The resurrection of Old Testament Saints

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Apologist

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Originally posted by the focus

Now, 1Thessalonians 4:16

Verse 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.

The Old Testament Saints are waiting for the Kingdom age, when Christ comes back to set up His Kingdom for the millennium reign. They were not waiting for a Rapture

Are you implying that the O.T. saints are not "in Christ?"
That is not true.

God Bless
 
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Apologist

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Originally posted by the focus
Hello Apologist!




Not exactly. We know they (Old testament Saints) are not the "Bride" the Church is; they are not the Church. The Rapture, is Christ coming for his "Bride" (the Church) to save her (us) from His Wrath. Agreed?

I'm looking for serious Student's of scripture to dig into this one, as it does have alot of merit. This one puzzeled me for awhile, There are good men of God who hold this view.

The saints of thee old testament were looking for a messiah to come and reign and bring in a "Kingdom". This is why they wanted to be buried in the promised land. They are even, still waiting. Jesus establishes His Kingdom after the Trib. Then they are raised with resurrection bodys (that's a whole other subject to, maybe later) and enter the Kingdom to be a kingdom of preists.

Your next Question would probably be "what do you think their not in heaven."

Yes, their in heaven in spiritual bodys, like moses, elijah & Jesus had at the transfiguration.


This help Apologist?

Sorry, I misunderstood the application of your statement. What you are proposing is taught and believed by many pre-trib theologians and believers, of which I am one.

God Bless
 
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Interesting topic, and fortunately one that I've studied. The OT people do have a seperate resurection, a general resurection of both saints and sinners. The feast parable in Luke 14 describes this event. You are correct in your assessment that the 'rapture' is Christ coming for the 'bride'. Other groups of believers are described in relation to Christ and the bride, the example that comes to mind is Jesus describing the disciples as 'friends of the bridegroom', when He explains why they don't fast (Luk 5:34). It has occured to me that there may be a distinction between Jews and Gentiles in the marriage ceremony. Under OT law it is prohibited for a man to marry his mother (Jews being the 'mother' of Christ), and also Jesus' own instructions on not marrying a woman who has been divorced. Since the Jews are the divorced wife of God and the Mother of Jesus it seems reasonable that Jesus is prohibited from taking the Jews as wife. This would explain the group of people whom Jesus describes as ten virgins who are waiting for the bridegroom (matt 5:25). They could possibly be Jews who believe in Jesus as the messiah. I guess they would be the equivalent of modern day bridesmaids.

Back to Luke 14 and the feast parable. This reminds me of the wedding feast, and if so would occur shortly after the 'rapture', this matches the parable given in Matt 22 and I believe they are simply different versions of the same parable, and the Matthew account gives the time period as the marriage supper of the Son. The key to the passage in Luke is the word 'highways' which if you have an older strong's concordance shows it is a composite word that is used only in this one instance in the bible. The composite word is made up of two words that could be translated 'among the dead'. If we see the 'certain man' as God, his 'servants' as angels, and 'highways' as dead people it is easier to see this as the OT resurection. Since the dead in Christ have already risen to be the bride (you don't invite the bride to her wedding) and wicked dead waiting until the after the 1000 year reign then we don't have many options left to choose from. That this feast is also a judgement is brought out in Matthew 22 and is obviously a general resurection where both the bad and good are brought in and then judged by their wedding garment.

So, to finish up, the OT people do not rise as part of the 'rapture' but shortly afterward. They are in a general resurection of both the bad and good, and receive judgment before Christ returns to earth to rule as king.
 
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postrib

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I believe the resurrection and changing of all those in Christ into their immortal bodies will occur at a single point in time, at the "last trump" (1 Corinthians 15:52), at the 2nd coming of Christ (1 Corinthians 15:23), and that this is why it says "the first resurrection" will also include all of us Christians who will die in the tribulation (Revelation 20:4-5).

I believe the OT saints weren't yet part of the church (compare Matthew 16:18, Luke 7:28) because they died before the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. But I believe that after the resurrection Jesus went and preached to them (1 Peter 3:18-19, 4:6) and led them up into heaven with him (Ephesians 4:8-10). I believe the law was abolished on the cross, so that Christ was able to join the OT and NT saints into one body (Ephesians 2:12-19, 4:4-6). Now all believers are after the cross.

I believe that before the OT saints died they were saved as much as was possible before the cross and resurrection had been accomplished. "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad" (John 8:56). "They drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ" (1 Corinthians 10:4). "These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.. they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city... Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt" (Hebrews 11:13, 16, 25-26).


http://www.geocities.com/postrib/
 
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