zeke37 posted in message #65:
Paul was taken to this 3rd age time, Paradise forever
here on earth with the Father.....
Actually, the third heaven is a past, present, and
future place, just as paradise is past, present, and
future place. That's why Jesus could say to someone
who was about to die in the first century:
"To day shalt thou be with me in paradise" (Luke 23:43).
The location of the literal tree of life shows that
paradise is a literal place located within the
literal city of New Jerusalem in the third heaven:
"To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the
tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise
of God" (Revelation 2:7).
"Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they
may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in
through the gates into the city" (Revelation 22:14).
"In the midst of the street of it, and on either side
of the river, was there the tree of life" (Revelation
22:2).
---
The throne of God is also located in the third heaven,
which is the spiritual realm:
"And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a
throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne"
(Revelation 4:2).
The second heaven is outer space, where the stars
reside:
"I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven"
(Genesis 22:17).
The first heaven is the sky, where the birds fly:
"... the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the
heaven, and the beasts of the field" (Ezekiel 38:20).
zeke37 posted in message #65:
... the 144,000 are from the whole 12 tribes of Israel ...
The 144,000 part of the Church is in the 12 tribes of
Israel, just as everyone in the Church is in the
12 tribes of Israel, for the Church is the 12 tribes
of Israel (Revelation 21:9b,12b). Jews in the Church
remain members of the tribes they were born into
(Romans 11:1, Acts 4:36), and Gentiles in the Church
have been grafted into Israel (Romans 11:17) and so
have been grafted into its various tribes (cf. Ezekiel
47:22).
Any Gentile in the Church can ask Jesus which tribe
of Israel Jesus has grafted him into, and Jesus will
tell him. Most Gentiles don't have the knowledge of
which tribe they are a member of simply because they
have never asked Jesus for that knowledge; as the
saying goes, "ye have not, because ye ask not"
(James 4:2).
zeke37 posted in message #65:
... the 144,000 are from ALL the Whole house of Israel ...
Actually, none of the 144,000 part of the Church
will be from the tribe of Dan, for Dan isn't listed
in Revelation 7:4-8 as one of the 12 tribes of the
144,000 part of the Church. This could be because
the Antichrist could be descended from Dan
(cf. Genesis 49:17).
zeke37 posted in message #65:
... the 144,000 are ... sealed with the truth before
any of the winds start their blowing...IOW before the
trib hour starts
The 144,000 part of the Church won't be sealed until
Revelation 7:4, after the six seals of the
tribulation in Revelation 6 have already occurred.
zeke37 posted in message #65:
They shall be Gathered to Christ when He comes ...
Actually, at the second coming, after the
tribulation, the 144,000 part of the Church will come
from heaven with Jesus along with the dead part of
the Church, because the 144,000 part of the Church
will be caught up into heaven as the "man child"
(Revelation 12:5, 14:1-5) a few years before the
second coming, right before the 42-month reign of the
Antichrist begins (Revelation 12:5-6, cf. 13:5b).
zeke37 posted in message #65:
... Christ when He comes with the dead believers at
the very last trump/the 7th ...
The 7th trumpet of the tribulation (Revelation 11:15)
isn't the "last trump" of the resurrection and rapture
(1 Corinthians 15:52; 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17), as
that last trumpet won't sound until after the
tribulation (Matthew 24:29-31), which includes the
vials of wrath of Revelation 16. The vials of wrath
could come out of the temple-opening of 7th trumpet
of the tribulation (Revelation 11:19, 15:5-6:1). The
Church will still be on the earth during the vials
of wrath of Revelation 16, still waiting for Jesus'
coming as a thief upon the world (Revelation 16:15).
zeke37 posted in message #65:
... raised to life on earth again, not in flesh bodies ...
The Church will be resurrected into immortal flesh
bodies, just as Jesus was:
"Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself:
handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and
bones, as ye see me have" (Luke 24:39).
"... Jesus Christ: Who shall change our vile body,
that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body"
(Philippians 3:20b-21).
Our current bodies aren't vile because they are
flesh, but because they are mortal and corruptible.
zeke37 posted in message #65:
... flesh cannot inherit heaven ...
Thats's not what 1 Corinthians 15:50 means; it only
means that mortal, corruptible flesh cannot inherit
the eternal kingdom of God.
zeke37 posted in message #65:
... the elect are promised protection in Luke21...
complete protection.
That's not what Luke 21:18 means; what it means is
that even if we are martyred in the tribulation
(Luke 21:16b, Matthew 24:9-13, Revelation 13:7-10,
14:12-13, 20:4) our eternal souls will not be
affected at all (Luke 21:19).