Post by New Titania (TD) on Aug 11, 2005 2:22:25 GMT -5
The End of the World. A scary thought, huh? You hear rumors of the horrible happenings that will come to pass in the last days. You hear of the Great Tribulation, and you hear of the last war of the world. You hear of the Antichrist, the rise of the devil, and the second coming of our Lord. You hear different theories on the rapture, some saying there's none at all.
What I am about to say to you, I feel has been impressed upon my heart by the Holy Spirit. Let me start by saying that this is what I believe is going to happen. My views may change in the future, yours may already differ from mine, but I feel the need to offer my views on the Glorious Times. One thing is for certain, though, He is coming again, and we must always prepare for Him.
I don't like the term, "The End Times"...because what will come to pass is FAR from the end...it's just the beginning of His glorious reign forever. Praise the Lord!
I will first state to you that the rapture (a word which is never used in the Bible) and the second coming are two different events. However, to be completely frank, there is evidence that they are one and the same. In 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 it says "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." This verse is one of the leading verses in support of the rapture of Christ's church (His church being anyone who truly has Jesus in their heart, whether they are Catholic, Evangelical, etc.)
I believe that this rapture, when we meet Jesus in the air, will happen before the Great Tribulation and before the Antichrist is even revealed. 2 Thessalonians 2:7-8 says, "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." You may be thinking..."Ok, well, who is He?" "He" is the church. It was common practice when Thesselonians was written to reffer to the church as "He" since we (the church) are Christ's body. It is done throughout Matthew and other books of the Bible as well. What the above verse says is that we, who now restrain the evil forces of the world will be taken out of the way (raptured) and then the "lawless one" (the Antichrist) will be revealed. I've heard some argue that once we're raptured, those who remain on the Earth "won't miss us." I doubt it. WE are the ones who keep evil at bay. Think about it...if every Christian was taken off the world at THIS second, what would the world be like? Well, when that world is being ruled by the evil Antichrist, it will not be a pretty sight.
So, what's going to happen to the church once we've been raptured? Well, first we're going to receive our glorified bodies, as that which Jesus received after His resurrection. In 1 Corinthians 15:35-49, it talks about the Glorified bodies that we will receive. Verse 46: "However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural [body] and afterward the spiritual [body]." Since we will be raptured, we will not experience the sting of death, but we will be delivered from it! When we die, we receive our glorified body, but in the rapture, we will receive our bodies in the "twinkling of an eye." (1 Corinthians 15:52). What will this glorified body look like? Well, it's going to look like your former body, but it will be free of blemishes. That's right! NO PIMPLES! In verse 43 and 44 of 1 Corinth. 15, it says "It [the body] is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. As Jesus said in Luke 24:39, after receiving His glorified body, "Behold, My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself, Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have." I believe that when we receive our glorified bodies, we will still be able to eat, etc, but won't need to stay alive.
While we're having the TIME OF OUR LIVES in heaven, those who remain on Earth will not. I believe that the great tribulation will be the time for the reconciliation of Israel, God's chosen people. As you probably know, many Jews, and, to my knowledge, most of Israel, rejects Jesus as the Son of God or their Messiah. Jeremiah 30:5-7, "For thus saith 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 manm 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.'" (emphasis added.) The world, led by the Antichrist will then make war upon Israel. Ezekiel 38 goes into detail with the nature of these attacks. In these scriptures, it is often believed that "Gog" (yes, with a "g" at the end) is the Antichrist. Likewise, the Northern King mentioned in Daniel 11 is called by some the Antichrist. Now, when making the statement that the Northern King is the Antichrist, I use Isaiah 14:13 (which I've never heard anyone else use to make this argument). In the verse, Lucifer (the devil) says, "I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north." I won't go into much more of the tribulation period (to be honest, I haven't quite figured it out myself), and I will leave the judgements to your own interperetation. I would like to make a note on the two witnesses mentioned in Revelation 11 before I conclude this section. I believe that those two witnesses (who will be given great power and will be on the Earth for fourty-two months) are Enoch and Elijah. I believe that they God took them up to Heaven when they escaped the sting of death, but that they never have received their glorified bodies, since they've never died. God's been taking care of them for the past few thousands of years, but they haven't gone from the natural body to the glorified (in my view.) Thus, they will return to earth and preach to the people and be hated by the populace. Those who try to kill them will die, and they will be given control over the weather, and many, many other things to prove their points. Then, after their time is spent, they will be killed by the Antichrist. Their bodies will lay in the street for three and a half days, and then they will be resurrected in their glorified bodies. They will then ascend to heaven.
