II Thess.2: 7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.
8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
This is an outline of what will take place in the ends day. It seems that the antichrist will not appear in person until, as verse seven suggests, someone is taken out the way. Now that has been juxtaposed with the teaching of the catching away of the Bride of Christ, generally referred to as the rapture. So it seems as though the antichrist will not be revealed until the church has been caught up to be with Christ.
Let me unpack this event called the rapture of the church. At a time known only to God that father, a voice from heaven will call and a sound of the trumpet will sound.
I Cor.15: 51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
Yes, this is a great mystery but a truth nonetheless. When this trumpet sounds, and according to Revelation chapter four, the voice commands, all the dead in Christ shall rise and all the living in Christ will be translated into heaven.
I Thess.4: 15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
So everyone who died in Jesus Christ and everyone who lives in Jesus Christ will be gathered together in the air and go to meet the Lord Himself. This is no fable although to the natural mind it seems like a fairy tale. It is a soon coming event. What did these people do to earn such a reward? Nothing, it is all by God’s grace because they placed their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And this is no prophetic guess because Paul reinforces the authority by saying “For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord”. This event will take place and all indications suggest it may come soon. Many get incensed about when the rapture will take place. Before the tribulation period or in the middle or at the end are the usual positions. My position lenas toward before or the middle, but my main position is that everyone should prepare for the event rather than argue about the chronology.
In the Jewish culture a man became engaged to a woman and all things were overseen by the parents. The bridegroom was to begin preparing a pace for he and His bride to live, but because he may be tempted to erect some quick lean-to and go get the bride, the father alone would set the time when his son could go and get his bride. The bride would be ready at all times, and especially at night time since midnight was a favorite time. When the groom's father said his son could go get his bride, the groom took some of his family and frineds and went to the bride's house.
When they came to withing sight of the bride's house, they often would blow a trumpet to anounce their coming and someone would yell out, "The bridegroom cometh!" The Bride might go to the door to meet the entourage and her brodegroom, and they would go to the place that had been prepared. For the next seven days they would hold a celebration called the wedding feast. Now I am no expert here, but you can get the general picture as it pertains to the rapture. Jesus, God's Son, will return for His Bride. With a trumpet and the voice of the archangle, He will come and sweep us away into the place He has been preparing and for seven years wll will enjoy a celestial wedding feast.
But I want to look at II Thess.2: 10-12. These verses are very serious and very troubling. This suggests that everyone who has heard the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ will not be given a second chance after this rapture takes place. And it reveals that God will send the deception upon them. As an aside, for all you “total depravity” people out there these verses confront your theology. Why would God have to send totally depraved people who could never believed without God granting them faith through irresistible grace, why would God have to deceive them? The reformed theology teaches that no sinner can believe on Jesus unless God allows him to believe. This scenario countermands such a theology.
But what a serious warning. Any sinner who has rejected the gospel will be damned forever, even after the rapture while others who have not heard might believe. Does that not make the admonition of Scripture which says “Today if you will believe” all that more important? This is no game of tidily-winks. This is of eternal seriousness. The eternal destiny of immortal souls hang in the balance. This is not the time to place it on the shelf and “mull it over”. This is the time to look deep into your heart and hear the voice of the Spirit as He lifts up Jesus. The church has so often given lost souls hope of a post-rapture chance to believe and be saved. But no one can say that is for sure the case, No one. Can anyone be saved after the rapture of the church? Yes, but it seems it will be many Jews and people who have not heard and rejected the gospel.
The end is rapidly closing, and all who have heard must extricate themselves from the valley of indecision. The evil one knows his time is short and he is deceiving millions of fools who have leveraged their eternal souls on the sinking sand of this temporal life. Go ahead, continue thinking this is some kind of religious fable. That is what many felt about the prophetic overtures concerning the first coming of Christ. They were wrong, and so will be millions when He comes again. But many live with the thought that even if the believers are removed and it becomes clear that the end is here, that perhaps they will have another chance.
That hope is paper thin and just may be the greatest deception of all.
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6 comments:
A note about that trumpet...
There are some things in Scripture that I believe God did not make crystal clear since it is not the focus we should have. As I said, the chronology is a topic of interest however the event itself is the main course.
God gave us our orders, we are not to waver either left or right, to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We are to be like a watchman in a tower, like a guard protecting those that are weaker than us. We can carry out those orders only under the blood of Jesus, He who strengthens us. Jesus is siempre fidelis, we should be the same to Him. I do not want to have to give an answer as to why I did not warn others, that are outside of Christ Jesus, about the impending doom. We need to running towards the battle not fleeing from it.
Joel
After being introduced by a present day ministry to the writings of Irenaeus, a second generation disciple of the Apostle John by way of Polycarp, and Hippolytus, a disciple of Irenaeus, their writings demonstrating that the Early Church was delivered a far more unified, coherent, and comprehensive Teaching of the Scriptures than the subsequent "maybe this, maybe that" myopia that those who have considered themselves Teachers since could have ever dreamed of, I don't know which is more sobering; the fact that the majority of Christians today are happy to believe completely contradictory doctrines to what Irenaeus and Hippolytus writings indicate the Early Church believed, especially in regards to the Time of the End, or the complete apathy/outright rejection that so many professing Christians demonstrate when they are given an opportunity today to clear up the confusion.
What should give every Believer pause in the first passage you referenced is Paul clearly testifying that God Himself will be sending the delusion to ALL who have no love for Truth. We can assume that doesn't mean "us", but Satan certainly prefers the nonchalance and lack of sobriety such an attitude demonstrates. The fact that John's witness in Revelation 22:18-19 is a clear warning long ignored stands out clearly.
You are absolutely right Rick, we are not to speculate about what we don't know, rather, God expects us to stand firm in what we ARE sure of. God promised to restore the unified understanding the Early Church received, before the "great and fearful day of The Lord", to withstand the worldwide delusion already at work. The question for those who still retain a healthy fear of our Savior; will we recognize God's work when we are presented with it, or will we arrogantly rely on our own "leanings" (traditions and/or personal insight)? Perhaps our response will indicate our love of the Truth that Christ is?
In Him,
Chris
In modern times, the matter is not crystal clear. But before Dispensationalism came in the early-mid 1800s, the church understood that,
"These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world."
(John 16:33)
Dispensationalism quickly found fertile ground in the United States where the message of escaping suffering in the end times resonated in a nation built on emphasizing earthly freedoms and prosperity.
When Zionism began moving in earnest in the late 1800s and early 1900s, Dispensationalists cast aside the gospel and commands of Christ because the end-times teaching was centered on "Israel".
If the Bible is not clear enough (and "the last trumpet" really is very clear), looking at the fruit of Dispensationalism speaks volumes. When you look at evangelical Christianity losing focus on the gospel, chasing after prosperity and trying to gain God's favor by "standing with Israel", you will find Dispensationalism there underneath most of the time. Darby first "saw" his theory when he "understood" the distinction of the church and Israel. These things are what happens when man puts asunder what God has joined in Christ.
For a great, in depth teaching on the rapture, go watch this:
Kim
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