Walk with God

 God gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision. So when Abraham became the father of Isaac, he circumcised him on the eighth day. The practice was continued when Isaac became the father of Jacob and when Jacob became the father of the 12 patriarchs of the Israelite nation. These patriarchs were jealous of their brother Joseph, and they sold him to be a slave in Egypt. But God was with him and rescued him from all his troubles. God gave him favor before Pharaoh, king of Egypt. God also gave Joseph unusual wisdom. Pharaoh appointed him governor over all of Egypt and put him in charge of the palace. But a famine came upon Egypt and Canaan. There was great misery, and people all around ran out of food. Jacob heard that there was still grain in Egypt, so he sent his sons to buy some. The second time they went, Joseph revealed his identity to his brothers, and they were introduced to Pharaoh. Then Joseph sent for his father, Jacob, and all his relatives to come to Egypt, 75 persons in all. If you missed that, I discussed the counting differences in the number of people in my last blog post. So Jacob went to Egypt and eventually died there. They were taken to Shechem and buried in Abraham's tomb for a specific price from Hamor's sons in Shechem (Acts 7:8-16).

Before the first famine years, two sons were born to Joseph and his wife, Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera, the priest of On. Joseph named his older son Manasseh (Causing to Forget). He said God had made him forget all the troubles that everyone in his father's family had caused. Joseph named his second son Ephraim (Fruitful) because God had made him fruitful in the land of his grief (Genesis 41:50-52).

Meanwhile, the people of Israel settled in the region of Goshen in Egypt. There they acquired property, and they were fruitful, and their population multiplied. Jacob lived for 17 years after he arrived in Egypt, so he lived 147 years in all. As the time of his death drew near, Jacob called for his son Joseph. He insisted that Joseph swear to treat Jacob with unfailing love by honoring his last request not to be buried in Egypt when he died. Instead, he wanted his body to be taken out of Egypt and buried with his ancestors. Joseph agreed and made the oath. As Jacob's health was rapidly failing, Joseph brought his two sons to see their grandfather. So, Jacob gathered his strength to sit up in bed, repeating God's promise to him in Luz in the land of Canaan. God's blessing was that Jacob would make him fruitful. God would multiply Jacob's descendants, make him a multitude of nations, and give the land of Canaan to his descendants as an everlasting possession. Keep that word "everlasting" in mind whenever anyone tells us that none of God's promises to Israel still belong to the Jewish people. God is not a liar (Genesis 47:24-48:4).

Then Jacob does something interesting. He claims Joseph's two sons as his own, telling Joseph that any of his children after them could inherit the land that would have belonged to these two brothers. Jacob could hardly see because of his age. So, Joseph brought Ephraim and Manasseh close to Jacob. Jacob was thrilled because for 22 years of his life, he didn't think he would ever see Joseph again, but he got to see Joseph and Joseph's children. The oldest child, Manasseh, was on the right, with Ephraim on the left, as it typically should be for such a blessing. But Jacob crossed his hands, putting the right hand on the youngest and left on the oldest. Jacob asked God to bless the boys, keeping alive the names of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob through the multiplication of descendants throughout the earth. Joseph objected to the placement of his father's hands and tried to correct him, but Jacob knew what he was doing. He said both boys would prosper, but the youngest would become more significant. Jacob knew his death was near, but Jacob still had God's promise in mind. He told Joseph that his people would be back in the Promised Land of their ancestors eventually. He also said that Joseph's descendants would have an extra portion of the land taken from the Amorites by conquest (Genesis 48:10-22).

The blessing is the most significant theme in this section of scripture. 

1. Jacob talks about how God appeared to him at Luz in Canaan and blessed him (Genesis 48:3).
2. Jacob's most important goal was to bless his children (Genesis 48:9).
3. Jacob blessed Joseph (Genesis 48:15-16).
4. Jacob blessed Ephraim and Manasseh (Genesis 48:16).
5. Jacob said that Israel would pronounce blessing in the names of Ephraim and Manasseh (Genesis 48:20).

Notice also what Jacob says about God here:

1. Abraham and Isaac walked before God.
2. God had been Jacob's shepherd all his life.
3. God had redeemed Jacob from all evil.

God can redeem us from evil, too, through trust in the work Jesus did on the cross.

There is also hope in the interaction between Jacob, Manasseh, and Ephraim. It shows us that every individual person has a purpose. God doesn't see everything in groups like much of our society is encouraging us to do today. That doesn't mean he doesn't see any groups at all. Matthew 25:31-46 is called the Judgment of the Nations. God has a plan for the Church and a plan for Israel. God has judged entire cities in the past and even in more recent years. But salvation is individual, and God has unique plans for each of our lives. This tells us that God notices us. Even though there are billions of people on Earth, God still focuses on and cares about you as an individual person.

Jacob mentioned how the patriarchs all walked with God. This is something the Bible talks about a lot. In Genesis 5:22-24, we see that Enoch walked with God. Then, suddenly, God took Enoch, and he disappeared from Earth in the first Rapture. How did Enoch qualify for this experience? He walked with God! Noah was a righteous man who was blameless in his generation because Noah walked with God (Genesis 6:9). As such, he and his family were the ones spared from the global Flood. God commanded Abraham to walk before him faithfully and be blameless (Genesis 17:1). So, what does the Lord require of us? He requires us to act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly before God (Micah 6:8). The Apostle Paul urged his readers to walk with God in a manner worthy of the calling we have received. We do this by walking in humility, gentleness, patience, bearing with one another in love, and making every effort to keep the unity of the Holy Spirit through the bond of peace (Ephesians 4:1-3). That sure is a convicting passage. At least it is for me! So what can we learn about all of this about the command to walk with God:

1. The grace of God will call us to walk with him because we belong to him through Christ.
2. Noah was considered righteous and blameless, spared from judgment because he walked with God.
3. God commands walking before him faithfully and being blameless.
4. Walking with God means to act justly, walk humbly, and love mercy.
5. We have been called to be like Christ. Therefore, walking with God means the conduct of our lives is to reflect that. We do this through humility, gentleness, patience, love, and peace.

Reflecting on my own life and character, I can see many areas where I either need to improve in these areas or, in some instances, haven't walked like this at all. So I am glad I shared this study with you, as it has reminded me of some things I need to address. I pray it is the same for anyone who may need it. Thank you for your time, and God bless.

It depends on how we're counting

Okay, so I tried twice to do a podcast for Genesis 46-47. I got a half-hour into it the first time and messed it up. I started over and got six minutes into it before I accidentally stopped recording and saved the file. So Genesis 46-47 will now be a blog post. Enjoy!