The tribulation will not claim the death of Israel, however, praise God! In Romans 11:26-27 it says, "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 convenant with them, when I take away their sins.'" Israel will then become the leading nation that will preach the gospel to those who have survived the tribulation.
The following is perhaps the greatest of the Glorious Times...The 1,000 Year Reign! This is where Christ will come again (the second coming) and we (His saints) will come with him. He will come riding a white horse, and he will crush the Antichrist. Halleluijah, and the world shall become perfect, as it was before Adam fell! The lamb need no longer be afraid of the wolf, nor the child of the cobra, for the land will be perfect. Those who lived through the Tribulation will be living with us in the 1,000 year reign. Some argue that when these people die, they will receive their Glorified body (for at this time, they're still in their natural body) some say that they will live eternally in their naturally body, as for myself, I have not quite made up my mind. We (all who have ever lived for Christ) will rule with Christ in Jerusalem in a literal Kingdom which will cover the whole earth.
.
After this, the devil will be let loose upon the earth for a season, but Jesus will defeat him, and the Earth will be physically changed and engulfed with fire. Rather than creating a new planet Earth, God has decided to change the one we've got. He's then going to change his headquarters, basically, from Heaven to New Jerusalem. And it is in New Jerusalem where we will live and reign with Christ eternally forever and ever, with no end. Pause for a moment and think of this. FOREVER! We will be with our Lord and Savior beyond the end of time....with no end.....forever.
THAT is why there are no "End Times"....but only "Glorious Times" for we who believe. We'll be with God forever....
What I am about to say to you, I feel has been impressed upon my heart by the Holy Spirit. Let me start by saying that this is what I believe is going to happen. My views may change in the future, yours may already differ from mine, but I feel the need to offer my views on the Glorious Times. One thing is for certain, though, He is coming again, and we must always prepare for Him.
I don't like the term, "The End Times"...because what will come to pass is FAR from the end...it's just the beginning of His glorious reign forever. Praise the Lord!
I will first state to you that the rapture (a word which is never used in the Bible) and the second coming are two different events. However, to be completely frank, there is evidence that they are one and the same. In 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 it says "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." This verse is one of the leading verses in support of the rapture of Christ's church (His church being anyone who truly has Jesus in their heart, whether they are Catholic, Evangelical, etc.)
I believe that this rapture, when we meet Jesus in the air, will happen before the Great Tribulation and before the Antichrist is even revealed. 2 Thessalonians 2:7-8 says, "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." You may be thinking..."Ok, well, who is He?" "He" is the church. It was common practice when Thesselonians was written to reffer to the church as "He" since we (the church) are Christ's body. It is done throughout Matthew and other books of the Bible as well. What the above verse says is that we, who now restrain the evil forces of the world will be taken out of the way (raptured) and then the "lawless one" (the Antichrist) will be revealed. I've heard some argue that once we're raptured, those who remain on the Earth "won't miss us." I doubt it. WE are the ones who keep evil at bay. Think about it...if every Christian was taken off the world at THIS second, what would the world be like? Well, when that world is being ruled by the evil Antichrist, it will not be a pretty sight.
