Butch. Thank you for your concerns. Actually you are 100% correct when you called me "Mr. Very Confident" and I thank you for doing that publicly!!!
I am completely and totally confident in the Word of God!!!!!
John 17:17......
"Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth."
The next time Jesus Comes is at The Rapture which is found in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18.........
" Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage one another with these words."
John 14:1-3 .......
“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.
THE RAPTURE CAME HAPPEN AT ANY MOMENT.
Revelation 3:3 .....
"Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; hold it fast, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you."
The Bible truth is that there is NO MENTION of the Church in the Revelation.
Why will there be a Rapture??????????
1 Thessalonians 5:9 .......
"For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ."
Revelation 3:10......
" Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come on the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth."
Now if you choose to NOT believe that the 1000 year rule of Christ then so be it. There is no reason to argue that with me as I did not write it in the Bible, I just read it.
Revelation 20:2-3
"And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and he threw him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he would not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed; after these things he must be released for a short time."
Revelation 20:7
"When the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison,"
Revelation 20:6
"Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years."
Revelation 20:4-5..........
"Then I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand; and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed. This is the first resurrection."
Now I must ask you, what other way could God have written those Scriptures that would allow you to better understand the word "ONE THOUSAND YEARS".
Second question would than have to be.....what is YOUR source of information or higher learning that has allowed YOU to change the meaning of the words "ONE THOUSAND YEARS".
A day is like a thousand years to the Lord. According to evolution the world was not created in 7,000 years! I have also shown you previous evidence of how the number "thousand" is used in the Bible-- to represent divine magnitude. I hope you do not also take the number 144,000 literally because in the very same chapter they are described as "numberless; a great multitude that no one could count" (Rev. 7:9). For someone who has "studied extensively" on this topic you are making the very amateur mistake of reading into Revelations LITERALLY.
You argue for a "secret rapture" but in the passage that YOU quoted Jesus tells us He will come with a "
loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the
trumpet call of God." Why warn the saints about tribulation if Jesus will rapture them up from it anyway? John introduces himself in Rev 1 as the church's "
brother and
partner in the tribulation". Jesus did not 'rapture' the martyrs from the destruction in 70AD and he will not 'rapture' any believers before Satan is loosed at the end of the millennia. Instead he tells us to "remain steadfast under trial, suffer a little while, be patient in tribulation, endure it, be constant in prayer, rejoice in our sufferings, have peace, count it all joy, and TRUST" (James 1:12, 1 Peter 5:10, Romans 12:12, John 16:33, James 1:2, Romans 5:3, Proverbs 3:5, Philippians 4:6).
1 Peter 4:12 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.
The NT prophecies are VERY CLEAR what will take place at Jesus' coming (the end of sin, corruption, death, the resurrection, judgment, and coming of the New Heavens and New Earth), but you wish to place a 1,000 YEAR GAP (where sin and death are rampant) between his coming and the end of all things.
There are only TWO PHASES of the Kingdom of God - the present one which is spiritual (anyone can partake through faith), and the coming one which is physical (NHNE), but somehow you have twisted scripture to give us
three stages of the Kingdom of God (Church Era, Millennia, New Heavens & New Earth). The "Church Era" is not even a biblical term!!! It is one that the dispensationalists MADE UP.
I am not arguing that the 1,000 reign of Christ does
not exist but rather that it is not a literal future earthly reign but it is a heavenly spiritual reign that began AT HIS ASCENSION (Matthew 3:2, Psalm 110:1, Hebrews 1:3, Ephesians 1:20-21, 1 Peter 1:21, Matthew 10:7, Acts 1:9-11, 1 Corinthians 15:25-26, Matthew 28:18, James 4:12, etc etc etc) The Gospels, the Acts, AND the Epistles all affirm this, but I am sure you have heard all these arguments before already. If, despite all of that, you still think it is inappropriate to say Jesus is presently reigning as Messiah then that is really your loss. I urge you, friend, to submit to the High King in Heaven.