Have you ever tried to convince someone of a fact you knew to be true, but they just would not accept what you said and kept making excuses as to why it could not be as you told them? Perhaps someone famous is in town and you want your friend to go with you to meet them, but they keep insisting that person is not here and continually tells you why that person could not be who you claim him/her to be. They never get to experience the joy of meeting that special someone with you that you had hoped for. Well, Jesus had the same problem when he was here on the Earth.

Awhile back, we discussed there were three miracles Christ performed which proved himself to be the promised Messiah that Old Testament prophets had predicted would one day come (Jesus Drives out an Evil Spirit): healing a person blind from birth, healing a Jewish leper, and healing a mute who was demon possessed. Yet, Jesus did all three of these things (Jn 9:1-6; Mk 1:40-44, Lk 5:12-14; Mt 9:32-35), yet the Jewish leaders still did not believe Jesus to be their Messiah. To give these Jewish leaders the benefit of the doubt, two of these were brought to them by hearsay so they had to believe the witnesses to be credible. Yet, one of these would involve a temple priest and he would, or should, have to at least question Jesus’ validity of being their Messiah. What do I mean by saying this?

Moses gave the cleansing rituals for what one who had been cleansed from leprosy (i.e., some type of a skin disease) was to do (Lv 14:1-7; 33-53). When the temple was constructed, four chambers within the four corners of the Court of Women were built: Nazarite Chamber, Chamber of Wood, Chamber of Oils, and Chamber of Lepers. Those who were cured from leprosy would take their required offerings to the priest on the eighth day of their purification ritual, immerse in the mikveh within the Chamber of Lepers and then go to the Nikanor Gate (the gate between the Court of Women and the Inner Court) where a priest would pronounce him or her clean and be anointed with the blood from the sacrifices provided earlier.

This is all well and good, but it seems that there was never a recording of any Jew being healed from leprosy since the time of Moses. Therefore, it became a saying that only the coming Messiah would be able to heal a Jewish leper. So, shouldn’t the priest that day have been totally shocked that this man was coming to receive a pronouncement of being cleansed after having been a leper? There should have been a big stir among all the temple priests that day. After all, something that had not happened in several centuries had just occurred. Wasn’t that worth a stir?

So why didn’t it? I guess we will never know for sure, but we can speculate. The Jewish leaders had already had some falling out moments with Jesus. Rather than praising them for their meticulous keeping of all the tedious commands the Law required, Jesus criticized them because they did not really care about the people (Lk 11:42). They cared about keeping the letter of the Law, but not the overarching theme of how the Law should lead the people to God. They used it to brag and show how the “common” people were not as good as they were in keeping the Law. Because of this, Jesus reprimanded them. Jesus’ harsh words hurt their pride and angered them. According to them, if Jesus was the Messiah who was proclaimed by all the prophets, he should care about the Law and be raising them up as pristine examples of how to keep the Law, and invite them into his kingdom he was to now set up. Therefore, it is my suspicion that when the once-leper told the priest it was Jesus of Nazareth who healed him from his leprosy, this priest likely totally dismissed what the man said and likely didn’t even accept that the man had leprosy in the first place or was cured by happenstance somehow. Or, as was done on other occasions, just told the man to be grateful he had somehow been healed and give glory to God because the man Jesus was no Messiah.

So, the Jewish leaders really had no excuse in not knowing that Jesus Christ was their Messiah. He had fulfilled all their teachings about what a coming Messiah would do. What he did not do while he was with them was set up an earthly kingdom and they used this fact to justify their unbelief (Jn 10:22-42). If they had asked questions, they would have come to learn that Jesus first had to overcome their spiritual needs before he could overcome their physical needs.

So, what was the outcome of their unbelief? They missed out on one of the greatest blessings that could have been theirs. And they kept other Israelites from enjoying that same blessing. Their whole life, they had taught about a Messiah who was prophesied to come to Israel and believed a Messiah would come but missed it completely when he finally did arrive—mainly because of two things. First, Jesus did not meet their expectation of what a Messiah would look like, do, and accomplish. Second, they let their pride and hurt feelings get in the way of them objectively looking at what Jesus said and did. They asked no questions. They just condemned.

