is for purifying, not suffering. The Church will have incorruptible bodies at this point (1 Corinthians 15:51-53). This is not a second chance to become "spiritually ready". This is where our works are judged, good and bad (2 Corinthians 5:10). Besides, the scriptures show that we would already have to be counted worthy to be eligible to appear before Christ at this Judgment (Luke 21:34-36) , where our works will be put through the refining fire.

The Church is represented in the elders:

The Church is represented among the elders in Revelation 4-5, as they are redeemed men who are kings and priests, just as John described the Church to be in the opening of Revelation.

Revelation 1:5-6 ...and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Revelation 5:8-10 Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying: " You are worthy to take the scroll, And to open its seals; For You were slain, And have redeemed us to God by Your blood Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, And have made us kings and priests to our God; And we shall reign on the earth."

The Old Testament Saints are also represented among the elders, as they were called to be a kingdom of priests:

Exodus 19:6 And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.' These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel."

The Old Testament Saints called the "righteous" in the following passage will sit on thrones with the Church who are the kings:

Job 36:7 He does not withdraw His eyes from the righteous; But they are on the throne with kings, For He has seated them forever, And they are exalted.

The priesthood in the Old Testament was represented by twenty-four priests. This is the same number of elders in Revelation who say they are priests. The Old Testament priesthood was a foreshadow (Hebrews 8:5) of the heavenly priesthood, that is also represented by 24 elders.

1 Chronicles 24:1-19 Now these are the divisions of the sons of Aaron. The sons of Aaron were Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. And Nadab and Abihu died before their father, and had no children; therefore Eleazar and Ithamar ministered as priests. Then David with Zadok of the sons of Eleazar, and Ahimelech of the sons of Ithamar, divided them according to the schedule of their service.There were more leaders found of the sons of Eleazar than of the sons of Ithamar, and thus they were divided. Among the sons of Eleazar were sixteen heads of their fathers' houses, and eight heads of their fathers' houses among the sons of Ithamar. Thus they were divided by lot, one group as another, for there were officials of the sanctuary and officials of the house of God, from the sons of Eleazar and from the sons of Ithamar. And the scribe, Shemaiah the son of Nethanel, one of the Levites, wrote them down before the king, the leaders, Zadok the priest, Ahimelech the son of Abiathar, and the heads of the fathers' houses of the priests and Levites, one father's house taken for Eleazar and one for Ithamar. Now the first lot fell to Jehoiarib, the second to Jedaiah, the third to Harim, the fourth to Seorim, the fifth to Malchijah, the sixth to Mijamin, the seventh to Hakkoz, the eighth to Abijah, the ninth to Jeshua, the tenth to Shecaniah, the eleventh to Eliashib, the twelfth to Jakim, the thirteenth to Huppah, the fourteenth to Jeshebeab, the fifteenth to Bilgah, the sixteenth to Immer, the seventeenth to Hezir, the eighteenth to Happizzez, the nineteenth to Pethahiah, the twentieth to Jehezekel, the twenty-first to Jachin, the twenty-second to Gamul, the twenty-third to Delaiah, the twenty-fourth to Maaziah. This was the schedule of their service for coming into the house of the LORD according to their ordinance by the hand of Aaron their father, as the LORD God of Israel had commanded him

We find that the elders on Earth were spiritual leaders and teachers for both Israel and the Church:

Numbers 11:16-17 So the LORD said to Moses: "Gather to Me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and officers over them; bring them to the tabernacle of meeting, that they may stand there with you. Then I will come down and talk with you there. I will take of the Spirit that is upon you and will put the same upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, that you may not bear it yourself alone.

1 Peter 5:1-4 The elders who are among you I exhort, I who am a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that will be revealed: Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly; nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock; and when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away.

As we discussed earlier in our "reconciled" discussion, only part of the Old Testament Saints were resurrected at the time of Christ. The rest will be resurrected at the time of the Tribulation. This is important to note, because the evidence in this section suggests that "redeemed" Old Testament Saints are represented among the elders along with the Church.