Genesis 46 begins by talking about Jacob (Israel) going to Egypt. But the first stop he makes is in Beersheba. This is not the first time Beersheba is mentioned. Suppose you have been with me since we started studying Genesis last year. In that case, the name should be familiar to you, for it is found 11 times in the book of Genesis alone (Genesis 21:14, 22, 31-33; 22:19; 26:23, 33; 28:10; 46:1, 5). Beersheba is found 33 times in the Old Testament (but I will not list all 33 of those). Beersheba means "Well of the Oath" because that is where Abraham made a covenant with Abimelek and Phicol (Genesis 21:22-34). But this is also where God spoke to Isaac and reconfirmed the covenant he had made to Isaac's father Abraham (Genesis 26:23-24). Now God is reiterating that same covenant with Jacob (Israel) at Beersheba.

Beersheba excavations (Wikipedia)

It would be understandable why Jacob would be apprehensive about going down to Egypt. God's people were to dwell in Canaan (Genesis 12:1-7). They ended up living in Egypt (Genesis 12:10; 46:6), where they would eventually fall into Egyptian bondage (Exodus 1:8-14). So God reassures Jacob, telling him that he will still make him into a great nation. So Jacob does not have to fear going down to Egypt. To add extra incentive, God promises Jacob that Joseph will be the one to close Jacob's eyes upon his death (Genesis 46:2-4). So they took all the people and possessions they had and went to Egypt (Genesis 46:5-25).

Something is interesting to note here that Bible skeptics sometimes use to get people to doubt the Bible's inerrancy. Genesis 46:26-27 NIV says all those who went to Egypt with Jacob—those who were his direct descendants, not counting his sons' wives—numbered 66 persons. With the two sons who had been born to Joseph in Egypt, the members of Jacob's family, which went to Egypt, were 70 in all. So which is it? 66, 70, or another number? The answer is: It depends on how one counts the number. The 70 number is repeated in Exodus 1:5 and Deuteronomy 10:22. But then, in Acts 7:14, Stephen says Joseph sent for his father Jacob and his whole family, 75 in all. All of this may be enough to make the average reader go, "Huh?" The 70 didn't include Rachel because she had already died (Genesis 35:19). Only one of Jacob's daughters, Dinah (Genesis 46:15), and only one of his granddaughters, Serah (Genesis 46:17), were counted in the 70. Jacob's daughters-in-law were also not included in the count (Genesis 46:26). Remember that the original 66 number had only his direct descendants. So, where does Stephen get his extra nine? One possibility is my counting the living daughters-in-law of Jacob. The other option is through counting Joseph's grandchildren (1 Chronicles 7:14-21) as the Septuagint does, the Greek translation of the Old Testament from which Stephen was likely quoting. Regardless, there is no contradiction, just a different method of counting. It's kind of like how God called Isaac Jacob's only son (Genesis 22:2) even though Abraham had previously fathered Ishmael with Hagar (Genesis 16:1-16). Because Ishmael was not the son of God's promise but a product of Sarah's scheme that Abraham went along with, God refers to Isaac as Abraham's only son. But elsewhere, Ishmael is considered a son of Abraham (Genesis 17:18-26).

How emotional the meeting must have been between Jacob and Joseph (Genesis 46:28-30). Joseph begins weeping on Jacob's neck, and Jacob proclaims he is ready to die now that he has seen Joseph again. Typed words (or even verbalized words if my podcast would have worked) couldn't do this encounter justice that this father and son had waited about 22 years for.

The Israelites are given the best in the land of Egypt, as Goshen was suitable for both crops and livestock, and Jacob's family were shepherds (Genesis 46:31-47:6). It's also not lost on me that Jacob blesses Pharaoh (Genesis 47:7), who was probably the most powerful person in the world at that time. Yet here is this immigrant shepherd blessing Pharaoh. At this point in history, relations could not be better between Egypt's government and Jacob's family. Unfortunately, that would not last since the Egyptians eventually ended up enslaving the Egyptians.

This brings us to another surface-level counting discrepancy that some Bible skeptics claim to be a contradiction. Some passages give a 400-year timeline for the Exodus (e.g., Genesis 15:13; Acts 7:6), while others say 430 (e.g., Exodus 12:40-41; Galatians 3:16-17). God made the original covenant with Abraham in Genesis 12:1-9. That was 430 years before the Israelite Exodus from Egypt and where the counting for 430 years begins. 10 years later, God told Abraham that his descendants would be strangers in a land that is not theirs and would serve them. As a result, the Israelites would be afflicted for 400 years (Genesis 15:13; Acts 7:6). Isaac, God's promised son to Abraham and Sarah (Genesis 22:2), would not be born to them until Abraham was 100, Sarah was 90, and Isaac's half-brother Ishmael was 14 (Genesis 21:5). Isaac was 5 when he was weaned, and a great feast was held. But his half-brother Ishmael, who was 19, mocked and persecuted him (Genesis 21:8-10; Galatians 4:29). So the persecution of the Israelites began precisely 30 years after the promise and 400 years before the Exodus. That's where the 430 years come from. Joseph revealed himself to his brothers, and Jacob met Pharaoh the same year when Joseph was 39 and Jacob was 130. This was 215 years after God's promise to Abraham and 215 years before the Israelite Exodus from Egypt (Genesis 45:4-6; 47:9). 215+215=430.

Meanwhile, amid all this fun math, the severe famine continues in Egypt and the surrounding nations. So Joseph collected all the money and brought it into Pharaoh's palace. After the money was gone and they ran out of food again, Joseph traded the Egyptians food in exchange for their horses, sheep, goats, cattle, and donkeys. After that year, when they had nothing else to give, they gave themselves and their land to Pharaoh for food. Thus, all the land and people belonged to the Egyptian government. So Joseph reduced all the Egyptians from one side of the country to the other to servitude. On top of everything the Egyptians had already given, including themselves, Joseph gave them seeds to plant because the famine was soon coming to an end. But he still required a 20% flat tax on all the new crops so that 1/5 would be given to Pharaoh. Despite all the Egyptians gave up, they were grateful. It was the dream interpretation God revealed to Joseph plus Joseph's plan to manage the crisis that saved all of their lives. So, they expressed their willingness to be Pharaoh's servants across the country (Genesis 47:13-26).