Today, the Christian community has become polarized, and we seem to be on the verge of the same problem that these Jewish leaders had. We think we know the next steps God is going to take on this Earth. Some adamantly say the time of the Rapture is upon us (1Th 4:16-18). The world is so bad, there is nothing else that can save us expect Christ coming for his bride. Others say that the Holy Spirit is going to sweep across the Earth like a flood (Hk 2:14) and will achieve the greatest harvest since the Church was founded back in the book of Acts. Many are quite adamant in this regard as well. Each side has scripture to back them up. So, who is right? The Jewish leaders had Scripture to back up why they did not accept Jesus as their Messiah, not realizing that their reservation of doing so was really about what the Messiah would do at another time in history. Their minds and hearts were not open for God to instruct about this so he could use them in their day and time.

So, what is the solution? Let God be God. Prepare for the possibility of either scenario to occur. Plus, neither of these events may happen or occur exactly as we think they will. These New Testament Jewish leaders certainly thought they had it all figured out. After all, they had been studying their Scriptures their entire lives. They couldn’t conceive God coming any other way except how they envisioned it in their minds. Yet, they totally missed it. They let tradition override God’s actual plan. Let’s not be the same way.

Could the Rapture be upon us? Certainly. Yet, could God also send the Holy Spirit to cleanse his bride to make her purer and bring in a harvest of souls to expand the number to be part of his bride? Certainly, and it would be within his character to do so.

No matter which scenario God performs will still be awesome. Let’s be open to the leading of the Holy Spirit during this time. Let’s not be so adamant about our future that we don’t allow God to use us in what he has prescribed for our time. Let’s press into his Word and press into Him so we can have an open heart and open mind focused on Him. Then, we can be part of something amazing that God is going to do. We are definitely on the cusp of something. Something wonderful. Let’s be sure we’re ready. God bless.

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Visit Books & Words to Inspire by Randy C. Dockens

In my last post, we talked about the belief biases that many of the Jewish religious sects had and how those caused them to miss recognizing Jesus as the Messiah to which Scripture pointed. Also, their disunity in their beliefs caused them to double down on their biases which caused them to become blinded toward what God was doing in their very midst. Is that true today as well?

I would advocate that this is true to a large extent. Some of this disunity was addressed in a previous post (Rapture-Receiving of the Bride). We have so many different denominations today and it seems there is much more controversy between many of these denominations than between Christian and non-Christian circles. What has this disunity led to? I think almost the same as it led to almost two thousand years ago. Back then they could not unite on what to expect from a coming Messiah and thereby missed him completely when he was right in their midst. Today, we have so much disunity about what to expect next from God that I’m afraid many of us may miss what God is going to do in our midst as well. There is so much dispute today about whether the next event will be a great revival or Christ returning for his bride. Rather than searching scripture to see the argument of each side, each side just buckles down on their emphatic belief that the other side is wrong.

Let’s not do that. Christ fulfilled Scripture at his first coming, but all sides missed it. God did not “perform” as they expected. Rather than searching the scriptures to see if any of it could be true, they totally rejected everything Jesus said. It seems the “prophetic” side of Christendom believes that God is going to flood the Earth with his Spirit which will lead to one of the greatest revivals of all time. The “conservative” side of Christendom says that the next event is the Rapture and that is the only hope Christians have before the world totally collapses.

Both sides have Scripture to back up their beliefs. Well, the Pharisees and Sadducees had scripture to back up their beliefs about the Messiah as well. Yet, that did not work out well for them. Therefore, we should at least be cautious about being adamant in our stance of what God will do next.

Now, I’m certainly not advocating that we ignore what Scripture says about what he will do next. Yet, shouldn’t the fact that Christians are not in unison indicate that something is amiss? If we are searching for truth, the Bible, which is the true source of all truth, can’t provide two events as the answer to the truth we are looking for. Who’s right, then?