I believe that the remainder of the Old Testament Saints will be resurrected at the time of the 2nd Coming, when the Jewish elect are gathered together, rather than with the Church at the rapture, before the Tribulation begins. 1 Thessalonians 4:16 tells us that the group that is resurrected in the rapture are "in Christ".

Those "in Christ" are described throughout the New Testament as not under the Law (Colassians 2:9-14), they will share in the inheritance of Abraham's seed (Galatians 3:26-29), and they are indwelt (Romans 8:9-11), sealed (Ephesians 1:13-14) and led (Galatians 5:22-25) by the Holy Spirit. This is clearly speaking of just the Church body who are "in Christ". Therefore, the remaining Old Testament Saints are not a part of this group that will receive their resurrected bodies at the rapture.

The following two passages support the notion that the remaining Old Testament Saints awaiting their resurrection will be at the time of the 2nd Coming:

Daniel 12:1-2 "At that time Michael shall stand up, The great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people; And there shall be a time of trouble, Such as never was since there was a nation, Even to that time. And at that time your people shall be delivered, Every one who is found written in the book. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, Some to everlasting life, Some to shame and everlasting contempt.

Romans 11:25-27 For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: "The Deliverer will come out of Zion, And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; For this is My covenant with them, When I take away their sins."

The elders are "reedeemed men", not spirits. The point in bringing up the resurrection of the OT Saints at the time of Jesus arose, is to point out that only some may have been selected for the purpose to fulfill this role of the elders in the heavenly priesthood at the beginning of the Tribulation.

The appearance of the elders in Heaven have the same descriptions of some of the churches in Revelation 2-3, having crowns, wearing white robes and sitting on thrones:

Revelation 4:4 Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and on the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white robes; and they had crowns of gold on their heads.

Revelation 3:5 He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.

Revelation 3:11 Behold, I am coming quickly! Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown.

Revelation 3:21 To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.

As we saw earlier, the crowns are the rewards that will be given for the works of the Church. The Church, represented among the elders, is shown casting their crowns before the Lord and giving him the glory.

Revelation 4:9-11 Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying: "You are worthy, O Lord, To receive glory and honor and power; For You created all things, And by Your will they exist and were created."

The Church and the Old Testament Saints, represented by elders, the Bride and the innocents, will gather together in the throne room of heaven at the beginning of the Tribulation. In the passage below in Joel, we see that the priests will intercede for God's people against the nations coming against them. In Revelation, we see the elders praising Him for His justice against the nations and interceding for the prophets and saints.

Revelation 11:15-18 Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, "The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!" And the twenty-four elders who sat before God on their thrones fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying: " We give You thanks, O Lord God Almighty, The One who is and who was and who is to come, Because You have taken Your great power and reigned. The nations were angry, and Your wrath has come, And the time of the dead, that they should be judged, And that You should reward Your servants the prophets and the saints, And those who fear Your name, small and great, And should destroy those who destroy the earth."

Joel 2:15-17 Blow the trumpet in Zion, Consecrate a fast, Call a sacred assembly; Gather the people, Sanctify the congregation, Assemble the elders, Gather the children and nursing babes; Let the bridegroom go out from his chamber, And the bride from her dressing room. Let the priests, who minister to the LORD, Weep between the porch and the altar; Let them say, "Spare Your people, O LORD, And do not give Your heritage to reproach, That the nations should rule over them. Why should they say among the peoples, ' Where is their God?'"

What would the Bride be wearing coming out of her dressing room? Her wedding dress, of course! The Bride coming out of her dressing room shows that the Church had been at the Bema Judgment prior to the gathering, because her wedding garments are made from her good works (Revelation 19:7-8). So we see that the Church is in Heaven at the beginning of the Tribulation.

In addition to being kings and priests, the Church, also represented among the elders on their thrones, will be judges to the world and the angels. Note the plural "thrones", instead of the singular "Throne" of God in the verses below:

Revelation 4:4 Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and on the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white robes; and they had crowns of gold on their heads.

Revelation 20:4 And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them....

