What About Us?
Hopefully you already read
End Times
OK, so here we are, Christians, interrupting God's plan for the Jews. How's that going to end for us? And when?
The Rapture
The word "rapture" actually isn't in the Bible. (Neither is "trinity" by the way). It's a theological word used to label the last moment of the church on Earth. It is described in 1 Corinthians 15 and in 1 Thessalonians 4. It's a moment in time when Jesus returns to gather his church. All the Christians who have already died will be resurrected (in new eternal, spiritual, bodies, not in their old bodies (that would be "raised" like Lazarus, this is "resurrected" like Jesus). Paul says this will happen in an instant. One moment we'll be in our current, earthly bodies, then next in our spiritual bodies, in the sky with Jesus.
Now when that happened to Jesus his earthly body disappeared and just the grave clothes were left. Presumably that will happen to us too. There will be little piles of clothes all over the world where the Christians were going about their business at the moment of the rapture. I wonder what those left behind will make of that! Probably alien abductions?
Jesus mentioned the rapture event in Matthew 24 too. And he says that this event will be followed by terrible days.
Btw: notice that the reunion takes place in the air (up in the clouds). Jesus doesn't return to the ground during the rapture. That happens later. That will be the "Day of Yahweh". But first, something else needs to be played out.
The rapture is what Paul calls in Romans 11 "the full number of the Gentiles". And in that chapter Paul says that Israel has been hardened until then, but after that God will go back to dealing with them. The rapture marks the day that the "interruption" is finished and God returns to his plans for Israel. He returns to Israel to play out the 70th "seven" of Daniel's vision.
The Great Tribulation
And what a "seven". This period has been labelled "The Great Tribulation" because of the terrible things that happen on the planet during that short 7 year period.
Btw: there is a lot of disagreement amongst Christians about whether the rapture occurs before the tribulation, in the middle of it, at the end of it, or even not at all. But once you realise that there are two systems operating... God dealt with the Jews, he interrupted that to deal with us, and then he needs to go back and finish something with them. Then it becomes clear that both systems won't operate at the same time. So the church must be finished first, and then God will deal with the Jews. So the rapture must occur before the tribulation. Of course, this is great news for Christians.
Now it's time for us to venture into the book of Revelation. In the beginning (in verse 18) the angel tells John to write what he has seen and what will take place later. Some Christians believe that this book is just an allegory, just a picture story, that is there to help us explain the spiritual side of the truth. But remember our rule? If it makes sense literally, then let's read it literally.
Revelation does make sense literally. Even if it's a bit hard to comprehend. And it specifically says that it contains prophecy. So, let's see what it says.
Chapters 2 and 3 contain 7 letters to 7 churches that existed at the time John wrote the book (about 100AD). Although they are also very "generic" letters to 7 churches having 7 problems and offering 7 solutions from Jesus. (See if one of them sounds like your church. How would you apply Jesus' solution there?).
Btw: it's a pretty safe bet, that if you're in a Western church, then it's like the last one (Laodicea).
In Chapter 4, John is suddenly in heaven. (was that the rapture?). And the Lamb is on his throne encircled by thousands upon thousands (the raptured church?) and he alone is declared worthy to open the scrolls.
Revelation 6 is the beginning of the tribulation. Disasters unfold as each seal is opened and read: death, destruction, earthquakes, even the sun and moon are affected. Finally people all around the planet will realise that this is the day of God's wrath. Now, God has their attention.
Revelation 7 continues the story. 144,000 Jews are specially chosen to be "sealed" so they will not be harmed by the events that are to come. (Notice that the church is already in heaven, standing around the throne during these events. The tribulation is not for the church.) When Jesus opens the 7th seal, there will be silence for half an hour. You know the kind of silence when you suddenly see something so horrific it takes your breath away and you can't even speak.
The destruction so far has been the warm up. With the seven trumpets in Revelation 8, 9 comes horrendous devastation. One third of the land destroyed, a third of the sea wiped out along with all the life in it and ships on it, a third of the fresh water too. We think one oil spill, and a 1 degree global warming is bad. One third of the planet is going to be wiped out in a very short period of time. Somehow even the sun will be affected and we will have less light.
And then the angels are crying "woe" because of what is still to come! Still to come!
Now this doesn't make sense literally. A star is given a key, and there are locusts with women's hair and lions teeth!
But in verse 11, we see that their king is Abbadon, Appolyon... (these words are Hebrew and Greek for "Destroyer"). Their king is Satan, and the locusts are demons who have been imprisoned in the Abyss. They are allowed out to take revenge on people, but... not to kill them. So much suffering for five months, that men will be begging to die, but unable to do so.
Except those who were sealed for God who will be protected from harm. Do you think that those suffering will notice that God's people are protected and turn to him for help? Read verse 20... nope.
Now something else happens. Revelation 10, 11 God's witnesses stand in Jerusalem. Power to stop the rain and to turn waters into blood? Remind you of anyone? Elijah stopped the rain, Moses turned water into blood, ... could it be them? Do you remember who appeared on the mountain of transfiguration with Jesus? It was Moses and Elijah right?
Now we know Elijah was taken up to heaven without dying. But for Moses the Bible says that he went up the mountain and died, but nobody ever found the body. Perhaps he was taken up too. Perhaps he didn't die. But both these witnesses will die in Jerusalem sometime in the future. Whoever they are, they didn't die already. They will be killed by the beast from the Abyss, Satan. But then days later God will breathe life back into them. A bit of a pattern for Satan eh... every time he kills someone and it looks like he won, they come back and he ends up losing even more. Just when everyone is cheering him for defeating the two hated witnesses, they get up and rise up into heaven in front of everyone.
Then the 7th trumpet is sounded and the time for judgement has arrived.
The Major Players
Now, in the next few chapters of Revelation (12, 13) we are introduced to some major players.
A woman who is chased by a seven
headed dragon whose tail sweeps a third of the stars from the sky! She gave
birth to a son who will rule the world, but before the dragon could devour
the son, he was snatched up to the throne of God. Obviously, not literal...
so, could the woman be Israel/Jerusalem? And the son? ... Jesus? Seems to fit. And the
dragon of course, would be Satan again who took a third of the angels with
him when he fell. And now the woman is fleeing and hiding somewhere for 1260
days... 3½ years
But then, at the end of that time, Satan is release
But there is no battle. God has no time for playing around now. You chose
your side
This is the important message for us as Christians. Not all the details of
who and w
Revelation 21, 22 tell of a new heaven and a new earth. A new Jerusalem where there is a river of life, and where the Lamb will live. This is where we will spend eternity. No more sin, no more crying. Just a perfect life on a perfect planet. Eternal communion with God and each other, the way it was meant to be when God created this earth and the garden of Eden thousands of years ago.
But I wonder if we'll still be living here when it happens...