Maybe we’re confusing some scripture of one event as part of that of another event. I mean, the Pharisees seemed to have done that. They were looking for Jesus, if he was the Messiah, to fulfill all the Messianic prophecies. They didn’t realize he was going to fulfill part then and part later. That scenario never occurred to them. Are we perhaps not doing the same? I refer you to an earlier blog about part of this (An M-Theory to End-Time Prophecy). God always reveals what he is going to do in Scripture, but the way he fulfills it is often very different than we expect. Let’s be ready for the unexpected and thereby drop our shields and flaming arrows against our fellow Christians. Now, of course, if a teaching is not Biblical, then it should be rejected. But can’t we look at all Scripture and see if perhaps God is going to do something unexpected? After all, that’s what Jesus did, didn’t he? So he already has that modus operandi. At the very least, why not prepare for either event to come? Either one would be a glorious event to be a part of. Wouldn’t it?

Now, there are some strange verses that don’t exactly fit with a coming Rapture. We have tried to make those refer to his Millennial reign, but if we look at them closely, we find they don’t exactly fit into that future time. I talked about this in a previous post (Kingdom Age). My point here is that all denominations have likely missed the mark to some degree. Perhaps those denominations with a Pentecostal bent have sort of idolized the experiences the Holy Spirit brings and made them greater than the work Christ himself did for us. That is a problem. And perhaps the more conservative denominations have gone too far the other way to ensure they do not make that mistake that they don’t allow the Holy Spirit to work as mightily as he could otherwise. That is also a problem.

Let’s pray that God will provide unity to his Church. When Paul was talking about unity and wanting to present a virgin bride to Christ, i.e., the Church, he was not just talking about one physical church body. He was referring to the universal Church. He wanted all Christians to be in unity. While, as humans, unity about everything may not be realistic, but we should become united around Jesus Christ, his virgin birth, his death on the cross for our sins, and his resurrection which gives us hope of our future resurrection. Then, can’t we pray for revival and simultaneously prepare ourselves for his return? If he does send his Spirit again for a grand revival, then we’ll be prepared for him to use us for such an event. If he instead returns for his bride, then he can retrieve a bride who is more united in him, being more pure and more ready to be received by him.

We all need more of God, a balance with each member of his Trinity. We need to recognize that God, the Almighty, oversees all. Even if we think we know what he is going to do, we should allow him to implement his actions in whatever way he chooses, and not think we know how he is going to act. But we should be ready to respond with him in whatever way he acts. We need to recognize that Jesus Christ is the one we should focus on because it is his actions that have saved us and made us equipped to be with him forever. Our role now is to help others recognize this important feat he has done on their behalf. We need to recognize that the Holy Spirit is the one who provides the power we need to implement all that Christ has for us to do. Far too few of us allow him to work though us without us impeding him.

We know that something wonderful is just around the corner. Let’s not argue about what that is, but let’s get ready for God to do whatever he desires to do and be sure that we are ready to be used by him. The apostles never knew what Jesus was going to do, even when he told them, but they went along with him regardless of what they thought about his actions as they knew they could trust him because he was their Messiah. Let’s do the same.

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Visit Books & Words to Inspire by Randy C. Dockens

Most believe in a coming Tribulation Period. Some believe we are already in it while others believe it is tied to the Rapture with this period of earth’s history to be after the Rapture event. Yet, if we understand that the evil we see today and the evil that will be during this period of history are not the same due to the Kingdom Age, or the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the earth during the end of the Church Age, then this begins to bring these two views into alignment.

This is a period that will start sometime after the Rapture. As stated earlier, when we understand the Kingdom Age at the end of the Church Age, then all the beliefs of the Rapture coalesce into the Rapture occurring at the end of the Kingdom Age. The Tribulation will be for three and a half years when the Antichrist will come to power and make a treaty with Israel (Dn 9:27). Israel will again build a temple (Ek 40-48) which will be protected by two individuals termed the Two Witnesses (Rv 11:1-14). God will allow much hardship to come upon the earth. Yet, he will also have the entire earth evangelized with his gospel message (Rv 7:3-17). At the end of the three and a half years, the Antichrist will seize more control over the earth and of the temple itself. This will usher in an even greater time of hardship on the earth, labeled the Great Tribulation.