430 years from God's promise to Abraham to the Exodus (Answers in Genesis)

Meanwhile, the Israelites prospered and grew in number just as God promised. Jacob lived in Egypt for 17 years before dying at age 147. Joseph was 56 at the time of his father's death. Jacob asked Joseph not to bury him in Egypt but to return him to the Promised Land, to which Joseph agreed (Genesis 47:28-31). Joseph would die 54 years after his father at age 110, 64 years before the birth of Moses.

God called down famine on the land and destroyed all their supplies of food. He sent a man before them—Joseph sold as a slave. They bruised his feet with shackles. His neck was put in irons till what he foretold came to pass, till the word of the Lord proved him true. The king sent and released him, the ruler of peoples set him free. He made him master of his household, ruler over all he possessed, to instruct his princes as he pleased and teach his elders wisdom. Then Israel entered Egypt. Jacob resided as a foreigner in the land of Ham. The Lord made his people very fruitful. He made them too numerous for their foes (Psalm 105:16-24).

Genesis 48-49 describes the rest of the significant events of Jacob's life. I won't get into those in this post, but for now, I want to go back to how Joseph treated the Egyptians. Do you think Joseph dealt fairly with the Egyptians? The Egyptians sold all their property, land, and themselves into servitude in exchange for the food stored during the seven abundant years that preceded the famine. Then they were taxed 20% of their new crops as the famine was ending. I think he was fair. They were asking a lot, and it came at a high cost. The philosophy was that there is no such thing as a free lunch even during the mother of all recessions. But I could see where some would see Joseph as being too harsh or expecting too much. God never chastises Joseph for this either directly or anywhere else in the Bible. What do you think?

Forgetfulness before fruitfulness

I had initially started this blog post as the next episode of my podcast, but 20 minutes into it, Galaxy (one of my cats) decided to stand on my power button and shut down my computer. So that means I would have had to record the whole thing over again, and, quite frankly, I'm not in the mood to do that right now. So now there is a change of plans. The next section of this Genesis study will be done here.

God orchestrated the events of Joseph's life in such a way that he became a life preserver not just for Egypt but for all nations who had been affected by the famine, including his own family. The freewill sins of his brothers, jealousy, anger, bitterness, resentment, and hatred led Joseph's brothers to sell him into slavery and then lie to their father, saying he had been killed. But God weaved all of those bad things together and worked them out for the ultimate good (Romans 8:28), which is what God's sovereignty really is.

Joseph named his firstborn son "Manasseh," which sounds like and is derived from the Hebrew for "forget." Joseph did this because he said, "“It is because God has made me forget all my trouble and all my father’s household.” He named his second son Ephraim, which sounds like the Hebrew for "twice fruitful because he said God had made him fruitful in the land of his suffering (Genesis 41:50-52). David Guzik has some good insights on this in his Enduring Word Bible commentary. He says we can't be Ephraim until we are first Manasseh. We can't really be fruitful until we are also forgetting. In his book The Great Divorce, C.S. Lewis described Hell as a place where no one forgets anything. It was his idea that in Hell, each person would remember every offense, every slight, every cruel exchange of words, every wrong ever done to them, and everyone would be utterly unforgiving. But in Heaven, all these things are put away because all things have become new. What fruitfulness is being held back in your life because you will not forget something that should be overlooked? The Apostle Paul wrote in Philippians 3:13-14 that one thing he did was to forget what was behind and strain toward what is ahead. So he pressed on toward the goal to win the prize for which God had called him heavenward in Christ Jesus. 

The seven-year famine of Joseph's day was international in scope. People had to come from nations all around to buy food. And why was there food in Egypt? Because Joseph was there. And why was Joseph there? Because our sovereign God worked out the circumstances so that he would be. That's why Joseph had the dream of his brothers bowing down to him. Joseph was supposed to be at an appointed place at a specified time, and he would be there one way or the other. If it had not been for his brothers' sin, there would have been some other way. And again, when the people come crying to Pharaoh for food, he tells them to go see Joseph. If things go well, Pharaoh gets the credit for appointing Joseph to such a position. If it doesn't, it's Joseph's fault because he was in charge. Pharaoh was no dummy. So when the famine covered everywhere in that part of the world, Joseph opened the storehouses and sold the surplus grain they had been collecting for the previous seven years. And people came from all the surrounding nations to buy food.

Pre-Darby Rapture references: Ephrem the Syrian (306-373)

One of the earliest Rapture references that I personally know of is that of Ephrem the Syrian. This fourth-century theologian and deacon spoke of the pre-Tribulation Rapture 1,500 years before John Nelson Darby was born. As I said in my last post, the importance of that is the false claim of opponents of the pre-Tribulation Rapture that it is a new doctrine that is only a couple of hundred years old. The following is one of the most significant examples of how incorrect that assertion really is. There is some dispute about whether this sermon was actually given by Ephrem the Syrian, which is why the author is sometimes credited as "Pseudo-Ephrem." But even the later date given as a possible date for this sermon still puts it about 1,200 years before Darby.

Ephrem's sermon is titled On the Last Times, the Antichrist, and the End of the World. Ephrem believed he could be living in the end times when he looked around at a world where true faith was dwindling, crime was growing, wars among the nations, and corruption in the church. That doesn't sound too unlike our world today but, in the words of Sophia Petrillo, "I digress." One error he seemed to make is also similar to that of today in that he connected the end of the age with the end of the Roman Empire. I say that reminds me of the present time because many American Christians interpret the signs of bad things happening in America as a sign that the Rapture must be near. Indeed, we can know the signs of the times, or Jesus would not have given us any. But Israel is God's timepiece, not Rome and not America.

Nonetheless, despite his error in interpreting events of his day as signs that the end was at hand, the relevant portion of his sermon for this post can be found in section 2. For it is there that Ephrem makes this statement: "Why therefore do we not reject every care of earthly actions and prepare ourselves for the meeting of the Lord Christ, so that he may draw us from the confusion, which overwhelms all the world?" In this quote, Ephrem states that Christians must loose themselves from earthly cares and keep an eternal perspective because he believed the time was near for Jesus to "draw us from the confusion which overwhelms the world." Does that not sound like a reference to the Rapture when the Lord will indeed do that very thing? Ephrem continues: "For all the saints and elect of God are gathered, prior to the Tribulation that is to come, and are taken to the Lord lest they see the confusion that is to overwhelm the world because of our sins." That is most definitely a reference to the pre-Tribulation Rapture of the Church. He uses the very words "prior to the Tribulation that is to come."

