20 Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation; 21 nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’[d] For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.”
22 Then He said to the disciples, “The days will come when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. 23 And they will say to you, ‘Look here!’ or ‘Look there!’[e] Do not go after them or follow them. 24 For as the lightning that flashes out of one part under heaven shines to the other part under heaven, so also the Son of Man will be in His day. 25 But first He must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. 26 And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: 27 They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. 28 Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; 29 but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. 30 Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed.
31 “In that day, he who is on the housetop, and his goods are in the house, let him not come down to take them away. And likewise the one who is in the field, let him not turn back. 32 Remember Lot’s wife. 33 Whoever seeks to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. 34 I tell you, in that night there will be two men in one bed: the one will be taken and the other will be left. 35 Two women will be grinding together: the one will be taken and the other left. 36 Two men will be in the field: the one will be taken and the other left.”[f]
37 And they answered and said to Him, “Where, Lord?”
So He said to them, “Wherever the body is, there the eagles will be gathered together.”
This set of passages intrigued me deeply. I have just been listening to a teaching from Charles Caps from June 2002 on The Solomon Concept and end times prophecy. He caused me to rethink some of what I know about end times prophecy and how the scriptures paint those days vs how people have said the scriptures paint those days.
I asked myself several questions about this passage. The main one I was curious about is that it seemed to me at face level this passage contradicted something he said about the rapture NOT taking place in the twinkling of an eye but the changing of our bodies would take place in the twinkling of an eye and we would be here for 40 days after. It's very interesting. But doesn't this verse speak of the rapture? I've quoted this verse as a rapture verse several times.
Answer: NO It doesn't.
Where then? His disciples asked? Where will those taken be taken? They will be gathered like wheat at His Second coming, which is after the rapture and not until the end of the tribulation. The Holy Spirit had me compare his wording in this passage:
- Everyone Sees Him
- Heaven opened and Lightening in the sky
- HIS day
- Comparing destruction of evil places to His coming
- Gathering People
- The BODY refers to HIS body which will come WITH Him at the end.
Revelations 19
11 Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war.
14 And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean,[b] followed Him on white horses.
21 And the rest were killed with the sword which proceeded from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse. And all the birds were filled with their flesh.
2 Thessalonians 1
3 We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is fitting, because your faith grows exceedingly, and the love of every one of you all abounds toward each other, 4 so that we ourselves boast of you among the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that you endure, 5 which is manifest evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you also suffer; 6 since it is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you, 7 and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, 8 in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, 10 when He comes, in that Day, to be glorified in His saints and to be admired among all those who believe,[a] because our testimony among you was believed.
11 Therefore we also pray always for you that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfill all the good pleasure of His goodness and the work of faith with power, 12 that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore this passage is talking about the last day, the day when Jesus returns to set right all things for his thousand year reign to begin. It is not talking about the rapture. Which means an entire paradigm shift regarding end times thought. There are very interesting things to come.
OK... so what? What does this mean to me right now? I think the biggest admonition here is to remember Lot's wife. DON'T LOOK BACK!
Do not look back at past years decades or minutes. Look forward. What does God have for you? What are His plans for you? Is what you're doing right now taking you toward his plan or away from it? There is no neutral.
Are you making plans for later this year that God would totally LOVE to turn upside down if you'd let Him? God wants me living independant of any "JOB" and living in a house fully furnished, finished, full and free before 2011. Will I let Him do that? Will I break my own mindsets and plow the ground of my heart to allow my mindset to expand to include TOO BIG DREAMS?
Jesus is coming soon! We have no time to wait and wait for nothing to happen because we were too scared to take His plan and run with it. I will take steps toward that freedom. It starts with consistency here in this journal. It then moves to completing what I started with KOG Concepts. What's next? I'll get that done and let you know.
Darrell G. Wolfe
PS... Charles pointed to the scripture and said that we WILL know the day of the rapture as the day approaches. The time will not be a suprise to us at all? Throw your head for a loop? Click on the link to hear it for yourself. You be the judge:
The Solomon Concept
0 comments:
Post a Comment
Be Nice, Be Kind, Be Thoughtful, Be Honest, Be Creative...GO!