The Bible teaches that this time begins when the Antichrist desecrates Israel’s temple by erecting a statue here known as the Abomination That Causes Desolation (Dn 9:27; Mt 24:15). Both Israel and Christians will undergo intense persecution and there will be many martyrs (Rv 6:9-10). This intense persecution of Israel will culminate with the battle known as Armageddon (Rv 16:16) when the Antichrist will come against Israel with his internationalistic military force and will come against both Jerusalem and against, most likely, Petra where Christians and Jews have congregated to try and escape persecution (Is 63:1-6; Rv 14:20).

This time is called “the day of the Lord” (Zc 14:1) also known as the Great Tribulation period or the “time of Jacob’s trouble” (Is 24:1-20; Jr 30:7; Dn 12:1; Zp 1:14-18; Mt 24:22). As this period climaxes, the Battle of Armageddon ensues where most of the Gentile nations are gathered together against Israel, Jerusalem is taken, and half of the people are taken captive (Zc 14:2), many killed, and many women raped with only a remnant (one-third, Zc 13:9) surviving in the city. It is at this time that Israelites will call upon the name of the Lord and Christ will come forth and fight against these nations that have come against Israel (Zc 14:3) because this remnant finally called upon God (Zc 13:9).

God always keeps his promises no matter how many years, decades, or centuries, it is for us. Our God is a faithful God!

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Visit Books & Words to Inspire by Randy C. Dockens

Many have thought and been taught that the next event for this generation is the Rapture, or the Receiving of the Bride by Christ. The premise was that the evil in the world would increase more and more, and God would then have the Rapture occur to save his bride.

Some teach the Rapture will occur before the coming Tribulation Period starts. Others teach the Rapture will occur half-way through the Tribulation Period, others teach it will occur three-quarters through the Tribulation Period, and still others state it will not occur until the end of the Tribulation Period, or maybe even not at all.

Those in the pre-tribulation rapture camp point to several Scriptures to support this premise. God states his people will not be part of wrath (1Th 5:9) and what will be coming on the earth (Rv 3:10). They also point to the time of Noah in which the ark which saved Noah and his family from the wrath of the flood as a metaphor of God saving his people from his coming worldwide wrath. They also state that the evil in the world today is not part of God’s wrath as stated in Scripture because that wrath will be much worse than what we are experiencing today.

Those who believe the Rapture will not occur until the Tribulation has started point out the evil in the world as proof that wrath has already started. It seems the main support of this view is that the wrath of God is not the beginning of the Tribulation Period but the beginning of the Great Tribulation Period (Rv 11) and they therefore believe the persecution of the followers of Christ in the first three and one-half years of the Tribulation Period (Dn 7:25) is talking about believers today rather than those who become believers after the Tribulation period starts. In addition, they believe the trumpets mentioned by Paul and John are the same trumpet (1Co 15:52; Rv 11:15) while others believe these are not the same.

Those who believe the Rapture occurs three-quarters through the Tribulation Period state the wrath of the tribulation is broken into three separate phases of wrath: the wrath of Man, the wrath of Satan, and the wrath of God. Christians are protected from the Wrath of God but not from the Wrath of Man and Satan.

Then, there are those who believe the Second Coming of Christ and the Rapture are really the same event. The Rapture occurs and then immediately Christ returns to the earth.

Yet, it seems these views are not the case because the idea of the Kingdom Age we mentioned in a previous post has not been considered in any of these views concerning the Rapture. I think all these views will become united if we consider the Kingdom Age (i.e., the end of the Church Age). This shows that the evil we are currently experiencing, even though severe, is not the evil, or God’s wrath, that these current views of the Rapture are defining.

Also, perhaps the confusion around the timing of the Rapture is because we have not taken the Rapture event into its proper context. The groom would show off his bride before taking her to his home. He would not allow her to be crushed if he had the power to prevent it. Granted, evil in this world has increased at an ever-alarming rate and many individuals within the universal Church, Christ’s bride, have suffered. Yet, this is as Christ prophesied (Mt 24: 9-13). Why would he allow such to occur? As Paul stated, Christ wants a bride who is without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish and is holy and blameless (Ep 5:26-27). Is the Church that way currently? No. No, it is not. We have a lot of disunity within the body of Christ. Paul also tells us Christ bride is to be a picture of unity and will bear with each other in love (Ep 4:2-3). So, this is what the Lord is currently doing—making his bride pure. Then, rather than taking her away, he is going to present her to the world as she was originally intended to be. The effect of the Church, his bride, through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, will allow the entire world to see and honor his bride. Many in the church will lead scores of others to become part of Christ’s bride.

