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~ …“Come after me, and I will make you fishers for men!”

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Tag Archives: Bridegroom

Be Ye Also Ready

02 Monday Mar 2020

Posted by Rev. Nadine Drayton-Keen in Devotional

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Tags

alert, Bridegroom, Goodman, Kingdom mini-parable, overcomers, Pre-Tribulation Rapture, precautionary measures, prepared, ready, robber, saints, spiritual responsibilities, temples, thief, watchful, Yeshua

42 Therefore stay alert; for you do not know what day your Lord is coming. 43 But know this, that if the master of the house had known what time the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and not let his house be broken into. 44 So you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. – Matthew 24:42-44, TLV

What person, who has an idea about the time of day or night that a thief plans to rob him or her, would not watch for the arrival of this thief? A wise person will either wait — fully armed and ready to do battle with the robber — or he or she will alert the police, who will wait in the wise person’s house for the alleged thief so that they can catch him or her in the act of breaking and entering. Any person taking these precautionary measures is the Goodman Yeshua speaks about in His Matthew 24:43-44 Kingdom mini–parable.

Here is the point Yeshua is making: If non-believers and carnal unbelievers are smart enough to keep watch over their homes to prevent someone from breaking in, robbing, and/or harming their families, then certainly born again and saved spiritual believers also are smart enough to be like Yeshua’s Goodman. Even though Yeshua’s Bride will not be aware of the actual day and time when Her Bridegroom will return, She has the gift of spiritual discernment. Spiritual discernment helps Yeshua’s Bride know and recognize the signs of the time that will lead to Her Pre–Tribulation Rapture.  

Yeshua tells His Believers how they can avoid being caught off guard. They have to watch for the Bridegroom’s return, and they also have to do Yehovah’s Perfect Will, which, in this case, means they need to handle their own spiritual responsibilities — they need to make sure their spiritual temples are prepared for the Rapture. Their Lord, Master, King, and Bridegroom’s Return will not surprise them, if they also are filled with and controlled by the Holy Spirit so that He can make them ready, willing, and able to present their bodies as living sacrifices — as spiritual overcomers whose lives are holy and acceptable to Yeshua.

Be a “goodman.” Know the signs of the Pre-Tribulation Rapture. Look for the signs of your Savior’s Return, and be prepared when Yeshua comes for you.

Is the Holy Spirit filling you? Are you allowing the enemy to come into your individual temple and rob you blind? Is Satan stealing anything from you that the Holy Spirit needs to transform you into Yeshua’s image? Shalom.

Keep it real…Live the Word…Watch it work! 

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The Second Advent vs. The Pre-Trib Rapture in a Nutshell

07 Monday Oct 2019

Posted by Rev. Nadine Drayton-Keen in Bible Prophecy

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alive in Christ, Armies of Heaven, around midnight, Bride of Christ, Bridegroom, caught up, dead in Christ, end of Tribulation, Host of saints, imminent return, in secret, in the air on a cloud, jugment, Lion of Judah, mid-Trib, mid-Trib rapture, overcomers, pre-Trib Rapture, protect from Wrath, removed from the earth, saints, Second Advent, Second Coming, taken up, thief in the night, Tribulation Period, two witnesses, wise virgins, with the clouds

The Day Is Coming

1-2 Note well: God’s Judgment Day is on the way:
    “Plunder will be piled high and handed out.
I’m bringing all the godless nations
    to war against Jerusalem—
Houses plundered,
    women raped,
Half the city taken into exile,
    the other half left behind.”

3-5 But then God will march out against the godless nations and fight—a great war! That’s the Day he’ll take his stand on the Mount of Olives, facing Jerusalem from the east. The Mount of Olives will be split right down the middle, from east to west, leaving a wide valley. Half the mountain will shift north, the other half south. Then you will run for your lives down the valley, your escape route that will take you all the way to Azal. You’ll run for your lives, just as you ran on the day of the great earthquake in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah. Then my God will arrive and all the holy angels with him. – Zechariah 14:1-5, MSG

A White Horse and Its Rider

11-16 Then I saw Heaven open wide—and oh! a white horse and its Rider. The Rider, named Faithful and True, judges and makes war in pure righteousness. His eyes are a blaze of fire, on his head many crowns. He has a Name inscribed that’s known only to himself. He is dressed in a robe soaked with blood, and he is addressed as “Word of God.” The armies of Heaven, mounted on white horses and dressed in dazzling white linen, follow him. A sharp sword comes out of his mouth so he can subdue the nations, then rule them with a rod of iron. He treads the winepress of the raging wrath of God, the Sovereign-Strong. On his robe and thigh is written, King of kings, Lord of lords. – Revelation 19:11-16, MSG

51-52 But let me tell you something wonderful, a mystery I’ll probably never fully understand. We’re not all going to die—but we are all going to be changed. You hear a blast to end all blasts from a trumpet, and in the time that you look up and blink your eyes—it’s over. On signal from that trumpet from heaven, the dead will be up and out of their graves, beyond the reach of death, never to die again. At the same moment and in the same way, we’ll all be changed. – 1 Corinthians 15:51-52,  MSG

15-18 And then this: We can tell you with complete confidence—we have the Master’s word on it—that when the Master comes again to get us, those of us who are still alive will not get a jump on the dead and leave them behind. In actual fact, they’ll be ahead of us. The Master himself will give the command. Archangel thunder! God’s trumpet blast! He’ll come down from heaven and the dead in Christ will rise—they’ll go first. Then the rest of us who are still alive at the time will be caught up with them into the clouds to meet the Master. Oh, we’ll be walking on air! And then there will be one huge family reunion with the Master. So reassure one another with these words. – 1 Thessalonians 4:15-18, MSG

1-3 I don’t think, friends, that I need to deal with the question of when all this is going to happen. You know as well as I that the day of the Master’s coming can’t be posted on our calendars. He won’t call ahead and make an appointment any more than a burglar would. About the time everybody’s walking around complacently, congratulating each other—“We’ve sure got it made! Now we can take it easy!”—suddenly everything will fall apart. It’s going to come as suddenly and inescapably as birth pangs to a pregnant woman. – 1 Thessalonians 5:1-3, MSG

11 “Then, after three and a half days, the Living Spirit of God will enter them—they’re on their feet!—and all those gloating spectators will be scared to death.”

12 I heard a strong voice out of Heaven calling, “Come up here!” and up they went to Heaven, wrapped in a cloud, their enemies watching it all. – Revelation 11:11-12, MSG

6 “In the middle of the night someone yelled out, ‘He’s here! The bride-groom’s here! Go out and greet him!’

7-8 “The ten virgins got up and got their lamps ready. The silly virgins said to the smart ones, ‘Our lamps are going out; lend us some of your oil.’

9 “They answered, ‘There might not be enough to go around; go buy your own.’

10 “They did, but while they were out buying oil, the bridegroom arrived. When everyone who was there to greet him had gone into the wedding feast, the door was locked. – Matthew 25:6-10, MSG

Recently, I have been reading several Facebook postings in which some “Christians” declare that the prophesied pre-Tribulation (pre-Trib) Rapture of Christ’s saints (the Bride of Christ) will not be done secretly. These “Christians” claim that every eye will see this Rapture. Now, while many people in the Tribulation may see the mid-Tribulation (mid-Trib) Rapture of the two witnesses who were killed and resurrected from the dead (see Revelation 11:11-12), the mid-Trib Rapture is neither the same as the pre-Trib Rapture of Christ’s Bride (the overcomers/saints) nor the Second Advent (Christ’s prophesied Second Coming).

Christ’s Second Advent (His Second Coming) happens when His feet touch down on the Mount of Olives and it splits (see Zechariah 14:4). Every eye will see Him, as Christ returns to earth with His saints/overcomers (see Revelation 1:7, Revelation 19:11-16). He comes back to bring judgment – God’s poured out Wrath – for those who have rejected Him (Christ) as their Savior.

This Second-Coming event is NOT the same as the pre-Trib Rapture of Christ’s Bride (saints/overcomers) event. Scripture clearly states that during the pre-Trib Rapture – when the Bride is caught up/taken up in the air (raptured) – Christ (the Bridegroom) meets His Bride in the air and on a cloud (see 1 Corinthians 15:51-52, 1 Thessalonians 4:15-18, Matthew 25:6-10). This pre-Tribulation Rapture of the Bride of Christ (when the dead in Christ and those who are alive at the time the Bridegroom comes for His Bride are removed off this earth) is imminent – can happen at any time – and it will happen in secret because He will come for them like a thief in the night (see 1 Thessalonians 5:1-3). In contrast, His Second Advent (Christ’s Second Coming) happens near the end of the seven-year Tribulation, and every person who is alive on earth at the time of Christ’s second bodily return will see Him coming with His Host of saints.  

Once again, The pre-Trib Rapture is the event in which Christ returns to the earth but stays in the air and on a cloud. He will return, at that time and in that manner, because He will be fulfilling God’s Promise to remove all His saints/overcomers from the earth before Father God’s Wrath (the Tribulation Period) begins to pour out on the earth. The Second Coming (the Second Advent) is the event in which Christ returns to the earth (with the clouds – with His Host of raptured saints/the armies of Heaven). Christ will return to earth, at that time and in that manner, because He will be fulling God’s Promise to send the Lion of Judah to the Hebrews/Jewish people. Christ, as the Lion of Judah, will be bringing the Tribulation Period to an end by defeating the Antichrist and his evil world empire in the Battle of Armageddon.   

Selah (pause and calmly think about that). Shalom . . . .

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Who Are Overcomers?

23 Friday Mar 2018

Posted by Rev. Nadine Drayton-Keen in Bible Study, Spiritual

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Tags

Bride, Bridegroom, eternal city, glorified, interchangeable, justified, morning star, New Jerusalem, no blemishes, One Body of Christ, One Community of Faith, overcomers, pillars, promises of God, reborn, rulers, sacred city, sacred people, sacred place, saints, sanctified, saved, spotless, transformed, Tree of Life Fruit, Tribulation Wheat, unpreached truth, untaught truth, white garments, white stone, wife

Overcomers

…I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, ‘Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.’ ~ Revelation 21:2-4, NASB

In the above verses, the apostle John describes overcomers’ heavenly state of existence that is achieved only by Christ’s true Bride, who figuratively (metaphorically) is depicted as the New Jerusalem. However, what too many believers fail to understand is that Christ’s Bride is both the New Jerusalem—the place where She will live—and Christ’s adorned Wife who is without spot or blemish.  

Biblically speaking, very often a people and a place are presented as interchangeable. When we consider everything the Word of God says about Christ’s Bride, it becomes obvious that who and what the Holy Spirit inspired apostle John to describe in the above verses is the collective Bride of Christ who is the New Jerusalem, as well as the saints who emanate the eternal features of The Father’s glorious and holy heavenly city. In other words, Christ’s Bride is a sacred place and a sacred people.

Because the whole Word of God depicts the Bride of Christ as both a place and a people, it is time for all believers in Christ not only to comprehend but also to accept the following truths that rarely are taught or preached in modern-day churches. These untaught and unpreached truths, which by no means are all-inclusive, are as follows:

ONLY overcomers are saved AND sanctified reborn believers who conquer the flesh, the world’s systems, and Satan (see 1 John 2:15-17 and 1 John 4:1-4 [present world-system], Romans 7:15-25 and Ephesians 2:1-3 [desires of the flesh], 1 Peter 5:8 and James 4:7-10  [Satan]). Put differently, only true believers in Christ—in whom the Holy Spirit lives, fills (baptizes), and is sanctifying—will be the successful overcomers spoken about in the Word of God. The reason this entire statement is true is because all believers in Christ are promised eternal life BUT believing is more than giving intellectual assent to His Existence or His Redemptive Work. Believing also means Christ’s Ekklesia (His One Body of Believers or One Community of Faith Believers) is His collective Bride who uses everything He gave to Her to help Her become His saintly Overcomers. That is why the Word of God describes Christ’s saintly Overcomers as follows:

 

  1. Overcomers are the saintly believers who receive the right to eat from the Tree of Life in God’s Paradise (Revelation 2:7).

 

  1. Overcomers are the saintly believers who don’t receive the second death or Lake of Fire final judgment (Revelation 2:11).

 

  1. Overcomers are the saintly believers who receive some of the hidden manna (Revelation 2:17).

 

  1. Overcomers are the saintly believers who receive a white stone on which their new names are written—names only overcomers know (Revelation 2:17).

 

  1. Overcomers are the saintly believers who do deeds that please Christ until the end. They receive authority and power to rule over the nations with Christ (Revelation 2:26).

 

  1. Overcomers are the saintly believers whose deeds please Christ until the end. They are the ones who also receive the morning star (Revelation 2:28).

 

  1. Overcomers are the saintly believers who receive white garments, and they are the ones whose names are never erased from The Book of Life (Revelation 3:5).

 

  1. Overcomers are the saintly believers whose names Christ confesses before Father God and before His angels (Revelation 3:5).

 

  1. Overcomers are the saintly believers who become pillars in God’s Temple on which Christ writes The Father’s Name and His new Name (Revelation 3:12).

 

  1. Overcomers are the saintly believers who receive the right to sit with Christ on His Throne (Revelation 3:21).

 

  1. Overcomers are the saintly believers who inherit a world free of sin, diseases, pain, crying, and mourning. They are God’s people whom He lives among (Revelation 21:3-4).

 

 

By now, it should be evident that believers who call themselves Christians, Christ followers, and so on, but are not seeking to obtain the abovementioned overcomers’ heavenly state of existence will not receive everything Christ’s saintly Overcomers are promised. If believers, the ones who call themselves Christians, Christ followers, and so on, are not transforming into The Bride of Christ whose daily saintly living consistently resembles Christ’s lifestyle, they will not receive everything Christ’s saintly Overcomers are promised.  

Put differently, ordinary believers—people who are saved, reborn, and justified but who have not, with the help of the Holy Spirit’s progressive sanctification process, conquered the flesh, the world’s systems, and Satan (which are overcomers’ righteous deeds that please Christ)—will not become Christ’s saintly Bride who is adorned for Him (The Bridegroom).  Instead, they will be the end-time Tribulation’s surviving Wheat who do not receive glorified bodies.

As the end-time Tribulation’s surviving Wheat, these ordinary believers will not be Christ’s saintly Overcomers who are able to eat the fruit from The Tree of Life. They also will never wear white garments, never receive any manna, never receive their individual white stone upon which each overcomer’s new name is written, never sit with Christ in His Throne, never reign with Christ, never have their names confessed before Father God and His angels, never become pillars, never inherit an uncorrupted everlasting world, and never will always be in Father God’s Presence.

A word to the wise should be sufficient. Shalom . . . . .

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Betrothed Believer: Married to Christ

11 Saturday Feb 2017

Posted by Rev. Nadine Drayton-Keen in Poetry

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arranged marriage, atoning sacrifice, betrothal charade, betrothed, Bride, Bride's purchase price, Bridegroom, commitment, consummate, faithful, faithless, fake bride, infidelity grounds for divorce, Jewish Wedding Customs, loyal, marriage contract, Marriage Supper of the Lamb, married, Mattan, Mohar, prepared, processional to Bridal Chamber, redeemed, seven days, teaching tool, wife

married-to-christ

 

 

And I heard a sound like the roar of a great multitude, like the rushing of many waters, and like a mighty rumbling of thunder, crying out:

“Hallelujah!
     For our Lord God, the Almighty, reigns.
Let us rejoice and celebrate
     and give Him the glory.
For the marriage of the Lamb has come,
     And His bride has made herself ready.
She was given clothing of fine linen,
     linen bright and pure.”

For the fine linen she wears is the righteous acts of the saints. ~ Revelation 19:6-8, Berean Study Bible

 

 

Righteous arranged marriage:
Predestined Bride and Groom
Prophesied in Message,
Saved from eternal tomb.

Negotiating match:
Father of Groom has Son
Bear expenses for “catch”;
Marriage costs for Bride – none.

The Son pays agreed price:
Mohar purchases Bride—
Redemption’s sacrifice,
Grand cost for purified.

Groom’s additional gifts:
Spirit, Authority
Power, private airlifts
For His holy Body.

Mattan’s heavenly best:
After Mohar is paid
Groom shifts from his request
To next response conveyed.

Bride imbibes poured out wine:
Shed blood that covers sin—
If faithless to Divine,
Quaint parade a no-win.

Banned bridal march harsh news:
Foul betrothal charade
Causes legal tie blues—
Consummation waylaid.

Only true Bride Father
Selected for Groom goes
In Rapture with honor—
Wearing white linen robes.

Wedding processional:
After that, seven days
Being affectional—
The consummation phase.

Leaving bridal chamber
For Groom’s Marriage Supper—
Faithful Overcomer
Celebrates with Savior.

Snapshot of Bride’s events:
Betrothed same as married—
Christ perfects agreement
With staunch and unwearied.

Live consecrated life:
Know Bridegroom’s returning–
Be pure and holy Wife;
Lamp kept trimmed and burning.

He’s coming to lift up
His Bride and take her Home
Where they’ll drink from the cup;
Finalize vows that Yom.

The Day of the Lord will
Come like thief in the night;
Stay prepared Bride until
It is time to take flight.

 

– I created the above poem on February 11, 2017

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Ekklesia Says It All: Christ Will Call His Bride Out of This World!