1 Corinthians 6:2-3 Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world will be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Do you not know that we shall judge angels?

Daniel 7:9-10 " I watched till thrones were put in place, And the Ancient of Days was seated; His garment was white as snow, And the hair of His head was like pure wool. His throne was a fiery flame, Its wheels a burning fire; A fiery stream issued And came forth from before Him. A thousand thousands ministered to Him; Ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him. The court was seated, And the books were opened

It is important to see that the Church, represented among the elders, are in Heaven on their thrones before any of God's Judgments are carried out on the earth. This is further evidence that the rapture has to occur before the dispensation of Judgment commences.

God will turn His focus from the Church back to the Jews:

As we saw in our discussion of the dispensations, God's focus was shifted to the Church after Israel rejected Christ. At some point in the future, He will again shift His focus back to Israel:

Romans 9:25-26 As He says also in Hosea: " I will call them My people, who were not My people, And her beloved, who was not beloved." " And it shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them, ' You are not My people, There they shall be called sons of the living God."

When God turns back to Israel, it will be during a period of judgment, or the Tribulation. In Jeremiah 30 it is referred to as "the time of Jacob's trouble":

Jeremiah 30:7 Alas! For that day is great, So that none is like it; And it is the time of Jacob's trouble, But he shall be saved out of it.

Remember that the purpose of the Tribulation will be a curse and a punishment for the iniquity of Israel and God's enemies in preparation for the Kingdom Age (also see Micah 7:8-9, Isaiah 26:21, and the rest of Jeremiah 30):

Daniel 9:24 "Seventy weeks are determined For your people and for your holy city, To finish the transgression, To make an end of sins, To make reconciliation for iniquity, To bring in everlasting righteousness, To seal up vision and prophecy, And to anoint the Most Holy.

The point that needs to be made here is that the Tribulation period is very Jewish oriented, as is seen in the names "Jacob's trouble" and "Daniel's 70th week". This period of time also begins with a covenant made with Israel, that is later broken by the abomination of desolation in the Jewish Temple. It is clear that the Tribulation period is focused on the Jewish people and Israel.

Recognizing the Jewish focus of the Tribulation is important, because many today believe the Church has replaced Israel in Scripture. They believe that the Church will receive both the punishments and rewards promised to Israel. This is known as "replacement theology".

The major flaw in the "replacement theology" argument came to light in 1948, when Israel became a nation again. This event, along with the re-gathering of the Jewish people that is continuing today, literally fulfilled many prophecies that prove that the Church has not replaced Israel. Anybody that still holds to "replacement theology" ignores God's promise that He will call Israel His people again after at time of rejection (Romans 9:25-26).

Covenant brokered by the antichrist begins Daniel's 70th Week:

As was just mentioned, the Tribulation begins when a covenant is made between Israel and the antichrist:

Daniel 9:27 Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week; But in the middle of the week He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate, Even until the consummation, which is determined, Is poured out on the desolate."

Daniel 9 reveals to us that God gave Israel 70 weeks, in which He would punish their transgressing of the Law (Daniel 9:24), before the Messiah would come to rule. History has shown us that the 70 weeks are 70 "weeks" of years, or 490 years. From the time of the command to Nehemiah to restore and build Jerusalem, after Israel's exile until Jesus died, was 483 years.

During that time, Israel was punished under the yoke of Gentile rule. After the cross, God turned away from Israel because they rejected His Son (Romans 11). It didn't take long for the nation to crumble after God turned from them. Seven more years are yet to be fulfilled before Jesus returns to make everything right. Today we live in the gap between the 483 years and the last 7 years. During this last 7 years, God will turn back to Israel. However, they will be punished along with God's enemies through the Tribulation Judgments. Daniel 9:27 tells us that these last 7 years will be initiated by a covenant made with Israel that will be brokered by the antichrist.

The antichrist, coming as a peacemaker, is the first Seal Judgment released by Jesus. Having a bow with no arrows, show that the antichrist will use diplomacy as his weapon at the beginning of the Tribulation, rather than war. This fits with the antichrist brokering the covenant with Israel.