It is then, and only then, after a large harvest of souls, who also become part of Christ’s beautiful, unified bride, will he then come to receive her—a bride beautiful, without blemish. He will receive his bride from the earth in all her glory, not in her humiliation.

How does this then unite all these views of the Rapture? It shows that there is a definite demarcation between the current evil in the world and the evil that is to come. Therefore, it is after the Kingdom Age at the end of the Church Age where the time of the Wrath of God of earth history will occur. Since all these views of the Rapture are united in stating the Rapture occurs just prior to the coming of God’s Wrath, understanding the time of the intense outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the reign of the Church during this time, it brings the timing of the period of God’s Wrath in each of these Rapture views to be at the same time.

This helps us to see that really understanding God’s Scripture to us really does help to put all our disagreements into their proper context and we become more unified in our doctrinal beliefs. Perhaps us now understanding the aspect some are calling the Kingdom Age, or the end of the Church Age, is God starting to unite his Church so he can work with it and bring it to being his unblemished bride.

Some have stated that Rosh Hashanah (Trumpets) represents the Rapture of the Church, but these feasts are prophetic for Israel. However, this feast is not totally devoid from the Church because if this feast is representative of God remembering his covenant with Israel (Ro 11:28-32), then God can’t concentrate on Israel as a nation again until the Church is removed. This accomplishes two things: God can focus on bringing his people back to their homeland during the Tribulation Period (Israel), and he can remove his bride from the coming wrath of the Tribulation period (the Church).

God is so multifaceted, isn’t he? Only he could accomplish so much in such a unique way that glorifies not only himself but us, his bride, as well. What a mighty God we serve!

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Visit Books & Words to Inspire by Randy C. Dockens

Year of Prophecy: 51 AD (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18)

Year of Fulfillment: Still in the future

Time until fulfillment: >1971 years (not yet fulfilled)

We have been talking about prophecies which have already been fulfilled. Yet, there are several important prophecies which have not yet been fulfilled. One of them is known as the Rapture. Let’s explore it here.

The name “Rapture” comes from the Greek word harpadzo (found in 1Th 4:17) which means “to seize or carry off.” Paul is referring to the translation of the church from earth to heaven. I prefer to call this “The Receiving” because it is tied to the traditional view of a Jewish wedding. The details have already been provided in previous post. Yet, it shows the bridegroom comes to receive his bride unexpectedly; yet she is expected to be found ready. She then goes back with her husband to his father’s house where he has prepared a place for them to live. Doesn’t that sound very similar to these verses in 1 Thessalonians? It is also similar to what Christ told his disciples before he was taken and crucified (Jn 14:1-3). To me, the phrase “The Receiving” sounds more personal and intimate.

From the time of Pentecost in Acts 2 when the Holy Spirit was given to each individual believer in Christ until the present day, the Church Age has existed. The initial Christians were Jewish, and it was not until the Jerusalem church started undergoing persecution (Ac 8:1-3) that the Jewish Christians (true Jews or Jewish proselytes) were scattered throughout the known world and continued to talk to others about Christ (Ac 8:4), which eventually led to Gentiles becoming Christians (Ac 10:23-48). God using Paul to become an Apostle to the Gentiles (Ac 9:15). As the Feast of Pentecost (Shavuot) represented, the Church (i.e., the believers in Christ) is composed of all who believe, whether Jew or Gentile (Ro 1:16). As a whole, more Gentiles became Christians than did Jews; however, Paul taught that this was by God’s design. This would be true until the “full number of the Gentiles has come in” (Ro 11:25). However, God has not turned His back on the Jews (Ro 11:26). The Rapture, or The Receiving, is the event which will end the Church Age. It occurs somewhat before the Tribulation Period (this is the start of the future prophecy of the Feasts of Israel ). At the time of God’s choosing, those Christians who are dead will rise in an incorruptible body, and those alive will be changed instantaneously into an incorruptible body (1Co 15:51) and will meet Christ in the air to be with Him forever (1Th 4:13-18).

