HOW CLOSE ARE WE TO THE RAPTURE OF THE CHURCH?

I believe it is very close, otherwise the Anti-Messiah cannot appear on the world scene and the Seven Year Peace Treaty cannot be issued and signed by him!

In my previous post, I have explained why I believe in the Pre-Tribulation Rapture of the Church. If you haven’t read it, just click “SHOULD BELIEVERS GO THROUGH JACOB’S TROUBLE (TRIBULATION)?” listed in the recent posts.

Most of the renowned bible scholars do believe in Pre-Tribulation Rapture of the Church; Hal Lindsey, the late Grant Jeffery, John Ankerberg, the late Dave Hunt, etc. etc.

But, we can always find different views from other groups of bible scholars. So let us begin our study by watching this short video from History Channel:

You will please note that the interviewee hangs his theory on the one verse: Acts 3:21 (20″…and that He may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you) [21] whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time.”

In his opinion, the Lord Jesus is unable to leave heaven before “…the period of restoration of all things.”

I, for one, can never accept a one-verse based argument, especially when the whole hypothesis is not fully supported in the scripture. Having said that, let us look contextually where that particular quoted verse is buried:

Acts 3:11-26 Peter’s Second Sermon
[11] While he (lame beggar healed) was clinging to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them at the so-called portico of Solomon, full of amazement. [12] But when Peter saw this, he replied to the people, “Men of Israel, why are you amazed at this, or why do you gaze at us, as if by our own power or piety we had made him walk? [13] “The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified His servant Jesus, the one whom you delivered and disowned in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release Him…

Note: For the sake of brevity, I will jump to the near closing section of Peter’s sermon.

[19] “Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord; [20] and that He may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you, [21] whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time. [22] “Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brethren; to Him you shall give heed to everything He says to you. [23] ‘And it will be that every soul that does not heed that prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people…’

How in the world can someone point to that one point statement and worked it through to a post-Tribulation rapture theory? It is a part of Peter’s sermon to the Jews who witnessed a miraculous healing of a lame beggar. I would suggest that verse 21 is only one of the way for Peter to testify of where the Lord Jesus was ruling, until verse 23 is accomplished and then He will come down to rule in “New” Jerusalem after the Tribulation period is over. But is He tied to His throne in heaven? No!

To begin with, Peter did not say the Lord Jesus is currently tied in heaven, he only said that “the heaven must receive Him!” The Lord is always in control. If what Peter said is true, then, what about the time He came down to call Paul (Shaul of Tarsus) in the middle of the day on the road to Damascus? Did He not leave His heaven for awhile to talk to Paul and Ananias? Once again, is He not God that He was chained or imprisoned in heaven?

Granted, I am not counted as a bible scholar, but if you follow through my rambling to the end, you will understand why. Also, the scripture says in 1 Corinthians 1: The Wisdom of God [19] For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, And the cleverness of the clever I will set aside.” [20] Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?… [26] For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; [27] but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong…”

In this present age, God shows His love for all people, no matter what their background was; Muslim, Hindus, Buddhists, etc. Let me give you a master link about the Lord Jesus visits to confused Muslims:

And you can also copy and paste this link to watch threaded subject of Muslims converting to Christ. You can search for video which depict Muslims’ account of how the Lord Jesus appeared to them when they challenged Him to show Himself to them.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=AATFGfLPmqI&list=PL73F33569154EFA5E

Then the interviewee made a remark insinuating that the resurrection of all people who are dead throughout the ages!

To begin with, let us read the following:
1 Thessalonians 4:13-17 Those Who Died in Christ
[13] But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. [14] For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. [15] 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 not precede those who have fallen asleep. [16] For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. [17] Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.

Not all people who had died got resurrected at the time the Lord Jesus gathers His Church; only those who died in Christ; no Hindus, no Muslim, no unbelieving Jews, no atheist but only “dead” believers (His Church) got resurrected first. The Lord will meet us in the clouds which is still part of heavenly place. A lot of renowned scholars believe that the Church will be raptured.

It seems that what the Post-Tribulation adherents failed to grasp is, what does Tribulation really mean? It is a wrath of God upon the SINFUL men of the world; the unrepentant souls! Jews and gentiles without exception, for God is no respecter of person [Acts 10:34]!

Revelation 6: The Sixth Seal–Terror
[12] I looked when He broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood; [13] and the stars of the sky fell to the earth, as a fig tree casts its unripe figs when shaken by a great wind. [14] The sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. [15] Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains; [16] and they *said to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; [17] for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”

If tribulation is the wrath of God, why would He subject the Church who had been redeemed by the shed blood of His own begotten Son, to His wrath?
It does not make a bit of sense, does it?
What is the benefit of the Lord’s sacrificial death on the cross?
Tell us and tell me, please!

