Resurrection Rapture In A Nutshell

“The Resurrection/Rapture in a Nutshell” Lord Jesus I am confused. In Matthew 16:15-23* first You called Peter “blessed” and shortly after that You said to him, “Get behind me, Satan.” Why did You do that ? “You see, Peter was in Satan’s TRAP but didn’t know it. Peter was brought up believing the popular teaching of the day that said, ‘When the Messiah comes, He will defeat the Romans and restore the kingdom to Israel.’ ” I see. But what was wrong with that teaching ? “Listen carefully. Through that teaching Satan had persuaded the Jews to expect Me to do at my First Coming, what I will do at My Second Coming. Thus Satan scored a double victory, let Me explain. Israel as a nation: 1) Rejected Me as her king because I was a threat to her religious leaders, and 2) Is still rejecting Me as her Messiah and savior from sin.” “And so Peter, caught in this TRAP, ended up not staying awake and praying in Gethsemane as asked, which left him vulnerable and thus he denied Me 3 times before the 1st cockcrow and 3 times before the 2nd cockcrow. This was Peter’s shameful/painful pitfall. So you see how distorted scriptural teachings rob people of God’s best for them.” Lord, is Satan using similar tactics today concerning Your Second Coming ? “Yes, in at least two ways: 1) Most Christians do not treat the Rapture and My 1,000 year rule as being literal, and 2) Those that expect a literal Rapture, are fighting among themselves as to when it will happen.” “Seeing that the Rapture consists of two groups: 1) the ‘Dead in Christ Raised’ Ones (I Thess. 4:16) and 2) the ‘Changed in the twinkling of an eye’ Living Ones (I Cor. 15:51,52) ‘caught up together in clouds to meet the Lord in the air’ (I Thess. 4:17), therefore these two groups are like a pot and its lid.”

Alright, in I Cor. 15:23,24 I find the chronological order of the Resurrections: 1) “Christ the firstfruits”, 2) “Afterward those who are Christ’s at His Coming”, and 3) “Then comes the end ...”, therefore there is ONLY ONE RESURRECTION FOR THOSE IN CHRIST to take place. In Rev. 20:4-6 God calls THIS RESURRECTION “The First Resurrection.” He goes on to say, “But the rest of the dead did not live again until the one thousand years were finished.” But these are the unjust (Rev. 20:12-15 and Acts 24:15). Thus we have: “Christ the firstfruits” “The FIRST resurrection” “The rest of the dead …” |_______________________________________________________|______________________________|

Oh, for the first time I see that among those raised up at “the first resurrection”, are ALSO the souls of those who were beheaded because “they had not worshiped the beast …” Therefore they had to be living on the earth during the reign of the beast ! This fact should help us to identify the time of the Resurrection of the dead in Christ. “Now look closely at Dan. 9:27 where the false prince of peace confirms a covenant with Israel for one week (i.e. 7 years). This period is divided into two halves.” | <============ 3 ½ years ============> | <============ 3 ½ years ============> | The first half is beneficial to Israel. They rebuild the Temple and start the sacrifices, etc. But in the middle of the week the prince (Antichrist) “shall bring an end to the sacrifice and offering” (Dan. 9:27) and move into the holy place and declare himself as God according to 2 Thess. 2:4. Thus begins the second half of the week, with the hottest persecution against the Jews. God divides this second half of Daniel’s 70th week into 3 periods (see Dan. 12:7 and Rev. 12:14), namely into “time, times, and ½ a time.” The Greek word for time here is “kairos”** which means season.

|_____________________|__________________________________________|___________| Time (about 1 year) Times (about 2 years) ½ Time (about ½ year) The First Period, “time” is seen in Rev. 12:12-16. During this period Satan attacks the woman (Israel) for about 1 year. This points to Jer. 30:7 which says, “Alas! For that day is great …it is the time of Jacob's trouble; but he shall be saved out of it.” This agrees with Rev. 12:14-16 where the woman (Israel) is rescued via “two wings of a great eagle” and protected from a serpent-caused flood. The Second Period, “times” (i.e. about 2 years), begins when Satan being full of wrath (because he couldn’t kill ALL the Jews) goes to make war against those “…who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of

