The only time when we would need to be taken off of the earth is when the entire earth is burned up when Christ returns (
2 Peter 3:10-13). There is nothing anywhere in scripture to indicate that we would need to be taken off of the earth years before that.
That is what the book of Revelation is all about. Revelation shows those who leave this earth during the 42 months given to Satan and the FP, are people who leave earth by being beheaded. No where is a rapture even mentioned. Yet the Lamb appears at the 6th Seal years before this 42 month period, or months. Who can know? Only God knows when He and the Lamb are going to remove all spiritual blindness at the Second Coming. If the Lamb is already seen by all of humanity, it is prior to the 42 months, not after the 42 months. But then again you refuse John's chronology, and make up your own to fit your eschatological bias.
Do you think all will be destroyed immediately or will actually see God before they are decieved, without hope?
"For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works."
Paul claims all will see God, not just the Lamb at the Second Coming. So does John:
"And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the
face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?"
The church teaches the Second Coming is for the church, but that is not the whole picture. At the Second Coming all will see both God on the GWT, and the Lamb. The Trumpets and Thunders are still the wrath of the Lamb and God, not just the 7 vials 42 months later. You all want to lump this event into a few seconds, except there is no 42 month warning for the Second Coming, as many teach. It will be sudden and without warning, and the only sign will be war, and Jesus Christ appearing to rescue Jerusalem, not the church. The church only gets to leave as Christ is coming down to rescue Jerusalem. The church is not in trouble, Israel is. Zechariah 14:2-4
"For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle. And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south."
Not sure how one can deny this is the Second Coming. Now add 2 Peter 3, to the mix, because Zechariah did not mention the fire, but there is only one Second Coming that is for the church, to rescue Israel, and bring The Lamb and angels to earth for the final harvest. But the heavens will be different:
"And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark: But it shall be one day which shall be known to the Lord, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light."
When the heavens are rolled back like a scroll, heaven will change. The works of man will be burned up. The angels will come to earth, symbolized by the stars falling like fig leaves on a windy day. Of course the sky is going to be different after all the stars are on earth instead of in the firmament. But the final harvest is about to happen.
The final harvest is not a secret. It will be going on, on earth, and the whole world will watch it take place. But it is still not the GWT event of Revelation 20, because there is no Jerusalem to protect at the GWT, appearing sans heaven and earth. Only the dead dead appear at the GWT. At the Second Coming the living dead will still be on earth. The angels still have to carry out the final harvest, even before Satan and the FP get their 42 months, and "saints" on earth are beheaded. Ironically, they are only saints after their physical resurrection.
How can this symbolize the rapture or Second Coming:
"Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus. And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write,
Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them. And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle."
There is no rapture nor Second Coming inferred in these verses. So they have to physically die to be Blessed. Sound familiar?
"And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God. And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints."
How did these saints overcome?
"And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them (the church), and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were
beheaded (saints on earth during the 42 months) for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years."
We were not even told they were beheaded until after the fact. But the only way they overcame was to be beheaded. How is this symbolic of a rapture and Second Coming event? It is not symbolic of 30AD, where you place these beheaded people who reign throughout your understanding of this 1000 year reign of Christ. They died after the Second Coming. Yet you claim they were resurrected in the first century. Your recap starts when Satan was bound, just prior to these beheaded saints being resurrected in the first century. The only way we know these people were beheaded because they refused to take the mark and worship the beast is in the middle of this chapter you claim starts in the first century. No other verse in Revelation points out these saints were even beheaded. They were resurrected 1000 years prior to this event:
"And
when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog, and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. And they went up on the breadth of the earth,
and compassed the camp of the saints about, and
the beloved city."
How can you interpret these verses to show a resurrection
did not happen 1000 years prior to Satan loosed to decieve these saints who were resurrected 1000 years earlier? Other than John the Baptist, who else was beheaded, who sang the song of Moses,
and after the Second Coming. These beheaded resurrected saints were after Jesus reaped the final harvest. Remember: Revelation 14, just prior to the winepress event?
"And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name. Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus. And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord
from henceforth."
Henceforth from the Cross, or Henceforth from the Second Coming?