24 Monday Mar 2014

Posted by Rev. Nadine Drayton-Keen in Spiritual

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

apantesis, Apokalupsis, assembly, Bride, Bridegroom, called-out group, congregation, dignitary, ekklesia, Epiphaneia, escort, gathering, huapantesis, institutional, koinonia or fellowship, parousia, qahal, rapture, relational, Septuagint or LXX, ten virgins, U-Turn

My Ekklesia

The spirit of man is the lamp of the Lord,
Searching all the innermost parts of his being.
~ Proverbs 20:27, NASB

Help, Lord, for the godly man ceases to be,
For the faithful disappear from among the sons of men. ~ Psalm 12:1, NASB

The righteous man perishes, and no man takes it to heart;
And devout men are taken away, while no one understands.
For the righteous man is taken away from evil,
He enters into peace;
They rest in their beds,
Each one who walked in his upright way. ~
Isaiah 57:1-2, NASB

But keep on the alert at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are about to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man. ~ Luke 21:36, NASB

It is interesting how God chose to use the Greek word ekklesia, as the word that best describes Jesus Christ’s called-out group—His ONE Body of Believers or the Bride of Christ. Etymologically speaking, ekklesia is formed from a compound, a combination of two Greek words: ek (from out of) and kaleo (to call aloud or to call forth).

Furthermore, based on ekklesia’s traditional usage, it is obvious to many scholars that ekklesia at one time was the most inclusive word in existence. Many of these same scholars believe that this inclusivity is how its etymological meaning is connected to the biblical understanding of a first century A.D. ekklesia being a called-out group of believers (Jews and Gentiles, rich and poor, men and women, slaves and free persons, and so forth).

Now it should be noted here that other scholars have maintained that ekklesia originally only meant an “assembly” and NOT a gathered “spiritual” group that used to be part of a larger group. However, based on the Koine Greek language used to translate the Hebrew word qahal as ekklesia, which is found in one of the oldest and surviving Greek translations of the Septuagint (the Old Testament or LXX manuscripts), it cannot be denied that Christ Jesus’ meaning of ekklesia has remained the same as it is used in the Septuagint.

Furthermore, it widely is accepted that the Septuagint’s translation of the Torah (the Law; the first five books of the Tanakh or the Hebrew Bible or Old Testament) was completed around the middle of the third century B.C., while the rest of the Old Testament books found in the Septuagint widely are accepted to have been translated in the second century B.C. So then, by the time the first four books of the Koine Greek New Testament were written, it is no coincidence that the first person named in the four Gospels who uses ekklesia is Christ Jesus. When He uses ekklesia, He no doubt is prophesying about a future “spiritual” Body of Believers whom Father God will “call out” from a larger group of people who will be living in spiritual darkness—a larger group of people, which will include both the unbelieving pagan “Gentiles” and the unbelieving “religious” Jews.

Historically and biblically speaking, from the very first time ekklesia is used in the New Testament (see Matthew 16:18), ekklesia does NOT mean “church,” as it universally is translated today. Ekklesia, according to how Christ Jesus uses this word, literally means “called out of,” which, without doubt, begs the questions: 1. Who is being called out? 2. Out of what have they been called? That’s why no matter how anyone tries to spin it, the word “church” only defines a “place,” predominantly a “physical building,” and NEVER a people; whereas, whenever ekklesia is used in the Scriptures to describe a congregation, convocation, or an assembly, it always refers to PEOPLE—refers to the ones who actually have been called out and/or set apart, and NOT the places where they meet/gather.

Now granted, Christian people are the ones who actually congregated in the first century A.D. Jewish Temple before its destruction, in Synagogues, homes, and much later in “church” buildings, and so forth. Nevertheless, from the inception of Jesus Christ’s ekklesia, physical buildings NEVER were considered His called-out ones. Thus, ONLY ekklesia refers to the PEOPLE who are the Lord’s called-out group of believers! In other words, Christ Jesus NEVER calls His Bride His “CHURCH.”

Why is the Bride of Christ (Body of Believers) never going to be the same thing as “The CHURCH”? Well, according to the most credible archeological findings, it is because it is primarily evident that from the time that all of the ancient Greek city-states (in truth, villages) began holding their own ekklesia, something or someone was responsible for calling forth/summoning each Greek city-states’ citizens. That someone or something was the sound that came from a herald’s blown trumpet, which called forth/summoned the different groups of Greek citizens to their own ekklesia (a word in the ancient Greek cultural that always seemed to depict the basic idea of an “assembly”). Additionally, the most reliable archeological findings show that each known different ancient Greek ekklesia was held in a local community meeting place where the assembly (ekklesia) of Greek citizens discussed their own city-state’s various political concerns.

Furthermore, in ancient Greek city-states, each ekklesia was both its specific group of citizens AND the controlling power that governed its own city-state. In other words, city-states like Athens, Sparta, Corinth, Thebes, Argos, and so forth, were all part of ancient Greece (or the larger all-inclusive group that spoke the same language, believed in the same gods, worshipped the same way, and considered themselves to be Greeks), even though as city-states their own ekklesia not only had the power to enact laws and rule its own citizens, but also each ekklesia had the power to raise and train its own army, negotiate its own citizenship, establish its own religion, and collect its own taxes. In other words, most of the ancient Greek city-states were in essence individual kingdoms, with their own governmental assemblies, and their own kings.

Based on the available information about the etymological meaning of the ancient Greek culture’s ekklesia, it should be easy to see how, by the first century A.D., ekklesia very well could have meant a sanctified (set apart) spiritual Body of Believers in Christ Jesus who was “called out” or summoned by God to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, because the larger group of unbelieving people they once were part of still were living in spiritual darkness. Likewise, it should be easy to see how, by the first century A.D., ekklesia also could have meant something very similar to a Greek koinonia—group of Christians or followers of Christ who was united in purpose: fellowship. According to the Word of God, these early believers gathered together for the agreed upon purposes of sharing communion (fellowshipping), giving encouragement, and receiving preparation (cf. Acts 2:42), all of which were necessary pastimes that helped each participant achieve the God-commanded tasks of evangelizing and discipling his or her world, as he or she knew it then.

Put differently, these first century A.D. believers understood that they had been “called out” by God and for God (for His Divine purposes). In the latter sense, they all knew that, by gathering together with other like-minded born-again AND Holy Spirit- filled believers, who would meet (usually in community homes) for the sought after encouragement, fellowship, and training, they (these first century A.D. believers) would receive everything they needed to be able to represent accurately and faithfully the Kingdom of Heaven and Father God’s Perfect Will in all of life, while simultaneously affecting a change in their surrounding communities.

To reiterate, it is interesting that God chose the word ekklesia to define who the Lord’s Bride always has been, and continues to be. Once again, contrary to popular opinions, there is no way that anybody could make the English word “church” mean the same thing as the Greek word ekklesia. Again, the original first century apostolic meaning of ekklesia meant both a group of believers “called out” by God to receive Salvation (Kingdom of Heaven membership requirement, which is fulfilled after a born-again status is received) AND that of an “assembly” (a koinonia—a fellowship kind of meeting).

It wasn’t until the early 1600s that the King James Bible translators decided to transform the meaning of ekklesia so that it would reflect what “church” actually denotes today. At that time, the true historical and biblical meaning of ekklesia changed drastically from a basic “assembly” and/or “congregation” of people TO the “place of meeting,” as well as “a thing,” like a physical building. These “church” meanings definitely are the ones that the translators of the 1611 King James Bible intended for ekklesia, but as already stated these meanings are NOT the true definitions for ekklesia, when it is used to describe Jesus Christ’s Body of Believers.

Today, it widely is accepted that the literal meaning of ekklesia is a “called-out group”—an inclusive group of people “called out” from the world by God and for God. However, it should be noted here that after the first-ever members of this “called-out group,” which in this case represents God’s Household of Faith children, separated from that already mentioned bigger group, this is when God’s “called-out group” initially became a totally different group (i.e., Christians or Christ followers, and etc.). The point here is that, spiritually speaking, there really ONLY has been ONE true ekklesia. That is to say, from the Old Testament days, Father God has had His faithfully righteous Jewish people. From the New Testament days, Jesus Christ has had His faithfully righteous Body of Believers, which includes Jews and Gentiles. This Divine Truth often is missed. Too many people today, believers included, often fail to see that there really is ONLY ONE called-out group (more on this point later)!

What way too many believers also haven’t understood is that God purposely chose the ONLY word that could possibly give the most credence to the Word of God’s supernatural Rapture doctrine. More than any of mankind’s countless speculations or theories, ekklesia is God’s all-inclusive word that best describes what the Rapture is, and the “season” in which it will happen, just NOT the day or the hour!

Without doubt, it is the Word of God, which verifies that Christ Jesus will be coming for His Bride right after a rousing midnight cry, an angelic voice, and the sound of the Last Trumpet. Now anyone who is well acquainted with the traditional Jewish Wedding ceremonies will understand that this Last Trumpet call happens when the bridegroom, who first left His betrothed so that He could prepare a bridal chamber for the both of them in his father’s house, returns for his bride. Therefore, this LAST TRUMPET sound, which the apostle Paul writes about, is NOT the one that will happen at the physical bodily appearance of the Lord or His Second Advent, which is when He returns, bringing His saints with Him, at the end of the Tribulation Period. This LAST TRUMPET sound of Paul’s is the same TRUMPET sound that would have been blown right before the herald’s shout, which is mentioned in Christ Jesus’ Parable of the Ten Virgins. The wedding herald (probably a groomsman) could be the one who carries and blows the shofar, for he certainly is the one who shouts: The bridegroom is coming.

The Lord no doubt knew that His disciples knew that the bridegroom in the 10 Virgins Parable is coming back to abduct his bride in secret—to return on a day and at an hour NOBODY could have foreknown, thus, in secret—to snatch Her or “steal Her away” for the purpose of taking Her into the Bridal Chamber He built for Her inside His Father’s House, where they could consummate their marriage. In other words, the procession Jesus Christ alludes to in the 10 Virgins Parable is a procession from and back to Father God’s House, as prophesied and practiced in the ancient Jewish Wedding customs. This means that the Lord knew that His disciples also knew that the alluded to procession was NOT back to the father of the bride’s house for the wedding reception! The Lord knew His disciples knew that the Bridegroom (also King) coming for His Bride is a prophesied event, even though the Lord’s focus is more on preparedness (cf. Psalm 98:6; Joel 2:15-16; John 3:29; additionally, please read the Old Testament, as the Jewish wedding customs are in many verses in many chapters of several books)!

This preparedness (being ready ahead of time, because no one knows exactly when the “catching away” will happen) also is the apostle Paul’s focus, which is why his coming and going language in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 is the reason why his use of the Greek word apantesis ISN’T in the technical sense. The same also is true of Jesus Christ’s use of apantesis in His 10 Virgins parable. Therefore, apostle Paul, like the Lord, also is relying on people’s knowledge of how and why the Bridegroom is coming back. That certainly must be why ALL of the movements—the Lord (Bridegroom) descending, the dead in Christ’s bodies resurrecting and then ascending, the alive in Christ ascending after the dead in Christ, and the instantaneous glorifications—obviously depict the abduction of the Bride of Christ, which is why Paul’s coming and going language is NOT the “technical” understanding of what the Greek word apantesis means—neither how Paul intends for it to mean in 1 Thessalonians 4:17, nor how Jesus Christ uses it in Matthew 25:6. (More on the use of apantesis later.)

Right now, it is important to mention that, based on the understanding of how the ancient Greek city-states summoned their individual ekklesia, informed people should understand that the same way those earliest assemblies were convoked, which was by a herald’s trumpet sound, also is going to be the same method God Himself has chosen to summon Jesus Christ’s Bride. In other words, there is one meaning of the Lord’s Bride being “called out” of the world, which as previously mentioned was because God “called Her out” of darkness into the Kingdom of Heaven’s marvelous Light, for the purpose of building His Kingdom on Earth, as it is in Heaven (see 1 Peter 2:9-10). However, the Lord’s Bride also is going to be “called out” of, taken out from, or summoned out of various places (dwellings, rooms, sites, localities, and so forth, that are all over this world) so that the Bridegroom can gather (assemble) His Bride (Body) together in the clouds, after His Bride MEETS Him in the air. Once again, this in-the-air meeting includes both the gathering of the resurrected dead in Christ and the gathering of the raptured alive in Christ!

So then by changing or rather by insisting that in this day and age the ancient fundamental meaning and the modern day literal meaning of ekklesia BOTH just mean “church,” countless believers in Christ have missed the importance of the true meaning of the Greek word ekklesia—the meaning Christ Jesus first uses in the New Testament—which supports the New Testament’s Rapture doctrine. Thus, there can be no doubt that God Himself has inspired the apostle Paul, a Jew and a Greek, to teach via his letter to the ekklesia in Thessalonica (Thessaloniki) that the Lord’s Bride (the children in God’s Household of Faith) is representative of His firstfruits who, in the end times, will be “called out of” or taken out from, or summoned out of numerous places in many geographical areas so that they can be gathered together for an in-the-air meeting, and so that they then can continue to ascend into Heaven.

Perhaps the above truths are why it is important to note here that God is not always clear as crystal about EVERYTHING that is presented in His Word. Perhaps His repeated lack of transparency, especially with the biblical subjects that have varied interpretations, is why people have a hard time discerning the appropriate meanings for certain Hebrew and Greeks words, especially the Holy Bible’s original Hebrew and Greek words that consistently have proven to be difficult to communicate (translate) into the English language. Possibly this difficulty also is because, over time, the more present etymological meanings for these original Hebrew and Greek words have changed from their earliest meanings, which seems to be the case with ekklesia.  Sometimes this change is a good thing, and sometimes it isn’t.

Still, it would be wonderful if readers would consider what this blogger believes is the primary reason why so many professed Christians have so many dissimilar interpretations for the same Scriptures. There is no doubt that the main reason there are diverse interpretations for the same Scriptures is, to a certain degree, because of believers’ understanding of what some crucial original Hebrew and/or Greek words in those differently interpreted Scriptures actually mean in English. Therefore, this blogger believes that the chief reason why these varied interpretations happen, and are continuing to happen, is because God Himself obviously has included several words from the original languages of the Holy Bible which, on the surface, seem to be interchangeable when the truth is that these words have distinctly different denotations and/or connotations. This reason is specifically true, when similar yet significantly dissimilar words appear to describe the same kinds of events or groups of people (or absolutely are understood to be describing the same kinds of events or groups of people).

The point here is that perhaps God’s lack of clarity is intentional. Maybe His ambiguity is nothing more than His Way of showing His love for multiple possible meanings—a love He graciously shares with His Children. Then too, maybe His opacity is God’s Way of making sure that His Children in His Household of Faith always give their complete trust to (put their whole Faith in) Him by relying totally on His Holy Spirit to reveal, teach, and empower them INSTEAD of putting their trust in bible/prophecy scholars’ academic prowess or in the extraordinary number of hours these scholars claim they have spent in research and study! There’s no doubt that God knew human beings, especially those living in these last days and end times, would “think” that they wouldn’t need to depend on the Holy Spirit’s supernatural assistance, because they are “smart” enough to figure the truth out on their own—so intelligent that they only need to trust in their own “superior” research and analytical efforts!

Evidently God inspired the men who penned the Holy Bible’s verses to use the poles-apart words that are found in the Word of God’s original Hebrew and Greek languages. Once again, these poles-apart words, on the surface, often appear to have the same meanings. God no doubt had His inspired writers to create this very problem, primarily for the purpose of distracting or misleading the ones God didn’t want to know the truth! For example, God definitely would want to keep Satan and his demonic forces ignorant about and unaware of the real truth about these differently understood and diversely interpreted biblical events, people, descriptions, prophesies, and so forth.

Maybe this last truth is why, for example, every once and a while, there are some Greek words that have been problematic, where translating/communicating God’s Divine Truths accurately into English are concerned. These obvious prize pearls (God’s Divine Truths) have been hidden from sight under those Greek words that, again, initially appear to mean the same thing but, when people dig a little bit deeper, these words turn out to mean completely something else. The following is proof positive that Greek words have very different meanings, yet they are translated as the same English words: AGAPE, EROS, STORGE, and/or PHILIA, which often are translated as “love”; THUMOS and ORGE, which often are translated as “wrath”; EKLEKTOS and EKLEGOMAI, which often are translated as “elect,” “choice,” “selected,” and/or “chosen”; PAROUSIA, EPIPHANEIA, and/or APOKALUPSIS, which often are translated as “coming,” “presence,” and/or “arrival”; and HARPAZO, ANALAMBANO, and/or EPAIRO, which often are translated as “taken up,” “snatched up,” and/or “caught up.”

Having said that, it is important to note here that sometimes Greek nouns are translated as English verbs. Case in point, where the alive believers’ “in-the-air meeting” is concerned (their Rapture, which is a noun), most English translators of various English versions of the Holy Bible translate as the verb “to meet” the Greek noun apantesis. Now the Greek verb, which means “to go to meet,”  “to meet,” “to meet with,” “met,” and “to come face to face,” is apantao. The point here is that both Jesus Christ and apostle Paul use the Greek noun in Matthew 25:6 and in 1 Thessalonians 4:17—not the Greek verb. 

In neither case (either Matthew 25:1, 6 or 1 Thessalonians 4:17) does the English verb “to meet” truly capture the real meaning of the Greek word apantesis, as both apostle Paul and Christ Jesus are using it. Once again, neither Christ Jesus nor Paul is conveying the original Greek “technical” meaning of apantesis, which refers to the whole undertaking of sending a welcoming party, as a show of honor and respect, out of its city to greet/meet a visiting dignitary (king, governor, magistrate, or some other important person), and then that group of representatives immediately escorts this dignitary back into their city—the very city he was coming to visit.

Now, seeing how God has a knack for presenting things turned upside down, it’s no wonder that instead of apantesis carrying the ancient/traditional meaning, the apostle Paul literally has turned the technical sense upside down. He has done so by using apantesis in 1 Thessalonians 4:17 in such a way as to say that the Lord Himself not only has reversed the direction from horizontal to vertical, but also He is the One who has made the U-Turn (has changed His descending direction).  

