Adarian

Hi JC. In the letter to the angel of the church in Philadelphia, the Lord mentions in verse 9 those who say they are Jews, and are not, indicating that the letter is to the believing Jews of the church in Philadelphia. Verse ten makes the promise quoted above. This gets a bit detailed, but here goes: Revelation 12: Satan and his horde are cast out of heaven. When he sees this, he persecutes "the woman which brought forth the man child." [Christ] The woman here is the nation of Israel. vs 14: The woman is given the wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent. vs 17: And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, [the gentile christians] which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. Revelation 13: Here we see the appearing of the antichrist [the beast who rises out of the sea]. vs 5: "and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months". {Note here chapter 11, vs 3: And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.} Revelation 13, vs 7: And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to OVERCOME THEM: and power was given him over ALL kindreds, and tongues, and nations. Matthew 24, vs 15-21: When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes................vs 19, 20,...............For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. Romans 9, vs 6: ".....For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel:" The course of events here is this: The antichrist walks into the temple when Satan sees that he is cast out of heaven, and creates the abomination of desolation which he will stand in the holy place, and commences with the killing of jews. The CHRISTIAN jews will be given a special dispensation of protection in the wilderness where they will be nourished and protected for a time, times and half a time, [rev 3:10] until the words of God are fulfilled. But they will have to flee for their lives in great haste, hence the warning about winter, and pregnancy, and women with suckling infants. When Satan sees that the believing jews have escaped him he will turn upon the gentile christians. The protected jews will take part in the catching away, but will not have to face the temptation of "worship the beast or die." [The hour of temptation that will come upon all the earth] Unbelieving jews will not escape, because not all Israel is Israel. A time=one year. Times=two years, and half a time=half a year. A time, times, and half a time are equal to 1260 days, which are in turn equal to forty and two months, these all being based upon the Jewish calendar of twelve equal months of thirty days each. The two witnesses will witness for God, being invincible during the time of their testimony, amidst this great slaughter of the saints of God. The time of the antichrist, the time of protection of the believing jews, and the time of the two witnesses are concurrent events. I believe, but can't at this time offer proof, that the two witnesses will be taken up to God at the time of the rapture. On a side note, understand that Jesus Christ is not yet in Jerusalem, in his resurrection body, ruling over the earth in physically present form. Therefore, neither has the rapture yet occurred, because we the believers are not yet in our own God given resurrection bodies ruling over the earth as servants of Christ. Nor yet have we attended the marriage supper of the lamb. Never in history has any one man had absolute rule over All nations, peoples, and tongues of the entire earth as the antichrist will have for his allotted "forty and two months." Be assured that these things are yet to come. Understand that If the rapture had already occured, every person on earth would know that Jesus was in Jerusalem in person, handing out immediate justice via his holy angels and his body of resurrected servants. Grace and peace to all who believe. Let us love one another, for the time is at hand.

Hi Dad Ernie, I'm new here and haven't had time to read much, but I will try to catch up. I have been caught up in sorting out the end time sequence of events since my first day as a believer. There are so many "camps" that I devoted much time to "bible" study to get the facts. Glad that I did. Hi also gypc, There is a very nice drawing board in the form of Revelation, chapter 19, where we are given a neat chronology of events. vs 7,8: The Bride, [ the raptured church] vs 9: The marriage supper. [The seals, the seven angels with the seven trumpets, and the destruction of Babylon occur while the saints are at the supper.] vs 11-16: The Lord Christ and His armies dressed in fine linen, white and clean, upon white horses. vs 17-21: Armageddon. vs 21: This is where we can insert Joel chapter 2 from "idied2's" post. Greetings idied2. Nice post. Joel 2 has been one of my favorite prophetic scriptures since I answered the call of the Lord and received Him as the savior of my soul. Grace and peace.