Revelation 6:1-2 Now I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals; and I heard one of the four living creatures saying with a voice like thunder, "Come and see." And I looked, and behold, a white horse. He who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer.

The only other place we read of this covenant is in Isaiah 28:

Isaiah 28:14 ...hear the word of the LORD, you scornful men, Who rule this people who are in Jerusalem, Because you have said, "We have made a covenant with death, And with Sheol we are in agreement. When the overflowing scourge passes through, It will not come to us, For we have made lies our refuge, And under falsehood we have hidden ourselves."

Isaiah 28:18 & 22 Your covenant with death will be annulled, And your agreement with Sheol will not stand; When the overflowing scourge passes through, Then you will be trampled down by it... Now therefore, do not be mockers, Lest your bonds be made strong; For I have heard from the Lord GOD of hosts, A destruction determined even upon the whole earth.

Isaiah chapters 26-29 are about God judging Israel and the "whole world" (Isaiah 28:22), which places these chapters in the Tribulation period. It appears that Israel makes the "covenant with death", because they mistakenly believe it will make them secure by becoming a refuge for them. The issue, is that Israel is not seeking security in God, so it will lead to death. The confirmation of the covenant will mark the beginning of the Tribulation, or more precisely, Daniel's 70th Week (Daniel 9:27).

Anybody who has followed the affairs of Israel, has been a witness to the many world leaders attempting to bring peace to the Middle East, over the last several decades. Their goal has been to push Israel to divide her land. The following passage suggests that the "covenant with death" brokered by the antichrist will finally see the fruition of this peace treaty that will involve dividing the land:

Daniel 11:36-39 "Then the king shall do according to his own will: he shall exalt and magnify himself above every god, shall speak blasphemies against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the wrath has been accomplished; for what has been determined shall be done. He shall regard neither the God of his fathers nor the desire of women, nor regard any god; for he shall exalt himself above them all. But in their place he shall honor a god of fortresses; and a god which his fathers did not know he shall honor with gold and silver, with precious stones and pleasant things. Thus he shall act against the strongest fortresses with a foreign god, which he shall acknowledge, and advance its glory; and he shall cause them to rule over many, and divide the land for gain.

However, as is shown in the "Great Middle East War", which I believe to be near the beginning of the Tribulation, Israel defeats all her neighbors, and actually expands her borders greatly. One reason to time this war near the beginning of the Tribulation is because Israel will not be winning any wars when the antichrist comes to power. Therefore, even if the current peace treaty was actually signed, it would shortly be broken by Israel and not remain viable after the "Great Middle East War".

As we will show later, the covenant in Daniel will not be broken until the middle of the Tribulation by the antichrist. That said, we have the verse above that says the antichrist will divide the land for gain. Also, in Joel 3, we find that those involved in dividing the land, will come under God's Judgment at the end of the Tribulation:

Joel 3:2 I will also gather all nations, And bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat; And I will enter into judgment with them there On account of My people, My heritage Israel, Whom they have scattered among the nations; They have also divided up My land.

It seems likely that the "covenant with death", is not the peace agreement the world has been trying to push for. It makes more sense, in light of the "Great Middle East War", that the covenant that is confirmed could actually be the covenant that God made with Abraham concerning the land (Genesis 17:8).

The covenant would be a "covenant with death", because Israel will make an agreement with the antichrist, rather than trust that God will keep them safe and secure. In other words, as a possibility, the antichrist would agree to let Israel keep most of the land they won in the war in exchange for disarmament for peace, after the nuclear war in the Middle East. The borders would be similar to what Israel had under David's reign in the Old Testament. See Pastor Wayne's map of Israel's promised land and my map of Israel's land after the Great Middle East War in my "Speculation Corner".

If the covenant confirmed is actually the Abrahamic land covenant, then the dividing of the land would likely occur during the conquest of the antichrist, prophesied in Daniel 11:29-45. It's interesting to note, that the antichrist will not be able to conquer current day Jordan (Daniel 11:41). As is shown in the "Great Middle East War" study, this area will be a part of Israel after that war and before the Gog and Magog War.