As we have seen earlier, almost all of the prophecies that deal with Israel as a nation have had a timetable given to them, if people were diligent enough to understand them. However, although the rapture is prophesied (1Co 15:51-53; 1Th 4:13-18), its timing is unknown and there is no scripture that gives a timetable for it. Some believe there is reference to this event in Old Testament scripture in poetic terms (SS 2:8-14); however, Paul called the rapture a “mystery” (1Co 15:51). Therefore, it was not a recognized Old Testament teaching. The apostles and the early Church taught the imminency of Christ’s return (e.g. Pp 3:20, 4:5; 1Th 1:10; Tt 2:13; Ja 5:7-9; 1 Jn 2:28; Rv 22:20), implying things may occur before the imminent event, but there is nothing that must occur before it happens.

As stated above, the bride was expected to be ready at all times. Are you ready for your bridegroom? What if he came today? Would you be smiling and ready to receive him or miss him because you weren’t looking for him?

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Visit Books & Words to Inspire by Randy C. Dockens

With so many disappearing all at once with the occurrence of the Rapture, there will likely be fear, panic, terror, chaos, and disinformation occurring. Therefore, Satan works in an individual who exudes charisma, is confident, wants power, and is one whom he can control. This one, the Antichrist, comes on the scene, likely working behind the scenes for many years prior to this time, and now surfaces as the one with the answers, the one everyone turns toward. His actions, his words, make sense and begin to calm fears. Many on the earth will feel putting him in charge will make sense and solve many of their problems. Satan has always desired to rule the world and have subjects who will worship him. He, therefore, works through this individual toward that end.

This period of time has become known as the time of Jacob’s Trouble (Jr 30:7) or the Tribulation Period (Rv 7:14). It is a seven-year period of time between the Rapture and the Second Coming of Christ; also known as Daniel’s Seventieth Week (Dn 9:27). It is also part of what Old Testament prophets called the Day of the Lord (Is 13:6; Ek 30:3; Jl 1:15; Am 5:20; Ob 1:15; Zp 1:14; Zc 14:1; Ml 4:5). The term ‘Day of the Lord’ includes this period of time, but also includes the individual judgment that will occur at the time of Christ’s second coming (Mt 25:31-46).

God has always stated Israel as a nation could know if they are in God’s favor. This statement is found back in Deuteronomy (Dt 27-28). God stated He would bless Israel if they were obedient: plenty of rain, plenty of crops, no enemies could overtake them, and they would be the ones taking care of other nations financially and provisionally. However, if the nation of Israel did not obey God, then a series of misfortunes would follow suit getting progressively worse and worse: disease, lack of rain, failed crops, overtaken by enemies, taken into captivity, and those in the land that are non-Israelites would overtake those living there. In ancient times, Israel as a nation was confined to a geographic region. However, today, Jews are everywhere around the globe and not in one geographical region. God could only get their attention if He acted where all Jews live. Therefore, today, this would involve the whole world.

As the Antichrist starts out on the heels of the great disappearances, the world is in chaos, and he seems to be the savior with answers for the nations of earth. He makes a treaty with Israel (Dn 9:27) and promises their protection. However, not everyone is in agreement with this, and a league of nations come against Israel. Likely, nations between and above the Caspian and Black Seas and northeastern Turkey, along with Georgia and Russia, will align with Iran, Sudan, and Libya to attack Israel (Ek 38:1-12). Peoples from the north, south, and east of Israel will attack. These nations have a 4-fold agenda: (1) obtain the wealth of Israel (Ek 38:11-12), (2) control the Middle East, (3) destroy Israel, and (4) challenge the authority of the Antichrist (Dn 11:40-44). The Antichrist as well as the nations in southern Arabia and Western Europe are against this invasion (Ek 38:13).