This writer/speaker understood the promises of Scripture. Jesus said that those who were patiently, steadfastly waiting by enduring and keeping his word, he would keep them from the time of tribulation that was about to come upon the whole world (Revelation 3:10). And 1 Thessalonians 5:9 promises us that God has not appointed us to suffer his anger and wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. John 3:36 says that those who believe in, have faith in, cling to, and rely on Jesus Christ already possess eternal life. But whoever is unbelieving and refuses to trust in Christ will not only miss out on eternal life but has the wrath of God abiding over them continually. If the Church were meant to experience the Tribulation, we would be under wrath just like the lost. But that seems to me like a contradiction of Scripture. If the Tribulation was just about persecution, it could rightly be predicted that we might go through it because Jesus warned that his true followers would be persecuted in this life. But the Tribulation (Revelation 6-18) includes 21 judgments that the world will experience as the wrath of God is poured out on humanity in a final attempt to get them to see the error of their ways before it is too late. The church is the bride of Christ (Ephesians 5:22-33). Therefore, we are not under his wrath.

Ephrem also believed that the Tribulation would only be three and a half years instead of the entire seven that Daniel 9:27 predicts. But, again, the point of this is not to point out where Ephrem got some of the events and timing wrong, but to demonstrate that belief in the pre-Tribulation Rapture of the Church is not 200 years old but goes back to early church history. This is only one of the objections raised by those who reject the pre-Tribulation Rapture of the Church, but it is one of the most frequently-stated objections, which is why this topic was deserving of more than one post and reference.

Pre-Darby Rapture references: Morgan Edwards (1722-1795)

Opponents of the pre-Tribulation Rapture like to say that the doctrine is less than 200 years old. They claim that it was started by an Irish preacher named John Nelson Darby in 1828 and spread throughout the UK, Canada, and the United States in the 1840s. Someone should have told all the people that talked about it beforehand that they were too early because the theory's inventor hadn't come yet. It's a shame there was no email back then to get the memo out.

Early American Baptist Pastor and educator Morgan Edwards (1722-1795) wrote an essay for eschatology class on his views of Bible prophecy during his days at Bristol Bible Seminary (1742-1744) published in 1788 as Two Academical Exercises on Subjects Bearing the following Titles; Millennium, Last-Novelties. I won't post the entire essay here, which is why I linked to it, but here are its main points. Edwards writes in the 1740s: There will be two resurrections. The distance between the first and second resurrection will be somewhat more than 1,000 years. Christ's personal reign on Earth will be 1,000 years at least. Christ's Kingdom on Earth will be universal. That spot of Earth which Christ will make the seat of his governments: Mt. Zion in Jerusalem. Remember, he wrote that almost 1,700 years since the Jewish Diaspora in A.D. 70 also 200 years before they became an independent state again in 1948. In this section of his essay, Edwards writes that Jerusalem and the Temple would be rebuilt. Edwards says that the risen and changed saints shall reign with Christ on Earth for 1,000 years. Then he, quite bluntly but rightly, states that those who do not believe in a literal millennial reign of Christ on Earth do miserable work on eschatological texts because only such a doctrine of a literal, millennial reign of Christ does justice to these passages.

But Edwards' pre-Darby predictions do not stop at the Millennium. He writes that certain events preclude the Millennium, meaning that certain things must happen to prepare the way for Christ's millennial reign on Earth. This includes the necessity that the usurpers of the country given to Abraham and his seed (Israel) be dispossessed. Though Edwards did not claim to be a prophet, it almost seems prophetic that he wrote of the demolishing of the Turkish or Ottoman Empire. He also spoke of the 12 tribes of Israel would return to their ancient inheritance, meaning the land God gave them. Then he points out something that I have said many times after studying the works of many Bible prophecy scholars. Jesus spoke of the abomination that causes desolation (Matthew 24:15; Daniel 9:27; 11:31; 12:11). Edwards explains that some suppose this refers to Antiochus IV Epiphanes. While I believe it could be reasonably stated that Antiochus was a type of abomination to come, Antiochus IV lived from 215-164 B.C, long before Jesus came to Earth as a baby. Therefore, Jesus was prophetically speaking of a future Temple yet to be built and an abomination yet to come during the global Tribulation that he spoke about throughout the entirety of Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21. In that future Temple during the Tribulation, the Antichrist will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped so that he sets himself up in the temple, proclaiming himself to be God (2 Thessalonians 2:4). Edwards also refers to the Rapture, the appearance of the two witnesses in Revelation 11:1-14, and the binding of Satan (Revelation 20:1-3) as things that must happen before Christ's reign can begin.

Edwards' essay continues with events that will coincide with the Millennial Reign of Christ on Earth after the Tribulation. Any kingdom or state that refuses submission to Christ or his viceroys shall be reduced to obedience. It is only in the context of such occurrences during the Millennial Reign and final rebellion at its conclusion that Psalm 2 makes sense. Christ promises that those who believe that he is the Son of God and do things that please him will get authority and power over the nations to shepherd and rule them with a rod of iron as the earthen pots are broken in pieces (Revelation 2:26-27). Nothing like this happened during Christ's first advent, but it will during his second. Communion or The Lord's Supper will cease when he returns (1 Corinthians 11:26). It will be replaced by an annual pilgrimage to Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles. Anyone that refuses to worship Christ during that time will experience drought. At some point during the Millennium, it is prophesied that Egypt will be among those that refuse to send representatives to Jerusalem to worship Jesus during the Feast of Tabernacles (Zechariah 14:17-19). Christ will judge between nations during the Millennium and mediate disputes for many people since they will have beaten their swords into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up the sword against nation because they will never learn war again (Isaiah 2:4). Edwards also draws an important distinction that almost all people except futurist Bible prophecy students miss between those in their resurrected, glorified bodies and those who come to Christ after the Rapture and survive the judgments and persecution of the Tribulation. Resurrected believers will neither marry nor be given in marriage because the church is the bride of Christ, and he is our groom (Ephesians 5:22-33). Thus, they will cease procreation (Matthew 22:30). But those who come to Christ after the Rapture and survive to the end will go into the Millennium in their current bodies that will be permitted to live the entire 1,000 years, similar to those of Genesis 5 before the Flood. Those people will continue on to marry and have children throughout the Millennium. One of the most fascinating things to me is that those children, as they grow, will have to give themselves to Christ just as those of us do who serve him as Lord today. Equally fascinating is that some of those children will be unbelievers during that time. They will be given 100 years to repent and turn to Christ, and if not, they will die at the then-young age of 100 and be eternally accursed. The scripture indicates that some may die even before age 100. It's so interesting to me because the rebellious will not have the excuse of unbelief about Christ, for he will be ruling the world from Jerusalem at that time. Yet there will still be those who resist him with full knowledge of their own peril (Isaiah 65:20). Despite this, the world's overall condition will be restored to how it was meant to be from the beginning (Isaiah chapters 11 and 51). Unbelievers will be in the global minority at that time, just as believers are during this current age.