So, what's going to happen to the church once we've been raptured? Well, first we're going to receive our glorified bodies, as that which Jesus received after His resurrection. In 1 Corinthians 15:35-49, it talks about the Glorified bodies that we will receive. Verse 46: "However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural [body] and afterward the spiritual [body]." Since we will be raptured, we will not experience the sting of death, but we will be delivered from it! When we die, we receive our glorified body, but in the rapture, we will receive our bodies in the "twinkling of an eye." (1 Corinthians 15:52). What will this glorified body look like? Well, it's going to look like your former body, but it will be free of blemishes. That's right! NO PIMPLES! In verse 43 and 44 of 1 Corinth. 15, it says "It [the body] is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. As Jesus said in Luke 24:39, after receiving His glorified body, "Behold, My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself, Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have." I believe that when we receive our glorified bodies, we will still be able to eat, etc, but won't need to stay alive.
While we're having the TIME OF OUR LIVES in heaven, those who remain on Earth will not. I believe that the great tribulation will be the time for the reconciliation of Israel, God's chosen people. As you probably know, many Jews, and, to my knowledge, most of Israel, rejects Jesus as the Son of God or their Messiah. Jeremiah 30:5-7, "For thus saith 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 manm 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.'" (emphasis added.) The world, led by the Antichrist will then make war upon Israel. Ezekiel 38 goes into detail with the nature of these attacks. In these scriptures, it is often believed that "Gog" (yes, with a "g" at the end) is the Antichrist. Likewise, the Northern King mentioned in Daniel 11 is called by some the Antichrist. Now, when making the statement that the Northern King is the Antichrist, I use Isaiah 14:13 (which I've never heard anyone else use to make this argument). In the verse, Lucifer (the devil) says, "I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north." I won't go into much more of the tribulation period (to be honest, I haven't quite figured it out myself), and I will leave the judgements to your own interperetation. I would like to make a note on the two witnesses mentioned in Revelation 11 before I conclude this section. I believe that those two witnesses (who will be given great power and will be on the Earth for fourty-two months) are Enoch and Elijah. I believe that they God took them up to Heaven when they escaped the sting of death, but that they never have received their glorified bodies, since they've never died. God's been taking care of them for the past few thousands of years, but they haven't gone from the natural body to the glorified (in my view.) Thus, they will return to earth and preach to the people and be hated by the populace. Those who try to kill them will die, and they will be given control over the weather, and many, many other things to prove their points. Then, after their time is spent, they will be killed by the Antichrist. Their bodies will lay in the street for three and a half days, and then they will be resurrected in their glorified bodies. They will then ascend to heaven.
The tribulation will not claim the death of Israel, however, praise God! In Romans 11:26-27 it says, "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 convenant with them, when I take away their sins.'" Israel will then become the leading nation that will preach the gospel to those who have survived the tribulation.
The following is perhaps the greatest of the Glorious Times...The 1,000 Year Reign! This is where Christ will come again (the second coming) and we (His saints) will come with him. He will come riding a white horse, and he will crush the Antichrist. Halleluijah, and the world shall become perfect, as it was before Adam fell! The lamb need no longer be afraid of the wolf, nor the child of the cobra, for the land will be perfect. Those who lived through the Tribulation will be living with us in the 1,000 year reign. Some argue that when these people die, they will receive their Glorified body (for at this time, they're still in their natural body) some say that they will live eternally in their naturally body, as for myself, I have not quite made up my mind. We (all who have ever lived for Christ) will rule with Christ in Jerusalem in a literal Kingdom which will cover the whole earth.
.
After this, the devil will be let loose upon the earth for a season, but Jesus will defeat him, and the Earth will be physically changed and engulfed with fire. Rather than creating a new planet Earth, God has decided to change the one we've got. He's then going to change his headquarters, basically, from Heaven to New Jerusalem. And it is in New Jerusalem where we will live and reign with Christ eternally forever and ever, with no end. Pause for a moment and think of this. FOREVER! We will be with our Lord and Savior beyond the end of time....with no end.....forever.
THAT is why there are no "End Times"....but only "Glorious Times" for we who believe. We'll be with God forever....
But you're right about the witnessing. That's why we have the Ministry Campaign- to tell others on NS about Jesus before its too late!