Furthermore, this turned upside down reality suggests that, instead of the noble Lord being met by a lowly greeting party, it is Jesus Christ who is doing the greeting! He is greeting His ambassadors (the Lord’s followers who have been in the world but not OF the world). In other words, just like Jesus Christ became the servant, when He washed His disciples’ feet at His Last Supper, at the time of the Rapture, the Lord will have become the escort (protector and guide) for His Bride who has been elevated to the status of a VIP. She, thus, only has been visiting (pilgriming; archaic verb) on the Earth, until Christ Jesus, as prophesied, comes DOWN from Heaven to the clouds, waits on the clouds “for a meeting” with Her, and then turns right around and escorts Her back with Him into Heaven, where He eventually will show Her the love, respect, and honor She has earned (cf. John 17:13-19; 2 Corinthians 5:20; Ephesians 5:27).

Now Pre-Tribulation Rapture naysayers would have people to believe that there is no way Christ Jesus is going to make a U-Turn and take His raptured Bride back into Heaven, since the “technical” gist of apantesis is that the welcoming party (in this case, the Bride of Christ) escorts the king, lord, governor, magistrate, and so on (in this case, Jesus Christ), back to the city out of which the welcoming party has come (in this case, possibly Jerusalem). However, this interpretation of how the apostle Paul is using apantesis STILL would mean that someone or somebodies would have to make the U-Turn! Therefore, these Pre-Tribulation Rapture skeptics, who obviously just want to turn the apostle Paul’s Rapture images into a picture of Christ Jesus’ physical, bodily Second Coming, by saying that there only is one time He will return to Earth and that will be at His glorious appearance, when every eye will see Him, have just failed to understand that Jesus Christ wouldn’t be descending from Heaven to the clouds and then to the Earth to be a “visitor” anywhere on Earth, and especially NOT in Jerusalem!

Where the Bride of Christ is concerned, first of all, She is NOT going up to meet the Lord from any one particular city. Secondly, She never is depicted as escorting Her Groom (the Lord) back to any place on Earth, but rather She is described as participating in His Second Coming, when His feet touch down on the Mount of Olives, by being with Him YET following Him (cf. Revelation 19:14). His Bride is never depicted as accompanying Him, for the purposes of honoring, respecting, protecting, and guiding Him, which is what an escort did, and still does. Thirdly, as previously mentioned, He is not coming back to Earth as a “visitor.” At His Second Coming, when His feet actually touch down on the Mount of Olives, He is coming back as the Lord (Owner) of the entire Earth, as the Savior (Redeemer) of the entire world, and as King (Conqueror and Ruler) over the entire world. Therefore, at the time of the Rapture of His Bride, it makes more sense that the Someone who is making the U-Turn is Jesus Christ, the Bridegroom, who also is returning to Heaven for His Coronation.

There are other reasons why the above Pre-Tribulation Rapture cynics’ interpretation of apostle Paul’s use of apantesis is faulty, and why this faulty interpretation in NO way supports the notion so many Rapture cynics about there being no such thing as a Rapture. First of all, Scriptures support the idea that it is the Lord who is coming as the Bridegroom for His Bride and that after He meets Her in the air He then immediately TAKES Her back into Heaven, where He has spent all these years preparing a place for Her (cf. Matthew 25:1, 6; John 3:29; John 14:2-3; Ephesians 5:25, 32; Revelation 19:7). Secondly, ancient Jewish Wedding customs teach an important message about the bridegroom being the one who builds the bridal chamber (living quarters) in his father’s house, and NOT in the father of the bride’s house! Thus, there is no way that the 5 wise Virgins are going out to meet the Bridegroom ONLY to escort Him back to the father of the Bride’s house. Thirdly, according to ancient Jewish Wedding customs, the bridegroom FIRST takes his bride back to his father’s house to consummate their marriage, which consists of spending seven days behind the closed “bridal chamber” door. Fourthly, Scriptures support the idea that it is the father of the bridegroom who hosts the wedding supper/wedding feast, and NOT the parents of is the bride (see Matthew 22:1-14). In other words, it is Father God who hosts the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, and He is in Heaven!

Thus, based on all of the above reasons, it is obvious that the apostle Paul has proven that it is Christ Jesus who makes the U-Turn. Apostle Paul does this by turning the traditional horizontal images of a visiting dignitary approaching a delegation that has come out of its city to escort him back through the earthly city’s entrance INTO the non-traditional vertical image of the Lord descending to greet His deserving of honor and glory genuine Bride. After She meets with Him face-to-face, He then turns and begins to ascend with His Bride until together they reach Heaven (cf. Ephesians 5:26-27; Revelation 19:7-9).  

Now, if true believers’ Rapture naysayers claim that there is not going to be a raptured Bride, at least not before the Tribulation Period begins, but teach instead that the Lord’s Bride only will serve as a welcoming party for His Second Coming on Earth, then again their “coming” of Jesus the Christ (as the visitor) still is NOT His Second Coming. As previously stated, at Christ Jesus’ Second Coming, the Word of God makes it clear that the crowned Jesus Christ will return as the Lord (Owner) of the entire Earth, as the Savior (Redeemer) of the entire world, and as King (Conqueror and Ruler) over the entire world.

The bottom line then is that Jesus the Christ, at His Second “Coming,” when His feet really touch down on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, will be “coming” back to Earth as the triumphant Lion of Judah, who defeats God’s enemies and then establishes His own millennial Kingship! Therefore, as previously stated, Jesus Christ is NEVER coming again to Earth as a visitor or pilgrim!!!! That is why when His ekklesia (Community of believers not of this world; thus, an allegorical visitor or pilgrim) meets Her Bridegroom (the Lord) in the air, it is going to be the Bridegroom (Christ Jesus) who will reverse His direction—He will go back up into Heaven instead of continuing downward onto Earth!

For all of these mentioned reasons, it should be clear by now that by changing ekklesia to “church,” the authorized King James Bible translators have affected too many believers’ whole approach to understanding the meaning of the Body of Christ/Bride of Christ, because the original intent of ekklesia always has been and continues to be relational, while the original intent of “church” always has been and continues to be institutional. Put differently, the early Christians who gathered together in their ekklesia did so for the purpose of sharing, fellowshipping, edifying, encouraging, discipling, equipping, and getting to know each other as a WHOLE family so that each member truly could become ONE. The sad truth then is that the English word “church” totally destroys this relational intent. Furthermore, by changing ekklesia to “church” the authorized King James Bible translators also have guaranteed that innumerable people will miss the main reason why Jesus Christ’s Bride is His truly “called-out group” (His genuine ekklesia).

Now, in the New Testament, there is only ONE ekklesia of the mentioned seven ekklesiae (the called-out groups or assemblies of believers) in the Book of Revelation who receives the taken out or raptured promise. This truth means the Pre-Tribulation Rapture involves the ONLY ekklesia that Scriptures say is HIDDEN in Heaven’s Bridal Chambers (cf. Revelation 3:10; see also Isaiah 26:20-21 and Zephaniah 2:3). Therefore, this ONE of the seven mentioned ekklesiae—the ONLY ekklesia what is hidden in Heaven’s Bridal Chambers—ONLY can be the Bride of Christ, and this Bride is the redeemed ONE Jesus Christ is describing as the pearl of great price (cf. Matthew 13:45-46, see also 1 Corinthians 6:20).

It is important to note here that if the idea of a group of people being “called out” is grounded in (if there is clear evidence found in) the Old Testament, then that would mean that the idea of New Testament believers being a called-out group is a sound biblical doctrine. Likewise, if the idea of a Rapture is grounded in (if there is clear evidence found in) the Old Testament, then that would mean that the idea of New Testament believers being raptured is indeed a sound biblical doctrine, as well.

For the record, in the King James Version of the Old Testament, there are three Hebrew words translated as “congregation” (as in the basic concept of an assembly). These words are as follows: 1. Moed (an appointed time, place, and meeting/assembly/congregation; found 223 times, of which it is used 150 times as “congregation”); 2. Edah (an assembly, company, band, herd, people, multitude, swarm, and/or congregation; found 149 times, of which it is used 124 times as “congregation”); and 3. Qahal (an assembly, convocation, company, multitude, congregation; found 123 times, of which it is used 86 times as “congregation”). 

An interesting nugget is that in the Septuagint or LXX manuscripts, the Greek word ekklesia is used in several verses of the Old Testament, mostly in the translation of the Hebrew word Qahal. The point here is that the Septuagint manuscripts’ translators were using the same Greek language to translate the Hebrew Old Testament that is found in the early Greek New Testament manuscripts.  In essence, from Genesis to Revelation, God has given the same “called-out group” name to His faithfully righteous children—ekklesia! As previously mentioned, from the beginning to the end of mankind Father God apparently has intended that EVERYONE who is His faithfully righteous son and daughter would be His ONLY true “called-out group” or ekklesia. The fact that ekklesia is used throughout the New Testament and in the LXX manuscripts for the Hebrew word qahal verifies the previous statement. Bottom line: There is ONLY ONE true ekklesia, especially since both Jews and Gentiles ONLY have one Redeemer, and because God ONLY provides one single plan of Redemption!

Keeping these last points in mind, it should be noted here that unlike the Old Testament, which has three Hebrew words that mostly are translated in the King James Version as “congregation,” in the King James Version of the New Testament there only is one Greek word that denotes the basic concept of an assembly or a “congregation,” and this word is ekklesia. In the New Testament, ekklesia is used 115 times. Of these 115 times ekklesia is used, 112 times it is translated into English as “church,” and 3 times it is translated as “assembly.”

Furthermore, this New Testament Greek word, ekklesia, has at least four important meanings, one of which is the same meaning used in the Old Testament to describe Israel’s appointed meetings/assemblies/congregations. These four meanings for the New Testament word ekklesia are as follows: 1. An assembly or gathering of people (as in Israel, the people as a whole, who were gathered in the wilderness [cf. Acts 7:38]; or a regular group of gathered citizens [cf. Acts 19:39]; or a group of believers gathered for religious worship [cf. Hebrews 2:12]); 2. An assembly or gathering of professed Christians in local dwellings in various earthly regions/cities (cf. Acts 8:1, 3; Acts 11:22, 26), and in the plural sense as ekklesiae or groups of professed Christians in numerous local gatherings primarily found throughout Turkey/Asia Minor or at several locations in a particular city (cf. 1 Corinthians 16:19; Galatians 1:2); 3. All professing Christians, wherever these Christians might be found; this meaning clearly is a reference to Christendom, as in a global Body of Believers located anywhere (in any city, village, and etc.) and united as ONE (cf. Acts 12:1; Romans 16:16; 1 Corinthians 15:9; Galatians 1:13; Revelation 2:1-3:22); and 4. The Body of Christ, which has been Holy Spirit baptized into ONE united called-out group to whom Father God via Christ Jesus has bestowed as human gifts to the entire Body of Christ, and these human gifts are to function as apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers (cf. 1 Corinthians 12:13-28; see also Ephesians 4:11-12).

Certainly, it would be hard for anyone to deny that in the Old Testament Israel was the “called-out group” who was summoned to meet God at His appointed times and in His appointed places. Moreover, what is interesting is that with each of the three Old Testament Hebrew words that most commonly are translated as the English words “congregation” and “assembly” (Moed, Edah and Qahal), there is no denying that in every situation the One “calling” or summoning His chosen Jewish people is Father God.  Since Father God via Jesus Christ is the One who also is “calling” or summoning the New Testament’s born again, saved, and being sanctified believers (Jews and Gentiles), there should be no surprise that the Greek word ekklesia is the New Testament word frequently used to mean a gathered together “congregation” or “assembly” that is meeting with God.

Right here, it must be stressed that NEITHER the Old Testament’s “called-out” Israelites NOR the New Testament’s  “called-out” first-century followers of Christ were summoned just to fill seats on the Sabbath Saturday or on Sunday. In other words, neither group of people was “called out” just to assemble together, according to the modern congregational idea, which simply means to gather in a building for the sole purpose of participating in “church” programs and ministry opportunities.

On the contrary, both the “called-out” Israelites and the “called-out” first-century followers of Christ were summoned to meet with God so that they could get prepared to engage their world, as they knew it, and then govern it. After all, in the ancient Greek culture, an ekklesia was the ruling body that governed its polis or city-state. Now since Christ Jesus is the One who first uses the Greek word ekklesia, there can be no denying that He definitely understood this common political term and, thus, it can be no denying that what He knew about an ancient Greek ekklesia is the reason why He uses ekklesia to describe His disciples and their future impact, which was to represent the Kingdom of Heaven and Father God’s Perfect Will on Earth in such a way that they would end up turning the old world’s order upside down (cf. Acts 17:6). 

This turning of the world upside down no doubt is the main reason why the Israelites weren’t given a direct route to take to the Promised Land. Evidently God knew they were not prepared to war against the “giants” who lived in the Promised Land. After all, only two ostensibly grasshopper-sized spies agreed with God that they could defeat the “giants” in the Promised Land! So, all of the Israelites wandered in the wilderness until all of the older generation that came out of Egypt had died! Put differently, God first had to get rid of all of the naysayers before He could prepare His faithful children to enter the Promised Land and eventually battle the “giants” in it!

In comparison, this turning of the world upside down no doubt is the chief reason why the first-century disciples had to be born again, saved, and filled with the Holy Spirit. This process was their necessary preparation (equipping) that would enable them to transform their local communities, wherever each ekklesia had been established. In other words, God first had to baptize Christ’s disciples with His Holy Spirit so that they would become prepared faithful children who first would go throughout the Promised Land and silence their “giants”—the naysayers—by leading other Jewish people to Christ for salvation, as well as eventually battle the “giants”—naysayers—throughout the world, as they knew it then.

So then the point here is that there is a world of difference between Jesus Christ’s idea of building His ekklesia and “church” leaders’ congregational idea of building an edifice in which people assemble together. It is dumbfounding to think about the many believers today who fail to comprehend the difference between an ekklesia AND a “church”!

Now, there is something else that cannot be denied, and that is that in the Old Testament there are examples of Raptures/Translations of godly righteous people, specifically Enoch and Elijah. Yes, a faithful and righteous Noah and his family remained on Earth, but they were safe in the Ark, while the Flood was happening. In other words, they never were in any danger! However, in the end times, the only ones who will not be in any danger of persecution or death are the 144,000 Jewish men (the elect or chosen faithfully righteous ones). They are NEVER hurt or harmed during the Tribulation Period, because ONLY they have the seal of God!

The point here is that, just like it cannot be denied that God is the One who “called out” or summoned Israel, His elect or chosen people, to meet with Him, it also cannot be denied that God is the One who “called out” or raptured/translated Enoch before the Flood started, and Elijah before Israel’s Babylonian captivity started. Therefore, if God “snatched” out of this world His faithfully righteous people, long before the first major global catastrophe AND before the captivity of His beloved Israel, then His Son, Jesus Christ, also will do something similar. 

Jesus Christ says that He only does what He has seen His Father do (cf. John 5:19). For this last reason, as previously mentioned, it cannot be denied that in the New Testament the Body of Christ or Bride of Christ is the Lord’s “called-out group,” who has been called out of darkness into the Light, for the purpose of building Father God’s Kingdom on Earth, as it is in Heaven (see 1 Peter 2:9-10). Likewise, it cannot be denied that the Body of Christ or Bride of Christ is the Lord’s “called-out group,” who will be called out of, taken out from, or summoned out of various places (dwellings, rooms, sites, localities, and so forth, that are all over this world) so that as the Bridegroom He could gather (assemble) His Bride (Body) together in the clouds, after His Bride MEETS Him in the air (see 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17).

Right here is where the difference between the Rapture, which happens at the Lord’s in-the-air “coming” or Parousia, and the Lord’s Second Advent, which happens at the Lord’s feet-touching-the-Mount of Olives “coming” or Parousia, Apokalupsis, and Epiphaneia. Parousia, which means a “coming,” a “presence,” and an “arrival,” when used in context with the Rapture of the Bride of Christ also always means His personal “presence” at, or His personal “coming” to a specific place, at a specific time, for a specific meeting or gathering (cf. Matthew 24:3, 27, 37; 1 Corinthians 15:23; 1 Thessalonians 4:15; and 2 Thessalonians 2:1). Thus, it is clear that the Parousia, which is used in context with the Rapture of the Body of Christ, precedes any end-times Parousia (Second Coming, as in His globally visible physical bodily return), which happens together with an Epiphaneia (epiphany) and an Apokalupsis (apocalypse).

The Parousia, thus, that is used in context with the Rapture suggests that Jesus Christ already is present. Indeed, He is present now within born-again believers’ spirits, which is what the apostle Paul means when he states that every physically dead believer’s spirit automatically is home with the Lord (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:8)!

For the above-stated reasons, when Apokalupsis is used in context with Jesus Christ’s Second Advent, Apokalupsis literally means an uncovering, unveiling, or revealing of the manifestation (Epiphaneia) of His presence (Parousia), which is His Glory and His Holiness—a shining forth that everyone on Earth will see. In a general sense, Apokalupsis also refers to the Lord’s Second Advent, when He comes back to Earth to physically fight in the Battle of Armageddon (the Apocalypse) and then afterward establish His millennial Kingdom (cf. 1 Corinthians 1:7; 2 Thessalonians 1:7; 1 Peter 1:7, 13 and 1 Peter 4:13).