Pastor Morgan Edwards then describes events that will follow the Millennial Reign of Christ. Satan will be loosed for a short time after the Millennium. Though unbelievers will be eternally accursed beginning with their death at age 100, they apparently will produce many children throughout those generations. The passage describes many who it seems have been waiting for Satan's release so they could follow him in one final, futile attempt to overthrow Christ. Then all who have refused to follow the one true God of the Bible will be assigned their forever places in the fiery lake of burning sulfur commonly known as Hell (Revelation 20:7-15).

He concludes his treatise in bewilderment that more Christians of his day did not think of and look forward to the Millennial Reign of Christ on Earth as the Christians of the first three centuries did. He correctly notes that their writings will full of such references and expectations. Messiah has been awaiting this day since he ascended to Heaven (Hebrews 10:13). Around God's throne in Heaven, they sing of a time when resurrected believers will reign over Earth (Revelation 5:10; Matthew 5:5; Romans 8:19-23). Yet, these things did not occupy the minds of the believers of his day. How much more shocked would he be at how much less it occupies the minds of professing Christians today? This entire book reads like it could have been written by a pre-Tribulation Rapture author or spoken by a pre-Tribulation Rapture pastor today. Yet it was written almost 300 years ago and about 60 years before John Nelson Darby, who is falsely credited by many as the originator of these biblical doctrines.

Secret Rapture

“Do you believe in the secret Rapture? I've had this question posed to me several times. But what does the phrase “secret Rapture” even mean? After all, the effects of the Rapture certainly will not be a secret. It's not as if The Disappearance of every genuine follower of Christ simultaneously from the earth could go unnoticed. Even if you give the lowest estimation for the number of professing Christians that are actually followers of Christ, the number of people that would be evacuated off the earth at the same time by the Lord would not be a low number. The percentage might be low, but the total number definitely will not be. So what is this supposed “secret” about?

The doctrine of the Rapture is not a secret either. People have been talking about the Rapture since the beginning of the church. They will likely continue to be talking about it until it happens. Even though 1/4 of professing believers no longer believe that Jesus is even going to literally, physically return, and there are many others who believe in the return of Christ but believe in different timings for the Rapture, the Tribulation, the Second Coming, and everything associated with that. So the Rapture itself certainly is not a secret. What, then, do the opponents of the Rapture doctrine, who often use the term “secret Rapture” as a pejorative, mean when they say that?

It could be in reference to the fact that unless you were going to be taken up in the Rapture, you won't actually see it happen. As I said above, you will definitely be aware that something has happened. But you won't see the actual event. How could that be? Because the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 15:52 that the Rapture will take place in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. How fast is the twinkling of an eye? The twinkling of an eye refers to the time it takes for light to travel in the eye from the iris to the retina or 1/6 of a nanosecond. A microsecond is 1/1,000,000 of a second. A nanosecond is 1/1000 of a microsecond. So we could call the Rapture a secret in that it happens so quickly that the only ones that will be aware of it when it's happening are the ones who are involved in it.

This is how the Bible describes Enoch's rapture. Genesis 5:24 says Enoch walked with God and then all of a sudden, he just wasn't there because God took him. Hebrews 11:5 tells us that Enoch did not see death because of his faith, which is the only thing required to participate in the Rapture. There was no announcement, no warning, no fanfare. There was no booming voice for all to hear that got everyone else's attention. Enoch was there and then he wasn't. It's as simple as that. Elijah experienced a type of the Rapture in 2 Kings 2:11 when he was walking along and then all of a sudden, he was taken into Heaven. These are the only two men who have ever lived that have never experienced death so far. That is why there are some who believe the two witnesses that will appear during the first half of the Tribulation (Revelation 11:1-14) are Enoch and Elijah because Hebrews 9:27 says everyone dies once and then faces the judgment. That seems like the most logical conclusion to me as well, though everyone who will be caught up at the Rapture of the Church will never taste death either. So there are obviously exceptions to that Hebrews 9:27 rule. Jesus himself was raptured in Acts 1:9-11. He spent 40 days after his resurrection appearing to hundreds of people, providing documentable proof that he was alive to many eyewitnesses. Then he gave final instructions to his apostles before ascending into Heaven while they watched him. I would call this a slow-motion version of the Rapture because the scripture seems to indicate that the apostles were actually able to see him ascending. The Rapture will happen so quickly that it will take everyone by surprise except those who will hear the shout, the voice of the archangel, and the trumpet call of God (1 Thessalonians 4:16). But still, what Jesus experienced when he ascended to Heaven is also a type of a Rapture.

If anything is secret about the Rapture, it's the timing. Remembering Matthew 24:36 when Jesus said that no one knows the day or the hour. The angels in Heaven and even Jesus himself do not know the hour that he will return to bring his church to Heaven with him to escape the wrath of God on planet Earth. Only the Father knows when the Rapture will happen. If the Father has kept something a secret from his son, it's most definitely a secret to us. And the Father has seen fit to keep the timing of the gathering of his people to himself a mystery even to this day. This verse cannot be talking about the Glorious Appearing of Christ at the end of the Tribulation because we know exactly when that will happen. The Tribulation will last seven years (Daniel 9:27). A biblical year is 360 days. 360 times 7 is 2520 days. That means that from the time the Tribulation begins when the Antichrist signs a treaty with Israel (Daniel 9 24-27) to the end of it, will be 2,520 days. So we know exactly how long the Tribulation will be and therefore the exact day that Jesus will return at the end of the Tribulation. All you have to do when the Tribulation starts is count 2,520 days ahead from that date and you will know when Jesus is returning with his church to set up the Millennial Kingdom on Earth. But until the Tribulation begins, no one knows that day either even though they eventually will be able to calculate it. The only event on God's prophetic calendar that will be an absolute secret known only to the Father until it happens is the Rapture of the Church. That is also why a mid-Tribulation or post-Tribulation Rapture is unlikely. If the Rapture happens in the middle of the Tribulation, a person will know when that is about to occur because we will know when the Tribulation started and when the halfway point is. The same would be true if the Rapture happened at the end of the Tribulation. We would know the exact timing of the Rapture in both of those scenarios because we would know when the Tribulation began. The only way that Matthew 24:36 is possible where no one knows the timing is if the Rapture happens prior to the Tribulation with no signs preceding it. The Rapture itself will not be a secret. But its timing is the best-kept secret in the history of the universe.