God intervenes and uses several natural disasters to hinder the invasion: (1) a great earthquake, (2) infighting among the troops of the various nations doing the invading, (3) disease, and (4) torrential rain, hailstones, fire and burning sulfur (Ek 38:19-22). There are four key events which follow this invasion: (1) birds and beasts are called to gorge on the dead bodies (Ek 39:4-5, 17-20), (2) burying of the dead takes seven months to complete (Ek 39:11-12, 14-16), (3) the weapons left from the invasion of the dead army provide enough fuel to last seven years (Ek 39:9-10), and (4) blessings, restoration, and salvation are provided to Israel (Ek 39:21-29). Although it is God Himself who actually saves Israel (Ek 38:21-23), the Antichrist claims credit and gets further respect from the other nations of the world and they see him as one dedicated to peace.

As the Antichrist is trying to set up his world-wide domination, there are natural disasters of epic proportion that also occur (Rv 6:12-14). There are four earthquakes that occur - each one more impactful than the previous: (1) the first marks the beginning of the Great Tribulation, i.e., the last half of the seven-year period (Rv 8:5); (2) God will send two witnesses who will preach from Jerusalem and be able to withhold rain and cause all sorts of plagues to occur on the earth as a way to get people’s attention. However, the Antichrist will be set against them and will eventually have them destroyed after three and a half years and will institute a celebration of their demise. However, after three and a half days, these two will be resurrected and ascend to heaven. At that point, a severe earthquake will occur. It will destroy a tenth of the city of Jerusalem, and seven thousand people will be killed (Rv 11:13). (3) Another earthquake occurs, along with a great hailstorm, not long thereafter (Rv 11:19). (4) The fourth earthquake is so severe that it breaks the city of Jerusalem into three parts and collapses cities all around the world. Mountains are leveled and islands submerged, or both are relocated and/or re-sculpted (Rv 16:18-21). This is likely the same earthquake that occurs at Christ’s second coming when he touches down on the Mount of Olives (Zc 14:4).

Many scientists proclaim today that space debris hitting the earth is not a matter of if it will happen but when it will happen. Apparently, the when is during the Tribulation period. The frequency and intensity of meteor showers will increase drastically (Rv 6:13). A massive hail and lightning storm occur which damages and burns a third of the earth’s vegetation (Rv 8:7). The removal of crop prosperity was one of the curses provided in Deuteronomy (Dt 28:18). Then come two large asteroids that land in the sea and on land which causes a third of the earth’s seas to become toxic so fish die and cause the fresh water supply to become too toxic to drink (Rv 8:8-11).

God then allows even more evil to be released on the earth. There will be a plague that lasts for five months on those who have not put their faith in Christ where the pain of their infliction will be excruciating but will not lead to death (Rv 9:1-6). Then there is another type of plague that kills one-third of mankind (Rv 9:13-15). However, even after all of this, most do not see a connection between these events and God’s wrath. By the end of the seven-year period almost one-half of the earth’s population will have been destroyed (Rv 6:8, 9:15). During the second half of the Tribulation the judgments intensify (Rv 16). Painful sores will break out on individuals. The seas become like blood causing the sea creatures to die. This then spreads to the fresh waters, the rivers, and springs. The sun becomes intense, and its heat kills many, and this is then followed by total darkness. The Euphrates River also dries up. This could be tied to the fourth great earthquake which could divert the flow of the Euphrates River.

Despite all of these events, the main purpose is a spiritual one. We’ll look at that aspect next time.

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Visit Books & Words to Inspire by Randy C. Dockens

The Church, or those who put their faith in Jesus Christ as the payment for their sins and their eternal future, is known as the Bride of Christ (Ep 5:24-27; 2Co 11:2). Now, to picture how we fit into this analogy, we need to understand the Jewish concept of a wedding. After all, as we have stated many times, the Bible is written from a Jewish perspective. There are three main components to a Jewish wedding. Let’s explore those:

First Part: Betrothal Period. A marriage contract was signed by the parent of the bride and the bridegroom. The parents of the bridegroom, or the bridegroom himself, would pay a dowry to the bride or her parents. This first part of the marriage between Christ and the Church is completed when each believer places his or her faith in Christ as their Savior. The dowry (the blood of Christ) was paid by the bridegroom (Christ) to the bridegroom’s parent (God the Father) on behalf of the bride. As the Church is composed of individuals, the bride is still being formed as believers put their faith in their bridegroom. Yet, at some point in the future, the bride will be considered complete (Ro 11:25). The second part of the wedding will then commence.