Later, we will see that Israel will be supernaturally protected during the second half of the Tribulation in the area of Petra, which is currently in Jordan. In other words, the antichrist will have conquered all the land Israel gained in the Great Middle East War, except for the current area of Jordan, where God will be protecting the Jewish remnant. The greater Israel, after the Great Middle East War, would then be divided by the antichrist in his conquests. Ironically, the Jews will reside, through the last half of the Tribulation, in the portion of Palestine that was given to the Arabs in the British Mandate.

A strong delusion will be sent for those that rejected Christ:

After the rapture occurs, people are going to be looking for answers to this supernatural event, and the earth shaking events that will follow. The Bible tells us there will be great signs and delusions to deceive those that reject God's Truth. In other words, for those people that have chosen to reject the Truth, God will harden their hearts, just like He did to Pharaoh in Exodus. God will do this by allowing deceptive signs that the unbelievers can physically see and easily believe because they didn't trust in Him by faith. Like Pharaoh, their mind has been made up, so God will simply be giving them over to their foolish disbelief with these deceptions. The ultimate deception will come with the antichrist and his false prophet in Revelation 13.

2 Thessalonians 2:9-12 The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

Revelation 13:11-14 Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon. And he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence, and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived.

Jesus tells us that these signs and wonders will be so great as to "deceive, if possible, even the elect". Later, we will see that the "elect" in this verse are Jewish. These elect would include not only the Jewish remnant that will be supernaturally protected in the wilderness, but also the 144,000 servants.

For the 144,000, it will be impossible to be deceived, as they will be sealed and full of the Holy Spirit (Revelation 7:1-8). For the Jewish remnant, it doesn't seem likely that they will be deceived, as they will have had to trust God's Word to flee to safety in the first place (see Matthew 24:16-19, Mark 13:14-17). In other words, Jesus is saying that the signs will be so convincing, that if not for their faith and heeding God's Word ahead of time, they would likely be swept away by the deception too.

There are several theories about what some of these signs and wonders might be. The most probable in my view is in Revelation 13. We are told that the beast, or antichrist, will be mortally wounded, but later healed. The second beast, known as the false prophet of the antichrist, will perform great signs and wonders to persuade everyone to make an idol of the first beast and worship it (Revelation 13:14-15).

In Revelation 11:7 and Revelation 17:8 we see that the antichrist will apparently die from his mortal wound but come back to life, because we see him coming out of the bottomless pit. The bottomless pit, or abyss, is commonly thought to be the great gulf in Hades, between the place of torments, and what used to be Abrahams bosom (Luke 16:19-31) before Jesus' resurrection.

Revelation 11:7 When they finish their testimony, the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit will make war against them, overcome them, and kill them.

Revelation 17:8 The beast that you saw was, and is not, and will ascend out of the bottomless pit and go to perdition. And those who dwell on the earth will marvel, whose names are not written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world, when they see the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.

Satan cannot counterfeit a resurrection because God only has that power (John 11:25). There are no scriptures that indicate that Satan would indwell the antichrist like he did Judas (Luke 22:3), or that he would animate the antichrist's corpse. Satan is the dragon and the antichrist is the beast as we see in Revelation 13. The passages above read that it is the beast itself that dies and lives again; not that the dragon enters the beast. Therefore, it seems probable that God would perform the resurrection Himself, but the antichrist would take the credit, hence being a lie.

It seems likely that there will be other delusions, perhaps the strong one sent from God, shortly after the rapture. Otherwise, those that rejected Christ previously would have a better chance of seeing the Truth. There is a theory out there that would be difficult for even the elect to see the truth in it. The scenario is that fallen angels would arrive on the scene at the beginning of the Tribulation purporting themselves as aliens. Can you imagine how difficult it would be to not believe the lie, if physical alien beings arrived in space ships, with convincing deceptive answers to the disappearances, that in reality was the rapture of the Church?