Jesus Christ” (Rev.12:17). No wonder God calls this Second Period “the great tribulation” in Rev. 7:14 and Matt. 24:21, because the intensity of Satan’s attack is increased even more. But thanks be to God, because many will gladly be martyred thus completing the number of martyrs that was incomplete in Rev. 6:9-11. Let us rejoice also because during the great tribulation, “a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues” (Rev. 7:9) will be being saved. Scriptural support for this is the Holy Spirit’s use of the Greek “hoi erhomenoi” in Rev. 7:14 which should be translated, “these are the coming ones from the great tribulation.” Note: This Second Period, “times”, called “the great tribulation”, comes to a screeching halt the moment God takes in His Last Martyr; thus completing the planned number of His martyrs (Rev 20:4). Q: What follows the completion of the number of His martyrs ? A: ‘… the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we “hoi zontes, hoi peri-leipo-menoi” = the living ones, the surviving ones, TOGETHER WITH THEM will be caught up in clouds to meet the Lord in the air ...’I Thess 4:16,17 (Greek Lit.). Note: The Holy Spirit put in those Greek (Gk.) words to make it clear that the Rapture will be composed of : 1) The resurrected believers in Christ, followed immediately by 2) The changed in a moment survivors from the Great Tribulation. Then Christ takes these two groups up together to His Father’s house (John 14:2,3). Now The Third Period, “½ a time” (i.e. about half a year) consists of: A) The fulfillment of Matt. 24:22, when God, for the sake of the Elect, shortens the length of Satan’s persecution time against the elect by about ½ a year. B) God pours His wrath Gk.“orgeé” *** upon the ungodly left behind on the earth. But they don’t repent, instead they blaspheme God (Rev. 16:9, 11, 21). Note: because “God did not appoint us to wrath …” (1 Thess. 5:9), no Believer in Christ is on the earth during this “½ a time”. God’s wrath Gk. “orgeé” appears in Revelation for this short period only. C) The Marriage of the Lamb takes place in heaven during this “½ a time” per Rev.19:7-9. D) Toward the end of the “½ a time”, Christ, followed by His armies, returns to the earth, defeats Israel’s enemies at Armageddon, gets rid of the beast and the false prophet, imprisons Satan, and then begins His 1000 year reign with His saints (Rev. 19 and 20).

“I had tasked you (through your daughter) to find out why God divided the second half of Daniel’s 70th week into ‘time, times, and ½ a time’. And then led your son to help you with the above drawings so that now you can WARN SCRIPTUALLY many believers to: 1) Avoid Peter’s shameful/painful pitfall and 2) be fully equipped and prepared to endure victoriously the coming hot persecution by the beast (Antichrist) to even the point of counting it a great honor to be martyred for My sake. Keep on exposing Satan’s devices and exhorting believers to defeat Satan’s expectations.” A must read to avoid this shameful/painful Peter Pitfall is “Preparing for the Underground Church”. It is the 1st part of the book “The Triumphant Church” and is full of helpful and practical suggestions. It is available from: The Voice of the Martyrs, Inc., PO Box 443, Bartlesville, OK 74005 or (800) 747-0085. For comments/questions, please call 303.798.4174, Mon-Fri, 9AM - noon, Colorado time, Thank You. *** Greek word “orgeé” = wrath, is used in Revelation only 7 times, i.e. 6:16+17, 11:18, 12:17, 14:10, 16:19, and 19:15. (2/20/2008) *Quotes are from the NKJV, unless otherwise noted. **Greek “kairos” = season, which phases in and phases out versus Greek “chronos” = time, which starts and finishes sharply. “Kairos” is used in Rev. 12:12-14, Jer. 30:7, and Dan. 12:1-7 in the Septuagint.