A chronology of the Rapture

If we were going to take all of the Rapture events listed throughout the New Testament and put them in the order they will occur, this is what it would look like. If you want every reference to the Rapture in the New Testament, you can find that here:

Jesus will descend from Heaven, where he has been preparing a place for us since he returned there after his resurrection. He will return with a loud command, the voice of the archangel, and the trumpet call of God to gather all of his true followers to himself. God will raise to life through Jesus any believer who has died and bring them together with him when he comes. Then those who are still living when the Lord comes for the Rapture will join them with him for a big reunion in the air before we are all taken to Heaven. From that time forward, even when Jesus returns to Earth at the end of the Tribulation, we will always be where he is. When Jesus is in Heaven, we will be. When he returns to Earth, we will too. And we will all be together at the end of the Millennial Kingdom when New Jerusalem comes down out of Heaven and is joined with New Earth.

But while the Tribulation is going on here on Earth, we will be in Heaven. The first thing that will happen is the Judgment Seat of Christ. This is NOT a judgment to determine salvation. The Judgment Seat of Christ is for believers only and will determine the amount of reward or loss individual believers will receive for their good works done with proper motives or lack thereof. For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ (Romans 14:10). For no one can lay a foundation other than the one that is there, namely, Jesus Christ. If anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or straw, the work of each will come to light, for the Day will disclose it. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test each one’s work quality. If the work stands that someone built upon the foundation, that person will receive a wage. But if someone’s work is burned up, that one will suffer loss; the person will be saved, but only as through fire. (1 Corinthians 3:11-15). For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ so that each one may receive compensation for his deeds done through the body, per what he has done, whether good or bad (2 Corinthians 5:10).

After the Judgment Seat of Christ comes the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. The last thing to happen in Heaven before Christ returns to Earth and we go with him will be this wedding feast. Jesus is the bridegroom, and the church is his bride. It will be the most lavish celebration of all time up to that point.

"But the word 'Rapture' isn't the Bible!" Or is it?

Every chapter of 2 Thessalonians contains a reference to the return of Jesus. The Thessalonians were disturbed because some had taught that the Rapture had already happened and that those in Thessalonica had been left behind to face the Rapture. The Apostle Paul wrote this in response to their fear: Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers and sisters, not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by the teaching allegedly from us—whether by a prophecy or by word of mouth or by letter—asserting that the day of the Lord has already come. Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God (2 Thessalonians 2:1-4).

This shows that the topic of the return of Christ was important even in the first-century church. It is no wonder then that the early church lived with such evangelistic fervor, even to the point of death. Paul assured them that they would be rescued from the time of God's coming wrath. He said, "You became imitators of the Lord and of us, for you welcomed the message amid severe suffering with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. The Lord’s message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia—your faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore we do not need to say anything about it, for they report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath" (1 Thessalonians 1:6-10).

In the second century, some Christians thought they were already in the Tribulation. And others thought the Lord was near because of the intense persecution they faced. Hugh Latimer was a Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge, and Bishop of Worcester during the Reformation, and later Church of England chaplain to King Edward VI. In 1555 under the Catholic Queen Mary I, he was burned at the stake, becoming one of the three Oxford Martyrs of Anglicanism (Hugh Latimer- Wikipedia). He expressed assurance of the Rapture, saying, "Peradventure it may come in my days, old as I am, or in my children's days...the saints shall be taken up 'to meet Christ in the air' and so shall come down with him again" (Page 29 of The Basis of the Premillennial Faith written in 1953 by Charles Ryrie). Latimer lived in the 1500s. This was 250 years before John Nelson Darby, who the Rapture doctrine's detractors say originated the Rapture theory. Yet here we have a Bishop centuries earlier articulating both the Rapture and the return of resurrected believers with Christ.

Others who attack the Rapture theory say that the word "rapture" doesn't even appear in the Bible. They're right, sort of. The English word "rapture" doesn't appear in the Bible, but the word picture of the Rapture occurs many times, as I showed in a previous post. The word itself doesn't have to be there for the doctrine to be there. "For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever" (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17). The Greek word for "will be caught up" is "harpazō" and means "to seize, carry off by force, to seize on, claim for one's self eagerly, to snatch out or away" (The Outline of Biblical Usage by Larry Pierce). The word "rapture" comes from the fourth-century Latin translation of that Greek word. So when someone tells you the Rapture isn't the Bible, the description of it is. And if they want to find the word, read the Bible in Latin. That's why we started calling the event "the Rapture" when Jesus seizes us and carries us off, snatching us out and away by force to eagerly claim us for himself. The word "Trinity" isn't in the Bible, but Jesus told us to baptize disciples in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19). The Trinity is in the Bible even though the word isn't. The Rapture is in the Bible even though it's not in the original Greek text.

Differences between the Rapture before the Tribulation and the Glorious Appearing after it

The chart has been found in so many Tim LaHaye books, I wasn't about to go through and list them all. I have taken the time to share each passage in total listed on the chart in translations of my choosing.

RAPTURE PASSAGES (BEFORE THE TRIBULATION)