Second Part: Receiving the Bride. The groom went to get the bride after a period of time – usually occurring a year or so later. One reason for this was to be sure the bride was pure and a virgin. If the woman was not a virgin, it would become evident within the year. At some undisclosed time, the bridegroom, accompanied by his male friends, would go to the house of the bride (typically somewhere around midnight) and take her and her bridesmaids to the bridegroom’s home via a parade through the city. This will be completed at the Rapture (a sudden catching up; 1Co 15:51-52; 1Th 4:13-18) when the bridegroom (Jesus Christ) returns for his bride (the Church).

Third Part: Wedding Supper. A wedding supper was held, which could go on for days. This is fulfilled as described in Revelation (Rv 19:7-9), most likely in heaven after the Rapture and before Christ returns to Earth.

Attendees to the Wedding Feast: not everyone was invited. There were three main groups: the bridegroom, the bride, and the attendants. So, from this analogy, who will those be? The Bridegroom is none other than Jesus Christ; the Bride is the Church (these will now have their glorified bodies); the attendants are the Old Testament saints (these will not yet have glorified bodies but be whatever bodies souls have as we discussed in our previous post).

I know there is a lot of controversy around the Rapture event. Yet, as we see above, it does fit into the wedding scenario and would help to fulfill Rv 19 in heaven at the same time as the Tribulation Period is happening on Earth. It also allows it to last for an extended period of time similar to a normal Jewish wedding feast. There are also some other characteristics about the Rapture we should consider. It is an imminent event. There is nothing that must happen before this event can happen. All other events are tied to a Jewish timeline. This event is not tied to a Jewish timeline (nothing has to occur prior to this event occurring). This event is for the Church and does not involve the nation of Israel. Actually, this event happens so God can once again deal with the nation of Israel (more on that later). You can see how this really ties into the idea of the bride not knowing when her bridegroom would come for her.

The Rapture occurs at the end of the “Age of Gentiles”: “I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in” (Ro 11:25). The Feast of Pentecost represents this time period; two trumpet blasts occurred on this feast day (one to initiate it and one to complete it). Three types of sacrifices were made at Pentecost (Nu 10:10): the burnt offering with a trumpet blast, followed by a sin offering, followed by a fellowship offering with a trumpet blast. Isn’t that what we do currently? We accept Christ as our Savior (offering ourselves to him as a whole burnt offering), we continuously confess our sins (1Jn 1:9), and we will be with him and fellowship with him forever after the Rapture. What is the Rapture but the beginning of our eternal fellowship with Christ.

So, what will our new bodies at the Rapture be like? The intermediate bodies of those who died and are already in heaven are upgraded, or the souls receive a glorified body that will be like that of Christ (Pp 3:20-21; 1Jn 3:2). It would seem that our future glorified body will need a physical body to be transformed (1Co 15:52). Perhaps that is why righteous souls are said to be raised as they are already with Christ in a non-glorified state. Otherwise, why would a glorified body not be given at time of death? Why do the righteous souls have to come back for a body? This is a mystery that the scriptures do not explain. Yet, in the light of a Jewish wedding, it may be to fulfill the presentation of the bride to the bridegroom. The why is perhaps not that important as the sureness of the event is what matters. We do get some clues to the characteristics of our future glorified state. Our glorified bodies will be solid (Thomas was able to feel the scars of Jesus’ body; Jn 20:27), they will be similar to our natural body (Jesus was recognized and bore scars; Jn 20:20) yet these bodies can also look dissimilar (disciples on road to Emmaus did not recognize him; Lk 24:13-16), they can materialize and rematerialize (Jesus appeared in a closed room; Jn 20:19, and he disappeared from the disciples sight; Lk 24:31), and the physical realm has no power over these types of bodies (Jesus defied gravity in his ascension; Ac 1:9). I’m sure that is just the beginning! Great things await us. Are you excited!

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Visit Books & Words to Inspire by Randy C. Dockens