Nicely said, Eve. Indeed, I have found a most excellent board here. Hello fellow believers. I think of the great tribulation as the time between antichrist calling himself god, and the Lord Christ taking his church off the earth. Therefore I would be a post tribber, as it were. And Pre wrath. But, because I am late for work (but it is flexible) all I have time for is to share a chuckle. A man was asked if he were a pre or post tribber. He replied "what a pre post erous question." A friend jokingly refers to himself as a pan tribber. "It will all pan out in the end." Grace to all who believe.

Hello oliveoil (Dad Ernie, you posted your reply to oliveoil as I was composing this, I wasn't trying to over write or "one up" on you. Greetings to you as well) Here's the cold hard scoop on the "catching away/gathering together", as it is callled in the bible, or the rapture as christians like to call it. The foundational scriptures that open the door to understanding are: Revelation, chapter 20, and 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. (I won't copy them here, just read it) wherein we find that there are to be two resurrections, and only two. The first for the righteous, who will rule upon the earth with Jesus for a thousand years, this being popularly called the millenial rule. The second resurrection is for the condemned who rejected the Lord Christ as God and Savior. This one happens after the thousand year rule. It is superlatively, crucially important that readers of the bible understand verse 4, which says that a great many people who did NOT worship the beast, nor take his mark or the number of his name, were killed for their faith, took part in the first resurrection and "lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years." Now to 1 Thessalonians, Chapter 4, verses 14,15,16,17. Here we see that ALL of the dead in Christ "shall rise FIRST", "Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together WITH THEM in the clouds." It is clearly apparent that the resurrection of the righteous dead occurs immediately prior to the catching away, (rapture). It is also clearly apparent that a great many of those who take part in the first resurrection are murdered by the antichrist and his hordes of deceived men who agreed to receive the mark of the beast. It is exceeding important to understand that the rapture cannot occur before the first resurrection. All other scenarios are herecy. The grand overview (which I cannot explain in detail here because it would require a thick book) is this: A seven year peace treaty will be signed by the nation Israel and her enemies, this is confirmed by the man who will be identified as the antichrist. Precisely on the twelve hundred and sixtieth day into this treaty, the antichrist will walk into a yet to be built third temple located on the foundation of Solomon's, and declare himself to be god. He will cancel the daily sacrifice and erect an image to himself. (This is "the abomination of desolation, spoken of by the prophet Daniel") He will cause all whose names are not written in the book of life to receive the mark of the beast, murdering all who refuse it. Many millions of saints will die in this "tribulation". Immediately AFTER the "tribulation of those days" the first resurrection will occur, then the rapture will occur, and all the saints of all of history will join Jesus at the marriage supper of the lamb. Instantly upon the removal of the body of believers (the church) from the earth, the wrath of God will be poured out upon the earth by his holy angels. See Luke chapter 21: As in the days of Noah, as in the days of Lot. In both of these instances, destruction followed abruptly upon the righteous being made safe. All of the judgements of revelation happen while the saints are at the marriage supper. After much death and destruction, men of the earth will be gathered together in the valley of Megiddo on the plains of Armageddon, [200 million of them] and the last war will begin, causing blood to flow to the depth of the horses bridles for 180 miles. At the height of this battle, Jesus and his entire church will appear in the heavens on white horses. Every eye shall see him. The men of the battle will turn their weapons upon Christ, attempting to war with him, but The Lord Christ will speak, and all of those men upon the earth who are wearing the mark of the beast will be struck dead and thrown into hell, along with the beast and the false prophet. Jesus Christ will set foot upon the mount of olives and it will split in two. He will then enter the temple through the east gate and take his throne upon the earth, which he and his saints will rule with a rod of iron. I feel that I should note here that God is not a man that he should lie, nor does he get confused and contradict himself. All scriptures that speak of a particular topic absolutely must agree with each other. If there appears to be a contradiction, our understanding is faulty and we must reexamine our thoughts. If you have questions to ask me, it will be several days to a couple of weeks before I may get back to you because I work away from home and will be heading out in the morning. The Lord God Most High bless you.