The Bible does say that Satan is the prince of the power of the air (Ephesians 2:1-2). The many documented incidences of UFO and alien abductions that seem to be on the rise these days, along with the decades of public conditioning for such a scenario, give some credence to this theory. If this scenario plays out and the "aliens" come with spiritual answers for the supernatural occurrences, I could see how the masses could easily be lead into the global cult the Bible calls "Mystery Babylon", which we will touch on next.

There may be a few scientific delusions in the works as well. Scientists have spent the last several decades building a particle accelerator called the "Hadron Collider", located in Switzerland. There were a few concerned scientists that came forward in protest to the building of this machine. They claimed that this atom smasher could potentially form microscopic black holes. I imagine that after the rapture happens, these same scientists will blame the Hadron Collider for producing black holes that sucked up the people that went missing. I don't think this idea would last very long with all the "signs and wonders" going on, but it could initially lead people in the wrong direction.

Another recent craze, concerning the Mayan Calendar, could potentially become a delusion too. The Mayan Calendar will end at the same time our solar system is predicted to come into alignment with the galactic plane in December 2012. Some scientists predict an increase in tectonic activity, extreme weather and possibly even a reverse in our magnetic poles in the years surrounding the alignment. (This reminds me of the birth pangs described in Matthew 24). So you can see that if the rapture occurs and the Tribulation begins within the next several years, people could easily be deluded by either the scientific explanation for what is happening or get drawn into some new age cult that develops around the Mayan Calendar.

The Babylonian religion will rise:

The supernatural signs and wonders will not only be deceptive, but they will also give rise to a global cult. I believe the supernatural war of Ezekiel 38-39 will occur soon after the rapture and possibly at the beginning of the Tribulation. (Check out my study on the "Gog and Magog War" and its timing). There will be no such thing as an atheist after this supernatural war.

Based on the members of the confederacy of this War, followers of Islam will be severely judged and a majority will be killed. If the timing of this war occurs near the beginning of the Tribulation, those left after the rapture that claim Christianity and the survivors that are Muslim will be clamoring for answers as they reconsider what they had believed. We find that a multitude will find their answers in the Truth (Revelation 7:9-17), but many more will be swept away and deceived by the signs and wonders, as we saw in the last section.

Revelation 17 describes the first half of the Tribulation as being ruled by a harlot called "Mystery Babylon". Throughout the Old Testament, we see that someone was called a "harlot" when they sought after foreign gods instead of the One True God. So the harlot in Revelation 17 is a religious system that will follow after a false god or gods. To further understand what this religious system is, we need to go back to Genesis 10, where we are introduced to a mighty hunter named Nimrod who built and ruled over the city of Babel.

Turning over to Genesis 11, we see that the people of this city tried to build a tower to the heavens. We are told in verse 4 that the reason for building this tower was because they wanted to make a name for themselves. God had commanded them to spread out and fill the earth back in Genesis 9:1, but they decided instead, to stay in one area. By making a name for themselves with the tower, they were shaking their fists at God in rebellion. This original Babylonian system was simply the gathering of the people under the leadership of Nimrod to do their own will, rather than that of God. To stop this, God confused their language and forced them to scatter over the earth, as He had commanded them to do in the first place.

Historical accounts tell us that Nimrod's wife, Semiramis, believed that after Nimrod died he should be worshipped as a god. When her son Tammuz came along, she claimed that he was supernaturally conceived and purported that he was the Messiah promised back in Genesis 3:15. Out of this came the mother/son worship. We see this theme resonate in many of the ancient religions of the past and even still today for many in the Catholic Church. Mary has been made more prominent than Jesus by being prayed to or even worshiped by some Catholics. Interestingly, even the Muslims have a special reverence for Mary as they believe Jesus was a prophet. There are also many new age and cultic groups that worship the earth as a goddess.

The point here is, that the Babylonian system that was started under Nimrod, will come full circle as the religious system that Satan uses to deceive the masses at the beginning of the Tribulation. What is left of those that claim Christianity after the rapture and those left of Islam after the war in Ezekiel 38-39, will readily buy into a religious system that already has a flavor of what they've always believed. In other words, most of the world religions could be brought together with the beliefs that many of them already have in common: a savior or prophet born of a virgin or a goddess.