That so many people, believers included, constantly confuse the Rapture Parousia with the Parousia, Epiphaneia, and Apokalupsis that are used in context with the Lord’s Second Advent only points to this obvious likelihood, which already has been mentioned, and that is: God evidently is using three words that have distinctly different denotations and connotations. He no doubt uses these three often misunderstood Greek words, specifically for the purpose of keeping the unbelieving world, the careless unprepared and unwatchful professed believers in Jesus Christ plus Satan and his demonic forces, ignorant about and unaware of the exact time when God’s ultimate plan of Salvation (His promised rescue of His righteous children; His “snatching away” of the resurrected dead and alive Bride of Christ) would be fulfilled. Thus, while at the Rapture Parousia the Lord will come down from Heaven, His feet will remain in the clouds in the air. It is while He is in the air that the loud shout or cry of command, the sound of the archangel’s voice, and the sound of God’s trumpet are made (cf. 1 Thessalonians 4:16), BUT none of this “noise” is for the benefit of the unsaved world. In fact, though these loud sounds will be booming, so much so that they awake the dead in Christ and arouse the alive in Christ, these sounds will NOT be heard by the unbelieving, unsaved, wicked world, because these no doubt spiritual sounds will be inaudible to their natural ears!

Case in point, in the Parable of the Ten Virgins, ONLY the Ten Virgins heard the Bridegroom’s midnight cry. There is no mention of their parents nor other wedding party members hearing this cry.  Moreover, even though all of the 10 Virgins could hear and are awakened by the Bridegroom’s midnight cry (cf. Matthew 25:6-7), the deeper and, thus, harder truth here is that ONLY 5 of these 10 Virgins actually took Oil (symbolic of the Holy Spirit) in their vessels (symbolic of their individual born-again spirits that are being sanctified)! It is evident that the clear understanding here is that the 5 foolish Virgins had NO supernatural OIL (the filling or Baptism of the Holy Spirit, who is the anointing or Oil of the Word—the Spirit of Divine Truth, Holiness, and Wisdom). This missing Oil points to the inability of the Holy Spirit to perform all of His mighty Workings inside these foolish yet born-again believers’ spirits/hearts (cf. Acts 1:8; 1 Corinthians 2:6-15).

Now since parable is a word that means to “lay one thing down by another,” it is important to note here that Jesus Christ impressively is sharpening His hearers’ fundamental understanding about life in God’s eternal Kingdom by presenting a useful illustration of a heavenly Truth that is operational in the Kingdom of Heaven, which He then compares to a very familiar and well-comprehended earthly principle, or earthly narrative, or earthly fact that is operational either in nature or in humanity. Basically, His parables are true to life figurative narratives that are designed to convey, through analogy, some specific spiritual truths relative to Kingdom of Heaven living.

In other words, in the 10 Virgins Parable, Jesus Christ is comparing the Kingdom of Heaven’s spiritual preparedness of the 5 wise Virgins with the worldly spiritual unpreparedness of the foolish 5 Virgins. The Kingdom truth is that ALL 10 Virgins are saved, because the term “virgin” signifies the defining characteristics of the 10 Virgins—they ALL are pure or holy, justified or righteous, and consecrated or devoted. In other words, the word “virgins,” according to the way Christ Jesus uses it in His parable, which is in an allegorical sense, does NOT mean bridesmaids. They are not the Bride’s helpers, or cousins, or other family members, or friends. They are believers—followers of Christ(Jews and Gentiles). However, even though all 10 Virgins are believers in Christ Jesus, ONLY 5 of these 10 Virgins are truly wise AND prepared Virgins! Now, why would the Lord make this distinction, if it wasn’t an important distinction to make?

The Divine Truth, thus, only can be that the 5 wise Virgins were wise because they not only understood that at the moment they were saved, they immediately were given the gift of the Holy Spirit who came to live inside of them, bringing with Him an initial Supply of Oil, but also these 5 Virgins were wise because they understood that they had to totally surrender to their Lord and to His Gospel message concerning the Holy Spirit’s Baptism (additional empowering and endowing; a subsequent gift—a Baptism in the Holy Spirit). There is no other explanation for why, after all  of the 10 Virgins had heard the Bridegroom’s cry, had gotten up, and had trimmed their Lamps of profession (Faith), that ONLY 5 are the wise Virgins who took enough Oil to refill their reservoirs (individual born-again spirit).

This Oil in these Virgins’ reservoirs, thus, implies they not only were indwelt by the Holy Spirit but also filled with Him. That is to say, the initial gift of the Holy Spirit, who lives inside them, came with some Oil. This Divine Truth is very clear, because in the Lord’s parable it is obvious that all 10 Virgins ran out of their Oil about the same time—around midnight. Therefore, the Oil the 5 wise virgins had in additional flasks they kept with them points to a supernatural refilling of the Holy Spirit, who, after His first filling, refills, and refills, and refills, and refills, etc., His Oil in those believers who not only have poured out (or used up) their initial portion of the Holy Spirit’s outpouring but also who will seek Him for His subsequent Oil (power) refillings.

The Lord, thus, is making a very crucial point with the extra oil symbolism. This point is that the 5 wise Virgins’ extra Oil was not to be found within their individual inner spirit beings. Their extra Oil of Light was provided, as needed, by an external Source—by a supernatural Source that was outside their spirit and beyond the ability of the 5 Wise Virgins to produce, which is why this extra Oil was separate from the Oil they had within the lamp of their own spirits. In other words, the Holy Spirit’s supernatural filling is why, at the moment the 5 wise Virgins heard the Bridegroom’s midnight cry, they had enough Oil to pour into their lamps’ reservoir from which they then were able to draw that Oil up through their inserted Wicks (symbolic of that supernatural Connectivity that causes the inward Light of Christ to brightly shine outwardly). Together, the Source (Holy Spirit) and the Connectivity (the Lord, who is the Wick that draws the Oil) ensured that the 5 wise Virgins’ lamps of professed Faith would be able to burn a clean and bright flame not only so that these 5 wise Virgins could be lights in a dying sin-sick world, but also so that they would have enough of their Lord’s Light shining on the pathway that leads to that open Door (the Bridegroom; Christ Jesus; the Way).

Perhaps the following example better explains what Christ Jesus is saying: On the ships of old, it was the lamp trimmers’ responsibility to repeatedly trim the lamps’ wicks (extinguish the lamps’ flames, cut off the wicks’ used burnt parts so as to leave the clean unused wicks that, after the lamp trimmers had refilled their lamps’ reservoirs, they then could relight). The end results always were steady, clean, and bright flames.

Where Jesus Christ’s Parable of the Ten Virgins is concerned, the spiritual implication He is making about each Virgin’s lamp ALSO is that each lamp symbolizes the triune nature of each believer in Christ Jesus. That is to say, just like each one of the 10 Virgins has a physical body, soul, and a spirit, every one of their lamps also has three parts: 1. an open bowl (symbolic of the lamp’s body), which had a pinched end that formed another smaller opening or groove through which a cotton or flax wick could be inserted; 2. the bowl’s inner reservoir (or the lamp’s inner spirit), down into which olive oil (symbolic of the Holy Spirit) was poured and over which a lid often is placed; and 3. an inserted wick (symbolic of the lamp’s soul).

Furthermore, the spiritual implication here is that the 10 Virgins clearly represent 10 believers in Christ Jesus to whom Father God has given His Lamp Trimmer who is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the One Who is responsible for making sure that their wicks (souls) repeatedly have been trimmed (Whose Mighty Workings include, but are not limited to, making sure that the used burnt portion of their souls, which no doubt had been affected by the cares of this natural world, have been cut off, and making sure that their low or emptied reservoirs have been refilled) so that these believers could have their lamps of faith relit by the Word of God (cf. Psalm 119:105; Matthew 5:14-16; John 8:12).  

Once again, Jesus Christ’s parable is about Who the ultimate Source of the Oil is that is within believers’ born-again spirits/hearts and Where that Source originates, which is from Heaven. As previously stated, the extra supernatural Oil the 5 wise Virgins had with them didn’t come from any human source. This Oil neither was already stored up within the hearts/spirits of the 5 wise Virgins, nor were the flasks they had to have been carrying attached to their actual lamps.  

For sure, the parable’s significant spiritual message of the Oil that emptied out of the 10 Virgins’ hearts or spirits versus the extra Oil that was in the 5 Virgins’ flasks, which would be poured into the 5 wise Virgins’ lamps, is that Father God is both the ONLY Source and ONLY Supplier of believers’ light, for in Him there is no darkness at all (cf. 1 John 1:5; see also James 1:17). Certainly, in this sin-darkened world, Father God is the ONLY Source and the ONLY Supplier of heavenly or godly spiritual Light, and His Light primarily manifests itself through His Word, as well as through His Holy Spirit Who uses God’s Word to reveal the spiritual knowledge of and spiritual understanding about Father God that help believers see the Way Father God has prepared for them.

This Divine Truth is why Jesus Christ, with His spiritual reference to an olive oil lamp and its wick, is teaching a valuable heavenly or spiritual truth; that being, because “darkness” exists, His followers must constantly remain prepared so that they ALWAYS not only will be able to know in which direction they are going but also will be able to SEE the Way that is ahead of them. No doubt, this Divine Truth is why the Lord depicts in the Parable of the Ten Virgins that it ONLY is after the 10 Virgins’ burnt wick parts are cut off (trimmed), that a noticeable difference between the Virgins could be understood.

What becomes evident is that ONLY the 5 wise Virgins were prepared or had enough Oil (a supernatural refilling of Father God’s Holy Spirit) that would fill up their reservoirs (born-again spirits), and it is this Oil (God’s Power Source) that would enable their wicks to be relit in time for them (the 5 wise Virgins) to respond to the herald’s shout: The bridegroom is coming. Now clearly, in the apostle Paul’s Rapture verse, he is filling in the blanks by providing information that is missing from the Lord’s Parable of the Ten Virgins, in which He only mentions a “midnight cry.” From the apostle Paul’s imagery, the picture becomes clearer, as believers can begin to understand that the herald’s shout would have been followed by the voice of an angel, which would have been followed by the trumpet of God, all of which would be calling the 5 wise Virgins (Bride of Christ) out of this world; cf. 1 Thessalonians 4:16). It then is, after the Lord and His Bride gather together for an in-the-air meeting, when the Lord makes His U-Turn and begins to ascend into Heaven with His Bride. Then the Door to Heaven closes (cf. Matthew 25:10-11). This spiritual understanding is why, the parable’s shut door symbolizes that the opportunity to miss the time of testing (the Tribulation Period; the worst ever DARKNESS), which God repeatedly says in His Word is coming upon this Earth, has passed.  

Yes, this blogger is saying that even Christ Jesus is depicting the Bridegroom as coming to get His five wise Virgins AND immediately returning back to His heavenly Home for the wedding celebration, as per custom (cf. Matthew 25:10). People who know the order in which each part of an ancient Jewish Wedding transpires would know that unlike how most English translations word Matthew 25:10, the WYC, GNV, KJV, AV, DRA, NLV, NKJV, JUB, and CEB English versions’ wording is more on point. In these English versions, the 5 wise Virgins entered in with the Bridegroom to the wedding or the marriage, which means here that because being betrothed meant they already were married without the benefits of intercourse, then these 5 wise Virgins were entering their bridal chamber with their Bridegroom to consummation their marriage. Contrary to popular opinions, the 5 wise Virgins were NOT entering with the Bridegroom to their wedding feast! That’s right! The Jewish wedding or marriage is different from the wedding feast.

Now, with most modern day earthly weddings, in which the engaged couples waited until the completion of their marriage ceremony before having sex, the marriage consummation usually takes place AFTER the wedding celebration or reception. After the wedding ceremony, where vows are exchanged, the married couple usually would take photos and then go to eat and drink with their guests. After their wedding reception, the married couple typically would then go into their honeymoon suite, where they would consummate their marriage.

In contrast, according to ancient Jewish Wedding customs, the wedding celebration or reception (the Wedding Feast; Marriage Supper) does not precede the consummation of the wedding or the marriage. In other words, according to Jewish Wedding customs, after the bridegroom returns from where he built the living quarters (bridal chamber), which he built in his father’s house,  the bridegroom would “steal away” his bride and take her to the bridal chamber in his father’s house. There, behind closed doors, for seven days they would consummate their marriage. After being hidden behind closed doors for seven days, the bride and the bridegroom would come out and then join their family and friends at the wedding feast, which in the Jewish Wedding customs represents The Marriage Supper of the Lamb.

Because of the well-known Jewish wedding customs, there is no doubt that Jesus Christ uses the Parable of the Ten Virgins to teach in part about His Bride being abducted and taken to Her Wedding Chamber and about the Wedding Supper of the Lamb, because there can be no doubt that He knew His figurative narratives (parables) all had multiple layers—numerous meanings—which ONLY the very wise would realize. Thus, since the Lord’s parable of the 10 Virgins is a figurative narrative that most people will take literally, one of the spiritual implications of this parable is clearly that only the Holy Spirit-filled Virgins will be the spiritually wise believers who will realize the deeper spiritual allegory and symbolism in this parable, as these figurative languages relate to the Bridegroom (Christ Jesus) who comes to get His Bride (the Lord’s ekklesia; His “called-out group”), who has been “called out” of the world for a meeting with the Bridegroom. Moreover, only the Holy Spirit-filled Virgins will understand that it is after the Lord’s ekklesia gathers together in the air with Him that He then immediately escorts His Bride (ekklesia) back to His Father’s House to be secluded in safety far away from the promised seven-year Tribulation on earth.

Furthermore, the Parable of the Ten Virgins’ allegorical Door that shuts is Jesus Christ, who is the Way to Heaven. In fact, Jesus Christ is the ONLY One who is called both the Way and the Door. The Door that shuts, additionally, is the door to the “marriage”—the Door to the Bridal Chamber where the Bridegroom and His Bride’s marriage finally is consummated. That Door, once shut, actually will open for no one, until seven days are up, at which time the Bridegroom comes out to let His Best Man know that the marriage is official. The Door that opens in the Lord’s parable is figurative language, which also describes a kind of judgment that the Lord has issued, which basically is that He did not know the 5 foolish Virgins; thus, the image of the 5 foolish Virgins not being able to enter into the Bridal Chamber is nothing more than the continuation of the 5 wise and 5 foolish Virgins spiritual comparison the Lord has been making!

It is so sad that many believers in Christ maintain that this parable cannot be about any Pre-Tribulation Rapture, because there are judgment and punishment in it. In other words, to these believers, judgment and punishment would mean these 10 Virgins represent the “Church” going through the Tribulation Period. However, those who maintain this nonsense have forgotten, or never knew, that none of the believers, whether wise of foolish, will be judged for their sins, neither at the time the true Bride is raptured, nor during the Tribulation Period, and not at the end of the Tribulation Period. In other words, the 5 foolish Virgins who are left behind are not left behind because of their sins. They are left behind because of their unpreparedness (just like the Israelites had to stay in the wilderness for 40 years, and why many of them had to die in their wilderness; again, it primarily was because they were NOT prepared to enter into the Promised Land). Additionally, the 5 foolish Virgins are left behind, because they were slothful servants who did NOT use EVERYTHING God has provided for their Salvation and spiritual growth. In essence, they buried their talent, which is symbolic of the spiritual riches God has made available to them (cf. Matthew 25:24-25, 29-30).

There also are those individuals who maintain that the 5 foolish Virgins actually bought Oil, and therefore, should have been allowed to enter the wedding chamber, but the Word of God does not say that. How could they buy this Oil, when this Oil (Baptism in the Holy Spirit) is an additional spiritual gift from God freely given to each individual believer who seeks this exceptional baptism? As also discussed in this article, this Oil ultimately comes from Father God who is the ONLY Source and ONLY Supplier, and He freely gives the refillings by way of His Holy Spirit.

In other words, this Oil of the Holy Spirit neither could be sold nor transferred. That is why the 5 wise Virgins COULDN’T give the 5 foolish Virgins any of their reserved Oil, because if they could that would mean the 5 wise Virgins, at any time, also could siphon off a portion of the Holy Spirit inside of them and gift that portion to someone else.

Surely the Word of God clearly says that: “Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow” (James 1:17, NASB). Therefore, this Divine Truth is why it virtually was impossible for the 5 wise Virgins to give even the smallest portion of their God-given spiritual gift (Oil of the Holy Spirit) to the 5 foolish Virgins who, from the beginning of their Salvation, didn’t see the necessity of having by way of seeking their own EXTRA portion of Oil, which comes from the Baptism in the Holy Spirit.

The bottom line then is this: The 5 wise Virgins are wise, because they understood that ONLY the Holy Spirit is sold out for Christ Jesus believers’ true and faithful outside Supply and eternal outside Source of the Oil of anointing for Salvation AND empowerment. The Hanukkah story best demonstrates this same Divine Truth, which again is that the abundant external Supply of Light is within  the eternal and almighty Father God. Thus, in the 10 Virgins’ case, it is God alone who is the One who fills the lamps of born-again believers’ inner human spirits via His Holy Spirit, and His provision is without end!!!! However, all believers will need to seek and ask Him for their refills.

Not only through Paul but also through Peter, whose Day of Pentecost sermon begins with a reference to a prophesied promise of God (the outpouring of the Holy Spirit or the Baptism in the Holy Spirit), God promises to give His children EVERYTHING that comes with Salvation. This EVERYTHING includes the Holy Spirit’s subsequent Baptism. Peter also makes it clear that this promised Baptism is available to ALL of God’s Virgins (the pure or holy, justified or righteous, and consecrated or devoted believers in Christ Jesus; cf. Acts 2:14-18, 39).