1. "Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God. Believe also in me. In my Father's house, there are many mansions. If not, I would have told you: because I go to prepare a place for you. And if I shall go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to myself; that where I am, you also may be" (John 14:1-3 Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition).
2. "·Everything God made [L The creation] is waiting with ·excitement [eager expectation] for ·God to show his children’s glory completely [the revelation of the children/sons of God]" (Romans 8:19 Expanded Bible).
3. "Therefore, you don’t lack any gift as you wait eagerly for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. He will continue to give you strength until the end so that no one can accuse you of anything on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Corinthians 1:7-8 GOD'S WORD Translation).
4. "I’m telling you a mystery. Not all of us will die, but we will all be changed. It will happen in an instant, in a split second at the sound of the last trumpet. Indeed, that trumpet will sound, and then the dead will come back to life. They will be changed so that they can live forever. This body that decays must be changed into a body that cannot decay. This mortal body must be changed into a body that will live forever" (1 Corinthians 15:51-53 GOD'S WORD Translation).
5. "If anyone doesn’t love the Lord, let him be cursed! Our Lord, come" (1 Corinthians 16:22 GOD'S WORD Translation)!
6. "We, however, are citizens of heaven. We look forward to the Lord Jesus Christ coming from Heaven as our Savior. Through his power to bring everything under his authority, he will change our humble bodies and make them like his glorified body" (Philippians 3:20-21 GOD'S WORD Translation).
7. "Let everyone know how considerate you are. The Lord is near" (Philippians 4:5 GOD'S WORD Translation).
8. "Christ is your life. When he appears, then you, too, will appear with him in glory" (Colossians 3:4 GOD'S WORD Translation).
9. "...and to wait for his Son from Heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath" (1 Thessalonians 1:10 Holman Christian Standard Bible).
10. "For who is our hope or joy or crown of boasting in the presence of our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not you" (1 Thessalonians 2:19 Holman Christian Standard Bible)?
11. "And regarding the question, friends, that has come up about what happens to those already dead and buried, we don’t want you in the dark any longer. First off, you must not carry on over them like people who have nothing to look forward to, as if the grave were the last word. Since Jesus died and broke loose from the grave, God will most certainly bring back to life those who died in Jesus. 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 4:13-18 The Message).
12. "For God has not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Thessalonians 5:9 Modern English Version).
13. "Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your spirit, soul, and body be preserved whole and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Thessalonians 5:23 Mounce Reverse-Interlinear New Testament).
14. "Brothers and sisters, we have this request to make of you about our Lord Yeshua [Jesus] Christ’s coming and our gathering to meet him" (2 Thessalonians 2:1 Names of God Bible).
15. "I insist that, until our Lord Yeshua Christ appears, you obey this command completely. Then you cannot be blamed for doing anything wrong" (1 Timothy 6:14 Names of God Bible).
16. "I solemnly call on you in the presence of God and Christ Yeshua, who is going to judge those who are living and those who are dead. I do this because Christ Yeshua will come to rule the world" (2 Timothy 4:1 Names of God Bible).
17. "The prize that shows I have God’s approval is now waiting for me. The Lord, who is a fair judge, will give me that prize on that day. He will give it not only to me but also to everyone who is eagerly waiting for him to come again" (2 Timothy 4:8 Names of God Bible).
18. "...looking for the blessed hope [Rapture] and Glorious Appearing [end of the Tribulation] of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ" (Titus 2:13 New King James Version).
19. "Likewise, Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of humanity, and after that, he will appear a second time. This time he will not deal with sin, but he will save those who eagerly wait for him" (Hebrews 9:28 GOD'S WORD Translation).
20. "Meanwhile, friends, wait patiently for the Master’s Arrival. You see, farmers do this all the time, waiting for their valuable crops to mature, patiently letting the rain do its slow but sure work. Be patient like that. Stay steady and strong. The Master could arrive at any time. Friends, don’t complain about each other. A far greater complaint could be lodged against you, you know. The Judge is standing just around the corner" (James 5:7-9 The Message).
21. "... so that the genuineness of your faith, which is more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tried by fire, may be found to result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ ...Therefore guard your minds, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 1:7, 13 Modern English Version).
22. "And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive a crown of glory that will not fade away" (1 Peter 5:4 Modern English Version).
23. "And now, little children, remain in him so that when he appears, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before him when he comes. If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does righteousness is born of him. Consider how much love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God. Therefore the world does not know us because it did not know him. Beloved, now are we children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be. But we know that we shall be like him when he appears, for we shall see him as he is" (1 John 2:28-3:2 Modern English Version).
24. "Keep yourselves in the love of God while you are waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, which leads to eternal life" (Jude 21 Modern English Version).
25. "But hold firmly what you have until I come" (Revelation 2:25 Modern English Version).
26. "Because you have patiently obeyed me despite the persecution, therefore I will protect you from the time of Great Tribulation and temptation, which will come upon the world to test everyone alive" (Revelation 3:10 The Living Bible).

GLORIOUS APPEARING PASSAGES (AT THE END OF THE TRIBULATION)