Revelation 17:6 tells us that the harlot is drunk with the blood of the saints and the martyrs of Jesus. Apparently, anyone that doesn't buy into the Mystery Babylon religion will be seen as a traitor or infidel worthy of death. The Muslims already believe that, but Christianity has also had an ugly history of killing people that didn't convert to their religion. There will certainly have to be a strong delusion at the beginning of the Tribulation that would bring all faiths together and be so adamant that all should convert or die.

Amazingly, many of the faiths of the world are already trying to find common ground for peace and understanding. They believe that there can't be world peace without peace between all religions first. Interfaith conferences and events are rapidly on the rise. Churches or other religious groups that refuse to be a part of these activities have been accused of being intolerant, extreme or hateful. Ironically, the religious system that will rise out of this growing movement at the beginning of the Tribulation will be all of those things.

God's Judgments begin:

Before God's Judgments begin, we see a scene in Heaven in Revelation 5, where there is a scroll that has seven seals on it. Curiously, John begins to weep because he thinks there is no one worthy to open the scroll. What is in the scroll that would cause John to be so distraught over nobody being worthy enough to open it?

In Jeremiah we read about the prophesied exile of Israel to Babylon. Before the exile, the Lord told Jeremiah to have his cousin Hanamel buy his field. The exchange occurred as follows:

Jeremiah 32:10-15 And I signed the deed and sealed it, took witnesses, and weighed the money on the scales. So I took the purchase deed, both that which was sealed according to the law and custom, and that which was open; and I gave the purchase deed to Baruch the son of Neriah, son of Mahseiah, in the presence of Hanamel my uncle's son, and in the presence of the witnesses who signed the purchase deed, before all the Jews who sat in the court of the prison. "Then I charged Baruch before them, saying, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: "Take these deeds, both this purchase deed which is sealed and this deed which is open, and put them in an earthen vessel, that they may last many days." For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: "Houses and fields and vineyards shall be possessed again in this land."'

So we can see that this deed that was sealed was a title deed to the land. Being the next of kin, Hanamel was able to purchase it so that he or another relative could claim the land back after the exile. Similarly, Adam was given the whole earth to rule over. But after the fall, Adam's dominion and hence the title deed to the earth was taken back. Jesus, being the only next of kin to Adam, who was sinless, paid for the title deed with His own blood. That is why Jesus is the only one worthy to take to scroll and open it to redeem the earth and believers back to God (Revelation 5:9).

Over the course of the book of Revelation, we find that opening this scroll will ultimately redeem the earth from it curse. However, each seal that is broken results in a Judgment that is released from Heaven. Once Jesus reaches the 7th Seal, then 7 more Judgments come, called the Trumpet Judgments. After the 7th Trumpet Judgment is sounded, 7 more Judgments come, called the Bowl Judgments. In other words, all of God's Judgments are contained within the Seals of the title deed of the earth. It is important to note that Jesus Himself breaks each Seal and is therefore the one administering Judgment through the castrophies described throughout Revelation. After the Judgments are over, Jesus returns to redeem and reclaim the earth back that Adam lost at the fall.

This all ties into the purpose of Daniel's 70 weeks. Recall that the purpose of the Tribulation is to punish the iniquity of Israel and God's enemies. God's Wrath to punish His enemies is accomplished through the twenty-one Judgments discussed above. We also discussed that the dispensations of Grace and Judgment cannot work concurrently. The following verses confirm why the Church will not be here.

1 Thessalonians 5:9-10 For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him.

Revelation 3:10 Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.

Psalm 27:5 For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion; In the secret place of His tabernacle He shall hide me; He shall set me high upon a rock.

Isaiah 26:20-21 Come, my people, enter your chambers, And shut your doors behind you; Hide yourself, as it were, for a little moment, Until the indignation is past. For behold, the LORD comes out of His place To punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity; The earth will also disclose her blood, And will no more cover her slain.