The apostle Peter’s declaration that the Holy Spirit’s subsequent Baptism IS available to all believers (Jews and Gentiles; male and female, and so forth) is why, in His Parable of the Ten Virgins, the Lord, who earlier makes it known to Peter that He would use Peter to build His spiritual ekklesia (cf. Matthew 16:18), makes it clear that all of these Virgins, as a group of “called-out believers,” had been awakened so that they could go out for a meeting with their Bridegroom. Again, the spiritual implication here is that the Bridegroom’s Father already had provided His Holy Spirit (Oil of Salvation) AND the Baptism in the Holy Spirit (a never-ending Supply of His Oil or spiritual empowerment) to all of these Virgins way ahead of time, and by doing so had ensured all Virgins that His Oil of Salvation (Eternal Light) and His Oil of Empowerment (dunamis . . .  supernatural, miraculous power) were available to the Lord’s entire Body of Believers.

However, as illustrated in the parable, it is only the 5 wise Virgins who actually are the Lord’s truly empowered Bride. This Divine Truth is evident, because when the midnight hour starts (that time right before the prophesied time of global deep darkness falls) it is ONLY the 5 wise Virgins who demonstrate that they are the Lord’s truly empowered Bride. They are the only ones who are able to answer the “call,” which actually is a summons to come out of this world for a meeting with their Bridegroom or Lord, who, according to what Paul writes, is in the air and waiting for them in the clouds.

The above truth is why, according to Jesus Christ’s teaching in the Parable of the Ten Virgins, which is about being spiritually alert AND spiritually prepared for the Lord’s “come up hither” call, it should be clear to true believers in Christ that they must be just like the 5 wise Virgins in the Lord’s parable. His ekklesia must take the time to prepare for His “coming” way ahead of time, because the Lord’s imagery in His 10 Virgins parable absolutely paints this vivid picture: It is ONLY the 5 wise Virgins who make the necessary spiritual preparation ahead of an anticipated time of profound darkness—ahead of the promised time of trial and testing (The Tribulation Period).  As a result, they get the chance to go into the Bridal Chamber, the Door shuts, and, according to many other Scriptures, the Bride rests safe and secure during the seven-year Tribulation Period.

Once again, knowing that their own lamp would fail them somewhere down the line, these 5 wise Virgins made it their priority to obtain a supernatural Supply of Oil that is outside of themselves. In essence, their extra flasks of Oil were, to them, their necessary ‘midnight-cry oil.’

The hard to swallow truth here is that ONLY those wise truly born again, saved, righteous believers in Christ Jesus who, with the aid of the Holy Spirit’s refilling, are walking with God by Faith and not by sight. As a result, they will hear AND be prepared for the “call” (summons; command) to come out of this world. Put differently, the 5 wise and prepared Virgins definitely symbolize the alive professed last-days Christians (ekklesia) who, according to apostle Paul, will be caught up to be with Christ Jesus in the clouds, after the resurrected dead in Christ Jesus believers ascend and receive their glorified bodies into which is put their born-again spirits that have been with Christ Jesus since their physical deaths. Yes, this truth is hard to swallow; nevertheless, it is still true—ONLY the resurrected dead in Christ and the raptured alive in Christ will see their promised Bridegroom (will be in His physical “presence”) before the Tribulation Period begins. They will be the ones in glorified bodies who, while in the air, are gathered around their Bridegroom—they will be the saints the apostle Paul says will be honored in Heaven as a glorious Bride (ekklesia) that has NO blemishes or spots (cf. Ephesians 5:27-32).

Now, concerning the establishment of a sound Rapture doctrine first in the Old Testament, and then in the New Testament, there is no doubt that the prophet Micah is prophesying that there will be a Rapture of an ekklesia (the firstfruits’ Rapture of the holy and righteous Bride of Christ), because only that kind of huge event would be the most logical reason for why the Judah that Micah is prophesying about (evidently the left-behind Jews) will be bemoaning, exclaiming “Woe is me.” There can be no doubt their lamenting is because of a major event that has taken place, which has startled these Jews. It must be a most important occasion, because whatever this incident is it obviously has awakened the spiritually asleep Jews and finally has stirred their jealousy of believing Gentiles to the point that this Judah Micah speaks of, which is around during the Tribulation Period, is desiring Jesus Christ (these left-behind Jews are ready to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior)!

The prophet Micah writes:

Woe is me! For I am
Like the fruit pickers, like the grape gatherers.
There is not a cluster of grapes to eat,
Or a first-ripe fig which I crave.
The godly person has perished from the land,
And there is no upright person among men.
All of them lie in wait for bloodshed;
Each of them hunts the other with a net. ~ Micah 7:1-2, NASB

Micah obviously is describing the prophesied Firstfruits’ harvest of last-days souls, when the born again, saved, justified, and sanctified Bride of Christ “vanishes,” which is a better translation of the word “perished,” off of this Earth. Thus, in verse 2, Micah is not saying that “good” people have “died.” The English word translated in this verse as “perished” is from the Hebrew word ‘abad, which in English also is translated as “vanished.” For sure, Micah is prophesying that in the last days godly people will “disappear” off of the Earth (will be raptured), just like what happened to Enoch and Elijah, who were translated (raptured).

Then too, it would seem that a major prophet, the prophet Isaiah, who lived at the same time as Micah, also prophesies about this future last-days Rapture. Isaiah writes:

The righteous man perishes, and no man takes it to heart;
And devout men are taken away, while no one understands.
For the righteous man is taken away from evil,
He enters into peace;
They rest in their beds,
Each one who walked in his upright way
.~ Isaiah 57:1-2, NASB

These verses often are used to explain why babies, young children, and righteous adults have died at a relatively early age. While this understanding might be applicable, based on the context (Isaiah 56 and 57 are one complete message), it is clear that the prophet Isaiah has had a vision of the future last days and end times, when God’s Salvation and Righteousness in the form of Christ Jesus is about to be revealed. Put differently, the prophet Isaiah has had a vision of the times prior to and during the Tribulation Period, when there would be a snatching away of the truly saved by Grace righteous and faithful people.

Thus, Isaiah obviously is speaking about the resurrection of the dead (the righteous in Christ Jesus who perish), the Rapture or removal of the Bride of Christ (the faithfully prepared righteous who are taken away; who disappeared), and the hidden away Bride who peacefully is resting on Her beds in Heaven’s bridal chambers, which is every upright (made righteous by Jesus Christ) believer’s blessed hope—EVERYTHING that eternal Salvation provides. Indeed, eternal Salvation also includes the Lord keeping His promise to rescue His Bride from the time of testing that is to come upon this Earth (cf.  Luke 21:36; Revelation 3:10). 

According to Isaiah’s prophesies, the faithfully righteous believers in Jesus Christ will be removed/taken off of the Earth. Only the corrupt officials and the corrupt global nations will be what is left behind. Put differently, Isaiah is prophesying that the individuals who are left behind after the Rapture of the Bride of Christ will be mostly Israel’s (the nation of Israel as a whole) wicked religious and political leaders—shepherds and watchmen—and the wicked nations of the world, who attack Israel’s defenseless flock like dogs (cf. Isaiah 56:9-12)!

The rest of the left behinders are chiefly those “…sons of a sorceress, offspring of and offspring of an adulterer and a prostitute” who have been conned not only by Israel and many other nations’ corrupt officials/leaders but also these left behinders have been hoodwinked by the ever-present global Babylonian systems, which largely are religious, political, and economic in nature (cf. Isaiah 57:3-8), and as such these left behinders not only will NOT notice (will not take it to heart; will not think seriously about) the disappearance of the most faithful of righteous people (those who died in Christ and eventually will be resurrected) nor the raptured (the alive in Christ believers who just disappeared). In other words, the masses of these left behinders will not notice that the genuine believers who have been “called out” of this world have been gone for some time!

In Isaiah 57:1, the word that is rendered in English as ‘swept away,’ or in other translations as ‘taken away,’ is the Hebrew word ‘acaph, which mostly means the faithfully righteous were gathered together or were removed from the evil (calamities, wars, pestilences, earthquakes, and etc.) that will be happening on this Earth during the Tribulation Period. In context, the prophet Isaiah no doubt is alluding to said “evil” as being those same calamities, wars, pestilences, earthquakes, and etc., which Jesus Christ predicts in His Olivet Discourse would come to pass during the Tribulation Period, and specifically more intensely during Daniel’s 70th Week, as judgment of and punishment for the “evil” behaviors of the unbelieving masses, as well as for those who have rejected Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. For these reasons, it should be obvious that Isaiah 57:2 also is a picture-perfect description of the promised FirstFruits harvest of last-days souls, of which Jesus Christ was the first—the FIRSTfruit of the faithfully righteous sinless people to be resurrected from the dead and then taken up to Heaven. Therefore, Isaiah 57:1-2 verses really have more to do with the Pre-Tribulation Rapture than anything else!

This last statement is true, because the prophet Isaiah earlier prophesies in Isaiah 26:20 that at some future time the Lord’s Bride will be hidden in the rooms He has prepared for Her (see Jesus Christ’s promise to His disciples; John 14:2-3). These chambers or rooms are the appropriate nuptial hiding places, where the Bride of Christ will dress Herself in Her white linen robe and will wait there to be presented without spot or blemish to Her Groom. These Pre-Tribulation Rapture and Hiding in Bridal Chambers images are definitely what Isaiah is revealing, because he also prophesies in Isaiah 26:21 that there also is a future time that will be the time of God’s Wrath. Therefore, it should be clear that the Rapture and Hiding in Bridal Chambers will be before the time of God’s final judgments and punishments (before the Tribulation Period begins; before God pours out His final Wrath).

During this coming Tribulation Period, especially Daniel’s 70th Week, the prophet Isaiah makes it clear that the Lord’s Bride will enjoy peace, while She is resting on Her “beds” in the “rooms” He has prepared for Her. For sure, this time of resting is the promise the Lord makes to the Philadelphian ekklesia. He promises to keep these believers from the hour of testing (the Tribulation Period), and Isaiah lets believers everywhere know that the Lord will keep His promise.

Even King David seems to be prophesying about the last days’ righteous ekklesia being raptured (prophesying about the disappearance or vanishing of the righteous and faithful Bride of Christ). The central theme of Psalm 12 is that God Himself promises to rescue (to make safe) His godly people—to protect them, by keeping them away from the world’s most treacherous (evil, dangerous, and unrighteous) people. If Father God does that for His chosen Jewish people, then Father God also will do that for the Lord’s Bride, because Father God is immutable! David writes:

Help, Lord, for the godly man ceases to be,
For the faithful disappear from among the sons of men
.

…

‘Now I will arise,’ says the Lord; ‘I will set him in the safety for which he longs.’ ~ Psalm 12:1, 5b; NASB

King David also writes: “…I have not seen the righteous forsaken/Or his descendants begging bread” ~ Psalm 37:25, NASB. Clearly, the Word of God makes it obvious that during the Tribulation Period there will be numerous people who will be literally begging for bread!

The final bottom line here is that in the Old Testament there is plenty of evidence that supports a Pre-Tribulation Rapture of Christ Jesus’ Bride, and in the Old Testament there also is plenty of evidence that supports an ekklesia that is not in any way like a “church.” Again, no matter how anyone tries to spin it, the word “church” only defines a “place,” mainly a physical building, and NEVER a people; whereas, the chief way ekklesia is used in the Scriptures is as a congregation, convocation, or an assembly of PEOPLE—the ones who have been “called out” and/or set apart. Now, even though a group of people might go to a “church” building to worship, God never “calls out” any “church” building! In other words, NO “church” building is ever “called out” of darkness into God’s marvelous Light. Some of the people in each “church” building, however, could qualify as God’s “called-out group.”

In summary, if in these last days the alive believers in Christ Jesus are going to be alert AND prepared for God’s promised last-trumpet summons, which will “call” them to come up hither (rapture them), then it is vital that every one of today’s believers in Christ Jesus takes part in the process of recapturing the first-century followers of Christ’s cultural commission of going into the world, as they knew it, to both evangelize their world and disciple all its NATIONS. For the Word of God is crystal clear about this display of a global influence being exactly what God intends for every one of His Household of Faith children to achieve.

Furthermore, let there be no doubt about it. The only way that God intends for His sons and daughters to globally influence today’s world is by “churchgoers” as a whole understanding that they must accept God’s original meaning of ekklesia, which from its inception primarily means a “called-out group”—His sons and daughters who not only are supposed to engage this world but also are supposed to govern it while they are still on this Earth. This truth is why when the Lord returns back to this Earth with His host of saints, at the end of the Great Tribulation, the Scriptures make it very clear that these raptured and now returning back to Earth with Christ saints are the ONLY saints who will rule (govern this Earth once again), but this time right along with their Lord and King!

A word to the wise Virgins should be sufficient! Shalom . . . .

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Lost In Translation

15 Wednesday Jan 2014

Posted by Rev. Nadine Drayton-Keen in Spiritual

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

anger, at any moment, bridal chambers, Bride of Christ, Bridegroom, caught up, fierceness, fury, harpazo, Imminency, imminent return, indignation, Orge, paralambano, Philadelphians, Pre-Tribulation Rapture, precedent conditions, rapturo, Thumos, wrath

That's Greek To Me

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. ~ Romans 1:18, ESV

Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. ~ John 3:36, ESV

For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. ~ 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, ESV

From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. ~ Revelation 19:15, ESV

Christ exhausted the cup of God’s wrath. For all who trust in Him there is nothing more in the cup. It is empty. ~ Jerry Bridges

 

I am a Pre-Tribulation Rapture believer (a Pre-Tribulation rapturo – Pre-Tribulation harpazo – Pre-Tribulation “caught up” believer), and I do not apologize for supporting this Divine Truth.  As a Pre-Tribulation Rapture believer, I have confidence that there are NO precedent conditions that must be fulfilled before the Lord comes FOR His Bride—before Christ Jesus, who remains in the air, comes not only to resurrect His dead or sleeping Bride but also to rapture His alive Bride.  

Notice please that in the most specific Rapture verses (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17) it is the alive Bride who is being “caught up” to be with both the resurrected dead in Christ (them) and the Lord Jesus the Christ. In other words, the Rapture of the alive Body of Christ is about the Lord coming FOR His Bride before the Tribulation Period ever begins and NOT about the Lord coming WITH His Bride or Host of Heaven on the Day of the Lord!

By the way, there not only are specific Rapture Scriptures but also specific Imminency Scriptures about the Lord’s return FOR His Bride happening “at any moment.” These Imminency Scriptures also tell that the Bride of Christ (Body of Christ, CHURCH) not only should be ready and prepared for Her Groom or Her Lord’s imminent return but also She should be EXPECTING Her Groom or Her Lord to come FOR Her “at any moment”!

It should be evident that the Rapture and Imminency Scriptures are very different from those verses that speak about the Lord coming WITH His Host of Heaven (or with His Bride, Body of Christ, or CHURCH). In truth, only the Pre-Tribulation Rapture belief allows for the Rapture of the Lord’s Bride to be the result of a surprise appearance from Jesus the Christ, which is imminent in its timing. The Lord Himself says that His Rapture return would be like a thief in the night kind of “surprise” (see Matthew 24:42-44).

Put differently, the Lord is saying that He will come for His Bride when most people wouldn’t be expecting Him to come for them, and this surprise coming is why His Bride must stay alert, be prepared and ready, and keep looking for Him to come “at any moment.”  Moreover, that He comes like a thief in the night is the main reason why knowing the “season” and the “signs” of His coming are different from knowing the exact day and exact hour! No one knows the exact day or exact hour of the Bride of Christ’s Rapture, not even Christ Jesus Himself, but once the Tribulation Period begins people will be able to count the days until the abomination of desolation happens at Mid-Tribulation, and people will be able to count the days from this Mid-Tribulation event until Christ’s Second Coming actually happens. In other words, the Lord coming for His Bride would not be imminent—would not be at any moment—for the Pre-Wrath Rapture and Post-Tribulation Rapture believers!

Furthermore, all the Rapture and Imminency Scriptures prove that the Lord’s Bride evidently will have been WITH Him in Heaven before She returns with Him during His Second Coming, which will be on THE Day of the Lord. This biblical Truth is why the Second Coming of Jesus the Christ Scriptures, when every eye will see Him, ONLY refer to His actual bodily return—to the time when His feet touch the Mount of Olives! This Second Coming event, thus, is a very different event than the imminent Rapture of the Bride event! When the alive Bride of Christ is raptured, the Scriptures are very clear that the Lord stays in the air during this event. Indeed, IN THE AIR is where both the resurrected dead in Christ and the raptured alive in Christ Bride meet their Groom, their Lord.

Now, assume, for the sake of argument, that if Jesus Christ is just going to snatch His Bride off of the Earth, slap a white linen robe on Her, and then bring Her right back to the Earth with Him all in a twinkling of an eye moment, then wouldn’t this brief twinkling of an eye moment spent with the Bridegroom in Heaven, before He actually sets His feet upon the Earth where every eye will see Him, mean that Christ Jesus is going to be way less than a Gentleman with His Bride? Taking His Bride off of this Earth and then returning Her back to the Earth, in a twinkling of an eye moment is equivalent to what many humans describe as a “wham bam thank you ma’am” quickie. Thus, it is preposterous to think that the Lord would be this rushed and this crass with His Bride—the Bride He sacrificed His life for and has been waiting thousands of years to be with Her.