Some pointed to what the Lord Jesus told His disciple on Mount Olive as the Lord’s warning to His future followers or believers:

Matthew 24: Signs of Christ’s Return
[1] Jesus came out from the temple and was going away when His disciples came up to point out the temple buildings to Him. [2] And He said to them, “Do you not see all these things? Truly I say to you, not one stone here will be left upon another, which will not be torn down.” [3] As He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?” [4] And Jesus answered and said to them, “See to it that no one misleads you. [5] “For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will mislead many. [6] “You will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end. [7] “For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes. [8] “But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs.

Note: So, we are seeing “The Beginning of Birth Pangs” as predicted by our Lord Jesus in the passage quoted above.
As I have shared in my previous post: “BIRTH PAINS ACCELERATING PROPHETIC EVENTS MARCH 2013” and to avoid posting repetitive subject, I have not reported on any update on the catastrophic events. They are available from the internet.

[9] “Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name. [10] “At that time many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another. [11] “Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many. [12] “Because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold. [13] “But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved. [14] “This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.

Note: Most scholars accept the understanding that the Jews will experience another attempt to wipe them off the face of the earth, or another Holocaust.

Perilous Times
[15] “Therefore when you see the abomination of desolation which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), [16] then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains. [17] “Whoever is on the housetop must not go down to get the things out that are in his house. [18] “Whoever is in the field must not turn back to get his cloak. [19] “But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! [20] “But pray that your flight will not be in the winter, or on a Sabbath. [21] “For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will. [22] “Unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the Elect those days will be cut short. [23] “Then if anyone says to you, ‘Behold, here is the Christ,’ or ‘There He is,’ do not believe him. [24]”For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the Elect. [25] “Behold, I have told you in advance. [26] “So if they say to you, ‘Behold, He is in the wilderness,’ do not go out, or, ‘Behold, He is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe them.[27] “For just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes even to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be.

Note: If we want to be honest with ourselves, Jesus Messiah, in the quoted passage above, was not talking about the Church or the Elect. He referred to Anti-Messiah desecrating the Third Temple which has nothing to do with the Church if we are still present in this world. He even localized the people He warned, in Judea. And He in turn pointed to another sign of His intended audience, the Jews, to pray that their flight will not be on a Sabbath! [Please read also Luke 21]

Verse 22 talks about “for the sake of the Elect.” The bible shows us two groups of God’s people: the Elect and the Chosen. Does it prove that the “Elect” also have to go through the Tribulation? Let us read what the Lord Jesus revealed to Apostle John:

Revelation 7: 13-14 A Multitude from the Tribulation
Then one of the elders answered, saying to me,
“These who are clothed in the white robes, who are they, and where have they come from?”
I (John) said to him, “My lord, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

The multitude that John saw and was identified as “the ones who come out of the great tribulation” are none other than what the following verses disclosed:

Revelation 11:13 “And in that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell; seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.”
The rest or the remnant of the Jews who have the fear of the Lord and giving glory to the God of heaven and were saved! They are the remnant of Jews who survived the tribulation and repented.

Verse 23 above clinched the opinion that Jesus Messiah was really warning the Jews. In my past article entitled “WHO ARE STILL WAITING FOR THE MESSIAH? (I don’t mean the Mahdi of the other faith),” we find the Jews are more vulnerable to seek their long awaited Messiah or even king, a descendant of King David. They are, to this day, still waiting for His coming!

Now let us watch the following video presentation from John Ankerberg Show what the two scholars discussed about how close we are to the time to be raptured:

We are now seeing or reading news of strange happenings occurring throughout the world. While the people of the world are being baffled and terrified by the strange events and have no plausible explanation about them all, we, believers should be rejoicing.

But, are you sure you have what it takes to be raptured?

Read: DO WE HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO BE GATHERED TOGETHER (RAPTURED) WITH THE LORD JESUS CHRIST?

Here is the link:

http://wp.me/p3jyMk-8T 

Luke 21: The Return of Christ
[25] “There will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth dismay among nations, in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves, [26] men fainting from fear and the expectation of the things which are coming upon the world; for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. [27] “Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. [28] “But when these things begin to take place, straighten up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

When the Lord Jesus was born, we read a host of angels sang, giving glory to God.
Luke 2: Jesus’ Birth in Bethlehem
[10] But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; [11] for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. [12] “This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” [13] And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, [14] “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.”

Do you think that the angels will be silent concerning the Lord Jesus’ Second Coming? Let us hear the song of angels mysteriously recorded in the following video. I have already shared it once, but I will share it again so that we can truly absorb with joy and the gladness of heart, because the day of our gathering together with the Lord draws nearer and nearer with the passing of each day:

Do you know the Lord Jesus Christ? Have you accepted Him as your Lord and Saviour? Have you repented of your sins? Where do you think you stand when the trumpet is sounded?

Glory to God in the highest,

Aaron Halim