Zephaniah 2:3 Seek the LORD, all you meek of the earth, Who have upheld His justice. Seek righteousness, seek humility. It may be that you will be hidden In the day of the LORD's anger.

To summarize, God has promised His people that they will be saved from Wrath, they will be delivered from Wrath, they are not appointed to Wrath, they will be kept from the hour of trial that will test everyone on Earth, they will be hidden in the heavenly tabernacle in the time of trouble, they will be hidden until the indignation has passed where the Lord will punish everyone on Earth for their iniquity, and they will be hidden in the day of the Lord's anger. I just don't know how much clearer it can be that the Church will not be on Earth during the Tribulation, where God will be punishing everyone for their iniquity.

One final note to make in this section, is that some people try to categorize the Judgments in Revelation as "man's wrath" vs "God's Wrath" and therefore not all Judgments from God. As was pointed out, all twenty-one Judgments are initiated by Jesus and God Himself, therefore they are ALL the Wrath of God. While many of the sorrows in this world are caused by the "wrath of man", the Bible teaches that God has and does use man to carry out His Wrath. The whole book of Job shows that Satan cannot act out of God's will. Habakkuk 1 and Revelation 17 clearly show that God has and will carry out His Judgments through men.

Habakkuk 1:5-6 "Look among the nations and watch - Be utterly astounded! For I will work a work in your days Which you would not believe, though it were told you. For indeed I am raising up the Chaldeans, A bitter and hasty nation Which marches through the breadth of the earth, To possess dwelling places that are not theirs.

Revelation 17:15-17 Then he said to me, "The waters which you saw, where the harlot sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues. And the ten horns which you saw on the beast, these will hate the harlot, make her desolate and naked, eat her flesh and burn her with fire. For God has put it into their hearts to fulfill His purpose, to be of one mind, and to give their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God are fulfilled.

The 5th Seal martyrs:

Let's take a moment to further discuss the difference in the ways that God deals with the Church verses the believers in the Tribulation, who are commonly referred to as Tribulation Saints. As was established in our dispensation discussion, the blood of Christ has reconciled and sanctified the Church, making us righteous before God.

There is no need for the Church to make "reconciliation for iniquity" as will be the case in the dispensation of Judgment (Daniel 9:24). This does not mean that God doesn't punish the Church at all. In fact, the Bible teaches that God will chasten us as a loving father would his child to set us on the right path:

Hebrews 12:6-7 For whom the LORD loves He chastens, And scourges every son whom He receives." If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten?

Just as being disciplined by parents can be uncomfortable or painful, chastening from the Lord is no different. However, in the 5th Seal Judgment, we see early in the Tribulation how God will be dealing differently with believers than He did under Grace. This is beyond chastening:

Revelation 6:9-11 When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud voice, saying, "How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?" Then a white robe was given to each of them; and it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer, until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they were, was completed.

It's hard to believe that Jesus is not only allowing these believers to be slain, but that He initiated this Judgment on them Himself! This makes sense only in light of the purpose of the Tribulation: to make "reconciliation for iniquity" for Israel and God's enemies. At the moment of the rapture, everyone left behind will be an enemy of God. Those that have "to see to believe" as Thomas did in John 20, will lose out on the "blessed hope" (Titus 2:13) of the rapture. They will suffer the consequences as enemies of God for not repenting during the dispensation of God's Grace; for Paul says "now is the day of salvation":

2 Corinthians 6:1-2 We then, as workers together with Him also plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain. For He says:" In an acceptable time I have heard you, And in the day of salvation I have helped you." Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.

There is another difference between the Church and the Tribulation Saints. The Church is commanded to love and pray for our enemies:

Matthew 5:43-48 "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.

In contrast, we saw in the passage in Revelation 6 above, that the Tribulation Saints that have been martyred are not being rebuked for asking for vengeance on their enemies, because the time for judgment has come. Again we see a difference in the way God deals with believers in the dispensations of Grace and Judgment.

(Continue to Pre-Trib Part 2)