The apostle Paul says that Christ Jesus:

…gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present [her] to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.~ Ephesians 5:25b-27, ESV (the inserted bracketed “her” is this blogger’s emphasis)

In other words, the Lord’s Wife (the Bride of Christ) means too much to the Lord, which is why it is only reasonable to expect that He would devote more than a twinkling of an eye moment to honoring Her (presenting Her to Himself in splendor), instead of giving Her what would amount to as a quick “Thank you for your faithfulness and service” compliment, followed by a quick celebration/consummation of marriage event, which He then swiftly would end with something tactless like “we’ve got more important things to do right now than to let you bask in your earned gloriousness”! Indeed, the Scriptures make it clear that the Lord’s Bride is the One with whom He has promised to spend some quality time, so there is no way He will snatch Her off of this Earth just to give Her only a twinkling of an eye moment in Heaven before rushing Her back to the Earth to the Battle of Armageddon! Yet, this horrible insensitive treatment of the Lord’s Bride is exactly what the proponents of a Post-Tribulation Rapture are suggesting!

Moreover, those individuals who accept that the Rapture of the Bride of Christ (Body of Christ or CHURCH) will happen either Mid-Tribulation or later, including a Rapture that takes place just before the Lord returns to battle Israel and God’s enemies, are in essence saying that they believe their Bridegroom is going to allow the Antichrist and Satan to beat the heck out of His Bride, even behead some of them, and then He Himself also will batter, bruise, and/or martyr His Bride via the Wrath of God, before He then takes Her to Himself as the beloved Wife He promised to save—promised to rescue, preserve, and/or keep from the unspeakable hour of testing or trial (see Revelation 3:10) that is yet to come upon this Earth. For sure, if the Bride of Christ is the ELECT Christ Jesus mentions in His Olivet Discourse as the ones who face that terrific tribulation (the harshest ever persecution, testing, sifting), as well as the ones who face some or nearly all of the horrifying Wrath of God, both of which happen during the seven year Tribulation or 70th Week of Daniel, such an experience would mean that there definitely are some precedent conditions that must take place before any Rapture of the Bride of Christ will happen!

These above understandings or interpretations of the Word of God seriously CONTRADICT Jesus the Christ’s promise to take or receive (in the Greek language, paralambano) His own unto Himself (see John 14:3), which alludes to the very act a Jewish bridegroom performs for His Jewish bride. The Lord and His disciples knew about the ancient wedding customs of a Jewish bridegroom, who after having paid the acceptable price for his betrothed then would leave her so that he could prepare a place in his father’s house where the both of them would live. Christ Jesus and His disciples knew that the bridegroom would go away, and that he would be spending that time away on building the bridal chamber in which he and his bride would stay for seven days, where they would consummate their marriage vows, and from where they will exit as the married couple who welcomes their wedding guests to the seven day Wedding Feast. In fact, the prophet Isaiah speaks of the wedding custom that pertains to being hidden away in bridal chambers, when he writes:

Come, my people, enter your rooms, and shut your doors behind you. Hide yourselves for a little while until the wrath is past. For see! Adonai emerges from his place to punish those on earth for their sin. Then the earth will reveal the blood shed on it and no longer conceal its slain. ~ Isaiah 26:20-21, CJB

Notice that the prophet Isaiah not only says that God’s people will be hidden away in their “rooms” until the Wrath to come has past but also says that this is the time when God punishes the people on the Earth for their sin. Certainly, hiding His people away from the Wrath to come no doubt is how God will keep His promise to keep His people in perfect peace who trust Him and who keep their minds stayed on Him (see Isaiah 26:3).

Now, the only time God has established for punishing the people on the Earth for their sin, other than the time of the Flood, is the Tribulation Period—Daniel’s 70th Week. Therefore, it should be obvious to New Testament believers that the punished end-time people are not hidden away in the “chambers” the Lord has prepared for His Bride, because they have not been raptured but instead they have been left behind!

For sure, knowing and understanding the Jewish bride and bridegroom’s wedding customs certainly would help all believers in Christ Jesus to realize that in none of the verses before or after Christ Jesus promises to take or receive His disciples to Himself does He ever say: BUT you first have to suffer during the 70th Week of Daniel (suffer during the Tribulation Period)! The reason the Lord never tells His disciples that they will have to suffer during the Tribulation Period is because He knew His Jewish disciples understood His reference to Jewish wedding customs, in particular, to the one about the bridegroom going away to prepare a place for his betrothed. For sure, the Old Testament (the Jewish Tanakh; Hebrew Bible), as well as other Jewish writings and teachings, are replete with prophecies and Jewish idioms about God’s Bride and the Lord’s Bride, about being hidden away in bridal chambers, about the last days and end-time resurrections and/or end-time translations (raptures), and so forth. Thus, telling His disciples that they would first have to suffer during the horrific Tribulation Period, or only the Time of Jacob’s Trouble, before He could come back for them and take them to Himself would have been the most preposterous statement the Lord could ever have made to them.

Likewise, it is preposterous to think that the apostle Paul would assure the Thessalonians that the dead in Christ would rise first and then the alive in Christ would rise (be raptured; “caught up”; taken out of harm’s way; see 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17), as well as preposterous to think that Paul would tell them to comfort and encourage themselves with his Rapture words (see 1 Thessalonians 4:18), if later he only was going to tell them that they were going to experience a dreadful thrashing during the Tribulation Period, and then be raptured. That is why it also is preposterous to think that the apostle Paul is telling the Thessalonians that they will suffer during the Tribulation Period, after explaining to the Thessalonians the difference between the time of their gathering (Rapture) and the time of the Lord’s Second Coming or THE Day of the Lord, and then, in this same context, end with:

Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace,  comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word. ~ 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17, ESV

What kind of “eternal comfort” and “good hope” could these Thessalonians, or other believers in Christ Jesus for that matter, expect if they only have to look forward to being beaten, sifted like wheat, starved, beheaded, and so forth, during the future gruesomest time that there ever would be on Earth? If believers in Christ Jesus are taught to expect that their Lord/Bridegroom is coming to get them at any moment (see Matthew 24:42-46;  Philippians 3:20-21; Titus 2:12-14; Hebrews 9:28; 1 Thessalonians 1:10, 4:17, 5:4-10; and Revelation 22:20), where then is their “eternal comfort” and “good hope” in going through either the first or second half of the coming Tribulation Period (70th week of Daniel)? They already have eternal life. Salvation gave them that, so why would Christ tell His eternally saved believers that they also have an “eternal comfort” and a “good hope” in knowing they are going to be beaten, sifted like wheat, starved, beheaded, and so forth?

Without doubt, by the time the apostle Paul writes 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17, he already has made it abundantly clear to these Thessalonians, and by extension to ALL believers in Christ Jesus, that NONE of God’s Wrath is meant to be experienced by His children; that is, NONE of God’s Wrath is meant to be experienced by the Bride of Christ, which includes Messianic Jews. This Wrath of God, which is NOT meant for the Bride of Christ, is the Greek word ORGE.

There are two Greek words used in the New Testament that have been translated in the English versions of the New Testament as either “wrath,” or “anger,” “indignation,” “fierceness,” “fury,” or “vengeance.”  The first Greek word is ORGE, which is used in the New Testament 36 times: 31 times it is translated into English as “wrath”; 3 times as “anger” (see Mark 3:5, Ephesians 4:31, and Colossians 3:8); 1 time as “vengeance” (see Romans 3:5); and 1 time as “indignation” (see Revelation 14:10). The second Greek word is THUMOS or THYMOS, which is used in the New Testament 18 times: 14 times it is translated into English as “wrath,” and 1 time as “wraths”; 2 times as fierceness or fury (see Revelation 16:19 and Revelation 19:15); and 1 time as indignation (see Romans 2:8).

It is important to note here that of all the times Orge and Thumos or Thymos are used in the New Testament, in Revelation 14:10, Revelation 16:19, and Revelation 19:15 God uses both Orge and Thumos in the same verse. In these three mentioned Revelation verses, Thumos is NOT translated as the English word “wrath,” but rather it is translated as God’s “fury” or His “fierceness.” However, in these same mentioned Revelation verses, Orge is the word that is translated as God’s “wrath” or His “indignation”! The reason why it is so important to point out that THUMOS and ORGE are not the same thing in these three verses is because the translators clearly are showing that there is a real distinction between God’s Thumos and His Orge—a distinction that evidently has gotten lost in translation!

The information that countless English translations of the Greek word THUMOS or THYMOS have omitted and therefore LOST in translation is that THUMOS originally refers to very passionate inward feelings that rise swiftly but then recede as quickly as it took them to rise! THUMOS, thus, is a sudden, explosive but short-lived anger (originally, though, it wasn’t translated as “anger”). In many Scriptures, the Greek word THUMOS is used to describe a God who has “rushed along fiercely.”

Now, the Greek word ORGE, which mostly is translated into English as “wrath,” is very different from THUMOS, and here’s why. In most Scriptures, ORGE refers to the judiciary righteous judgment issued against the ungodly. ORGE also refers to retributive wrath carried out by a righteous Judge; in other words, God’s ORGE Wrath is His righteous punishment for committed crimes. More important, ORGE is defined as a smoldering “Wrath”—a “Wrath” that builds up over a very long time and then breaks loose. That’s why, in many Scriptures, the Greek word ORGE is used to portray a holy and righteous God who, after “storing up” His Perfect, Holy, and Just “Wrath” against sin and evil, then unleashes His ORGE Wrath. This is exactly what will happen during the time of the Tribulation Period. God is going to unleash His ORGE Wrath upon the unrighteous, unholy, sinful and evil Tribulation people.

This ORGE Wrath of God also is described in the Scriptures as God’s Nature or natural trait (see Nahum 1:2), as well as described as His state of mind, His righteous indignation, His righteous attitude, and/or, once again, His slow anger that over time manifests as His righteous judgment of sin or evil and His righteous punishment for those people who sin or rebel against Him. ORGE Wrath also is depicted as His slow anger that manifests as His righteous judgment of those people who refuse to accept His Son (Jesus the Christ) as their Lord and Savior. In other words, because God will forever hate sin, His ORGE (His slow to build up Wrath, which has been building for centuries) is eternal, not temporal or short-lived! This Divine Truth is why God’s ORGE (Wrath) doesn’t suddenly reach the boiling point and then explode. Indeed, that is the function or purpose of God’s THUMOS (seething fierceness or fury). It is God’s THUMOS, His inward passion against sin and evil, that rapidly boils over and then diminishes as quickly as it took it to flare-up!

This difference between THUMOS and ORGE, however subtle it might be, is what most people miss when they translate THUMOS as “wrath.” Once again, THUMOS reflects God’s inward passionate emotion, the fierceness or rage that boils up on the inside of God, while ORGE reflects God’s outward righteous expression of that passionate emotion. In other words, ORGE (Wrath) is God’s gradually unleashed THUMOS. For example, during the Tribulation Period, God’s ORGE (Wrath) will be expressed by degrees through the Seal, Trumpets, and Bowl Judgments and Punishments, which increase in frequency and intensity. However, after the 1000 year reign of Christ Jesus, God’s Orge Wrath will be expressed through the sudden and fierce way He consumes those who gathered against the Lord (see Revelation 20:9), and seen again when God throws Satan and every condemned human who ever lived into the eternal Lake of Fire .

Once more, the distinction between God’s ORGE and THUMOS is what has gotten lost in most of the English translations of these two Greek words. For sure, God’s ORGE, which eventually manifests as the expression of His inward THUMOS, is that Wrath to come that John the Baptist warned the people in his day to flee from (see Matthew 3:7). This Wrath (ORGE) to come is the manifestation of God’s ORGE—the kind of WRATH that breaks loose and, according to John the Baptist, burns the chaff (that which has been beaten out) with unquenchable fire (see Matthew 3:12). Ultimately this unquenchable fire will be God’s final Divine eternal ORGE Wrath—the Lake of Fire judgments and punishments (see Revelation 20:11-15), where the centuries of condemned people continually burn ad infinitum—for eternity—after having their chaff, the sin/evil in them, beaten out of them!

Point of clarification: I have said in a couple of blog entries that “Tribulation is the unrighteous persecution of believers by unbelievers…tribulation is persecution directed at believers. In contrast, wrath is the righteous punishment of God poured out on those who reject Him…the Wrath of God is His judgment directed at the unrighteous!” Thus, based on Scriptures, it is obvious that the Wrath (Orge) of God will be God’s judgment of left-behind individuals’ habitual sin or rebellion and punishment for their rejection of Christ Jesus as Lord and Savior. This ORGE wrath will take place during the entire Tribulation Period, either indirectly as the Antichrist and Satan’s “wrath,” or directly as Father God and Christ Jesus’ “Wrath,” which is poured out during the Time of Jacob’s Trouble (or the last half of the seven years of Tribulation).

More important, just like God’s THUMOS is temporal, the Antichrist and Satan’s wrath is going to be temporal “persecution” or “tribulation.” During the Tribulation Period, this temporal short-lived wrath can be seen in the Four Horsemen’s Seal judgments and punishments, seen in the rest of the three Seal judgments and punishments, AND seen in all of the trumpet judgments and punishments. That’s right! Without doubt, God’s Wrath is being executed through the Antichrist and Satan’s temporal “persecution” or “tribulation” or their wrath. In other words, their wrath—the Seal and Trumpet horrors—are what God permits. If God permits their “wrath” during the Tribulation Period, then that makes their “wrath” not only a kind of representation of the ORGE Wrath of God, which again is God’s settled displeasure with sin and evil, but also a kind of representation of the THUMOS Wrath of God, which is the sudden unexpected boiled over rage or the blazing forth of the ORGE Wrath of God.

The point here is that whether the Wrath of God is permitted to be poured out by the Antichrist and Satan, or is directly poured out by God or Christ, God’s ORGE and THUMOS actually are combined. This Divine Truth about ORGE and THUMOS being combined is why some translators show in the already mentioned three Revelation Scriptures that ORGE and THUMOS appear in the same verses! Clearly these two Greek words are definitely different in meaning, yet apparently both are needed to describe the horrible destructiveness of God’s Wrath.

Once again, ORGE is an eternal settled disposition that slowly ascends from out of God’s Divine Nature. His ORGE Wrath is aroused ONLY when it is against sin and evil. Indeed, God constantly says in His Word that sin/evil is rebellion against His Divine holy and righteous Nature and Character. In fact the only reason why God would allow His ORGE Wrath to be aroused is because of His Love for holiness, truth, and justice. In other words, because God Loves and commands holiness, truth, and justice He must use His Divine ORGE Wrath as righteous antagonism toward ALL that is unholy!

This is when God’s THUMOS gets involved.  Once again, THUMOS is that inward passion that rapidly seethes, rages, or boils within God’s Nature. God’s THUMOS, thus, not only is the source of His passion but also His passion itself—the seat of His fierceness/fury, or righteous indignation. His THUMOS is a special kind of anger that is intertwined with God’s Love for holiness, truth, and justice. In essence, God’s THUMOS also is about HOLINESS—it is about God fighting against sin and evil. For this reason His THUMOS Wrath, though short-lived, obviously is always destructive.

Since ORGE clearly is God’s Wrath that eventually leads to an expression of His short-lived seething, boiling rage or fierceness/fury (His THUMOS or explosive passion), it is important to note here that His Thumos Wrath not only is always destructive but also always unpredictable and vengeful. For these reasons, it should be clear that this ORGE Wrath of God, this manifested outward expression of His boiled over rage (THUMOS), is very different from His Anger that results in Him disciplining His righteous children. Indeed, God’s Orge Wrath, which will be poured out during the Tribulation Period, is most definitely punishment that is NOT meant to cause corrective behavior in the lives of the truly unrighteous men and women. This last statement is why, based on Scriptures, it also should be obvious that God’s ORGE or Wrath will lead to His final eternal judgment (His final Divine verdict), which He will issue to all unrighteous men and women—the Lake of Fire!

Now, it is important to point out here that the people in the Tribulation Period will see NO ordinary kind of persecution. So many of today’s believers think that because the first-century believers, and other centuries of believers, have suffered tribulation (persecution) that this fact means the last-days believers also are supposed to suffer persecution. Clearly since the apostle Paul is giving many of the first-century believers his assurance that they will not suffer the kind of TESTING that happens when the Wrath to come appears, when the Tribulation Period begins, then today’s believers need to understand that they are not supposed to suffer the Tribulation Period, either. It is important to understand that the apostle Paul considered the tribulation first-century believers had experienced or were encountering is but a “light affliction” compared to that Wrath to come.

Indeed, Christ Jesus Himself promises in Revelation 3:10-11 that the Philadelphians, who are representatives of the Lord’s true Bride, His genuinely faithful, obedient Bride who is living a holy and righteous (spotless without blemish) lifestyle, would NOT SEE the kind of tribulation that will take place during Daniel’s 70th Week or the Tribulation Period.  The Lord promises them that they would be SAVED from the future mandatory TESTING/TRIAL/TRIBULATION, the purpose of which is to expose the unrighteous, unholy rebellious nature of the people who are living on the Earth during the Tribulation Period. Thus, it should be clear that these Tribulation Earth dwellers the Lord speaks about to the Philadelphians are NOT His true Christians—they are NOT members of the Bride of Christ—but rather they are individuals who habitually have rebelled (sinned) against God and/or refused to accept the Divine Truth in God’s Word about the birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascension of His ONLY BEGOTTEN SON.

Put differently, those individuals who preach and/or teach the Bride of Christ will be in the Tribulation Period have missed a repeated Divine Truth. The Lord Himself makes it clear, again and again, in many Scriptures, that there indeed will be so-called “Christians” who will face the Tribulation Period. The so-called “Church” people who will receive thrashing, sifting, even a beheading, during the Tribulation Period, are those professed believers who are “Christians” in name ONLY!