1. "During the reigns of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed; no one will ever conquer it. It will shatter all these kingdoms into nothingness, but it shall stand forever, indestructible. That is the meaning of the Rock cut from the mountain without human hands—the Rock that crushed to powder all the iron and brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold" (Daniel 2:44-45 The Living Bible).
2. "I watched as thrones were put in place and the Ancient of Days—the Almighty God—sat down to judge. His clothing was as white as snow, his hair like whitest wool. He sat upon a fiery throne brought in on flaming wheels, and a river of fire flowed from before him. Millions of angels ministered to him, and hundreds of millions of people stood before him, waiting to be judged. Then the court began its session, and the books were opened. As I watched, the fourth brutal animal was killed, and its body was handed over to be burned because of its arrogance against Almighty God and the boasting of its little horn. As for the other three animals, their kingdoms were taken from them, but they were allowed to live a short time longer. Next, I saw the arrival of a Man—or so he seemed to be—brought there on clouds from Heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was presented to him. He was given the ruling power and glory over all the world's nations so that all people of every language must obey him. His power is eternal—it will never end. His government shall never fall" (Daniel 7:9-14 The Living Bible).
3. "At that time, Michael, the mighty angelic prince who stands guard over your nation, will stand up and fight for you in heaven against satanic forces, and there will be a time of anguish for the Jews greater than any previous suffering in Jewish history. And yet every one of your people whose names are written in the Book will endure it. And many of those whose bodies lie dead and buried will rise up, some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And those who are wise—the people of God—shall shine as brightly as the sun’s brilliance, and those who turn many to righteousness will glitter like stars forever" (Daniel 12:1-3 The Living Bible).
4. "Then I will pour out the spirit of grace and prayer on all the people of Jerusalem. They will look on him they pierced, and mourn for him as for an only son, and grieve bitterly for him as for an oldest child who died" (Zechariah 12:10 The Living Bible).
5. "Watch, for the day of the Lord is coming soon! On that day, the Lord will gather together the nations to fight Jerusalem; the city will be taken, the houses rifled, the loot divided, the women raped; half the population will be taken away as slaves, and half will be left in what remains of the city. Then the Lord will go out fully armed for war, to fight against those nations. That day his feet will stand upon the Mount of Olives, to the east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will split apart, making a vast valley running from east to west, for half the mountain will move toward the north and half toward the south. You will escape through that valley, for it will reach across to the city gate. Yes, you will flee as your people did long centuries ago from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah, and the Lord my God shall come, and all his saints and angels with him. The sun and moon and stars will no longer shine, yet there will be continuous day! Only the Lord knows how! There will be no ordinary day and night—at evening time, it will still be light. Life-giving waters will flow out from Jerusalem, half toward the Dead Sea and half toward the Mediterranean, flowing continuously both in winter and summer. And the Lord shall be King over all the earth. In that day, there shall be one Lord—his name alone will be worshiped. All the land from Geba (the northern border of Judah) to Rimmon (the southern border) will become one vast plain, but Jerusalem will be on an elevated site, covering the area all the way from the Gate of Benjamin over to the location of the old gate, then to the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananel to the king’s winepresses. And Jerusalem shall be inhabited, safe at last, never again to be cursed and destroyed. And the Lord will send a plague on all the people who fought Jerusalem. They will become like walking corpses, their flesh rotting away; their eyes will shrivel in their sockets, and their tongues will decay in their mouths. They will be seized with terror, panic-stricken from the Lord, and will fight against each other in hand-to-hand combat. All Judah will be fighting at Jerusalem. The wealth of all the neighboring nations will be confiscated—significant quantities of gold and silver and fine clothing. (This same plague will strike the horses, mules, camels, donkeys, and all the other animals in the enemy camp (Zechariah 14:1-15 The Living Bible).
6. "I will send my angels, and they will separate out of the Kingdom every temptation and all who are evil" (Matthew 13:41 The Living Bible).
7. "So when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house. Let him who is in the field not return to take his clothes. Woe to those who are with child and to those who nurse in those days! Pray that your escape will not be in the winter or on the Sabbath. For then will be great tribulation, such as has not happened since the beginning of the world until now, no, nor ever shall be. Unless those days were shortened, no one would be saved. But for the sake of the elect, those days will be shortened. Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ,’ or ‘There He is,’ do not believe it. For false Christs and false prophets will arise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. Listen, I have told you beforehand. So, if they say to you, ‘Look, He is in the desert,’ do not go there; or, ‘Look, He is in the private chambers,’ do not believe it. For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Wherever the carcass is, there the eagles will be gathered together. Immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light. The stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.' Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather His elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other" (Matthew 24:15-31 Modern English Version).
8. "Jesus said to him, 'You have said so. But I say to you, hereafter, you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven'” (Matthew 26:64 Modern English Version).
9. "Now, when you see the abomination of desolation standing where it should not be—let the reader understand—then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains. Whoever is on the housetop must not go down, nor go in to get anything out of his house. And whoever is in the field must not turn back to get his cloak. But woe to those pregnant women and to those who are nursing babies in those days! Moreover, pray that it will not happen in winter. Those days will be such a time of tribulation as has not occurred since the beginning of the creation that God created until now and never will again. And if the Lord had not shortened those days, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect, whom He chose, He shortened the days. And then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ’; or, ‘Look, there He is’; do not believe it; for false Christs and false prophets will arise, and will provide signs and wonders, to mislead, if possible, the elect. But beware; I have told you everything in advance" (Mark 13:14-27 New American Standard Bible).
10. "And Jesus said, 'I am;, and you shall see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power, and coming with the clouds of heaven'" (Mark 14:62 New American Standard Bible).
11. "There will be signs in the sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress among nations, in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves, people fainting from fear and the expectation of the things that are coming upon the world; for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. But when these things begin to take place, straighten up and lift up your heads because your redemption is drawing near" (Luke 21:25-28 New American Standard Bible).
12. "And after He had said these things, He was lifted up while they were watching, and a cloud took Him up, out of their sight. And as they were gazing intently into the sky while He was going, then behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them, and they said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven" (Acts 1:9-11 New American Standard Bible).
13. "Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord; and that He may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you, whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things, about which God spoke by the mouths of His holy prophets from ancient times" (Acts 3:19-21 New American Standard Bible).
14. "...so that He may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints" (1 Thessalonians 3:13 New American Standard Bible).
15. "For, after all, it is only right for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to give relief to you who are afflicted, along with us, when the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not know God, and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. These people will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, when He comes to be glorified among His saints on that day and to be marveled at among all who have believed—because our testimony to you was believed" (2 Thessalonians 1:6-10 New American Standard Bible).
16. "Then that lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will eliminate with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming" (2 Thessalonians 2:8 New American Standard Bible).
17. "Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though something strange was happening to you; but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that at the revelation of His glory you may also rejoice and be overjoyed" (1 Peter 4:12-13 New American Standard Bible).
18. "Beloved, this is now the second letter I am writing to you in which I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of a reminder, to remember the words spoken beforehand by the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior spoken by your apostles. Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue just as they were from the beginning of creation.” For when they maintain this, it escapes their notice that by the word of God, the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and by water, through which the world at that time was destroyed by being flooded with water. But by His word, the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly people. But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like one day. The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not willing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be discovered. Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat! But according to His promise, we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells. Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found spotless and blameless by Him, at peace" (2 Peter 3:1-14 New American Standard Bible).
19. "It was also about these people that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord has come with many thousands of His holy ones, to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him" (Jude 14-15 New American Standard Bible).
20. "Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. So it is to be. Amen" (Revelation 1:7 New American Standard Bible).
21. "And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness, He judges and wages war. His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many crowns, and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself. He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the winepress of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. And on His robe and on His thigh, He has a name written: 'KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.' Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried out with a loud voice, saying to all the birds that fly in midheaven, 'Come, assemble for the great feast of God, so that you may eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of commanders, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them, and the flesh of all people, both free and slaves, and small and great.' And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies, assembled to make war against Him who sat on the horse, and against His army. And the beast was seized, and with him, the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire, which burns with brimstone. And the rest were killed with the sword which came from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse, and all the birds were filled with their flesh. Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. And he took hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and he threw him into the abyss and shut it and sealed it over him so that he would not deceive the nations any longer until the thousand years were completed; after these things, he must be released for a short time. Then I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark on their foreheads and on their hands; and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these, the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years" (Revelation 19:11-20:6 New American Standard Bible).
22. "The Angel said to me, 'These are dependable and accurate words, every one. The God and Master of the spirits of the prophets sent his Angel to show his servants what must take place, and soon. And tell them, ‘Yes, I’m on my way!’ Blessed be the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book... 'Yes, I’m on my way! I’ll be there soon! I’m bringing my payroll with me. I’ll pay all people in full for their life’s work. I’m A to Z, the First and the Final, Beginning and Conclusion... He who testifies to all these things repeats it: “I’m on my way! I’ll be there soon'" (Revelation 22:7, 12-13, 20 The Message).