Now, once again, God’s Wrath (Orge, or God’s Divine not-so-sudden yet ever-lasting natural disposition, state of mind, righteous indignation, or righteous attitude toward sin) results in His outward Divine judgment and punishment. This Orge (Wrath), which is poured out during the Tribulation Period is God reckoning with (dealing with the unpleasantness of) sin and evil, as well as Him reacting to (expressing how annoyed He’s been with) sin and evil.  In contrast, God’s fierceness or fury (Thumos, or God’s Divine extremely quick yet not an ever-lasting abrupt flare-up), results in His deepest and most intense holy and righteous anger, which rapidly boils up but then hurriedly fades or declines. Both ORGE and THUMOS are in use during the Tribulation Period, and again the point here is that there cannot be any THUMOS without there being ORGE. In other words, God’s THUMOS is linked to His ORGE—they indeed are combined.

Bottom line is that when the apostle Paul says believers are not meant to go through God’s Orge (Wrath), which is a word that is used way more times in the New Testament than Thumos, the apostle Paul means exactly that. God never intended for His righteous sons and daughters to experience His holy and righteous indignation He has toward sin, nor did God intend for His righteous sons and daughters to experience His holy and righteous indignation that He has toward those who have rejected Christ Jesus as Lord and Savior.

Father God allowed His Son to experience His Orge and Thumos, which He poured out against sin and evil—He allowed Jesus the Christ to be beaten beyond recognition, crucified on a Cross, and resurrected from the grave just so that the Lord’s Bride, everyone who not only believes in and accepts Jesus the Christ as his or her personal Savior, but everyone who is allowing God’s Holy Spirit to change him and her from the inside out, until he or she becomes like Christ Jesus, would be SAVED from all of the Wrath (Orge) to come. Now this Orge to come is the final Lake of Fire judgment and punishment, from which Christ’s Bride is saved, because She, as a whole, already has received eternal LIFE. This Orge to come also is the time of testing/trial/tribulation that is coming upon this Earth during Daniel’s 70th Week (the Tribulation and the Great Tribulation or Time of Jacob’s Trouble).

Because of the gift of Salvation, the Bride of Christ believers who have accepted Christ as their Lord and Savior have been born again (received a new nature—one that no longer is sinful), have been made righteous (justified; presented to God just as if they had never sinned), and are being purified (sanctified, perfected, which eventually leads to them being glorified at the moment they are Raptured)! Thus, based on so many Scriptures about Salvation and the Bride of Christ, it is clear that the only people who will suffer God’s Divine displeasure against sin, evil, and a refusal to accept His Son, as well as the only people who will suffer His consequent retributive action, are the left-behind people who neither were the resurrected dead in Christ Bride nor the alive in Christ raptured (“caught up”) into the air to meet Christ in the air Bride.

Finally, it is the complete work of Jesus the Christ that keeps His Bride from having to endure God’s eternal long-lasting ever-present Orge Wrath. For certain, the Scriptures are clear about the people who never have accepted the Lord as their Savior being those individuals who already know that the Wrath of God is upon them even now, and will be upon them during the Tribulation Period. God’s Orge and Thumos are sinners’ JUST judgment and punishment. That’s why, because God knew that there was no way that He could NOT pour out His Wrath on everybody, He also knew the kind of Salvation plan He would have to put in place to save His true and faithful believers. In essence, that Salvation plan is the complete work of Christ Jesus. The Lord’s sacrifice was the ONLY way that God could solve this pouring out of His Wrath problem. Again, it is preciously because God foreknew that He would have to pour out His Wrath on all human flesh that He Graciously grants, to anyone who would willingly accept by Faith and from Faith to Faith, His Gracious Gift of His Son’s imputed righteousness (see Romans 3:26).

Here’s the conclusion to the whole matter: The Scriptures have been clear. The people who will be left behind to experience the Tribulation Period are the spiritually blind Jewish people, the 144,000 Sealed Jewish evangelists who will witness to primarily the nation of Israel’s spiritually blind Jews, all of the truly unbelieving individuals, and many so-called “Christians.” These are the people who do not understand, or will not accept, that it is because of Jesus the Christ’s completed work on the Cross that His Bride will not have to go through the Tribulation Period. Because Jesus the Christ agreed to be God’s Divine, Gracious, Holy, and Righteous answer to God’s Orge Wrath dilemma, Jesus the Christ immediately became the Lamb God the Father would send to Earth as the once-and-for-all Sacrifice for the sins of the entire world. By willingly sacrificing Himself, Christ Jesus became THE ONLY viable Substitute for mankind’s sinful lives; thereby, He also became THE ONLY ONE who could redeem the entire world.  Again, Jesus the Christ’s finished work on the Cross is why His Bride will not have to go through the Tribulation Period—these believers are not going to suffer any of the Antichrist and Satan’s “wrath” AND NONE of God and Christ’s ORGE Wrath, which includes some of His THUMOS (fury). As Jerry Bridges says:

Christ exhausted the cup of God’s wrath. For all who trust in Him there is nothing more in the cup. It is empty.

Without a doubt those individuals who profess to be Christians, in name only, will be in the Tribulation Period, but Christ’s Bride will NOT! She will be in Heaven with Her Bridegroom, living in the mansions (Bridal Chambers) He went away to prepare for Her (see John 14:2-3). The Bride of Christ will be in Heaven with Christ the Bridegroom long before the Tribulation Period ever begins, and will remain there during the entire seven years of Tribulation! Any believers who don’t agree with this Pre-Tribulation Rapture belief are suffering from not having the right information about God’s Orge and His Thumos, and perhaps suffering from not having the right information about a few other words like Rapturo or Harpazo, primarily because this information has gotten lost in translation!

Shalom . . . .

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The Last Trump: When Our Bodies Are Glorified

28 Sunday Jul 2013

Posted by Rev. Nadine Drayton-Keen in Bible Study

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

betrothed, Bridal Chamber, Bride of Christ, Bridegroom, concealed, controversial passages, Crescent New Moon, Feast of Trumpets, glorified immortal bodies, harpazo, hidden away, Marriage Supper of the Lamb, Natzal, parabiblical or extra-biblical, Pre-Tribulation Rapture, Rosh Hashanah, shofar, snatched away, The Rapture, Wedding of Messiah, Yom Teruah

The Rapture

Look, I will tell you a secret — not all of us will die! But we will all be changed! It will take but a moment, the blink of an eye, at the final shofar. For the shofar will sound, and the dead will be raised to live forever, and we too will be changed. ~ 1 Corinthians 15:51-52

Six days later, Yeshua took Kefa, Ya‘akov and his brother Yochanan and led them up a high mountain privately. As they watched, he began to change form — his face shone like the sun, and his clothing became as white as light. ~ Matthew 17:1-2, CJB

There is nothing in the Holy Bible that is there just to take up space. The entire Holy Bible was given to believers in Christ Jesus so that God’s Holy Spirit could teach them God’s Truths, correct their human errors (including any misunderstandings they might have about biblical passages), convict them, and give them training in right living (cf. 2 Timothy 3:16). Now ALL Scriptures would mean that in order for the Holy Spirit to teach, to correct, to convict, and to train effectively, He must use even those verses that deal with those Jewish traditions, which God Himself established (i.e., Jews’ customs, culture, mandated biblical feasts, and etc.).

Furthermore, it is important to note here that one of the major problems most believers have with understanding, for example, when The Rapture of Christ’s Bride will take place is that they forget the Holy Bible basically is about what happens to God’s chosen Jewish people. That’s right! Most believers forget that the first-century apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers preached the Good News (Gospel) about salvation first to the Jews and then to the Gentiles (cf. Romans 1:16).

Most of today’s believers also have forgotten that God established the Jewish culture; the Jewish nation; the Jewish wedding customs, service, and ceremonies; the Jewish kosher foods, and that includes which food is sold, cooked, and/or when and where that food is eaten; the Jewish/Mosaic Law, which includes, but is not limited to, instructions about Sabbath-day observances and annually mandated seven feasts (cf. Colossians 2:16-17); all of the end-time prophecies concerning Israel and Christ Jesus, and so forth.

Moreover, in what has become the Holy Bible, God inspired mostly Jewish writers to record what thus saith God about His established Jewish customs, culture, commanded feasts, etc. Be that as it may. The sad truth is that more Gentile than Jewish believers do not carefully study Jewish customs, Jewish culture, Jewish history, Jewish feasts, and so on, before they try to understand the meanings of the literal and figurative words (language) used in any given biblical passage. By figurative language, this blogger means the copious figures of speech, such as idioms, imagery, metaphors, similes, symbols, hyperboles, allegories, parables, and so forth, which are used in the Holy Bible to explain or describe spiritual truths, prophetic events, and head-scratching mysteries about God and His chosen biblical men and women.

Case in point, there are so many published Christian and secular prophetic end-time studies, discussions, opinions, interpretations, understandings, and so on, about when The Rapture of Christ Jesus’ Bride will happen. Unfortunately too many of these parabiblical or extra-biblical sources (secondary writings; external commentaries on and paraphrases of the God-breathed, God-inspired Holy Bible) have confused, and continue to confuse, many believers, who consequently end up misunderstanding and misapplying God’s Truths.

For example, there are countless web pages and blog entries devoted to “trying” to prove that the apostle Paul’s last trump (last trumpet), which he mentions in 1 Corinthians 15:52, is the same as apostle John’s seventh trumpet, which he mentions in Revelation 11:15-19. In other words, these individuals do not believe in the pre-tribulation rapture. Instead, they believe that the day of The Rapture AND the Day of the Lord or Christ Jesus’ Second Coming are one in the same. Many if not most of these individuals believe that the Bride of Christ goes through the entire seven years of the Tribulation Period, even though the apostle Paul tells the Thessalonians that God never intended for Christ Jesus’ followers to experience God’s wrath (cf. 1 Thessalonians 5:9), and even though apostle John writes that Christ Jesus will keep His faithful, obedient, patient, prepared, and watchful Bride of Christ from the Antichrist’s persecutions and God’s wrath (cf. Revelation 3:10). Without doubt these apostles are saying that the Body of Christ believers who are in Him are inside a kind of Ark that hasn’t been made by human hands, and this Divine Truth is why the Bride of Christ is allowed to escape the Tribulation Period!

For sure, there are many Messianic Jews and Christ-believing Gentiles who agree that the Feast of Trumpets primarily is a picture of The Rapture—the “snatching away” of the alive Bride of Christ. Yet, despite the fact that biblical Scriptures and Jewish traditions are in harmony with each other about the “last trump” or last trumpet being the shofar blast that marks the start of Yom Teruah or the Feast of Trumpets/Rosh HaShanah, many people still want to claim that the “last trump” is the seventh judgment trumpet in Revelation.

Then too, despite the fact that the Holy Spirit guided the many believers who have produced a wealth of parabiblical or extra-biblical sources that clearly show how God uses the Jewish traditions that He established to connect the dots, complete the pictures, of the controversial biblical passages that divide believers, many Christians still seem to gravitate toward only those understandings that are in harmony with theirs instead of toward the understandings that God wants them to have. Some of those controversial biblical passages are the ones that deal with the apostle Paul’s use of the phrase—the last trump.

For the record, according to Father God’s established Jewish traditions, there are three shofar (trumpet) sounds/blasts that indicate three specific days on the Jewish calendar. These three shofar sounds/blasts are called the First Trump, the Last Trump, and the Great Trump.

1. The First Trump is blown on the Feast of Shavuot (Pentecost) [Exodus 19:18-19], when God gave Moses the Law. The First Trump also symbolizes God’s betrothal to His Bride, who is all of the Jewish people. Where the Bride of Christ is concerned, on the Day of Pentecost, Christ Jesus also becomes betrothed to His Bride, who is the Jews and the Gentiles in Christ.

So then, the First Trump signifies the beginning of the betrothal periods for both God’s Bride (Israel, the nation as a whole) and Christ Jesus’ Bride (every believer who will become a member of the Body of Christ, a member of Christ Jesus’ ekklesiai (assemblies), a member of The CHURCH). Indeed, the 6th of Sivan, which is the Feast of Weeks/Feast of Pentecost, pictures the descent of the Holy Spirit and the birthday of the Bride of Christ/Body of Christ/The CHURCH.

2. The Last Trump is blown on the Feast of Trumpets, which is the 1st of Tishri. In fact the Last Trump is synonymous with Rosh HaShanah, as the Last Trump is a Jewish idiom for Rosh HaShanah, which originally was called Yom Teruah (the Hidden Day/the Day of the Awakening Blast/the Day of Shouting (Crying Voice; Loud Noise)/Feast of Trumpets). This feast day came to be called the Feast of Trumpets, thus, primarily because the “Teruah” sound of the Shofar is based on the sound of a cry or shout.

Moreover, the last trumpet blast on Rosh HaShanah, which actually is the last of the blasts made during the 30 days of Teshuvah (calls to repent or calls to return to God) that began in the preceding month of Elul, also is the first blast on Rosh HaShanah that begins the first day of the month of Tishri. Now, because this Last Trump actually is not blown on the last day of Elul, but rather on the first day of Tishri, this is why Rosh HaShanah is called the hidden day—the significance of this day is hidden primarily from Satan, which is why God does not give definitive reasons or detailed observance instructions for the Feast of Trumpets.

Then too, this Last Trump symbolizes the time when the resurrection of the dead will take place. On this day, the apostle Paul declares that the dead in Christ would be resurrected and their bodies would be changed (glorified), and then the alive in Christ believers would be snatched away off of this Earth, receiving their glorified bodies as they travel upwards to meet Christ Jesus and the resurrected dead in Christ believers on the clouds in the air (1 Corinthians 15:51-55; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18).

Perhaps the above reasons also are why this last trump of the Shofar, on Rosh HaShanah, is meant to jolt Jewish people from their sleep—to awaken them to spiritual maturity, because after the next seven days comes the Day of Atonement. On the Day of Atonement, based on those decisions God made on the Feast of Trumpets, the destiny of every Jewish person, mainly if someone would live or die during the new year, would be sealed! For these reasons, Jewish people see the Feast of Trumpets or Rosh HaShanah as the rehearsal for the resurrection of the righteous dead and The Rapture.

Lastly, according to Jewish traditions, Genesis 22 is part of the Torah reading on Rosh HaShanah. This chapter deals with the Akedah, when Abraham bound Isaac and the ram caught in the thicket. This ram is important because its two horns have come to be called the Shofar’s “first trump” (left horn), and the Shofar’s “last trump” (right horn). Moreover, it is the ram’s horn that becomes the shofar blown on the Feast of Trumpets, which also is why Akedah is associated with Rosh HaShanah.

3. The Great Trump is blown on Yom Kippur or the Day of Atonement, and it eventually will herald the coming of the Messiah Yeshua to Earth (cf. Matthew 24:29-31). In Jewish traditions, this literal coming of the Messiah, which we now know is His bodily return or Second Coming, is shown by Christ Jesus to be associated with the Jewish idiom for Yom Kippur. This time in the end times is the Day of the Lord, or the Day of Judgment—the day when judgment would be sealed!

For the Jews, the annual Yom Kippur or Day of Atonement has been a rehearsal for when Satan finally is defeated and bound in the bottomless pit at the end of the seven year Tribulation Period, and a rehearsal for when the Antichrist and his armies are destroyed, with the Antichrist and False Prophet being thrown into the Lake of Fire (their final judgment). The Day of Atonement also is a day of national atonement for the nation of Israel, which is why when the two days to the Feast of Trumpets are added to the seven Days of Awe leading to and including the Day of Atonement, their total (2 + 7 + 1) equals the 10 Days of Awe or the time of “affliction of the soul,” which prophetically seem to point to the last 10 days of the Tribulation’s horror (cf. Revelation 2:10-11)—a time when persecution and the threat of physical death will tempt the Tribulation’s believers to abandon Christ Jesus, out of fear and love for their own lives.

Consider these biblical similarities: There are seven years to the entire Tribulation Period, which ends with the Day of the Lord or Judgment Day (the Second Coming of Christ Jesus). There are seven Days of Awe, after the second day of the Feast of Trumpets, and these seven days lead to the Day of Atonement, which traditionally has been the Day of Judgment/Day of the Lord/Second Coming of Christ.

Additionally, think about this: When a Jewish Bride and Groom united in marriage, it was customary for them to remain in their wedding/bridal chamber for seven days, or 1 week. In the Hebrew language, shavuah is the word for “week,” but shavuah (week) can mean 7 (24-hour) days, 7 months, or 7 years. Therefore, it is very believable that the Bride of Christ would remain in Her bridal chamber with Christ Jesus, Her Jewish Groom, for the seven years of the Tribulation Period—the time of the increased and intensified birth pangs that Christ Jesus prophesies about in Matthew 24:8, 21.

Important to note here is that the wheat/sheep gathered from the four corners of the world are those elect or “choice” Tribulation survivors (Jews and Gentiles) who will enter into the 1,000 years of Christ Jesus’ kingdom reign on Earth, as those humans who repopulate the Earth. They are able to have children, because they do not have glorified bodies!

Those believers who already received their glorified bodies will no longer have the “human” capability to procreate, as the Lord Himself says that in Heaven neither men nor women would marry (cf. Matthew 22:30). Since God’s Law only permits MARRIED men and women to have intercourse, either that or the Holy Spirit overshadows a woman thereby impregnating her with a God-child, it should be clear that glorified individuals will not have children during the Millennium. Their bodies will be like Christ Jesus’ resurrected body (cf. Philippians 3:21), which allowed Him to appear before His disciples, minus Thomas, who out of fear met behind locked doors (cf. John 20:19).

Returning here to apostle Paul’s last trump, it should be noted that as a Jewish Pharisee and a descendant of Pharisees, Paul definitely would have understood that the phrase “last trump” is an idiom for Rosh HaShanah. Be that as it may; there are many Jewish and Gentile scholars who have concluded that the last trump or the Trumpet of God is only mentioned twice in the Holy Bible: 1. at Mount Sinai during the giving of the Law (Exodus 19:13, 19), when God called Moses UP to meet Him on top of the mountain. The Voice in v. 19 means God’s VOICE, which in Hebrew is qowl, a word that means “sound,” and, “like an instrument”; here a trumpet is understood, based on context; and 2. for the Rapture (in 1 Corinthians 15:52 and 1 Thessalonians 4:16, as the Last Trump and the Trumpet of God are seen as being the same, since they both are blown right before the dead in Christ rise and receive their glorified bodies. After which the alive in Christ are caught up, and they receive their glorified bodies).

For the above reasons, many Jewish and Gentile scholars do not believe this Last Trump that apostle Paul mentions in 1 Corinthians 15:52 is the same as the 7th Trumpet of judgment in Revelation 11:15-19, since this 7th Trumpet brings death, and not life! This 7th Trumpet actually is seen as the Great Trump! For sure, if the Rapture’s Last Trump were the 7th Trumpet of Revelation, then that would be a rather peculiar situation for the Bride of Christ, as there would be no way that She could be seen as being delivered, saved, or rescued from the wrath of God at this point, no matter how His wrath is defined. Remember, in 1 Thessalonians 5:9, the apostle says that God did not foreordain Christians to suffer through the “wrath” of God, which primarily is the Great Tribulation or the second half of the seven-year Tribulation. Then too, the 7th Trumpet in Revelation is not even a literal last trumpet to be blown, as throughout the Lord’s reign for 1,000 years, many trumpets will be blown during the celebration of the Feast of Trumpets in the Millennial Temple.

Lastly, notice, too, that in 1 Thessalonians 4:16, there are three loud sounds. In Jewish traditions, these three sounds the apostle Paul speaks of in 1 Thessalonians 4:16 pertain to The Rapture. These three sounds are:

1. Symbolic of the herald who cries out that the Bridegroom is coming, which is confirmed by Jesus the Christ in the Parable of the Ten Virgins (cf. Matthew 25:1-13), is the loud cry heard as the Lord descends from Heaven. This loud cry awakes the sleeping virgins and lets them know it is time for them to get up and get dressed so that they’ll be ready to go, when the Bridegroom gets to their homes. Now the apostle says in 1 Thessalonians 4:16 that the Lord comes with a loud command, or a rousing cry, but he never says that it is the Lord Himself who makes the cry. Perhaps this ambiguity is why, in Jewish traditions, this cry is the equivalent of the awakening Shofar blast blown on the Feasts of Trumpets, which is the first trumpet sound heard on that day, of 100 blasts. Again, the first cry/shout in 1 Thessalonians 4:16 is to get those alive members of the Bride of Christ who have been sleeping to awake, get up, and be ready for the Groom’s return.

2. Symbolic of the voice that resurrects the dead is the shout from the ruling angel, or Archangel. His shout is similar to the same loud VOICE Christ Jesus uses in John 11:43-44 to call Lazarus from the grave. Thus, the second voice/shout is to resurrect the dead in Christ—those believers who are sleeping in their graves, like Christ said Lazarus was doing in his grave (cf. John 11:11). In essence, the voice of the Archangel will be shouting: Live! Arise! Ascend!

3. Symbolic of the last-blast sound of the shofar/trumpet, at the end of 30 days of Teshuvah, which also is the first-blast sound, at the beginning of Rosh HaShanah, calling the Jewish people to the Feasts of Trumpets (to their Wedding Feast), is the Trumpet (VOICE) of God or the Last Trump. The Trumpet (VOICE) of God or the Last Trump, hence, is the opposite of the First Trump. The First Trump signals the time when the Bride of God and the Bride of Christ became betrothed, which again was on the Day of Pentecost or 6 Sivan—Israel to God (cf. Exodus 24:3; Jeremiah 2:2; and Hosea 2:19-20); the Body of Christ to Christ Jesus (the moment each believer accepts Him as his or her Lord and Savior; cf. Romans 10:8-10). In other words, the First Trump sounds on 6 Sivan or the Day of Pentecost to signify the time when Israel, as an entire nation, and when the Body of Christ, with its many members, initially accepted their marriage contracts—said “I do.”

In contrast, the Last Trump sounds on the Feast of Trumpets, or the 1st of Tishri. This Last Trump signals the time when the alive Bride of Christ will be called (invited) to come through the open door of The Rapture in Matthew 25:10—called (invited) to the Wedding of Messiah (after which the open door shuts so that the marriage can be consummated in the bridal chamber, where the Bride and the Groom stay for seven days). The Trumpet (VOICE) of God or the Last Trump, thus, is blown on the day of The Rapture or Rosh HaShanah, which is the day and the hour that no one knows, because it is the day God Himself decides when it will begin. In other words, if He wants to, God will obscure the crescent moon (the sliver of the moon) of Rosh HaShanah from mankind’s view until He is ready for the crescent moon of this New Moon to be seen.

Put differently, it is after the first sliver of the New Moon is seen that the last trump (first blast of the Rosh HaShanah shofar/trumpet) is blown. This truth means that sometimes the Feast of Trumpets (Rosh HaShanah or Yom Teruah) could begin when the day is almost half over. So because the Feast of Trumpets is the only one of the Jewish moedim (holidays) that begins on a New Moon, which falls 29.5 days after the last New Moon, this truth also is why Rosh HaShanah is the hidden day, the day no humans, no angels, and not even Christ Jesus Himself would know when it will begin. In other words, because this New Moon of Tishri comes 29.5 days after the last New Moon, this 29.5 days’ fact is why this New Moon of Tishri could occur on the 29th or 30th day of Elul.

Now the 29th of Elul really is the 28th day of that actual month, and the 30th of Elul really is the 29th day of that same month plus the 1st of Tishri. God designed it that the Jewish season of Teshuvah (a total of 40 days) would start on the last day of Av (1 day of Av + 29 days of Elul = 30 days). The remaining 10 days of Teshuvah are the 10 Days of Awe! Thus, it should be easy to see, then, how the 1st of Tishri truly is a hidden day, as it isn’t the 1st of Tishri until the crescent moon of the New Moon is sighted. For sure, God’s plan of concealment, hiding this day primarily from Satan, is the main reason why nobody knows for sure when Rosh HaShanah would actually begin, which is why Rosh HaShanah, or the Rapture, happens on the first day of the New Moon, which once again is concealed, hidden, covered most of that first day. Remember here too that a Jewish day is from sundown to sundown!

Once again, no man knew for certain when the day of Rosh HaShanah would begin, because the moon is concealed, hidden, covered.  This fact is why in ancient times the Jews had to wait until two witnesses saw the first sliver of the New Moon. Once the Sanhedrin Court leaders received the report from these two witnesses, they then would declare the beginning of the Feast of Trumpets.

The Feast of Trumpets also happens on a very historic date, as the 1st of Tishri is when the 6 days of Creation were completed, when Adam and Eve were created, when Sarah conceived Isaac, and so forth. More important, according to Jewish traditions, it was on Rosh HaShanah that Enoch was raptured—received his glorified body. It also is on this feast day that the Jews believe the day of the resurrection of the righteous dead happens. Perhaps these last two reasons, the day Enoch was translated and the day of the resurrected dead in Christ, are why God doesn’t give any specific reasons for celebrating this Feast of Trumpets, or The Rapture, and why both of these events are supposed to happen on a day and at an hour that no man knows.

Then too, according to rabbinical tradition, Rosh HaShanah is the day that the destiny of the righteous is written in the Book of Life, while the destiny of the wicked is written in the Book of Death. However, scholars say that most of the people’s names aren’t written in either book until Yom Kippur (the day when destinies are sealed), which is 10 days later.

Finally, since Rosh HaShanah is the time of the Messiah’s Wedding and the Day of Concealment (the hidden day), the Trumpet of God or Last Trump, which blows at the time of The Rapture, clearly is God’s VOICE sounding like the last or final shofar blast, or more important the last reminder to the Bride of Christ that She needs to be ready to receive Her glorified immortal body, which happens when She meets Her Lord on the clouds in the air. From there they enter into their Bridal Chamber in Heaven, where they’ll remain for seven years.

The bottom line is that even though God is the only One who knows for certain when the Rapture and every Feast of Trumpets actually begin, He uses plenty of Rosh HaShanah idioms, which clearly depict the same concealed, hidden, covered New Moon images. Thus, the Trumpet of God in 1 Thessalonians 4:16 and Last Trump in 1 Corinthians 15:52 are God’s Way of verifying that while no one will know the exact day or the exact hour when The Rapture will happen, the Bride of Christ has been given enough Rosh HaShanah idioms for Her (every member in the Body of Christ) to know that The Rapture of the Bride of Christ will happen on some future Feast of Trumpets or Rosh HaShanah.

Indeed, when Christ Jesus says “…concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only” (Matthew 24:36), He is using a very common Hebrew idiomatic expression that no doubt confirms for His disciples that their Lord will keep His promise to cover/conceal and keep His faithful, obedient, patient, prepared, and watchful Bride safe from the time of wrath that is coming soon upon the Earth. When He also tells His Jewish disciples to “…be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect” (Matthew 24:44), Christ Jesus is using just another idiomatic expression that lets them know that He’s coming to “snatch away” His Bride on a future Rosh HaShanah. The Lord left no doubt that He was describing for His disciples the day of Rosh Hashanah, which they knew was the rehearsal for the prophesied Natzal—the resurrection of the righteous dead, the “snatching away” (rapturing) of the Bride, the glorifying of mortal bodies, the Wedding of the Messiah, the consummation of the marriage, and the coronation of the King of kings. Their Jewish traditions clearly helped then to understand that Christ Jesus definitely is referring to the hidden day, which is Rosh HaShanah.

For sure, the Trumpet of God or Last Trump clearly also sets in order the end-time events that remain after The Rapture takes place. These are those prophesied end-time events that pertain to God’s final dealings with mankind on this present Earth. The Trumpet of God or Last Trump, then, is God Himself heralding those days to come that parallel the 7 Days of Awe (the Tribulation Period), which come before the annual Day of Atonement (the Day of the Lord or the Day of Judgment for Israel, and the entire world), and the Feast of Tabernacles (the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, which is organized and hosted by Father God).

Therefore, the meat and potatoes of why knowing Jewish traditions is necessary for understanding difficult and controversial biblical passages would be that not knowing the God established Jewish customs, culture, and mandated annual Feasts is a very big mistake, and an equally huge error is to not seek the Holy Spirit’s help in understanding how said traditions are related to the Holy Bible’s prophetic end-time events. It is obvious that having a working knowledge and understanding of these traditions will help believers, especially Gentile believers, to interpret correctly many if not all of the Holy Bible’s controversial passages that currently have too many different versions to yield any kind of harmony . . . oneness. A word to the wise should be sufficient! Amen!

 

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Yom Teruah or Rosh Hashanah: Feast of Trumpets 2012

15 Saturday Sep 2012

Posted by Rev. Nadine Drayton-Keen in Bible Prophecy

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blowing of the trumpets, Bride of Christ, Bridegroom, day of remembrance, day of Shofar blast/noise, Feast of Trumpets, Resurrection-Rapture, Rosh Hashanah, warning cry, Yom Ha-Zikkaron, Yom Teruah

Shofar (by Alphonse Lévy); Caption says: “To a good year”

‘Blow the shofar in Tziyon! Sound an alarm on my holy mountain!’ Let all living in the land tremble, for the Day of Adonai is coming! It’s upon us! ~ Joel 2:1, CJB

 

In Israel, starting at sunset on Sunday September 16th, the Jewish people will begin their celebration of Yom Teruah, which in modern Judaism is called Rosh Hashanah (the New Year; the first month of the Hebrew calendar’s civil year).  In Christianity, this festival is known as the Feast of Trumpets. The Feast of Trumpets also is called “the feast when the shofar cries.”

The main reason why Yom Teruah or the Feast of Trumpets is called “the feast when the shofar cries” is basically because Yom Teruah also is known as the day of the Shofar (ram’s horn) Blast or noise, as well as the Day of the Awakening Blast. In other words, Yom Teruah represents a loud warning cry, because it is the time when Jewish people must wake up and repent. Yom Teruah, thus, is the time for Jewish people to make sure that they are prepared for Adonai.

Now the Holy Bible never refers to this Fall festival as Rosh Hashanah. The names that this holiday is given in the Holy Bible are Yom Ha-Zikkaron (the day of remembrance) or Yom Teruah (the day of the blowing of the trumpets) ~ see Leviticus 23:24-25 and Numbers 29:1. Of the seven mandated annual festivals, Yom Teruah is the fourth, yet the first of the three Fall feasts.   

For Messianic Jews and Christians, Yom Teruah or the Feast of Trumpets, which once again is the first of the three Fall feasts, takes place during the Fall harvest season. The time of this feast is why Yom Teruah or the Feast of Trumpets also symbolizes the need for Messianic Jews and Christians to be prepared for the return of Yeshua, to be prepared for the resurrection of the righteous dead to glorification, and to be prepared for the reunion of the Bride (body of believers) with her Bridegroom (Yeshua the Messiah, who is the King of kings and Lord of lords). Put differently, Yom Teruah or the Feast of Trumpets is the time of the next major prophetic event (the time of the Resurrection-Rapture), when Yeshua returns on a cloud to a world that is preoccupied with slumbering to resurrect the dead in Him, first, and then Rapture (snatch away, catch up) His living Bride.

Let us, therefore, stay prepared; stay alert; and keep looking up, for our Redeemer is near! PEACE….

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05 Thursday Apr 2012

Posted by Rev. Nadine Drayton-Keen in Reblogged

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Bride, Bridegroom, cat o' nine tails, CHURCH, condesendingly, crucifixion, Easter Season, getting up morning, resurrected dead, resurrection, scourged, spit, unconscionabl

I first posted this entry on April 3, 2010.  As this 2012 Holy Week continues, I am Holy Spirit led to reblog this entry.  For sure, what I wrote back then is even more important today, because we are drawing ever-so close to the “in the twinkling of an eye” moment when the Rapture will take place.

Gone Fishin'

The first thing I did was place before you what was placed so emphatically before me: that the Messiah died for our sins, exactly as Scripture tells it; that he was buried; that he was raised from death on the third day, again exactly as Scripture says; that he presented himself alive to Peter, then to his closest followers, and later to more than five hundred of his followers all at the same time, most of them still around (although a few have since died); that he then spent time with James and the rest of those he commissioned to represent him; and that he finally presented himself alive to me. It was fitting that I bring up the rear. I don’t deserve to be included in that inner circle, as you well know, having spent all those early years trying my best to stamp God’s church right out of…

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The Great Getting Up Morning for Christ’s CHURCH Is Near

03 Saturday Apr 2010

Posted by Rev. Nadine Drayton-Keen in Faith and Wisdom

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Tags

Bride, Bridegroom, cat o' nine tails, CHURCH, condesendingly, crucifixion, Easter Season, getting up morning, resurrected dead, resurrection, scourged, spit, unconscionably

The first thing I did was place before you what was placed so emphatically before me: that the Messiah died for our sins, exactly as Scripture tells it; that he was buried; that he was raised from death on the third day, again exactly as Scripture says; that he presented himself alive to Peter, then to his closest followers, and later to more than five hundred of his followers all at the same time, most of them still around (although a few have since died); that he then spent time with James and the rest of those he commissioned to represent him; and that he finally presented himself alive to me. It was fitting that I bring up the rear. I don’t deserve to be included in that inner circle, as you well know, having spent all those early years trying my best to stamp God’s church right out of existence. (1 Corinthians 15:3-9, The Message)

Many of us prefer not to recall the events that lead to Christ’s crucifixion, because  He is treated so inhumanely. Nevertheless, try as we might, we cannot get through any Easter Season without remembering how Jesus is relentlessly punished (scourged), unmercifully flogged with a cat o’ nine tails, viciously beaten beyond recognition, repeatedly mocked, coldly spat on, unconscionably lied on, condescendingly given a crown of thorns to wear, forced to carry His cross to which He is nailed, given to drink sour wine mixed with bile and myrrh, and punctured in His side! The good news is that this description of the Passion of Christ (His altruistic-love act) reveals this remarkable fact: In spite of everything the Lord suffers, Christ willingly sacrifices His life for us!

Thankfully, the greatest love story that ever was, or ever could be, does not end with Christ’s crucifixion (His torturous death), which is why during every Easter Season we also are compelled to think of our Lord’s burial and resurrection. That His tomb is empty because He is resurrected speaks volumes about His triumph over the grave. Indeed, because Christ is our resurrected Lord—the firstfruits of every person who falls asleep (dies)—we can shout hallelujah, and we can take comfort in this Divine Truth, which is, we who are in Christ might also suffer a physical death, but we too will be raised from the dead so that we will be with Him forever more!

So, this Resurrection Sunday, let us joyously bear in mind ALL that our Lord suffered for us, knowing that nothing and no one can stamp out His CHURCH. For sure, Christ’s resurrection not only establishes Him as the Son of God, but also His resurrection becomes the cornerstone of our Christian faith. Moreover,  since the same power that raised Christ from the dead is in us sanctifying us, we can become that CHURCH (Bride) our Lord (Bridegroom) is returning for in the very near future.

Thus, just like we rise from spiritual death when Christ calls us to be His CHURCH, those of us who have fallen asleep before Christ returns for His sanctified Bride will rise from physical death, when Christ once again calls us. After that, “…the rest of us who are still alive at the time will be caught up with them into the clouds to meet the Master. Oh, we’ll be walking on air! And then there will be one huge family reunion with the Master. So reassure one another with these words” (1 Thessalonians 4:17-18, The Message).

This great getting up morning is on the horizon. Hallelujah!

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Rev. Nadine Drayton-Keen

Sanctified Child

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